Last week, we took part in 4 carnivals:

• All Things Eco - Hosted at Focus Organic and including our Fresh movie review.
• The Carnival of Money Stories - Hosted at Almost Frugal and featuring our advice from Rabbi Daniel Lapin
• Make It From Scratch Carnival - Hosted by 11th Heaven's Homemaking Haven with the Mrs' Cherry Lemonade recipie.
• Road to Financial Independence Roundup - One Family's Blog has issue number 10
  

Maybe even more important...

Yesterday's post on our chicken coop was post number 400!

We were also featured on MSN's SmartSpending Blog for our post on rescuing the laundry from the curse of the purple crayon. Thanks, Karen!

Here are our favorite posts from around the blogosphere:

• How to make your own Air Conditioner (seriously, you've got to see this)
  
• Saving Your Way Through College
• Compost Wars
• On a Budget, Not Broke
• Recession is a Great Opportunity to Establish Long Term Bartering Agreements
• From Envy to Admiration: When She's Got What You Want
• Easy Gift for a Teacher
  

What a week - Thanks for reading!

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This week we took part in 3 carnivals / festivals. As usual, there's loads of great content - and the other blogger's posts are pretty good too! Be sure to check them out.

Festival of Frugality - Carrie at It's Frugal Being Green brings the frugality this week and features our post on salvaging the laundry after the attack of the purple crayon.

Carnival of Personal Finance - Our favorite French finance blog, Almost Frugal, gives us a language lesson as well as an Editor's Pick for our post on Roth IRAs.

Carnival of the Green - Victoria Klein gives us the green goodness this week including our review of Fresh the movie.

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Last week we took part in two carnivals - both posts were from our FPU series. If you missed a couple weeks or the entire thing, then check out our wrap-up post with links to all 13 lessons.

Carnival of Personal Finance - was hosted last week by Stephanie at Poorer Than You. I was totally impressed by her US Presients theme. Check us out as FRD with our FPU Week 11 post.

Christian Carnival - Micey hosts the 286th edition over at Thoughts and Confessions... She was kind enough to include our FPU Week 13 post about the Great Miunderstanding.
read more tags

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Ahhh, Father's Day! That wondrous time of year, when families all over the country look at each other and ask, "What the heck are we getting Dad this year?" Today we'll look at 19 stories or personal experiences with money as well as some classic Father's Day gifts.

We are pleased to welcome all new readers to Not the Jet Set. To find out more about us, click here. We are a personal finance blog focused on frugality, stewardship, and current events, while also telling our story as a family and the personal finance decisions we have made. Thanks for stopping by and be sure to subscribe and check out our NtJS Cafepress shop!

One more thing - Help us, yourselves and the carnival by:

• Subscribing to our feed
• Submitting the carnival to sites like PF Buzz, Reddit, Digg, Stumble Upon, or Technorati
• Linking back to the carnival.
  

On with the stories...



The "#1 Dad" mug truly says it all when it comes to dear old Dad. "Dad, I love you enough to wait until the last minute, and then get you another crummy coffee mug". Here's this week's #1 Dads (Editor's pics):

• Patrick @ Cash Money Life presents How Much is Your Time Worth? posted at Cash Money Life.
  
• Ryan P Smith presents How I Saved $652 on Car Insurance: My Geico vs. Esurance Story posted at SpendOnLife.
  

You know you did it. At some point or another, you got Dad a tie for Father's Day. This is especially bad if your father doesn't dress up a lot. Even if he did, like my father, was he really short one? Surely that randomly picked out, "I think this one looks nice" tie was the one to complete his collection.

• The Happy Rock presents Want a sure thing? Invest in Pearl Jam! posted at The Happy Rock.
  
• David R. Lampsen presents It’s the Grocery Game… And I’m Actually Interested posted at Personal Finance Analyst.
  
• Mr Credit Card presents Struggling with business debt posted at Ask Mr Credit Card's Blog.
  
• nickel presents Gardening for Health, Wealth, and Independence posted at fivecentnickel.com.
• Ben presents Credit Card Telephone Scammers posted at Money Smart Life.
  

In my family, someone was getting chocolates on Father's Day - Dad, the Grandpa's, Uncles... somebody. Really this wasn't a bad deal as the box would usually be passed around at some point. As a recipient, this is one of the better gifts, provided it's not a chocolate necktie!

• MoneyNing presents Turbocharge Your Savings with Certificate of Deposits (CDs) posted at Personal Finance Blog by Money Ning.
  
• DR presents Say Goodbye to Cable and Hello to Free Digital TV! posted at The Dough Roller.
  
• FFB presents My 401(k) Investments Are Up And What I’m Doing About It posted at Free From Broke.
  
• J. Money presents What Would You Do With 3 Financial Do-Overs? posted at Budgets are Sexy..
  
• jim presents Buying Discount Postage Stamps posted at Blueprint for Financial Prosperity.
  

There was always 'that gadget'. Something you were so sure that Dad would love. And maybe he did. Was it a Palm? A pocket knife? A mechanical credit card organizer?!? Bonus points if it came from the Sharper Image.

