i The Frugal Law Student | 2007 | June

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Carnival of Money Stories #14

Written by Brett McKay

Welcome to the 14th edition of Carnival of Money Stories! For this edition of the carnival there were 25 submissions; however, the majority of them were not in line with this carnival’s theme. Please remember that this carnival is for posts that have personal stories about your finances. While I enjoyed reading several articles with “how to” advice or general information about personal finance, I did not include them because they lacked a personal story. Other blog carnivals exist for such submissions. With that out of the way, on to the submissions!

Editor’s Choice

Free Money Finance recounts his unpleasant experience with his Sears Elliptical machine. FMF did an awesome job documenting his year year long ordeal with Sears. I could totally relate to his experience of buying a product that ends up being a huge hassle in your life.

Super Awesome Money Stories

Jane Chin at Jane on Career and Success discusses her and her husband’s experience with separate banking accounts

Kara-Leah Masina at Be Conscious Now describes her meaningful money makeover.

Matt Tupy at Tonic Gifts gives a personal perspective of the American dollar price on the Australian economy.

Queercents presents Ten Money Questions with furniture designer Mitchell Gold. Lots of great questions about his personal experiences with money.

Ask Mr. Credit Card recounts his first stock investment.

The Dough Roller explains his experience teaching his kids about money management with Quicken.

Tracy Coenen at The FRAUDfiles Blog talks about the credit card industry fighting against piggybacking and her experience with it in college.

The Digerati Life asks Do You Really Know How Much it Costs To Own Your Car? There’s a nice breakdown of the author’s expenses on the family minivan.

David at My Two Dollars recounts his experience with an automotive lemon law case.

Thank you all for your participation in this week’s carnival! I really enjoyed reading your personal experiences dealing with your finances. Make sure to check out next week’s Carnival of Money Stories hosted by Retire Young and Wealthy. If you’d like to participate next week, just fill out this handy form.

If you enjoyed this post, then make sure to subscribe to my RSS Feed to get daily updates.

Featured Resource

t can be difficult to be Financially savvy particularly when you are already facing Severe Credit Card Debt. If you are having trouble paying off Credit Debts and you are a homeowner then it is possible A Mortgage Refinance can help, provided you get a good rate.

> Brett McKay | 18 Jun 07 | Carnivals | Comments (5)

New Side Project: Best Facebook Applications

Written by Brett McKay

I’ve decided to start a side blog called Best Facebook Applications. The purpose is to provide people with reviews and news on the new Facebook Applications coming out.

My goal with Best Facebook Applications is to see how fast I can make it grow using all the SEO and marketing techniques I’ve picked up while writing The Frugal Law Student. So far it’s not doing too bad. Today over 200 visitors swung by the new blog. It still hasn’t been indexed by Google and I don’t have any authority on Technorati. So, if you have a blog and you ever plan to write a post on Facebook, a mention would be appreciated.

It shouldn’t take any time away from The Frugal Law Student. Each post takes about 10 minutes to write. I’m going to try and pump out about 5 posts a day on Best Facebook Applications so the Google spiders have something to read. I’d appreciate any feedback you all can supply on the new blog.

If you enjoyed this post, then make sure to subscribe to my RSS Feed to get daily updates.

[tags]Facebook, Facebook applications, Best Facebook Applications[/tags]

> Brett McKay | 17 Jun 07 | Blogging | Comments (3)

Blogging Metaphor Writing Project

Written by Brett McKay

I recently took part in a group writing project hosted by Liz Strauss at Successful and Outstanding Bloggers. The goal of the project was to create a metaphor to explain what blogging is to people not familiar with it. It was a lot of fun to participate in. I submitted my post “Behold, A Blogging Sower Went Forth to Sow Links.”

Here’s a list of the other submissions. Go by and check them out. They’re a lot of fun to read.

If you enjoyed this post, then make sure to subscribe to my RSS Feed to get daily updates.

