FaveFreewareSiteOfTheDay

...Has got to be TechSupportAlert's The 46 Best-ever Freeware Utilities. It's enough to make your mouth water! I happened onto it looking for the Last Free Version of XYplorer, a Windows Explorer replacement. Who knows what else a person might find here?!

Check it out, and comment or digg!

Personal Finance Software a la Envelope

Mauder's Money Matters posted A Quick Update on Envelope Budgeting Software a few months ago, comparing two "envelope style budgeting" programs. I found this highly interesting, because envelope-style personal financial software seems to be a rare enough species. I'm currently using--or trying to use--Mvelopes, and my experience has been very similar to what Mr. Mauder describes.

Getting Finances Done has a number of useful posts about budgeting, including How to Create a Zero-based Budget. The links and comments got me started on a long evening's research of (free) personal finance software. Zenhabits' 6 Great Free Alternatives to Quicken & MS Money offers six (!) alternatives, which are multiplied like rabbits in the comments. The paid alternatives mentioned: You Need a Budget, Mvelopes, and myspendingplan.com.

YNAB, the other envelope-style software mentioned by Mr. Mauder, is not free, but it costs a fraction of an Mvelopes subscription of any duration worth mentioning.

I'm on the hunt for alternatives to Mvelopes. YNAB might be worth looking into.

Comments? Suggestions? Have you used Mvelopes or YNAB?

Need a Mint?

Mint acquired Mint.com...and is throwing a party! Leave a comment at the party and get yourself twenty pounds of mints!

Cool, very cool.

Giveaway of the Day

The Giveaway of the Day site does just that...gives away free downloads of otherwise non-freeware. The free download time is limited to the day the software is offered--so subscribe to the feed or otherwise remind yourself to "check back". The offerings are varied!

Productivity Article of the Day

Here's a nice checklist of "things you already know" (or maybe really didn't) for upping your productivity in a day. Check out 9 Effective Ways to Get 200% More Work Done. [Do note, for your Grammar, that "9" should be spelled out :-). I reckon the author can be pardoned if he really gets 200% more done in a day!]
How about an article entitled Double Your Reading Rate? Oldie ideas but goodies. Anyone out there have favorite speed-reading strategies?

ING Direct Electric Orange 4% Checking

The Simple Dollar has a nice article on the author's experience with ING's Electric Orange checking account (entirely online, 4% interest, overdraft line of credit). Trent, the author, outlines the pro's and con's quite nicely. Couldn't have done better myself :-). The comments are very informative as well. Check it out! (no pun intended!)