No Debt Plan

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The Carnival of Personal Finance was hosted by Alpha Consumer at US News and World Report. That’s huge! US News and World Report is a PR8, and the Alpha Consumer blog is a PR6. My post was included, so hopefully that’s a good thing!

The Carnival of Debt Reduction was also hosted at Rocket Finance. Check it out!

Welcome to the 136th Edition of the Carnival of Debt Reduction!

My name is Kevin, and I’ll be your host today at No Debt Plan. You can learn more about me, or just get to the bottom line: I help readers eliminate debt, learn how to budget and save, and move themselves towards financial freedom. My No Debt Plan is designed to walk readers through every step of the journey out of debt.

Please consider subscribing via RSS or E-mail, and consider telling five of your friends about me! (Also, if you haven’t joined Revolution Money Exchange — logo to the right — you should. You’ll get $25 for free for signing up. I’ll get $10. Fair?)

Now, how about some articles.

For starters, I am going to put the Editor’s Picks down at the end of this Carnival. Typically I find that Editor’s picks are the most well known blogs anyways, so I’d like to shine some light on some of the lesser known blogs that still write great articles. If you blog is popular and in this category, I apologize, there were some I had never visited in the past so I put them in here! So readers, give these guys some love, visit their sites, and see what they have to offer.

Rookie Corner

• Master Your Card
• Pinching Copper
• My Daily Dollars
• Help My Cash Grow

Now for the rest of the Carnival…

Real Estate

You definitely need a roof over your head. Owning a home is one way to do that. These posts tell you about the bloggers experience in this sometimes confusing arena.

• Ask Mr. Credit Card has decided on a plan to pay off his mortgage. We’re using the same plan that he is pursuing.
• Bible Money Matters shares an extensive list of expenses not to forget when you buy a house.
• The Personal Financier saved $3,000 in one hour and wants to tell you how he did it.

(Photo: National Debt by digiart2001.)

Debt Freedom and Debt Reduction

This is why you’re here — to learn how to get and stay out of debt.

• Chic Saver wonders if we act like businesses, or they act like us.
• Mighty Bargain Hunter wonders how someone with $150,000 in income can have $90,000 in debt. Talk about trim the fat time!
• FIRE Finance gives us three tips on how eliminate debt.
• Prime Time Money is tackling an SUV Loan full force, and shares the progress.
• Debt Prison gives us an honest look of debt and depression. Hang in there, and go after the light at the end of the tunnel.
• Free Money Finance shares some info he learned about a debt video contest for students called Debt Disease.
• Wealth Junkies gives three tips on how to eliminate credit card debt.
• Debtopedia reminds us that an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of interest.

Credit Cards and Credit

These posts target those not-so-evil credit cards most of us have, as well as credit in general.

• The Digerati Life gives us four tips to help pay off debt. She also wants to remind us that it’s bad debt we are attacking, not necessarily good debt.
• Trees Full of Money tells us about credit card companies peddling their offers on his college campus.
• Stop the Ride thinks good credit is a curse.
• Debt Free Playbook thinks credit is good. I tend to agree. Credit is a dangerous tool, but a tool nonetheless.
• Master Your Card gives us the Top 10 Reasons to Pay Off Your Credit Card Debt.

Miscellaneous

These posts cover everything from online budgeting tools to goal setting to weight gain.

• Pinching Copper thinks Mint.com is awesome, yet not perfect. I agree; I don’t like giving my account numbers and passwords to anyone. Secure site or not, it still makes me nervous!
• Be Thrifty Like Us had a daughter, and she has changed their world.
• Paid Twice thinks that all funds are emergency funds when you first get started.
• Finance Gets Personal gets really personal with us by sharing that she has gained weight as she has tried to get out of debt. There are ways to eat frugally and healthy, too. We just had the same realization this past weekend and will be tackling portion sizes first.
• Destroy Debt shares how to not live on a budget. Budget, spending plan, envelope system, whatever you call it — I still think it’s important. To each his own!

Editor’s Pick

• Help My Money Grow thinks that retirement is not for everyone. Excellent point about seventy-five years.
• Early Retirement Extreme tells us why he won’t join the middle class.
• Your Finish Rich Plan thinks we should consider the power of visualizing our debt. I completely agree!
• Amy at Mom Advice is debt free. She and her family had a great celebration! Congratulations to you and your family Amy. And may I say, great header on your blog, too.
• My Daily Dollars has lost her taste for junk.

And that wraps it up! I hope you enjoyed the Carnival and maybe discovered a new blog you’ve never heard of. Heck, maybe you’re here going “Who is this guy?” I hope you’ll stick around and come back for more. Don’t forget to submit your articles to the Carnival of Debt Reduction for next week!

It’s two weeks away, but I’ll be hosting the Carnival of Debt Reduction on April 21st. Get your laptops fired up and some great debt eliminating articles at the ready. It should be a lot of fun.

The Carnival of Debt Reduction is currently up over at Real World Really.

Also, the Festival of Frugality is up at Penny Saved.

It’s St. Patrick’s Day, the NCAA Tournament brackets have been announced, my wife’s parents are in town… a busy weekend! Here are some posts that I’ve found interesting over the last week or so.

PFBloggers.com:

• The Social Marginal has reached a huge savings goal — $20,000 in discretionary spending saved up. Wow!
• Pinching Copper wrote an open letter to Ben Bernanke… which I agree with to a point.
• Wide Open Wallet does her budget the exact same way my wife and I do. Glad we’re not alone.

Elsewhere:

Being Frugal is hosting this week’s Carnival of Personal Finance.

Ask Mr. Credit Card is hosting this week’s Carnival of Debt Reduction.

I had two posts included in the above carnivals, so check it out!

Jonathan at Awake at the Wheel blogs while walking on his treadmill for 4 hours per day. This is simply the best thing I have ever read. What a great idea, although I’m not sure I could pull it off!

There’s an article over on earthweb arguing we should globalize time. I personally hate day light savings time. What do you think?

Gather Little by Little replaced his wife’s engagement ring with one he purchased online. It turned out well. I bought all of our rings online as well, through BlueNile. A fantastic experience and much less expensive than a brick and mortar jeweler.

Cash Money Life asks how to spend a bonus check.

The Carnival of Personal Finance is back over at Four Pillars. This time it’s the Canadian edition, eh! My post about the lottery was included this time around.

I’m still waiting on the Carnival of Debt Reduction to be posted to link you to that.

Happy Monday!

Update: I missed that the Carnival of Debt Reduction was posted… it got caught my spam filter. But it is up!

Every Monday leaves us with a list of interesting posts from throughout the week to enjoy. This week the Carnival of Debt Reduction is being hosted by No Credit Needed. The first step in the No Debt Plan was included in the list of posts.

Also, the Carnival of Personal Finance is up over at The Baglady.

Lynnea at BeingFrugal has posted up her edition of the Carnival of Debt Reduction. Be sure to check it out — my post explaining Pre-Step #3 to the No Debt Plan was included.

Two carnivals in a week. A lot of good reading!