Before today’s roundup I’d like to take care of a few housecleaning items – a few personal, and a few blog related. Here’s a look at what’s happening in the life of one frugal dad:

• My full time job has been busier than ever in October. That’s good for job security, but bad for blogging. I’m behind on emails, writing, etc, but am keeping my head above water. If you try to contact me, it might take a few days to get back to you. Thanks for your patience.

• The Frugal Dad Fan Page on Facebook I introduced last Thursday is humming along with 200 fans following. If you missed the announcement, please consider joining us. I try to post something to the wall or discussion board every day, and we’ve already had a few interesting discussions (check out yesterday’s post about the morality of taking hotel toiletries – good stuff!).

• I’m kicking around the idea of a weekly newsletter to be delivered on Saturday mornings, in lieu of weekend posts here at the blog. The newsletter would contain some special features not seen on the blog, along with a unique article or two, a “week in review” section, special deals for newsletter readers, etc. Any interest?

• Long-time readers will remember one of my blogging goals was to reach 7,500 readers. I hit that earlier this year and extended that goal to a big stretch goal of 10,000 readers. As of this writing I’m only a couple hundred away. Could you help me by signing up to follow Frugal Dad if you aren’t already?  Thanks to all who have already signed up!

Enough about me, let’s get on to some great articles from others!

The Frugal Roundup

Best Things to Buy in the Fall – Find the Biggest Discounts and Sales on These Items This Fall. Seasonal shoppers can get big discounts just by buying when retailers are looking to move that out of season inventory. (@Generation X Finance)

Dealing With Unemployment Like a Man. Unemployment is hard on anyone, but as this post points out, it’s traditionally been hardest on men. Read on for eleven tips to help you get through it like a man. (@Art of Manliness)

The Zero Hour Workweek. An inspiring ebook from someone who’s getting “paid to exist.” Hat tip to WC of The Writer’s Coin for leading me to this one. (@Illuminated Mind)

How to Have a Ghoulish Halloween for Less. From costumes to decorations (and yes, even frugal candy alternatives), this post covers it all. Frugal (Happy) Halloween! (@Coupon Sherpa)

Follow the Glow. Not sure what it is you should be doing with your life? Simply “follow the glow.” What an inspiring post! (@The Blog of Rick Smith)

10 Free Online Budgeting Applications. A nice run down of some of the more popular free online budgeting applications. I’ve given a number of these a try. (@Lazy Man and Money)

Best of the Rest

• Personal Budgeting Made Easy With the 60% Solution
• What Was the Best $100 You’ve Ever Spent?
• Everyone Is Special and Unique Just the Way They Are
• 10 Surprising Things You Can Turn Into Cash
• 2010 Quicken Deluxe Giveaway
• Why Don’t Most Financial Planners Plan Finances?

I have finally taken the Facebook plunge! I created a personal account some time ago to reconnect with friends, but just this week I set up a fan page for FrugalDad.com. My goal for the fan page is to provide a place for readers to interact with me outside of the comments section, Twitter, etc. I enjoy chatting in those environments as well, but let’s face it – having a discussion is tough to do in 140 characters, or through the back-and-forth nature of blog comments.

Yesterday I tossed out a “Discussion” feature and a few questions to get things going. Since I removed the forums feature here at Frugal Dad, I’m hoping this can replace some of those features. Because many of the discussion topics are seeds for future posts, your feedback is greatly appreciated. Who knows, I might just mention one of your comments in the post and reference your blog.

Hope you’ll join me over at the new Frugal Dad fan page at Facebook! Click the banner below to join, and be sure to check out the roundup below.

The Frugal Roundup

Want to Get Out of Debt? Become A Master at Instant Gratification. Sounds counter-intuitive, doesn’t it?  Read on to find out what Neal means about mastering instant gratification and using it to your advantage. (@Wealth Pilgrim)

Do You Need a Local Bank? We are fans of ING Direct, but also maintain a local checking and savings account. We keep a local emergency fund (the first couple thousand of our fully funded emergency fund) here just in case we need cash in a hurry. (@My Dollar Plan)

Finally Out of Debt? Here’s How to Stay Out. So many people fight for years to obtain debt freedom, only to fall right back in the trap of living beyond their means. (@Wisdom Journal)

