If you’re looking for some interesting, budget-friendly reading, here’s two blog carnivals worth reading.

This week’s Festival of Frugality at The Tao of Making Money features some great articles. These are my favourites:

• How to buy fresh fruit and veg — tips from a botanist for picking the best fresh produce at the grocery store.
• How I Decorated My Sonís Room for Under $60
• How To Save Money On Shipping When Shopping Online
• Vacation on a Budget
• Cutting Grocery Costs (without clipping coupons)

There’s also…

A reader, Michelle wrote to ask how to save money on flowers.

While her question relates to her wedding, knowing how to find flowers cheaply is also great for keeping your house filled with fresh flowers, without over-spending.

Here are my tips for saving money on flowers.

If you’d like to add some of your own tips as well, please do!

A question:

Do you save things for ‘best’? Or wear everything now?

As a child, I was taught that some garments were only for ‘best’… but as an adult, the only clothes I own that I don’t wear regularly are formal dresses.

I’d love to hear your thoughts on whether nice clothes should be saved for special occasions.

In almost every issue, fashion magazines run ‘must have‘ lists.

While I love a lot of things about fash mags, the ‘must have’ list is certainly not one of them — I absolutely detest them.

Here’s why.

Mr Bargain Queen and I will be at the Sydney Blogger Meetup this Thursday, and we’d like to personally invite any Sydney readers (or fellow bloggers) who’d like to attend.

It’s your chance to meet some really interesting people — not only us, but many of Australia’s top bloggers will also be there, including:

• Tim Lambert from Deltoid (#35 on the list)
• maybe “Augustus Gloop” from Grab Your Fork (#40)
• William Pramana from William’s Computer Blog (#47) and
• Paull Young from Young PR (#80)

Plus, some very…

There are two secrets to having a great wardrobe, and neither of them involve buying huge piles of new clothing.

The first secret: clear out things you no longer need.

The second secret: make the most of the things you have.

College Fashion has a great article on How to Manage Your Wardrobe, which shows you exactly how to make the most of the things you already have.

Their tips:

1. Spend time coming up with new looks
2. Get a second opinion
3. Take photos…

Sometimes, readers ask me questions that I just can’t answer — the latest being how to save money on maternity wear. I’m yet to have kids myself so I really don’t know… so I turned to an expert.

Chrissie writes Fashion on a Shoestring, has adorable children, lives on a normal person’s budget (AFAIK… I’ve never really grilled her on the details), and looks fantastic. Quite an achievement!

Here are her tips for looking glamorous when you’re…

You might’ve noticed that The Bargain Queen is lacking a little of her usual vim and vigour.

There’s a very good reason for this. We have new neighbours, and they’re the noisiest people I’ve ever met.

Looking for some interesting reading?

In the last couple of days, two new listings of the top blogs in Australia have been published.

The first is on Craig Harper’s blog (in the right-hand column, about three screen lengths down) and ranks everyone by their Technorati rank.

The second top 100 Australian blogs list, at BlogPond, ranks the top Australian blogs by the size of their Australian audience (according to Alexa).

Interesting, The Bargain Queen is in the top 30 in both…

Cathy asked:

Can we maybe have a wedding special. You know, where to get cheap dresses, suits, catering etc…

I’d like to throw it open to you, dear readers.

Did you get married on a tight budget?

Have you been to a fantastic bargain-priced wedding?

If so, please share your favourite cheap wedding ideas!

(PS: Want more wedding info? Read about My big fat budget wedding, Why expensive weddings are crazy and Tips for saving money on your wedding.)

…