This evening my wife and I got to talking about the term “baker’s dozen.” I can’t recall what got us onto the subject, but it prompted me to look up the origin of the term. According to Wikipedia:

The expression found its genesis in 13th-century England, when an Assize of Bread and Ale was introduced… Bakers who were found to have shortchanged customers could be liable to severe punishment. To guard against the punishment of losing a hand to an axe, a baker would give 13 for the price of 12, to be certain of not being known as a cheat.

Interesting. And do you know what else is interesting? The articles in the following list, which are drawn from a baker’s dozen of sites.

NCN described his concept of the debt deluge. It’s similar to my alternative to Dave Ramsey’s debt snowball.

Jeremy talked about why the recession will be good for our country.

MBH put together an argument in favor of frugality. Of course, if a frugal lifestyle isn’t enough to make ends meet, then you should think about how to earn extra money.

While we’re on the topic, Lynnae provided a definition of frugality. And guess what? She’s right — cheap is not necessarily frugal.

Kay (who just published a new book) noted that state tax refunds are likely to be delayed due to the budget crisis in California.

JD shared some lessons in wealth that he learned from a recently deceased friend.

Lazy Man talked about GradeFund, which puts a new spin on paying your kids for good grades.

Looking for a safe place to stash some cash? If so, Jim just updated his list of the best money market account rates.

David reminded the unemployed that yes, you do have to file taxes.

Madison talked about how long we have to keep various financial/legal documents.

Ben talked about five of his shortcomings and how he’s working to overcome them.

Ron listed ten ways that college made him poor and ten more ways that it made him rich.

Finally, the Tip’d blog listed a bunch of free tools for managing your money online.