photo credit: swruler9284

This past weekend our garage door decided to take a vacation. Fortunately, we had the car outside when it happened. Turns out the garage door spring broke (big spring!) and we had it replaced yesterday to the tune of $180. Thank goodness for the emergency fund!

On to some highlights from this week’s Carnival of Personal Finance at Mighty Bargain Hunter and Festival of Frugality at Squawkfox.

Mend Your Money discusses how people try to make themselves feel better through shopping too much. I have extended family members who sadly subscribe to this form of therapy.

I’ve Paid For This Twice Already takes the first steps in buying long term disability insurance.

Discover Debt Freedom gives 5 tips for finding financial freedom.

Frugal Dad shares his 75 Tips to Survive a Down Economy.

MoneyNing details a cool way to find coupons and how to “setup Google alerts to get coupons and deals.”

Frugal Fu talks about Putting off Pests for Less.

The Festival of Frugality #132 was hosted this week at Budgets Are Sexy. Here are my top picks from this week’s entries:

Natural Family Living Blog gives 10 Ways to Reuse a Glass Jar .

No Debt Plan shares How I Saved 30% on Breakfast.

Savvy Frugality shows a way to save on food costs in Grow Your Own Recession Victory Garden

The Carnival of Personal Finance #159 is up over on Greener Pastures: Personal Finance. This week’s carnival is quite large and has a “zero-emissions” theme. Here are my faves from this week’s carnival:

How I Teach My Kids About Money and Life By Using Bricks at The Wisdom Journal. A great analogy which provides an inspiring visual goal - build a “rock” solid financial foundation!

Is Getting an MBA Worth It? Part 2 at Harvesting Dollars. I really enjoyed this 4-part series on pursuing an MBA.

Cool Your House Frugally at My Small Cents. Cross ventilation really does work. I have wonderful childhood memories of the draperies flowing in the cross breezes throughout our house on the farm.