Christian Carnival CCXXIII - Tabernacle Edition is up!
Christian Carnival CCXXIII - Tabernacle Edition is up over at http://www.deepbiblestudy.net. This week's carnival uses the theme of the tabernacle of God to categorize the posts, and is quite an effective metaphor. Check it out for further explanation!
My article, Money and your prayer life: Do you pray about your finances? was chosen as one of the articles for this week's carnival. Please check it out, and the rest of the great articles. Here are a few of my favorites:
- Rodney Olsen presents Keeping Pets in Perspective posted at RodneyOlsen.net. As Christians, what should our attitudes be towards pets?
- Crystal Nichols presents 7 ways to live in harmony with your coworkers posted at Christian in the Corporate World.
- Diane R presents Angry Young Christians? posted at Crossroads: Where Faith and Inquiry Meet. Why are there so many angry young adult Christians nowadays?
Don't forget to check out some of my top posts from this last month!
1. Paying for Pets: When is it too much?
2. Should parents pay for their kid's college expenses?
3. 5 ways to make some extra money
4. Money Hacks Carnival #6: Famous Hackers Edition
5. The bible and Tithing Series
6. Revolution Money Exchange - $25 signup bonus!
7. 3 weeks with Buxfer.com
8. 5 Budget Busters Challenge
9. How to make a million dollars at any age
10. 3 weeks with Mint.com
Enter our book review and giveaway contest! Enter by doing the following and leaving us a comment:
7 positive ways to use your Economic Stimulus Rebate
Big money on the way
So now that you've got your rebate on the way, you may find yourself with an extra cash that you can use to buy that new TV, save for retirement or use to pay down debt. If you're not sure of when you'll be getting your payment, check out our post titled, "Economic Stimulus Rebate: When will you get your rebate?"
My wife just got out of the hospital after a 3 week stay for a blood clot in her left leg. It was a major health scare and we're just thankful that she made it through alive. Because of her long hospital stay, however, we will have to deplete part of our emergency fund to pay all the bills. Luckily we had good insurance and we'll only end up paying about $2000 of a total bill that will probably be in the hundreds of thousands of dollars. For us, finding a way to spend the $1200 economic stimulus rebate will be easy. We'll be just sending the check directly to the hospitals.
7 ways to use your economic stimulus rebate
Besides medical emergencies, what are some good positive ways to use your economic Stimulus rebate besides just spending it on a big flat screen TV?
- Pay down debt: This can be a great way to snowflake your way out of debt, although its more of a large snowball. Pay down your smallest debts and work your way up!
- Bulk up your emergency fund: Take the money you've received and put it in a high-yield savings account to begin building (or continue growing) your emergency fund. In uncertain economic times like these it's a good idea to plan ahead and make sure you're ready in case you lose your job, have health issues (we know about this one) and
- If you haven't already, start a Roth IRA: Use the money to purchase a long term investment. The earlier you start saving for retirement, the better!
- Pay for a needed home upgrade or repair: Use the money to replace your old crumbling driveway or to update your kitchen countertops. Try to use the money on things where you'll see a return on your money when you sell, things that will improve your home's value.
- Donate your rebate: We all have good intentions of donating to our favorite causes, or giving more to the church we attend. We have good intentions but rarely have the money to follow through. Take the rebate that you received and send it to your favorite good cause! Not only will you be helping out a good cause, but you'll get a great feeling from it as well!
- Go on a mini-vacation: Everyone gets stressed out and sometimes a few days off is just what you need. Instead of spending your whole rebate on a vacation to Hawaii or a cruise in the Caribbean, take a mini-vacation for the weekend to a resort nearby, or stay in a fancy hotel for a couple of days. Take the rest of the money and save it, pay down debt or invest.
- Make an extra mortgage payment: Make an extra payment on your mortgage and get it paid off sooner. The more of these you can make, the more years you can cut off the life of the loan.
What positive ways will you use your rebate?
So there are a few ideas of some positive things you can do with your economic stimulus rebate. Let me know in the comments what some of your ideas are as well and I'll update the post with your suggestions as the bottom. If you've posted about this topic on your own blog, let me know and I'll add you to the "related links" below as well!
