Carnival of Personal Finance

Of caramels and sidewalks.

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thIt was 7 below zero and 12:45 a.m. when I left Anchorage for Phoenix, a city where I don’t think it’s ever been below zero. My layover in Seattle was marked by several startling holiday visions:

  • An electric cart driven by Mrs. Santa; beside her, Santa played the guitar and sang “Have a Holly Jolly Christmas.”
  • A life-sized plush snowman and a holiday princess walking through saying “Merry Christmas!”
  • An old time Father Christmas giving coloring books to kids and asking adults to applaud in appreciation of several embarrassed-looking Navy dudes.
  • A quartet of strolling carolers wearing Dickensian garb.
  • Someone dressed as a reindeer and what I think was a one-man band (but since the music was far away, it could also have been a one-woman band).

But you know what seems stranger than that now? The fact that I took a walk in shirtsleeves, on sidewalks I could actually see.

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What I’ve been doing.

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thMade it back from the annual Talkeetna fling late Sunday afternoon, in one piece but very tired. Either I’m getting older or the late hours, odd eating habits and weirdly crappy weather (freezing rain despite ground temps in the 20s) took more out of me than I thought.

Before I recap that bacchanal, allow me to share a few recent happenings. 

Despite my previously stated position on why you shouldn’t write for free, I recently did just that. But donating “Want to cut costs? Get yourself a frugal filter (or two)” to the Wise Bread blog was a professional courtesy, which is one of the few reasons to give it away. Will Chen and Greg Go have both been helpful and supportive to me and I wanted to return the favor.

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Getting out of town.

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I got back from BlogHer 2011 late in the evening on July 9. Since then I’ve been hitting MSN Money and Get Rich Slowly deadlines pretty hard, and spending time (including a day in Vancouver, B.C.) with an old friend who’s here in town.

Just before midnight tonight I get on a plane for the East Coast, where I’ll be spending just over a month:

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The “Coupon Mom” book winner. Also: Emergency prep on a shoestring.

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The random number generator loved Sheryl the best this week. Sheryl: Please respond to my e-mail with your address and the book will wing its way to you.

In other news:

“Time to plan an egg-based meal,” my weekly post at MSN Money’s Smart Spending blog, was chosen for the Festival of Frugality at Stupid Cents.

“Emergency preparedness on a budget,” my latest work at Get Rich Slowly, is an Editor’s Pick in the Carnival of Personal Finance at Funny About Money (even though the post contains the word “poop”).

The article is about meeting basic needs in an emergency. Such as:

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My day job, blog carnivals and funny potato-chip flavors.

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Now up at MSN Money is my latest column, “Useless Groupon? Cash it in.” It’s all about the secondary market for social commerce vouchers from places like Tippr, Buy With Me, Living Social and, of course, Groupon.

The advantage is twofold: You can unload deals you no longer want and, more to the point, you can look for deals you missed on the first go-round or that you didn’t know existed.

As one secondary-market host says, it’s “a catalog experience vs. an impulse buy.”

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Tuesday tidbits: Back home again edition.

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Neurotic Workaholic is the winner of the six different kinds of Godiva chocolate. Congratulations, and  I hope you can power down long enough to enjoy the sweets.

The rest of you take heart: Another Godiva giveaway is in the offing. Not right away, but soon.

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