A Yakezie Roundup

The Yakezie Challenge was created by a fellow personal finance blogger who goes by the pen name Financial Samurai. The challenge is to increase our blog visibility as we help promote others. This week my roundup includes bloggers who have joined the challenge.

Red discussed People behind the clutter on her site Girl With the Red Balloon. As I continue to read other bloggers, I find that the topic of clutter and how to avoid it continues to work its way into the dialog. Clutter impacts one’s time as well as money, and many suffer from it in one form or another. Red looks at one source of it.

Mike at Saving Money Today asks What Would You Do For $5? Me? Not much. But at Fiverr you can find people willing to do small projects for that sum.

Stay at Home Mom CFO wrote about Gambling and Emergency Funds. She is deciding whether to risk letting her emergency fund freeze at $1500, and use extra money to pay off debt. Knowing just enough about the debt (she calls it “high interest”) I’d say to go for it. Worse case, one can charge the emergency to the cards. On one hand, I agree with those who say a credit card or credit line should not be a substitute for an emergency fund, but I find that thought means letting money sit at 1% while owing money out at 20. Let’s see what she decides.

Young and Thrifty warns Why You Shouldn’t Pay for your Lottery Ticket with your Credit Card. Well, it’s because in Canada it seems that some card issuers are charging an extra fee since a lottery ticket is deemed to be a ‘cash equivalent.’ Yet another reason to avoid the lottery, or as some like to call it, the “stupid tax.”

Jason at Redeeming Riches tells us about 5 Things Every Baby Boomer Must Know About Retirement Savings. I’ve been reading Jason’s work for some time and his articles are always spot on. I am toward the end of the boomer generation, so this article hit close to home for me, a good read.

At Little House in the Valley, a guest post asking How Much House is Enough House? This is a recurring topic among bloggers. As we are in the midst of the housing collapse, many have realized they bought more home they can afford, and we are all questioning just how much house is right for us as the pendulum swings back toward normal times.

Nicole at Rainy-Day Saver posted another installment in her Fix-It Friday Series: Our Home Improvement Wish List. She has a remarkable to-do list. Projects that will save her family a nice chunk of change and give them the satisfaction of doing it themselves. I like her approach, I tend to do most things myself as well, maybe more than I should.

Good luck to my fellow Yakezie Challengers.You’ve given us some good reading this past week.

Joe