This week my debt articles were featured in two different carnivals.

My post about American credit card debt was featured in the Carnival of Personal Finance – Dollar Doodles Edition. (There are pictures of dollar bills with interesting artistic modifications peppered throughout the carnival.)

And my post on how to become debt free was featured in the Carnival of Debt Reduction on Mr. Credit Card.

If you’re looking for more personal finance posts to read, these carnivals with link you up with some quality blogs.

This week I was featured in both the Carnival of Personal Finance and the Carnival of Debt Reduction.

My post about currency news was featured over on Len Penzo’s blog: The Carnival of Personal Finance CCXLIV – The Fiscally Irresponsible TV Characters Edition

And my post about car debts was an Editor’s Pick on the Reduce Debt Faster blog: Great Debt Reduction Articles And Tips: Another Carnival

Make sure to visit these carnivals to check out the other personal finance and debt reduction tips.

Here are a few debt-related posts to check out if you have a few minutes…

Carnival of Debt Reduction at Simply Forties – This week, my April debt update was featured in the carnival. I’ve now paid off 55% of my debt… and still going strong.

Discovering Your Financial Priorities – This was chosen as an Editor’s Pick in the carnival. The main point is that you must discover your financial priorities and find balance between debt reduction, living frugally, and actually enjoying life. Worth a read.

How to Get Out of Debt – Five Cent Nickel has put together a nice summary of how to get out of debt. He wrote it because he heard an ad touting a “silver bullet” debt reduction system on the radio — for a price of course. So he published his methods for free.

A Sneaky Credit Card Trick – LuluGal writes about how a recent change at her credit card company almost caused her some late fees. Worse, the credit card company didn’t bother telling her of the change. (Important to know if you use online bill pay services that mail checks on your behalf.)

Welcome to Debt Reduction Formula and the Carnival of Twenty Something Finances.

There were scores of submissions (I stopped counting at 80), and I’ve never seen so many multiple submissions in my life. (Whoa, Nelly! Don’t submit the same post three times… and don’t submit four or five posts all for one carnival!)

Anyway, I wanted this issue of the Carnival to be valuable to my READERS, so I deleted ruthlessly. More than half of the submissions did NOT make the cut.

Reasons I deleted entries:

• Boring. If I fall asleep reading it, my readers probably will too.

• Irrelevant. If your post had nothing to do with being 20, and was just generic financial advice for anybody, chances are I cut it.

• Irritating. If you submitted four or five posts, I just deleted them all. There is a real person on the other end of a Carnival, and they don’t have time to read your entire blog archive to pick one post to feature. You are supposed to pick your best post for consideration — not the Carnival host.

If you’d like to submit your post for the next issue of the Carnival of Twenty Something Finances, you can do so here.

Okay, on with the show.

Editor’s Picks

• Stephanie presents I Will Not Be Able to Afford My Student Loans posted at Poorer Than You.

Comments: I never had any student loans, so I don’t know what that feels like. Still, I sympathize with Stephanie and her struggle to pay back her student loans. If you’re currently going to college, you can learn a lot from these cautionary tales.

• LAL presents A difference between being rich and poor posted at LivingAlmostLarge.

Comments: When my grandparents died, my parents said it was a strange feeling knowing they were “next in line.” Furthermore, they no longer had any parents they could turn to for help. I’m fortunate that my parents and in-laws can help us out if needed — but it’s not that way for everybody.

• MoneyNing presents What Everyone Ought to Know When Applying for Free Stuff posted at Personal Finance Blog by Money Ning.

Comments: There’s always a price for free stuff, as MoneyNing points out. It’s good to have an understanding of how free offers work so you can avoid the bad ones and take advantage of the good ones.

• J. Money presents Does the financial crisis have a silver lining? (Q&A) posted at Budgets are Sexy.

Comments: I like how J. Money shares the good things that have resulted from the downturn in the economy. It’s always worthwhile to look at “the other side of the story.”

Other Solid Entries Worth Your Time

• Studenomist presents How the Weekends Could Make You Rich.

• Destroy Debt presents It’s No Secret Keeping Money Secrets From Your Partner is Not the Ideal Way to maintain a Relationship.

• Mike G presents How Much Does That Leaky Faucet Cost?

• Dividend Tree presents Personal Finance from New College Grad’s Perspective.

• Save Money presents Save $1000 in 30 Days: My Take.

• Mr Credit Card presents What Is The Difference Between Debt Consolidation and Credit Counseling?

• Savings Toolbox presents 5 Tips for Starting Your Savings.

• Debt Kid presents Repairing My Credit Won’t Be Easy.

• Kathryn presents Making Due.

• Super Saver presents Reduce Spending without Sacrificing Lifestyle #1 – Eliminate Waste.

• FIRE Finance presents A Simple Budget That Works?

• Raj Patel presents The Debtor’s Guide to Expenses: Housing.

• Steward presents Budgeting Basics: Budgets Matter.

• Matthew Paulson presents 7 Tips For Saving Money as a Renter.

• Patrick @ Cash Money Life presents How the Economic Stimulus Check Affects your 2008 Tax Return.

• Shaun Connell presents Are You Making These Debt Mistakes?.

• Woman Tribune presents Living Off of Your Credit Cards.

• Victoria presents DIY Taxes.

• RJ W presents Best Books on Personal Finance.

• Jeff Rose presents Benefits of Completing College Debt Free.

Thanks for participating in this Carnival.

Please remember to share this Carnival with your readers. And if you have a moment, please Stumble this post, submit it to Delicious, or promote it on whatever social networks you’re active on.

Thank you! :-)

I remember the few times I’ve been completely buried in debt. Not fun. The stress… the juggling of minimum payments… the floating of checks. It can get ridiculous.

Anyway, Stephanie over at Stop the Ride recently wrote “Something Has to Change” on her blog. In the post, she explains how they’re having trouble making minimum payments. But the real kicker is that she and her husband haven’t been paying down their student loans… and the interest has been compounding every month.

If you have a moment, I encourage you to read her story and try to imagine what you might do if you were in her shoes. This kind of creative thinking can sometimes turn up good debt reduction ideas you can personally use.

I left a comment for Stephanie on her blog. Here is what I wrote:

That’s tough, Stephanie. Thanks for being so honest.

One of my clients here in Denver is a bankruptcy attorney. He offers free consultations.

If I were in your shoes, I would at least get a free consultation to explore your options. It may turn out bankruptcy really isn’t the best option. At least then you’ll know.

Another possible option is debt settlement. I’ve only read a little bit about it — but it might be something to explore.

Sounds like the student loans are the big issue. If neither bankruptcy nor debt settlement will wipe out or reduce your balance… then the value of pursuing either one is questionable.

Options for making a huge reduction in debt in one fell swoop:

1. Sell your home, then rent. Use equity to pay off debt.

2. Sell a car and make due with only one. Use equity to pay off debt.

These options aren’t available to everybody, but they do work.

Ryan

The reason I came across Stephanie’s post in the first place is that both her post and mine (Outstanding Debt as of January 2009) were featured in the latest Carnival of Debt Reduction over at No Debt Plan.

A couple of the blog posts in the Carnival that stood out to me (in addition to Stephanie’s) include:

• A Plan to Be Debt Free in 2009
• Save Money by Always Being in a Contract