I have other blogs I’ve managed for years and yet I’ve never once participated in a blog carnival. Well, there’s a first for everything and I submitted my recent post, Stay-At-Home Dad: Reality Check(list), to the 126th Carnival of Personal Finance which is being hosted at Million Dollar Journey.

The other blogs I’m involved in have nothing to do with money or personal finance and the blog carnivals I’ve seen before were not run very well. But since I started Money Clipped and began reading a lot of personal finance related blogs, I’ve discovered a number of very well run blog carnivals including the Carnival of Personal Finance. I’ve discovered so much great information and so many great sites through these carnivals, it inspired me to participate and I hope I can make some worthy contributions.

I figure while I’m talking about the Carnival I’d go ahead and mention some of the contributions I liked the most this go round:

Cheerleaders versus Analysts in Real Estate- When it comes to a real estate professional, do you want someone who’ll make you feel good or someone who’ll tell you the cold hard truth? If you’re getting ready to step into the real estate arena, you really ought to read this one!

Are You Maximizing Your Credit Card Rewards Program?- I’ve just committed myself to maximizing my rewards card and so for me, this post by MyTwoDollars was very timely.

Why Isn’t There Universal Personal Financial Education?- Personal finance education is kind of a pet crusade of mine. I’ve paid a heavy price for the personal finance ignorance of my youth. I believe the more everyone knows about personal finance, the better off we’ll all be.

How much will you actually need??- If you’re considering persuing your Masters (like I am), After-Grad.com looks at the expenses you’re likely to incur. I particularly like the fact the numbers aren’t based on an ivy league school but a Mid-West state university. So often pieces I see on college expenses are based on either ivy league schools or schools in states with high costs of living. The fact that there is a whole lot of America between California and the Eastern seaboard seems to be frequently overlooked.