December 2007

With the holidays rapidly approaching, I figured it’d be a good time to sit down and come up with my holiday wish list. Having been through this ritual twenty-something times throughout my life, I’ve learned that it’s best to make two lists — one for the things people can actually afford and one for things if money weren’t a factor.

I think making two lists is important, because one focuses on now while the other focuses on later. The list of affordable items is what I give to other people, while the list of expensive items is what I keep for myself. I view the list of things that I can’t afford right now as a future goal for myself. I’m saying that these are things that I will work towards being able to afford in the next year. I’m pretty sure you can figure out which list this is.

1. Xbox 360

I admit that I’m behind on my gaming systems, and I’d really like to upgrade to the next generation. At the moment, the Xbox 360 is appealing, because it has the most games out and a great online community. If you pay any attention to the news, you probably heard some buzz about Halo 3 back in September when it brought in $170 million in its first 24 hours. With that being said, I’m not a huge Halo 3 fan.

The real reason I want an Xbox 360 is…

2. Rock Band

This is the best party game since Guitar Hero. If I were a few years younger living back in the dorms again, this would be a must-have game. In case you haven’t heard about it, Rock Band is like Guitar Hero with the addition of vocals and drums. Up to four people can play at once (vocals, guitar, bass, drums) to give a performance of a lifetime. This is also great fun for musically inclined families.

3. Playstation 3

I also wouldn’t mind getting a Playstation 3. Although there aren’t many games out for it right now, the important games are available (Rock Band). With the PS3, you get the added bonus of a Blu-ray player without having to buy an extra attachment.

Of course, to view all of this HD content it’d be nice to have a…

4. HDTV

It’s hard to go back to watching standard definition TV after seeing how clear the picture is on your friend’s high definition TV. Unfortunately, this is the most expensive item on my list. In the meantime, I guess I’ll just have to keep making friends with people who already have one.

5. iPhone

If you couldn’t tell from the rest of my list, I really like technology. I think it’s really cool when a new device is able to take things that have become part of daily lives — talking on the phone, listening to music, browsing the Internet — and make them fun. If you haven’t played around with an iPhone, I suggest that you take a trip to your nearest Apple Store and check one out.

What’s on your expensive wish list this holiday season?

This roundup is in celebration of finals being over! I apologize for the premature celebration if your school isn’t done with finals yet. What better way to celebrate than to catch up on things that aren’t printed in textbooks or scribbled in unreadable handwriting. Here are a few of the most interesting posts I’ve found over the past week.

• Did your parents help pay for college? Find out why Mighty Bargain Hunter doesn’t think parents should worry about paying for college.

• Do you have trouble keeping track of who owes you money or who you owe money? J.D. at Get Rich Slowly shares a tool that will help you track shared bills and expenses.

• Money Smart Life explains why Christmas credit is a big mistake.

• Stop by Green Panda Treehouse to read about another soon-to-be graduate and her personal goals after graduation.

• Trent at The Simple Dollar has been doing some soul searching and explores the meaning of it all.

• My Good Cents shares a simple way to save money on juice. Not sure if I’m a huge fan of the method described, but it definitely works.

I also participated in a couple carnivals this week, and it was a lot of fun. I definitely enjoy submitting my articles and reading all of the great content submitted by others. In fact, I even signed up to host my first one in a few months. That’s right, I’ll be hosting the Festival of Frugality on March 4, 2008. I’m really looking forward to it.

This past week Money Smart Life did great job of hosting the Carnival of Personal Finance and included my article on 6 Outrageous Fees (and How to Avoid Them). Thanks to the additional readers I got from participating in the carnival, there were some great comments left with even more great tips on how to avoid fees.

I’m also glad that people have been enjoying my article on the perfect gift to give when you’re broke. plonkee even selected it as one of “plonkee’s picks” in the 103rd Festival of Frugality. Sweet.

Thanks for stopping by, and y’all come back now, ya hear?

While checking my blog stats the other day, I noticed that some of my readers are still using Internet Explorer. That makes me sad. Did you know that every time someone uses Internet Explorer an angel loses its wings?

OK, just kidding. But seriously, you should consider switching to Firefox, and here’s why:

It’s free.
Absolutely, positively free. You only have to spend the time to download and install it. Firefox is developed by the Mozilla foundation, a non-profit foundation that was established to create innovative open-source software. Mozilla is completely funded by donations, so if you like it (which I bet you will), you can even contribute to the foundation if you choose.

It runs on all platforms.
Windows? Check. Macs? Check. Linux? Check.

It’s has a small footprint.
Unlike other browsers, Firefox isn’t bloated with unnecessary features. It takes up a small amount of disk space, so it’s quick and easy to install.

It’s expandable.
Another great feature of Firefox is that you can add almost any functionality via add-ons. There’s a very active community of Firefox developers that create awesome extensions that plug right into your browser. You can see your current weather forecast, control your media player, and block annoying ads to name a few. With help of Firefox’s extensions manager, it’s easy to install, enable, disable, and remove add-ons with a few clicks.

It’s easy to cover your tracks.
With the click of one button, you can can clear everything you want in order to cover your tracks — cookies, cache, download history, history. You can even tell it to do this every time you close your browser.

R-E-S-P-E-C-T
In the past, Firefox has received numerous honors, including PC World’s Product of the Year, Softpedia’s User’s Choice, Forbes’ Best of the Web, CNET Editor’s Choice, and many more. If so many other people are using, why aren’t you?

It has tabs.
If you’re still using an older version of IE, you know how annoying it feels to have a million windows open at once. Well, Firefox’s tabbed interface lets you collapse all of those windows into a single screen and quickly switch between the different sites you have open. If one site is still loading, you can tab over to another site in the meantime. It’ll make your browsing experience more organized and efficient.

If all of this sounds good to you, then what are you waiting for? Get Firefox now by clicking on the link below:

I don’t know about you, but I love winning prizes. There’s a certain gratification that comes with winning something for free. That’s why this post is all about Blingo.

What’s Blingo?

It’s a Google-powered search engine with a twist. Each search you enter on Blingo is a chance to win prizes instantly.

How do I play?

It’s simple. You just enter your search in Blingo and click search. Just use it like you use Google, and each search (up to 25 per day) is a chance to win great prizes instantly.

What are the prizes?

The prizes range from small to large. Here are some of the prizes they’ve given away recently:

• Fandango Movie Ticket
• $5 Amazon.com Gift Certificate
• $500 Home Depot Gift Card

What’s the catch?

There isn’t one. It’s completely free, and they don’t send any spam. I guess the only catch I can think of is that I haven’t won anything yet. There are ways to increase your odds of winning though. If someone you invited wins a prize, you also get the prize. That’s why I’m asking for a little help from my friends.