As owner of some of the most successful blogs in the history of the Internet -- I Can Has Cheezburger, Fail Blog and Engrish Funny among them -- it might be expected that Ben Huh spends lavishly. But Huh recognizes the importance of frugal living; it allowed him and his wife to save enough money to quit their day jobs and take the plunge to become Internet startup moguls.

Huh talked to the crowds at BlogWorld Expo '09 about community, user-generated content and why it is that people love the LOLcat, but on the other hand, he talked to WalletPop about what you have to do to save enough money in order to be able to follow your dream and not be beholden to The Man.

It may be time to have a re-think! About what? About 30-year fixed rate mortgages.

I know, this is practically sacrosanct territory in this country and questioning it is like questioning, well, God or country.

But there are those who are, in fact, raising some questions about the wisdom of this American institution -- most countries offer only adjustable rate mortgages.

For one thing, the typical American picks up and moves every 5 to 10 years, says the Wall Street Journal (subscription required). That makes a 30-year fixed rate mortgage sort of silly on the face of it.

It's not law yet, but it's come a long way. On Friday, Dec. 11, the House of Representatives passed the Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act of 2009, which includes a provision for creating a new agency aimed at protecting ordinary Americans from predatory lending practices. The new Consumer Financial Protection Agency would regulate credit cards, payday lenders, and home, auto and student loans and their underwriters. The Senate will create its own version of this bill, and a final draft would probably be signed into law by next year.

The bill is not without its detractors. Not one Republican lawmaker voting on the bill elected to approve the Act, and the banking industry has been vocal in its disapproval of what it depicts as a power grab by the government that interferes with its business model.

Now that the party season is at hand, and you may be planning to host a big shindig, think about protecting yourself or your company from a huge liability bill by getting event liability insurance.

Accidents can happen at parties, especially if booze is being served, and you could get stuck with the bill if one of your guests causes damage.

With weddings and bar/bat mitzvah parties costing $20,000 and more, you can also protect deposits and get them back as long as the reason for cancellation is one of the allowable excuses in the policy. Yes, some policies even allow "cold feet" as an excuse.

Considering that you can get as much as $2 million in insurance for as little as $450, it's worth the cost to protect against a much larger liability.

Someone recently sent WalletPop a press release detailing what claimed to be one of those "eliminate your debt" strategies.

This one hinges on something called a "mortgage checking account." It's similar to a mortgage elimination scheme that proliferated in Australia a few years back and hopped onto our shores under a different name.

In this 2007 article, the Boston Globe explored what was then being called a "line-of-credit" mortgage and concluded that the scheme was more about marketing than merit.

The plan pitched to us by a company called MoneyDesktop purports to let you pay off your mortgage via a home equity line of credit (HELOC). In theory, you take out a home equity line of credit, deposit your paychecks into that line of credit instead of a checking account, and write a check paying down your mortgage in the amount you've just deposited.

Earlier this month, I warned readers not to enroll -- or encourage their children to enroll -- in for-profit colleges.

New student loan default rates from the U.S. Department Education highlights in more detail why these institutions are such a bad idea. According to a Wall Street Journal analysis of the data (subscription required), 21% of students who use federal loans to attend for-profit college go into default within three years. That compares to 7% at public four-year colleges and 16% at public two-year colleges.

As of this morning, the national debt of the US is $12.1 trillion. To put that into context, if you counted $1 every second of every minute, you would have to count for 383,434 years to reach $12.1 trillion.

It doesn't look to get any better as Congress just voted in a $447 billion spending bill in a year where revenues are down. That doesn't include the projected cost of the health care bill, tax credit extensions and other budget-altering items slated for consideration. It's clear that something has to change.

If you're a parent and have grown kids, have you ever paid off a debt of theirs?

That's a question that GfK Roper Public Affairs & Media recently posed to 1,004 adults in a survey for CreditCards.com. Two out of five adults, or 42%, said that they had paid off a debt for a grown child at some point.

Auto loans topped out the most likely to be paid (40%), with medical debt close behind (37%) and utilities (31%) following. Credit cards were next (30%), followed by student loans (29%) and the mortgage (11%). The entire story can be found here.

WalletPop's Lan Nguyen chats with Frank Armstrong -- founder of Investors Solutions and author of several books including "Save Your Retirement" (FT Press) -- on what Gen Xers and Gen Yers need to do to have a happy retirement.

Open a 401(k), but only if your company matches and the cost isn't too high. Otherwise, open your own 401(k) or IRA. Most importantly, pay down credit card debt and "rights-size" your life.

Feeling the pinch as you scan your holiday gift-giving list? You should be heading for a dollar store to get great gifts that you can dress up as fancy gifts. How much can you save? We put ourselves to the test to see what we could get for the people on our list.

(Plaid dress in this video provided by Anastasia Chatzka. Special thanks to Nolcha.com)