Welcome to the Carnival of Financial Simplicity! Doesn’t that sound nice- simple finances. If only, right?

That was actually my main criteria in choosing posts to include in this carnival- How easy were they for me to understand? Did they seem to make financial ideas or concepts simpler? And of course, did I enjoy reading them?

 

Editor’s Picks

For those of you who don’t know me, or haven’t spent time here before, I’m a personal finance blogger with the focus on the personal. I think every financial lesson is easier to learn when it comes attached to a personal story. And those personal stories are what I loved most about these posts.

Financial Mentor– What Big Wall Rock Climbing Can Teach Us About Wealth Building

Miss Thrift– Thrifty Baby: The £20 Moses Basket

One Money Design– Two Things that Led to Our Financial Success

 

Making Money

The making money and investing categories seemed really intertwined to me. So some of the posts you see in this category, the author thought might belong in the other. However, for simplicity’s sake (meaning this is where it seemed they should go to me), I put them here.

Modest Money– Are Finance Bloggers Perfect Identity Theft Targets (someone’s making money, even if it’s not who we want it to be)

Free Money Finance– The Butterfly Effect (little actions can have major effects, from creating good habits today to savings growth)

Christian PF– The 18 Best Jobs for 18 Year Olds (you have to start making money sometime)

 

Saving/Investing

This is where simplicity really mattered to me. Investing confuses me. Yes, I invest in my 403(b), but I use a targeted fund, and don’t have any individual investments (bad PF blogger, I know). So it’s important to me that anyone writing about investing can write it in a way that makes sense to me.

Young and Thrifty CA– RRSP vs RESP Accounts (I’m not Canadian, but this still makes sense to me)

Dividend Growth Investor– Searching for Hidden Dividend Stars (I understand that following the pack is not always the best plan for investing. I love people who can point out opportunities that are a little off the beaten path.)

Family Money Values– Land for Sale (I’m having to fight the urge to buy my retirement property right now)

Good Financial Cents– 8 Warning Signs You Need to Fire Your Financial Advisor (for people who know very little, like me, having a professional you can trust is key)

 

Budgeting/Spending

Would you believe that this is the fun category?

One Cent at a Time– How to shop at Garage Sales (my mom is the total garage sale queen- not just shopping, but holding them too. Garage saleing –yes it’s a verb- was a formative part of my childhood, and where all my play clothes came from)

Barwhiz– The Complete Guide for Throwing a House Party on a Budget (I loved house parties when I was in college. But I say forget a DJ, find yourself a guy who can play guitar and has the amps/speakers, and just set him up. Man I miss those parties)

Money Life and More– Christmas is Seven Months Away (okay, if you’re like me, you want to kill people who start talking about Christmas before we’ve even reached Memorial Day, but if you want a really awesome Christmas, you should totally start saving now)

Evolving Personal Finance– We Have Too Many Gift Cards! (it’s a great problem to have. In fact, gift cards that we didn’t even realize still had money on them is how we paid for our Wii fit)

The Outlier Model– Avoid Lifestyle Inflation (I know, this doesn’t seem like fun, but if I’d avoided lifestyle inflation, I might still be having house parties… okay, maybe not)

 

Debt

No one wants to talk about debt, and yet most PF bloggers I know are around because paying off our debt got us started on this journey. We’re here because we want to help others who are where we were.

Money Smart Guides– What is Opportunity Cost? (What are you missing out on if you pay off debt, what does it cost you if you put off paying down debt?)

Cash Money Life– How to Prioritize Your Debt Payments (it’s not a fun process, until you pay off that first debt…)

 

 

So that’s it, that the show, folks. I want to thank Nick from Step Away from the Mall for letting the carnival set up the tents here this week. I hope you all enjoyed the show.