Archive for April, 2008

Sunday Lyrics: Butterfly Kisses

Father and Daughter
Photo by: Gabr1ela Card0s0

The Sunday lyrics song this week is Butterfly Kisses and is by special request from my wife. Butterfly Kisses was written and performed by Bob Carlisle. The song placed him and his is song on billboard top charts in 1997 and was played on radio stations around the world. The title of the original album containing Butterfly Kisses, Shades of Grace, was even renamed Butterfly Kisses due to the song’s overwhelming success.

Beware Promotions In Sheep's Clothing

Sheep
Photo by: Marianne Perdomo

This is a guest post by Jim, who normally writes over at Blueprint for Financial Prosperity and My Retirement Blog, who saw the sad empty post and wanted to help. :) Glblguy says: Thanks Jim! Nothing worst than a sad empty guest post!

Occasionally on BFP I’ll write posts in which I list promotional offers such as the Revolution Money Exchange promotion or a Sharebuilder promotion code or some free money credit card offers. With the RME offer or Sharebuilder codes, it’s a pretty straightforward offer with little downside. The credit card offers are different, they look soft and cuddly but they have some pretty sharp teeth you need to be aware of. I wanted to discuss those offers specifically because there are substantial negative impacts to taking advantage of them and you should be aware of them before you sign up.

This post, unfortunately left blank

Empty
Photo by: Orin Optiglot

Well, it’s not blank, but there is no guest post! I’ve had two guest posts lined up for the past two weeks and well, the articles never arrived. See, each Saturday I like to host a guest article from other bloggers to both give you my readers a chance to read somebody else’s writing and to also give other bloggers some visibility.

Interested in writing a guest post? Please contact me. I’m not real picky and am interested in articles on personal finance, Christianity, personal development, and frankly lots of other topics. So drop me a line and let me know topic you’re thinking about and I’ll get you scheduled.

The Friday Gathering For 4/18/2008

Training
Photo by: esphipul

I had a great week. The training I attended was probably one of the best classes I’ve ever taken. I came back to work with some great ideas for improving our software development process and bringing my team together even more. While I’m not a big fan of class room training generally, this does prove when the training is done by a top notch instructor who is an authority in their field, it makes a huge difference. This was definitely an epiphany class for me.

Important Stuff

Refer A Friend using Revolution Money Exchange

Top reasons people don't budget

Budget
Photo by: afiler

One of they things you can do to save money is create and follow a budget. I’ve heard Dave Ramsey say many times that when you start following a budget, it’s like getting a raise. I’ve found that to be very true. When you start tracking and pruning your expenses, you find money that you were previously just blowing.

What I’ve seen is that many people don’t follow a budget. The reasons why vary, but here are just a few I’ve come across:

Geesh, It's only $5.00 – A story of financial peer pressure

Shopping
Photo by: infomatique

“Geesh, It’s only $5.00!“. These were the words I heard uttered by one friend to another in a store we were shopping in a few weeks back. While I didn’t over hear the entire conversation, the two ladies were discussing some type of clothing accessory they were both looking at. Based on what I could tell, the one lady was trying to convince the other lady to purchase one as well. The one expressing the concern with the $5.00 cost was resistant and received the “It’s only $5.00” response in return.

SmartyPig Drops Check Fee and Vonage offers 20% off for Prepayment

News
Photo by: swanksalot

I’ve been out of town for the past few days on a business trip. That coupled with working on the Carnival of Personal Finance, I haven’t had a chance to complete/write more “normal” types of Gather Little by Little articles. The good news is I’m learning a great deal and I got the pleasure of having dinner with Green Panda and her husband (Blue Panda) which was awesome.

In lieu of having any major articles to share with you, I’ll share a couple of noteworthy news items that have arrived in my inbox over the past few days. I’ll return to my regularly scheduled programming tomorrow!

Winner of the $50.00 SmartyPig Gift of Savings!

SmartyPig

Two weeks ago, I wrote a review of SmartyPig and discussed the features, capabilities, and summarized it by saying I really liked it and would be using it for my own savings. I also announced that I would be giving away a $50.00 gift card and the only catch was that you had to either be a current subscriber to Gather Little by Little or become a new subscriber and send me the secret phrase embedded at the bottom of each article in my RSS feed (which was Oink Oink by the way).

148th Edition of the Carnival of Personal Finance!

North Carolina

Welcome to the 148th edition of the Carnival of Personal Finance! I am beyond honored to be your host and had a great time reading through all of the excellent articles submitted. Let me tell you, being this is the first carnival I’ve ever posted, I had no idea how hard it was to pick the “editor’s picks”! All the articles were so great!

Without further rambling from me, here are all of the carnival entries organized by category. As you read through the carnivals, you’ll also receive a photo tour of my home state, North Carolina. I hope you enjoy it!

Sunday Lyrics: Washed in the water

NeedToBreathe

Came across a new group this week, or at least new to me, while surfing the internet: NeedToBreathe and the song,  Washed in the water. The group has a really unique sound that’s a bit bluesy, which I really like. They are even good old southern boys from Greensboro, NC.

The song is a great reminder that when the world turns it’s back on you, God will never let you fall. For if you know Him, you are washed by the water.

Below are the lyrics to Washed in the Water, and you can watch the video here courtesy of YouTube.