To all the people being dragged to all the outlet stores and shopping malls within a 100 mile radius this weekend… Sorry. I’ll be the guy keeping a spot in line while various women pile items in my sore arms.

I have countless things to be thankful for today. One of them is you – the readers. Not only have I learned a lot from y’all, but having readers helps me blog, and blogging has helped push me towards my new career path. And then there’s the bloggers, from whom I’ve also gained knowledge and inspiration. Finally, I am thankful I’m not a turkey. So… Thanks! =)

If you haven’t seen it already – Black Friday Ads 2005.

This week’s Carnival of Debt Reduction #10 is up at Boston Gal’s Open Wallet, and the Carnival of Personal Finance #23 is up at Frugal For Life!

This week’s Carnival of Debt Reduction is up at FrugalForLife. Has anyone out there ever gotten one of those little red rings around a 2-liter bottle? I swear they just pay 1 family to walk around with that huge stuffed animal so we all think the ring toss is legit.

My parents do not know this blog exists. If they did, they’d probably yell at me for sharing all this financial information with the entire world. I mean, some guy in Estonia knows much I spent on groceries last month.

But, when talking to my mom today, somehow the conversation turned to school and money, etc. I ended up telling her that on the side I make almost $100 a month from interest from borrowing free money off credit cards. I expected her to call it risky and me stupid. Instead, she told me that she did almost the exact same thing – to finance my education. She would borrow money at 0% APR to pay off my tuition bills instead of having to pay interest to unsubsidized loans. She has pristine credit history and some huge credit lines! Anyways, I thought that was hilarious.

Welcome to the 8th edition of the Carnival of Debt Reduction, which is a weekly smorgasborg of the best debt reduction articles as submitted from bloggers. While I don’t talk about debt reduction very much, I would suggest that they key is first to find out where your money goes now. I dislike budgeting myself, but every month I track my spending and focus on certain target areas like Dining Out. What? You want more? Ok, ok, here:
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I’m hosting the Carnival of Debt Reduction next week. To learn more please see the guidelines and schedule at MightyBargainHunter. I’ve only got one entry so far, so let get those debt-reduction posts coming in! (Just e-mail them to me). I need to come up with a good post myself. Unfortunately I may actually be getting further into debt as we speak. Good debt, of course.

Here’s an update from a reader who actually went to one of those Get-Rich-Quick seminars with Stanley Danko, The Millionaire Next Door co-author:

Hey I just went to this in Portland, OR. It is worse than you think.

There are 4 speakers selling something.

1st – Buying stocks $3000 Kit. Had a list of best 25 from 2001 (Whoops) I wrote them down, only one made money. Free info on many sites.

2nd – Asset Protection $4000. Hey just fill out these forms in 15 min. send in and you can never be sued again. Yea right. Program. Set up Family Limited Partnership(FLP), Set up Living Trust. Put assets in Living Trust. Put Living Trust in FLP. Make Living General partner, Now put FLP into Living Trust. Buy on many internet sites only $29.95

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Here are some updates on previous posts –

Bank of America’s Keep the Change program – Signed up at my branch successfully, haven’t used it yet though, keep forgetting.

How To Convert Your Paper Savings Bonds to Electronic Format – Mailed in my bonds, and they are all viewable online now after a little over a week. It’s nice since they update and show you exactly how much they are currently worth, like a bank account. I’ve just been including the face value in my net worth calculations.
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I’m hosting the Carnival of Personal Finance next week. To submit an article, please either use this submission form, or just e-mail me. Entries are due by 5pm ET on Sunday 10/16. Please follow the submission guidelines posted here. Look forward to reading some good stuff!

This week’s Carnival of Personal Finance and Carnival of Debt Reduction are up. Check ’em out! I’ve decided that every week I will also post a Carnival-related food link, because that’s what I think of when I read Carnivals. This week – Cotton Candy.

I’ve been somewhat vague about what I’m doing right now, but after jumping through some hoops, I am enrolled full-time as student again in a new field that I enjoy, working towards a graduate degree. I am still doing some part-time consulting work, but that is dwindling as school is starting to take up more of my time. Money-wise, here are some casual observations I’ve made:

– I need to investigate financial aid next semester. Although I doubt I’ll get any, the first ‘F’ in FAFSA does stand for Free, so why not? Even a subsidized loan may be beneficial, we’ll see.
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