photo credit jayled2

The first week of summer has passed already, only eight or so more weekends to take in and savor.  Hope everyone is having a great summer so far.

I went shopping (walked through, really) Holt Renfrew yesterday and saw that there was sale.  Holt Renfrew is this high end designer department store (super duper duper high end).  People were shopping there like there was no tomorrow!  It honestly did not look like a recession to me- what happened to saving money and not succumbing to instant gratification?  Just out of curiosity, I checked out the shoe section and browsed at some of the shoes that were there.  Coach shoes, Manolo Blahniks, Jimmy Choos…all these shoes were in the price range of $350-$800!  I stuffed my foot into a $500 shoe (just for kicks- sorry- had to say it… get it? kicks??) just to feel what $500 would feel like on my foot.  It felt nice, the craftsmanship of the shoes were really nice, but I can not justify paying $500 for a pair of shoes…that’s like a month’s rent!

Last night my sister called me and said her car ran out of battery at the grocery store.  She didn’t have the jumper cables in her car so I went to save the day.  I hooked up the jumper cables (and managed not to electrocute myself, to which I am grateful for) and we started our cars and nothing happened.  I did have a suspicious that it might not start because my battery was leaking (and had been leaking for quite some time).  A nice lady came to really save the day.  She hooked up her car to my sisters car and voila- my sister’s car was good to go.

The Good Samaritan said that someone helped her when her battery died and it was pouring buckets (yes, the 300 days a year when it’s raining here in Vancouver), and so she wanted pass it on.  She asked us to pass on the good deed too (as well, told me that my battery needed changing).  Thanks and I will!

So Good Samaritans still exist!

Have you encountered any Good Samaritans that have helped you renew your faith in mankind lately?

Here are some links from around the web:

• Financial Samurai concludes that West Coast Living- is really that much better (can’t agree more!!)
• Early Retirement Extreme gives some tips on how to spend less eating out
• Len Penzo tells you to visualize your financial future
• Money Funk gives you tips on how to control emotional spending
• Wealth Pilgrim analyzes whether it’s a good time to buy a house
• Bucksome Boomer‘s first blog cheque came in the mail! Woot woot!
• Little House looks at strategy discount shopping
• Money Reasons tells the Financial Neo to Wake Up (Keanu Reeves can wake up next to me, too??)
• Frugal Zeitgeist lets you know how long to keep financial records
• Squawkfox gives you a great tip on how to make Pie in a Jar to give as presents
• Financial Cents has a 5 part series analyzing which Telco to buy

Have a fantasmic weekend everyone!!

As some of you may know, I wouldn’t be where I am today without having joined the Yakezie group, started by natural born leader and Yakezie mastermind Financial Samurai.  I have learned so much and am forever grateful for the connections I have made with other personal finance bloggers.  Members of the Yakezie have a chance to host the Yakezie carnival, so it’s my turn today!  I’m going to start from the bottom up- Bottoms up!  (Just went to a wedding yesterday night, so don’t mind my references to alcohol)

Here it is for some fun sunny summery Sunday reading!  (Can you say that three times fast?)

PS HAPPY SUMMER! I hope everyone is as excited about summer as I am. =)

PPS Happy Father’s Day to all the fantastic, dedicated, hard-working dads out there!

Readers, what has your father taught you about personal finance that really ‘stuck’?  Please share!

My father has taught me so much about being an entrepreneur, and owning your own business.  He never really worked for anyone and always had many businesses going on, yet he still had time to go on month long trips with us in the summer.  He also taught me that cash flow from real estate properties is a good thing.  He was always so hard working, a real ‘do-it-yourself-er’. …I really admire him when it comes to personal finance (among other things, of course).  Happy father’s day, dad!

