A Charitable Roundup

Quite the week for a roundup. Let’s start with Are you taking frugality too far? at Bankrate. Clark Palmer shares a tip from “The Cheapskate Next Door”; if you are constantly trying to game the system, you may be taking frugality too far. I’ve wondered about that line sometimes. The next blog I read will help explain my dilemma.

At Redeeming Riches, Jason wrote about Earning Money Online by Selling Coupons on Ebay. Some good advice to quickly sell valuable coupons you aren’t going to use. But, I was on the other side of that. I saw that the Lowe’s 10% off coupons were selling on eBay, and picked up 8 of these for $8.25, just over $1 each. Today, I had a $280 purchase at Home Depot and since they accept these, I was able to save $28. I’m already ahead $20, and have 7 10% off coupons good for 2 more months. I’ve mentioned that I’m finishing my basement, and have been dropping money at Home Depot nearly every week. I still need 3 doors and those go for $200 each. I know these coupons weren’t intended to be sold like this, so am I near that line?

Next, Kay Bell shares some Year End Tax Moves, at her blog Don’t Mess With Taxes. This is just part one, as of today, Kay was up to four in this series. Of course, there are always a few you already knew, but many that would have slipped by you. Why not see if Kay saved you some money and check out Part Four:Giving to do some good with that coin.

FreeMoneyFinance asks “Will Someone Please Tell the World that There’s a Difference Between Income and Wealth?” I’m with you, FMF. People who make $250K+? Highers earners, to be sure, but not necessarily wealthy. Dr Thomas Stanley (author of The Millionaire Next Door series) has written observations of those spending beyond their means, and those who never earned a large income but managed to save quite a bit. Very simple, income does not equate to wealth.

6 Personal Finance tips From Mr Burns of The Simpsons was, shall I say, a bit different. An unlikely source of financial advice, these Mr Burns quotes do get you thinking. A nice post at Studenomics.

Next, I read two different spins on charity, first, Sweating The Big Stuff tells us Why You Should Donate More Money to Charity, but then I read Len Penzo’s Donate? Humbug! 8 Reasons Why My Favorite Charity Is Me which offered the opposite view. How do you feel about charity? We’re all like Scrooge, either pre or post vision. It’s that time of year, for many reasons it seems a good portion of the year’s donations are made at year end. And I’ll be working on my own charity post over the next week. These posts inspired this week’s title.

And last this week, Ninja at Punch Debt in The Face tells us You’re not just broke, you’re stupid too. Ninja tends to be a straight shooter, no sugarcoating his words, and he has no patience for those who blame their financial woes on others. Insight and observations from a 20-something Psych major.