Here are the latest links to the traveling shows….

The Carnival of Personal Finance #53, has returned home and is celebrating one year of great reads. The host requested an entry from everyone and a favorite from the past year. This equals doubly good reads and showcases the writing talents for all the bloggers. Happy Birthday! The entries were arranged by length and I was shocked to see that we only made the middle. I consider my blog entries to be short novels, but there were plenty of people who had me beat this week. The Quest to Find Cheap Baby Food was included and my favorite entry on Easy Ways to Save Your Family Money was also highlighted.

The Festival of Frugality #28 was also back home over at the Blueprint For Financial Prosperity. Our New Uses For That Old Phone Book was included.

The Carnival of Family Life #6 is up and our Quest to Find Cheap Baby Food was up over there too. Lots of great submissions can be found in this carnival. It is also being celebrated at home, but will now be traveling around so new sites are welcome to join in to host!

The Carnival of Debt Reduction #40 has been posted at Journey to Financial Freedom. Our Cheap High Speed Internet & Other Tall Tales (I need to think of some shorter titles, people!) has been included over there.

Frugal Momma’s top picks for good reads this week:

Fifteen Ways to Leave Your….Money has a great tongue-in-cheek response to these lame lists that the financial experts offer to us as “tips” that we would have never thought of.

My favorite blogging momma (The Family CEO) writes on Gift Guilt. Do you feel guilty when you don’t spend as much on a gift? My answer is no! Read my blog entries if you don’t believe me!

Want to know how to actually make a cake from scratch? This blog entry includes recipes and reasons why you shouldn’t go with the boxed cake mix. I still think Aldi brownie mix is better than anything I have ever attempted to make, but I am willing to budge on the cakes themselves.

Melissa has been chosen as our Monday WAHM for MomAdvice.com. We wish her much success in her business and with her family.If you are interested in being featured, we will be selecting a mom for each Monday of my blog. You can read more and apply. Email confirmations are sent to each mom if they are chosen. I still have many people to reply to on these so please be patient waiting for my reply. I promise to get back to you guys soon! Also remember to do your own research on these companies. If there are obvious red flags on BBB, I do not post them. Check my scam article to find out more about the potential dangers of work-at-home businesses.

Thank you to Melissa and her WAHM business, Tupperware, for taking the time to apply and be a part of my Monday feature!

Name: Melissa Wilder

City/State: Louisville KY

Name of Company: Tupperware

Two or Three Sentences About Your Company:
Awesome Storage and Kitchen Products! Great For Small, kitchens, large kitchens, RV’S Keep organized and your food longer! Saves time and Money!

Two Tips for Moms Trying to Work-At-Home (these tips can be how you stay organized, how to be successful, how to get started- anything that you feel would help someone just starting out):

1. Find your niche and then find a company that fits that. If you like jewelry and are buying it all the time than maybe that is the company for you!

2. You will be successful if you love what you are doing. Hang in there if it gets slow- it will and you just have to persevere.

Since we moved into this house, we have had high speed internet through AT&T; (formerly SBC Yahoo). When we originally signed up with this company, they were offering a promotional offer of $29.99, if you signed up for a year contract with them. At that time, this was the best deal around and we were really pleased with the rate. When my contract ended, however, my price suddenly shot up to $36.00. Why? Well, because I had not signed another contract with them so they had the right to increase my rate.

When I called the salesperson, I was not a happy camper. There was no way I was going to pay this much for our internet. After we made some small talk (what is your account number, what is your social security number, what is your blood type, etc..) I asked why my rate had increased. She told me that my contract had ended in August so they increased my rates. Little did she know that while I was on the phone with her, I was frantically going through their website to find the latest and greatest rate. I asked if I could end that contract and sign up for another year. A resounding, “Yes!” was her reply. She would give me a great deal at $29.99 a month, just like I had before. Unfortunately, my fingers had done the walking and I now knew that they actually were offering the rate of $24.99 per month. When I asked her about this, she asked me if I would like that rate instead. Um….yeah!

I asked what I could do to prevent this from happening again (because I am cheap like that). She instructed me to call her on the date that I had renewed my contract, sign up for another year, and then I could lock into the rate I was currently at.

