I know I’m usually a blog hop and link up girl, but a few months ago I signed up to host a carnival as well. What’s a carnival, you might ask? It’s very similar to a blog hop or link up in that you submit a post you’ve written recently that falls under one of the topics below. They get wrangled up and posted on the host’s (my) site for easy access.

Want to submit to a personal finance carnival? You can do it here.

Interested in hosting one yourself? You can apply here.

Some of my favorites are highlighted in plum. Yeah, plum. It’s a totally underused color.

MAKING MONEY

Dave @ Gen Y Finances writes Renting Out A Room In Your Home To Short-Term Renters Such As Through AirBnB – The other day I was watching a TV show that helped people find their next home. I can’t remember the name of it, but the people on this episode were all looking for a home that also had a guest house so that they could rent out the guest house and make some income from their property.

Alexa @ Single Moms Income writes Amazon FBA: Finding Products to Sell – Even with a whole store of stuff to go through I found it pretty hard to find really profitable products that Amazon themselves weren’t selling.

Anne @ Money Propeller writes My Experience Renting My House Out on AirBnB – Have you ever wondered what it would be like to make a side hustle income with AirBnB? Jenn shares her renting my house out on AirBnB experience.

Brad @ How to Save Money writes Make Money Selling on Ebay – Increase your budget by selling on Ebay

Erastus @ Sprout Wealth writes How Do You Make Money? – There are many ways to make money, but it’s often the personal connection that helps you succeed. How effective are you at adding a personal touch?

BUDGETING

Little House @ Little House in the Valley writes What My Housing Budget Will Get Me Right Now – I’ve budgeted a reasonable amount for a “starter” home and am hoping to snag one for under $410,000. First, let me list my requirements:

Danielle @ TeacHer Finance writes 2 Simple Systems to Help you Stay on Budget – The very first, most important step in creating a personal financial plan is to have a firm understanding of your income and your expenses.

Katie @ IRA Basics writes When and How to Start IRA Withdrawals – Hopefully, when you went to open an IRA, you did so with the intention of using it for long term retirement needs.

Andrea @ So Over This writes Is the 10% Rule Dead? – Like almost everybody else my age, I grew up hearing ‘put 10% of your paycheck in the bank!’

Lenny @ Best Money Saving Blog writes Planning for Retirement – There are many different definitions of the American Dream, some say it’s a great job and nice house, others say it’s comfortably raising a family, yet my definition varies a bit from those.

Jack @ Money Saving Ethics writes Planning for Retirement? Keep in Mind that it’s Not All About the Money – If you were lucky enough to have been advised to start planning your retirement early, and you did, you’ll know that saving for retirement can take a number of decades.

Gretchen @ Retired by 40 writes August and September Budget Update – Take a look at how are August Budget shaped up as well as our September budget.

CAREER & EDUCATION

Michelle @ Diversified Finances writes Learning to Say NO – What do you do when you want to start saying no in your life? Maybe you want to quit a job, free up some time in your schedule, stop getting stepped on, or get some sleep.

Marissa @ Finance Triggers writes Using Social Media to Improve the Job Search – 1 in 10 young job hunters are now rejected because of their social media use.

FINANCIAL ADVICE

The Jenny Pincher @ The Jenny Pincher writes How You Can Ruin Your Credit Score – There are many people out there who are ruining their credit score. Many don’t even realize they are doing it, and others don’t know what to do to reverse the damage they have already done.

724Credit @ 724 Credit writes Children Can Become Victims Of Identity Theft Too – A child’s information could be used to apply for a credit card, a loan, a mortgage (yes, that has happened before!), and so on. Below are different things to think about when it comes to children and identity theft.

Erastus @ Wise Dollar writes Why Your Brain Is Working Against Your Wallet…And What You Can Do About It – Our brain has a funny way of tricking us into justifying poor spending habits. I share steps to follow to overcome that hurdle of mindless spending.

Ben Luthi @ The Wealth Gospel writes Stepping Over a Dollar to Save a Dime – How many times have you taken the cheap route only to find out that doing so cost you more money in the end? Well I’m a master at it.

Monica @ Monica On Money writes The Surprising Habit That’s Making You Poor – If you are like many people, when you see all of your friends’ fabulous things and experiences, you may have felt a pang of envy.

Cat @ Budget Blonde writes It Turns Out Kids Want to Be Millionaires – We chatted all about what people think millionaires look like, how to invest, how to buy a stock, how to resist pretty shiny things you want to buy at the mall, and why people should want to become millionaires.

Lily @ Paying Debt Down writes What to do if you run out of cash before payday – Many people are finding it difficult to make their money last until they next get paid.

Matt @ Budget Snob writes Financial Support for Single Parents – If you are a single parent, you already know how difficult it can be to make ends meet with just one income coming into the home.

FRUGALITY

Mario @ Adventures in Frugal writes The accident that made me glad I had travel insurance and how I purchased it – Unforeseen mishaps are a part of travel and a great argument for picking up travel insurance prior to any trip

Maria @ The Money Principle writes Five useful tips to get the best holiday value for your money – I’ve never thought of us as rich. We are a middle class family, we have above average income and a healthy net worth. But rich we are not.

