I participated in several carnivals this week and I'd like to thank all the bloggers who hosted the carnivals and included my posts:

College of Cash hosted the Carnival of Money Stories #60 and included my post, "People Are Starting to Steal Gas Now".

Moolanomy hosted the Money Hacks Carnival #13 - Money Saving Hacks Edition and included my post, "Handling Most of My Finances Online".

The Financial Blogger hosted the Festival of Frugality #126 - If I Had A Car Edition and included my post, "Stimulate Your Finances Every Month".

Thanks again to all the hosts! Be sure to visit and check out all the great posts.

For easy extra money on the side, check out CashCrate.

I participated in a couple of Carnivals this week. Thanks to the carnival hosts for doing such a great job.

Money Under 30 hosted the Carnival of Personal Finance #152 and included my post, One Year Later-How Have My Finances Changed?

Can I Get Rich on a Salary hosted the Money Hacks Carnival #12 and included my post, I Know Where My Economic Stimulus Check is Going.

Here are some of the articles I've enjoyed from my RSS reader:

Lynnae's Citibank card had a run-in with the hole puncher. Looks like the hole puncher won!
Gather Little by Little tells us that retailers want your economic stimulus money.
Sometimes free isn't really free. Dunkin Donuts was giving away a free coffee but it would have cost PaidTwice money to get it.
Pinyo gives us some excellent tips for protecting yourself against identity theft.
Mrs Micah tells us why it's so important to Dine Out Frugally Without Stiffing on the Tip.
Do you like your job? Plonkee likes hers alot. Here, she gives several reasons why she likes her job.
Frugal Dad gives us instructions on how to Create a Freedom Chart to Map Early Retirement.

I participated in several carnivals this week and I'd like to thank all the bloggers who hosted the carnivals and included my posts.

Save and Conquer hosted the Money Hacks Carnival #11 - Ebb and Flow Edition and included my post, Reasons to Join A Credit Union.

Frugal for Life hosted the Festival of Frugality #124 and included my post, When a Second Job is Not A Good Idea.

Free From Broke hosted the Carnival of Money Stories #58 - Dollar Coins Edition and included my post, Remembering How Lucky I Am.

Thanks again to all the bloggers who hosted the carnivals. Be sure to visit them and check out all of the great articles.

EXTRA, EXTRA, READ ALL ABOUT IT!!!!!!!!!!!!

In case you haven't heard it yet, the Feds cut rates an additional 3/4 of a percentage point today. As a result, the Dow had the 4th biggest one day gain with a surge of 420 points. Unfortunately, it going to take several more big "surges" to make up for the losses I've incurred in my investment accounts to date.

In better news, the St Patrick's Day Edition of the Carnival of Personal Finance was hosted by Lynnae at beingfrugal.net. My article, Trying to Keep My Good Tenant, was including among the huge list of other great articles.

Image Credit: wili_hybrid

I participated in three great carnivals today and I encourage you to visit them all. There are so many great articles, I am still trying to get through them all.

Carnival of Real Estate #76 hosted by Searchlight Crusade. I submitted my article: The Real Cost of Homeownership.

Here's Your Team for the SuperBowl of Personal Finance #138 hosted by Paid Twice. I submitted my article: Suggestions for Your Tax Refund - Final Part 4.

Carnival of Debt Reduction #125 - SuperBowl XLII Edition hosted by BrokeGradStudent. I submitted my article: Considering Paying Off the Car Loan and it made Editors Pick!!!

Pardon me, I have more blogs to visit!

It's so hard getting back to work after having so much time off for the holidays. For the last few weeks, I've only been working 2-3 days a week due to the holidays or being on vacation. Tomorrow will be my first full work week of 2008. I'm sure many of you are going back to work for your first full week too.

As you prepare to start your week, take a look at some of these great articles I've enjoyed around the web.

From the M-Network:

• Being Frugal hosted The 2nd Carnival of Financial Goals. Lynnae (and Sam) did a great job hosting the carnival. Sam (Lynnae's son) took us on an interesting walk through their town.
• Cash Money Life reviewed the book - You're Broke Because You Want to Be by Larry Winget. Larry is the host of Big Spender on A&E.
  
• Gather Little by Little posted 6 Ways to kick off your personal finance New Year the right way.
  
• Paid Twice says It's Always Good to Have a Backup Plan. This is where I made so many mistakes in the past. I never had a "Plan B" and relied on my credit cards.
  
• My Two Dollars lists the Top Three Legal Documents Every Person Should Have. I need to act on this because I don't have any of those.
  
• Plonkee Money posted about Where did my money go last year?
  
• The Dough Roller posted A Helpful 401k and IRA Rollover Chart.
  

And from my blogroll:

• Dimples Divine Domain posted a helpful way to organize her goodies.
  
• My Open Wallet is working on her 2008 Budget.
  
• My Dollar Plan has an ongoing debate with DebtFreeRevolution on Credit Cards.

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Other Posts You Might Enjoy:
Mistakes and Corrections - Detailed post on how my debt was accumulated.
When I get out of debt I want to... - My list of things I want to do once the debt is gone.
MidYear Debt Review - How did my debt numbers look six months ago? Look at this article.

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If you've enjoyed this post or reading about my personal finance journey, please subscribe to SingleGuyMoney. Be sure to visit SingleGuyMoney to leave a comment or for more great articles.

If you haven't already, be sure to check out all the great articles at the Naughty or Nice Edition of the Carnival of Personal Finance hosted by Get Rich Slowly.

My article: "The Breakup", was featured in the "Tinsel Lined Tree" (budgeting) section.

Be sure to subscribe to SingleGuyMoney here to get notified of all the latest posts. Don't be shy and feel free to leave a comment.

