Weekend Ramblings – Canada Day Edition

Happy Canada Day everyone!  Hope you are enjoying a cold beverage and relaxing over the long weekend.  Celebrating Canada Day (and I’m sure the feelings are similar for Independence Day and our star-spangled brethren just to the south of us) always gives me not only feelings of pride, but also of thankfulness.  I know that we whine about taxes and how inefficient our governments can be, but really in the grand scheme of things we have it pretty good.  While I am certainly all for trying to make it better, I think we sometimes lose site of this fact relative to how many people around the world live.  Is a 1-2% tax raise on the wealthy worth calling people “Nazi” and “Evil” over?  Do individual health care mandates, or relatively minor changes to EI really have to result in name-calling and vandalism for political means?  It is fine to get passionate and animated about your bedrock values and how they are reflected in your political views, but these decisions are really fine-tuning a pretty decent system when you compare to what so many around the world have.

Since I’m a true Canuck, the ramblings are going to get cut a little short this week due to frosty beverages awaiting the celebration of all things that are True North Strong and Free!  On with the links:

Sicorra @ Tackling Our Debt writes Tips for Couples Traveling on a Tight Budget – If you are a couple living on a tight budget is it still possible to travel and enjoy yourself? You bet it is! Check this out to learn how.

Paul Vachon @ The Frugal Toad writes How to Travel Cheap at the 2012 London Olympics – Using London and the Olympics in the same sentence almost always means expensive. You would be surprised how cheaply you can stay in London. Read on and I’ll show you how!

Sean @ One Smart Dollar writes Mortgage Broker vs Mortgage Lender – What is the difference between a mortgage Broker and a mortgage lender?

SB @ One Cent at a Time writes 51 Ways to Get Out Of Debt – A Harvard Business School Graduate recently made headlines for paying off a $90,000 debt load in just 7 months. It’s an amazing accomplishment and shows that it can be done. Here are not one or two but, 51 ways to do that.

PITR @ Passive Income To Retire writes Funding New Business Ideas – Find out how I plan to fund new business ideas and why a small cash flow gives me the advantage.

JP @ My Family Finances writes Frugalistas Know Better Than Income Over-Acheivers – I want to increase my savings; should I focus on cutting the frills from my budget or pursue new sources of income? Although most writers would agree that both are useful, bloggers tend to split into two groups: Frugalistas and Income Over-Acheivers?

Kyle @ The Penny Hoarder writes 9 Ways for Slackers to Make Money Playing Games – Nothing is better than making money from something you already love doing and after two years of writing for this blog, I’m starting to believe it’s possib

Ashley @ Money Talks Coaching writes I H8 Debt – Hello!! I know I’ve been kinda MIA for a while. I’m going to use the excuse that I’ve been very busy with my new job.

101 Centavos @ 101 Centavos writes More Random Tips for the Kitchen – Yet another recycled post while we’re away galavanting around Europe. This one originally published in November 2010. More random tips for the kitchen: (1) Forget the salad spinner. It just takes up space in your cabinets. Rinse the greens in a regular colander, then place them on a clean kitchen towel.

Kevin @ Thousandaire writes Cut Your Own Hair and Save $240 a Year – You can save a bunch of money by cutting your own hair instead of paying someone else to do it.

Dr. Dean @ The Millionaire Nurse Blog writes Extra Money: What’s Holding Me Up? – Refinance and put extra money in your pocket! What’s not cool about that? So why haven’t I refi’d yet?

Invest It Wisely @ Invest It Wisely writes Living to 100 and Beyond: Building an Infinite Portfolio – This is the fourth and final post in a series of articles on living to 100 and beyond. In this post learn about the importance of creating an infinity portfolio!

Mich @ BeatingTheIndex writes Shoreline Energy: Dividend Sustainability Analysis – Summary: Shoreline Energy is a junior producer with less than 6 million shares outstanding, a juicy dividend and around 2,000 boe/d (30% liquids) in production.

Suba @ Broke Professionals writes Crucial Questions To Ask When Hiring A Financial Planner – Crucial Questions To Ask When Hiring A Financial Planner is a post from: Broke Professionals if you enjoy it, please visit us and subscribe to the Feed. It can be difficult to hire someone who isn’t in your field of expertise.

Eddie @ Finance Fox writes No Degree? No Problem! 8 Six Figure Jobs That Don’t Need A Degree – There are many people who do not participate in post-secondary education, and still become successful earning six-figure incomes.

John @ Married (with Debt) writes Push Yourself, But Not Over a Cliff – If you’ve been following our debt payoff progress reports, you know that we are two months away from paying off approximately $100,000 in consumer and student loan debt.

krantcents @ KrantCents writes The 3 U’s of Success – The 3 U’s of Success is the twenty-first in a series of articles to help you reach your goal.