• Renee V. Rouse presents Frugal-Living-Skills Blog: Family Meals for Under $5 - Tater Tot Casserole posted at Frugal-Living-Skills Blog.
  
• Jack Schmidt presents How to Drive Ahead Through Tough Financial Times posted at SectorMatic Money Journal.
  
• Chris McClelland presents Beware of Shifty Credit Related Phone Calls posted at Lucrative Investing.
  
• FMF presents Free Money Finance: Should You Let Your Car Idle or Turn It Off? posted at Free Money Finance.
  

Gift or no gift, you just couldn't go wrong getting Dad a card. I mean really, what better way to tell Dad how you feel about him than in someone else's overly generalized words. Bonus points if the card had a tie on it. Double bonus points if the tie said "#1 Dad" on it.

• Skip McGrath presents Words From Abe Lincoln posted at The Official Geezer Guide Blog.
  
• Stephen Todd presents Trading Stocks With A System posted at Buy Stocks.
  
• Vic presents Why the Rich Get Richer posted at Medan Kota.
  

Make him something. Something you're good at. Dad got choked up one year when I made him a picture frame with an old picture of us in it. Maybe better yet - spend some time with the guy. Take him to a ball game, or a car show, or a movie, or whatever. The activity isn't nearly as important as the interaction. A few hours and a couple of beers later and he won't care if the card is reused from last year.

Happy Father's Day!

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This week we were included on three carnivals and festivals. It has been AGES since we participated in the blog carnival circuit. I thought we'd get back into it, but likely not on a weekly basis.

We are pleased to welcome all new readers, as well as new carnivals to Not the Jet Set. To find out more about us, click here. We are a personal finance blog focused on frugal living, green living, and our opinion, while also telling our story as a family and the personal finance decisions we have made. Thanks for stopping by and be sure to check out our NtJS Cafepress shop!

On with the round up...


Carnival of College and Finance: Hosted by College and Finance, you'll find us under the 'Credit Card' heading with an oldie, but a goodie - did your son or daughter get a credit card once on campus? Did you tell them it was a good idea? You might want to rethink that one....


Festival of Frugality: Always the Planner hosts this week's edition as we the Mrs. asks, "How expensive is a child?"


Carnival of Personal Finance: The granddaddy of them all - the CoPF is hosted by the Weakonomist and features our Tale of Two Businesses. Forget finances, what's your plan?!

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This week we were included on four carnivals and festivals. Be sure to check out a new series by the Mrs. on products still made in America. A good primer for your Holiday shopping.

We are pleased to welcome all new readers, as well as new carnivals to Not the Jet Set. To find out more about us, click here. We are a personal finance blog focused on frugality, stewardship, and current events, while also telling our story as a family and the personal finance decisions we have made. Thanks for stopping by and be sure to check out our NtJS Cafepress shop!

On with the round up...


Festival of Frugality: Bargain Briana takes us through the Election Day edition of the FoF. Trade agreements made headlines late in the campaign and the Mrs's new series on products made in the USA kicks off with a post about your kicks.

• Lisa at Greener Pastures asks, "Would you buy an American car?". We answer with a resounding, "Yes!".
  

Carnival of Money Stories: SimplyForties hosts this week with their take on an Election Day Edition. What is this election everyone keeps talking about?! Just kidding! Our entry this week is on a much more serious note: Layoffs and the survival there of.

• No More Spending is not only getting out of debt, but also greatly simplifying their finances and accounts. See how.
  

Carnival of Money Hacks: the 37th edition bucks the election theme trend in favor of 'Wonders of the World' garb. Our post falls under the Great Wall of China heading as layoffs reach an equally staggering magnitude.


Carnival of Wealth, Money, and Life: Under the heading of 'Life', we talk about death and the prospect of dying without a will. Getting a will is not as hard as you think and more neccessary than you can imagine.


Thanks for reading and thanks to all the hosts. Don't forget to tell your friends and subscribe to get updates via email or RSS.

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This week we were included on five carnivals and festivals. Another slow posting week here at NtJS due to, life getting in the way. Stay tuned - lots of good stuff on the way and in the hopper. Be sure to check out the return of ReUse It!

We are pleased to welcome all new readers, as well as new carnivals to Not the Jet Set. To find out more about us, click here. We are a personal finance blog focused on frugality, stewardship, and current events, while also telling our story as a family and the personal finance decisions we have made. Thanks for stopping by and be sure to check out our NtJS Cafepress shop!

On with the round up...


Carnival of All Things Eco: The twenty-first edition is hosted at Focus Organic and features Mrs. NtJS's adventures in baby-wrangling and cloth-diapering. I also liked:

• Craft Stew has 10 ideas for reusing greeting cards.
  

Carnival of Personal Finance: Class clown, J. Money, hosts this week's CoPF at Budgets Are $exy. This week, we make rare appearance in the 'Credit' category with our post on credit reports vs. credit scores. Do you know the difference? Also be sure to check out:

• Christian Personal Finance's post on the cost of using credit cards that people forget about.
• FruGal offers the top tips for avoiding problems with your landlord.

