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Yakezie Carnival

B.B. — Sun, 06 Jun 2010 05:02:22 +0000

Hey, look! Is that a carnival pulling into the fairgrounds? It sure is! It’s the Yakezie Carnival! Buckle your seatbelts, and hold on tight to your darlin’, cause, boy do we have a show for you! Come on down, folks, the rides are running and the corndogs are frying! Penny for the gents, ha’penny for the ladies!

Over here folks! In the tent to your left, is the Bearded Lady! And, to your right is the Hall of Mirrors. Stick out your tongue at the mirrors, not the lady, if you please.

Step right up folks! Step right up! Have you ever seen a needle wink it’s eye? A rubber band play a tune? An elephant fly? That’s right folks! In this very tent, right behind me, we have a genuine miniature horse! Smallest one in Rhode Island! Take a peek for free, only a nickle for a picture with the mini horse!

Lions, Tigers, and Bears! Oh My! There’s no yellow bricks here, folks, just the lion tamer tent! Watch as he sticks his head inside the lions mouth! Watch the bear balance on a ball! Then, watch as the tigers perform complex financial calculations. Or, they might just jump through flaming hoops!

Ladies! Gentlemen! Point your eyes and ears over here to center ring! Watch as the amazing Yakezie Trapezie Troupe test the fates with every swing! Don’t cover your hair and your eyes, you might miss the excitement!

Bend your eyes up to the highwire folks! What you’re about to see will astound you! It will amaze you! Watch as a man teeters along the line with only a tiny net below to save him if he should fall.

And now, in the far ring, the cage of death! Two motorcycles, spinning at breakneck speeds, passing within inches of each other! Then, watch as Liandra enters the cage to stand, unprotected, while the motorcycles spin past her head!

What a show! That concludes our broadcast day! Be sure to stop and win your girl a stuffed animal at the dart throw and to grab a bite to eat at the corndog emporium on your way out!

What a show, indeed! That’s what you get with the Yakezie Carnival! Lots of bang for your buck!

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Weekend Wrap-Up: Memorial Day Yakezie Update Edition

B.B. — Mon, 31 May 2010 12:22:54 +0000

Welcome to yet another weekend wrap-up. We’re gonna mix it up a little bit this week. I want to update everybody on where Beating Broke stands in the Yakezie Challenge, as well as give every body a few extra links to check out this Memorial Day weekend.

So, first off, the Yakezie update. This is the first update I’ve given since joining the challenge. The basics of the challenge was to join a group of like-minded bloggers and attempt to achieve an alexa rank of <200,000, then 100,000. When I first joined the challenge, my alexa rank was 1,445,837. I had a long way to go. And a short time to get there. (Watch ol’ bandit run!) Today, I’m happy to say, my rank sits at 151,578! Lookout 100,000, here I come! It’s been incredible, and the most incredible part of it has been the Yakezie participants. Each and every one of them is incredibly helpful and each is trying to bring everybody else along for the ride. Officially, the challenge was meant to end on July 4, 2010. And the first phase will. However, it looks like the group will continue on together in some form. There’s even a website in the works! I hope that you, as my readers, have enjoyed my time as a Yakezie challenge participant. I know it’s meant more content produced. There’s something about having a group of peers pushing you that gives that extra motivation to do more. I’m looking forward to hitting 100,000.

Note: If you’d like to help me hit 100,000, you can download the alexa toolbar for your browser. Then, alexa will count your visits and help improve my ranking. Here’s the download link: http://www.alexa.com/toolbar

Now, for some links. Normally, I include links from sites that I’ve enjoyed over the last several weeks, Yakezie or not. But, since this wrap-up is kind of dedicated to the Yakezie update, all of the links in this wrap-up will be to Yakezie participating blogs. Enjoy!

