So we’re taking a break from our 10 day journey to save $10,000 to have a look at some interesting items from around the web.

If you missed the initial post on the 10 Money-Saving Tips to Help You Stash $10,000, I highly encourage you check that out and join us as we resume next week!

It’s been a fun ride so far and we’ve already freed up roughly $375 per month!! 

The basic premise is to try to save $10,000 over the course of this next year by implementing 10 Money-Saving Tips! 

For roughly 10 days, we’ll look at a different tip each day to help you stash some money.  Even if you don’t save the full $10,000 – any additional savings will be well worth it! 

These are the tips we’ve gone through so far: 

Tip #1: Cut Back on Going Out to Eat  

Tip #2: Evaluate Your Entertainment

Tip #3: Cut Your Cable

Tip #4: Turn Your Heat Down

Now on to the rest of the show! 

It’s another week in the books and it’s time for a quick tour.  This Week in Personal Finance takes a look at interesting articles, posts and news from the past week in the personal finance arena. 

So give these articles a click!

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• Thinking about starting a blog to make a little side income?  Pete from Bible Money Matters is offering an ebook to help you do that!
• Enemy of Debt is hosting a “Manage Your Money” Challenge where each challenge will be different or will introduce you to a unique approach to managing money by using a variety of services and software.
• Kevin from Out of Your Rut takes an angle on retirement planning that doesn’t get talked about near enough – working toward a low-cost/debt-free lifestyle in retirement.
• My wife and I have been talking about starting a garden this spring because we love fresh food and we also love to save money. Frugal Dad offers a unique alternative to a monster garden in Square Foot Gardening.
• Jason Price, writing for Christian PF, posts about one of my favorite topics – Money and Happiness!
• Brip Blap offers some insights into raising kids without regrets. 

R2 Around the Web

These are some Blog Carnivals I participated in this past week:

• Carnival of Personal Finance #245 hosted by Budgets are Sexy.
• Festival of Frugality #218 hosted by Think Your Way to Wealth
• Carnival of Money Stories hosted by Personal Finance by the Book
• Best of Money Carnival #39 hosted by Canadian Personal Finance

Plutus Awards

Lastly, it was a great honor this week to be named as one of the top 5 finalists for the Plutus Awards – (think Oscars for the blog world!) in the category of Best Religious Finance Blog!! 

If you get a moment to vote, head on over to the Plutus Awards site and cast your vote for Redeeming Riches! 

Thanks for reading this week, have a great weekend!!

Well, investors will be getting a wake-up-call this morning from the Fed letting them know that easy money won’t be around forever!

Thirty minutes after the markets closed on Thursday, the Fed raised the rate it charges banks for emergency loans by a quarter percentage point to 0.75%.  This was a move that came as a bit of a surprise to most analysts.

It’ll be interesting to see how the markets respond to this today.

Well, it’s another week in the books and it’s time for a quick tour.  This Week in Personal Finance takes a look at interesting articles, posts and news from the past week in the personal finance arena. 

So give these articles a click!

• Fiscal Fizzle takes an interesting spin stating that there is no such thing as passive income.
• Want to go green?  Canadian Finance Blog offers up 10 tips for going green and saving money.
• Do you love free stuff on the web, but hate the spam that goes with it?  PT Money tells us how to find free stuff online without getting spammed!
• Want some motivation to cut back on dining out?  Check out MSN Money’s post about the real cost of dining out. Wow!
• Need a few updates to the wardrobe, but don’t want to bust your budget?  Take a look at Linda’s post over at Christian PF on how to update your wardrobe on a budget.
• This wasn’t from the past week, but it’s a really good article on a confusing topic from Evolution of Wealth - life insurance and discount bands.
• Would you pass the Rich Young Ruler test?  Great post from Lakita found at Bible Money Matters.
• Fred Schebesta from Credit Card Finder has done a couple really great guest posts on R2.  He also writes PF comics!  Check it out.  Some day I hope to make it as a comic book hero!

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R2 Around the Web

I had two posts on Christian PF this week:

• Should You Convert to a Roth IRA in 2010?
• When Can You Withdraw Your Traditional IRA?

My post Finding Happiness: How You Can Own More by Owning Less was included in Canadian Finance Blog’s weekly round up.

