Let’s assume for one second that you failed to stay informed about your credit by obtaining your free credit report. Out of nowhere, you get hit with a bunch of the repercussions that come with having bad credit. One thing that could make it worse is a lawsuit, but more on that later.

The funny thing is, you aren’t exactly sure when and where this bad credit came from. You are usually very good about paying your bills on time and in full. However, you let one slide by accident.

For whatever reason, you weren’t alerted in regards to your past due account and it instead went to a collection agency. And they are awful companies (#1, #2, #3, #4).

I am absolutely pleased to bring to you the 7th edition of the Best of Money Carnival. I decided to theme this carnival off of the Top 10 Financial Collapses of 2008 as per Time.

7th Edition?! Yup, it’s a very new blog created by the one and only Free Money Finance. You can find him on twitter, too, at @FMFblog.

Now, as I am sure a lot of my readers run blogs themselves, I wanted to reiterate what the benefits of submitting to this carnival are:

• March Madness Automatic Entry
• $1,000 Charitable Contribution

Visit the carnival homepage to see the other benefits & requirements and to familiarize yourself with the guidelines for

The book is by Lisa Serwin and the cover really says it all. This is not a book for men. Unless, of course, you have a male friend who can appreciate comments like “Wouldn’t it be great if there was bad hair day insurance?” or this bizarre explanation of opportunity cost: “As a Fashionista you think about this every day. If I skip dinner for a week or two to pay for those boots, will I be too wiped out to wear them?” It is also not a book for females who would be offended by lines such as “women are often better at counting calories than their money.”

The real estate market is complicated. You have agents, brokers, underwriters, your family, the economy… so many parties with a vested interest! And then you have the whole finding the house part of the equation. You need to think of a neighborhood you would like to live in and then find local listings. Once you do, you need to print out the listings (or at least write down the addresses) and print out a map to the houses (or put them in your GPS).

Now, I can’t get rid of the agents and brokers for you and simplify the process on that front. But, I CAN simplify the “finding the house” part of the equation. With the advent of advanced phone technology comes the development of some pretty cool real estate

This Friday is HLR’s birthday so with that in mind we are going out to a Mexican restaurant she likes with some of her friends on Friday. She made shopping for her pretty easy by telling me exactly what she wants :) Thanks dear!

Carnivals

• Money Hacks Carnival #71 @ The Canadian Finance Blog included my article Getting the Car Ready for Vacation.

Other Articles

• Calculate Your Retirement Needs @ Financial Highway. Ray goes over how exactly to calculate your retirement needs. It isn’t quite calculus, but it does require a lot of planning. You need to look at inflation, expected life expectancy and retirement age, and… well, just go check it out!