CARNIVAL OF MONEY STORIES 2, Perfectionism Edition

AVOIDING PERFECTIONISM

Until I met El Carino, I never realized perfectionism was unhelpful. In fact, El Carino is the anti-perfectionist and a MASTER at creating multiple streams of income. In his spare time, on the week ends, he writes books, chapters, and research articles. On top of that he consults and trains both in the U.S. and internationally. The sum total is quite a bit of additional income. He doesn’t worry about typos or making a draft without errors. Not only that, he prioritizes time with the family and fun! He is a huge inspiration to me!

For my first jump into the Carnival Hosting pool, I am going counter to my “perfectionist” traits. In fact, this Carnival is dedicated to El Carino, the anti-perfectionist. The carnival has no special theme. What it does have is some wonderful Money Stories. Please check  them out.

For all of you participants: Don’t forget to link back here from your own site. Please promote the carnival as well; twitter, facebook, tipd, stumble, and delicious are great! (see icons at the bottom of the carnival)

Personal Finance

• BWL presents Reaching Your Goals: A Lesson From Joseph posted at Christian Personal Finance, saying, “A look at the old story of Joseph from the Bible and what we can learn about reaching our goals…”
• Everything Finance presents Budgeting Tips for Couples posted at Everything Finance, saying, “The days where your biggest decision as a couple was what movie you were going to watch are over. Now, you are taking a new step as partners – perhaps you have recently moved in together, or are considering starting a family.  
•  Odysseas presents Gas Credit Cards Provide a Little Slice of Jersey posted at Wallet Blog, saying, “Looking for a way to save money on gas? Read this story of how one blogger found the perfect gas credit card and ended up saving $190 in one year.”
• Kristina presents Retirement Savings Plan Update: It’s Time to Smile posted at Dual Income No Kids, saying, “I don’t believe in paying for something that I can do myself “
• Shaheen E Lakhan presents The Price of Happiness posted at Brain Blogger, saying, “An analysis of income and happiness in the United States reveals that a salary of $75,000 does, in fact, buy happiness.”
• Debt kid presents Getting That Home-Stretch Feeling posted at DebtKid.
• Ctreit presents Spend money on relationships! posted at Money Obedience, saying, “Relationships are very important in life. Make sure that you nourish them.”

Business

•  Christina Crowe presents How Reading without Action Can Make Your Business Suffer posted at Cash Campfire, saying, “All too often I see this, and yet all too often I fall into the same trap. By soaking in information without taking action, your business cannot grow. This article talks about how too much information can prevent progress, and, ultimately, set you up for failure.”
• Randall Davidson presents 233 Ways to Make Money posted at Transcription Blog, saying, “A list of 233 legitimate ways to make money, most of which don’t require any special training.”
•  FMF presents My Recent New Car Purchase posted at Free Money Finance, saying, “I just bought a new car. Here’s how I did it.”
• Neal Frankle presents How To Hire A Top Financial Advisor Even If You Don’t Have Much To Invest posted at Wealth Pilgrim: Money Management Advice, Financial Stess Management, Addiction Recovery Plan & Resources, saying, “You can hire a top financial advisor – even if you don’t have much money.”
• Len Penzo presents How A Lemonade Stand Taught My Daughter To Love Monopolies posted at Len Penzo . Com. You gotta read this one!

Career

• Jeff Rose, CFP presents Is College Overrated? The Top 12 Highest Paying Jobs with NO College Degree posted at Jeff Rose, saying, “This article takes a look at some of the highest paying jobs that one could get with no college degree.”

Debt

• J. Jeff Rose, CFP presents Being Flat Broke Sucks: Inspiring Story of Surving Rock Bottom posted at soldieroffinance.com, saying, “There’s nothing more uplifting that a personal journey that ends it triumph. Here’s his story of how after day-trading away a quarter million dollars began digging his way out of debt in 2007″
• Wenchypoo presents New Ways Bankers are Spying on You posted at Wisdom From Wenchypoo’s Mental Wastebasket, saying, “In an effort to head off personal financial meltdowns, an individual financial version of the Patriot Act has been unleashed on us all. Like WE were the sole cause of the LAST meltdown!”

Housing

• Kristia presents Our Riskiest Money Decision posted at Family Balance Sheet, saying, “I’m taking a chance now to hopefully save us thousands of dollars later.”  
• Big Cajun Man presents That is One BIG Mortgage posted at Canadian Personal Finance Blog, saying, “Canadians hold over a trillion dollars in Mortgage debt.”  
• Passive family income presents How I Saved Over $70,000 on my Mortgage posted at Passive Family Income, saying, “Financial independence can only be achieved by taking two separate but equally important actions – spending less and earning more. Cutting back on your mortgage is one way we saved a lot more.”

