I’m very pleased to be hosting the 232nd edition of the Carnival of Personal Finance. This being the weekend before Thanksgiving I thought it would be prudent to provide my own survival tips for you to successfully navigate the Thanksgiving holiday. For my non Thanksgiving celebrating readers this tips apply to most any holiday season. Mostly. An online carnival is merely an opportunity for other personal finance writers to submit their articles for an overall weekly round up of articles. This carnival travels to different blogs from week to week providing a variety of exposure both to the blog host, the carnival participants and the readers. I hope you enjoy and be sure to grab the RSS Feed or sign up for free tips via email.

Let’s start with the core of the Thanksgiving meal, the turkey. Now I know there a lot of you out there that think frying a turkey in an enormous vat of scalding hot cooking oil is the best thing since the chia pet but remember this tip that could save you a trip to the emergency room and some skin grafts.

Thanksgiving Survival Tip 1: Never put a frozen turkey in hot oil! How is it that every year hundreds of Americans manage to burn down their deck, outbuilding, shed, house or mobile home? Oil, water and flame. A deadly combination. Speaking of deadly combination’s here are FiscalGeek’s picks for best of the best.

Editor’s Choice

Baker from Man Vs. Debt presents The X-Men Guide to Unlocking Your Financial Mutant Powers, How can you argue with someone who refers to Wolverine as the Dave Ramsey of the X-Men world. His skill: Passionate Debt Reduction. One word: Adamantium.

Adam from RabbitFunds presents Does your investment strategy need to be on Ritalin? To my ADHD friends don’t be offended but a great analysis of the common pitfalls that can snare so many of us. And of course the investing staple, the tortoise and the hare.

Peter from Bible Money Matters presents How Do You Plan To Manage Your Million Dollars? I’d buy you a K-Car. A nice Reliant automobile. Seriously what would you do with a Million Dollars? A fantastic post by Jason Price.

Kyle from Amateur Asset Allocator presents How Many Hours Per Week Do You Work?, This article really hit home, and exactly describes my workplace. This quote stuck out: “They call it “work ethic.” I call it inefficient mediocrity.” Very true, I work very hard to maintain a work/life balance and still have done very well in my field. Go read this one.

Money Management

Thanksgiving Survival Tip 2: Pop-Up Timers are for chumps! That little pop-up timer will only guarantee one thing. That you’ll have one of the most over cooked turkeys excepting those cooked by those ignoring survival tip #1. Do yourself a favor and print out Martha’s how to roast a turkey guide. I’ve been using this recipe going on my 9th year, and I’ve never had a bad one, it’s fantastic. You know what else is fantastic? This collection of money management tips by my fellow personal finance bloggers.

RC from Think Your Way To Wealth presents Living On One Income- Tips for Going From Two Incomes to One. Some very handy advice for downsizing to one income.

The Financial Blogger from The Financial Blogger presents Hitting 6 Figures Income at 28!, Some encouragement that you too can hit 6 figures with some tips TFB used to get there himself, congratulations!

Studenomist from Studenomics presents Black Friday Shopping Tips: Become a Sales Pro Studenomist provides some practical tips for the mayhem that is Black Friday. One he left off was to carry some form of night stick or baton, but maybe that’s just me.

J.D. Roth from Get Rich Slowly presents Slow and Steady Wins the Race, A very true tenet indeed, the tortoise wins every time!.

WellHeeled from Well-Heeled, with a Mission presents Friends and Borrowing Money A simple question about a $20 loan sparks a lively discussion.

Bob from Christian Personal Finance presents 12 Tips for surviving a financial crisis. Financial Crisis are inevitable Craig provides 12 sound tips for helping you cope with your spouse.

Big Cajun Man from Canadian Personal Finance presents Risks in Life. What does Bill Belichick coach of the Patriots have to do with Personal Finance? Risk.

Mike from Four Pillars presents It’s ok not to be saving for retirement in your 20s and 30s. A reminder from Mike that life happens and not saving for retirement all the time is not the end of the world, at least for a bit.

