Week two of the NFL playoffs are about to get started!  Last week my NY Giants utterly dominated the Atlanta Falcons (sorry Evan) and this week they’re up against the reigning champion Green Bay Packers.  My nephew is a Packer fan so that adds a little extra something to the game for us…but if you’re not a football fan then here are some great articles to keep you busy this weekend…

Frugal Zeitgeist – Cheapest Places to Live in America
Budgeting in the Fun Stuff – Learning to Manage Your Finances Early
Free From Broke – Three Stories that Prove Consumers Still Have Power
Budgets Are Sexy – Stuff New Home Owners Never Think About
Stupid Cents – Games That Taught Me About Money
Canadian Finance Blog – Is Gold in a Bubble?
Planting Money Seeds – Eating Chocolate: The Key to Financial Success?
Everyday Tips and Thoughts – Comparing the Real Costs of Driving vs Flying
DDIY – Building AdSense Revenue – An AdSense Tutorial

Go Giants!!

Ahh, Festivus…that mystical time of the year when we celebrate the holidays through the airing of grievances and feats of strength.

You’ve never heard of Festivus??  Well for you non-Seinfeld fans out there, I’ll just let Frank Costanza explain before I share a few cool links from the blogosphere…

Flexo from Consumerism Commentary offers his own Financial Festivus that I couldn’t pass up.

Glen from Free from Broke explains why you should invest in mutual funds.

Evan from My Journey to Millions discusses a friendly and free stock picking competition.  I’m going to jump in too and I’ll post about that in the next couple of days.

Sandy from Yes I Am Cheap had an interesting guest post about cutting corners during the holiday season.

Alex from My Bank Tracker shares some tips for avoiding money mistakes when you’re self-employed.

Forest from Frugal Zeitgeist explains how to buy beer in bulk.

Brandhyze from Frugal-nomics asks if it ok to give a thrifted gift.

I don’t usually have a lot of free time on the weekends.  There are usually a million errands to run and plenty of DIY projects around the house to keep me busy.  Plus, the town soccer league’s fall season just started so I’ll be spending my Saturday mornings watching my girls play their games.

But one thing I try to save time for is catching up on all of my favorite blogs.  There are soooo many great blogs out there that it’s just impossible to stay on top of them all and still get my own writing and other tasks done.  Here is a selection of some neat posts written by my fellow bloggers….

Preparing for the Inevitable – Budgeting in the Fun Stuff

Stay At Home Parents: Maintain Your Credit History - Canadian Finance Blog

Not Another Top 10 Reasons to Cancel Cable List – Sustainable Personal Finance

Review of SquareTrade Warranty Service – Money Beagle

Budgeting for Christmas Before It’s Too Late – Free From Broke

Dining Out On The Cheap – Bucksome Boomer

Why Do You Really Want To Be Rich – Bible Money Matters

Is Your Wallet Too Fat? – Free Money Finance

When is a Home Purchase Considered a Smart Investment? – My Journey to Millions

Why We Talk So Much About Passive Income While You Still Have To Work Your Ass Off To Make it Happen – The Financial Blogger

High Paying Careers You Would Never Think Of – Krant Cents

Wedding Present Economics – Narrow Bridge

 Lessons in Diversification – Cash Flow Mantra

Isaac Newton’s Laws of Personal Finance @ Money Matters Guy

Decisions to Consider Before Hiring a Staff Writer @ Don’t Do It Yourself

Why Cutting Out Your Starbucks Won’t Make You Rich @ The Financial Blogger

9 Ways for Students to Get Textbooks for Less @ Free From Broke

Retirement Planning Pitfalls  @ My Journey to Millions

5 Alternatives to Gym Membership @ Couple Money

10 Jobs That Make At Least $100 An Hour @ Budgets Are Sexy

Sometimes life gets busy and you just don’t have time to get everything done.  I’ve felt that way a lot lately, but it’s hopefully coming to an end soon (I’ll post more soon).  Anyway, I haven’t been devoting enough time to this blog, been relying a lot on guest posts…and haven’t been reading up and networking with fellow bloggers either.  So to start getting back in the swing of things I’d like to shares some of the best posts I’ve read recently.

In a great post, Evan from My Journey to Millions asks “What do you do at night?“  Sounds random, but he makes a great point about finding the time in his busy schedule to work on his sites and make money.  It’s a challenge I face myself too with 3 little ones at home, so I really identified with this post.

A great post at Budgeting in the Fun Stuff debunks some lottery myths.  I hate the lottery, so I enjoyed this one as well.

Some other good reads…

Financial Samurai asks why the average 401k balance is so low.

Sam wrote another great post on Yakezie.com wondering why so many people hate their job.

A neat guest post on Buy Like Buffett reminds us that dividend stocks aren’t a sure thing.

The Financial Blogger shares his latest online income report.  Can’t say I’m not a bit jealous!

