I’m a huge Yankees fan, so this has been an extremely exciting October for me, and every day is filled with anticipation and constant evaluation of the team and the series. Now, we’ve gotten to the World Series, and it’s the same but much more intense. Wednesday’s loss was tough, but I’m hoping Thursday night will be a little better and we’ll be able to get back (Is down 1-0 not in?) the series. Anyway, here are the articles I enjoyed most this week.

Mike Piper guest posts at MoneyNing writes about the positives and negatives of Paying Off Your Mortgage Early. There was a nice discussion in the comments about deductible interest and pre- vs. post-tax investments.

Kevin from 20smoney.com guest posts at Moolanomy and presents Five Things To Focus On In Your 20s. I started reading his blog and have really enjoyed it so far, so look for some of their articles here in the weeks to come.

Get Rich Slowly writes that Small Amounts Matter. While the title may seem in contrast to my beliefs, J.D. makes a strong point at the end: “Don’t confuse frugality with depriving yourself.”

Neal of WealthPilgrim guest posts at Frugal Dad about Wedding Ring Debt. He provides point suggesions for young people on how to save, invest, and think hard about your decisions.

Go Yankees.

There are a lot of personal finance posts that give us encouragement to quit the 9-5 job and start a business, but for most people, this is unrealistic, at least in the short term. Starting a side business is possible, but it takes time, so while that is happening on evenings and weekends, what can we do to solve the problem of being unmotivated by our jobs?

Here are three simple solutions that can help us through the day:

1. Get Away
Sitting in your cube having lunch can be depressing, and staying in your seat for 8 hours straight only makes the problem worse. Take a walk, or even better, find a spot where you can truly get away from work. I found a nice little park near my work, where I sit, listen to music, and eat my lunch in peace. There are no distractions, and I completely forget about work for at least a few minutes every day. Instead of a long 8-9 hour day, that break makes the day feel like two short, 4-hour days.

2. Have Fun During Breaks
If you can’t stand the thought of doing any more work, do something you enjoy during your breaks. Bring a book to work or find a few blogs you enjoy and spend a few minutes reading something you care about. It will motivate you and get you excited, and this will carry over to your work when you go back.

3. Multi-Task
If you think that working on your side project is only for nights and weekends, you’re wrong. Always have it in the back of your mind and take notes so you’ll remember them later. There’s nothing more frustrating than having a great idea but forgetting it by the time you get home! Plus, having a great idea will pump you up and help you get through those next few hours.
You’re not ready to quit your job, but using these steps, you can still improve your life right now and help the day go by just a little bit faster.

We often see various cash back offers from credit cards, and there are many offers that save us a small amount of money in return for giving a company business. The latest has a charitable component, as well, but let’s take a closer look.

CVS will attempt to reduce plastic bag waste by using a new “GreenBagTag” initiative, which will pay shoppers a dollar (in ExtraCare Bucks) every four uses. The tag leaf-shaped scannable card costs 99 cents, but pays for itself in four uses.

It sounds good, and for people who shop at CVS regularly will surely benefit from a discount when they were already planning on buying goods, but what about people like me, who occasionally buy milk at CVS and other supplies occasionally. But will this new program encourage me to shop at CVS more often? If I know that a candybar will now cost 50 cents instead of 75 cents, I’m much more encouraged to treat myself (I actually don’t eat candy very often, so this example won’t tempt me, but what about a pack of sugar-free gum?).

If we are dilligent and don’t spend our spending habits, then a few extra cents is worth it, but are we actually able to control our spending and limit ourselves or do we overspend just because we get an extra quarter from each visit?

So, do you think cash back incentives help us save money or do they encourage us to spend more?