Yakezie Carnival

• Smart on Money gives us ten great tips on how to save money on a tight budget
• Miss Thrifty searches for Yorkshire’s Thriftiest Granny
• Wealth Informatics says it’s Christmas Time
• Chasing Prosperity is baaaack!! (in April)
  
• Retirement Investing Today talks about UK Rates and Mortgage Approvals
• The Wealth Artisan thinks that fun shouldn’t cost a fortune
• More Style Than Cash tells you the key people that you should call for back up when the sh*t hits the fan
• Darwin’s Money rounds up his favourite posts, and apologizes for apologizing to BP
• Digging Out from Our Mess gives a word of caution to us  young’uns
• Smarter Spend is moving so he’s taking a little break from blogging
• Invest it Wisely talks about opening up new frontiers (hi ho hi ho!)
• Frugal Confessions lets us in on her Frugal Confessions Friday
• Downturn Living discusses whether being completely Vegan is really that much more beneficial for the planet
• Dividend Monk talks about constant income amidst falling value
• Narrow Bridge Adventures talks about how the final stage of the credit card act will affect you
• Car Negotiation Coach talks about flying cars! (yes you read that right!)
• Financial Poor rounds up his Friday Night Likes
• My Money Minute counts down to the end of the Federal Housing Tax Credit expiry in April
• Single Guy Money warns you not to buy the new car!
• Stay at Home Mom CFO tells you how you can get $75 back if you bought a lawnmower in the last 16 years
• The Saved Quarter shares their passion for fresh fruits and veggies
• Bible Debt talks about being faithfully rich
• Watson Inc. talks about how you shouldn’t let your dream (home) become a nightmare
• Foreigner’s Finance explains why you need an emergency fund
• Peak Personal Finance teaches you how to automate your banking
• Clarifinancial teaches you how to tell between a true quote or a fake insurance quote
• BarbaraFreidberg Personal Finance tells you how trading in a car every 2 years makes financial sense
• Money Beagle asks you homeowners if you’re treading water (gulp! I hope I won’t have to ever be in that position)
• 151 Days Off Prays 2.0
• Christian Common Sense reviews the book Control your Cash
• Girl With the Red Balloon helps you answer whether you need life insurance
• Zach Younkin lets you know the options for College Financial Aid
• PF Firewall tells you 60 ways you can feel rich without the price tag
• CJBowker talks about how you only get one chance at it, so make it good!
• My Financial Objectives got nominated for a top 50 Financial Mentors award (me too!)
• Redeeming Riches tells you why making more money isn’t the answer (I concur!!)
• The Amateur Financier gives us his thoughts on tipping
• Beating Broke got nominated for the same award too! (yay Yakezie!)
• Evolution of Wealth explains what sole proprietorship means
• MillionaireNurse rounds up great nurse blogs of the week
• Money Help for Christians shares his free download spreadsheet tool that can help you pay off your debt
• The Centsible Life lets us know who won her Father’s Day Giveaway (darn I didn’t win the dremmel tool!)
• Couple Money reviews E3 (sounds fun!)
• Cool to be Frugal shares with us her net worth and blogging goals
• Little House gives us the range of the rent across the nation (OMG New York is that expensive?)
• Engineer your Finances reviews the book Enjoy your Money (I reviewed it too- it’s good!)
• 20′s Money asks you what you are pursuing
• Fiscal Fizzle updates us on his blog sabbatical (come baccccckkk, Wojo!)
• Out of Debt Again shares with us her Friday Finds
• Budgeting the Fun Stuff shares with us her weekly favourites, too
• Consumer Boomer reviews Ally Bank
• Personal Finance By the Book shares with us his father’s day =) (what a cute drawing)
• Bucksome Boomer shares with us some sweet memories of her father, in honour of fathers day
• Frugal Zeitgeist shows you that shopping for car insurance is really easy, if you follow his steps
• Joe Taxpayer calculates the math of refinancing
• One Money Design helps you decide whether you should transfer the balance to another credit card
• Saving Money Today shares us his lesson on trying to remember to think before you speak (I need help on that one big time!! you’re not alone)
• Money Reasons is reading The Snowball ( I want to read that too!) and learns that Warren Buffett was a renter
• Rainy Day Saver shares her Fix it Friday, learn how to put in a tree flowerbed (cute!)
• Not Made of Money shares some money saving coupon deals
• PunchDebt helps a reader decide whether to be a whore to money or not
• Deliver Away Debt updates us on the state of the blog
• My Journey to Millions shares with us a quote from the Fountainhead
• Monevator rounds up weekly posts and comments on England and the World Cup
• Ultimate Money Blog reviews WTDirect
• Sweating the Big Stuff went to bank heaven (can I go too?)
• Money Funk teaches you how to set up a spending plan
• Wealth Pilgrim gives us his fave links for the week, and tells us about Moolanomy’s new forum
• Len Penzo gives us his fave links for the week too
• Canadian Finance Blog gives us his fave links too, from a Canadiana perspective
• Early Retirement Extreme talks about how it might be the death of the buy and hold strategy as we know it
• Planting Dollars talks about financial baby steps
• Free from Broke asks whether the first time home buyer tax credit should be extended
• Eliminate the Muda gives us an example of the 5S strategy in action
• Consumerism Commentary gives us an update on the Smithee Debt
• Credit Card Chaser explains what a reloadable credit card is
• Financial Samurai tells us that the reply button is there for a reason (hint- it’s not to ignore it for emails!)

