Carnival of Personal Finance #183 is up!
My article, the Basics of US Income Taxes for Americans Living Overseas was posted in Carnival of Personal Finance #183 hosted by the Frugal Duchess.
In my blog, I focus on both US and UK personal finance issues for those living and working abroad. However, these articles should still be helpful even if you’re staying put! I’d love to hear if there are any topics you would like to see covered.
Here are some other articles I enjoyed from today’s carnival:
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Downward spiral for the economy and for PF bloggers? by Counting My Pennies. I found this post to be true for myself. I also run my net worth numbers monthly and typically check in with all my accounts each morning. But lately I’ve been forgeting to login and I’m someone who spends a lot of time thinking about my finances! I can only imagine how others who aren’t quite so interested are reacting.
- Compound Spending – An Obstacle to Wealth Accumulation by Money On My Mind. This is so true. I bought a fancy new bike about a year ago. Problem is a fancy new bike leads to a lot of fancy new gear.
- 10 Holiday Budget Busters by Wide Open Wallet. I’m definitely guilty of some of these budget busters.
How to Save Money with Your Local Library
Let me start off by saying I love my library. Using the local library has probably been the lifestyle change that has saved me the most money since I became interested in personal finance. While saving money on books is an obvious benefit of the library, you may be surprised at what else you can find there (read on)!
I’m a voracious reader and before I started watching my expenses, I would probably stop by my local Barnes and Noble once or twice a week. During each shopping trip, I’d typically purchase two or three books. Assuming an average cost of $15 a paperback, a conservative estimate works out to $120/month and over $1,400 for the year.
Now, I still go to Barnes and Noble once a week, but instead of buying anything, I check out all the new titles and write down in my cell phone’s notepad what I might like to read. Once I get back to my desk, I login to my library’s online catalog and see if they have the book. Nine times out of ten, they have the book – even brand new titles! I can then place an online hold and the library sends me an email when the book is ready for me to pickup. Nothing could be easier.
In addition, since I love bringing home armfuls of books but only end up finishing a few, I never have to worry about clutter build-up or guilt from piles and piles of unread books.
So on to the more surprising things to be found at your local library.
- Language courses – Learning a new language or just brushing up on one you’re familiar with can be an expensive proposition. For example, Rosetta Stone’s popular language course can set you back $259 and up for each level. The library carries tons of language courses. When I was trying to re-learn Spanish for a trip, I checked out a couple of the audio CDs and downloaded the entire course to my iPod. All for free!
- Stock and mutual fund research - Morningstar provides stock and mutual fund screeners, analyst reports and personal finance articles. A basic membership to all of Morningstar’s great features will set you back about $159 annually. But your library may provide access to all of this for free! Even better you could access it all from the comfort of your home.
- Magazines – Libraries subscribe to a wide variety of magazines. With magazines easily costing $5 a pop at your local newstand, the library offers you a chance to check out tons of magazines for free.
- DVDs – Save money by renting your movies from the library. Popular and classic titles are the easist to come by.
- Lectures and workshops – Thomas L. Friedman recently spoke at my library on his new book, Hot, Flat and Crowded. They also frequently host personal finance series that cover current issues such as the recent downturn in the economy.
I bet that if you check out what your local libray has to offer, you’ll be pleasantly surprised! I’d be interested to hear what other great services other have found at their libraries.