Zach Younkin: Yakezie Roundup #8
Cash Flow Sherpas: The Latest Employment Requirement, Good Credit
Consumerism Commentary: Is it time to give up on the Stock Market
Smart on Money: Don’t fall prey to a victim mentality, be responsible for your actions and live free
Frugal Confessions: Sometimes it’s easier to preach than to practice
More Style than Cash: Frugal Gift Packaging
Inexpensively: Top 10 Budget saving books
The Saved Quarter: Treating Upset Tummies Cheap
Money Help for Christians: Faith based investing – Is it a good idea?
Learn Save Invest: Billionaires who live below their means
Eventual Millionaire: 10 ways to increase your productivity
Bible Debt: Faithfully Rich
Simple Life in France: Technology and Entertainment making us Unhappy
Single Mom, Rich Mom: The High Cost of Raising Children Myth
Narrow Bridge Adventures: Invest in Chocolate Bonds
Cool to be Frugal: Baby on the Way… Back in a while! (Congratulations!)
Saving Money Today: The financial impact of the Super Bowl
Personal Finance Journey: Bringing Snacks into a Movie Theater – Frugal or Unethical
One Money Design: Emergency fund verses getting out of debt
The Amateur Financier: Deep Thoughts – Tipping
Eliminate the Muda: Thought Experiment – Cottages
Free From Broke: Yakezie Carnival

Wow. That’s a lot of links. And that’s only the ones that I thought were excellent. There’s nearly 100 Yakezie blogs to choose from, so it’s quite the task to choose from them all.

Weekend Wrap-Up: Memorial Day Yakezie Update Edition is a post from: Beating Broke, if you enjoy it, please visit us and subscribe to the Feed.

Weekend Wrap-Up: If The Earth is Rockin’ Don’t Bother Knocking Edition

B.B. — Sat, 10 Apr 2010 15:50:54 +0000

That title is so going to mess up my template. Way too long. But, with all the earthquakes lately, it seems appropriate. In any case, this is gonna be a rocking wrap-up. Lots of fun links for y’all this weekend!

Money Crush has a $100 Giveaway
Consumer Boomer talks taxes and health care
Personal Finance by the Book gets down to the nitty gritty with Dave Ramsey
Ending the Rat Race is giving away a DVD and a Book!
Personal Finance Journey asks if you Invest in Sin Stocks (I have)
One Money Design talks about what the Bible says about Money
Red discusses the role that money has taken in her wedding plans
Canadian Finance Blog hosted the Yakezie Carnival #6
Couple Money presents the Debt Reduction Strategies Guide
Deliver Away Debt is talking about Christmas already.
Well Heeled Blog got a new job! (Congratulations!)
Money Funk wants to know how much they paid you to give up your dream
Planting Dollars talks about Storing your financial records
Financial Samurai is playing games

Whew! I think I’ve got a cramp in my finger from all that linking! There were just so many good posts since last time.

Weekend Wrap-Up: If The Earth is Rockin’ Don’t Bother Knocking Edition is a post from: Beating Broke, if you enjoy it, please visit us and subscribe to the Feed.

Weekly Wrap-Up: Yakezie Gets Insurance Edition

B.B. — Mon, 29 Mar 2010 20:56:56 +0000

Another week gone by, another weekly wrap-up!

Christian PF talks about the pros and cons of variable annuities
Stay at Home Mom CFO gives us the low-down on a terrible new debt collection practice
Simple life in France is growing oranges. She thinks.
My Journey to Millions is questioning the Constitutionality of the Health Care bill
Christian Common Cents doles out a bit of common sense about never lending money to friends and family
The Amateur Financier details the history and methods behind Keynesianism
And Cool to be Frugal hosted Yakezie Carnival #5 this week!

That’s it for this week. Still lots of good reading there though, so make sure you check them all out.

Weekly Wrap-Up: Yakezie Gets Insurance Edition is a post from: Beating Broke, if you enjoy it, please visit us and subscribe to the Feed.

Weekly Wrap-up: St. Yakezie Edition

B.B. — Sun, 21 Mar 2010 17:29:56 +0000

Another week has passed us by, and if you’re anything like my friends, you’re likely not reading this until Monday. Take a few more aspirin, and then dig in for a super duper wrap-up!

