Weekly Roundup: Exploding Oven Edition

photo by david55king
I would not believe it if I hadn’t been standing there next to the oven on Monday evening. My wife had just put in a new dish to bake and we were so looking forward to trying it. Suddenly, we heard a horrible sound from the oven. We spun around and were shocked to find the inside glass panel on our wall oven had shattered into a million pieces, spraying glass all over the inside of the oven. I’ve since read that both glass panels can shatter, and we are lucky this didn’t happen because the flying glass at least would have caused a serious mess throughout the kitchen, and at worst could have hurt my wife or kids. We cleaned up the mess and had to toss the chicken dish. Another great reason for having a solid emergency fund!
The Roundup
101 Dirt Cheap Ways to Enjoy Yourself. Proof that you don’t need a lot of money to have a good time! @marc and angel
Undermining Your Frugality. What good is being frugal for a long period of time if you only blow money on something frivolous later? I’ve struggled with this myself at times. I’ll scrimp and save five dollars here, ten dollars there, and then blow twenty dollars on a book I could have checked out at the library. @the simple dollar
10 Reasons to Finish Your Degree Online. I finished my degree online, and my only regret was that I didn’t start my degree online. It makes for a much more flexible schedule, especially for us “non-traditional” students with full time jobs and a family. Look for my own post on my online education experience next week. @the wisdom journal
12 Tips to Prepare Your Finances for Vacation. A great list of things to consider before hitting the road. Often times we worry over our packing list, or our itinerary, and forget the financial responsibilities we’re leaving behind. @my dollar plan
Save the Planet, Save Cash: 25 Best Ways to Green Your Green. I really enjoyed this one as a “Frugal Dad” who also cares about the environment! @ecosalon
7 Benefits of Imperfection. Simple Mom was vacationing this week, but I caught this great post at her blog. As the author states, being imperfect helps us show our children that they don’t have to be perfect either–a very powerful lesson. @small notebook via simple mom
The Fine Art of Saying “No.” It’s hard to say no. It’s hard to tell yourself no, and it is hard to tell others no. This post does a nice job of identifying why uttering those two little letters is so difficult, and provides some ideas on how to make it easier. @my super-charged life
21 Ways to Make Your Blog or Website Sticky. If you run your own blog, or are considering starting one up, this is a must-read. I’ve implemented a few of these great ideas, but still have some work to do. @problogger
The Dirty Secrets of Debt Reduction (and What to Do About Them). Some of the best posts from personal finance bloggers are ones that tell the story of their triumph over debt. This is a great post from J.D. sharing the story of how he beat debt. @get rich slowly
Some lively discussions are happening over at Frugal Dad Forums. Won’t you join us?


My wife and I spent several hours in the emergency room Thursday morning after she took a spill and rolled her ankle. We were fairly certain it was broken, but thankfully the x-rays proved otherwise. She’s in a boot and on crutches, which has left most household duties to me. I’m behind on writing and reading from my feed reader, but I did find a few gems this week around the web.
Still a few days away from the first day of summer, but here in the south summer has arrived! Today the temperature is supposed to reach 100 degrees, and it feels much hotter with humidity. I’m always amused when people say, “I can’t wait for summer!” I usually say, “I can’t wait for summer to be over!” I’m more of a fall/winter kind of guy. I like cool weather, rainy days and the occasional snow. I guess I should have been born in the Pacific northwest. Well, enough griping about the heat…on with the roundup.











