Lazy Man and Money hosted the Carnival of Personal Finance for April 28. Anybody who hosts this blog carnival is anything but lazy – Lazy Man reports it took him 16 hours to read all the submissions, choose the ones that met the criteria and set up the links to 115 blogs!

Here are some of the articles you will find:

• Harvesting Dollars presents Prepare for a Recession or Job Loss with 2 Budgets: “The second budget, aka Budget B, is my contingency budget, meaning that it is a worst-case budget. Budget “B” includes only necessities. Actual, honest, hard to accept, no eating out, necessities.” I have lived on Budget B more than once in my life. Frugal habits I developed during those times meant the money I had during more prosperous times lasted longer.
• Escape from the Cube presents Edible Estates: An Idea Whose Time Has Come: “Lawn and grass are really a waste of space if your family is having a hard time paying for food. Edible Estates is a book and a movement that encourages people to plant food in their front yards.” My husband and I have had no luck with gardens in the past. But I’ll try some herbs in planting pots this summer.
  
• Finessing My Financials presents How to benefit even more from your Flexible Spending Account: “So, I basically get the Claritin tax free (after I submit my receipts), and an extra $5 coupon for my next purchase at CVS. Sounds good to me!” Yes, I do this trick too. Sometimes the coupon value is taken off the FSA-eligible amount; sometimes not. But either way, you are getting the biggest discounts possible on your OTC meds. (Update on May 4: I’ve since found out on Hot Coupon Deals that “FSA can only be used to reimburse your actual out-of-pocket expenses.” To keep it simple, buy your OTC medications at stores that automatically calculate the FSA-eligible expenses on the receipt; and if you are using coupons or rebate checks at the transaction, then buy some non-reimbursable products too.)
• Oh My Aching Debts presents Urban Homesteading: A Frugal Choice: “It is about making it yourself rather than running out to buy it in the store. It is about not spending money on convenience but rather spending time for quality. It is a simpler yet richer lifestyle for those who find it appealing.” If this concept interests you, check out HomeLife on BlogsMonroe. Sarah is also starting a homesteading and self sufficiency group in Temperance, Mich.
• And Monroe on a Budget presents The washing machine had a heart attack: “Now, this is the risk you take when you wait until a critical appliance dies to replace it.” Oh, well, we did end up with a decent washing machine.