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Last two weeks was amazing with the wedding, moving and seeing my subscriber count jump from mid 700 to almost 1000!  Thank you for everyone that reads and subscribes to Money Ning.  Those that haven’t entered yet should head over there and give yourself a chance to win $1500 since there is still time!

Moving and getting married often means a lot of money spent, and in my case it’s no different.  That’s why it is the more important to continue reading other people’s personal finance articles.  I’ve come across a couple the past few days so here they are for you to enjoy!

• Moolanomy lists some of the money mistakes he’s made recently.  This just shows you that even personal finance bloggers are human, and that we face the same situations as everyone else.
• My Two Dollars gives us five inexpensive things we can buy today that can help the environment.
• The Digerati Life shares with us how she plans to slash her budget by 25% by living more frugally.  Wow!
• Paid Twice urges us to start planning for next year’s valentine’s day already!  Although I think it’s a little early, planning early almost always saves you money!
• Being Frugal asks readers what his/her spending weakness is.  Remember to check out the comment section!
• Fiscal Musings shares with us why he chose to get MBA even though he has an electrical engineering background.

Remember to read all of the articles since the more you read, the better you become with personal finance topics!!!

I always spend some time after a celebration to analyze all my expenses. It is a good way for me to see whether all the money spent was actually wasted or whether it was well justified. It also provided a way for me to get a feel of where my money is going.

Getting married was the biggest event of my life thus far, and with it came many big expenses. I have not gotten around to figuring out everything yet but I will be sure to share that with all of you so stay tuned.

Today, I just want to talk about Valentine’s Day since we just passed it. For many, it usually involves flowers, gifts, and dining out which translate to transferring much of our money to other people’s pockets. Thinking about the years passed makes me wonder how much I really spent on this wonderful but expensive day of the year.

My conversations with others give me the feeling that the only way to celebrate Valentine’s Day is with activities and gifts involving money. However, this is of course not true! There are many ways to celebrate Valentine’s Day without breaking the piggy bank. Examples include a very romantic dinner at home, or a nice walk on the beach at night.

Having said that, here’s a poll for everyone:

Would you rather get consistent monthly income or an one time payment?

• Monthly Payment!!
• All Up Front!!
• Can't decide... Help!!

View Results

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This has been an amazing week as far as my finance is concerned because I closed a major deal for my company (read big $$$ for me in the coming months) as well as the incredible stock performance. Therefore I have been a little busy celebrating I ended up not buying anything after I posted the article on celebration and slurging, but I went to quite a few celebration dinners (both paid by me and other people).

Enough about me!  Here are some great articles for your enjoyment!

Adventures in Money Making posted about the day in which the Canadian dollar being on par with the US dollar.  I wonder what those people that made all those Canadian money being Monopoly money jokes feel about the situation now.

My Two Dollars asks an interesting question on whether we spend money on anything at all.  I guess I sort of answered it with my celebration article up top!

The Sun’s Financial Diary wrote an article about whether we are a better investor.  This article made me quote parts of it and send to my dad so check it out!

Money, Matters, and Musings did a writeup on all the highest yield saving accounts!  Check them out!

Lazy Man and Money talks about something we are all good at - Being Jealous.

The above are great articles!  Check them all out!

I helped my company closed a very fruitful deal with one of our customers and I am contemplating whether I should buy something for myself to celebrate.  These “celebration slurge” seem to be extremely common in our society but how should we control the amount that we spend when these events happen?

I always hear about someone wanting to buy themselves a gift whether it is for a promotion or Christmas or our birthday.  What this comes down to is really just an excuse for us to get what we wanted.  This “celebration” becomes the extra push over the edge for us to slurge.

It is not all bad though.  Sometimes, we need to give ourselves some motivation to work hard, and something like a reward for a job well done would be a very fitting way to do so.  Buying something that we can see and touch will help remind us that it is worth it to work hard.  It’s almost like investing because spending $x on this gift for ourselves might motivate us to earn more than $x as a result.

There is no hard and fast rule on whether a celebration slurge will help or not help our financial situation but if we can afford it, why not?

When was the last time you slurge because of an occasion?  Do you think I should buy something for myself?  How much do you think I should spend and does the answer change based on the occasion?

I look forward to hearing from you!