I, like Stretchy Dollar, was not on the schedule to host this weeks Festival of Frugality. As luck would have it I inquired about getting on the hosting schedule for a later date and was told I could host today!

There is a good chance that right now as you read through the wonderful selection of posts in this carnival that I am in a Percocet, Vicodin, or OxyContin daze. Why? I assure you it is not because I am of relation to Rush Limbaugh. I had the pleasure of going to the dentist yesterday to get two of my wisdom teeth out. FUN! The bottom one also decided it would be funny to get all impacted on me thus making it a little more complicated than a simple extraction. Without getting into gruesome detail I will tell you: it was only done with local anaesthetic, some jaw bone had to be cut, it was very close to my nerve, and it had to be chopped up into 6 different segments to extract it. Yes, I heard every crack.

And now the title makes a little more sense, eh? ;)

How can one live frugally while having to have medical procedures done in the United States?

• Look for generic drug equivalents. You can start by seeing if your drug is listed here (PDF). If so the equivalent is listed right next to it! You should also ask your doctor or pharmacist if generics exist for any drugs they recommend.
• Try to create a guesstimate of how much you will spend on medical treatment for the upcoming year. In my case I knew I needed my wisdom teeth done so I made sure to put at least that amount in my HSA (Health-care spending account). Why? The money is put in that account pre-tax! That amounts to about a 30% savings on my surgery!
• Prevention is key. The problem costs less to fix now than it will in six months. Ever let a whiny timing belt go a little longer than it should? If so you may have experienced thousands in damage versus hundreds in maintenance costs!

Italicized text is just a few notes I have added on each article to help you find what you are looking for! With that being said, I hope you enjoy this carnival and find at least a few posts that add value to your life!

Editor’s Choice

• Neal Frankle presents This Is The Week To Choose Financial Freedom posted at Wealth Pilgrim. Neal relates two of the recent holidays (Easter and Passover) to your personal finance situation. Bravery, sacrifice, and freedom.
• MoneyNing presents 25 Debt Reduction Tips For Your Immediate Action Plan posted at Personal Finance Blog by Money Ning. Money NING always provides quality articles, and this is no exception. Ways to reduce spending, change your outlook, and more.
• FIRE Finance presents FREE Health Care for the Unemployed – Take Care Clinic posted at FIRE Finance. At a time where millions are uninsured I thought this was a great post outlining a way in which people can get free health-care. There are stipulations so click through to read.
• FFB presents 9 Ways To Save On Baby Costs posted at Free From Broke. I have read about quite a few bloggers having babies, recently. I know Suburban Dollar is one of them. This is a great post on how to save money in general, too, since only a few are baby specific.
• nickel presents Save on Travel: The Most Expensive Airports posted at fivecentnickel.com. I LOVE traveling & Nickel shows us some of the most expensive airports to fly out of. If you are going on a trip and your closest airport is listed here it might make sense to look at flying out of another airport!

Frugality

• It’s Frugal Being Green presents Couponing Within Reason posted at It’s Frugal Being Green. FBG goes over the different methods they use for shopping for personal care products and groceries.
• Kelly from Almost Frugal presents Frugality and Charity posted at Almost Frugal- a frugal blog. Kelly goes over how to be charitable when you are also trying to be frugal by outlining a few steps to take.
• Lisa Spinelli presents Bottled Water Equals Tap Water? posted at Greener Pastures: Personal Finance. Lisa goes over some of the pros and cons of bottled water as well as some FDA rules you may not have known.
• Rachel presents Organic and natural coupon roundup posted at Mashup Mom. If you have been trying to eat healthier this is an extensive list of coupons you may be able to use with a few other suggestions.
• Elizabeth G (Modern Gal) presents Frugal and Green posted at Modern Gal. The only post dedicated to Earth Day (April 22nd). Four ways in which Elizabeth is helping the Earth through frugal measures!
• mominisrael presents Frugal Strategies for Young Families that Pay Off as Your Children Grow posted at A Mother in Israel. Frugal tips for raising a family… and who better to trust than a woman with six children?
• Joe Caterisano presents Budgeting Tips posted at Penny Pinching. What 8 questions does Joe ask himself before making a purchase? Click to find out.
• Jeff@StretchyDollar presents Converting a Super-Spender to A Frugal Saver, Part II posted at StretchyDollar. Jeff’s gal wrote a post detailing how she converted him to a frugal saver!