Carnival of Money Stories: So Cal Savvy hosts this week, and just before being taken down by a sinus infection. Not Fun! Get well soon! Something that is fun? Finding good news in your mortgage statement. Some other good news:

• The Personal Financier saved around $2k by making over their existing bedroom suit instead of buying new. Check out the results!
  

Festival of Frugality: Is up at the Mighty Bargain Hunter with the Free Extra Money Edition (not entirely sure what that means). Featured is our tips for saving money on Halloween costumes. At our daughters school Halloween party, there were a lot of home-made costumes, many of which were quite clever.


Make It From Scratch Carnival: More than a mouthful, 11th Heaven's Homemaking Haven hosts this week and did an awesome job with a more visual version of the carnival. Our extra effort in the photography department pays off with our post on making these attractive reusable produce bags. Some other attractive posts from the carnival:

• The Empty Nester goes through some trial and error in preserving fruits and veggies.
• Fun Foods on a Budget makes pumpkin puree for pies. We've got 4 pie pumpkins awaiting this same fate.
• The Sojourner gets a little crazy and makes a purse out of a dog food bag??? It's actually pretty cool - check it out.
• How To: Tips and Tricks read the Mrs's mind with a how-to on chicken coup building.
  

Thanks for reading and thanks to all the hosts. Don't forget to tell your friends and subscribe to get updates via email or RSS.

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This week we were included on two carnivals and festivals. Another slow posting week here at NtJS due to, life getting in the way. Stay tuned - lots of good stuff on the way and in the hopper. Be sure to check out the return of ReUse It!

We are pleased to welcome all new readers, as well as new carnivals to Not the Jet Set. To find out more about us, click here. We are a personal finance blog focused on frugality, stewardship, and current events, while also telling our story as a family and the personal finance decisions we have made. Thanks for stopping by and be sure to check out our NtJS Cafepress shop!

On with the round up...


Carnival of Politics: Is a new one for us. Not your typical carnival as your post has to receive 5 votes to be included. We skated in (on our first try!) with our Patriot Pact.



Carnival of Personal Finance: Greener Pastures hosts this week's CoPF with a Colombus Day Edition. Included is our mockumercial for the Need Meter


Thanks for reading and thanks to all the hosts. Don't forget to tell your friends and subscribe to get updates via email or RSS.

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This week we were included on four carnivals and festivals. Sad to report that we don't have time to add some suggested reading from each carnival, but then again, we barely got this one out as is! Enjoy the round up, and be sure to visit the carnivals as there are some great posts on there other than the ones written by us:)

We are pleased to welcome all new readers, as well as new carnivals to Not the Jet Set. To find out more about us, click here. We are a personal finance blog focused on frugality, stewardship, and current events, while also telling our story as a family and the personal finance decisions we have made. Thanks for stopping by and be sure to check out our NtJS Cafepress shop!

On with the round up...


Carnival of Kids and Money: Is hosted by Money Hacks and features our post on College Kids and Credit Cards. A great read if you got sucked in by one of these slimeballs, or know someone who did.


Make It From Scratch! Carnival: Is at it's mother blog this week. Included is our post on putting up peppers for the winter after doing without for most of the year.


Festival of Frugality: Up at Dollar Frugal this week, includes our mocku-mercial on our financial product of the centruy - The Need Meter! Get yours today!


Carnival of Money Stories: Hosted by Living Almost Large, opted in to our post on opting out. You'll want to do this if you haven't already.


Thanks for reading and thanks to all the hosts. Don't forget to tell your friends and subscribe to get updates via email or RSS.

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This week we were included on three carnivals and festivals. Another crazy week here on the NtJS ranch. Fear not ReUse It! fans, that camera we were mulling over is on order, and a new ReUse It! post should be up next week.

We are pleased to welcome all new readers, as well as new carnivals to Not the Jet Set. To find out more about us, click here. We are a personal finance blog focused on frugality, stewardship, and current events, while also telling our story as a family and the personal finance decisions we have made. Thanks for stopping by and be sure to check out our NtJS Cafepress shop!

On with the round up...


Green It! Carnival: Is back and hosted by Green Me. It may not mean anything, but our post is listed first. Could be nothing. Just sayin'.

• Your Finish Rich Plan is plugging air leaks - something I need to address as well.

Festival of Frugality: Is up at Value For Your Life and is full of gratitude. Now show a little gratitude and we'll pour you a drink.

• FruGal (love that name) shows her not-so frugal bits.
• Our Fourpence Worth had the A/C go out and chose not to fix it! 10 days down.
  

Carnival of Money Stories: Funny About Money hosts the double trouble edition this week as last weeks was put on ice. Despite not earning a little red heart, we think you'll enjoy our post on a want that became a need. Some other enjoyable posts:

• SimplyForties pays some Stupid Tax. We all have at some time, but this one is pretty rough.
• The Happy Rock made the tough choice of selling a van that they love. Dump the debt and sacrifice now to win later.
  

Thanks for reading and thanks to all the hosts. Don't forget to tell your friends and subscribe to get updates via email or RSS.

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This week we were included on three carnivals and festivals. If you enjoy our posts, then share them! In addition to the old links on each post, we've added an AddThis button that includes many of the popular link sharing sites. Give it a try. Thanks!