It's almost Friday!!! I don't know about you guys but this has been a long week for me. For your reading enjoyment, be sure to check out the 1st Carnival of Financial Goals - 2008 Financial Resolutions Edition hosted by Patrick over at Cash Money Life.

My article, 2008 Financial Goals, was included in the roundup. I didn't make the editors pick but I'm still glad to have been included.

Some of my favorites:

• Randall from Credit Withdrawal wants to earn enough alternative income to pay his mortgage. I will definitely have to follow his progress.
• Mighty Bargain Hunter wants to track and categorize all money coming in and out of his household. I need to do a better job at tracking all my pennies too.
• Gather Little by Little plans to pay a minimum of $1000 a month towards his debt.
• Paid Twice wants to wipe out all of her family's credit card debt in 2008.
• Clean Simple Finance wants to consolidate and simplify financial accounts in 2008. I need to reduce the amount of paper I get from financial institutions too.
• Blunt Money wants to increase her cash savings by $4000.

Good Luck to everyone who posted their financial goals. I can't wait to find out who won the Ipod.

Be sure to subscribe to SingleGuyMoney here to get notified of all the latest posts. Don't be shy and feel free to leave a comment.

Patrick over at Cash Money Life has started a new carnival, titled the Carnival of Financial Goals. Patrick is filling a niche as there is no other carnival currently dedicated to setting or sharing financial goals. I think this is an excellent idea. Share your 2008 financial goals for a chance to win an Ipod or 3 personal finance books. Make sure you visit Cash Money Life to submit your 2008 financial resolution and review the rules of the contest.

My 2008 financial resolution is to: get the balance of my car loan under $20k. Per Patrick's requirements, I will use the S.M.A.R.T goal format.

• Specific - I want to decrease the balance of my car loan to less that $20,000 by December 2008. I will do this by applying an additional $200 per month to my car payment.
• Measurable - Once the payment posts, I can determine how much of my payment was applied to principal and how much went to interest.
• Actionable - This is 100% reasonable considering I decreased my monthly expenditures by over $400 by paying off the remainder of my credit card debt.
• Realistic - Absolutely. I could say I will apply an additional $1000/mo to my debt but this is not reasonable because I would not be able to cover my other bills. $200 will not make a big change in my budget.
• Timely - One year is more than enough time considering my balance is about $25,200 right now. It may actually take 6-9 months instead of an entire year if I am able to apply more than $200 a month.

What is your financial resolution? When does the contest end? December 4th, at 11:59 EST.

If you've enjoyed this post or reading about my personal finance journey, please subscribe to SingleGuyMoney here. Be sure to visit SingleGuyMoney to leave a comment or for more great articles.

I have to admit I do not know anything about Cyber Monday until this year. I kept hearing about it on the news so I wanted to do a little checking into it. For those unfamiliar with Cyber Monday, Wikipedia describes it as the Monday immediately following Black Friday where the online retailers offer the best deals like the brick and mortar stores offered on the previous Friday. Planning to do a little online shopping today?

Make sure you sign up for Ebates.com. If you have been reading this blog for awhile, you know that I am a big fan of Ebates. Not only do they offer signup bonuses and cash back on your purchases, they have all the major stores. TODAY ONLY (Monday), you get DOUBLE CASH BACK! SIGN UP HERE.


Not interested in shopping? Be sure to check out the 115th Edition of the Carnival of Debt Reduction hosted by fellow M-Network member, beingfrugal.net. My article was included: Paying off debt makes you feel.... so be sure to head over and read all the great stories.

The 127th Carnival of Personal Finance-Wonders of the World was hosted my fellow M-Network member, Moolanomy.
Be sure to visit the carnival for some great reads. Thanks to Moolanomy for hosting!

Some of my favorite articles:

• A Penny Saved is Worth More than a Penny Earned from Cash Money Life.
• Prepare Your Mindset to Achieve Financial Freedom from Journey to Financial Freedom.
• Why I Use Credit Cards from Broke Grad Student.
• 3 Reasons Why Personal Finance Should Not Be Personal from The Financial Blogger

I posted my article, Slipping back into bad habits - ALMOST.

It's Monday and I am getting ready to head out of town on a business trip for a week. I will have my laptop and the hotel is supposed to have internet access so I will be able to continue posting.

My fellow M-Network member, My Two Dollars, hosted the 125th Carnival of Personal Finance. There are a number of great articles so be sure to check it out. Here are a some of my favorites:

• Your Relationship with Money from Journey From Financial Freedom.
• Consolidating Our Finances from 2Million. Even though I am single, I can imagine the complications in consolidating finances.
• Old Habits Sure Do Die Hard from Gather Little by Little (M-Netwok member). I can definitely relate.
• It hit me like a ton of bricks from beingfrugal.net (M-Network member). This is so true. This is the feeling I had when I realized how bad my financial situation was.
• I submitted my post on My Cheaper Alternative to Starbucks. A friend told me about McDonald's iced coffee and I really liked it.

I've also changed the design of SingleGuyMoney. What do you think?

If you enjoyed this post, please subscribe to SingleGuyMoney here.

My fellow M-Network member, The Dough Roller, hosted this weeks 123rd Carnival of Personal Finance (The Boo! Edition). Be sure to head on over and check out all the great articles. My top 5 favorites are:

• Beyond the Emergency Savings Fund from One Day at a Time.
• Live on Less Income - Give Yourself a Voluntary Paycut from Cash Money Life.
• Home Equity Line of Credit at your Disposal from Queercents.
• How to Live without Using Credit Cards from No Credit Needed
• Cash Burns a Hole in My Pocket from Plonkee Money (M-Network member)

Be sure to visit the M-Network for a number of great articles daily. If you like SingleGuyMoney, be sure to subscribe to my feeds.