Weekend Round-Up #18

Since I skipped posting a round up last weekend (don't judge me), some of this week's recommended reading via Mrs. Nespy are actually from last week. Sorry to be a bit late, but since it is still good reading, I'm still recommending it. =)

Here are some of the most interesting/worth-sharing posts and articles I read these last two weeks:

FINANCES:

• As Frugal as You Want to Be written by Danelle Ice at And Freebies for All (although her usual home is Home Ever After) reminds us that frugality is not a competition. As long as we are doing what works for our household, we can be proud of our accomplishments.
• The slacker's guide to decluttering your home before a sale or move at MSN Real Estate is fabulous advice for when you are moving, but can even be applied to a good project that needs to be tackled.
• 20 Tips To Press Onward Towards Your Financial Goals at Bible Money Matters offers many great reminders that this is a journey...and can be a frustrating and exhausting one at that. Press on.
• 4 signs your home value could drop at MSN Moneycentral gives us some clues to look out for (ours has already been reassessed as having dropped in value. Since we're not planning to move any time soon, we're looking at the positive--lower tax bill).
• 10 Things Your Baby Doesn’t Need that Can Fund Their College Education. at Fiscal Geek is a reminder not to let the baby store registry suggest what you "need" for your baby...remember they are trying to sell you stuff!
• The truth about free credit scores at MSN Moneycentral lets us know that these services can be deceiving. Pay attention!
• Why you need TWO credit cards by Donna Freeman at Smart Spending gives a really good arguement against cutting up all but one of those cards. Of course, you have to able to not let those cards burn a hole in your pocket in the meantime!

FAITH:

• Drenched & Whole & Healed at Flowerdust was truly touching. Anne is such an incredible writer--it's no wonder God is using her like He is!
• Looking Through the Eyes of Love is once again by Anne, but at (In)Courage this time. She's great at reminding me how to live life in this world as a child of God.
• Holy Crap! at Brad Ruggles was a great humorous approach to remind me of how truly blessed I have been.
• $30,000 in 18 hours. at Stuff Christians Like is proof positive that God is truly using Jon's site to move. His original proposal was here. This is where the project is now (at the time I am typing at least). Amazing.

FAMILY/HOME:

• Babies 'cry in mother's tongue' at BBC News made me smile. They weren't even attempted to prove that every life is precious, but I think they inadvertently made a good argument for it!

FUN:

• Diminishing Returns at Tyler Stanton cracked me up. So true, so true.
• Ditch Productivity For A Day: 12 Great Sites To Kill Time & Have Fun at Dumb Little Man will give you a selection of new sites to check out for some internet fun.
• Anti-Crime Law Fail at Failblog just had me shaking my head.

FAVORITE NEW SITE OF THE WEEK:

• What's After the Credits is a brilliant idea for a website! It lets you know if there are any special scenes or other surprises after the credits of movies, tv shows, and video games. This could be a huge time killer for someone and is gold to a random-trivia buff like my brother.

Photo credit: Misshavelaar