And I want to hear from you too, so if you have a minute drop a little update of your own in the comments.

First, I’m super excited to say that I’m a guest on the latest PT Money podcast episode talking about my Pay Off Debt iPhone app. (It’s my first podcast, so be gentle.)  Bur it was a lot of fun to talk with Philip on his podcast. You can listen to the episode here or subscribe to the PT Money podcast in iTunes to hear how other folks are making money on the side.

Second, I’ve been secretly working on (among other things) an ebook on beginning blogging that is finally at the “yes I can see that this really IS going to get completed” stage. So that’s promising. It should be useful to folks who are interested in blogging but who don’t know where to start.  And it will probably be either free or very low cost.  

What’s your philosophy on ebooks?  I’m never sure on pricing because I think folks tend to value things more when they have to pay something, but on the other hand I also like providing free info. 

Third, I’ve met a miniature goal of mine. I’ve actually made it THREE WHOLE DAYS without receipts and paperwork escaping their single pile or toppling over.  In fact, about 97% of them have even made it into Quicken and then the spreadsheet.

And finally, links:

• Mrs. Accountability has a horror story after a strangely lengthy car repair.  What would you do in her situation?
• I loved this interview from Jeff Rose about How a Small Town Girl Got 17 Million YouTube Views and 100,00 Raving Subscribers
• The Digerati Life provides some survival tips for a sole proprietor — pointing out things should you be mindful of if you’re going into business for yourself.
• Funny has a thought-provoking question for you: Can you support your parents?
• There’s a great insider tip in Laurel’s article on Frugal Dad about how to find cheap airline tickets. I’ve got to keep that in mind!
• I also participated in this month’s Carnival of Money Stories, which always has interesting articles.

That’s it for the randomness. Hope you have a great weekend!

All you have to do to enter is comment on this post with your answers to the two questions below. You can gain additional entries by “liking” the MoneyCrush and Pay Off Debt app Facebook pages & noting that you’ve done so in your comment here. So, up to three entries per person. See the “fine print” at the end of this post if you want the mumbo jumbo details.

Now, here are the questions:

1. What’s your biggest pet peeve when it comes to money?
2. If you could pay someone to teach you one thing about money, what would it be?

Hurry and enter, because I’m anxious to hear what you have to say. And I’ve got this gift card burning a hole in my pocket…

When you’ve finished up though, you may want to come back and check out these posts I found interesting recently:

• Suba at Wealth Informatics put together an awesome resource on free state tax filing online.
• Mrs. Accountability at Out of Debt Again did some major digging into whether it’s better to use rewards points to buy something, or to redeem them for cash.
• Julia at Bargain Babe made a list of her best and worst Valentine’s Day gifts. (One of the “worst” ones is pretty scary.)
• Did you know you can sell coupons? Funny About Money tells us how in coupons for sale or rent
• Crystal at Budgeting in the Fun Stuff has 5 tips for selling on Craigslist. (Which reminds me, I need to relist some stuff.)
• The Digerati Life warns us to keep an eye out for dangerous spending habits.
• Finally, thanks to Miss Thrifty who chose How I Nearly Threw Away $10,000 as an Editor’s Pick in the Carnival of Money Stories.

And now the “fine print”: Contest ends at midnight Arizona time on February 13, 2011. Void where prohibited, and you can’t enter if you’re in my immediate family. (Sorry, son!) The random winner will be chosen by numbering the entries and then using the True Random Number Generator to generate the number of the winning entry. If you win and don’t respond to my email or notice in the comments of this post that you’ve won within 7 days of the contest end, I’ll pick a new winner. Not responsible for late or misdirected entries. I love pizza.

Editor’s Pick

The Digerati Life presents I Just Lost My Job! How I’m Downsizing My Household Expenses, a personal story about job loss and some immediate belt-tightening.

Debt and Credit

Exploits & Other Musings discusses the pitfalls of educational debt in Financial Aid Pitfalls.

Soldier of Finance.com tells you how not trading in your car and Driving a Tank Can Make You a Millionaire.

Buy Like Buffett ponders how credit is extended after being shocked by a surprise credit line increase in The Weird Thing About Credit.

Spending (Or Not)

Wenchypoo is gearing up to not spend any cash or add anything to their credit cards during the month of February, otherwise known as their “No Spend” Month.

Niki presents The Adult Dispensation, where allowances aren’t just for children any longer.

Goals and Resolutions

Suba discusses her 10 Lessons from 2010, including her realization that “earning is more powerful than savings.”

MoneyNing presents How Will You Make This Year Different? Is 2011 going to be different for you?

The Financial Blogger presents 2010 Goals Reviewed and 2011 Financial Goals, noting that writing about goals “definitely improves my motivation & financial situation each year!”