Free & DIY

• Sarah Eliza presents Devastate Boredom: Top 5: Free Music by the Mile… (gallon? bushel? ipod?) posted at Devastate Boredom. If you often times find that you are spending money on music, this article lists 5 ways in which you may be able to find music for free legally!
• Make it from Scratch presents Using Leftover Easter Eggs posted at Make It From Scratch. Five different things to do with leftover Easter eggs. Curried eggs… delicious. If anyone has eggs left over CLICK and make them!
• Nicki presents Homemade Strawberry Jam posted at Domestic Cents. Not only a money saver but what seems like a fun activity for a kid to partake in. And I love strawberry jam, too!
• HowToMe presents How To Decorate Paper with Bubbles posted at HowToMe. This looks like a really fun art project (or distraction :p) for kids. You can get pretty creative with it if you like.
• The Happy Rock presents Quake Live – Free Browser Based First Person Shooter Video Game posted at The Happy Rock. If you liked playing Quake, ID has released a web based version that allows you to play for free!
• Patrick @ Cash Money Life presents Should you change your own oil? posted at Cash Money Life. Does it make sense for you to change your own oil? Even after Valvoline messed up?
• Miss M presents Favorite Frugal Dinners posted at M is for Money. I love Mexican Rice Bowls… with that being said check out this article to see some other frugal dinners you can whip up.
• Alison presents Can Gardening Save You Money? posted at This Wasn’t in The Plan. A look at Alison’s garden and whether or not it saves money.
• Frugal Babe presents Garage Facelift: Zero Dollars posted at Frugal Babe. Frugal Babe must have been in the Spring cleaning spirit because she details how she turned her garage into a garage even a realtor could love.

Planning, Saving, and Money Management

• MoneyEnergy presents Picking Up Pennies, Or, Make Sure You Use Every Cent of Your Paycheck posted at MoneyEnergy. How often do you just toss change aside? Do you ever consider it as a leak in your paycheck?
• KCLau presents Learning to be Happy with Less posted at KCLau’s Money Tips. Is it any surprise that this is possible as long as you set priorities and have a support system? Click to read more!
• Jim DeSantis presents 3 Reasons That Can Cause Your Family Budget To Fail posted at Free Family Budgeting eBook from On Line Tribune. Three reasons why budgets fail and I think most of us have encountered all three. The first step is to recognize the issues, so take a look!
• Heather presents Tightwad Tuesday: Talking Grocery Budgets posted at Home Ec 101. How Heather budgets for grocery shopping. You may be surprised to find out she doesn’t use coupons. Read on to find out how!
• vh presents Best month on budget so far! posted at Funny about Money. A look at vh’s budget. If you have never head of micro-budgeting check it out, it may be useful to some!
• Deposit Accounts presents Keep More of Your Money: Tips for Better Banking posted at Deposit Accounts. How to calculate interest on different accounts and a few other useful tips!
• Silicon Valley Blogger presents ING Savings Comparison Tool: Compare Your Bank Balance With Your Peers’ posted at The Digerati Life. A pretty cool tool that ING offers which allows you to compare your financial status to that of your peers. A great way to see how you compare, but don’t settle for less… :)!
• Jason presents 5 Reasons You Should Be Automating Your Savings posted at Automatic Finances. Remove the human element… automate to achieve best results!
• Kelly Whalen presents Top 5 Financial Mistakes | the ¢entsible life posted at the ¢entsible life. Who HASN’T made mistakes? A good list of 5 pretty common ones.

Debt & Credit

• Leave Debt Behind presents Top 5 Ways to Get out of Debt posted at LeaveDebtBehind.com. In this economy you can not afford to not get out of debt! These are 5 tried and true methods on how to do so!
• Debt Freedom Fighter presents Simple and Easy Methods to Reduce Your Debt Significantly posted at Discover Debt Freedom. Three things that you can do to reduce your debt (hint: you probably need to make a plan ;)!).
• Viviana presents Debt and the death of relationships posted at The Lean Times. After having an account get overdrawn Viviana’s poor boyfriend finds out he can’t do anything right! The things debt does… read to see what happened.
• PFCreditCards presents The Credit Card Debate posted at PF Credit Cards. Credit cards: Do you love or hate them? Click through to read some reasons for both sides of the debate!