First and Foremost, there’s the weekly Yakezie Carnival hosted by Sweat the Big Stuff.
Something tells me that Financial Samurai likes to be on time.
Money Funk is talking about traveling with teens. Our kids aren’t quite there yet, but a good heads up for us.
Couple Money is celebrating by giving a way a Netbook!
Out of Debt Again is talking about something that I, gladly, don’t worry about much anymore. How to properly write a check.
One Money Design has a great article on your options if you can’t pay your taxes on time.
Rainy Day Saver is fixing up light switches. We did that when we moved into our house and the wiring looks just about as old!
Don’t make these 401(k) mistakes from Saving Money Today
The Girl with the Red Balloon isn’t going to float away, ’cause she’s got a shiny new rock on her finger! Congrats!
Jim would like to know Why Are You Frugal? at Bargaineering.
The Consumerist has some of the details on the K-Mart Scam Coupon Debacle.

And that concludes our weekly wrap-up. Whew! That should keep you busy for the rest of your recovery Monday.

Weekly Wrap-up: St. Yakezie Edition is a post from: Beating Broke, if you enjoy it, please visit us and subscribe to the Feed.

Weekend Wrap-Up: Yakezie Fo-Shezie

B.B. — Sun, 14 Mar 2010 16:04:08 +0000

Here’s some great articles from around the personal finance blogosphere this last week.

Money Beagle talks about When Saving Money on Groceries Isn’t Necessarily a Good Thing. I’ve made a similar argument many times. Saving Money does not always equal less spending.
I think Free From Broke likes Health Savings Accounts. What do you think? Speaking from experience, HSA’s are awesome!
Brad is going Minimalist, and it’s effects are showing. I’ve seen the minimalist movement in several places recently, and frankly, the prospect scares the bejeebies out of me.
Valentina has a thing for McDonalds’ Fries. Why else would she write an entire article about them? Go read it to find out. A great perspective on business and life in general.
Ryan ponders BFF-hood with people of another financial bracket. It’s a complicated subject, for sure. And a hard one to really wrap your head around until you experience it.
Mrs. Money likes to rub her food all over her body. I bet this link gets more traffic than any of those other links. But, get your mind out of the gutter, it’s not what you think.
And if Surviving a Tax Audit is in your future plans, you’ll want to go and read Jim’s post on the subject.

All-in-all, a pretty good week for articles. Lots of great reading.

Weekend Wrap-Up: Yakezie Fo-Shezie is a post from: Beating Broke, if you enjoy it, please visit us and subscribe to the Feed.

Unautomate Your Finances

B.B. — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 06:55:20 +0000

Isn’t that a funny title. Even I had to double take to make sure that it wasn’t typed wrong. But, yes, unautomate it is. And the man with the plan is Adam Baker. You likely know him from ManVsDebt. Maybe not, but if not, you should. And he’s got a plan to help you unautomate your finances. From reading his blog, it certainly seems to have worked for him and after reading the review copy of the ebook, it might just work for a few of you out there too.

The concept is pretty simple. Automating your finances can go to far. It can cause you to “set it and forget it”. And that can lead to expenses getting out of control. Which is where Baker’s Unautomate Your Finances comes in. The eBook is 83 pages of wonderful advice for minimizing your financial footprint and living a life of controlled finances. He’s got a pretty impressive list of bonuses that you can get when you buy the eBook too! There’s two awesome interviews. A video one with Leo Babauta, who writes a ton on minimalist living. And there’s an audio interview with J.D. Roth of GetRichSlowly.com (And author of Your Money: The Missing Manual). He’s also throwing in the templates that he’s created for the program’s minimalist budgeting system. One in .pdf for printing and one in excel for use on a computer. And finally, he’s giving you all the updates you can handle.

And he’s only charging you $17 for the whole shebang. I know he’s planning on upping the price to $27 eventually (I don’t know when) so I wouldn’t wait too awful long if your interested. This program could be a great thing for those of you who are feeling out of control of your finances and want a more simple way of getting them back under control.

You can read a bit more on the program and the eBook by visiting: Unautomate Your Finances

Disclaimer: I’m an affiliate of both Amazon and Unautomate Your Finances. If you click through and end up buying either the books I’ve linked or the eBook from Baker, I will get a portion of that sale. That didn’t sway my review, I really do believe all those things I said up there. Affiliate links like those are how I pay to keep this site operating, so I appreciate when you do click through. Thanks.

