Today’s Carnival of Personal Finance is hosted by ABCs of Investing. The host was kind enough to include my recent article, Number One Frugality Tip: Don’t Be a Woman, among the group selected for “Editor’s Picks.”

In addition to the other Editor’s Picks, I enjoyed The Purpose of Money, Opening a Roth IRA for the First Time, How the Federal Government Prints Money, and The Git-er-Done Redneck Bank. The community of personal finance bloggers continues to grow and great writing is everywhere.

Thanks to everyone who participates in the Carnival of Personal Finance each week.

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The Carnival of Personal Finance is a weekly collection of the best personal finance articles from across the blogosphere, usually with an entertaining or thematic presentation. This week’s Carnival was published last night by the blog Four Pillars.

Check out the articles picked for Editor’s Choice but don’t miss out on The DIY Haircut and Unexpected Check, but It Wasn’t Mine to Keep. I also participated with Which Comes First: Paying Off Debt or Starting Emergency Fund?.

The Carnival, which hasn’t missed a week since it began in June 2005, is a great way to discover new writers and new blogs.

A few of the blogs that participated in that first Carnival on June 20, 2005 are still around, and they deserve some attention for sticking it out through the years.

• Bargaineering (formerly Blueprint for Financial Prosperity)
• Frugal for Life
• I Will Teach You to Be Rich
• Smart Money Daily
• AllFinancialMatters (formerly AllThingsFinancial)
• Five Cent Nickel
• My Money Blog
• Free Money Finance
• Fat Pitch Financials
• Jose Anes Weblog

Only three of the original participants no longer maintain their website or now write about a topic other than personal finance.

The schedule for the Carnival of Personal Finance through June 2009 is in the final stages of organization and should be ready to be announced within the next few days. If you are looking to participate as a host, we are accepting applications for hosting for July, August and September.

If you would like to participate in next Monday’s Carnival to be hosted at Wide Open Wallet, please submit your best article from this week for consideration.

Find out more about the Carnival of Personal Finance, including what’s expected of hosts and participants.

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Welcome to the Carnival of Debt Reduction, a traveling weekly roundup of the best articles in the blogosphere covering credit cards, consumer debt, mortgages, and the elimination thereof. Here is more information about the Carnival of Debt Reduction, founded by Mighty Bargain Hunter.

Through this past week, many bloggers submitted articles to be featured in today’s Carnival of Debt Reduction. What follows is the best of those submissions. Interspersed throughout the links to articles are short tips provided through Twitter. Twitter is a micro-messaging social media website. Last week, I asked the people who follow my updates to send a micro-message with their favorite debt reduction tip, and I’m included a few responses randomly throughout the Carnival.

Let’s start with the top six debt reduction articles.

The Silicon Valley Blogger kicks off today’s Carnival with the dos and don’ts of reducing debt, gleaned from her own experiences with debt elimination.

@MillionMommyND‘s debt reduction tip: “Create a wall chart and update it weekly. Keep an eye on your goal and focus on driving the line on your graph consistently downward.”

Can a housing assistance program help prevent foreclosure and assist with housing debt elimination? The Smarter Wallet explains where to look within the federal government for assistance, if you qualify and if the programs operate as advertised.

Lately, a number of banks are shoring up their own finances by closing credit card accounts that have been inactive. PFR from Personal Finance Reviews explains what to do when your credit cards are closed due to inactivity.

@bargainr‘s debt reduction tip: “freeze cards, pay everything cash until you’re cc debt free.”

The Happy Rock explores what it means to “live within your means” with his recent article, As Long as You Can Make the Payments, You’re Fine. Don’t judge the article by it’s title, however.

The Military Finance Network fields this question: Will my credit cards affect my ability to get a car loan? PatrickCML explores the effect of credit scores on loan qualification and the best use of credit cards to maintain a high credit score.

@banker_girl‘s debt reduction tip: “Downsize your residence.”

Christian from Our Personal Finances explains how his family must start rearranging their finances to thrive with only one income for a time. While living below their means previously, they’ll need to make some choices; namely, whether to liquidate retirement savings to eliminate the mortgage, easing the stress on other living expenses.

@jeffrosecfp’s debt reduction tip: “Stop viewing new purchases as “It will only cost this much per month”. If you can’t pay cash, don’t buy it.”

Continue reading the Carnival of Debt Reduction for more of the best from the blogosphere and Twitter. Read the full article →

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