Festival of Frugality #131 - Summer Savings Edition

Welcome to the 131st edition of the Festival of Frugality! This marks the first edition of the festival to take place during summer this year. To celebrate, I’m combining two of my favorite things for this week’s theme — summer and brevity.

Brevity is the soul of wit.
— William Shakespeare, Hamlet

Who doesn’t enjoy the sun still being out after work, and who doesn’t enjoy conciseness? Throw in bunch of money saving advice and what more could you ask for? So sit back, relax, and enjoy some pictures that really capture the excitement of summer along with a personal three-word commentary on each article.

Editor’s Picks

Photo by Glockenblume

• Patience Will Keep Us from Spending Unnecessary Money at Money Ning — The greatest virtue.

• 13 Frugal Ways to Celebrate the Summer at Sound Money Matters — Cheap summer fun.

• Secret Food Increase at LivingAlmostLarge — Food sizes shrinking.

• The Frugal Olympics — Going for the Gold at Greener Pastures — Money saving games.

Saving on Summer Fun

Photo by !!sahrizvi!!

• 5 Ways To Save Money When Camping at Rather-Be-Shopping.com — Camp for less.

• Avoid The Summer Spending Itch: 8 Ideas for Frugal Family Fun at You Need a Budget — Inexpensive family fun.

• 10 Frugal Hobbies at Blueprint for Financial Prosperity — Fun and frugal.

• Send Your Kid to Summer Camp Without Blowing the Budget at Prime Time Money — Affordable summer camps.

• Running - Frugal Or Not at Free From Broke — Get in shape.

• New ideas: Travelling on the cheap! at Grad Student Looking for Wealth — Hostels save money.

• Savannah Family Fun – The Intro at Mrs Nespy’s Frugal World — Frugal vacation advice.

• Maybe buying a Wii was frugal at Mighty Bargain Hunter — Video games rule.

• How to Make a Birthday Tablecloth at HowToMe — A frugal tradition.

• Netflix Free Trial Offer at Cash Money Life — Try it out.

Saving on the Road

Photo by hebedesign

• A Real-Life Example of How to Save $1,300 in Less than Two Hours by Shopping Around for Car Insurance at Free Money Finance — Always shop around.

• Hypermiling 101 at Daily Money Hack — Use less gas.

• Could high gas prices actually be a good thing? at Money & Fitness Blog — Yes, they could.

• Trimming Our Gas Costs, Plus Saving $5,500 a Year Off The Road at The Digerati Life — A great story.

• Bicycle Riding on Father’s Day at Save and Conquer — Ride bikes everyday.

• Driving Less? Check On Lower Insurance Premiums at My Wealth Builder — Save on insurance.

• How to Improve Your Gas Mileage (and How Not To) at fivecentnickel.com — Save on gas.

• How do I save on gas. My money saving tips at ProBargainHunter — More gas tips.

• 7 Ways To Save Money with a Bike. at Cycling UK — Pedal to save.

• Win a Gas Card from How I Save Money!! at How I Save Money.net — Win free gas.
  

Saving around the Home

Photo by adwriter

• Innkeeping Heloise Style at Innside Montana — Good old advice.

• Ode To An Absent-Minded Husband at Mad Kane’s Humor Blog — Read the title.

• Washing Dishes at The Purloined Letter — Disposable sponge alternative.

• 25 Ways To Reuse Everyday Items Instead Of Throwing Them Away. at The Good Human — Stop, reuse it.

• Recycled Newspaper Purse at The Sojourner — Cool recycled purse.

• Veggie Might: When to Splurge on Organic at Cheap Healthy Good — Dirty or clean?

• Scrapbooking on a budget at Monroe on a Budget — Fun frugal hobby.

• More Frugal Homemade Baby Stuff at Frugal Babe — Homemade little things.

• Humane Society Offers Deals! Frugalist Pleased at Funny about Money — Free vet services.

• You Want Me To Pay For What? at The Financial Blogger — Beware: hidden fees.

• Is it a “Need” or a “Want” at Goal of Financial Freedom — You tell me.

• Stretch Your $ with Proper Hair Care Techniques at Chicago: cheap! — Hair raising tips.

• Don’t Be A Snob. (Check out some garage sales!) at The Money Kings — Help end snobbery.

• Five Inexpensive Foods That Mean Summer at The Family Wallet — Mmm…hot dogs.

• Find Grocery Savings in Your Own Backyard at Not Made Of Money — Grow your own.

• Show Me The Coupons! at Value For Your Life — Coupons are everywhere!

• Costco Doesn’t Always Have the Best Price at Uncommon Cents — Title explains everything.

• 2 Reasons You Should Care About My Toothpaste Savings at No Debt Plan — It adds up.

Saving Money in General

Photo by janusz l

• The Greatest Frugal Generation at Saving Advice — Frugal is redefined.

• How I Couldn’t Find $10,000 Per Year If I Had To at Tight Fisted Miser — Saving is relative.

• Creative Ways Airlines Cut Fuel Costs Provide 7 Invaluable Lessons on How to Save Money at The Personal Financier — Creativity saves money.

• Ten Quick Tips for Frugal Living at To Be Debt Free — Money saving tips.

• Subprime Lifestyles at Slow Down Fast Today! — Change your attitude.

• 8 Tips for Saving Money and Your Life at Bankaholic — Words of wisdom.

• 9 Surefire Strategies NOT to Retire Early at nomad4ever — Don’t do this.

• How Procrastination Costs You Money at Debt Smackdown — Read this later.

Debt and Debt Reduction

• Reduce your debt load: 9 proven techniques at Money Sense — Goodbye to debt.

• Seeking Therapy for Debt Management at Investing Lessons — Addicted to debt?

• The price of debt freedom is eternal vigilance at Until Debt Do Us Part — Watch your expenses.

• How to Manage Debt Wisely at Financialzip.com — Explore your options.

Everything Else

Photo by Scott Adams

• 5 Ways to Save Money on Your Gay Wedding at Queercents — Avoid wedding debt.

• When Should You Buy Real Estate — And When Is It Better to Rent? at erica.biz — Buy or rent?

• Is Dental Insurance Worth It? at HarvestingDollars — It just depends.

• Etiquette advice for the gift-giving challenged at Our Common Cents — Learn to gift.

• More On Maid-Tipping at Dollar Frugal — Do you tip?

• Is it time to lock in our Home Equity Line rate? I’m Stuck! at Budgets are Sexy — Timing is difficult.

• Free $10 From Google Checkout at My Dollar Plan — Free money opportunity.

• Five Frugal Ways To Help Kids Learn A Foreign Language at My $mall C€nts — ¡Hola! ¿Cómo estás?

• Mint Review - How Secure is it? at Millionaire Money Habits — The answer is…

• 13 Lucky Tips to Save on Life Insurance at The Wealth Hunter — Life saving advice.

• Gift Cards: Why I Hate “Open-Loop” Cards at Student Scrooge — Gift cards suck.

That’s it for this week’s festival. Ironically, I think this is the most time I’ve spent putting together a carnival, since I included brevity as part of theme. Hope you enjoyed it. Next week the Festival of Frugality will be making a stop at Budgets are Sexy.

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