Three things I love: Mac & cheese, blog carnivals, and the movie Office Space. When I had the opportunity to host the Financial Simplicity Carnival this week, I knew that my theme had to surround one of these topics and, let’s be honest, it’d be just a bit too odd (even for me) to base a carnival theme solely on mac & cheese.

Here are my personal favorites from recent submissions for the “I Believe You Have My Stapler” edition….

Making Money

• Ted Jenkin presents How Does Boredom Equal Making Money? posted at Your Smart Money Moves. If you are interested in making more money in life, you have to make the smart money move of getting excited around being bored. While it isn’t the most fun exercise in the world all the time, those that do it and do it well are rewarded no matter what path in life they choose. Have a boring day!
• Ashley Lennon presents How to Make Money on eBay posted at Skint in the City. A round-up of how to make money on eBay, with some little known tips, including how to time your sale ending.
• Dividend Growth Investor presents How to generate $1000/month in dividends posted at Dividend Growth Investor. The goal of every dividend growth investor is to create a portfolio which throws off a sufficient stream of income that pays their expenses. As soon as the amount of dividends exceeds the monthly expenses, the investor has reached financial independence.Now that we have the end goal in mind, we have to determine when exactly we need to be able to achieve the target monthly dividend income.

Spending & Budgeting

• Jeremy presents Putting Your Health Before Your Finances posted at Modest Money. One area that I was particularly naive was how I viewed health. I thought that while I was young with no obvious problems that I just didn’t need to worry about it. As a result I was irresponsible and abused my body. This may not seem like a financial mistake, but I’m really learning it all comes full circle.
• Boomer presents Financial Literacy Is A Lifelong Pursuit posted at Boomer & Echo. With all the information available on TV, newspapers, magazines, and online there’s no excuse for the shocking lack of financial knowledge that most of us have. Choose your own destiny, or someone else will.
• Emily presents My Dream in 23 Years – What’s Yours? posted at Evolving Personal Finance. In 23 years, Emily and her husband  want to have a giant party to celebrate their 25th wedding anniversary and 50th birthdays. What’s your dream?
• MMD presents Can You Afford to Work? posted at MyMoneyDesign. Does your daycare cost more than you make? Would it make sense for you to simply quit your job and stay at home with the kids? There are many reasons on both sides of the argument. Let’s explore a few of them.
• Sean presents Money Saving Workout Routines for a Fit Recession-ista posted at One Smart Dollar. Spending money for a gym can be expensive. Here are some great tips to keep yourself in shape and not break the budget.
• Khaleef Crumbley presents Planning A Financial Diet – Eat Healthy And Spend Less posted at Fat Guy, Skinny Wallet. Eat healthy and spend less…something that seems impossible However, if you follow these tips you can do both!

Investing

• Dr Dean presents Are You An Investing Scaredy Cat? posted at The Millionaire Nurse Blog. Risks and rewards in investing…Do you understand them? What makes people sell when they should buy?
• FamilyMoneyValues presents About the Stock Market – Terms that Confuse posted at Family Money Values. The stock market, like every other specialized area, has it’s own language. Some of the stock market terms can be confusing – even to highly educated people who have been investing for years.
• SB presents How to Control Stock Trading Impulses posted at One Cent at a Time. People with money to invest often get attracted to stocks after reading an article or two. It is important to not buy out of impulse. Take time, do research and set some guidelines to control your impulses.
• Darrow Kirkpatrick presents How I Rebalanced Through Perilous Times posted at Can I Retire Yet?. To rebalance your portfolio, or not to rebalance? When? How? The experts’ advice is often conflicting and arbitrary. Here I show you my own personal rules for rebalancing.
• Don presents Should You Re-balance Your Portfolio or Let it Ride? posted at My Dollar Plan. Read on for an interesting take on re-balancing vs. leaving your portfolio alone.

Debt Reduction

• Ben DeMeter presents Unforgiven: Inside America’s Student Loan Bubble posted at Credit Card Assist Blog. An in-depth examination of America’s student loan crisis with perspectives from government officials as well as student debtors and lenders.
• David John Marotta presents Securing Your Credit posted at Marotta On Money. A U.S. Public Interest Research Group report in 2004 found that one in four credit reports have serious errors that could significantly lower your chances of being approved.

It was a blast to host my first carnival! Make sure you submit weekly at the Financial Simplicity Carnival.

And I’ll leave you with one of my favorite Office Space photos….

 

Photo credits: Bumper Stickers,  Jordan_mac, 20th Century Fox