The Money Crashers personal finance blog is holding a huge contest to kick off the new year, with over $7900 in cash and prizes being given away. The contest runs until February 3rd, when they will hold a random draw for the prizes (except for 3 $100 prizes, which they will give to the entrants who have collected the most entries to the contest.

The prizes include over $2000 in cash prizes, over 20 gift cards, 2 Amazon Kindles, 3 ipods, software, services, and a bunch of personal finance books and magazines.

You can collect entries for tweeting or blogging about the contest, following the individual prize sponsors on twitter, and other ways.

You will  need to join their contest mailing list to be eligible (so they can track your entries) , so head on over and check the contest rules out and get entered to win!

• Test Your Frugality- Book Giveaway #2-The Tightwad Gazette I & II
• Book Giveaway Number 1 and Weekend Roundup
• Ways To Educate Yourself about Personal Finance and Money
• Weekend Roundup- Summer Olympics Edition
• Book Giveaway and Upromise Bonus Reminder

Today only, Walletpop is giving away a free download copy of “Start Over, Finish Rich”, the new book by David Bach, the author of such well-known personal finance books as the “The Automatic Millionaire” and “Smart Couples Finish Rich”.

You can download a free copy from 12:01 am to 11:59 pm est today, Monday, January 4th.

From the Amazon.com page:

Start Over, Finish Rich supplies the ten crucial moves you must make in 2010 to get back on track and recapture your dreams of a richer future. Learn how to:

* Get out of debt
* Fix your credit
* Rebuild your 401k plan
* Improve your 529 Plan
* Take smart risks
* Reorganize your financial life for the high tech age
* Update your real estate plan
* Change your thinking about money
* Recommit to wealth

David Bach is donating $1 for every copy of the book he sells,  to  charity: water, a non-profit organization bringing clean, safe drinking water to Africa. So if you are interested in a hardcopy version, go ahead and buy one, and a portion of the proceeds will go to charity.

Credit Crisis Concerns? Get 20% off FICO credit scores now

• Weekend Roundup-Easter Edition
• Weekly Personal Finance Links- Free Suze Orman Book Edition
• Weekend Roundup-Dad’s Day Edition
• Funny but True: SNL- Don’t Buy Stuff You Cannot Afford
• Book Giveaway Number 1 and Weekend Roundup

In the next few weeks one lucky winner will become Lending Club’s 25,000th registered investor. To celebrate this milestone, the 25,000th registered investor will receive $2,500 cash.

In order to receive $25 free to invest at Lending Club, type in this “Referred by” code when registering: rcthinkwealth. You will get $25 free to try out Lending Club, as well as have a chance to win $2500 if you are the 25,000th investor.

The winner will be announced on the Lending Club blog after October 1^st.  For contest details visit the Lending Club Terms & Conditions page.

What is Lending Club ?

Lending Club is a Peer to Peer Lending site, also known as person to person lending or social lending. People can either lend or borrow money, without using a financial institution, such as a bank. The advantages are that a borrower can usually get a better rate than they would from a conventional loan through a financial institution, but at the same time, a lender can get much better returns that they would through normal investment channels such as a savings account. For example, Lending Club investors currently receive an average annualized return of 9.64%. The rate of return depends on the risk level (credit score of borrower, etc), as one would expect. However, borrowers must still qualify for the loans, and must have a minimum FICO score of 660, along with meeting other criteria. For more information, see Lending Club’s FAQ page.

As with any investment, there are risks, but receiving $25 free to try out investing with Lending Club seems like a no-brainer to me. In fact, I signed up for Lending Club a few weeks ago with a $25 bonus, and funded a loan with it. Unfortunately, I missed out on the chance to become the 25,000th investor, but you still have chance to win. I am going to discuss my experiences with Lending Club more in the near future.