I took this one step further the following year. I checked the current rate and saw that they were offering the internet for $19.99. When I called the customer service representative, I requested to cancel my contract and then start a new one at the advertised rate of $19.99. There was a long pause on the other end of the phone. “Now what is it you would like to do?” Again, I explained that I wanted the current rate…another longer pause. “Well, I see here that you have been a good customer with us and have paid your bills on time. We don’t normally do this, but I am willing to make an exception since you have been such a good customer.”

I now have written down in my calendar when my contract is set to expire. This gives me the opportunity to lower (or keep) my bill the same. I know that I have a date with the customer service representative on August 1st to discuss my bill and I now see that they are advertising their high speed internet at a mere $12.99.

Ah yes, I pity the fool who must answer my telephone call because I do not back down for THE MAN.

Don’t you just love America?

It has been awhile since I have done a Play It Again, Momma post. This is just where I get the opportunity to highlight something you might have missed on my blog (particularly for our new readers).

This week, let’s take a look back at my Stop the Insanity post where I (insanely) address the question of WHY in the WORLD do we have to spend so much money on all these dang birthday parties.

We are revisiting this post as my son’s fourth birthday is quickly approaching. I asked him what he would like to do for his party this year and he said he wants to go to McDonald’s..And then I thanked him, and kissed his face, and told him he was the best little boy mommy could ever have, and then I sobbed uncontrollably. A trip to McDonald’s is a lot cheaper than a party and I don’t have to clean up after a bunch of toddlers have enjoyed their chocolate cake (a tad too much). Anyone is welcome to join us and let their kids play in the giant germ-infested play area, or they can just stay home and relax- it does not matter to me.

We will have a big birthday bash for Emily’s first birthday, but we are reserving the bashes now for those *special* celebrations rather than a party for every year they get a little older.

I can put the savings towards a special gift for our son…yes, the gift of a Happy Meal…Just kidding! I’m not that cheap….Or am I?

Big Announcement for MomAdvice!

So my husband mentioned about a month ago that he submitted my site to some website network to be considered for membership. I figured this was, yet another, one of those sites that show off fancy-looking sites and that it was just another way to stroke his ego. I gave him one of my “that’s nice dear” comments and promptly forgot everything he had just said.

Then, Monday night, he comes running up the stairs yelling something about “we’re in!” along with a lot of other incoherent babble. After catching his breath, he managed to spit out what all the excitement was about: We are now a member of the incredible 9rules network.

What does that mean? I didn’t really know either at the time, but I’m now running around like a lunatic myself. I think they explain it best:

“The 9rules Network is a community of the best weblogs in the world on a variety of topics. We started 9rules to give passionate writers more exposure and to help readers find great blogs on their favorite subjects. It’s difficult to find sites worth returning to, so 9rules brings together the very best of the independent web all under one roof.”

Sounds impressive doesn’t it? I thought so too, which is why I am so honored and humbled by their invitation into the network. What makes this such a proud moment is that we were accepted, not because of my husband’s wonderful design, but for all the blood, sweat and tears *I’ve* poured into all of the content I’ve written. It is invigorating to know my hard work is being recognized and I will try to continue producing the same in-depth articles, helpful tips, and brilliant wit you all love me for.

In our best Bostonian accents, we say, “Wicked cool!” We look forward to this opportunity and the challenges that it will bring us to do better. I hope you can check out the 9rules Network and see what they are all about.

Here are this week’s festivals & carnivals for your reading pleasure.

The Carnival of Debt Reduction (#39) is being hosted at Aridni. Our College Coupons was featured in this carnival.

Also over at Aridni, you will find the Festival of Frugality Within this festival is our blog entry on Weeding Through Your Child’s Art Work. Thanks to Aridni for featuring both of these entries in these two shows.

Financial Fruition hosted the Carnival of Personal Finance this week. Goodwill is Good was one of the entries chosen to be in this carnival.

Finally, we participated in a new (or new to us) carnival called the Carnival of Family Life. Our Weeding Through Your Child’s Art Work was located there as well.

Here are this Frugal Momma’s picks for good reads this week:

Money & Values has a great entry on whether or not you haggle.
Paul’s Tips offers up his eight best negotiation tips.
It’s Just Money shares the way he got coke & popcorn at the movies without breaking his budget.
Tired but happy has some great ideas for making your child’s lunch on the cheap. I especially like her tip for yogurt cups!
Model Home shares a free/cheap way to make your pad look sweet throug Craiglist.

Enjoy these goodies today!