Stop Paying for Text Messages by Using Apps + MORE

I am hosting a blog carnival after a looooong time here. This time it’s carnival of personal finance, which is a collection of personal finance related articles, presented in a parade style. All pictures used here are from our recent Disney World trip, enjoy the articles and enjoy the pictures!
Carnival at Disney World
It was a bad weekend for me while I was making this carnival ready…

Over 80 years ago, James Adams said “life should be better and richer and fuller for everyone, with opportunity for each according to ability or achievement”. This is known as the American Dream. Buying a home has also long been called the American Dream, probably because it gives one a great sense of accomplishment…

Naked With Cash is the year-long series on Consumerism Commentary where seven readers’ households share their financial progress on a monthly basis. I’ve partnered with financial planners who will offer some guidance along the way. Read this introduction to learn more about the series. This month, the participants and experts will be discussing tax planning as part of their analyses…

Let’s start with Ben Franklin’s assertion, “They who can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety.”
And now fast-forward to the Boston Marathon bombing.
The political finger-pointing has begun, which usually follows a successful law enforcement effort to actually apprehend the criminals…

There is a definite creep factor to life insurance. Between the overwrought advertisements showing young children missing their daddies and the stereotype of the hard-selling insurance agent (best characterized by Stephen Tobolowsky as Ned Ryerson in "Groundhog Day"), it can seem as though life insurance is an industry that survives by playing on your emotions…

A news article headline caught my eye the other day.
“Rogers CEO says customer service needs to improve ‘significantly’”.
Rogers, a Canadian cable, wireless, and media company (Canada’s version of AT&T) – made the bold statement that they need to improve their customer service…

For March and April I have been attempting to live on 50% of my modest income, save 10% and put 40% towards debt.   March went well but April was a challenge as I spent more than I should have on stuff and I came up short on putting 40% towards debt.
May is a new month and  a fresh opportunity to save…

With so many people living beyond their means, being able to admit you can’t afford it is a good thing. But don’t use it as a crutch and don’t use it when you’re simply choosing to spend your money elsewhere. It’s more empowering and positive to say “I’m choosing to spend my money on something else…

The following is the latest post in my “Reader Profiles” series. Each post in this series details the financial situation and challenges of an FMF reader. The purpose of this series is to help us all identify with people like us (in similar situations — not all will be, of course, but eventually I’m sure you will find someone like you here), get to know the frequent commenters on the site, and hear some financial wisdom/challenges from people other than me…

Most SMS text messages aren’t free.Service providers like Verizon and AT&T usually charge a per-message fee or a monthly subscription for a fixed number of them. We’ve written before that texts are a product with a 6,000 percent markup.You don’t have to pay that much or anything at all, says MercuryNews…

 
 
How many times have the words “I’m Broke” entered into your life? We’ve all been in a place where we have less finances than we need to survive, money problems are something we all must endure.  Rather than complaining about why you are broke, many people find inspiration in the dustiest corners of their wallets and pocketbooks…

Bitcoin, the Internet-based, borderless digital currency not governed by any state monetary policy, has been around only since 2009, but it’s already begun gaining acceptance among people in distressed European economies, as well as a few jaded Americans who’ve lost faith in the future of traditional currency…

Plastic is becoming one of the most popular ways to pay. And no wonder: It’s convenient and relatively safe.
With credit cards, you don’t need to carry around wads of cash, and if your credit card is stolen, you aren’t liable for purchases. If your cash is stolen, it’s gone.
But how do credit cards work?
The Technical Transaction
Each credit card as information embedded somewhere on the card…

"Previously owned U.S. home sales unexpectedly fell in March," Bloomberg reported last week.
Most economists take an "agnostic" view on housing, like this recent opinion from The New York Times. But some economists saw the latest news as proof the housing market isn’t really coming back…

My new friend over at SkinnyDip.ca (great blog name – no there’s no naked pictures there ;)) has a guest post series called “Things I’d tell my 20 year old self” where she gets people to, you know, tell things to their past younger selves.
Now usually it’s about life or love or career, or pretty much anything in the world *outside* of money, haha, so I thought I’d steal the idea and run with it on the financial twist…

When we think of the harm that debt can do, we often just think about the way it can lead to higher loan costs – or the risk of being turned down for a loan.
However, debt can also have an impact on your career. Depending on the job you want, and the situation you’re in, debt can be a real hindrance…

This post is from staff writer Lisa Aberle. A few weeks ago, I celebrated another birthday. For whatever reason, birthdays always make me think about how many more birthdays I have to celebrate. And eventually, I think about how my husband would handle the finances in the event of my death. Happy Birthday, huh? Although I am unlikely to die anytime soon, you never know…

They make it look so easy, don’t they?
Sell your stuff, make some dough — right?
If you’ve spent any time in the online marketing circles, you know how “easy” they tell you it is.
Since the dawn of eBay, plenty of people have been trying their best to make it online.
Some are successful…

So, how is your life? Are you happy with how it’s going or do you wish some things were different? Do you know anyone who is happy with how their life is going?
I don’t know about you, but nearly everyone I talk to thinks that their life could be better. Some people think that their life totally sucks while others feel that it could be better in certain ways…

Many people dream of being free from having to go into work day in and day out, only being allotted a few weeks of vacation time each week. Travelling or even living abroad for a long period of time – longer than the two weeks or so that most people can afford to sacrifice – is something that many desire…

There are a lot of tactics that you can use to save money on food – coupons, comparison sales, and so on. The biggest problem with many of those tactics is that they work best – or they only work – on items that aren’t particularly good for you.
My doctor has two simple rules of thumb for eating healthier…

Welcome to the Million Dollar Journey April 2013 Net Worth Update. For those of you new to Million Dollar Journey, a monthly net worth update is typically posted near the end of the month (or beginning of the next) to track the progress of my journey to one million in net worth, hopefully by the time I’m 35 years old (end of 2014)…

In a sudden burst of organizing prowess, I deleted about 2,000 messages from my inbox this past weekend. These messages, I’m ashamed to say, took me all the way back to my college days. They were far overdue for a cleaning!
Amid countless messages from the hubs who was trying to explain physics to me, I also found a few gems, and I was reminded of how long I’ve been playing this game of sure-why-not-lets-have-two-jobs…

Debt is often associated with stress, bad financial decisions, and takes on a negative meaning. But in reality, some types of debt can be good. In fact, good debt is often vital for a healthy financial situation.
There are two reasons why something would be good debt. Here’s why:
The Debt Can Result In A Better Financial Gain…

One of my New Year Resolutions is the No New Clothes Challenge for 2013. I figured it shouldn’t be that hard because I have plenty of clothes and shoes. Since I don’t work outside the home anymore, I don’t really need to be that presentable and it will be fine if I just wear some clothes down…