For your $25 free to try out lending Club, use referral code: rcthinkwealth

Credit Crisis Concerns? Get 20% off FICO credit scores now

• Get an Absolutely Free Copy of Your Credit Report from All 3 Credit Bureaus at annualcreditreport.com
• May 2008 I Bond Fixed Rates Go to 0.0%, Total Rate 4.84%-What Does This Mean?
• Weekly Personal Finance Links- Will the Stimulus Actually Stimulate the Economy?
• November 2009 to May 2010 I Bond Rates- 3.36% Total, Fixed Rate 0.30%
• 7 Reasons You May Not Have Received Your Economic Stimulus Rebate Yet

Note: The 60 day pass offer has expired- Follow this link if you want to try out BJ’s with a one day pass.

If you live near a BJ’s Wholesale club and are not a member and want to try it out, BJ’s is currently giving away a free 60 day pass (see link below) to those who want to try it out.

A PR rep for BJ’s was kind enough to send me the link, and invited me to share it with my readers, so try it out if you have a BJ’s near you.

I am a big fan of Warehouse/Wholesale shopping clubs, not just for buying food and household items in bulk, but also the great prices on things like electronics, tires for your automobile, and household furnishings.

Unfortunately for me, my warehouse club shopping is limited to Sam’s Club- although I like Sam’s a lot and don’t really have any complaints, I would not mind trying out others such as BJ’s or Costco. The nearest BJ’s is probably a day’s drive away.

Info from the BJ’s website:

• Save more than 30%** off supermarket prices on favorite brands
• Multiply your savings with manufacturers’ coupons — BJ’s accepts them all
• Find more of the family-friendly sizes you use every day
• More payment options — BJ’s offers convenient ways to pay: cash, checks, major credit cards, EBT and debit cards

Free 60 Day Pass to BJ’s Wholesale Club

Note: The 60 day pass offer has expired- Follow this link if you want to try out BJ’s with a one day pass.

Credit Crisis Concerns? Get 20% off FICO credit scores now

• Tips on Saving Money When Buying Tires- and Making Your Vehicle’s Tires Last Longer
• Vending Machine Economics: The Convenience Factor
• Save Money Grocery Shopping- Try Shopping at a Salvage Grocery Stores
• Start Your Christmas Shopping Early With a Free 30 Day Trial to Amazon Prime Free Shipping
• Have You Jumped on the Coupon Bandwagon Yet?

Edit: 11/26/08-I’ve received an email that someone just tried to sign up, and apparently they have reached the 10,000 limit and the offer is now expired. Sorry if you missed it!

MSN Money in partnership with Experian and the National Foundation for Credit Counseling (NFCC) are “working to raise awareness about the importance of credit monitoring” by giving away 10,000 free one-year memberships to Experian’s Triple Advantage service. You will not need to enter a credit card number to take advantage of this offer, so you will not have to worry about them charging you after the free year is up.
From the MSN article:

Triple Advantage offers consumers daily monitoring of their credit reports at all three national credit-reporting companies and alerts them if key changes are detected. You also get unlimited access to your Experian credit reports and Experian PLUS credit score.

To sign up directly for the credit-monitoring-service giveaway, visit http://www.money-promotions.com/. You’ll be asked to enter an e-mail address only; replies to Hotmail and Live.com accounts may take several hours. If you use gmail, be sure to check your spam folder.

MSN Money also offers credit professionals available for questions you may have after reviewing your report.

To post your question for a professional credit counselor, visit the Ask A Credit Counselor message board on MSN Money.

You must be one of the 1st 10,000 to sign up in order to take advantage of this free offer. If you are interested, do it soon, as I am sure they will reach the limit quickly-probably within a day or so.

