Over the weekend, I wrote a post on how to get a free iPhone that caused a bit of … consternation with a few regular readers because the post included a number of money-saving ideas that I’d written about before. The purpose of the post was actually many-fold, but the biggest one comes back to the central reason for The Simple Dollar. The big reason I write The Simple Dollar is to change lives – and often that means finding creative ways to reach people. I usually try to write one or two posts a week that have great potential to get the attention of someone who may be digging themselves into debt but haven’t reached rock bottom yet. They’re not out there searching the internet for debt solutions, but perhaps looking for sexy consumer goods like the iPhone. I wrote that post for them – people out there who might have never even thought to look at financially sound methods for paying for such an item. If I occasionally sound a bit repetitive, it’s because every once in a while I am – and it’s worth it to me to vaguely annoy one regular reader (who is already financially savvy) once in a while if I can maybe change the thinking and spending habits of another person.

My Car Gets 15 Miles Per Chicken Great title, interesting article (even if it’s not heavily personal finance related). I personally think that the best intermediate-term energy source for vehicles is hydrogen, probably in the form of water, but why not chickens in the short term? (@ consumerism commentary)

Hooked On Credit! Five Ways The Credit Card Companies Get Our Kids To Sign Up I’ve thought that a World of Warcraft card would be utterly genius – I’m betting the only reason it hasn’t happened yet is the potential for lawsuits by angry parents. (@ the digerati life)

Bottled Water: Healthy Indulgence or Marketing Ploy? Nina says marketing ploy. I agree. I used to drink water drawn from a well as a kid and I think it was the best thing I drank in my entire life. Even though there was a faint sulfur smell, it was wonderful. (@ queercents)

The Simple Dollar Retro: Personal Productivity and Personal Finance: Ten Techniques I Use To Juggle This Blog, My Money, My Work, and My Life I have been pushing these techniques almost to the brink over the last month, with moving, working a full time job, being a parent and a husband, maintaining the level of content on this blog, and still having a minute or two to read for fun and occasionally play a game on my Wii. Those ten techniques pretty much sum up how I do it.