Carnival of Money Stories #98- St. Patrick’s Day Edition

Posted by MoneyThinker in featured, general | 2 comments

Welcome to the Carnival of Money Stories Edition 98 – St. Patrick’s Day Edition

I’m mostly Irish in heritage, but you couldn’t tell by looking at me. Without freckles or red hair, my appearance leans more toward my Eastern European roots than a typical Irish girl. This past week was the stereotypical Irishman (or woman)’s holiday, full of drinking, partying and general revelry.

Or was it? St. Patrick’s Feast Day in Ireland was actually a very solemn day where the Irish remember the passing of the patron saint of their country, St. Patrick. March 17^th was the day that he died. In the 1970’s, Irish Americans created the holiday that we now view as the “traditional” St. Patrick’s Day.

And with that, we begin this week’s Carnival of Money Stories – St. Patrick’s Day Edition!

The Three-Leaf Clover

One of the most well-known tales about St. Patrick is that he explained the Christian concept of the Trinity using a three-leaf clover. Before St. Patrick came to Ireland from Great Britain, the three-leaf clover was used as a pagan symbol representing rebirth and eternal life. And on the theme of threes, here are my three editor’s picks for this week.

• Jeff at Good Financial Cents talks about his failures in Failure Can Lead to Success, saying “Today I want to talk a little bit about failure. A lot of people are afraid of failure…”
• Jessica at Momvesting talks about learning about a 401k earlier than she did in What I Wish I’d Known About Finance: My 401(k), saying “In 2002, I began my banking career in earnest. I had worked as a bookkeeper for years during college and as a head cashier during high school, but I was honestly unprepared for the finance world…”
• Crystal at Budgeting in the Fun Stuff talks about the journey of buying a car that she and her husband experienced in How to Buy a Car – Our Personal Experience, saying, “This  post is about our car buying experience and the great tips on how to buy a car again in the future…”

Always Green?

Not really, actually. The original color that represented St. Patrick’s Day was blue. When the story of the three-leaf clover became more popular, green began to replace blue as the color of St. Patrick. This, there’s a shortage of clover because the last two winters were rough on Ireland, thus harming the growth of this plant. Here are some more stories to help you save or earn some green (money, not clovers).

• Shawanda at You Have More than You Think asks How Much Does Comfort Really Cost?
• Ken at Spruce Up Your Finances shares his family’s Frugal Shopping Habits to Save Money.
• Derek at Passive Family Income tells us how to Build a Nest Egg and Let it Grow.
• BWL at Christian Personal Finance talks about Christopher Columbus’s story of initial failure in Developing an Entrepreneurial Spirit: Lessons From Christopher Columbus.
• Kay at Bucksome Boomer tells us about Disputing a Credit Card Charge.
• The Investor presents Simple saving tips to help meet your investment goals</a> posted at Monevator.
• Miss Thrifty presents Why the Landlord kept a Shopping Receipt from 1978 posted at Miss Thrifty

Who was St. Patrick?

As I said above, St. Patrick actually came from Great Britain – he wasn’t even Irish! When he was 16, he was kidnapped by Irish raiders and taken to Ireland for 6 years. He then escaped and went back to Great Britain, where he converted to Catholicism. He became a bishop and travelled back to Ireland to live there the rest of his life. St. Patrick’s story is one of overcoming adversity in his life, and these last few stories talk about how overcoming or preventing adversity in your finances.

• The Financial Blogger asks “Are You a Burnout?” at The Financial Blogger.
• FMF introduces reader Bad_Brad as the first in his Reader Profile series at Free Money Finance.
• Stowe Family Law at Marilyn Stowe Family Law and Divorce Blog tells some stories about court cases involving What happens to pension sharing if a couple divorces overseas?
• Squirrelers at Squirrelers tells a story about a big mistake that a couple experienced while buying a home in Squirreling Gone Wild #23: Strategic Furniture Placement.
• VH at Funny About Money talks about money going out of their account and not really being replaced in Hemorrhaging Money.
• PT presents 1,400 Year-Old Business Fails. Will Your Business or Job Last? posted at PT Money.

Thank you to everyone who submitted and also for joining us for this week’s Carnival of Money Stories. Next week’s Carnival will be hosted by Funny About Money. The Carnival of Money Stories is always looking for more hosts; check out their site for more details!