Couple Money offers some tips to help you save on renters insurance.

Len Penzo offers 9 money tips every dad should teach his kids.

It’s a frigid Sunday morning and I’m getting ready to take my daughters to play soccer, and then it’s time to watch some football (go Steelers and Packers!).

Here are some excellent articles I’ve read recently…

10 Old Wives’ Tales Masquerading As Financial Rules of Thumb

Blogging: A Demanding Task with Few Rewards?

5 Ways Facebook is Costing You Money

The True Cost of Expired Milk – How Does it Impact Your Finances?

Why Leave A Six Figure Corporate Job For Internet Entrepreneurship?

And a few contests my fellow bloggers are holding (hope I win!)

Read My Drivel, Win A Kindle

Win An iPad, Amazon Gift Cards, And A Starbucks Gift Card!!

Finally, here are some Carnivals that Saving Money Today has been featured in…

Totally Money Blog Carnival – Inaugural Edition!!!

Carnival of Money Stories #89 Happy Birthday Dr. King Edition

Festival of Frugality – Spend It Edition

Totally Money Blog Carnival #2

A new year is upon us and that’s as good excuse as any to have another roundup of articles by my fellow bloggers…

Moneycone explains how you can be compensated if you’ve been misled by Direct TV.

Buy Like Buffett shares his best and worst stock picks from 2010

Budgeting in the Fun Stuff asks would you retire early if you could afford to?

Ultra High Net Worth reviews The Happy Economist

My Personal Finance Journey discusses the importance of educating yourself on financial topics

Frugal Confessions posts about her travels to Austria and some surprising fees she encountered

Khaleef shares his blog stats for December 2010

Barb Friedberg explains why she was happy to get a $500 car repair bill

Buck Inspire is another blogger suggesting MozRank be used as a replacement for PageRank until Google starts updating PR again

Life and My Finances posts about passive income with dividends

Wealth Informatics offers a post on 10 lessons from 2010

Frugal Zeitgeist shares some tips for making your resume stand out

Sustainable PF posts about the benefits of using a programmable thermostat

Thanksgiving is almost here and that means it is time to show a little gratitude for the good things we have in life. Personally, I’m thankful for my health, my family, and friends.  I’m thankful I have a job when many of my friends have been laid off.  And I’m thankful I inherited my father’s entrepreneurial spirit, and that I’ve used it to build a nice little side income online.

I’m also very grateful that I’ve made some good friends by blogging.  Here are just a few of them and some great articles to read…

Financial Samurai has some ideas for fixing the airline industry.

FreeFromBroke wonders if it ever makes sense to rent furniture.

Budgeting in the Fun Stuff suggests it might be time for mozRank to replace PageRank.

MJTM worries he is spending too much time thinking about money.

EverydayTips shares a delicious recipe for sweet potato casserole.

Get Rich Slowly offers some great tips for getting good deals on wine.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!  Hope you all get a chance to enjoy some deep fried turkey!

I’ve been busy trying to clean out and spruce up my father-in-law’s house so we can put it up on the market.  Plus I’ve been trying to keep my yard from getting completely buried by leaves while still having time for my kids!  So, I’ve fallen a little behind on reading some of my favorite blogs.  I’m trying to catch up…and here are some of the cool article’s I’ve read…

Check out the first official Yakezie Scholarship!  High schoolers and younger are eligible, so if you know someone who meets the criteria have them enter for a chance to win a scholarship to be used for educational purposes such as books, supplies, projects, tuition, field trips, equipment and other school related expenses.  And make sure you subscribe to the Yakezie RSS feed so you can be the first to learn about future scholarship opportunities.

Redeeming Riches asks is your car a necessity or a luxury?

Richly Reasonable had a cool post discussing 10 websites for saving.

My Journey to Millions had a great post about dividends. And don’t forget to check out Evan’s new site where you can organize your own online pregnancy pool.

Budgeting in the Fun Stuff offers a great post 5 fast growing careers.

Roshawn Watson asks what are your financial regrets?

Well Hurricane Earl is bearing down on the east coast but the latest forecasts show that New Jersey will barely get grazed instead of taking it on the chin as earlier feared.  So the weekend should be fairly decent which means I’ll be grilling!

I’m still trying to catch up on my reading since coming back from vacation, but here are some of the best posts I’ve read lately:

Action Not Words: The Difference Between Talkers and Doers   - Get Rich Slowly

Baby Costs: Saving Up for a Newborn - Rainy Day Saver

Rent or Buy? - Frugal Zeitgeist

The Worst E-Mail Scam Ever.  Budgets are Sexy

5 Things About Money I Wish I Would Have Known When I Was Younger - Bible Money Matters

Welcome To The Yakezie! - Yakezie.com finanally launches!

Stay safe and enjoy the long weekend!