Related links roundup
Economic Stimulus Rebate @ BeingFrugal.net
What to do with your economic stimulus payment @ Consumerism Commentary
IRS Economic Stimulus Check Promotions: 10% Bonus @ My Money Blog
15 Things To Do With Your Economic Stimulus Check @ freefrombroke.com
Calculate your rebate
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Personal Finance Bible Verse of the Day: Needs
my God will supply all your needs according to His riches in glory in Christ Jesus. Philippians 4:19
This verse is encouraging for us to know that all our needs will be supplied, even as we're going through hard times, and times where we know we'll be having lots of bills to be paid. Because we had followed the scriptures about planning ahead, we were able to get health insurance and save an emergency fund, and be supplied by God in advance.
Either way it is very calming and satisfying to know that with God we never need to worry, he will provide.
Bible Money Matters April 2008 Recap
April was another great month for BibleMoneyMatters.com! We were able to keep the site growing, did a complete redesign, brought in some new visitors and made some new friends. Here's a recap of April 2008:
Top 10 Posts from April
1. Paying for Pets: When is it too much?
2. Should parents pay for their kid's college expenses?
3. 5 ways to make some extra money
4. Money Hacks Carnival #6: Famous Hackers Edition
5. The bible and Tithing Series
6. Revolution Money Exchange - $25 signup bonus!
7. 3 weeks with Buxfer.com
8. 5 Budget Busters Challenge
9. How to make a million dollars at any age
10. 3 weeks with Mint.com
Top 10 Referring Sites in April
We had a lot of great sites and blogs referring traffic our way this past month. Please return the favor and check out these great sites now as well!
1. stumbleupon.com
2. entrecard.com
3. google.com
4. gatherlittlebylittle.com
5. wisebread.com
6. moolanomy.com
7. frugalhacks.com
8. mrsmicah.com
9. beingfrugal.net
10. pfblogs.org
Other BibleMoneyMatters.com Stats
- Subscribers - The site has seen a substantial increase in subscribers in the last month or two. We currently have 127 subscribers enjoying BibleMoneyMatters.com via the RSS feed, and another 17 receiving updates via email. If you haven't subscribed already, you can do so clicking here for RSS or here for email updates.
- Traffic- The site had around 7,746 visits this past month, with 11,761 page views. That means we're showing a steady increase in users from the last couple months when we had 4,046 (Feb '08) and 6,651 (Mar '08) visits. Hopefully we can keep the growth going!
- Google Page Rank Update
- This site has been at a page rank of 0 since it launched a few months ago. After Google updated page rank this past week Biblemoneymatters.com now has a page rank of 4! Hopefully that will mean some increased exposure for the site.
Thanks are due..
A special thanks goes out to Lynnae of Beingfrugal.net for helping me keep BibleMoneyMatters.com updated during my wife's battle with a blood clot in her leg. She's still in the hospital today, but we're hoping that she'll be home sometime this week. Give Lynnae's site a visit, and thanks for stopping by!
Weekend Getaways That Won't Break Your Budget
The following is a guest post by PT of Prime Time Money. If you like this post, consider subscribing to Prime Time Money via RSS or email.
Because most of us can't take a two week vacation to Hawaii every season, I present some frugal ideas for those quick weekend getaways. The biggest expenses of the weekend getaway are usually the airfare and hotel charges. These ideas focus on limiting or eliminating those big charges.
Friends Are Friends Forever
Some of my favorite vacations have been to places where an old friend is now living, like my recent trip to Calgary. Most of us have a friend from our past that lives in a different city now. Truth be told, if they're new to the city, they probably wouldn't mind some company. After all, you said you'd go visit them when they moved away. Now is the time to take them up on their offer.
Mention to your friend that you are thinking of visiting the city and would like to know the best place to stay. They'll likely offer up their pad for free. The weekend trip just got a few hundred dollars cheaper. Be sure to honor their generosity by picking up a few of the meals when you dine out.