[tags]Liz Strauss, blogging, writing project[/tags]

> Brett McKay | 16 Jun 07 | Blogging | Comment (1)

Ideas for Homemade Father’s Day Cards and Beyond

Written by Mrs. FLS

Father’s Day is Sunday. Have you bought a card for your dad yet? Well I hope not….because you should make one instead! I have always been really into making homemade cards. Not just because it is frugal-which it is-but because they are so much better than store bought cards. Why buy someone a card with a canned sentiment that doesn’t really express how you feel? “Dear Dad, my heart swells with love and gratitude as deep as a rolling river on this Father’s Day.” Ick. Most people, both those who buy the card and those who receive it, barely even read the inscription because they know someone they have never met, toiling away in Hallmark’s offices, wrote it. A homemade card allows you to write your own message and most importantly it tells the recipient that you cared enough to take the time to make something yourself with the person in mind. People seriously love homemade cards. No joke.

I think I have a knack for homemade cards. But I know that some people struggle to come up with good/funny ideas. So I thought I would share some ideas I have used in the past. Some of them are good for Father’s Day, and some are for other occasions or any old time. These cards are so easy, you will be finished making it in the time it would have taken to drive to Walgreen’s and back.

The easiest way to come up with a homemade card idea is to think of a funny pun. Don’t worry if it is cheesy or silly, the cheesier and sillier the better. Then you just build the card around that pun.

For example: Cut out a gray circle from construction paper. Glue a little string to the “top” (inasmuch as a circle has a top). Then draw a little flame, cut it out, and glue it to the top of the string. On the back of the circle, write “I hope your Father’s Day/Birthday is the BOMB!” Or, since bomb is rather “out” these days, write “I hope your ____is a BLAST!” Cheesy and delicious.

The easiest source of puns is food for some reason. I have this non-realistic dream of manufacturing a line of greeting cards called “Comfort Foods.” Since this is never going to happen, here are some of my ideas you can make at home. Note: for all these ideas, you can either cut the actual card into the shape or object mentioned, draw it, or what is even easier for the non-art inclined, simply find the picture online, print it, cut it out, and paste it on the front of card.

1. For example cut the card into the shape of a pickle or draw or paste a picture of a pickle unto the front of folded paper. On the inside write “You’ve always been there to help me out of a pickle. Happy Father’s Day!”

2. Cut/Paste/Draw a picture of a bunch of grapes. Then inside write “Hope you have a GRAPE Father’s Day/Birthday/Ect.

3. Cut out a white circle. Color a yellow circle in the middle. On the back write “Hope you have an Egg-cellent Father’s Day/Birthday/Ect.

4. Cut/Paste/Draw a slice of pizza. On the back write “You’re the best slice of life! Have a good……”

5. Cut/Copy/Draw a wedge of cheese. Write on front “I know this may sounds cheesy…” and then on the back write “but you’re the best dad/husband/friend in the world!”

Or for a more complicated variation on this theme: Draw a cob of corn on yellow construction paper. Cut it out. Cut out some green paper husk leaves. Attach them to the bottom of cob so they cover the bottom and the corn cob sprouts out. Write on the outside of the leaves “I know this may sound corny….” And then they bend back the husk leaves, and on the inside of the leaves or on the part of cob that was covered you have written “But you are the best __________ in the world!”

Current Events and Pop Culture are also fertile sources of ideas for puns for your card. For example for a love interest:

1. Find a picture of Kim Jong Il, dictator of N. Korea, print it, cut it out, and paste it on the front of folded paper. Draw a red heart around him. On the inside write “I just wanted to tell you that I’m CRAZY about you!”

2. Or print and cut out a picture of Mr. Peanut. Paste it, and on the inside of the card write, “I’m NUTS about you.” This would also work with a picture of a squirrel.

3. When the “The Secret” had just hit it big in the news and on Oprah, Brett made me a card in which he drew The Secret’s symbol on the front and wrote inside “It’s no secret I love you a lot.” Or when I was into watching the Bachelor reality show (it was a guilty pleasure, so sue me!), he made a card with a rose on the front, and inside it, it said “Kate, will you accept this rose?” Funny, ironic, sweet. What more can you ask for?

If you want to do something more involved, here are a couple of ideas:

1. A good Father’s Day “card” for kids to make is as follows. Draw a very little picture of your dad and cut it out. Stuff it inside a blue balloon. Blow up balloon and tie it off. Tape some green construction paper continents to the outside. Present the balloon to dad to pop. When he does, the little picture of himself will fall out and you will have written on it before insertion, “You are the best dad in the world!” Classic.