Google Street View – Great For House Buyers. We have been entertaining the idea of relocating here lately and have found Google Street View to scope out a number of properties in other cities. (@Four Pillars)

Sneaky Ways Restaurants Use Menus to Entice You to Spend More. I’ve read a number of articles on the ways grocery stores use consumer psychology to make shoppers spend more. This is an interesting piece on similar strategies employed by restaurants. (@Wallet Pop)

Why Freelancing Benefits Your Day Job. Those who have read FD for a while now know I’m a big proponent of the “side hustle,” for exactly the reasons pointed out in this post. (@Fiscal Fizzle)

The “Local Store Premium” – How Much Is It Worth to You? This weekend I worked on a couple major household repair projects. Rather than going to the big box warehouse store, I decided to try our local hardware store for supplies. I paid a little more, and they had less product options, but I felt good about helping a local store this time around. (@The Simple Dollar)

Best of the Rest

• Become a Fan of Generation X Finance on Facebook
• Organizing Your Way to a Simple Christmas: Gift Lists
• What Kind of Spender Are You?
• How to Get Rid of $106,000 in Debt
  
• Price-Placebo Effect: Are You a Victim, Too?
• Trusting Your Intuition
  
• 3 Quick Tips to Make Your Life Better Today
• 7 Ways to Build & Maintain a Personal Network that Works for You
  
• Learn More About Lending Club Credit Rating and Collection Process
• How Alternative Minimum Tax (AMT) Works
• Loan Modification Companies vs The Fair Housing Authority

Hope everyone has a great end of the week. Just a heads up – only 10 weeks until Christmas. Don’t wait for the last minute and charge presents on a credit card. Start saving now and enjoy a cash-only Christmas!

No fluff in this roundup. Here are the top eight articles I found around the web this week. Enjoy!

10 Attributes Of The Perpetually Broke. It’s true; there are some common characteristics of those who seem perpetually broke. If any of these apply to you, it might be time to change your habits. (@Money Matters)

How to Avoid Work While On Vacation. I remember a scene from the last trip we took. There we were at Dollywood outside of Gatlinburg, TN. For several minutes we kept pace with a Dad furiously checking his BlackBerry while his kids moved from ride to ride, begging him to watch. Sad. (@Brip Blap)

How to Retire Early. This post mentions the idea that a big salary early on can help you retire even faster, assuming you hold expenses low. Of course, a big salary often comes with big headaches, and it might burn you out long before early retirement. (@Free Money Finance)

Credit Cards – Close ‘em Shred ‘em & Forget ‘em! Earlier in the week we debated what to do with unused credit cards. Looks like Jabs knows exactly what to do with them! (@Debt Free Adventure)

Painting a Specific Future – And Figuring Out How to Get There. Some inspiring thoughts from Trent on laying out future goal with actionable steps and a time line to accomplish them. (@The Simple Dollar)

How to Improve Your Credit Score When Paying Down Debt. Continuing the theme of paying down debt, here are a few ways to boost your credit score while reducing your debt balances. (@No Debt Plan)

How to Stop Buying Clothes You Never Wear. I like to think my wardrobe represents that of the typical male. I own a couple pairs of jeans, a pair of brown, black and tennis shoes, and exactly one suit. The rest of my wardrobe is dedicated to work clothes – the usual business casual garb. (@Get Rich Slowly)

With or Without Interest – Do You Know What You Paid. A great reminder to always figure the interest when calculating the total cost of something financed. We tend to forget about that when quoting costs. (@Mrs Micah)

It’s been a couple weeks now since my mom passed away, and I am trying to get back in the swing of things at work, at home, and here at the blog. Fortunately, I’m surrounded by many friends and loved ones at each place, and it has been a big help during this difficult time. I have not had much reading time these last few weeks, and my weekly roundups have suffered for it. My editorial comments in this edition probably won’t win any blogging awards, but hey, it’s a start.

