Excess Frugality, Practical Tips and Gas Prices @ The Round-Up

The American Economics Blog Carnival hosted my article “Is Present Value - Value in the Present? The Economic sense behind Net Present Value" and featured some interesting posts. I especially liked:

• Fuels Costs, High Gas Prices and the Real Estate Investor @ BiggerPockets
  This article discusses some interesting effects high gas prices might have on real estate investors. An interesting point made is that increased fuel costs will also affect the selection process of the average home buyer as longer commutes to work become more costly. I believe low gas prices have created an inherent inefficiency in real estate and urban planning. I find suburbs to be one of the main problems created by this inefficiency resulting in commuters jamming highways and roads, pollution and waste of resources an time.
  
  I personally believe that with increased gas costs and environmental awareness the suburbs will cease to exist as we know them now and will slowly transform to more densely populated, self serviced metropolitan areas. That will take a while though.

The Festival of Frugality @ Rather-Be-Shopping hosted my article on “How to Successfully Navigate Your Way through Home Renovations: 10 Practical Tips”. I recommend the following posts featured in this addition of the carnival:

• The Frugal Lifestyle: Are We Missing Out on Life? @ Consumerism Commentary
  My thoughts on the issue should be pretty clear by now and are very close to the author’s. I believe a delicate balance exists in being frugal, one that is too easy to cross. I believe real money is saved by being smart, educated and aware and not by saving a nickel a day while denying trivial and basic needs. I recently wrote how being over ascetic just might end in the exact opposite with an explosion of denied passions (or in the words of Lloyd Brown from Seinfeld “Serenity now … Insanity later”.

• Frugal Tips: How To Make 10 Ordinary Things Last Longer @ The Digerati Life
  The Digerati Life is one of my favorite blogs for articles such as this. Writing everyday handy and practical tips is pretty hard. Some of these are really useful, the others, to me, are more entertaining (chilling candles, how brilliantly simple is that?)
  

The Carnival of Personal Finance @ Gather Little by Little hosted my article on “How to Successfully Navigate Your Way through Home Renovations: 10 Practical Tips”. This carnival edition featured the beautiful photos of North Carolina’s Landscape and good posts as well. Here are my picks:

• Spend $10. It’s Worth It! @ Cash Money Life
  This article offers a refreshing break from excess frugality. This is an excellent example of what I mean when I write about fulfilling the more basic needs which will later help us postpone the bigger ones.

• Riding a Bicycle to work @ Pinching Copper
  A classic win-win choice which speaks for itself. The obvious obstacle is distance but then you can always ride a motorcycle (I do).

More recommended readings from fellow personal finance bloggers:

• Are you just doing easy stuff? @ Mighty Bargain Hunter
• Why new oil price highs @ Econbrowser
• The 55th Carnival of Money Stories - Tax Day Edition @ The Baglady
• Ten Ways You Can Teach Your Kids About Money @ Money Smart Life