Totally Money Blog Carnival #49

I had the pleasure of hosting the 49th edition of the Totally Money Blog Carnival this week, allowing me the chance to read through some very interesting articles. Each one has given me something to think about, has imparted useful knowledge or has taught me a valuable skill. I hope you enjoy them too.

Editor’s Picks

Watson Inc. argues 4 Reasons You Should Set Unrealistically High Goals, explaining that not all goals should necessarily have a strong basis in reality, including financial goals.

Thirty Six Months presents Women and Investing, an interesting look at the differences between men and women’s investing styles.

One Cent at a Time urges you to Donate Old Eye Glasses to Charities, Help Those Less Fortunate, offering advice on your own purchase of eye glasses and exposing the fact that more than a billion people cannot afford eye glasses.

Sabrina explains How to Get Your Kids to Stop Treating You Like an ATM over at Wallet Watcher .

You Have More Than You Think offers a controversial view of why small business owners should have access to cheap prison labour in Putting America Back to Work, One Prisoner at a Time.

Business

How Does Facebook Make Money? Funancials reveals the mystery of the industry giant’s marketing model.

Want to land that new job? Smart on Money tells you how to Dress for Success: Business Attire for Less.

Credit Cards

Saving Money Today presents The Dark Side of Compounding Interest, explaining that compounding interest can help your money grow exponentially but can also keep you up at night.

Free From Broke explains how to Pay off your credit card debt faster with the a 0% balance transfer credit card.

Debt Management

Investor Junkie asks What Makes Debt Socially Acceptable?

Do you feel like you’re falling into a pit of debt? Your Finances Simplified offers A 6 step plan to dominate your debt.

Boomer & Echo suggests that if In Debt, You Should Stop Donating.

Goal Setting

The Amateur Financier offers a guide to looking back at your resolutions from the past year, finding what went wrong, and improving your future in Learning From Unmet Resolutions.

Bucksome Boomer encourages you not to give up on your New Year’s resolutions and instead Make 2012 Your Best Year Ever.

Finance Fox reminds us that, whatever your life goal or dream, it is never too late to get started in From Homeless To Successful – The Story Of One Entrepreneur.

Green Living

My Personal Finance Journey highlights the importance of using green energy, and illustrates how going green saves you money in home energy costs: Green Energy Makes Green Money.

Living green is about consuming less and leading a simpler life. Lisa talks about Going Green in the Kitchen over at Thriftability.

101 Centavos talks about the “fuzzy logic and hard numbers” in Kitchen Gardening, the Accidental Side Gig.

Health

According to Free Money Wisdom, eating healthy doesn’t have to be boring and it doesn’t have to be expensive. See for yourself: Keeping the Doctor Away with Quality Foods.

Real Estate

Family Money Values explains Types of Real Estate Investments and how to structure the investment to meet your lifestyle and financial needs.

Saving

Step Away from the Mall presents tricks for three common culprits of slow steady money drains and suggests how to fix them in How I’m going to save $1,800 in 2012 by fixing only 3 money leaks.

Learn how to maintain the spending power of your savings by Getting a Real Return on Your Money, posted over at Help Me To Save.

Free Money Finance argues that An Impulse Buy Is Never A Good Buy.

Technology

How going against the electronic consumerism trend is practical. Barbara Friedberg explains Why I Don’t Want a Smart Phone, Tablet, or eReader.

Money Cone explores the variety of choices nowadays in light bulb types, shapes and sizes and breaks down how to save on your electricity bill in And Let There Be Light!

Vehicle

Learn 10 Ways to Save Money on Auto Insurance written by Squirrelers.

Hank presents Eight Ways To Save Money On Car Repairs posted at Money Q&A.

Be sure to visit Family Money Values to read next week’s carnival selection.