• Ryan @ Cash Money Life presents Financial Risk Test posted at Cash Money Life.
• Billeater.com presents Use Twitter to Save Money posted at Billeater.
• Silicon Valley Blogger presents YNAB (You Need A Budget) Personal Budget Software Review posted at The Digerati Life.
• DaveOzment presents Dollars Spent posted at Do You Dave Ramsey?.
• The Smarter Wallet presents How To Save Money On Generic Drugs posted at The Smarter Wallet.
• Tom Tessin presents Getting Student Discounts on Laptops posted at FCC Student Blog.
• ABC presents What Are Junk Bonds? posted at ABCs of Investing.
• Wise Bread presents Teach Your Way Around the World posted at Wisebread.
• Larry Russell presents Evaluating Roth IRA Conversions posted at Best Personal Financial Planning Software.
• PT Money presents A New Low-Fee Charge Card for Young People: The ZYNC Card from American Express posted at PT Money.
• Juliana Torres presents 100 Personal Finance Posts Every College Student Needs to Read posted at Career Overview.
• Brad presents 6 Warren Buffett Quotes That Will Make You Rich posted at Learn Save Invest.
• PT Money presents Cheap Car Insurance: Women Have the Advantage posted at PT Money.
• David de Souza presents Overseas Student Tax Tips posted at Tax Return Blog.
• Florine Church presents The Psychology of Spending Money: 25 Tricks You Need to Know posted at Career Overview.
• me in millions presents 11 Ways I Save on Food posted at me in millions.
• Tom Tessin presents How to Find CampusFood.com Coupons posted at FCC Student Blog.
• Roshawn Watson presents What’s Your Financial Mindset posted at Watson Inc.
• FIRE Finance presents Free Money – Online Bank Account Signup Bonuses over $1100 in all posted at FIRE Finance.
• Mariana Ashley presents 20 Best Blogs for Tax Advice posted at Career Overview.

The Yakezie Challenge is an idea created by Financial Samurai, a highly entertaining personal finance blogger.  It facilitates a sense of community in the personal finance world by encouraging us to work together to help increase each other’s Alexa rankings.  Alexa, in case you don’t know, is the website that lets you know where your website ranks in the web world.  LOL How many times did I use the word “web” in there?

Inspired by Deliver Away Debt’s awesome weekend links of Yakezie group members- he stayed up until 2-3am to write it, thought I’d do the same for mid-week (but try not to stay up too late past my bed time!).  Anyway, here are some great links to lighten up your work week.  Maybe you can peruse them at work if you’re not busy or if you’re having a bad Wednesday (hey look on the brighter side, you’re on hump day!  Just two more days until the weekend).

I’m only going to post up the Yakezie members who are above the 200,000 goal for July 4, 2010 because I am falling asleep on my laptop as we speak…   (My sincerest apologies to all you high ranked Alexa personal finance bloggers!)

Enjoy! Happy Wednesday!

Rainy Day Saver has a new webpage design- go check it out here!

Stay at Home Mom CFO writes about how she received a credit from the IRS (wow since WHEN did the government gladly give US money? =P )

My Money Minute enlightens us on the $40,000 video game… and how old stuff may actually be worth preserving- after reading that post I ransacked my old video game collection but alas, did not find any gems that were worth $40,000.