We are pleased to welcome all new readers, as well as new carnivals to Not the Jet Set. To find out more about us, click here. We are a personal finance blog focused on frugality, stewardship, and current events, while also telling our story as a family and the personal finance decisions we have made. Thanks for stopping by and be sure to check out our NtJS Cafepress shop!

On with the round up...


Make It From Scratch! Carnival: Chez Artz hosts our group of experimenters, cooks, and crafters this week and included our ReUse It post on babylegs (these are really cool, especially if you cloth diaper). Here is another post that I enjoyed:

• I'm picky about my salsa, but Out of Debt Again's method sure comes out looking right and reminds me of how we used to do it.

Carnival of Personal Finance: SundMoneyMatters is our host this week and celebrates the change of seasons the Fall Edition of the carnival. Also quite timely is our post that asks and attempts to answer the question on everybody's minds - Wo killed the economy? Some other posts of interest:

• Student Scrooge complains about gas stations being less accepting of credit and offering cash discounts.
• Art of the Coupon shares a story about discount pregnancy tests.
  

Festival of Frugality: My Two Dollars has a Hastily put together "The Host Bailed Out" Edition. Be sure to check it out - it includes our Kennedy-esque post on our economy.


Carnival of Money Stories: Was hosted by.... no one! It was postponed. This weeks is hosted by Funny About Money. Be sure to check it out.


Thanks for reading and thanks to all the hosts. Don't forget to tell your friends and subscribe to get updates via email or RSS.

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This week we were included on eight carnivals and festivals - two were Editor's Picks! We've also broken the 100 mark on subscribers, and despite Feedburner's waffling, we're very thrilled! Thanks for reading and tell your friends!

We are pleased to welcome all new readers, as well as new carnivals to Not the Jet Set. To find out more about us, click here. We are a personal finance blog focused on frugality, stewardship, and current events, while also telling our story as a family and the personal finance decisions we have made. Thanks for stopping by and be sure to check out our NtJS Cafepress shop!

On with the round up...

Rich Life Carnival: Installment #9 is up at Your Finish Rich Plan. As they get back to basics, so do we with our extravagantly frugal post on cutting the cable. Here is another post that I enjoyed:

• Marcus Smith via Personal Hack gets us off our butts and getting things done.
  

Carnival of Personal Finance: Can be found at The Personal Financier, in the Famous Last Sentences edition. Maybe we can add, "All those Dave Ramsey listeners are bad at math." to the list. Some other notable articles:

• FruGal asks why people care about what others spend on a wedding. Great blog name, btw. Had no idea.
  
• Budgets Are $exy has a delightfully odd, yet insightful post. Now what are you doing playing the lottery?!
• I Debt Because I Like Nice Things warns of high heating costs to come. What is your plan?
  

Festival of Frugality: Living Almost large has the festival ready for it's close-up with the Celebrity edition. Our Friends in High Places post falls under the Jay Leno - Savings/Coupon heading. After getting over the initial disappointment (fervently a Letterman fan), I learn that Jay is incredibly frugal for a celeb. We'll take it! Some other tabloid worthy posts:

• Single Guy Money kills two birds with one stone with a garage sale.
• Jim at Blueprint for Financial Prosperity shares a great way to get rid of ants. We do this too, and it works great!
  

Carnival of Money Stories: Is hosted by My Daily Dollars and adorned in American 'Classics'. Included as an Editor's Pick is our post on something dumb I did with money - who knew? Here is another great story:

• Harvesting Dollars thinks sensibly about Hurricane Ike, instead of acting in fear.
  

Carnival of Debt Reduction: The Mighty Bargain Hunter hosts this week with 'no fancy themes'. Just a focus on reducing debt. Amen to that. Reducing debt typically means changing behaviors and reducing spending. Brown baggin' it vs. eating out is a great place to start. Also give these guys a look:

• The Financial Wellness Project considers a loan against her 401k to pay down debt. Is it the right move?
  
• Paid Twice can't just throw an extra $1300 per month at debt. So now what?
  

Carnival of Financial Learning: Financial Learn brings us the carnival this week with the Hurricane Ike edition. Horrible what happened there. Eager to see what is left of Galveston Island - afraid our favorite sea food restaurant may be one of those piles of rubble they keep showing. Check out our post on eating out, as well as these other financial lessons:

• Future Nest Egg has the top 5 sneaky ways that credit card companies get you. Only 5?
• Truthful lending has a handy glossary of mortgage terms.
  

Make It From Scratch! Carnival: Funny about Money takes on hosting duties this week and has our ReUse It! Rice Packs post as an Editor's Pick! Definitely a series to keep up with.

• Almost Frugal gets into Ikea hacking with a sweet laptop case.
• Out of Debt Again has some semi-homemade, fully-frugal, customized wedding candy. Sandra Lee, is that you?
• Fat Bottomed Girl (brilliantly honest blog title:)) makes chicken salad from leftovers.
  

Carnival of Money Hacks: Fall is in the air and On a Quest to be Debt Free.... is hosting the Money Hackers this week. Included is our post about eating lunch: in or out. Don't miss this one either:

• Money to Spare has a very well written post about breaking those bad habits.
  

