Photo courtesy of ClaresCupcakes.co.uk

It’s been a while since my last roundup. One thing roundups give me the opportunity to do is discuss a topic on here that may not have otherwise come up. This week, one freelance writer and one blogger wrote about subject matters I’m deeply passionate about. Another blogger simply reminded me of the value in periodically analyzing your spending behaviors.

Get Paid to Save Money by Donna Freedman at the MSN Money column Living With Less – Donna does an excellent job explaining how Individual Development Accounts (IDAs) work. Of all the different savings vehicles, IDAs are my favorite. I’m absolutely, unequivocally, in LOVE with them.

If your income is in the low to moderate range OR you know someone in the low to moderate income range OR you might meet someone in the future who’s in the low to moderate income range, then read this article. Tell anyone who’ll listen about IDAs. Pretty please?

I first learned of IDAs when I signed up as a financial education volunteer for an organization that participates in them. Every time I go near that place I wish I’d known about IDAs when I qualified. I’m not ready to tell you which organization I volunteer for, but participants receive a $3 match, up to $1,000, for every $1 saved in their IDA. *Excitedly jumps up and down* That’s $3,000 just for saving your own money! Don’t you know I’d sell everything but my organs to get that match.

Well, there are a few more things I wouldn’t sell, but my point is, if you qualify, do all you can to sign up and come up with as much money as you can to get the maximum match.

Why You Probably Shouldn’t Hire Outside Help by Wojciech Kulicki at Fiscal Fizzle – I’m so glad Wojo poked big ol’ fat, gaping holes in a stupid and widely distributed argument about money. It’s the one about paying someone to do something for you if what you pay them is less than what you could make while performing the job yourself. With the exception of child care, I can’t think of anything people do on a regular basis where they actually use the extra time to put this glorious principle into practice.

I’m not saying you should try to do everything yourself. I fully intend on hiring a night nanny when the day comes for me to have a baby in the house. These points fully capture my logic for wanting to do so:

1. I don’t want to do it myself.
2. I can afford it.

Should these two points cease to be true, guess who’ll be crawling out of bed in the middle of the night to check on their baby.

Friday Frugal Tip – Pizza Delivery by Jeff Kosola at DeliveryAwayDebt – Jeff gives a rundown of the annual cost of pizza for three of his regular customers. The graphic demonstration of the money their spending on pizza alone is enough to make you wonder if you have any habits that cost you as dearly. Whatever you’re spending your money on, whether it be pizza or makeup, try to identify ways to reduce the cost either through elimination or reduction.

Whew! Wasn’t that fun?

So here’s why I decided to associate this Weekly Roundup with Valentine’s Day even though I currently have no man and no prospects.

I’ve been taking naps off and on all day. I’m in D.C. and the city pretty much shuts down when we get this much snow.

I just had a dream I found a 50% off bottle of Valentine’s Day themed sparkling wine after February 14th. I was so excited. In the dream, I’m waiting in line when the cashiers switch registers. Some hubbub ensues, and my fabulous find goes missing for what felt like an eternity. We finally reconnect, then I wake up.

I don’t know what’s sadder. The fact that I dream about getting steep discounts or that I dream about getting steep discounts on wine.

Don’t forget to enter the $50 Amazon Gift Card Giveaway sponsored by Buxr.com.

Aah. What a week. I’ve been looking forward to writing this roundup all day. Although not totally related to personal finance, I recently discovered two great resources. They’ve made it so much easier for me to consume all the interesting information I come across.

First up is Snackr. It’s completely revolutionized how I organize my RSS subscriptions. There’s no point in trying to explain what it does when I can just copy and paste a blurb from their website.

It’s an RSS ticker that pulls random items from your feeds and scrolls them across your desktop. When you see a title that looks interesting, you can click on it to pop up the item in a window.

See. Easy peasy. If you choose to use it, I hope it’s as good to you as it is to me.

Next up is Instapaper. Like you, I can’t always immediately drop what I’m doing to read a blog post or article that interests me. Instapaper has proven to be an extremely simple and useful tool for bookmarking the stuff I want to read later.

What’s most appealing is that Instapaper allows you to install a bookmarklet at the top of your web browser. You see something you like. One click on the Read Later bookmarklet and all that nerdilicious goodness is saved for future reading. You can do the same with Delicious, but I find Instapaper’s site is a bit cleaner.

Now that that’s out the way, let’s get to the meat of what’s truly important.

After reading Why the hell do guys have to pay for everything? by Fabulously Broke, I wanted to puke. The post tells of a chick who sought alimony from her ex-husband after 25 years of divorce. And the judge granted it to her. To the tune of $1,600 per month. Come on!

I don’t buy Christmas gifts. I don’t believe in it. Gift giving that is. Christmas is cool. But if I change my position between now and the actual holiday, I’m referencing Money Funk’s Christmas Gifts Under $10.

