I’ve enjoyed being a part of The Money Writers, and now I’m no longer a rookie – we’ve added another great blogger, Frugal Dad, to the network (here’s a little bit about him). The existing Money Writers were all very excited about bringing him aboard, and if you haven’t visited his site before you really should, because it’s both well-written and well-thought-out.

This week was challenging, as I mentioned in previous posts. Fortunately the weekend has been pleasant so far.  Brett Favre didn’t disappoint in his Jets debut.  I got some gardening done, and our water problems seem to be in the past.  Little Buddy and I read The Hobbit for a while.  Pumpkin and I spent some time singing and playing while Bubelah and Little Buddy went off to the store (a trip resulting in a backpack for Little Buddy).  And, most importantly, I had a blissful day free of the oppressive client that has been ruining my summer.  I’m looking forward to the end of this contract and another lengthy problogging break.

On to the links, from The (expanded) Money Writers and others!

Reduce Your Holiday Stress by Saving and Planning Today: Every year of my life, I have waited until far too late to plan travel, pick out gifts and prepare for the holidays. No doubt this year will be the same, but I’ll try. No, really. Stop looking at me like that.

FoodSaver Revisited: I keep wondering if something like this vacuum-sealing thing would help us out. We don’t have a huge freezer so it’s not like we can stuff it full of food for the impending apocalypse, but occasionally it might help.

5 Inexpensive Ways To Have Fun In College: If you do decide to go to college these days – public university or if you’re truly brave a private college – you’ll need to find inexpensive ways to have fun, I think.

The Difference Between Good Debt and Bad Debt: Interesting idea – do you think your principal residence mortgage is bad debt? I guess it is, now that I think about it, but I hadn’t thought of it exactly this way in the past.

How to Live More Simply, and Why It Is So Important: I’ll give you a hint: because stress from a complicated life will kill you eventually. ‘Nuff said.

Two Things Needed to Be Happy in Life: I thought it was three: to vanquish your enemies, see them driven before you, and to hear the lamentations of their women (Barbarian, Conan the).

Make Money Blogging: Top Bloggers And How Much They Earn: Before you think you’ll get rich blogging: I still make more than 99% of probloggers, I think. The difference is that (hopefully) the probloggers have fun with their work and I’m in a Sisyphean mental struggle just to get through the day.

It’s Not Easy to Live in New Jersey: Unless you just love high taxes, corrupt politicians, long commutes, foul air and horrible public schools, in which case it’s great. On the other hand, we have Brett Favre and Eli Manning. So everything evens out.

12 Ways the Olympics Can Impact Your Finances: I’ll tell you how they impact my finances – by making me realize that with enough hype, even synchronized swimming can look important and attract advertisers. It’s all about promotion and scarcity!

If You Want To Be Wealthy, You Need To Know This: If there is one thing that stymies me again and again, it’s my superpower: focusing on the negative. I know I have to change. Ten times today I told myself or Bubelah or Little Buddy why something wouldn’t work or wasn’t a good idea. Bad thinking… except for telling Little Buddy that getting up off the potty and running at full speed with your pants around your ankles is a bad idea. That wasn’t negative, that was just good folks’ thinkin’.

Are High Gas Prices Changing the Way We Drive?: I debate this a lot. For me, so far, no. Not at all. I am an outlier. We drive very little. I drive less than 2 miles to public transportation weekdays. Bubelah is a stay-at-home parent. We don’t go shopping a lot – we have a supermarket walking distance from the house. Gas prices just don’t bother us much. In the NYC area, tolls are a bigger concern – we’ll spend $17+ on tolls going to visit Bubelah’s parents – so in comparison gas prices are a minor concern.

Sites That Help You Find Personal Finance Blogs And Connect With Personal Finance Bloggers: I’m on several of these sites – if you have time, it’s always worth striking out. You’ll never exhaust the diversity of opinion on the web, that’s for sure.

dare to be naive: I did say that I armadillo up in the face of bad news, but deepali made me think a bit. I have done my bit, trying to participate in progressive political campaigns in the past. But I realized that I think of myself as an environmentalist and still chuck a 2-liter plastic bottle from my seltzer in the recycling bin every couple of days. I get single-book deliveries from amazon to my door. I don’t inflate my tires. I am not being a very kooky monk (gotta read the article).

How I Deal With My Financial Fears: My biggest problem isn’t that I just gloss over my financial fears – it is that my goals ARE my fears. Avoid debt. Prepare for a grim future in which health care is horribly expensive and public services non-existent. Imagine that the worst will happen. I need to deal with that fear by concentrating on the positive first. What’s the best thing that can happen, right?

The Five Things You Need to Know About Finding the Work You Love: I need to spend some time thinking about this, although I often think that finding work you love is overrated. I would settle for work I tolerate.

Finally, I’ll belatedly mention that my post on my financial goals appeared at Carnival of Financial Goals #9. Sorry I didn’t mention it sooner!

photo credit: Crossing Sparks