Thanks for reading and thanks to all the hosts. Don't forget to tell your friends and subscribe to get updates via email or RSS.

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This week we were included on four carnivals and festivals. Be sure to check out the carnivals as there are usually more articles worth reading than what I can feature here.

We are pleased to welcome all new readers, as well as new carnivals to Not the Jet Set. To find out more about us, click here. We are a personal finance blog focused on frugality, stewardship, and current events, while also telling our story as a family and the personal finance decisions we have made. Thanks for stopping by and be sure to check out our NtJS Cafepress shop!

On with the round up...

Carnival of Personal Finance: Banker Girl makes her triumphant return to the PF blogosphere by hosting this week. First on her list of Editor's Picks is our Garth Brooks / network of friends tribute - Friends in High Places. After you get done reading that one and get that song out of your head, take a look at these as well:

• Cash Money Life has 8 tips to consider in picking a mutual fund.
  

Make It From Scratch! Carnival: Satisfying our DIY cravings this week is GreenStyleMom with the MIFS! Carnival. Here, the Mrs. satisfies our daughter's need for a lunch box, frugal style. We also enjoyed this post:

• The Lighter Side offers a recipe for Banana Nut Butterscotch Muffins.
• Ship Full O' Pirates speaks to our heart with a quick recipe for Tex-Mex Chicken and Rice.
  

Festival of Frugality: Fellow cloth diaper-er, The Frugal Babe is hosting this week and includes our post on lunch: to be or not to be frugal. Here is some more frugal goodness:

• Greener Pastures recommends buying eyeglasses on-line. I never would have thought of this!
• Value for Your Life has 5 fun meals as alternatives to eating out - sounds good to me!
  

Carnival of Money Stories: Fresh off of the Copyeditor's Desk comes this week's carnival. Though it won't find it's way to the bestseller list any time soon, we think you'll enjoy our story on weather or not we should be eating lunch out. Some other fine tales of finance:

• Free From Broke tells why they are switching from a 2-income house to a single paycheck. We made this same decision and have never regretted it.
  

Thanks for reading and thanks to all the hosts. Don't forget to tell your friends and subscribe to get updates via email or RSS.

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This week we were included on three carnivals and festivals. Things have been nutty around here, especially at work for me. Starting to get a handle on things again, and hopefully be back to our normal posting schedule.

We are pleased to welcome all new readers, as well as new carnivals to Not the Jet Set. To find out more about us, click here. We are a personal finance blog focused on frugality, stewardship, and current events, while also telling our story as a family and the personal finance decisions we have made. Thanks for stopping by and be sure to check out our NtJS Cafepress shop!

On with the round up...

Carnival of Financial Goals: Rocket Finance is apparently enamored with Sarah Palin after watching her speech during the RNC - What? No pics? No quotes? She's a fiesty one. At least you find financial goals - lots of them - including the one we just reached.

• Prime Time Money shares their financial goals as well as an announcement!
  

Festival of Frugality: This week we get a french lesson along with our frugality at Almost Frugal. Here we learn the word avare - french for miser - and share a miserly post on spicing up your outlet covers. Some other misers:

• Fiscal Zen has compiled a list of 10 great home improvement sites for the DIYer in your house.
• Happy To Be Home has tips to help keep your kids birthdays on budget.
  

Carnival of Money Stories: Funny About Money hosted the Labor Day edition of the CoMS. Included is our post on making a high style lunch bag for our daughter. Another story to peruse:

• The Happy Rock canceled their Netflix account. Noooooooooooooooo! Sounds like this was a tough call, but needed to go.
  

Thanks for reading and thanks to all the hosts. Don't forget to tell your friends and subscribe to get updates via email or RSS.

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Last week (running behind) we were included on five carnivals and festivals - a very busy week! On top of that, we hosted the Carnival of Money Stories on Tuesday. Lots of great posts there, so be sure not to miss that.

We are pleased to welcome all new readers, as well as new carnivals to Not the Jet Set. To find out more about us, click here. We are a personal finance blog focused on frugality, stewardship, and current events, while also telling our story as a family and the personal finance decisions we have made. Thanks for stopping by and be sure to check out our NtJS Cafepress shop!

On with the round up...

Carnival of Personal Finance: Is hosted by Broke Grad Student, recapping highlights of the Beijing Olympic games. It seems to us that some of the scoring systems in the Olympics need an overhaul, just like the US checking system. Here is an article that I enjoyed:

• No Debt Plan solves a spending problem in their household. Her fault? His fault? You'll have to click through to find out!
  

Festival of Frugality: #140 is up at FIRE Finance with interesting frugal quotes. Included is our post on cutting out cable and a few options to keep you sane. My favorite post from the festival is:

• Uncommon Cents shares a frugal DIY tip for clearing clogs. I'll have to look into this!
  

Carnival of All Things Eco: #14 is up at Focus Organic and features our walk-through on making t-shirt bags. Here is some more eco goodness from the carnival:

• The Art of Balanced Living shares a tip on recycling those CFLs you just installed.
  

