Festival of Frugality #384

Tax season is over, y’all!!!  Well, except for those who filed extensions.  My husband and I are bad PF bloggers and waited until about a week ago to do our taxes.  We realized that we didn’t have a W-2 from Kyle’s side job (we don’t think it was ever issued), so we had to file an extension.  I actually enjoyed doing our taxes more this year than ever because I have more and more understanding of the system as time passes.  This year we even filed using the free fillable forms on the IRS website and checked it against tax software instead of filing through the software.  We never get refunds, though – we try to get as close as possible to owing/getting back $0.

How long ago did you finish filing your taxes?  Did you get a refund and if so what are you doing with it?

Now on to the Festival of Frugality!

Will presents Which are the best credit card offers for YOUR profile? posted at Card Guys Blog: “It seems like every personal finance blog has at least one “best credit cards” post. And some have several. But one size doesn’t fit all. The real question is what credit card is best for different types of spenders?”.

SBB presents Getting Dressed: Simple Ways to Save Money on Clothing posted at Simple Budget Blog: “From hand me downs to clothing buyback stores, there are ways to save money on garments for your family. Read here for great tips to buy clothes for cheap.”

Hank presents How To Save Money On Your Vacation This Summer posted at Money Q&A: “There are several easy and fairly painless ways on how to save money on your vacation. You should not have to sacrifice fun and memories sending money on what doesn’t matter to you and your trip.”

Crystal presents Where to Find Truly Free Music, Free Digital Prints, and Free eBooks Online! posted at Budgeting in the Fun Stuff: “Where to Find Truly Free Music, Free Digital Prints, and Free eBooks Online!”

TTMK presents Would You Carpool to Save Money? posted at Tie the Money Knot: “Carpooling has it’s pros and cons. One could save a fair amount of money, but may have to deal with a few inconveniences and annoyances. Is it worth it for you?”

Bob presents 5 Tips for Purchasing Your Next New Laptop Computer posted at Dwindling Debt: “Learn about the different options for laptops.”

Miss T. presents Should You Learn to Sew? posted at Prairie Eco Thrifter: “If you can’t save money, need extra tools and have to learn how, why would anyone learn to sew?”

Everything Finance presents Save Money by Making Your Own Dog Food posted at Everything Finance Blog: “When a family considers adding a new pooch to home, rarely do they think about the costs involved. Usually love at first site comes into play when choosing the perfect hound. However, don’t let those sweet puppy dog eyes fool you, they come with a price.”

Lynn presents Home Warranties: Worth the Price? posted at Wallet Hub: “A home warranty/home protection plan is a service contract that protects many of the appliances or systems (heating, plumbing, air conditioning) in your house in case they fail. They can serve as a security blanket of sorts to homeowners, particularly if you’re purchasing a home that is older or hasn’t had much in the way of upkeep over the past number of years.”

Charles presents Title Insurance Guide posted at Wallet Hub: “Most homebuyers know they’re required to take out title insurance, but but many remain uncertain about why this is so – or even what title insurance is. This guide will introduce you to the basics of title insurance and make you a smarter homebuyer in the process.”

Steve presents Guide to Cross Border Shopping for Canadians posted at Grocery Alerts: “Many Canadians cross border shop in the United States. This guide shares tips on how much you can bring back, what you can bring and useful websites.”

Glen Craig presents Free Online Checking Accounts – Why Pay More Fees Than You Have To posted at Free From Broke: “Sick of paying crazy fees for your checking account? Take a look at these free online checking accounts and find the best checking account for you.”

Glen presents The Debt Avalanche: A Better Way to Pay Off Debt? posted at Credit Card Smarts: “The debt snowball is a popular way to payoff debt. But what might be more practical is the debt avalanche. See how they differ.”

Emily presents Our Experience Using Tax Software posted at Evolving Personal Finance: “We like to use tax software to check our returns but we don’t fully trust it – we also do our returns manually so we can understand them.”

harry campbell presents Ever Taken Advantage of a Satisfaction Guarantee Offer? posted at Your PF Pro: ““Satisfaction Guarantee” is a term that I hear thrown around a lot these days. My interpretation of that phrase is that if I’m not satisfied with any aspect of the service or product I receive, I’m entitled to a full refund. That seems like a pretty bold statement, doesn’t it? What business in their right mind would allow a customer to get a refund for any reason? Seems to me like they wouldn’t make any money that way, but yet we still see these guarantees all the time.”

Mike presents Should You Pay For a Gym Membership? posted at The Financial Blogger: “Should you spend the money?”

Martin presents Experiences That I Blew a Fortune on posted at Studenomics: “Frugality? We look at my splurges in the past.”

Michael presents GPS Navigation and Financial Management posted at Financial Ramblings: “Just like when you’re on the road, unplanned pit stops can dramatically slow your approach to financial goals. Maintain you discipline or all your little sacrifices will be for naught.”

Mama Squirrel presents A Can of Pineapple? (What’s in your hand?) posted at Dewey’s Treehouse: “Ten ways to use up a can of pineapple on the shelf, or the half-can in the fridge.”

Lazy Man presents The Money Start-Up: Training and “What’s Your Time Worth” Part 3 posted at Lazy Man and Money: “For a lot of people, it’s fairly easily to estimate what their time is worth. As an entrepreneur, that value seems to change monthly. However, anyway I look at it $1000 is significant. I’m a pretty frugal person, but in one click of a mouse, I can lose all the gains from those frugal choices.”

photo from Free Digital Photos