Rainbow Credit Cards, Average Cost of Groceries, Surprising Debt Load

Well, we’ve reached a milestone. This is my first attempt at a roundup post over here, so I’m actually just a wee bit excited about it. So what did I get a chance to read recently?

Well, I really enjoyed the Carnival of Personal Finance which was hosted at Man vs Debt. I found a few things that captured my attention:

Tough Money Love defends vulture consumers, who are those who are able to benefit during tough economic times and situations (seemingly at the expense of those in dire financial straits). I agree with Mr. Tough Money’s assessment here that if you’re ever called a “vulture consumer”, then you should take the term as a badge of honor, rather than as anything offensive. When it comes to finance, shouldn’t we think of it as “just business”?

The Personal Finance Analyst talks about the average cost of groceries per person. That’s something I’ve always wondered myself. Do the USDA figures look like they make sense? They say that the average cost for food spending is about $112.25 per month per person (but the more people in a household, the lower this figure becomes).

Take Charge treats us to something neat — who knew that credit cards could be turned into art? Check out this huge rainbow made of credit cards on exhibition in the Netherlands! Cool photos .

Funny About Money discusses the results of a poll about people being in debt. The survey reveals that 19% of adults under 50 owe more than their monthly income. Wow, that’s huge — we’re talking 20% of people carrying a good sized debt load! Other age groups don’t fare much better, with 14% of debtors 50 and older being in this situation as well.

For today, this is all we’ve got time for. But we’ll be doing roundups as a regular way to keep up with the blogosphere.

For more things to read in the world of finance, you can also check out the Festival of Frugality, which we had the pleasure of participating in as well.