Finally Frugal's weekly roundup. . .

This week, I tried to read blog posts that were a little outside my usual 'comfort zone' themes of frugality, simple living, and debt repayment. Here are some of the ones I enjoyed (and hope you do too!):

Cash Money Life wrote a brilliant post about how to save money on your home insurance. This is one area that I have neglected. My home insurance is held by AAA, which (in my opinion) is one of the more expensive companies. Since half of my wiring is knob and tube (I think that's what it's called) instead of circuit breaker, finding home insurance was kind of a struggle. This is something that I can work on this year.

Meanwhile, Frugal Dad writes about people with massive credit card debt, and the odds that they would be able to 'itemize' their debt. In other words, he wonders whether someone with a $10,000 credit card balance (as I've had in the past) could figure out where all that money went! This would be an interesting exercise---I know that in my credit-card driven past, I wouldn't have been able to recall even half of what I had purchased with credit.

I love, love, LOVE this post by J.D. at Get Rich Slowly, about making your own luck. J.D. read an article in Newsweek about "how to survive" (anything, from a plane crash to an accidental knitting needle through the heart), which posits that some people are lucky, and some just aren't. J.D.'s argument (based on the research of a British professor) is that only about 10% of our lives can be attributed to luck. The other 90% is all about our attitude and the choices we make.

I've Paid for This Twice Already writes a moving post about the recent death of her father, and the financial aftermath following the death of a loved one. It's hard to remember that along with all of the emotional upheaval after a 'breadwinner' dies, there are financial details to sort out. Paid Twice lists some very helpful tips that can help the remaining spouse deal with the details more easily while grieving a loss.

No More Spending published a post entitled "Using a Spending Diary" that discusses the benefits of tracking expenditures, whether on paper in a journal or online (as I do) using Excel. I have to say, keeping track of where my money is going has been the absolute key to decreasing spending and increasing savings and debt repayment!

Finally, Cheap Healthy Good has a scrumptious looking recipe for Autumn Apple Salad on her website, that looks to-die-for (and cheap-ish, too). I know it's not autumn anymore, but I might need to buy a bag of organic apples this weekend and create this little jewel of a salad for myself.

And that's it for me, folks! Enjoy the rest of your weekend!