Masses vs Great Design and a Round Up

Hi Everyone!

Coming into a new week, I hope you’re nice and relaxed from the weekend. Recently, I read an excellent, albeit short, article by Seth Godin discussing great design the masses of people that always try to assert their opinions. Essentially, Seth Godin is saying that when the masses are involved in “design” it turns into a terrible and cumbersome mess.

Great design isn’t about all of the features that you cram into something, it is about the features you leave out. Everyone has an opinion on what something should look like, feel like or how it should operate, and it is the job of the designer to ignore them (or at least sift through the large amounts of noise). As Henry Ford has famously said:

“They can have any color they want, so long as it is black.”

or this great quote (paraphrased):

“If I had asked people what they wanted, they would have asked for a faster horse.”

If you’re interested in reading Seth Godin’s short article, you can see it here: A Tacky Mess. Now, onto this week’s carnival submissions!

Shilpan @ Street Smart Finance writes The Power of Incremental Actions – Do you know that Taj Mahal is not only a magnificent monument of love, but also a proof of the power of incremental action? It took 22 years and thousands of workers to build this beautiful building. Now, fast forward to our world. You’ve been bamboozled by TV infomercials — those that promise you an overnight success in exchange of your quick payment with a credit card.

Deacon Hayes @ Well Kept Wallet writes How to Buy a Home WITHOUT a Mortgage – About 6 years ago, I didn’t even think this was possible. I thought the only way I will ever own home is to borrow money. Man, was I mistaken. Looking back at all of the interest I have paid to banks makes me sick. I knew there had to be another way and there is.

BARBARA FRIEDBERG @ Barbara Friedberg Personal Finance writes MBA SERIES; ARE BONDS SAFER THAN STOCKS? – Bonds are usually less volatile. So, if you are looking for fewer ups and downs in your portfolio, then bonds are certainly less risky.

YFS @ Your Finances Simplified writes The 5 Things You Should Never Do During A Job Interview – The job interview will be the first time that your prospective employers will be seeing you in person.

Earth and Money @ Earth and Money writes Ethical Mutual Funds – A Better Way to Invest? – Investing ethically can make real transformative change in corporate actions without sacrificing financial returns.

MMD @ My Money Design writes How to Retire on 500K with the Greatest Potential – Is it possible to retire on 500K? It may be tough, but there are certainly ways of maximizing your options while creating a safe portfolio.

Passive Income Earner @ The Passive Income Earner writes How To Invest in Gold – Gold can be seen as a safe haven for many when confidence is low in the markets and in the economy. Gold value per ounce is a regular metric being shared globally through daily news along side your country’s currency and oil prices.

A Blinkin @ Funancials writes My Investment Strategy Fully Explained – I invest in markets where there is real supply-and-demand and fundamentals really matter. E.g. currencies and commodities. Other wise, I’ll be competing against other traders who are just (if not more) savvy, resulting in a game in which no one wins.

MR @ Money Reasons writes Working Alternative Work Shifts For More Money – Working a third (or second) shift might enable you to dramatically increase your income if you do it right! Read my thoughts on the idea.

Shawanda @ You Have More Than You Think writes Would You Accept Food Stamps If You Didn’t Need Them? – If I qualified for food stamps, I’d get them. After all, every dollar I save on food is a dollar I can invest in my business.

Jacob @ I Heart Budgets writes How To Save Money: Billing Mistakes (Part 1) – Have you ever looked at your bills closely? You may be over-paying them and wasting hundreds! Read how to save money on bills and keep more cash!

Jennifer Lynn @ Broke-Ass Mommy writes Financial Check-Up; Our Vacation at Cape Ann – Broke-Ass Mommy is a blog that chronicles the tribulations of being a mother with limited income

J.P. @ Novel Investor writes All Index Funds Are NOT Created Equal – Unfortunately we might want to put some time into researching index funds before investing in them. It seems that similar index funds are not equal when it comes to performance.

