Welcome to the second TotallyMoney Top Blog Awards! Every month we delve into stats from our Top Finance Blogs List to unearth the best blogging talent. This month’s blog awards coincide with the launch of our brand new graphs and features for members of the TotallyMoney Top Finance Blogs List. Bloggers featured in the list can now see how your TM Score, Social Score, Blog Score, Site Score, Traffic Score and Alexa Rank are faring over time, compare your performance against specific blogs and identify exactly where your blog is excelling and what’s holding it back.

If …

Now that it really is getting cold outside, the kind of dinner you fancy becomes hearty, warming comfort food. You might think this sort of meal isn’t very healthy, or even that it will take you ages to make, but I want to dispel those myths.

I’m going to tell you how to make a simple and healthy bolognese – type sauce that can be used to make three different delicious winter warmers you can whip up in no time; cottage pie, chilli con carne, and of course – …

Rising food prices have recently prompted many people to start growing their own fruit, vegetables and herbs.

If you’re hoping for a bumper crop on a budget in the next few months, try these easy tips to help get your kitchen garden ready.

 
1. Prepare the soil
Productive plants need well-fed soil. The cheapest thing to do to ensure success next year is to give the soil a good dig this autumn and add home made compost or leaf mould. The worms will then do the rest of the hard work for you. Once …

A couple of weeks ago whilst aimlessly browsing the internet I stumbled across a headline that I just had to click through to: She’s a ‘multibazillionaire’, but Madonna’s brother is homeless and penniless. If you could resist that you’re a better person than I.

The story was a useless piece of fluff – read here if you have absolutely nothing else to do – that outlined the fact that Madonna’s brother is supposedly penniless and living on the streets while she is… Madonna – you know, not too hard up.

Whatever …

This week at TotallyMoney we’ve been reminiscing about our worst financial horror stories. From hellish housemates to mail scams to financial fears, we’ve all got our own ghoulish money mishap. Here’s mine…

A friend was going to a wedding and, stuck for something to wear, asked if I had anything she could borrow. I dutifully plucked my best clothes from my wardrobe, including an Alexander McQueen pencil skirt and a Vivienne Westwood dress (this was during my pre-baby designer days.) Lacking a proper bag, I shoved them into …

Dust off your skeleton costumes and stock up on the sweets, because yes it is Halloween weekend. In honour of the witching hour, we’ve been taking a look at some of our greatest financial fears this week from hellish housemates to mail scams to identity theft. As I plaster on the face paint, let’s take a look at some other ghoulish highlights from this week…

First to the carnivals. Beating Broke were lovely enough to feature us in this week’s Carnival of Personal Finance. Moneycrashers opened their …

Ghosts, ghouls and… gaping holes in your savings? Oh, it’s a frightening time of year. This Halloween there’s more to be scared of than Jack O’Lanterns and witches. With winter fast approaching there are fears over fuel poverty and being able to afford Christmas, and the economic downturn has plenty of us terrified about redundancy too.

But Halloween is a time to be brave and face up to your fears, so here we go.
Redundancy
With the economy as it is, it’s perfectly normal to be worried about job security. No-one really feels safe at the moment and because being made redundant often has …

It’s taken Brits a long time to embrace Halloween in the same way that America has. We don’t yet have the parades, parties and themed magazines you’ll find Stateside, but the Halloween aisles of the supermarket are growing each year as more people make the effort to get involved. And yay to that, we say – Halloween is fun. Here are some affordable ways to celebrate it with your kids:

 
Play traditional games, such as apple bobbing
This one couldn’t be easier to organise. Simply fill a bucket or basin with water …

Earlier this week, I had a letter that scared the life out of me. A bill. For £479.95. From the Government’s Intellectual Property Office regarding my recent trademark application. Or so I first thought (I hadn’t had any tea, that’s the best time catch me unawares.) The letter wasn’t from the Government at all. It was from something called the European Institute for Economy and Commerce. And from what I can tell, they’ve used my trademark information to try and get me to send them a cheque for not …

The TotallyMoney Blog Carnival went live on Monday at Curb Your Consumerism!  We hope to see you again next week!
Editors’ Picks this week:
Living In Financial Excellence presents Debt is Debt. Except When it Isn’t?.

Insurance Quotes Blog presents 9 Personal Finance Posts Every Couple Should Read.

The Wealthy Canadian presents 10 Investment Tips That Can Advance Your Objectives.

Family Money Values presents Use Halloween To Teach Your Child About Finance.

Boomer & Echo presents Does Your Job Define You?.

Thanks again and remember to submit your post for next week, which may be picked by Modern Tightwad!