Emily's list: Don't know much about chemistry

On this day in 1869, Russian scientist Dmitri Mendeleev formally presented the first version of the periodic table to the Russian Chemical Society. He had started to organize elements by their chemical properties and began to notice patterns, and with that, formulated the basic periodic table. While other scientists were beginning to create a similar table at the same time, Mendeleev is also hailed for using it to predict the characteristics of elements that hadn't even been discovered yet. Chemistry is a part of our everyday lives, and in today's roundup of the best posts in the personal finance blogosphere, we celebrate Mendeleev's contribution to chemistry and how that science relates (at least metaphorically) to personal finance.

1. For every reaction, there is an equal and opposite reaction. No Credit Needed explains why making multiple monthly debt payments helps you get out of debt more quickly than once-a-month payments.

2. Is your debt total starting to feel like an atomic number? Reduce the charge. My Dollar Plan provides a list of several components of your budget you can trim to lower your bills.

3. Free Money Finance has a guest post that lists 12 ways to thrive in the crummy economy. It may sound hard, but it's easier than saying "difluoraminooxysulfonyl fluoride" three times fast.  Just pay off that debt, sell your stuff on eBay and ask for a raise!

4. I've Paid for This Twice Already explains several options you can use to track your spending. Just as chemists precisely measure portions to ensure a favorable reaction, you should also be keeping track of where all your ingredients go.

5. Bible Money Matters reminds readers that credit card companies are generally not your friend despite new marketing tactics intended to make you think there actually is some friendly chemistry.

6. Broke Grad Student and I might well have been lab partners; he just encountered the same problem I recently did. He had automatic payments set up with a merchant, but when his card information changed, he forgot to tell them. At least they had his correct phone number on file, so they were able to contact him before it went to collections! I wasn't so lucky.

7. Bad spending habits combined with a credit card are a combustible reaction waiting to happen. Studenomics says you should stop lying to yourself if you have spending problems, and rather than trying to quit cold turkey, take steps to reduce the problem.

8. Don't let your debt have a never-ending half-life! Gather Little by Little gives the lowdown on debt snowflaking and how it can help you attack your debt before it becomes too radioactive.

9. Debt and snow metaphors seem to go together like a proton and an electron. Moolanomy explains personal finance guru Dave Ramsey's debt snowball theory and demonstrates it visually.

10. Planning to shop at IKEA sometime soon? It's easy to do so much damage there that it feels like an atom has been split. Credit Addict reveals that the furniture retailer offers a special discount if you pay with a debit card.