Credit Crisis Concerns? Get 20% off FICO credit scores now

• Get an Absolutely Free Copy of Your Credit Report from All 3 Credit Bureaus at annualcreditreport.com
• Get 20 Free Stock Trades When You Sign Up With Zecco
• Get $25 Free From Revolution Money Exchange
• 25 Smart Budget and Money Saving Tips for College Students
• Online High Yield Savings Accounts Update- ING and HSBC Both Lower Interest Rates

Reminder, the giveaway for a copy of both the Tightwad Gazette I & II ends this Saturday, so make sure to enter!
To enter, subscribe to my RSS feed or via email to get the secret entry phrase. Email the phrase to me at:

rc {at} thinkyourwaytowealth.com or use the contact form above.

Each email received will be one entry into the drawing.

Bonus! If you mention this contest in a post or roundup, you will receive five (5) entries into the drawing!

Also, the $10 Bonus for opening an account with Upromise ends June 30th, so if you have not signed up yet do so now and start earning money for college (or just for yourself- you can receive a check as well) right away!

Credit Crisis Concerns? Get 20% off FICO credit scores now

• Test Your Frugality- Book Giveaway #2-The Tightwad Gazette I & II
• Upromise-Bonus College Savings Throughout the Month of March
• Open an Online Checking Account from ING Direct and Get $121 Bonus – Today Only Black Friday Deal
• When Will I Get My Economic Stimulus Rebate Check from the IRS?
• Book Giveaway Number 1 and Weekend Roundup

How frugal are you? Well, you can compare your frugal techniques with that of Amy Dacyczyn if you win this book giveaway! I will be giving away gently used copies (in the spirit of frugality after all) of both the Tightwad Gazette (paperback), and the Tightwad Gazette II (hardcover) to one winner.

To enter, subscribe to my RSS feed or via email to get the secret entry phrase. Email the phrase to me at:

rc {at} thinkyourwaytowealth.com or use the contact form above.

Each email received will be one entry into the drawing.

Bonus! If you mention this contest in a post or roundup, you will receive five (5) entries into the drawing!

The contest will end Saturday, June 28th at midnight. I will take all of the entries and use a random number generator (random.org) to pick the winner. If you are the winner, I will contact you via email to get your mailing address, so you must use a valid email address. If the winner does not respond, I will keep redrawing until I find a winner. Only readers in the U.S. are eligible. I am the final judge on any disputes, etc. relating to the contest. Good Luck!

Credit Crisis Concerns? Get 20% off FICO credit scores now

• Book Giveaway and Upromise Bonus Reminder
• Book Giveaway Number 1 and Weekend Roundup
• Money Crashers New Year Giveaway Bash- Over $7900 in Cash and Prizes
• Weekend Roundup-Easter Edition
• Weekend Roundup-Independence Day Edition

In celebration of the one month anniversary of the site, Think Your Way To Wealth, I will be giving away a gently used copy (in the spirit of frugality after all)  of “Getting Things Done” by David Allen. 

 To enter, subscribe to my RSS feed to get the secret entry word.  Email the word to me at:

 rc {at} thinkyourwaytowealth.com 

 The contest will end Saturday, March 23rd at midnight.  I will take all of the entries and use a random number generator to pick the winner. If you are the winner, I will contact  you via email to get your mailing address, so you must use a valid email address. Only readers in the  U.S. are eligible. I am the final judge on any disputes, etc. relating to the contest.

Carnivals I participated in this last week:

The Quest for Four Pillars included my post “A Simple Lesson in Wealth Building from the Forbes Billionaire List”  in the Canival of Personal Finance # 143-Oh Canada Edition.

My Dollar Plan selected my post “Vending Machine Economics: The Convenience Factor” as an editor’s pick in the Money Hacks Carnival #3: What is a Hack?

Thanks to both and a great job with the carnivals.

Credit Crisis Concerns? Get 20% off FICO credit scores now

• Test Your Frugality- Book Giveaway #2-The Tightwad Gazette I & II
• Weekend Roundup-Easter Edition
• Weekend Roundup-Slightly Under the Weather Edition
• Money Crashers New Year Giveaway Bash- Over $7900 in Cash and Prizes
• Weekend Roundup-Independence Day Edition