Chasing Prosperity talks about Lessons learned from the 2010 Vancouver Olympics (Having experienced the Olympics here in Vancouver, I learned that 6 hour line ups all over the place kind of suck! And that trying to get into Heineken House three times and getting rejected three times hurts your feelings!  And that Vancouver is really in the lime light now!)

151 Days Off has a picture that will surely excite your boring ol’ Wednesday–> Check out what they did at the Sydney Opera House.

Foreigner’s Finances talks about how to save money for retirement while working abroad.  He’s teaching English in Japan right now- and while you don’t have to pay your home country’s tax, you also don’t get access to all the retirement planning!

Little House in the Valley also changed her theme- it’s really cool- check it out here!

The Amateur Finacier shares his Net Worth AND talks about how he jumped 100,000 spots on the Alexa Ranking- woo hoo!

Elle @ Couple Money also shares her Net Worth for last month

Downturn Living talks about the Price of Fame, a Story about Pre-Planning.

CJ Bowker explains to us what his response is when someone asks “What do you Do?”

Clarifinancial interviews Elle from Couple Money on his Fresh Perspective post =)

Money Reasons shares with us the Important Financial Lessons his Son Learned Today

Blog Income Life talks about Twitter and All That Social Media Stuff

Deliver Away Debt shares with us his Net Worth too!

WellHeeledBlog talks about Eat Pray Love’s Elizabeth Gilbert’s new book about her and her ex husbands relationship with money.

Evolution of Wealth defines Financial Planning, and what it REALLY means.

Money Funk also shares her family’s Net Worth. Check it out.  She has automated most of her bills- good tip!

Wealth Pilgrim gives you the “in” on  How You Know if You Are Saving enough for Retirement.

Ultimate Money Blog shares with us how she makes Embroidery Wall Hoops for her home.  Cute!

Punch Debt in the Face justifies how he is planning to spend $4000 on his honeymoon (I say go for it!! People have to live their lives somehow.  We need to be saving for the sake of enjoying aspects of life, not just for saving!)  P.S. the picture associated with the post is hilarious.  It could be on one of those Carlton cards!

My Journey to Millions talks about how cool the Yakezie Group is.  It’s cool.  Get in on the action!

Early Retirement Extreme talks about how you should Never Do Things for Their own Sake.

Enemy of Debt encourages us to Live Life to the Fullest by Getting Out of Debt.

Welcome to the first edition of the Young and Thrifty carnival.  I had some great submissions and am delighted to post the ones below. Taxes, shopping online, and insurance. Quintessential personal finance information.

Read and enjoy!

Seeing as we are nearing the end of the tax year for 2009, Wenchypoo from Wench Wisdom presents MORE Timeless Moves You Can Make to Maximize Income and Minimize Taxes posted at Wisdom From Wenchypoo’s Mental Wastebasket.

Xin Lu from Wise Bread presents How to Quickly Compare Rewards Programs When You Shop Online posted at Wisebread. Again, generation Y like things quick and easy, this website she talks about called ev’reward helps you input your store that you’re looking to save money on (promo codes etc) and it magically gives you the answer. Instead of us having to google it and filter through pages of junky coupon codes that don’t work or are outdated. Don’t laugh, but one time I spent about 2 hours online looking for a coupon code for Orbitz to save money on a one night stay at this obscure motel in Oregon. I think in the end, I saved $5 US but I was happy. It’s the PRINCIPLE, I tell you, PRINCIPLE!  Saving money is addictive.  Maybe I should start a group “Cheapos Anonymous” or something.

MLR from My Life ROI presents Types of Insurance Most People Need posted at My Life ROI, Getting the Best Return On Life. This article goes over 5 types of insurance that we all need and should have. Each type of insurance goes over: What it is, What types there are, and Who needs it. In Canada, we are lucky to have universal health insurance, but we still have extended benefits (dental and those great massage therapy benefits to name a few). All the other insurance types that MLR mentions are much needed. Perhaps even pet insurance if you have a dog or cat!

Keep those blog carnival submissions rolling (until next time, my friends)!