2. Here is a good one for a love interest. Cut/Draw/Paste a picture of a fisherman. Attach a string to his “pole.” At the end place a construction paper fish. On the fish write: “You are such a catch! I love you!”

For a Thank You card to someone for sending you money:

1. Cut/Draw/Paste a picture of a cow. On the back or inside write “Thank you for the Moooooola.”

2. Cut/Draw/Paste a picture of someone spreading butter on a slice of bread. Inside or on the back write “Thank you for spreading the love.”

So here are some ideas to get your creative juices flowing. Give dad something funny, personalized, memorable, and from the heart this Sunday. And save a couple bucks in the process!

> Mrs. FLS | 15 Jun 07 | Frugality, Gifts, Simplicity, This And That, Tips, Uncategorized | Comments (13)

Carnival Roundup- June 15, 2007

Written by Brett McKay

This week I participated in three carnivals: Carnival of Personal Finance, Festival of Frugality, and the Carnival of Money Stories.

Carnival of Personal Finance #104 was hosted by Getting Green. They were kind enough to include my post Personal Financial Advice Young People DON’T Want To Hear.

The Festival of Frugality # 78 was hosted by Frugal Upstate. They published my wife’s post on why the library is better than Netflix.

Carnival of Money Stories #13 was hosted by Money Walks. They were kind enough to include my post on my biggest financial blunders.

I want to thank each of these fine blogs for taking the time to host and including my submissions. Go by their sites, look around, and make sure to subscribe to their feeds:

Subscribe to Getting Green.

Subscribe to Frugal Upstate.

Subscribe to Money Walks.

If you enjoyed this post, then make sure to subscribe to my RSS Feed to get daily updates.

[tags]blog carnivals, money, personal finance[/tags]

> Brett McKay | 15 Jun 07 | Carnivals | Comment (1)

How To Rotate Your Car Tires

Written by Brett McKay

gluetire300.jpg

Tires seem to be the most neglected part on a car. If proper maintenance isn’t given to tires, you can find yourself forking over some serious dough replacing them more often then you should. Tire rotation is an important part of proper tire care. Most people take their cars in to shops and pay up to $20 for this simple 15 minute job. Today we’ll discuss why tire rotation is important and how you can do it yourself to save some money.

Why rotate your tires?

Tire rotation means changing where individual tires are mounted on the vehicle. Different tires wear differently because they carry different loads and face different road conditions. For example, the front tires carry about 60 percent of the car’s weight. So, the front tires are going to wear much more quickly than the rear tires. To make those front tires last longer, we need switch them with the rear tires to give them a break.

How often should you rotate tires?

Check your car’s owner’s manual for the recommend tire rotation schedule. If the manual doesn’t give you a recommendation, shoot to rotate your tires every 5,000 miles.

How do you rotate tires?

Rotating tires isn’t very difficult. Think of it as changing a spare tire on each wheel.

You’ll need jack stands to do this. Jack stands allow you to keep your car elevated while you switch the tires out. If you look around you can find jack stands for about the same price you would spend on one tire rotation at a shop.

  1. Loosen the lug nuts on all your wheels. You don’t want to take them completely off yet. This will make unscrewing them when the car is elevated much easier.
  2. Use a car jack to lift up the car and place a jack stand under both the rear and front axels.
  3. Take off the lug nuts and put them in a safe place.
  4. Now the rotating begins. There are different recommendations of how you should rotate your tires. Some professionals recommend you switch the front tires to the rear, keeping the tires on the same side. Other professionals recommend the “cross rotation” in which the front tires are moved to the opposite sides of the rear, right-front to left-rear and left-front to right rear and the rears are moved straight forward. Give your dealer a call for what they recommend on your particular car.
  5. After you rotated the tires, screw the lug nuts on by hand as much as you can and then with the lug wrench as much as you can.
  6. Lower the car from the jack stands. Take the lug wrench and tighten the nuts even more. It’s best to work in the lug nuts diagonally from one to another. It looks like a star pattern. It allows the nuts to screw in better.
  7. You’re done. Now go drink your favorite cold beverage.

If you enjoyed this post, then make sure to subscribe to my RSS Feed to get daily updates.

[tags]car maintenance, tires, frugality[/tags]

> Brett McKay | 15 Jun 07 | Cars, Frugality | Comments (4)
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