The Carnival of 20 Something Finances: The Anti Daylight Savings Time Edition

How did it get to be Monday, March 10th already?

Since I'm a half-asleep victim of yesterday's daylight savings time hour loss, I think I'll dedicate this Carnival of 20-Something Finances to sleep. It's one of those truly wonderful, amazing and luxurious things in life that is actually free.

This is my first official "Carnival" posting, so bear with me. :)

I got over 50 submissions. I read each and every one. This is an incomplete carnival, I need to finish it up tonight (sorry, I must work so I can make money and it's been an unexpectedly busy weekend). I don't want to keep you guys waiting, so here's the 1st half of the carnival. Check back late tonight to read the rest!

Here are a few of the highlights:

Sleep, Not Spend! (Personal Finance Stories and Trends)

Ryan Taylor at Millionaire Money Habits tells of his financial upbringing and how his family taught him about finance with poor financial habits.

Curious what the Top 10 Reasons You'll Spend Too Much This Weekend are? Money Under Thirty seems to think it has an awful lot to do with Tequila.

Antishay writes about her "financial epiphany" in 2005 and asks readers when they realized that they ought to get a hold of their finances and save.

Free Offers and Easy Money Making (for those who prefer to sleep instead of work)

The Freebie Diva has a list of freebie offers for you, including a sports bra and a gallon of ice cream on your birthday!

Campus Grotto seems to have a thorough list of where to sell your used and no-longer needed textbooks online.

Credit and Loan Debt (Growing While You Sleep)

Do you need to consolidate your credit cards? Then Money Blue Book has an extremely helpful list for you -- that is, a list of 0% Balance Transfer Credit Card Offers.

Pinching Copper is In No Hurry To Pay Off His Student Loans. Find out why he and his with, with $40,000 in student debt, are taking their time paying off these loans.

A Home You Can Sleep In

Schaefer's Blog ponders how to figure out How Much House You Can Afford in 2008.

Sleep Your Way to Millions (AKA Work Hard and Earn Interest While You Sleep)

Want to become a millionaire? Debt Free posts on why it's not as hard as you think. The concepts provided are not new (spend less than you earn, start investing early, etc) but the post itself is an inspiring reminder that you don't need to be worth a fortune in your 20s to be rich later in life, as long as you remember to save and invest wisely.

The Bulter Project interviews a millionaire furniture store owner in Salt Lake City (named "MR") who got started with his business while he was in his twenties.

Living Off Dividends passed $2000 in passive income last month. That makes my $50 in AdSense revenue that I was bragging about the other day seem so much less impressive. Congrats Living Off Dividends! I think we all have something we can learn from you.

The Sleepy Stock Market

Living Off Dividends also offers up a post on why you should consider investing in gold and it's risks.

There's a great overview for beginning investors on how to invest for dividend yield (something I've been wondering myself) over at Stock Marketing Investing for Beginners. The post highlights how to calculate dividend yield, how to calculate dividend yield in your stock market analysis, and a bunch of other nifty information on dividend investing.

Think all mutual funds are managed by people who know what they're doing? My Simple Trading system highlights the poor performing American Century Ultra Fund, and why it has gone down the tubes.


Sleepy Geeky, And The Rest

Need something odd to inspire you to save? How about this post over at Monevator on "Who's Your Star Wars money hero?"

$ucessful Footsteps has a list of 10 Tips to Stay in Contact With Friends. Since networking is paramount in one's future success, a friend today could be a business partner or job lead tomorrow. Building a network of "friends" is more important than ever. $ucessful Footsteps also posts on why it's better to be optimistic than pessimistic, and how your positive or negative view on life effects success.