Happy 5th of July, everyone! I hope you had a nice 4th. We just relaxed at home and ate yummy food (pizza with garlic, olives & feta cheese and Taiwanese style fried chicken, the recipe of which I plan to post here some time soon) and watched the Lost Episodes of the Lucy Show on DVD with our cousin who has never seen the show before. (Mr. Mooney is my favorite.)

It’s been a somewhat hectic and busy month what with 100+ degree weather just about everyday since the beginning of June, car trouble and my messed up sleep schedule. I know my posting has been rather irregular, and I apologize to my regular readers. Our cousins’ 3-month visit is winding to an end - she’ll be leaving on Tuesday July 7th - so we’ll be trying to spend as much time together as possible in the next few days. After that I hope to be able to get back to posting a little more regularly.

That said, the past month has gone quite well for Our Fourpence Worth. Our Money Management Monopoly Game Expansion series has met with pretty good reception in the financial blogosphere, 2 of them having been chosen as Editor’s Picks in recent blog carnivals and quite a few mentions at other blogs. This also means we’ve had to do a lot of test-playing of our expansions, which hasn’t exactly been torturous labor.

I’m also really excited to be slated to host the Festival of Frugality on August 19, 2008 and the Money Hacks Carnival on August 20, 2008. We’ve also received the honor of being included in the Personal Finance category at alltop.com.

OK, now on to our round-up for this month.

PF Bloggers

First of all, I would like to announce that the PF Bloggers network is starting a monthly group writing project wherein each member of our network will be writing about a pre-selected topic on the 15th of each month. Our first topic will be our personal/family financial history and basically what influenced or inspired us to live frugally and/or aspire to financial freedom.

• No Debt Plan gives us 2 reasons we should care about his toothpaste savings.
• Master Your Card posted some amusing things children said about credit cards.
• Future Millionaire shares her reasons for tipping generously.
• Wide Open Wallet tells us why she likes high gas prices.
• Pinching Copper contemplates whether a Costco or Sam’s Club membership is worth the money.

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Hey everyone, sorry for the recent inconsistent posting. The past month as been really busy for me what with having a house guest (a cousin visiting us from Taiwan for 3 months), a trip to Disneyland (with 2 feisty dogs) the week before last and a trip to Las Vegas last week (with one feisty dog), but I am back and ready to get back to some serious blogging and carnival submissions.

Anyways, here are some great posts by fellow financial bloggers from recent weeks:

PF Bloggers

• Living Almost Large gives us an amusing list of ways in which people justify purchases.
• Seb at Pinching Copper gives his opinion that the penny is worthless. Would you pick up a penny from the sidewalk?
• Kevin from No Debt Plan achieved his goal of going the entire month of May without the air conditioner. Good for you guys!
• Jonathan at Master Your Card gives us 7 Zany Ways to Stop Overspending.
• Ginger from Girls Just Wanna Have Funds gave us Things That Piss Me Off: Food stamp recipients pinched by high food prices that has stirred up a bit of controversy.
• And for a bit of fun, check out Future Millionaire’s (Start of Work Week) Money Funny - Cost of Pop Culture Icons Today about the Brady Bunch, which I am only a little embarrassed to admit was one of my favorite shows at one time.

Elesewhere in the Financial Blogosphere

• I really appreciated Get Rich Slowly’s Closing the Gap Between Dreams and Reality. It has inspired me to get proactive about my financial goals.
• Find out how No Credit Needed will save/make $20,000 by giving up his soda habit!
• Something that goes nicely in hand with my recent Vacation Preparation Checklist is a post from Gather Little By Little about Low Cost Summer Family Vacation ideas with money saving tips.
• Frugal Dad gives a nice Used Car Buying Guide for Teenagers for parents, but it has some useful tips for us grown-ups too.
• We’ve recently begun thinking about starting some investments, so I was really glad to come across The Simple Dollar’s warning about how The Methods You Use to Deal with Ordinary Life Will Fail You As an Investor.
• I was amused by Spam Sales on the Rise, Common Sense at an All-Time Low. I thought it was funny because I recently bought a can of Spam, not as a substitute for real, nutritious food (well, OK it did end up substituting for real food for a couple of meals), but for my cousin to try because they don’t have Spam in Taiwan. It was probably the first can of Spam I have ever purchased. (I grew up in Hawaii where they have something called a “Spam Musubi” which is a slice of pan-fried spam layered over a block of rice and all wrapped in seaweed. YUMMY!)

New Carnival in Town

Oh, and one last bit of news. Jonathan from Master Your Card has started a new blog carnival called the Finance Fiesta which runs weekly on Thursday starting June 5, 2008. If you have a personal finance related blog, be sure to submit your best article!

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The following is a guest post by Jonathan at Master Your Card from the PF Bloggers Personal Finance Blog Network. If you like this post, be sure to check out his blog for other great reads!

Five Ways to Make Some Extra Income on the Side

Who couldn’t use a little extra money? Plenty of people are feeling a little strained with their finances, and if you feel as though you are on the verge of just barely squeaking by, then it might be time to bring in a little extra income.

Of course, if you can manage to rein your spending in a little you might be able to avoid going after some extra income, but if that’s not an option then give some of these suggestions a try.

