Jesse Michelsen
As the Principal of the Festival Of Frugality School, I’ve elected to award one participant the Festival of Frugality Valedictorian Award.
As the Valedictorian, this student of finance and life has been well-liked by his fellow students and always brings his positive attitude with him wherever he goes. He brings out the good in others and shines as an example of what other students should aspire to be like. In one particular instance, titled Squirreling Gone Wild #22: Drive-Thru Discount, Ray of the Squirrelers class exhibited grace and charity after his resourcefulness led him to a tiny financial discount along his day to day path.
The verdict is in. I have found myself guilty of not taking the value of my time seriously enough. When I was younger, I played video games and sat around not doing much. I called that using my “free time.” Really, there’s no such thing as free time. Time is the most valuable commodity because you can’t get it back, and you can’t make more. When it’s gone, it’s gone. It’s why learning 
I struggle with Valentine’s Day. That doesn’t mean I love my wife any less than the guy who goes all out; it’s just that my wife isn’t all that romantic and I’m not all that creative. She doesn’t like foot rubs, manicures, facials, or any of the girly stuff that many guys give as gifts. She has a major sweet tooth, but chocolate and candy get old fast. It’s really hard to find a unique idea that she will love—and that neither of us will regret because it cost too much. 
You heard it folks, Apple broke off its exclusivity with AT&T and released the 
Every once in a while, everyone wants to make a major life improvement. That longing for change can be created by many things: bad health, bad relationships, bad jobs, or bad money habits. I use the term “bad” loosely, because even mildly bothersome aspects of life can drive people to seek big changes, especially in finance.
Work is not the greatest of things that we have to do in life. Most people in my experience don’t like their job. I’ve heard that in order to be happy in your job, you must like two of three things: the people you work with, the work itself, or the pay. Pick two and you’ll be happy.
Sometimes in life, we find ourselves in positions that may feel awkward and undesirable but is often necessary. For example, I’m sure that with the foreclosure rate in the US steadily climbing, many people are finding themselves in these very situations. They’ll need to do something about it even if it means swallowing their pride and moving back into their parents’ house. 
I find one thing that is often forgotten in the hype of the New Year is the end-of-year review. In order for you to progress in the next year and head in the right direction, it’s very important to study where you were a year ago, what you did and didn’t do well, and what things you should focus on in the next year.
As the weight of the new year sets in we start to realize some of our goals that have been set aren’t as important as they seemed in the buzz of the New Year’s party. We then shift our energy to things that are important like increasing our productivity, improving time management skill or simply making more money to better help us get out of debt. 
The new year is such a great feeling when you can review the past but focus more on the future and things to come; it’s a time for planning, dreaming but most of all, starting over. All your previous years goals can be reworked or simply removed from your plate and you can go on to create new goals and new plans for the next year. 
As the dust clears after Christmas, you don’t have too much time to breath before the next big year-end event, the New Year! I love the new year, it’s a time when we get to look back at what we have accomplished during the past year and look at what we can do better in the next year. Even if you don’t accomplish the goals you set out to during the new year celebration, it’s a fresh start for everyone. 
It’s less than one week from Christmas and the anticipation is mounting; we are getting all the last-minute preparations in order, planning out the meal, and continually fending off the kids’ final efforts to figure out what will be waiting for them under the tree on Christmas day. But when all is said and done, gifts are opened, and food is eaten, life goes on after Christmas.
Thanksgiving may be the holiday that revolves around dinner, but I get more interested in Christmas dinner myself. Maybe it’s because there isn’t an obligation towards the turkey and we can have more variety with Christmas, or because all the gift opening makes me really hungry.
It’s coming! Yes, Christmas, but more importantly, the end of the year, which is quickly followed by tax season! Hopefully, you are all on top of things and will get your tax documents wrapped up and processed early, but realistically, many of us will finish up somewhere around March or even the night before it’s due.
It’s funny how this time of year, even the most frugal of us can lose our heads. Maybe it’s the smells in the air like cinnamon or cocoa, or the enormous amount of sweets and eggnog we consume, but there is something about the holidays that can make almost anyone go nuts, and I’m not talking about chestnuts!