Jason @ Work Save Live writes Teaching Children about Money – Teaching My Future Children about Money I was in the store the other day and ahead of me in line was a little girl with her mom. The girl was throwing a tantrum about not getting a candy bar. Talk about annoying.

Amanda L Grossman @ Frugal Confessions writes Mustang Budgeting and Other Methods of Implementing a Budget – On the way to work one morning I started playing with the speedometer button on the Mustang. One push of the button showed me the length of each trip.

Sustainable PF @ Sustainable Personal Finance writes Sustainability Isn’t Black and White – While doing the green thing seems like it makes sense, especially when you spend the same amount of money, one should really examine purchases critically.

Don @ MoneySmartGuides writes Money Saving Discounts – We are all familiar with couponing thanks in large part to the Extreme Couponing shows that air on cable. Recently, businesses have turned to using the internet to offer discounts through coupon codes.

Ornella Grosz @ Moneylicious writes Apple, Coke, Holocaust, and Shopping: Unconsciously Prime Our Minds – There’s an unbridged gap between your unconscious mind and conscious mind. Ever have a moment while driving and asked yourself “how did I get here?” Most of your financial decision-making occurs from the unconscious mind.

Tushar @ Start Investing Money writes Diversity: the Key Word to Remember When Investing – We’ve all heard the advice not to put all our eggs in one basket. This certainly holds true for investments. If you were to sink everything into one investment and it lost its value, you could lose a lot of money. However if that investment was one of several, the impact on your savings would be far less severe than it would have been otherwise.

Roger the Amateur Financier @ The Amateur Financier writes Couples and Money – Combining Your Accounts – A short guide to how you can combine your finances with your new spouse shortly after your wedding or later in your marriage.

Ted Jenkin @ Your Smart Money Moves writes Fancy Vacation: Your Kids Won’t Remember A Thing – It seems talking to people over the past couple of years that taking a memorable fancy vacation is important thing on the minds of many parents.

Debt Guru @ Debt Free Blog writes Living in Debt without Hope? – Find out how having debt can take all of your hope away and what you can do to get it back and pay off your debt.

Corey @ 20s Finances writes How to Save Money: Even Your Milk Money Counts – Do you find yourself saying that you don’t have enough money? Is it hard to find the pennies necessary to pay the bills? Saving money can be difficult at times for a lot of reasons. Whether it is because you are stuck in contract to lease a car or can’t stop yourself from buying the latest, greatest item, it can be hard to save money.

Eddie @ Finance Fox writes Many Are House Poor and How You Can Avoid The Same Mistakes – One of the biggest mistakes I’ve seen friends (and acquaintances) make is to buy a home that’s simply too expensive for them. House poor…

Crystal @ Budgeting in the Fun Stuff writes Scoring $1200 in Travel Vouchers – It’s no secret that most airlines oversell their flights anticipating a certain number of no-shows. Here are tips to receive free travel vouchers!

Daisy @ Add Vodka writes Ways We Are Costing Each Other Money – I was watching TV while babysitting (after the kids went to bed) and had the only thing that seemed half interesting was a show about shoplifting.

TRL @ The Retired Landlord writes Investing in Real Estate from a Distance – Find out why I am considering investing in real estate in a different market than the one in which I currently reside.

Wayne @ Young Family Finance writes What to do without a Pay Raise? – Find out how you should respond to not getting an annual pay raise. It’s important to approach it with the right mentality.

Hank @ Money Q&A writes When Does Your Frugality Become Unethical? – Can frugality become unethical? Where is the line we cross when pinching your pennies is no longer morally acceptable? Are some cases of being frugal borderline illegal too?

John @ Married (with Debt) writes 6 Crazy Things I’d Do with a Billion Dollars – Imagine you won a billion dollar lottery. Would you be boring or go crazy with your purchases? Here’s what I would do…

Corey @ Steadfast Finances writes Difference between Homeowners and Renters – Do you think it’s better to rent? Do you think it’s better to buy a home? While there are many who would suggest that buying a home is always the best option, it isn’t as clear cut as it should be. Buying a home means taking on a lot more risk.