The Frugal Roundup

101 Ways to Take a Bite Out of Your Food Budget. The title says it all – a monster list of money savers to help trim your food budget. (@The Wisdom Journal)

The Art of Letter Writing: The Sympathy Note. After recently losing my mom, we received a number of nice sympathy cards. I also appreciated the many comments here at the blog, emails, etc. It has made me more aware of the need to express sympathy for others when they are dealing with rough times. This post is an excellent how-to from someone who recently experienced a loss. (@ The Art of Manliness)

5 Ways Spending More is Actually Frugal. I liked this post because it focused on a popular topic surrounding frugality: does it make sense to spend more money up front in some cases to get a better value. (@My Dollar Plan)

The Best Times to Buy for Huge Savings on Major Purchases. An excellent run-down of the best time of year to make 14 major purchases, factoring seasonal discounts, inventory issues, etc. (@The Daily Crux)

Accidental Frugality – Can You Live on Half of Your Income? When we reach debt freedom soon, living on half my income is a big goal for our family. I think we can get pretty close, even with the mortgage, but will require a lot of discipline. (@Stop Buying Crap)

How Not To Suck At Blogging.If you are a blogger, aspire to be a blogger, or are interested in any entrepreneurial endeavor, this is a must-read post. One way “not to suck” is to follow Man vs. Debt’s lead – he’s done a phenomenal job in a short time with his blog. (@Man vs. Debt)

Best of the Rest

• Saving For Retirement? Best Move For Your Retirement Plan
• Question of the Day: Are You a Perfectionist?
• Fall Maintenance Tips for Your Home That Can Save You Money and Protect Your Family
• How To Be Married A Decade And Stay Madly In Love
• Teach Your Kids How to Manage Money in 7 Easy Lessons
• 22 Tools You Should Keep in Your Car
• how to poison attitudes towards work in young children
• Smart Living Rule 7 – Pursue Good Opportunities Fearlessly
• Is CreditKarma Useful?
• Car Leasing Tip – Increase Your Security Deposit

A few weeks ago I moved my home office out of the utility room (where our washer and dryer are located) into the dining room. My wife was less than thrilled with my taking over the dining room table, but I was excited to upgrade my “office” from a 4-foot folding table to an entire room.

Without an extra bedroom available, I’ve started thinking through alternative home office locations around (and outside) the house. One idea I had was to convert our storage building in the backyard to an office. It wouldn’t take much – just add a window AC unit, run some ethernet cable for internet access, and maybe some cheap floor covering to hide the concrete. Who knows, this might become my fall project.

Frugal Roundup

What Is a Bug Out Bag? We have been slowly accumulating items for our own “bug out bag” over the last few weeks, and this list had a few things I had not thought to include. With September being National Preparedness Month, it’s a great time to take inventory of emergency supplies. (@Family Survival Blog)

Who’s Better at Managing Money: Men or Women? Like all great questions in life I think the answer here is, it depends. Success with money management has more to do with personalities (who’s the detail oriented one, who’s the free spirit, etc.) than with gender. (@The Digerati Life)

PFBlogger Spotlight: Jason of Frugal Dad. Jim from Bargaineering.com interviewed me the other day. Read on to learn way more than you ever wanted to about the real “Frugal Dad.” (@Bargaineering)

If You’re Going to Consolidate Debt Then You Have to Stop Using Credit. One of the biggest pitfalls of debt consolidation is that many people leave paid-off accounts opened, and proceed to run the balances right back up again. (@Generation X Finance)

An Introduction to Making Jam. I’ve always been interested in canning, making jams and preserves, etc, but know absolutely nothing about how to do it. This post provides a great introduction. (@Simple Mom)

Five Ways I Disagree With Dave Ramsey. As a fan of Dave Ramsey, the title stung a little bit. But after reading Trent’s post, I have to say I have shared the same thoughts about elements of Ramsey’s plan. (@The Simple Dollar)

Learn Personal Finance from The Bible, not the Federal Government. In terms of choosing the right examples to live by, financially, choosing between the bible and the government is a no-brainer. (@Debt Free Adventure)

Best of the Rest

• Google Work at Home Scam
• How to Make Your Home More Energy Efficient
• Costs of Raising Children
• When It Rains, It Pours
• Setting Up a Corporation
• Take Small Risks

I mentioned earlier that September is National Preparedness Month. With a major hurricane spinning in the Atlantic, and wildfires on the west coast, now is the perfect time to make sure your family is ready for an emergency. Check your emergency kit. Talk through disaster scenarios, escape plans, rendezvous points, etc. to make sure everyone is on the same page.