Carnival of Money Stories: Was hosted right here! Be sure to check this out if you haven't already cured your post-Olympic hangover. Those making the podium in the synchronized blogging event were:

• vh presents Lemonade from a Financial Lemon posted at Funny About Money. Very well written (as you may expect form an English Prof!). Death, a back-stabbing Ex, the evil step-mother, and a happy ending (paid-off house!). What more could you want?
• Mr. ToughMoneyLove presents On Money, Personal Finance and Being Judgmental posted at Tough Money Love » The Hard Truth about Money and Personal Finance. A no-holds-barred assessment of how comments and advice are received, sometimes poorly. A long post, but a great pay-off at the end.
• The Happy Rock presents A New Stage In My Financial Journey posted at The Happy Rock. I think you just understood the great misunderstanding - what a great place to be!

Make It From Scratch! Carnival: Was hosted by Learning the Ropes and featured our tutorial on making reusable t-shirt bags. It's a big hit on Stumble, too.

• Lisa's Cookblog has an apple cinnamon pancake recipe that I'm dying to try.
  

Finance Fiesta: Was at Master Your Card this week with a theme that I can barely spell let alone pronounce - cut and paste is even having issues. Fear of the number 13, that's all you need to know. No fear of thieves, in our featured post about someone stealing my wife's debit card number. How did we come out? Also from this Fiesta:

• Fiscal Liberty brings us 5 ways to hustle some extra cash.
  

Thanks for reading and thanks to all the hosts. Don't forget to tell your friends and subscribe to get updates via email or RSS.

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Welcome to the 74th Carnival of Money Stories - Olympic Hangover Edition. Today we'll take a look at a variety of articles from across the PF blogosphere. The curtain has fallen on the Beijing Olympics (and the smog has settled back in), so here is one last look back on the 2008 games to help ease the transition back to normal life / fall TV schedules.

We are pleased to welcome all new readers to Not the Jet Set. To find out more about us, click here. We are a personal finance blog focused on frugality, stewardship, and current events, while also telling our story as a family and the personal finance decisions we have made. Thanks for stopping by and be sure to subscribe and check out our NtJS Cafepress shop!

One more thing - Help us, yourselves and the carnival by:

• Subscribing to our feed
• Submitting the carnival to sites like PF Buzz, Reddit, Digg, Stumble Upon, or Technorati
• Linking back to the carnival.
  

On with the stories...

On the Medal Stand this week (Editor's Picks)

• vh presents Lemonade from a Financial Lemon posted at Funny About Money. Very well written (as you may expect form an English Prof!). Death, a back-stabbing Ex, the evil step-mother, and a happy ending (paid-off house!). What more could you want?
  
• Mr. ToughMoneyLove presents On Money, Personal Finance and Being Judgmental posted at Tough Money Love » The Hard Truth about Money and Personal Finance. A no-holds-barred assessment of how comments and advice are received, sometimes poorly. A long post, but a great pay-off at the end.
  
• The Happy Rock presents A New Stage In My Financial Journey posted at The Happy Rock. I think you just understood the great misunderstanding - what a great place to be!
  

Business
The Olympics mean one thing to businesses - golden opportunity. And some cash in, or at least attempt to. McDonald's chicken sandwich w/ pickles :: Olympic athletes, just as Visa :: Michael Phelps (Remember those 'is-to' questions from the SAT? Fun.) That's right one has nothing to do with the other. It will be nice to see less commercials of athletes holding food items that they wouldn't eat if they had to.

• Nicole Kunstmann presents Ann Sieg and her Approach to Network Marketing posted at Learninggirl's Weblog.
  
• Curt presents How Often Do You Upgrade Your Computer? posted at PennyJobs.com.
• The Financial Blogger presents Passive Income Also Means Patient Income! posted at The Financial Blogger.
  

Credit
How about some carbon credits for Beijing? After a pre-Olympic ceremony was shrouded in a vale of disgusting smog, Chinese officials took action to save face. Too bad you can't eliminate decades of air pollution in a matter of weeks. They planted millions of trees, shut down nearly all construction and factories in the area, and took the majority of the vehicles off of the road. All typically commendable. In the end, they still had to cook the books on the true air quality. Too bad their range of influence doesn't include the AP and the BBC.

• CreditAddict presents Credit Card Declined? Start a Drunken Brawl posted at Credit Card Addict.
  

Debt
The cost of the opening ceremony is rumored to have cost more than the preparations in progress for the entire next winter Olympics in Vancouver. Not to mention the cost of the closing ceremony. Did you see that double-decker transforming bus? Wow. Here's to living within your means and not keeping up with the Jones' - or the Zhangs:

• Laura presents Cold turkey on magazines and confessions posted at No More Spending.net.
• Benjamin Dinsmore presents Trees Full of Money: Leasing My Toyota 4Runner was Dumb *Part 1* posted at Trees Full of Money.
  

General
In general, many Americans have been glued to the set every evening for the past 2 weeks - myself included. I'm not really much of a swimming fan - or gymnastics, or water polo, or track - but the people competing here are the best in the world. It becomes tough not to watch when records are being smashed and medals are won by hundredths or even thousandths of seconds. It sucks you in and like any good stimulant, it's tough to shake. I may have to replay some of the Redeem Team's games just to hold me over until the basketball season starts. I'll be ok. Really. I don't need it. I can stop any time I want.

