Weekend Reading - Saving Money Edition

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It’s that time again where we wind up the week by providing you with some reading for the weekend. Mrs. SPF started her 6 article series on Sustainable Wedding Planning Series this week by discussing our Wedding Attire. Included in the post is a picture of Mrs. SPF’s dress which her Mom made and both the dress and Mrs. SPF were beautiful on our special day. We were able to save a lot of money yet have a very green wedding so in honour of this series we’ll start the Weekend Reading this week with some great articles about saving money.

Weekend Reading Picks

Over at Million Dollar Journey there was an article called Resisting Social Pressure. No, this was not about drugs or smoking. This article is about frugality and self esteem. Essentially, Clark, the guest poster, discusses how he buys used often. He also discusses the societal pressures placed on people who do not have new things and are afraid or unwilling to admit as much. Of course we believe that buying used goods is a sustainable practice in terms of the goods production systems, waste management and our frugality.

Our friend Miss T at Prairie EcoThrifter gives 18 Ways to Eat Organic and Healthy on the Cheap. Of course this piqued our interest as we like to save money and we truly believe that local organic food is not only healthy for our bodies but is required to balance the food production and distribution system that is so askew in the world today. We were also very happy to host Miss T’s very informative article on Geothermal Energy this week.

Household products are chalk full of nasty chemicals we can’t even pronounce. Over at Sustainable Life Blog, Jeff provides a simple recipe for homemade fabric softener that is better for the earth and your finances. We’re always interested in new ways to put less harmful substances into the water and earth. Watch our site Wednesday for Jeff’s article where he’ll give our readers 3 more homemade recipes for other cleaning products used around the house.

I really liked the article A Nerd and His Money: Soon Separated? at Life and My Finances. We are anything but tech geeks. We never buy the newest gadgets, we often don’t even buy the “new toys” once their old (e.g. iPod, gaming consoles). Mrs. SPF has never sent a text, I think i’ve sent 4. Our cell phones are pay as you go and we spend MAYBE $75 a year between the two of them, which look like over stuffed decks of cards. This fits in with the Resisting Social Pressure for sure.

Now that we’re blogging away we have to think about some of the expenses we incur. Things like registering our URL and paying for hosting. Some day we may have to think about other costs as well. Free From Broke wrote an interesting piece that we’ve book marked for later (if/when we ever need it) where Miranda (who we keep seeing all over blogs writing great articles we enjoy - see below) discusses where Bloggers Should Look For Tax Deductions.

Next up, more great articles I read this week, by category.

Sustainability

We’ve been on a how to save heat kick with our 365 Sustainability Tips so we were pleased to see Crystal from Budgeting The Fun Stuff post on the same topic in her article How to Save Money on the Heating Bill and Stay Warm. Crystal lives in a much warmer climate than we do but she has some really cool ideas on how to heat the space you are in.

We mentioned Miranda earlier and she posted at Personal Dividends with 7 Tips to Grow a Healthy Organic Garden. Thanks for the tips Miranda, we can’t wait to start our new garden at our new (old) home in the spring.

The Good Human let us know that we can get Business Cards on Recycled Paper. Totally cool.

Looking for a resource that will be big in renewable energy in the not so distant future? Consider Vanadium. Thanks to Seeking Alpha for the heads up. This resource will help fuel the eco-friendly batteries of the future.

Personal Finance

Little House posted at Yakezie about Strategies to Help People to Catch Up on Retirement Saving. Useful stuff for those of us who didn’t think about their personal finances in their 20s. A worthy read.

How Much Does it Cost to Start a Small Business? Wealth Pilgrim outlines this topic which interested us as we’ve been considering such a venture of late.

Confused about TFSA’s? You’re not the only one! 2 Cents at Balance Junkie explains how Investments work in TFSAs by providing some scenarios that bring some plain language to a great retirement vehicle that was poorly explained by the government.

Lifestyle

Boomer and Echo frequent our weekend reading once again with their ideas about Gifts That Keep on Taking. Those gifts that seem cool but cost the receiver evermore.

Ever find yourself needing a lunch for work (and not wanting to pay to buy one)? Need a quick supper for the family? Financial Highway gives us 12 Foods that Freeze Well for Later and Some That Won’t. Read the comments for some more suggestions.

Do you live in a major urban centre? Ever wonder why you pay so much for your car? Invest It Wisely has been questioning whether Going Carless Makes Sense. For some yes, others not so much. But ask yourself this question honestly, you may surprise yourself.

Along the same lines of needing a car, Financial Highway once again provided us with a great read, and warning when telling us about Car Sharing Mistakes that can Cost You Money. Beware!

Investing

Intelligent Speculator gave us some REIT picks for 2011 and discusses how Facebook is a Bargain at $50 Billion. We want to get into REITs but we’re not sure we could ever buy into Facebook!

Meanwhile, The Dividend Guy gets a little more specific for Canadian readers by discussing his 2011 Top Canadian REITs.

Ever wondered What Happens to Your Stocks When a Company Goes Bankrupt? A Dawn Journal tells us.

Blogging

Interesting few articles this week at Blogthority. First he discusses Why Giveaway Contests Are a Waste of Money for bloggers. He made some GREAT points. Some counter points were made, including my own regarding our upcoming contests in 2011. Kudos to Blogthority for posting his next article that Giveaway Contests Aren’t Always a Waste of Money and Can be Very Profitable. The key? Don’t spend your own money on contests (with some twists - and thanks for the mention Blogthority!)

So wrapping up, we’re 2 days away from our 8 week anniversary. We were/are hoping to finish the Yakezie Challenge before 8 weeks are up. To do so we need to improve our Alexa Rank from 208,894 to 199,999 in 2 days. Hoping it will happen!

Thanks for the Inclusions:

• #GreenEcoStain
• Investing Thesis
• Prairie EcoThrifter
• Personal Dividends
• Dividend Monk
• Budgeting In The Fun Stuff
• Blogthority
• Wealth Informatics