• Get a Part-Time Job
  Part-time jobs can be a lot of fun. Find something in a field that you enjoy. If you love reading, get a job at a bookstore. If you adore being outside, take a weekend job assisting a landscaper. If you have to get a part-time job you should at least make sure that you’re doing something you enjoy while also making decent money. You may be surprised to discover that your current employer has regulations against full-time employees taking part-time jobs, so make sure you aren’t breaking any rules when you get your part-time job. Either that or keep quiet about it!
• Become a Freelancer
  You don’t have to go work on-site at a part-time job if you have a skill that you can make money with from home. Plenty of freelance contractors make a decent extra income doing something they love – writing, designing websites, or whatever – all while wearing their pajamas and bunny slippers. A couple of sites worth investigating are Elance and FreelanceSwitch.
• Get Popular Online
  If you can create a website that people want to visit regularly then you can potentially make some extra income by placing ads on your site. This is definitely something you can do in your spare time, but you shouldn’t expect to make a fortune from ad revenues if you can’t commit a great deal of time in developing and maintaining the site. Building up a passive income online takes time and dedication, so don’t expect to get rich overnight.
• Do Some Overtime
  If your current employer offers you the opportunity to do some overtime at a higher hourly rate then this can be a great way to bring in some extra income. This can be an especially good idea if you really do enjoy your job, and you don’t mind putting in a few extra hours.
• Invest
  This suggestion is a little tricky because not everyone has a knack for investing, nor do they have the capital to really put up a sizeable enough investment in order to get an impressive return. There are some people, however, who do indeed make a nice amount of income on the side playing the markets part time. If your need for extra income isn’t immediate then this may be something you should consider giving a try. Just be sure that you don’t invest any money that you can’t afford to lose, and don’t go in cold - educate yourself first.

Unless you need extra money each month just to cover your basic necessities, you have the opportunity to make some money on the side while actually having fun and learning a new skill. Don’t go for something you’ll be miserable with if you can instead choose to just spend less each month by cutting back on a few ‘luxury’ items. Working a job you hate is miserable enough, but when you’re working it in addition to a full-time job you’re bound to get really grumpy, really fast!

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Here are just a few great articles from the past month by my peers in the PF Bloggers Network.

Pet Love

First of all, I can’t pass up an opportunity to congratulate a couple of members on new additions to their households:

• Kevin at No Debt Plan introduces Maggie the [Incredibly Cute] Puppy and shares their reasons for getting her. Congrats to all of you!
• Ginger from Girls Just Wanna Have Funds takes in AJ the cat and doesn’t regret the $400 she spent on his vet care despite the tough weekend she had. Good for you Ginger (and hubby)!.

Frugality and Personal Finance

• I really enjoyed Don’t Judge a Book by Its Cover by Kristy at Master Your Card. It addresses some very good points on making assumptions about people and their financial status based on outward appearances.
• With summer just around the corner, Melissa, also from Master Your Card, gives us some Frugal Family Vacation Tips.
• Mom at Wide Open Wallet shares a yummy recipe for Garlic Lime Chicken.
• Seb from Pinching Copper warns us about five items you don’t want to buy at the dollar store.
• Jonathan, again from Master Your Card, offers a few tips on protecting yourself from credit card fraud.
• And last but not least, Future Millionaire reminds us of the importance of taking the time to do things right the first time around in Quality and Personal Finance.

Blog Carnival

We are excited to announce that our Frugal but Thoughtful Mother’s Day Gift Suggestions made Editor’s Choice at the 151st edition of the Carnival of Personal Finance Bloggers on Surviving the Squeeze hosted at Alpha Consumer by Kimberly Palmer, senior editor of U.S. News & World Report. Be sure to check out this carnival for more interesting personal finance and frugality related articles.

PF Bloggers

Here are some great articles by some of my fellow PF Bloggers from this past month:

• Seb at Pinching Copper gives us Five things you should buy used
• Jonathan at Master Your Card offers a guide on How to Pick the Right Credit Card
• JB at Get Rich or Die Trying had a very close call and learned an important lesson about House Buying.
  
• Kevin at No Debt Plan reminds us that Superfrugality Can Hurt Your Relationship. This was inspired by a great post by Patrick at Cash Money Life titled Spend $10. It’s Worth it!
• Ginger at Girls Just Wanna Have Funds shares 8 Frugal and Cost Cutting Tips for the Newly Independent

Blog Carnivals

We’ve also had quite a few articles featured in various blog carnivals, a few of them were:

• Festival of Frugality #119: The Quitting My Day Job to Blog Full Time Edition
  Article: Thinking inside the box: Some Uses for Cardboard Cartons
• Carnival of Personal Finance #145 - Baby Education Edition
  Article: The No-Budget System
• Carnival of Ethics, Values, and Personal Finance
  Article: Honestly Frugal: the Ethics of Saving Money

Check out our Blog Carnivals page for the complete list of carnivals we’ve been included in.

Every now and then, I will be doing a little round-up of articles by fellow personal finance bloggers at PFBloggers.com that may be of interest to our readers here.

• If you are thinking of buying a house now or in the near future, I would recommend reading up on Lies Your Realtor Tells You by Seb at Pinching Copper.
• Living Almost Large warns readers about choosing mechanics wisely in Not Trusting Mechanics.
• Mom at Wide Open Wallet tells us how a WaMu credit card offers cardholders the great benefit of checking credit scores for free.
• Jonathan from Master Your Card gives a nice, concise overview of the credit score system in Everything you wanted to know about Fico Scores.
• Cinder at The Social Marginal gives some good advice about Lending Money to Friends and Family.