So I’m not following my own rules and am still in my pjs as I write this at 1:30pm. *sigh* My excuse is that I’m working on a new blog theme and got really involved. Then Micah and I got an e-mail about something we’re writing, so we’re making changes.

Anyway, it’s been a good week for carnivals and festivals. Here’s a link to the ones I participated in along with a few of my favorites.

First up was the mother of all carnivals–the Carnival of Personal Finance at Cash Money Life. Patrick was very creative (especially since he had another carnival brewing)! I included my post about gold being little more than shiny.

Some of my other favorites from the carnival were:

• The Bag Lady writes about the equivocation of the American Dream with mortgage debt.
• And speaking of mortgages–selling your house to a relative may be more complicated than you’d thought, over at Money Myths.
• I just learned from My Dollar Plan that there’s a Roth 401(k). What next?
• And Interesting Money tells us about the clever and convoluted way he made his banking information available to his wife in case of an emergency. This guy is hard core!

We’ll be back to Cash Money Life, but now it’s time for the best of the Festival of Frugality over at Lazy Man and Money. This week’s festival included my post on how having cable tv is actually saving us money because of our weird package. Some highlights:

• The Chief Family Officer shares with us a discovery she made about her bank’s fees. Can you save money by doing some ordinary stuff online?
• My Money Thinks up some great ideas for those hard-to-give-to people.
• And this one wasn’t related, but here’s a list of 21 things that can help you track your money. So many options! Knowing where it goes is part of being frugal, I suppose.

Make it From Scratch (at Stop the Ride! this week) is a yummy, crafty and always potentially frugal carnival. Care for my comparatively frugal Masala Rice recipe?

• Good use for leftover Thanksgiving/Christmas turkey (mm…curry turkey salad!) at Adventures in Daily Living.
• Sunflowers in My Kitchen made my mouth water with her recipe for Buttermilk biscuits!
• It’s not just food either, Happy Hearts at Home showed us how she made a simple, frugal slipcover.

And there be a new carnival out there–the fledgling Carnival of Financial Goals back at Cash Money Life (busy week for Patrick!). I didn’t win the introductory iPod (recount!!!! or rerandomize) but I’m going to try to be earning $2500/month before the end of 2008. Maybe I’ll be able to afford one. If it’s refurbished by Apple and thus cheaper.

All the entries are so inspiring that I’m having a hard time choosing. Go read them all, but here’s a couple to inspire you:

• Glblguy at Gather Little by Little is planning pay $1000 towards debt each month. Woot!
• Broke Grad Student is ambitious and intends to pay down half his student loans by the end of the year. Awesome!
• Wealthy_1 at Collecting My Cash is planning to pay down $9000 of her credit card debt!

Go forth and have yourself a merry weekend. It’s now 2+ hours later and I’m showered and dressed.

• Mrs. Micah hosts the Carnival of Personal Finance!

• Carnival Roundup

• Gold is only valuable because…

• Sleepy-eyed Saturday Morning Roundup