Here are some of my favorite personal finance articles from the past week. I read each of these blogs often and you can find links to these and other good blogs on the left column of my site - under the heading “Blogroll.” I hope you enjoy them!

Nickel at FiveCentNickel - Two Years of FiveCentNickel and a Big, Huge Giveaway. Nickel is celebrating the 2 year anniversary of his blog. During that time span, he has published almost 1,000 articles, and received almost 6,000 comments. To celebrate, anyone leaving a comment on this post will be automatically entered in a drawing to receive:

• iPod nano (2 GB)
• iPod shffle (1 GB)
• USB Microdrive (5 GB)
• Encyclopedia of Financial Planning
• Time is Money
• and…. A box of bricks!

Nickel will not inform the winners of their prize until after he receives their address. So if you win the bricks, you are pretty much stuck with them! Go visit Nickel’s site and leave a comment!

Trent at The Simple Dollar - 101 Goals in 1001 Days. Trent sets out to accomplish 101 goals in a relatively short time span. Some of these are very aggressive, and some of them are long term and require a lot of work to accomplish (learning to speak French and Italian). Almost all of Trent’s goals focus around family, church, self improvement, and finding unique ways to experience and appreciate life. It’s a worthy set of goals!

JLP at All Financial Matters - Your Best Advice for College Graduates. JLP offers his best advice, which is to prioritize your finances. JLP invited his readers to leave their one piece of advice in his comments section, or to have bloggers write their own post giving their advice on the topic, which he would then link to his original article. JLP was kind enough to link to my post - Best Advice for Graduates.

Shane at A Penny Saved - Upside Down Tomatoes Revisited. Upside down tomatoes! How are they related to finance?!? Well, growing your own fruits and vegetables is an economical and fun way of putting food on your table. Shane offers advice on how to grow tomatoes upside down (from a hanging basket), that yields a more bountiful harvest. It’s sure to get some interesting looks and comments as well!

KMull at Personal Finance by KMull - Keep the Change Programs. KMull writes about ‘keep the change programs’ and whether or not they are actually worth the time and effort. He uses programs from Bank of America and AMEX’s One Card as examples. There is a lot of research there, and it is worth checking out. Are the programs worth it? Read the article.

FMF at Free Money Finance - Don’t Choose the Job with the Highest Salary — Here’s a List of Other Factors to Consider. FMF throws out 3 hypothetical job situations; each position has a differing salary, commute time, benefits package, growth opportunity, level of security, saitisfaction level, and other important factors. It’s worth reading to ask yourself what is really important to you.

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