I watched the movie Shrek: The Final Chapter yesterday. Even though movie tickets in general are getting very expensive, I like the green ogre. The movie was a bit more than just entertainment for me, it made me think. Rare for a cartoon. There were a few take away messages:
- A lot of time we don’t realize how blessed we are, how much we have, until we lose it.
- Always, always read the fine print
- If something is too good to be true, it probably is
Even though a lot of us obsess about money, it is rarely the most important thing in our lives. In financial matters though, points 2 and 3 always apply. Talking about fine print, here is an interesting website that “exposes the strings and catches buried in fine print” – www.MousePrint.org.
Now on to my weekly favorites:
- J.D. @ Getrichslowly offers a nice idea to save money on something we use a lot - Get Kitchen Gadgets for Less at the Local Restaurant Supply Store.
- Trent @ TheSimpleDollar reminds us how simple maintenance of things that are most important to us will save lots of money. The Real MSM – Maintenance Saves Money.
- Jonathan @ MyMoneyBlog discusses the TED talk by Nobel laureate and founder of behavioral economics Daniel Kahneman. Happiness is earning $60,000 a year?
- This is not very recent or from a blog, but I found it very interesting. MSN Moneycentral’s article says – A Chicago man has accepted the challenge of a cash-free life. If he can make it a year without spending any money, he’ll earn a cool $100,000 from the website Groupon. I do couponing on some items, but it also says – The rules are tough. Groupon’s contest requires the participant to abandon his job, leave his apartment and put his belongings in storage. If he can pull this off, more power to him!
Some great posts from my fellow Yakezie members :
- Financially poor lists 5 Essentials For Personal Finance Success. I absolutely loved that he included Knowledge as one of the essentials.
- More Style Than Cash offers 25 More (Inexpensive) ways to Give Your Life Luxury. Great ideas, check it out!
- Financial Samurai wonders whether it is really necessary to have a separate emergency fund. Why can’t your savings serve the purpose? – I think it might serve the purpose if you are disciplined with money and really save it for that rainy day and have saved up enough outside of your retirement. For some of us who are just starting to save, we don’t have much outside of our retirement account, so if some disaster strikes we have no easy access to cash. In that case an emergency fund is a good cushion to fall on. Just my opinion.
- Money Crush reminds us why it is important to pay attention to all the bills – How I saved $355 in Ten minutes.
- Consumerism Commentary summarizes the way Fraud Detection works on your credit cards.