Unautomate Your Finances is a post from: Beating Broke, if you enjoy it, please visit us and subscribe to the Feed.

Weekend Wrap-up: Yakezie Virgin Edition

B.B. — Sat, 06 Mar 2010 14:35:01 +0000

Here’s a weekend wrap-up of some links that you should check out. And since I’ve just joined the Yakezie group, all of the links are also from Yakezie group members!

The 5 Books that changed my Money life, from Foreigner Finance
Maternity Coverage and Health Insurance Choices, from Stay at Home Mom CFO
One Car Family this Week, from CoupleMoney
Rainwater Collection Ideas, from Little House in the Valley
Can you be Content while in Debt, from Deliver away Debt
We are Credit Card Debt Free, from Ultimate Money Blog
Should you Keep “Emergency Cash” at Home?, from 20sMoney
How I got $8 Glasses, from Canadian Finance Blog
Why the Gym is a Waste of Money, from Fiscal Geek
5 Ways People Waste Money, from Eliminate the Muda
Smiles are Free, from Budgets are Sexy
Treat Your Job as if you Won the Lottery, from Financial Samurai

Some great reads there. You should check them out.

Weekend Wrap-up: Yakezie Virgin Edition is a post from: Beating Broke, if you enjoy it, please visit us and subscribe to the Feed.

I Miss Prosper.com

B.B. — Wed, 13 Jan 2010 22:29:18 +0000

Very nearly since it’s inception, I’ve been a big fan of the peer-to-peer lending site Prosper.com. I have several active loans that I’ve lent to there and, despite my less than conservative lending practices, have even managed to still be in the black. Recently, however, Prosper went through some stuff with the SEC that, while good for the company, was horrible for me.

At the conclusion of their dancing with the SEC, I am no longer able to use their site. You see, the state that I live in, no longer allows them to operate here. I’m not sure exactly why. All I know is that they are not allowing me to bid on loans because of the state that I live in.

So, today, I transferred all the available money in my Prosper account out to my checking at ING Direct, and will use it to pay for something else. It’s sad really, but such is life. I just find myself missing the ability to make use of such a great site. I’ve looked into replacing it with a couple of other sites with similar programs, but each has the same restriction in regards to my state.

I still recommend the site if you can make use of it though. Both for lenders and for borrowers. It’s a great service and a great idea.

I Miss Prosper.com is a post from: Beating Broke, if you enjoy it, please visit us and subscribe to the Feed.

Save a Little Money with PaperBack Swap

B.B. — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 03:02:33 +0000

One of the sure fire ways to save money that is touted here and everywhere is to cancel your expensive cable service. Whether you cancel the whole thing or just pare down to the smallest package for network stations, you’re left with a fair chunk of time to do something else. Again, another suggestion to take up that time is to read a book. I completely agree. Depending on the book, it can be entertaining or educational or both.

One of the downsides to taking up reading is that even a paperback book can cost almost $10 at most of the bookstores. Amazon is slightly better, but not by much. The all time cheapest way to read a book is from your local library. The downfall there, of course, is that you have to return the book in a set amount of time. That puts the pressure on to read the book or to remember to go in and re-check-out the book. I don’t like to be rushed and I have a horrible memory for errands like that, so I prefer to buy the books that I read.

With our current situation, I am unable to buy as many books as I once did and now depend largely on gifts for my new book purchases. Yay Amazon gift cards! Another way that I’ve found to get my hands on a book cheaply is to swap it. I think there are a few places to swap books, but the one that I’ve been using is PaperBack Swap. It works on a credit system, so each book that you list and send to someone else gets you a credit to request a book from someone else. All you have to do is pay for the shipping to get it where it’s going. You get a new book for about $2.38. That’s quite the deal if you ask me.

So far, I’ve only gotten a few books, but I’m picking up steam and I may start looking at my local thrift store for books to swap for books that I want to read. If there are any of you who are using a different service, please let me know what they are. I’d like to check them all out. They’re just another way to become a Frugaler!

Save a Little Money with PaperBack Swap is a post from: Beating Broke, if you enjoy it, please visit us and subscribe to the Feed.