Zina from Tonka Beans Blog presents Top Ten Financial To Do’s Before Year’s End. Zina provides 10 solid tips for your end of the year planning. Reminded me to go check my flexible spending account balance.

Fabulously Broke from Fabulously Broke in the City presents Radical Proposal: Simulate a Job Loss. A great idea to look at what it would really take in your emergency fund to last you 6 months. Could also be a great way to save money for a time.

Finance

Thanksgiving Survival Tip 3: Actually remove those plastic bags of innards from the Turkey! The neck and other unsavory parts are packaged in a plastic bag and stuffed into the turkey’s orifices. Get those out of there before you throw it in the oven. That goes for the neck too!

Silicon Valley Blogger from The Digerati Life presents Top Online Savings Bank: Why EverBank Remains Solid. In a time littered with corporate greed, bankruptcies and government run banks Everbank is going strong. A nice review, definitely a good saving option.

Junior Boomer from Consumer Boomer presents Should You Retire Early?. Some basic reminders for preparing yourself for retirement.

Investing

Thanksgiving Survival Tip 4: Don’t buy a $5 Chinese Import Non Stick Roasting Pan! Yeah you’re trying to be frugal and though wow that’s a great deal on a turkey roasting pan what have I got to lose? How about a couple years of your life because of the teflon like flakes that have come off in your gravy. I know this one from experience, sure those black bits slide down easy, but they aren’t tasty and you’ll have some ticked off guests when you tell them you can’t actually make gravy from the turkey drippings. Invest in a decent roasting pan, and while you are investing you might want to consider some of these posts.

DR from Doughroller presents Sccusesufl Peosrnal Finnace Deos Not Riqueire Perftceion. Doughroller calls out that if you’ve got the core stuff taken care of some mistakes here and there are nothing to worry about.

Intelligent Speculator from Intelligent Speculator presents Yahoo”¦buy or sell?. Did Yahoo win or Microsoft? It’s too soon to tell, IS gives you some of his insights on the future of Yahoo’s stock.

Craig Ford from Money Help For Christians presents Sound Mind Investing Newsletter Review . An honest and comprehensive review of the Biblically based SMI investing newsletter.

Curt from PennyJobs.com presents Who Is Going to Prick The Global Asset Bubble? Curt sees a looming correction in the global markets, check out his insights all you gold bugs.

The Dividend Guy from The Dividend Guy presents Top 100 Investment Lessons I Have Learned ““ Part 2. Some real life lessons learned from the Dividend guy, that should not be overlooked. “Don’t chase performance – yesterday’s good thing can (will) be tomorrows dog.

Darwin from Darwin’s Finance presents 787 ETFs Listed ““ Every Exchange Traded Fund Known to Man, You need not look any further if you are looking for a comprehensivel list of ETF’s. Delicious worthy.

Andy from TightFistedMiser.com presents If You Need Stocks, You Can’t Afford Them. An interesting conversation regarding Zvi Bodie’s statement that you should only invest in stocks what you can afford to lose. Something to ponder.

Carrie from Carrie…On The Cheap presents Where Should I Put My Retirement Money? Roth 401K Vs. Roth IRA Vs. 401K. A Nice look at your retirement options, myself I have the opportunity to use the Roth 401K and love the idea of having my money grow tax free, ah yeah.

Andy from saving to invest presents What NOT to Do With Your 401K and IRA Retirement Plans . Just plain solid retirement saving advice, “Do NOT Avoid risk.” So true.

Mike Piper from The Oblivious Investor presents How Much Does a Financial Advisor Cost? Mike does a great job of breaking down what you could expect to pay and whom you should hire to help manage your finances.

D4L from Dividends Value presents A Winning Investment Strategy, D4L asks the question why so few people succeed at investing?

BudgetPulse from BudgetPulse Blog presents Choosing the Right 529 Savings Plan. A high level overview of the 529 College Savings plan and some things to think about before choosing one.

FT from Million Dollar Journey presents Top DRIP Stocks in Canada. For my Canadian homies this is a great read on your DRIP options, Clare lays it down.