Justin @ My University Money writes Things That Universities Don’t Want You To Know – Universities are known for making money by any means necessary. Look around for opportunities to bypass their monopoly once in a while.

Jon the Saver @ Free Money Wisdom writes Three Reasons You May Not Want to Make Extra Mortgage Principal Payments – These three reasons are great advice for why one should not make extra mortgage payments. While some may disagree, these are great reasons.

Maria @ The Money Principle writes Three short stories on money and technology – Money and technology is changing the way in which we spend and the things we worry about. I have a sophisticated system to remember my PINs.

SFB @ Simple Finance Blog writes 5 Tips for Students to be Frugal – College costs continue to rise every year, and that is just for tuition. The costs of just living as a college student have also continued to rise. Here are some tips and tricks to be frugal in school so that you can save your money for things that really matter! 1. Rent, Don’t Buy Textbooks …

Jen @ Master the Art of Saving writes Find Our First House-Check! – We’ve only been searching for our first house for around 2 months now. About 2 months ago, we were pre approved for a home loan using the USDA Guaranteed Loan..

PITR @ Passive Income To Retire writes Passive Income by Leasing a Car? – Have you ever considered passive income by leasing a car privately? I have! Here are the details.

John @ Calling the Puts writes Why Are So Many Personal Finance Bloggers Broke? – My observations and thoughts on why so many personal finance bloggers are broke and why my blog is doomed.

Luke @ Learn Bonds writes The Limitations of Credit Default Swaps – Here’s why it is more important to focus on bond prices than CDS when talking about default potential.

Suba @ Broke Professionals writes Being Responsible: 5 Things Adults Do – Being responsible – it sounds like a bore, something old people do. But adult responsibilities mean more than just funding my 401(k). What says adult to you?

Daniel @ Sweating the Big Stuff writes Why $200 Lost Gambling Was Better Spent Than $200 Cirque Du Soleil Tickets – In all, we spent about the same amount on the Cirque Du Soleil tickets as we lost playing Craps over the weekend. Where did we have more fun?

Sean @ One Smart Dollar writes Student Loans for Graduate Students – If you are thinking about going to graduate school you don’t want to miss this article on how you can properly pay for it.

Sicorra @ Tackling Our Debt writes 30 Simple Ways to Save Money – What happens when you suddenly realize that you are actually living pay check to pay check, or worse yet, you are barely able to pay your bills on time? If you suddenly find yourself in a situation like this here are 30 simple ways to save money throughout the year.

Invest It Wisely @ Invest It Wisely writes Olympic Reading for your Week – O-no: Ring-shaped bagels at the House cafe in Camberwell, south London was told to take down the Olympic-themed display by southwark Borough Council.S

Jason @ Modest Money writes Mistakes to Avoid When Buying a Home – Buying a home can be one of the most exciting times in your life. However, in many cases the initial rush of emotions and thoughts of being a homeowner cloud our minds from making an intelligent decision – one that will be best for your financial future.

Bridget @ Money After Graduation writes make pre-payments on your student loan debt to make progress – On Monday I blogged about how much I’ve overpaid my student loans. Well, I keep a running tally of a number of my student loan metrics, including how much of my payments go towards the principal balance and how much just pays off interest: Note where it says the net paid off is about $5,100.

PPlaner @ Provident Plan writes Should You Avoid Debt? – Too often people in both niches of finances and religion identify a situation as black and white when it is actually gray.

Kevin @ Thousandaire writes I Spend Less than 50% of My Pretax Income – As I was updating my net worth this month I realized that my net worth has increased over $31,000 in the past 12 months.

Teacher Man @ Young And Thrifty writes Mutual Fund Managers = Minor Leagues – Mutual funds managers don’t hold a candle to the hedge fund managers. They make TONS of money and its almost impossible to replicate.

