Carnival of Personal Finance – Meltdown Edition

The 172nd edition of the Carnival of Personal Finance (the Meltdown Edition) is posted at DebtKid.

If you’re not sure what a blog carnvial is, it’s where bloggers who write about a similar topic (in this case personal finance) submit their best articles to be compiled together on one website for readers to enjoy.

There were over 50 articles submitted this week.  Here are a few that look interesting to me…

• Money Beagle gets a really interesting insider look at the credit crisis.
• Trent from The Simple dollar goes into depth about the 12 biggest personal finance mistakes people make over and over again (plus their solutions!)

Money Quote

Car sickness is the feeling you get when the monthly payment is due.  ~Author Unknown

I had to laugh when I read this quote.  I have suffered from car sickness my whole life, so I can relate. 

I paid off my car loan about a year ago, and this is the first time in my adult life that I have not had a car payment.  While I never suffered "car sickness" when I was making my car payments, the feeling of freedom that I have now that the loan is gone is incredible!

Your Home Costs More than the Mortgage Payment

Since purchasing my first home a couple of years ago, I’ve learned that the cost of owning a home is much more than a mortgage payment.

In addition to your new mortgage payment, you also have to pay real estate taxes and homeowners insurance – okay these two are probably part of your mortgage payment – but then you have a whole new world of expenses you’ve never encountered before.

As a homeowner, you have to pay utilities, repairs and maintenance, you may need to buy appliances and furniture, and you have to either take care of the yard or pay someone else to do it.  Not to mention the home improvements that you’re dying to make!