Budgeting

Thanksgiving Survival Tip 5: No One Actually Wants Oysters in their Stuffing! Yeah I know you’ve been watching a lot of Food Network and Fine Living and you think you could serve nothing less than the latest gourmet offerings to your guest, but the thing is that oysters in stuffing sucks. I live in Seattle, I love seafood but it shouldn’t be anywhere near your turkey. If your great aunt Gertrude requests mincemeat pie just tell her that you now refuse to create any form of desert with meat of any kind. We only serve vegetarian deserts now Gertrude. She’ll understand. You can tell her your on a budget and suet is too expensive right now because of the financial crisis.

ElizabethG (Modern Gal) from Modern Gal presents When Financial Stress Reaches a Breaking Point. Some helpful tips for all of us especially with the Holidays rapidly approaching.

FFB from Free From Broke presents Tips For Shopping Black Friday And Cyber Monday. A great round-up to get you prepared for the post Thanksgiving shopapalooza.

Joe Plemon from Personal Finance By The Book presents 6 Steps on How to Prosper by Celebrating Your Marital Differences, Joe provides some very practical advice for those betrothed among us. I would add, don’t talk about yours and mine. It’s ours.

Revanche from A Gai Shan Life presents Rules of money engagement. Revanche talks about different ways to budget your spending.

Saving

Thanksgiving Survival Tip 6: Save your Uncle from Choking on the Wishbone Old crazy Uncle Carl just had to get the last bit of turkey off the carcass and now has the wishbone lodged firmly in his windpipe. Use these tips from the Red Cross:

If you encounter a conscious, choking individual that is coughing, encourage continued coughing. If the victim is unable to cough, speak, or breathe, complete the following: Send someone to call 9-1-1

Lean person forward and give 5 back blows with heel of your hand.

Give 5 quick abdominal thrusts by placing the thumbside of your fist against the middle of the victim’s abdomen, just above the navel. Grab your fist with the other hand.

Repeat until the object the person is choking on is forced out and person breathes or coughs on his or her own.

Mike from Minting Pennies presents Held Hostage in the Movies, an interesting take on Retirement savings equating your interest earning potentials as clones from Austin Powers movies.

The Smarter Wallet from The Smarter Wallet presents Start Saving Money! How Banks Pay You To Save A rundown of some of the bank sponsored savings programs for the savings averse.

J. Money from Budgets Are Sexy presents Want to keep more money? Obey the law! Don’t cheat the Government, J. Money lays it down with sage advice about Jail: “Not only does it suck but you can’t earn any money in there.” Do cigarettes count?

Ash from Breathe-Smile presents 3 Less Common Ways of Using the Internet to Save Money When Shopping How to use the internet for more efficient shopping, and as a substitute for a price book when grocery shopping.

Daniel from Sweating The Big Stuff presents Why Phone Insurance Is A Scam. Amen brother, I would add this goes the same for almost all extended warranties.

Frugality

Thanksgiving Survival Tip 7: Marshmallows are Highly Flammable Who doesn’t love the old staple of candied yams with petite marshmallows on top? They’re delicious and don’t provide one scrap of nutritional value. But be careful when you put those in the oven, get them too close to the heating element and they’ll erupt like your frozen turkey in the deep fryer.

Amanda from My Dollar Plan presents Frugal Ways to Celebrate the Holidays. Some simple but useful tips to have a happy and inexpensive holiday season.

Mike @ GLBL from Gathe Little By Little presents Homeschool Finance. Some financial things to think about as it relates to homeschooling.

Miss Thrifty from Miss Thrifty presents Broken cooker, fridge, lawnmower or washing machine? Buy a spare part. For the DIY crowd fix it yourself to save some serious money.

Sun from The Sun’s Financial Diary presents Why Throw Money Away? . That’s an excellent question for the mentally deranged I’m thinking. Spare change is annoying sure, but it’s still money.