• Del Sandeen presents Here is a Way to Stop Yourself from Making Impulse Purchases posted at Fiscal Liberty.
  
• AndrewB presents You Think Making More Money equals happiness? Think Again posted at Make More Money.
• MoneyNing presents Stop Worrying About Your Finances posted at Personal Finance Blog by Money Ning.
• Amy presents To Save, Play the Waiting Game posted at My Daily Dollars.
  
• FIRE Finance presents Back To School - Savers Guide posted at FIRE Finance.
• Joe Manausa presents How To Dispute Your Property Taxes posted at Tallahassee Real Estate Blog.
  
• Deborah presents Car Maintenance Fund (Or, my ING Sub-Accounts Addiction) posted at Pennies To Nickels.
• J. Money presents I just paid $4.02 for a Starbucks, and it tasted awesome! posted at Budgets are Sexy..
  
• Cooupon Artist presents Why I am Disappointed in my Certified Used Car Warranty (And Why You May Be Too) posted at artofthecoupon.com.
  
• Jim presents Stay Focused, Stay Balanced, Stay Healthy: Part One posted at Blueprint for Financial Prosperity.
  

Investing
Olympic athletes invest amazing amounts of time into training. Michael Phelps claims to be up at 5:30am 365 / year and has done so for years. I tend to believe him. The US men's basketball team asks their players - NBA players - to commit 3 years to the team. It's very inspiring to see athletes who dedicate themselves and invest their time by their own free will for the chance to represent their country and the possibility of winning big.

• Ryan Suenaga presents Negative Return But More Dollars in the Bank: Not Quite Awful posted at Uncommon Cents.
  

Net Worth
From the beginning, it's been the US and China atop the medal standings. South Korea made a good showing, but fell off towards the end. Other perennial performers like Great Britain, France, Germany, Australia and Russia did well also. It was nice to see a few countries like Afghanistan and Togo earn their first medals ever! In the end, it was USA - 110, China - 100, and Russia - 72. Here are some folks focussed on their own 'medal count':

• MBB presents Chase High Interest Rates On Savings Accounts posted at Money Blue Book Personal Finance Blog.
  

Retirement
Here are some folks who are a long way from retirement - the Chinese Womens Gymnastics team. Are they 14 or 16? The world may never know. The IOC and FIG are in the hot-seat with so much conflicting information out there regarding the ages of two of the team members, as well as the admission of former gymnasts that they were guilty of the same. Let's look at some better plans and a different definition of 'starting early in life'.

• R presents Starting Early on Early Retirement posted at Retired At 47.
  

Other
Other?! Is there anything else to talk about? Yeah, we've been pretty rough on host country China, but we call it as we see it. We avoid Chinese-made products like the plague, not only for the traditional low quality and their predilection for toxic chemicals, but also for all of the injustice, pollution, and other stuff going on there. Hey! See! we did get 'other' in there. We'll end things on a high note with a pic of some of the amazing architecture generated for these games as well as some posts falling into the fine category of 'Other'.

• FMF presents We Have a Buyer for Our Home posted at Free Money Finance.
  
• Silicon Valley Blogger presents Sell Your House, Downsize and Give The Proceeds To Charity? posted at The Digerati Life.
• Stephanie presents I must be a slow learner posted at Stop the Ride!.
  
• Wenchypoo presents Two Games You Really Don't Need posted at Wisdom From Wenchypoo's Mental Wastebasket.
• Kevin presents How Inertia Can Devastate or Save Your Financial Future posted at No Debt Plan.
• Broke Grad Student presents Broke Grad Masters Science, Still Working on Student Loans posted at Broke Grad Student.
  

Thanks to everyone for submitting such great work. Come back as often as you need if you feel that Olympic withdrawal coming back - just go easy with the mouse if you get the shakes. Tune in next week to host blog Funny About Money for the 75th Carnival of Money Stories. If you didn't make the cut, then buck up, there's always London in 2012!

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We've given ours - yes hers and mine - and other bloggers have chimed in as well. I noticed these showing up on a few carnivals, so I thought I'd search out and post a round up of the Smartest Advice Ever Received by PF bloggers. A LOT of folks chimed in on this topic, so I've tried to single out the best ones I could find. No offense if yours isn't up here - I may not have found it! Chime in with your story in the comments, or bloggers can just link to their post.

• Watch Your Wallet remembers the frugality of his patents.
  
• Flexo at Consumerism Commentary admits to being a former band geek and encourages you to find your passion.
  
• Can I Get Rich On a Salary sums up the smartest advice gleaned from PF books.
  
• Jim from Blueprint for Financial Prosperity shares some advice on work ethic.
  
• Free Money Finance didn't share, but has several good bits of advice in the comments.
  
• J. at Budgets Are $exy was told to keep the cards payed off.