Some gentle urging from Whitney at Thanks for the Food led me to a decision to acquire a slow cooker. If I can’t find a free one on Freecycle, borrow one from a friend, or practically steal one on Craigslist, then I’ll buy a new one. I’m looking forward to Black Friday. It’s a glorious day to pick up deeply discounted toys for yourself. Squawkfox’s How to Buy a Slow Cooker or Crock Pot is right on time.

Unfortunately, I didn’t get a chance to read as many non-You Have More Than You Think blogs as I would’ve liked. I was too busy writing five posts a week and wasting time on Twitter.

Now, it’s time to relax.

Have a wonderful weekend.

Due to a severe case of vacationitis (Ashley from SpendOnLife.com diagnosed me), I was unable to post as often as I would’ve liked this week. This condition also made it extremely taxing to do anything beyond daydream about being off from work for 10 days straight. I didn’t do much reading of other peoples’ blog posts, and I’m certainly not about to start at 10:30 on a Saturday night. So, here are the highlights of my week.

I met up with some of D.C’s finest personal finance bloggers for happy hour at The Front Page. Good eats, good drinks, good peeps. It was awesome. In attendance were the following:

• Brian from Building Wealth Together
• J. Money from Budgets are Sexy
• Miel from Dual Income No Kids Finance
• Mrs. Micah from Finance for a Freelance Life
• Pinyo from Moolanomy (actually from NYC)
• Stephanie from Poorer Than You

If you’re ever in the D.C. area, you should check out The Front Page’s happy hour. Appetizers are half price, and the house Chardonnay is $2.50 a glass. I’m not sure how much the other drinks are, but that’s cheap.

My first guest post, Five Mistakes Single Women Make with Men and Their Money, appeared on Men’s Playbook. Now, don’t be shy about going over there and leaving a comment.

Although terrifying, the death of my iPhone was a highlight of this week. My phone was wiped clean during the installation of a security patch. I’m not sure if my phone died because of my own incompetence or if Apple did something wrong. I guess we’ll never know. However, I have a sneaking suspicion I was the reason for the sudden and imminent demise of my beloved. But, Apple replaced my phone at no cost. Apparently, I have a two-year protection plan. I’m not sure how that happened, but the Genius at the Apple Store said I did. Who am I to argue with the man?

I booked a $26.50 round trip bus ticket from D.C. to New York City. The least expensive flight was $218. I feel pretty good about taking the bus. Are you going to point out the value of my time, and how it’s actually a better financial move to fly to New York? Don’t hold back. I can’t wait to defend my decision.

I’m going to try to get some rest now. I haven’t packed.

Good night (or good day depending on when you read this).

This week wasn’t bad at all. I’m still crossing my fingers and hoping my web site stays up.

The highlight of this week was having the opportunity to meet a You Have More Than You Think reader in person. The meeting was especially interesting for me because he’s from Sweden. I’m always eager to hear how people from other countries live. It fascinates me when someone makes a point that forces me to question the validity of what I’ve always held as truth. *Shivers*

Alright. We’re talking about personal finance. So without further delay, here are my weekly picks.

Calculating Net Worth: Does Home Value Belong There? by J. Money at Budgets Are Sexy.

I guess it was fate. J. Money’s August 18th (my 28th birthday!) post deals with how to calculate your net worth. Apparently, it’s more complicated than assets – liabilities = net worth. The debate surrounds whether your primary residence should be  included in the calculation.

What do you think? Don’t answer that question here. You can find my thoughts on this earth shattering, ground breaking, and mountain moving issue in the comment section of the post.

How to Minimize the Impact of Canceling A Credit Card by Jim Wang @ Bargaineering

I don’t like this new credit card legislation. I’m not convinced credit card companies are going to become any less slimy than they already are as a result of it. For that reason, I’m concerned that those of us who are responsible with credit will have to terminate existing relationships and take our business elsewhere. But there’s a catch: FICO®. How do you cause the least amount of harm to your credit score when canceling a credit card?

Who’s to Blame for Overdraft Charges? by Liz Pulliam Weston @ Ask Liz Weston

I ‘d like you to read the blog post on Liz’s web site. In case you’re pressed for time, I’ll answer the question of who’s to blame for overdraft charges: You’re to blame.

That is all.

Things You Don’t Need to Buy – Reducing Waste by Carla Rose @ Green and Chic

As long as you don’t get carried away, I find that greener living is simpler and more cost effective. Eliminating waste is a surefire way to increase your savings.

Although I’ve gotten more careful about the books I buy, I recently purchased annual subscriptions to Real Simple and Smart Money magazines. They were only $5 a piece. I’ve received four issues between the both of them and haven’t read one. We’ll see how the remaining ten months pan out.

Recognizing You Have A Problem by Mapgirl @ Mapgirl’s Fiscal Challenge

Mapgirl delves into one of the biggest unnecessary drains on our finances. Why is it so difficult to combat disorganization and laziness? For me, every day is a struggle.

Now for a little Arrested Development.

Photo By: MShades