Brian from My Next Buck presents **News Flash** ““ Alpha Male Clips Coupons ““ Has Frustrating Shopping Experience A humorous recap of Brian’s recent excursion using coupons. Seriously though Brian, hang up the phone in the line, otherwise I might be the other Alpha Male smashing it. :-).

Buck Weber from The Buck List presents Ten Best Home Improvement and DIY Sites, Buck gives you some DIY sites to check out. As you may know DIY is close to my heart, these are some great recommendations.

Len from Len Penzo dot Com presents Dear Diary: How I Fixed My Water Heater Without a Plumber and Saved $400. Len must have the most boring diary ever, but an entertaining recap of Len’s recent water heater replacement with some help.

Debt

Thanksgiving Survival Tip 8: A Turkey takes longer than a day to Thaw If you’ve bought a frozen turkey and you haven’t pulled it out of the freezer as your reading this, go do that now. Those suckers take forever to thaw in the fridge. You can help speed the process up by filling your freshly cleaned sink with cold water covering the turkey. This will greatly decrease the thawing time. Just be sure to change the water every 30 minutes. Salmonella is not your friend. The rule of thumb is that it takes 24 hours per 5 pounds in the fridge to thaw and 30 minutes per pound to thaw in the sink. You can always by a fresh one if it’s too late, just don’t go into debt to do it. Speaking of debt….

a.b. from Modern Tightwad presents Do We Teach Children Debt? A nice viewpoint on how we pass our debt burdens on to our children.

Chris Holdheide from Stumble Forward presents Adsense Earning Helping Me Get Out Of Debt A newbie guide to using Adsense for some additional income or to pay off debt. That’s how FiscalGeek rolls.

Credit

Thanksgiving Survival Tip 9: If you are going to be a guest at Thanksgiving Offer to Bring Something I don’t care who you are, if you’ve been invited somewhere to Thanksgiving dinner help out a bit. It’s a lot of work to have a traditional Thanksgiving dinner and they don’t need you standing around complaining about not having your favorite green been casserole. Just be sure it’s not something that needs to go in the oven for an hour or take up their very precious kitchen resources.

Miss M from M is for Money presents My First Travel Rewards Credit Card. Miss M talks about her first Rewards Credit Card. I’m not going to say boo, everyone’s allowed their opinion.

Ray @ Financial Highway from Financial Highway presents Best Credit Card, A nice review of some things to consider when getting a credit card, and yes Ray I’m one of those bloggers who thinks you should shred your cards.

Jeremy from Taking Charge presents In an about-face, NYC cabbies now say they love plastic.

pkamp3 from Don’t Quit Your Day Job… presents The Truly Free Credit Report, a reminder to hit annualcreditreport.com not the other scam.

Simon from Realm of Prosperity presents How I Was Able To Build Good Credit As A College Student. Simon shows some amazing restraint as a college student and provides some practical tips for building your credit even in college. I was building my fico score and my debt load at the same time and it didn’t work out so well for me, there’s probably a hundred of me for every one Simon.

Real Estate

Thanksgiving Survival Tip 10: Avoid the Turkey Chainsaw Massacre and Learn how to Carve the Bird I dont’ want to insult anyone’s skillz but there is a definite method to carving the turkey appropriately. Alton Brown provides a great step by step on How to Carve a Turkey. I don’t personally use an electric knife just make sure your knife is good and sharp.

Tom @ Canadian Finance Blog from Canadian Finance Blog presents 5 Factors That Might Burst The Housing Bubble I read the title without seeing who wrote it and thought somebody was slightly behind the times then realized it’s my Canadian friend Tom. I was very surprised to learn of the housing boom, great article. Take it from someone who is still trying to remove the goo from the burst bubble around my home maybe you should rent for a bit.

Hank from Own The Dollar presents Buying a House Is Not Automatically Better Than Renting Now, Some sound advice from Hank on renting vs. buying.

Taxes

Thanksgiving Survival Tip 11: Make Sure Stuffing is the Proper Temperature Remember your delicious stuffing is cooking inside the cavity of raw poultry. You want it to be the proper temperature so as to not kill your guests. It should be at least 165F before you serve it. Just be sure to not cram it so hard into the turkey that it never gets up to temperature. That’s why they tell you to gently stuff the bird. If you have extra just bake it seperately you can mix the two together at the end.