Staying with a friend has plenty of non-economical advantages as well. You essentially have your own tour guide to the city. You'll know the best places to dine, what things are worth seeing, and you'll know the quickest way to get there.
A Camping We Will Go
Forget the long lines at the airport and the nickel and dime charges of the hotels. Break out the tent and go camping at your nearby State or National park. Some parks even have cabins, so you don't even need a tent.
State park fees are usually extremely reasonable and the parks themselves are very well maintained. Your tax dollars go to build and maintain these parks; you might as well get some use out of them. We do this once or twice a year and have a blast every time.
Close Only Counts...
If camping isn't your thing, then choose to stay at a hotel in either a city that you can drive to in a few hours or simply stay at a hotel in your own town. If you're just looking for one night away from the kids, this can be the best option.
Take this opportunity to explore the town you live in and to discover new dining and entertainment spots. If you're like me, there are hundred of places and attractions you haven't seen in your own town.
Your best bet on a hotel is to look for deals at the high-end business sector hotels near downtown. These often go vacant on the weekends and prices drop considerably. You can usually get a nice hotel room for a decent price.
Cheaper By the Dozen
Have some really cool friends? Take your next quick getaway with them. I remember doing this as a kid with my parents and their friends and loved it.
Weekend rental houses and cabins can be had at the fraction of the cost of hotel rates per person. Carpool to get there, group your meals and activities, and your savings really start to increase. Be sure you plan only a few group activities and meals though. Leave some time open for just your spouse and kids.
Have fun!
Can you think of other ways to create a more frugal weekend getaway? Share your ideas in the comments below...
Economic Stimulus Rebate: When will you get your rebate?
If you're anything like me you're probably wondering when you'll be receiving your economic stimulus rebate check or direct deposit. After checking it out today I found that the IRS has setup a payment schedule based on people's social security number. My wife and I opted for the direct deposit, which means we will likely see our money by the 16th of May (based on my SSN). To get an idea of when to expect your own stimulus rebate, please see below.
DIRECT DEPOSIT
| Last two SSN digits: | Payments will be transmitted no later than: |
| 00 through 20 | May 2 |
| 21 through 75 | May 9 |
| 76 through 99 | May 16 |
Paper checks will also go out based on Social Security number. For Social Security numbers ending in 00 through 09, the paper checks will be mailed starting May 9 and will continue through May 16. A similar process will be repeated in the following weeks.
PAPER CHECK
| Last two SSN digits: | Payments will be mailed no later than: |
| 00 through 09 | May 16 |
| 10 through 18 | May 23 |
| 19 through 25 | May 30 |
| 26 through 38 | June 6 |
| 39 through 51 | June 13 |
| 52 through 63 | June 20 |
| 64 through 75 | June 27 |
| 76 through 87 | July 4 |
| 88 through 99 | July 11 |
Our beautiful wedding, a spendy affair
My wife Maria and I got married about 6 years ago now, and our wedding was a beautiful affair. We had a reception held at a local country club, we had over 200 guests, and we spared no expense on catering, flowers, decorations, dresses, DJ and party favors. After all was said and done we ended up spending over $30,000. Luckily for my wife and I her parents were the ones footing the bill, and they really wanted to pay for it since my wife is their only daughter.
Our honeymoon on Maui
Looking back my wife cherishes the memory of our beautiful wedding, but if I had gotten my way we wouldn’t have spent quite so much money on the wedding. Wouldn’t it have been much nicer just to have her parents give us all that money, and have a smaller affair?
Ways we could have saved money
If we could do it over here are some places I think we could have saved some money on things we probably wouldn’t have even noticed.
Do your research and plan ahead
Those are a few areas where I think you can safely cut out some expenses when planning your wedding. Of course you need to be careful, and realize that sometimes you’ll get what you pay for. But as long as you plan ahead, and give yourself plenty of leeway for making some small mistakes - you’ll be fine.
When things get busy on your big day, don’t forget to enjoy the day and your new spouse! You only get married once and all the small details and things that seemed so important beforehand really won’t seem so important once you're looking into their eyes on that big day! Have fun!
Related Links:
The best wedding tips and stories giveaway @ Moolanomy