Financial Carnival for Young Adults ' 23rd Edition

Welcome to the twenty-third edition of the Financial Carnival for Young Adults. My purpose with this carnival is to create an easy-to-find place for information about finances for young adults. The carnival is hosted here at 20's Finances almost week and features the most recent articles from around the web. While last week we talked about investing, this week the topics include Real Estate, Frugality, and Self-Employment.

Real Estate:

I love talking and planning for my entry into real estate. I am starting to think about investing in a different market than my own in order to expedite my investments. Here are some other people writing about real estate.

Shawanda @ You Have More Than You Think writes The Rent vs. Buy Debate: Why Renting Makes Sense - Is it better to buy vs rent? Buying your home may give you the warm and fuzzies. But before you take on the expensive cost of home ownership, run the numbers.

Earth and Money @ Earth and Money writes Seven Reasons for Renting over Buying - There's a lot of reasons to buy property, but sometimes its better to rent. Here's seven reasons why renting is better than buying.

PPlaner @ Provident Plan writes Shop Around for Your Property, Not Your Bank - Looking for a home? If so, then you know shopping around for both your mortgage and your new home can save you thousands of dollars.

Corey @ Steadfast Finances writes Should You Build Your Own Home? - Owning a home is the dream of most middle-class families. Not only does it offer the ability to be in control of your own housing environment (as opposed to renting), but it offers long term financial security. Yet, it's not always attainable. As we have mentioned before, buying a house can be difficult with the recent economy.

MR @ Money Reasons writes Earning 25 Percent On My Previous Mortgage Payment - Earning 25 Percent On My Previous Mortgage Payment by overlapping some awesome money instruments.

Jen @ Master the Art of Saving writes We're Buying Our First House! - Around a month ago, my husband came to me and said that we really need to buy a house right away. Scary! I'm the one who handles the budget and all the money'

Jason @ Work Save Live writes Saving a Down Payment For a House - Our Journey June 2012 ' Saving a Down Payment for a House The end of May and throughout the month of June presented a lot of great changes for us.

Frugality:

Because my wife and I are preparing to pay for her semester of Grad School, we have been really tight with big expenses. Sure, we will spend a few dollars here and there in order to enjoy the summer, but we haven't used any significant amount this month. This makes me feel better about forking over a ton of money on her education.

David Carlson @ Young Adult Money writes How I Saved over $700 on a CT Scan ' I explain how I saved over $700 on a CT scan that originally was going to cost over $1,000.

Crystal @ Budgeting in the Fun Stuff writes Life is Too Short to Spend Time Ironing Sheets - Here is the list of things that I refuse to waste time on since they do not give me enough satisfaction to justify the time spent. Life is too short.

A Blinkin @ Funancials writes Your Obsession With FREE - Are you drawn to things that are BOGO (buy one get one free)? I'm guessing you are. We all are. The sound of FREE is music to our ears. Why? Because it's not only free, it's RISK FREE. The majority of us are such sissies that we would rather 'not lose' than 'win.&

Miss T. @ Prairie Eco Thrifter writes Maybe I Should Save Money and Blog Less - While I'm rationalizing an opportunity cost to settle my conscience about hiring a mechanic, what I'm really justifying is spending $60 for two hours of leisure time.

Self-Employment:

Miss T. is asking the popular question of whether it is better to spend less with a DIY project, or invest more time in your business. Being self-employed can be quite a challenge and involves a lot of time investment. Here are some great posts that discuss self-employment.

PITR @ Passive Income To Retire writes Why Blogging is a Respectable Business ' Find out why blogging is a respectable business model and why it aligns with the future of online usage.

John @ Married (with Debt) writes Does America Need Small Businesses to Fail? - Does the American economy need small businesses to fail? And from this question: does the economy depend on having both losers and winners?

Invest It Wisely @ Invest It Wisely writes How Hard is It to Become a Freelancer? - Do you find that the world is becoming a little bit more entrepreneurial, these days? Read my experiences and see if you agree!

Little House @ Little House in the Valley writes Is Self-Employment the Answer in a Troubled Economy? ' In cities where employment has stagnated, is there a chance where a significant percentage of the population who has struggled with unemployment could turn their finances around by becoming self-employed? Or, maybe it's really 'freelance' that I'm thinking?