Jay @ Daily Fuel Economy Tip writes Fuel Saving Questions and Answers for Summer Travel – Gas prices have remained relatively stable, which means to say that they’ve remained at their high price but haven’t gone much higher.

Jon @ Penny Thots writes Fun Activities That Do Not Require Money – Are you living a limited budget? It doesn’t mean that you cannot have a great time. I share with you fun activities that do not involve any money.

Mario @ Debt BLAG writes The free app that lets you download FREE, unlimited ebooks and audiobooks — OverDrive – If your library has signed up, you can download unlimited ebooks and audiobooks through the OverDrive app; here’s how

INVESTING

Michael Kitces @ Nerd’s Eye View writes Separating Risk Tolerance from Risk Capacity – Just Because You Can Afford To Take Risk Doesn’t Mean You Should – The traditional approach to evaluating risk has one major problem: that is it confuses one’s capacity to take risk with their actual need or desire to do so. The end result is that a young client with a long time horizon will end up with an equity-centric portfolio yet they have no desire for risk which may lead them to being nervous for life! On the other hand, wealth clients who don’t need or want risk could end up with moderate growth portfolios anyways. So, what’s the solution? It’s

The Money Template @ The Money Template writes How Much Do I Need to Retire at 55 and Never Worry About Money Again? – For many people, the thought of being able to retire at the age of 55 is very appealing. By this time, you have done most of the work of raising your family and gotten most of the successes you wanted to from your career, best of all, you’re still active and healthy enough to be able to enjoy most of your favorite leisure activities for years- possibly even decades.

Justin @ iPlugin writes Apple Was Just Granted a Patent for a Smart Watch – Electronics giant Apple started a new round of rumors when they were granted a patent for a smart watch design.

Sam @ The New Business Blog writes The Top 2 Tips for New Stock Market Investors – If you just decided to start investing in the stock market, you’ve hopefully done a lot of research and homework in order to make sure that you have at least a little bit of an idea about what you’re doing.

Hadley @ Epic Finances writes When’s the best time to make your first investment? – Not surprisingly, first-time investors usually have a little bit of anxiety about when the best time is to make their first stock purchase.

Danielle @ Saving Without a Budget writes What are the different ways to make money when investing in stocks? – If you’re new to investing in the stock market then it’s possible that you don’t know just how many different ways there are to invest, and make money, in the market.

Oscar @ Money is the Root writes When Should You Start Investing? – Not surprisingly, first-time investors usually have a little bit of anxiety about when the best time is to make their first stock purchase.

Daniel @ Make Money Make Cents writes How Online Trading Platforms Work – If you’re taking your very first steps as an online trader then you’ve probably already come across trading platforms, but you may be wondering exactly what they are and how they work.

Jeremy @ Modest Money writes 5 Reasons to Trade Binary Options Online with Nadex – You should trade Binary Options online with Nadex because nadex is legal for US residents, it offers hourly, daily and weekly expirations that allow you to take a view on market developments in the short term, one benefit from volatility even in flat markets, it protects from market spikes and clients funds are segregated.

DEBT

Alexa @ Defeat Our Debt writes Should You Take a Vacation if You’re in Debt? – Your debt is stressing you out. Work is stressing you out. And you just need a little break from the normal day to day grind.

Aaron @ Aaron Hung writes Paying Off Student Loans? Here’s What You Need to Know – When you consider that nearly 60% of the graduating class of 2011/12 have over $26,000 apiece in student loan debt, you begin to realize the depth of the student loan crisis in the United States.

Gretchen @ Retired by 40 writes 5 Things I Won’t Sacrifice To Get Out of Debt – I make a lot of sacrifice to get out of debt, but there are a few things I’m not willing to give up!

OTHER

Brad @ Enemy of Debt writes Don’t Cheat Yourself By Living a Life of Half-Assity – I was painfully making my way through a 14 mile run early on a Saturday morning. I was at mile 10, and struggling to find the energy or even the desire to pick up my feet and keep running.

Larry @ KrantCents writes Are You Tough Enough for Success? – Success is for anybody who is tough enough to withstand the ups and downs!

Natalie @ Debt and The Girl writes Charity Begins At Home – For the past year and half, I have been donating every month to a certain charity that helped women who had been victims of sex slavery.

Justin @ Edward Antrobus writes Adult Children Refuse to Leave the Nest – Not too long ago if an adult was to say to someone that they just met ‘I live with my parents’, it typically would have set them up for quite a bit of ridicule and disdain.

Bob @ Dwindling Debt writes How to find the right solicitor or conveyancer – for YOU – in 4 steps! – As the property market starts to pick up once again, more people will be looking for a conveyancing expert to help them as they either buy or sell their home.

Amy @ Money Mishaps writes This is Why People Hate the Airlines – Most people really love to travel but really hate airlines.

Brock Kernin @ Clever Dude writes Financial Head Scratchers: Always Buy More Beer – Would anyone buy less beer for the same amount of money?