Frugality

Money Thinker describe ways of cutting back and Finding Frugality in Food.

Sun stocked up on stamps at Costco recently, but is happy to know that Now Every Stamp Is A Forever Stamp.

Miscellaneous

Faithful with a Few describes what may have been an active financial desperation (Man Tries to Rob a Restaurant With an iPhone) and wants to hear your worst act of financial desperation.

PT Money conducts an interview about Making Money by Starting Your Own Summer Camp with Lori Martin of Cub Creek Science Camp to find out what she did to start her part-time business.

Darwin describes how he gets rid of unwanted gift cards in States Overstepping Boundaries – And Taking Your Gift Cards? WTF!.

#10

Want to get the dirt on a financial advisor? Ask to see their “Form ADV Part II.”

Mike Piper presents Researching a Financial Advisor: Form ADV Part II posted at Oblivious Investor.

#9

If you are thinking of buying a condo now, you’re not alone. Real estate is cheap and condos are about the least-cost method you can use to get into the market. But when you buy a condo, you might be opening a can of worms.

Neal Frankle presents Buying a Condo? Don?t Overlook This One Detail posted at Wealth Pilgrim.

#8

On nearly every resolution list out there you’ll find some variation of “lose weight” and “save money.” Do you see a problem with either of these goals? Clearly there is one, because so frequently people fail to achieve them.

Lauren presents Why Diets Fail & Saving is Difficult posted at Richly Reasonable.

#7

While it may be obvious that less money means more problems, domestic violence shoots up when money is a problem at home.

Michael presents Is There A Correlation Between Money and Domestic Violence? posted at The Dough Roller.

#6

If you’ve been wondering how to best negotiate a salary with a new employer, here are some great tips.

FMF presents Leaving Money on the Table, or Not, when Negotiating posted at Free Money Finance.

#5

I have heard it said that divorce turns marriage into a business transaction. The purpose of this post is to make that transaction be as trouble free as possible.

Joe Plemon presents Financial Tips for Life After Divorce posted at Personal Finance By The Book.

#4

A personal view on dealing with foreclosure, and some ideas on what you can do to try to stop the process.

Silicon Valley Blogger presents How To Stop Foreclosure (Or At Least Try To) posted at The Digerati Life.

#3

It’s getting harder for those under 21 to get a credit card. Do you think your child is ready to have you co-sign for a credit card?

freefrombroke presents Does Your Kid Deserve A Credit Card? posted at Free From Broke.

#2

Think you don’t need much money to get by? There’s a problem with that.

Jacq presents The biggest problem with thinking you don’t need much money posted at Single Mom Rich Mom.

And the #1 post in today’s Best of Money Carnival?

*drum roll please*

#1

Who knew you could get financial tips from the cult classic movie The Princess Bride?

2 Cents presents Financial Wisdom from The Princess Bride posted at Balance Junkie.

If you’d like to be considered for next week’s Best of Money Carnival, check out the guidelines and then submit your post using the blog carnival form.

And our dog happily plays tug of war with it. Then he shreds it for us so we can put it into the recycling. (Who needs a shredder when we have a dog?)

Do you re-purpose otherwise-useless things like that too?

Now, here are a few articles that caught my eye this past week or so:

I really liked Planting Dollar’s post about financial baby steps.

Christian PF tells how to start a business you love.

Free From Broke talks about one of my pet peeves in “When you save, are you really saving?”

Early Retirement Extreme has some interesting things to say about the mental prison of being poor.

You see, pretty much the only checks I deposit with any regularity are either a few for $3 each or else reimbursements from my flexible spending account, which can be as little as $25 each.

I deposited a few checks like those this past Friday. The teller asked if I had any plans for the weekend, and I said “Oh, just working.”

“Where do you work?” he asked.

I replied with the type of company I worked for.

He glanced down at the checks and said, “I hope this isn’t what they’re paying you!”

Of course, it isn’t. The number of times tellers comment on my small deposits really makes me wonder though. Do people not deposit small amounts anymore? Or maybe it’s just that people don’t deposit many checks period anymore. What’s your experience?

On another note, it’s time for a few links now:

My Journey to Millions hosted the Carnival of Money Stories.

Early Retirement Extreme gives some commentary on the frugal challenge that’s going on on a few blogs. His tip to “walk everywhere” really rang true for me. I’ve been spending a whole lot less money since I haven’t been driving much.

I Pick Up Pennies wants to know, when do you push financial reality on people? I’m guessing it doesn’t do any good unless they tell you they want to hear it first, and even then…who knows.

I always enjoy Sierra Black’s posts at Get Rich Slowly, but this one about finding your financial blind spots really struck a chord with me.