Best of Money Carnival #6

A few weeks ago a new carnival launched with the idea of bringing a few of the best articles written in the personal finance blogosphere to the forefront every week. That carnival is the Best of Money Carnival, brought to us by freemoneyfinance.com. I love the idea of a smaller carnival – that highlights the best posts of the week, instead of everything written that week.   It makes for great reading, but you don’t need an entire day to read everything!

So without further ado, here are my picks for the top 10 best articles of the week!  I hope everyone had a safe and happy 4th of July!

Top 10 Best Money Articles Of The Week

• 10 – Jen@Balancing Beauty and Bedlam presents How to Plan a Cheap Family Vacation… without being “cheap” posted at Balancing Beauty and Bedlam: Jen gives us a close up look at how to plan a “no-spend” vacation. Very touching look (with lots of photos) at how an extended family can spend time together while on vacation, but not spend a ton of money!
• 9 - Travis presents Money Tips from the Most High posted at Christian Money Mountain: Travis talks about some of the common sense money tips you can find in the bible , things like preparing for hard times, seeking counsel and advice, and being generous.  Even if you’re not a Christian, the bible still has some good money tips!
• 8 -The Happy Rock presents Cell Phones Contracts Are Debt, You Just Don’t Realize It posted at The Happy Rock: You may not have thought about how some of your optional monthly bills are actually debt. The Happy Rock looks at why we need to consider these plans, like cell phone contracts, as debt.
• 7 – Benjamin presents Purchasing My Brand New Motorcycle Was Dumb posted at Trees Full of Money: Ben talks about how buying a motorcycle was the last straw that made him realize he had a problem with debt. Great story!
• 6 – Abigail Perry presents Spending: Frustration and Irrational Guilt posted at i pick up pennies: Abigail takes a look at spending while you’re in debt, discusses whether having “mad money” during debt reduction is a good idea, and discusses the guilt associated with spending during debt reduction. A good look at the mindset many people have while trying to reduce their debt.
• 5 – Jim presents What is the Average Credit Score? posted at Blueprint for Financial Prosperity: Jim takes a look at some data from Credit Karma about the average credit scores nationwide, and by state. Interesting.
• 4 – Jeff Rose presents How To Do a Background Check on Your Financial Advisor posted at GoodFinancialCents.com: Jeff takes us through the steps you need to take in order to check up on your financial advisor. You don’t want to hire the next Madoff do you?
• 3 – MoneyNing presents How to Be a Millionaire posted at Money Ning: David gives some funny tongue in cheek advice about how to become a millionaire, and then proceeds to give his real advice.  I enjoyed reading this one.  Great writing!
• 2 – Baker presents Negotiation Tips For Beginners – A Real Life Example Of How I Saved $150 With Just A Few Questions posted at Man Vs. Debt: Baker gives us an in depth look at negotiating, and how sometimes all you need to do to get a lower price is ask!   Great post, with lots of good actionable negotiating tips.

And coming in at #1 – Powerful Ways to Improve Your Life

• 1 – Matt of DebtFreeAdventure.com presents Powerful Ways to Improve Your Life over at fivecentnickel.com: Matt gives us some great ways that we can improve both our finances, and our lives in general. Focus on your passions, stop wasting time on things that don’t matter, and love your neighbor.  Love it!  This week’s must read.  Great article!

Thanks to everyone that submitted their articles for consideration!  There was lots of good reading, but I could only choose 10!

If you would like to submit an article to the next Best of Money Carnival, check out the details on how to submit a post.  Make sure you read the rules thoroughly or you won’t qualify.

Don’t forget to check out the carnival next week as it’s being hosted by an up and coming blogger My Life ROI.

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