Have a GREAT weekend everyone!!

It’s been a great week!  My first post as a writer went up on Christian PF (see link below).  I’m excited about the opportunity to write for a great site like that.

The markets have been a little crazy this week and there still a lot of talk about our national debt.  The best thing we can do is focus on changes to our own personal situation. 

Anyways, This Week in Personal Finance takes a look at interesting articles, posts and news from the past week in the personal finance arena. 

So give these articles a click!

• NPR takes a look at the decade ahead in jobs - this is an interesting graphic that shows what they project to be the best and worst employement areas.
• The question of giving and tithing is an oft-debated one in Christians circles.  Questions of how much and to whom stir up lots of answers.  Craig from Money Help for Christians looks at a healthy view of Christian giving and tithing.  This is a great, in-depth post on the subject.
• Paul from Fiscal Geek takes a look at 10 Ways to Invest $100 - he covers just about anything you can think of to get you started.
• Miranda at Personal Dividends writes about  6 Things You Should Know About the 2010 Roth Conversion.  This was a very solid post.  For more on Roth Conversions, check out my guest post over at Wise Bread.
• This post from Linsey at Wise Bread was right up my alley – saving money on office supplies! 
• Matt from Debt Free Adventure shares some pretty common ways people get into debt and how to dig out!

Don’t miss out on another post!!  Get Redeeming Riches delivered to your inbox!

R2 on the Web

I’ve recently been “hired on” as a writer over at Christian PF – one of the leading Christian personal finance blogs out there! 

This was a great honor to be asked by Bob Lotich to contribute articles on a regular basis. You can check out my first on called Blueprint to Building Your Financial House!

Also, Tipd.com is a financial news website where users vote up their favorite articles.  My article 6 Ways to Find Free Money received enough votes to be the #1 article on Tipd’s Greatest Hits!  Thank you to everyone who voted for it!

That article was also included at Fiscal Geek’s Perma Friday Round Up and Canadian Finance Blog’s Friday’s Links post.

4 Money Lessons from a Fool was included in One Money Design’s Friday Round Up.

Have a great weekend everyone!!

We finally got our internet hooked up at our house this week!  It’ll be good to get back to a regular posting schedule next week.

I’m excited for this weekend because I get to teach a class to a Young Marrieds group at church on Money.  I’ll try to post some of the content from that class in the next few weeks!

Anyways, This Week in Personal Finance takes a look at interesting articles, posts and news from the past week in the personal finance arena. 

So give these articles a click!

• Kevin at Out of Your Rut shares his experience and gives us the do’s and don’t of finding Social Media friends and followers.
• Here’s a cool story with a great point!  Being the  most driven person isn’t always the best route as you’ll find out from Brip Blap
• You might want to think twice before you order that bucket of popcorn at the theatre or a glass of pinot grigio at dinner.  Here’s CNNs look at America’s Biggest Ripoffs!
• I’ve been wanting to put this in a round up, but just kept putting it off – Eric from Living 2 Excess gives some tips for overcoming procrastination.
• Coveting is something that isn’t talked about much in Personal Finance circles, but Pete over at Bible Money Matters gives us some tips on how not to covet.

Have a great weekend!!

Another week “in the books”.  I can’t believe it’s almost February already. 

This was a fun week on R2 – if you didn’t check out my mom’s guest post on marriage you should!

Anyways, This Week in Personal Finance takes a look at interesting articles, posts and news from the past week in the personal finance arena.  Give these articles a click!

Rich Christian Poor Christian gives some insights into the 7 Investments he tackles on his blog.

Craig Ford – a missionary to Papau New Guinea and writer for Money Help for Christians sits down with the poor of PNG and asks them some very direct questions about the differences and perceptions among the rich and poor.  This was an awesome post and worth checking out for some valuable insights into their responses.

Do you like getting a big tax refund?  Bible Money Matters tells us why getting a big tax refund is a horrible idea!

Interesting thoughts from Free Money Finance on how different age groups view their careers.

It’s stinkin’ cold in the Chicago area right now and it’s tempting to blast the heat, but we don’t want the big bill that comes with it – so grab your Snuggie cuz Matt Jabs at Debt Free Adventure looks at a few ways to save money on heat and electricity this winter.

Have a great weekend everyone!