Steven @ Grocery Alerts writes Celebrity Couponers – Did you know that these celebrities all clip coupons? Sarah Michelle Gellar, Kate Gosselin, Hilary Swank, and even NBA star Rob Hibbert clip coupons. Couponing is really in vogue these days so we created an infographic that shows the popularity of coupons with celebrities.

Jester @ The Ultimate Juggle writes Learning How to Save Thousands on Your Mortgage – Find out some basic tips to save money on your mortgage.

Kyle @ The Penny Hoarder writes An Easy Way to Sell Your Stuff When Redecorating… – There inevitably comes a time in a girl’s life when she has to redecorate. For me, that time comes around every three years. One day I’ll wake up and that piece of art I said I’d never get rid of suddenly offends me. Like, literally, I get angry when I walk past it.

Ashley @ Money Talks Coaching writes Saving for Retirement is Like Going on a Road Trip – What if I woke up one Tuesday morning and decided to take my kids to Disneyland that day? Now, I live in Phoenix.

krantcents @ KrantCents writes Red Flags of Personal Finance – A red flag is an indicator of potential problems. It means danger, stop or caution because of something ahead of you. In personal finance there are a number of things to watch for or avoid to be successful.

Aloysa @ My Broken Coin writes French Toast in Alaska – Vacation. Alaska. Cruise. Right. That odd feeling I got in the beginning of our cruise is not fading away. From day one I felt that we are in some odd dimension where we are forced into a small, inadequate space with mean spirits instead of people.

JP @ My Family Finances writes How to Make Your Recipes Cheaper and Healthier Too – Cutting down the average family grocery bill means making small changes to how you cook. However, those changes can mean better quality and healthier food.

L Bee @ L Bee and the Money Tree writes It’s time to set some goals. – Every person has financial goals. Any financial blogger worth their salt generally shares these goals and their progress with an audience.

Ryan @ Early Retirement Investments writes How to Add Curb Appeal to Your Home – If you’re thinking about selling or renting your home, or if you’re just having a house party next week, you don’t want your first impressions to be bad. That is why adding some curb appeal to your house is a great do-it-yourself project for any budget. If you only have a few dollars, or want to revamp the entire front of your house, there is a project for you.

SB @ One Cent at a Time writes 101 Ways to Save Environment and Energy – 101 ways to save environment around you. These 101 energy saving tips are ever important for us to follow. The tips include Gas, water, pollution and electricity saving techniques. If you follow at least a few the planet can be a better place to live.

SB @ Finance Product Reviews writes Zecco Trading Review – This is an honest review of Zecco Online brokers. Zecco is not free anymore but they have a very good trading platform which is easily lowest in the business of discount brokers. Read this review for more

Mrs. PoP @ Planting Our Pennies writes Our Diversified Real Estate Portfolio – How we turned the biggest RE bust of the past 30 years into the biggest buying opportunity of our lives – seeking a place to live, cash flow, and medium-term value appreciation.

Lina @ Baby Alerts writes 7 Easy Ways for Moms to Save Money – With the tough economic time we have been facing, the role of mother has gotten even tougher. There is less money to go around, and if anyone has ever risen a child, then you know how expensive it is. Indeed, it is a tough world out there for most mothers, and when it comes to the expenses of raising a child there are a number of ways to save money.

Steven @ Canadian Personal Finance writes What is an Olympic Medal worth to an athlete? – Did you know that some countries award their athletes for their performance at the London Olympics? I wanted to share a roundup of some countries and their financial incentives for their athletes.

Glen Craig @ Free From Broke writes USAA Free Checking Review – No Fees and Lots of Convenience – USAA Free Checking offers up fee-free checking with many other great benefits. See more about USAA’s checking and why it could be a great choice for you.

Lance @ Money Life & More writes Our Debt Pay Down Strategy – Debt is no fun. I think everyone can agree with that! Before we get into our strategy of paying our debt down I feel like you need to know what our debt consists of. My girlfriend and I have over $100,000 in debt but honestly I’d say we’re pretty lucky.