Weekend Update: Thanksgiving Edition

It’s early on a cold Sunday morning. One of the squirrels has found his way on top of the house, and he’s skittering across the roof, pausing occasionally to thump thump thump at something. Silly squirrel. The holiday week meant it was a little quiet in the Money Blog Network (and beyond). Still, there were several articles of note:

• My favorite story this week comes from Dawn at Frugal for Life. She writes about Kyle Larson, a punter for the Cincinnati Bengals. Larson makes $400,000 a year, but rather than spend it all on a lavish lifestyle, he banks most of his income to save for the future. He drives a 13-year-old pickup and lives modestly. I love stories like this.
• At No Credit Needed, NCN explains the method to his madness, describing exactly how he pays off debt, mortgages, and credit cards early. It seems like forever that I’ve been waiting to make the final payment on my consumer debt — I should be able to do so next week.
• At The Simple Dollar, Trent asks, “Should you help people who won’t help themselves?” This is a tough question with no easy answer.
• Jim at Blueprint for Financial Prosperity put together a guide to mutual fund fees. He also explains why index funds rock.
• At Consumerism Commentary, guest-author Brip Blap shares three things you need to know before giving to charity. I had no idea that beginning this year you need a receipt for any donation in order to deduct it. Oops.
• Madame X at My Open Wallet performs a pricing analysis of the Amazon Kindle E-book reader and concludes the device only makes sense for avid readers. Even then, it’s more about convenience than cost.
• Checks may be on their way out, but they’re not gone yet. The Mighty Bargain Hunter offers six checkbook tips.
• Five Cent Nickel has questions about accounting for your home’s value in personal finance software. How do you do it? I generally make an estimate once a year, and then check online tools like Zillow. This is way inaccurate, I know, but serves to give me a rough number.
• At Brazen Careerist, Penelope shares a confidence booster that works for her. She likes to dress for success. This is very relevant to my current situation — I’ve been too frugal with my wardrobe, and I look like a slob most days. I need to fix that.
• Free Money Finance is in the market for a new home. He has some thoughts from house hunting.

Now, after a week off, I need to get back in the hang of writing again. First up: figuring out some cheap ways to warm this old, cold house.

This article is about Spare Change