(Welcome to this week’s Carnival of Personal Finance. After you check out the posts for this week, I invite you to check out my Back to Basics series.  I’d also love for you to subscribe to my feed or follow me on Twitter.)

Welcome to the Carnival of Personal Finance, Parts-of-Speech Abuse Edition.  What is parts-of-speech abuse, you might ask?  Well, it means taking a word with a perfectly good part of speech (as most words have) and changing it to a completely different, less well-known, possibly buzzwordy part of speech.  I’ve scattered four five examples of this kind of language jaywalking throughout the carnival submissions.

Budgeting, Career, and the Economy

• Christian Personal Finance tells how he escaped the rat race.
• Life Tuner proclaims cash king.
• Penny Jobs says that only capitalism can save us.
• The Smarter Wallet runs through some tips on how to save money on groceries.
• Parenting Family Money says that if you have a family, you should have a budget.
• The Suburban Dollar looks for the line between looking for a career and taking a job.

leverage (v.) – to use as a springboard; use as leverage.  Example: “The new project should leverage as much of our current technology as it can.”  One example of a long, bulleted list of bureaucratese developed explicitly to hide intelligent thought.

Credit, Debt, and Finance

• Len Penzo explains how to get out of paying a mandatory gratuity for bad service.
• Insureblog plugs Cartopia.
• Taking Charge recommends payment cards for keeping spending habits in check.
• Foreigner’s Finance serves up something a little different: seven countries’ credit card stats, side-by-side.
• Digerati Life talks about frequent-flyer credit cards.
• PT Money runs through Charge Cards 101.
• Simple Financial Lifestyle nicely explains the power of one.
• Personal Finance Analyst recommends doing your own mortgage acceleration.
• One Money Design shares some common traits of people who successfully got out of debt.
• Debt Free Adventure has a how-to handbook for credit card debt reduction.

awesome (n.) — an otherwise indescribable great thing; something awesome.  Examples:  Stackoverflow Careers’ invitation to “amplify your awesome” or Sheetz’ call to “wake up and taste the awesome.”  This always leaves me asking: “My awesome what?“
Frugality

• Pragmatic Environmentalism shares some tips for getting more mileage out of your laptop batteries.
• Tiny Money was taken on a trip to Bait and Switch, Inc., by the mall Santa.
• You Have More Than You Think (great title!) lists the five questions you should ask yourself before buying anything.
• Rainy Day Saver talks extreme frugality.
• Quest for Four Pillars dishes out some last-minute cheap gift ideas.
• Free From Broke really enjoys saving at the supermarket.
• Live Real, Now flogs his inner impulse shopper.
• Bible Money Matters suggests ways to give more and spend less this Christmas.
• A Gai Shan Life reminisces about the holidays.
• Money Crashers lists five last-minute Christmas gifts that don’t suck.
• Think Your Way To Wealth explains how to save money with Bing Cashback.
• Eliminate the Muda wonders what the ROI is on an iPhone.

fly (adj.) — stylishly cool; bangin’; sweet; tight. Examples in song: “Pretty Fly For A White Guy” by The Offspring; “Pretty Fly For A Rabbi” by Weird Al Yankovic; “Feelin’ So Fly” by TobyMac. (Let’s just say I’m in touch enough to know that I’m not even the slightest bit fly.  Just ask J. Money.)
Investing

• Narrow Bridge Adventures talks about using microfinance to invest in someone’s future.
• Dividends Value lists the 2010 Dividend Aristocrats.
• The Dividend Guy reviews The Investor’s Manifesto.
• Good Financial Cents warns that the 80% rule might not be enough to retire on.
• Dividend Growth Investor suggests using dividend stocks to combat inflation.

friend (v.) — to add someone to your online social network (e.g. Facebook).  Example: “Thanks for friending me.”  As it is possible to friend someone, it is also possible to unfriend someone.  Or is it defriend?  Disfriend?  Antifriend?  Who knows …

Money Management & Saving

• Fiscal Geek reviews budgeting software You Need A Budget 3.0.
• Free Family Finance makes a case for why your income isn’t your greatest wealth-building tool.
• Don’t Quit Your Day Job (another great blog title!) explains how to control your giving.
• Free Money Finance discusses the net worths of the members of the US House of Representatives.
• Science and Money gives a run-down of the financial aftermath of a car accident.
• Well-Heeled with a Mission has a super-simple net worth calculation.
• Budgets Are Sexy’s brother put on his reflection pants and swam in the lake of him.
• Gen Y Wealth suggests a savings goal for 2010.
• Get Rich Slowly states that no one cares more about your money than you do.
• Studenomics asks: “How do people get rich?”
• Bargaineering rates checking accounts and selects the best on a number of criteria.
• My Wealth Builder recommends giving saving priority over spending.
• Money Smart Life has a tip for Christmas shopping deals on name-brand goods.
• A Modern Gal discusses the confession of financial sins.
• No Debt Plan has a way to change your financial life radically in four steps.

fail (n.) — a spectacular non-success; a flamboyant failure.  The example here is pretty obvious.  Not only a parts-of-speech abuse, but lots and lots of spawned noun pairs!  A total fail in standard written English!
Taxes

• Oblivious Investor discusses tax planning in retirement.
• Darwin’s Finance has some year-end tax tips.
• Stumble Forward explains in what way the rich don’t pay taxes.

Other

• Provident Planning gives a summary of tithing in the Bible.
• M is for Money discusses holiday tipping.

That is it!  Stay tuned as Gather Little By Little carnivals next week.

(Photos: fireflythegreat, jpctalbot, happysweetmama, jaycross, Beverly & Pack)

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Carnival of Personal Finance: Parts-of-speech abuse edition.