What a week.  We closed on our house last week and are still living with many unpacked boxes – but that’s OK, it’s just great to be in and sleeping there! 

It’s been hard to post this past week since I didn’t plan ahead and have my internet hooked the day we moved in – so therefore you’ve seen very little posting from me this week.  We should be hooked up by this weekend so I’m excited to get back to a “regular” posting schedule! 

At any rate, This Week in Personal Finance takes a look at interesting articles, posts and news from the past week in the personal finance arena.  Give these articles a click!

I love Visual Economics.  They always do a stellar job converting interesting facts into neat little graphs. This week they take a look at the question Where Is America’s Debt?

 The Digerati Life found an interesting chart about the Financial Risks and the People You Trust.  It’s not a surprising chart, but an interesting one none-the-less.

This is a great take from Free Money Finance regarding the 6 Steps to a Great Retirement as highlighted in Consumer Reports.  Also, call me crazy, but Maybe You Only Need So Much to Be Happy in Retirement - this is something I try to reinforce on this site – it’s not the size of the accounts that will bring happiness! 

Mrs. Micah does a phenomenal job putting together a mammoth list of 2009 tax deductions and credits!  Wow!

Gather Little by Little offers up some famous money quotes!

Steve Jobs is at it again – trying to change the landscape of media and entertainment through his technology - will it work?

Ok - totally unrelated to personal finace, but I thought this was awesome!  Take a look at TechEBlog’s 10 Strangest Lego Creations.

Have a great weekend everybody!

Today’s the big day! We are finally closing on our new house.

We started the building process back in August of ‘09, moved into the inlaws basement and recently have been frantically trying to get a bunch of little things done so we can keep our closing date.

We locked in our rate back in November with a 45-day lock and today’s the last day!

But the house is ready, we’re ready and we’re so excited to get back to our normal routine!

Enough about us – let’s talk about some of the interesting discussions going on in the Personal Finance world this week!

This Week in Personal Finance takes a look at interesting articles, posts and news from the past week in the personal finance arena.  Give these articles a click!

• Joe Taxpayer is confused why so many Christians seem to look at all debt with such disdain and asks an interesting question, “Is Debt Anti-God?”
• Free Money Finance is a very popular and simple blog  that offers some very thought-provoking posts.  I like that.  This week he says that Those Who Give More Become Rich Faster.  I don’t think that should be our motivation to give, but he does offer a good look at the relationship between wealth and giving.
• Paul over at Fiscal Geek asks a questions we’ve all asked at some point in our lives, “Should You Save For Retirement While in Debt?”
• Kevin at Out of Your Rut asks another popular question, “Will A Million Dollars Be Enough to Retire On?”
• Free From Broke delves into the dark world of credit card reform to find some answers on how the CARD Act affects us.

R2 On The Web

My post about the 4 Questions You Should Ask Before You Buy Life Insurance was included in:

• Cavalcade of Risk from the Colorado Health Insurance Insider
• Canadian Finance Blog’s Friday Links

This Week in Personal Finance takes a look at interesting articles, posts and news from the past week in the personal finance arena.  Give these articles a click!

• Kiplinger takes a look at 13 Careers for the Next Decade - I was surprised to see Veterinarian on there.
• Joe takes a look at the Fine Print of Credit Card Legislation over at Personal Finance By The Book.
• You think you’ve saved money on everything can think of? Think again!  Lynnae at Being Frugal.net gives a list of 101 Ways to Cut Your Spending in 2010!
• Interesting clip from Marketwatch about Oceanic Wind Farms – basically wind turbines anchored in the sea floor for renewable energy.
• Something I think is really, really cool is that Free Money Finance gives to charities every single penny of income he receives from his blog .

Win Great Prizes from Money Crashers!

Money Crashers is sponsoring a 2010 New Year Giveaway Bash with over $6,200 in prizes for performing certain actions (like re-tweeting their posts etc.) and entering their contest.  Check it out!

In Case You Missed It!

Here are a list of Guest Posts I had over the last month:

• What You Need to Know About Roth IRAs in 2010 over at Wise Bread
• 5 Tips for Dealing With Your Medical Debt over at Christian PF
• 5 Four-Letter Words You Should Be Using in Personal Finance over at Frugal Dad