Pragmatic Finance

Welcome to the 45th edition of the Festival of Frugality. I will tell you an interesting experience I had recently.

Last weekend I was organizing my room after hearing Upstate Frugal tell me how it could improve my finances. I was going to throw away some junk mail invitations to seminars that Wenchypoo told me are a waste of money when I heard the telephone ring. It was FreeMoneyFinance. He had come across a flyer advertising some carnival in town. He said it also had some tips to save money during the holidays. That seemed strange for a carnival and I contemplated whether it would be fun. After hearing Ask Uncle Bill tell me to get off the dime many times I decided to finally go to the Festival.

I got dressed, putting on my new gray socks that I bought after learning from Frugal Living that white socks don’t last as long. After talking with the Weight of Money I decided to make a special purchase plan for the kids.

Before I left the house Enough Wealth told me how credit cards can save you money if used correctly so I brought them with me. I left and got into my rental car that got a corporate discount on using My Wealth Builder’s advice.

Once there I had to wait in line unfortunately. While standing there a girl named VicPicks explained how she got loads of student discounts on her purchases using a discount card. I might have to get one of those after I leave here. I asked someone named FireFinance who was standing in front of me about his hair style and he explained how he saves money by getting hair cuts at home.

After I got in I was very hungry so I started looking for something to eat. While I attempted to buy something Jengod explained to me some great tips on cooking at home so I could do that next time. If I do that I should probably listen to Stop the Ride and visit bulk food stores.

I decided to get a hamburger and a soda at sat down with a group of friendly looking people. Queercents made sure to point out that I could save the plastic bags it was in for other uses. Phil for Humanity also told me that I should have recycled rain water at home instead of buying the drink. During the conversation Penny Nickel recalled a story of visiting snack stores as a child to explain how to shop for less at discount stores.

I then went to try out some of the games there. At first they seemed pretty strange. One booth had a girl named Tricia who showed me how to play the paper bag game. Next I went to someone named Highest Echelon whose game involved matching your phone usage with service. He advised using Virgin Mobile. A booth with the words How do People Get Rich attracted my attention. But when I got there they were explaining how to get a much better return on your money using online savings accounts. I began to wonder, what kind of festival is this?

I began to leave and as I was walking out I heard someone complaining. His nametag said DebtFree4Ever and he was telling some people about this year’s nominees for creditcard.org’s lemon aware. A guy next to him named Debt Free told me three mistakes when selling your home.

When I was almost home my car broke down. Maybe I will have to look into that interesting car sharing service that the Good Human told me about. During the walk my knees felt some pain. I thought to myself that I should listen to fivecentnickel’s advice on saving on medical care when I have this checked out.

When I finally arrived I had some more bad news. I noticed a letter from the bank. Apparently, a free house can be too expensive if you can’t afford the bills. Maybe if I had listened to First Time Homeowner and got a tax credit for insulating the attic I could have saved some more money and been more energy efficient.

After the long exhausting day I laid down wondering why it had been so bad. Maybe I would have some better Karma if I did like Tired but Happy and gave tax deductible gifts to friends and family instead of buying them things they don’t really need.