Moments of Fame

Mama Bear hosts the beloved Make It from Scratch Carnival this week at I’ve Got a Little Space to Fill, where Funny’s recipe for and analysis of DIY glass cleaner appears. And by golly, Mary at Simply Forties leads off again with another of her amazing recipes: Baked Adzuki Beans with Eggplants and Tomatoes. I dunno what adzuki beans are, but I’m planning to find out soon. Speaking of new-to-me foods, check out HowToMe’s recipe for a South African snack called rusks: it’s a kind of a sweet biscuit, interesting and it looks good. The only way to do justice to all the neat posts that appear in this carnival would be to copy and paste the whole darn thing here! So be sure to go to Mama Bear’s site and explore for yourself.

Money Beagle has posted an interesting Money Hacks Carnival this week…don’t miss the hilarious pooch pictures, BTW! Here, a spin-off of the DIY window cleaner project, the DIY spot remover, made editor’s choice amid a host of much more august writings. For us intellectual cheapskates, Monevator reports that Stanford researchers have kindly demonstrated that you can spend 20% less than usual on presents and still elicit the same pleasurable response from the giftee. Take a look at Len Penzo’s figures that led him to conclude that paying off a mortgage is the smart thing to do: this thing is a tour de force. I paid mine off, over three financial advisors’ protests, as a matter of gut instinct; Penzo produces some good evidence to support that strategy.

Credit Withdrawal hosts the 160th Festival of Frugality. This thing, as usual, is huge. Funny’s grouse-fest about Scientific American‘s questionable subscription renewal policies appears in the crowd. Fortunately, CW highlights a number of especially excellent posts near the top of this week’s round-up. My eye, of course, was instantly drawn to Lazy Man & Money’s advice on how to stock a bar. He makes some recommendations for staples, high-end and low. Money Ning contributed a nice article titled Five Surefire Ways to Stop Thinking Your Paycheck Is Never Enough. With M’hijito now seriously considering full-time pursuit of a master’s degree, Jim’s post, at Blueprint for Financial Prosperity, on the importance of filling out a FAFSA application for low-interest student loans was a good lead.

This week’s Carnival of Money Stories is hosted, with an entertaining Blog Championship Series theme, by Adam at Your Money Relationship, where Funny’s latest shoe-buying tale appears. In the arrrrghhhh! department, check out Consumer Boomer’s story of the amazing deal Terminex proposed to install insulation (yes…they’re diversifying, apparently). Free Money Finance confirms my feeling about Macy’s, which IMHO needs to revamp its business plan if it’s to survive. The Financial Blogger’s house renovation project is finished, and he offers some reflections on the process. And finally, here is a very interesting post on class and moneyat GRACEful Retirement that has generated an enormous amount of lively and even passionate commentary, not to be missed.