Investing

• Roger Wohlner presents The Election and Your Financial Plan posted at Chicago Financial Planner.  
• HomeList presents The Story of My First Time Investing posted at The Investor’s Journal.
• Mike @ Green Panda presents Know When to Sell Your Investments posted at Green Panda Treehouse, saying, “A look at when and why to get out of investments.”  
• Joe Plemon presents How to 86 your 401(k) posted at Personal Finance By The Book, saying, “Your retirement account is NOT a savings account. This story makes the point.”
• Studenomist presents Is Student Debt Good Debt? posted at Studenomics.com, saying, “Can you consider student debt to be good?”
• Sandy presents One Year On Prosper posted at Yes, I Am Cheap, saying, “It’s been one year since I began investing through Prosper.com. Time to see how I did.”  
• Freefrombroke presents An Against the Grain Approach to Prioritizing Your Savings posted at Free From Broke, saying, “Before we can start thinking about the future we need to make sure our present finances are taken care of.”

Net Worth

•  The Financial Blogger presents Lifestyle Inflation Infection posted at The Financial Blogger, saying, “How many of us are guilty of spending more than we should.” Read this one for a smile!

Other

• Michael Pruser presents Should Kids Save for Their Own College Fund? posted at The Dough Roller.
• Michael presents Mint Data: More Than You Care to Know About Other People’s Spending Habits posted at Consumerism Commentary.
•  Buck Weber presents Ten Tips to Stop Living Paycheck to Paycheck posted at THE BUCK LIST, saying, “The figures are startling to say the least – over 70 percent of Americans live from paycheck to paycheck. By the time pay day comes around, they’re broke and waiting to get their hands on the money that is due them. It’s a vicious cycle that they cannot seem to break; it becomes a habit that is hard to get rid of; in short, it’s like a ticking time bomb waiting to go off.”
• Briana Ford presents Join Our Group Writing Project: Holidays and Money posted at GoBankingRates, saying, “It’s time again for the next Go Banking Rates writing project! This month’s theme is geared toward the upcoming holiday season, so everyone should be able to add their two cents.”
• Liz M. presents The Emotional Impact of the Economy: Case Study posted at Suddenly Downsized, saying, “A look at the emotional impact of the economy and tips for coping with the negative effects.”
• J. Savings presents Always keep $100 in your checking account posted at Budgets Are Sexy, saying, “…to save you from making an ass out of youself! ”
• Ray @ Financial Highway presents Will You Have a Frugal Holiday Season? posted at Financial Highway, saying, “Are consumers really ready to spend more money come this holiday season? Maybe not. Perhaps frugality has caught on a bit. Maybe it will become a new holiday tradition.”
• Donna Freedman presents Let me eat cake. posted at Surviving and Thriving, saying, “Must PF bloggers always be beyond reproach, or at least approaching the off-ramp?”
• J. Jeff Rose, CFP presents Finding Your True Battle Buddy to Combat Your Financial Demons posted at soldieroffinance.com, saying, “As you go through the Solder Of Finance process and just sort of take charge of your life again, you are going to need support.”

Shopping

• Lauren Mendel presents No Need to Stir! posted at Richly Reasonable – Successes and failures, all in the name of living reasonably., saying, “What would you do for a couple of bucks? At what point does the money at stake become important enough to raise your blood pressure? For some, the principle of the matter is always worth the time and effort spent.”
• Cynthia presents My Car is Ruining my Shoes! posted at Cynthia’s Debt Marathon.
• Khaleef @ KNS Financial presents CVS Shopping for the Week of 11.07.10 – Saved $42, Spent $5, Made $9 posted at Faithful With A Few, saying, “Check out how we took advantage of deals, coupons, and ECBs in order to have CVS pay us to shop! Learn how to find these deals and match up coupons without spending an afternoon clipping away!”
• Silicon Valley Blogger presents Frugal Health and Beauty Tips: Look Good & Save $800 A Year posted at The Digerati Life, saying, “My personal stories on how to look good and stay healthy on a budget.”
•  Wenchypoo presents Cash Back Program Didn’t Include Food as Groceries posted at Wisdom From Wenchypoo’s Mental Wastebasket.
•  Tom @ Canadian Finance Blog presents Theme Your Christmas posted at The Canadian Finance Blog, saying, “Declaring a theme for Christmas is one of the best ways that we forced ourselves to save money for the holidays.”

image credit: EGSalms

Next week’s host is, Prarie Eco Thrifter. And a thank you to Blog Carnival and Mrs. Accountability for managing the event.  Submit your blog article to the next edition of carnival of money stories 2 using the carnival submission form.