Susan Tiner from Brain Dead Simple! Financial Organizing presents A Tool for Comparing Roth vs Traditional IRAs, Oh how I love spreadsheets, Susan serves up a good one for you in very simple fashion as well as some links for comparing your IRA options.

Hank from Military Money Might presents Tax Tips For The End Of The Year, Some sound advice on getting ready for the end of the tax year and some steps you can take to reduce your overall tax burden.

Career

Thanksgiving Survival Tip 12: Don’t sit down First Unless you have namecards laying out where you’re sitting you want to hang back to appear polite but really you’re just trying to avoid sitting next to your brother-in-law whole drone on the whole night about his sales job.

Steve from brip blap presents too busy for vacation, and says, “Are you too busy for vacation, or simply clinging to a job?”

Jim from Bargaineering presents How to Answer the 10 Most Common Interview Questions. Jim’s advice for answering some of the more common questions you’ll encounter in your job interview.

Bret from Hope to Prosper presents Pink Slip Tuesday, A look into how you can prepare for layoffs, and what you can do to protect yourself.

Sandy from The Always Frugal Blog presents Ten Creative Ways to Earn an Extra Income, Some unique and creative ways to boost your bottom line, I like the idea of revitalizing websites.

Economy

Thanksgiving Survival Tip 13: Don’t give up all the Left Overs Yeah Billy’s a college student but you know what Billy you didn’t cook the turkey, I did. I’ll give some mince meat to take home, I’m having about 8 turkey, cranberry and stuffing sandwiches this weekend.

mbhunter from Mighty Bargain Hunter presents Has Black Friday jumped the shark?, I’m with you MBH it’s become hype to drive consumer spending don’t be fooled that this friday is the only day to get some good deals. When they realize they aren’t going to hit their numbers you’ll find some deals in December.

David R. Lampsen from Personal Finance Analyst presents Let’s Talk About the Weather”¦Bad News, Economic News & Individual Risk Assessments”¦. David longs for the days when the Economy didn’t dominate all casual conversations.

MLR from My Life ROI presents Why Government Regulations Sometimes Work, An interesting discussion regarding when regulation is actually a good thing, complete with supply and demand graph.

Dorian Wales from The Personal Financier presents Blame the Models? Take a Good Look in the Mirror, and says, “Is financial modeling to blame for the recent crisis? As always the fault does not lie with the tool but rather with the user. When was the last time you took a look at the validity of Net Present Value or Option Pricing?”

Other

Thanksgiving/Christmas Survival Tip 14: Keep the Christmas Lights Plugged In as you are Putting them Up If you’re like me you get ready for your grand ceremonial light of the Christmas Lights on or around Thanksgiving. I know you test the lights but things happen when you put them up, by having them wired ahead of time you can be sure that the red strip on your candy cane tree is operating as you put it up, plus you add a slight bit of danger to the overall process.

PT from PT Money presents The Long Road to Getting Life Insurance, A very nice walk through of the Life Insurance purchasing process, I just went through this last year myself when I realized how much rates had dropped.

Kevin from The Red Stapler Chronicles presents How to become a professional Black Friday Shopper. Some more Black Friday Shopping tips get ready for the battle.

Paul Williams from Provident Planning presents Tithing in the Bible: Jacob’s Example (Genesis 28:20-22), the concept of Tithing explored using Jacob’s Example. Part of a series that’s sure to be interesting.

Jeff Rose from Good Financial Cents presents 5 Things to Consider During Open Enrollment, A timely reminder to review your Open Enrollment options a great guest post by Miranda.

FMF from Free Money Finance presents The Cost of Money, A very interesting conversation regarding the Cost of Money and what you’d trade money for 8,000 to 10,000 a month for some collectables, dang.

Thanks for stopping by I hope you have a wonderful Holiday Season, Happy Thanksgving and Merry Christmas!