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What are the best tips for decorating on a budget? Share yours and win an Ikea gift card - the ultimate budget-decorating superstore!

A few years ago I got a copy of Poor Richard’s Almanack (by Benjamin Franklin) and really loved it. It is full of common-sense wisdom in proverb form. It turns out that in Ben’s day they had a lot of the same issues that we have today, just in different packages…

This week we are giving away a copy of Wisebread’s 10,001 Ways to Live Large on a Small Budget . … (Don’t worry, it is a very quick process) Leave a comment by joining one of the threads/conversations or starting a new one.

… And these are few articles I have been reading this week… 1001 money saving tips Thoughts on foreclosures and short sales Can we fix public education?

This week we are giving away a great John Maxwell Book called Put your dream to the test…

This week we are giving away a year long subscription to Kiplinger’s. I have pretty consistently subscribed to Kips for the last 5-6 years and frequently find some articles of value. I still remember a particular stock pick I made, thanks to their suggestion, that paid off handsomely. I figure that will cover my subscription costs for a while.

In order to be entered for a chance to win the $25 Amazon.com Gift Card , just follow these 3 steps… … (Don’t worry, it is a very quick process) Leave a comment by joining one of the threads/conversations or starting a new one.

…6 tips for successful budgeting ala Dave Ramsey Husband and wife discussing finances online Would you make your kids help buy the groceries ?

James Earn Jones reads the bible… If you haven’t listened to the James Earl Jones Audio Bible then you are missing out. I remember listening to cassette tapes of this back in the day, but thanks to the wonders of modern technology it is now on CD. The Washington Post said, “somehow that voice of his - calm, deep, powerful….makes the words seem more thrilling than ever….” - I have to agree…

Kurt Cameron’s “Fireproof” Last week Linda and I watched Fireproof after hearing some recommendations from friends about it. I had been a little skeptical because I have seen some “Christian” movies that have been a bit too cheesy for my tastes. While Fireproof had a few of those moments, I must say I was impressed with how powerful of a movie it was - especially considering how low-budget it was. I heard that all the actors were from Kurt Cameron’s church - I haven’t verified that, so don’t take it to the bank.

One of the challenges with a blog is that articles I wrote a year ago can be very difficult to find. I have worked hard on the site structure to create the best possible means of navigating to whatever information the user is looking for, but it is, at best, still a flawed system.

As many of you have already noticed, ChristianPF.com got a bit of a makeover this week… I am still working on some finishing touches, but overall I am very happy with how it feels now… For the email and RSS readers, below is a little preview, but I encourage you to stop by and check it out in full effect!

The top 20 Christian Financial websites…I wanted to create a list of websites that have helped me in my journey to understand how to manage money God’s way and that would help the ChristianPF readers as well. …  It was difficult narrowing it down to 20, but I figured within these 20 sites you should be able to find everything you would want to about Christian finance.

A couple weeks ago I did a quick interview with Jay Peroni about faith-based investing. If have started investing or plan on it, I encourage you to check it out. Jay wrote the guest post Thursday and he seems to live and breath to communicate the importance of aligning our investments with our beliefs. As an investor myself, I did pick my investments based on what I knew about the companies, but after using some of the tools Jay mentions in the podcast, I found out that some of them were not perfectly in line with what I want to support.

I found this short video from Glenn Beck using a graph that makes it easier to see how much money the Fed has been printing lately. Common sense says that inflation is inevitable when bills are being printed like they have been lately… … Carnival of Personal Finance , Carnival of Debt Reduction , Carnival of financial goals , Money Hacks , Funny Money .

Never bring previous year’s tax returns to an audit I was recently reading in a publication that I get that you should not provide tax returns for the IRS for years other than the one in question. Apparently it is in the IRS rules that the taxpayer is NOT required to provide information for other tax years - only the one for which you are being audited. The irony is that, according to the article I read, the audit notice from the IRS asks you to bring previous year tax returns.

I decided to do a quick survey of a bunch of personal finance bloggers I know and ask them what article they had written was the most helpful to their readers… My hope was that since many of those I asked have been writing articles for years that it would result in a pretty good round up of sorts. If you take a minute and scan through, I am would be surprised if you didn’t find something of value. Enjoy!!

A $75 incentive to try it out Right now, for the first 30 participants only , they are offering $75 to try it out and participate in a couple user surveys (about 2-3 hours total) over the next few months.

… $75 for your feedback on new debt reduction service Fill out this short form to earn $75 for participating in a usability study for DebtGoal.com, a service that helps you set up and track against a debt reduction plan.

…How to not worry about your finances 10 businesses you can start for cheap/free Have some fun without spending a lot of money And these are a few carnvials CPF has been featured in lately…

…and my God will liberally supply (fill to the full) your every need according to His riches in glory in Christ Jesus. Phil 4:19 (AMP)

These are the six best budgeting websites according to Kiplingers. If you need more, you can check out my 10 free budgeting spreadsheets or my 15 other free budgeting tools…

A while ago I wrote about a personal productivity book that I really enjoyed called Getting Things Done. It is one of the most popular books in the productivity genre and rightfully so. The GTD system is a really well designed system that makes organizing your life doable.

Taskwriter.com is a new tool that streamlines the GTD system even more. They have created an online way to monitor your inbox, next action items, and other categories of to-dos. It is very simple and easy to use even for someone who doesn’t know the GTD system. If you are looking for an online to-do list, it is worth checking out.

ING wants to pay you to use your Debit card … If you have an Electric Orange Checking with ING Direct you are eligible to receive $20 from them. All you have to do is use your debit card 5 times during November (purchases more than $10 each) and they will add $20 to your account on December 15th. You can read more about it here.