Reduce Spending

• Matt Jabs presents Reduce Monthly Bills – Trash Edition posted at Debt Free Adventure!. If you pay for trash removal you may find one of these six steps crucial to saving you hundreds per year!
• FMF presents Save Money by Paying Attention posted at Free Money Finance. FMF shows how he and his wife saved some money by simply paying attention to an end cap display.
• Clair Schwan presents A Smart Shopper Buys From Private Parties posted at Frugal Living Freedom. Four of the advantages that you receive from buying from a private party. I didn’t know about “friends prices,” do you?
• Aryn presents The 10-10-10 Rule for Spending posted at Sound Money Matters. Aryn sums this article up really well with this quote: “What will the consequences of my options be in 10 minutes, 10 months, and 10 years?”
• Finance Tips 101 presents Scholarships Come In All Shapes And Sizes posted at Finance Tips 101. The best way to reduce spending on college costs? Scholarships. This article details a bunch of the different types of scholarships.
• Amanda presents Need a deal? Just ask! posted at Value For Your Life. Amanda reminds us that the easiest way to get a good deal, and thus cut spending, is to ASK. If you don’t ask you don’t know if you could have gotten a better deal. See how she saved a bunch on some furniture.
• Debt Free Destiny presents Why Repairing Your Credit Makes Sense and Saves You Money posted at Debt Free Destiny. A look at four different ways in which fixing your credit score can save you money.
• Kate Kashman presents No Spend Days – The Paycheck Chronicles posted at The Paycheck Chronicles. Do you ever have no spend days? Do you plan them or just retroactively celebrate?

Investing & Economy

• PicktheBrain presents Investing in Stocks for Beginners posted at Beginner Investing. How do people make money with stocks, what are the risks, and who should buy stocks?
• Britannica Blog presents Do Americans Support Capitalism, and Which Capitalism? posted at Britannica Blog. The first paragraph should suck you right in… did you know “a new Rasmussen Poll found only 53 percent of respondents nationally believe capitalism is the superior system. Another 20 percent favored socialism, while 27 percent were undecided.” Click to read more!
• J. Money presents Ahhhhhh!! We Can’t Refinance Our 1st Mortgage :( posted at Budgets are Sexy | A Personal Finance Blog. J Money can’t refinance because he us underwater on his mortgage. Want to find out by how much? Click and see! :)
• Roshawn Watson presents Mark to Market NOT Mark to Myth posted at Watson Inc. Roshawn details why half the country’s banks–4,000 in all–would be bust if they marked their loans to what the loans would fetch in an auction.
• Baker presents Help! House Fever Is Attacking Us! posted at Man Vs. Debt. Baker spots the house of his dreams and life seems to stand still. Will he buy it? Click to find out!

Taxes

• Sun presents Check Your Tax Refund Status Online posted at Earn More Invest Wisely at The Sun’s Financial Diary. Not sure where your tax refund is? Sun shows how to check your status online.
• Madison presents File an Extension to Lower or Hedge Your Tax Bill posted at My Dollar Plan. Not only how to file an extension but why you would want to consider filing one. I didn’t know a few of these tax planning tips!

Other

• Wren Caulfield presents First Bike Commute of the Year! posted at True Adventures in Money Hacking. As a bicyle enthusiast I know what Wren is going through… mass excitement!
• d. ninja presents I can work in my underwear…you can’t. posted at Punch Debt In The Face. Think working from home is amazingly awesome? Think it stinks? D. Ninja goes over some of the pros and cons!
• MLR presents Street Graffiti… or Advertisements? posted at My Life ROI, Getting the Best Return On Life. I could potentially call this post of mine a rant against the prevalence of street advertisements… while street art is getting painted over.
• Patrick @ Military Money presents The History of Bring Back Thrift Week posted at Military Finance Network. A look at the history of National Thrift Week and how its purpose was to get a populus ready for a wartime economy.
• Ryan Suenaga presents When eBay Buying Doesn’t Work Out posted at Uncommon Cents. Ever buy something on eBay only to find out you got shipped the wrong item? An account of Ryan’s experience with an eBay seller and a DVD purchase.
• Madison presents Summer Jobs for Kids – Ideas for Summer Jobs for Kids posted at Kids and Money. A list of 5 different ideas to help your kids earn money. A few of them could give an extra bonus of added physical activity!
• Stephanie presents The One Object I Want Most in the World posted at Poorer Than You. Stephanie details why she attaches happiness to this one material thing despite her normal behavior. What is so special about this ONE thing? Read to find out.