A bunch of bloggers managed to sum up the advice from the folks in the original article (way to go, guys!), but didn't share their own - advice received, that is. Pony up, bloggers! Commenters too. Once again, if you did share and I missed it, then hit us up with the link and then go work on your Google page rank as apparently we need to as well - neither of ours came up!

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This week we have been included on five carnivals and festivals. Next Tuesday, we'll be hosting the Carnival of Money Stories. More info on that here.


We are pleased to welcome all new readers, as well as new carnivals to Not the Jet Set. To find out more about us, click here. We are a personal finance blog focused on frugality, stewardship, and current events, while also telling our story as a family and the personal finance decisions we have made. Thanks for stopping by and be sure to check out our NtJS Cafepress shop! On with the round up...



Carnival of Personal Finance: This week's is hosted by Daily Finance and Marketing News, and is all about commodities. You know, where speculators invest millions in pork belly futures or frozen concentrated orange juice, it drops a nickel and they blow their brains out? Well, HDTVs are not yet considered a commodity - check out how we paid for ours, with no speculation or debt. Here are some others watching the market:

• Sallie's Niece ponders just how a single gal working her way out of debt can ever get one of those shinny KitchenAid Stand Mixers. Is a wedding registry her only hope?
  
• Christian Personal Finance offers five quotes from someone who really know his stuff - Warren Buffett.
  

Carnival of the Green: #141 Is up at Enviroblog. There's no "editor's choice" articles, but were near the top with our review of non-paint smelly (no VOC), paint. Here are some other posts, all in lovely shades of green:

• Tiffany at the Nature Mom's Blog shares a letter that she crafted to explain to teachers why she has deviated from the teacher's school supply list. Very well done.
  
• The Digerati Life does some serious math (tables and all!) to show that not all miles-per-gallon are created equal - read this before buying a car to save on gas!
  

Carnival of All Things Eco: Focus Organic hosts the 13th edition of All Things Eco and has included our totally unbiased review of the eco-friendly FreshAire Choice paint. Here are some other things eco:

• Organic Makeup and Skin Care reviews some shampoos by Aubrey Organics.
  
• Zeer Blog ponders ponders the new packaging decision - glass or aluminum beer bottles - with an interesting analysis.
  

Carnival of Money Stories: Living Almost Large has this week's money stories sorted by breed with a Best in Show movie theme. We walk away with a 'Participant' ribbon for our tale of the true cost of some light fixtures. Some other contenders:

• Funny About Money is doing criminal background checks on neighbors for free - we found out about this availability a long time ago, but still too late.
  
• Tough Money Love delivers the hard truth about our nations addiction to their credit scores.
  

Festival of Frugality: Has posted at Our Fourpence Worth, and if you haven't gotten enough Michael Phelps, then dive in for a Phelps themed Phestival - go ahead, the water is warm (and not nearly as polluted as the river - those poor rowing teams). Reporting live is Mrs. NtJS with a post on the smartest advice she ever received. Some others in the hunt for gold:

• Saving Advice has a great story about a friend's path to financial independence. Ctl+F: credit card.... results = 0. Not to say that this guy didn't use them, but it's not what got him to where he is today.
  
• Sound Money Matters has 10 ideas for frugal anniversaries without skimping on the romance.
  

Thanks for reading and thanks to all the hosts. Don't forget to tell your friends and subscribe to get updates via email or RSS.

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Wake the kids! Not the Jet Set . net will be hosting the 74th edition of the Carnival of Money Stories on August 26th!

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This week we have been included on three carnivals and festivals. We were also featured on MSN Money's SmartSpending blog, which is always a wild ride. Thanks again, Karen!


We are pleased to welcome all new readers, as well as new carnivals to Not the Jet Set. To find out more about us, click here. We are a personal finance blog focused on frugality, stewardship, and current events, while also telling our story as a family and the personal finance decisions we have made. Thanks for stopping by and be sure to check out our NtJS Cafepress shop! On with the round up...



Carnival of Personal Finance: No Debt Plan brings us a college football themed edition of this carnival featuring our post on how our podunk bank foils ID thieves like none other. Some other posts that made the team this week.

• Harvesting Dollars is playing a different game and trying to pocket their raises for the next 10 years rather than constantly increase spending.
• Single Guy Money is driving home the fundamentals.
  

Carnival of Money Stories: Broke Grad Student reminds us that it's back to school time again. Here, we tell our story of how the Mrs. got through to her reluctant spouse. Here's a few classmates who survived the summer:

• My Dollar Plan talks about a small water problem and the need for a house repair fund.
• Trees Full of Money tells how reading Dave Ramsey's The Total Money Makeover changed his paradigms and consequently his spending.

Carnival of Financial Learning: The 11th edition of this carnival is up at Financial Learn featuring the smartest advice I ever got. That advice looks better and better each day. Some other posts we can learn from:

• Christian Personal Finance kicks off a seven part series on getting out of debt, and starts things off with a post on giving.
• Fire Finance teaches us a lesson on check scams.

Financial Ramblings: Not a carnival, but but a listing of the most popular and longest lasting personal finance blogs. Just glad to be listed.


Thanks for reading and thanks to all the hosts. Don't forget to tell your friends and subscribe to get updates via email or RSS.

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