YFS @ Your Finances Simplified writes Why Mint isn’t better than Yodlee – While Mint is touted as one of the better online financial aggregators, it is not the best option for everyone. Yodlee.com is!

Jason @ Work Save Live writes What To Do When Selling a House – 7 Things To Get it Ready to Sell – What To Do When Selling a House After looking at potential houses to buy over the last month, it AMAZES me how many people simply don’t get their house ready to sell.

Wayne @ Young Family Finance writes How to Save Money when Traveling – The past few weeks have been really busy with my family. My wife and I have been going to weddings left and right, as well as taking our annual vacation.

SFB @ Simple Finance Blog writes Is It Worth Holding Out For Your Home’s Asking Price? – $5,000 isn’t chump change – but it’s not the whole picture when trying to figure out whether to drop your asking price when your home’s on the market.

Don @ MoneySmartGuides writes You Don’t Have to Be Rich to Give Back – When thinking about giving to charity, there is a misconception that you need to have money in order to donate. This is not true. You don’t have to donate money. You can donate goods and time as well.

L Bee @ L Bee and the Money Tree writes What my father taught me about customer service. – I was busy yesterday celebrating father’s day! We met my brother for lunch and then went shopping at the outlet center and I did not get home until 6:30 or so and had to finish up the article due on my first freelance assignment.

Tushar @ Start Investing Money writes Got Credit Card Debt? Then Don’t Invest – As you’ll no doubt have noticed, the whole idea behind this website is to encourage and guide you in the process of investing money. But there are always caveats to this procedure. The main one is to note that debt should always be taken care of first.

MR @ Money Reasons writes Victory With REITs? – This is the victory that I’ve been having with REITs over these past 3 or 4 years. It’s been an exciting time!

Amanda L Grossman @ Frugal Confessions writes 20 Ways to Not Spend Money While Onboard a Cruise, and Still Thoroughly Enjoy Yourself – Cruises are not frugal ventures. Just to purchase the airfare and tickets can cost a small fortune, let alone actual spending once you reach your travel

Hank @ Money Q&A writes Why Every Renter Needs Renters Insurance – Every renter should have and needs renters insurance. Renters insurance is far too cheap and covers too many of your personal possessions not to protect yourself.

Aloysa @ My Broken Coin writes Battling Shopping Addiction: Making Behavioral Changes – Do you have Shopping Addiction? Learn how to Battling Shopping Addiction by making behavioral changes.

Maria @ The Money Principle writes There is nothing wrong with quitting; but you have to know what to quit and why are you quitting – We consider persistence important but it is even more important to decide what to quit and when to quit. The dip provide a reference frame.

Sustainable PF @ Sustainable Personal Finance writes Why You Don’t Want to Keep Up with the Joneses – Most of us have heard about keeping up with the Joneses, this article explains why you definitely should not do this!

Daisy @ Add Vodka writes Informal Learning Through Blogs – I am a huge advocate for lifelong learning. I think it’s important to continuously develop oneself, learn new things, and gain new skills.

Jacob @ I Heart Budgets writes You Don’t Need a New Car! – Stop what you are doing, put down your wallet and slowly back away from the dealership. You don’t need a new car.

Corey @ Steadfast Finances writes The Hidden Costs of Owning a Smart Phone – Smart phones can be great to use, but they can cost an arm and a leg. Find out if it is worth the cost.

Daniel @ Sweating the Big Stuff writes Is An Allowance for Kids A Good Idea? – How should kids be taught about money? Is an allowance a useful tool or is it bad for children?

Jester @ The Ultimate Juggle writes Ways to Start a Business – Find out some of the many ways you can create your own business that don’t require taking out loans.

Corey @ 20s Finances writes We Set Up a Fun Budget – I have previously talked about our jump in income over the past year. For those who don’t know, I started making a little money on the side from my new hobby and my wife got a promotion. We have been very diligent in saving and putting money towards retirement, but we never really gave in to some of our wants.

A Blinkin @ Funancials writes Saving Money in a Home Office – If you run a home-based business, you probably have encountered this before…Since you’re not in a normal office, should you spend money on expensive equipment? Or are there other alternatives to suite my needs? It’s a question that office workers don’t consider – they just go to their copy room and utilize the vast array

Jen @ Master the Art of Saving writes 5 Things To Consider Before Buying Your First Home – When the idea of buying a home first came to mind, years ago, I set some conditions to meet first. I figured that I would know I was ready to buy my first home.