Category Archives for Blogging

Blogging Goals Update – April 2011

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Click here to enter my free giveaway for 5 copies of H&R Block At Home Premium Edition


In January of this year, I wrote a post detailing some of my blogging goals, targets, and dreams for the year of 2011. When I did this, I also added a reminder on my Outlook calendar to track our progress pertaining to these goals each month. 


I have been sort of bad in that while I have been tracking these goals offline, I have not published an update on my blog in three months (only so many hours in the day, right?!). 


My goal for today’s post is to rectify this!

By tracking blogging goals, I am hoping that it provides us with more accountability and visibility to what we are doing and where we want to go with this community/blog.

So, here goes! The blog goals for 2011 are as follows, with progress updates given in bold type, current as of April 2011.

  1. Obtain Alexa ranking of 200k or less. Dream goal = 100k. Currently at 112,000! Yah! We actually were lower than this and falling until I got busy with the semester course-work in my Chemical Engineering PhD program about a month ago.
  2. Read and interact with (comment) 5 partner blogs per day. Currently below this average, but hope to improve. However, I have been doing well this past week by reading and commenting on most all of the Yakezie Blog Swap posts (which were very good, by the way!).
  3. Continue active participation as a proud Yakezie Personal Finance Blog Network member. Have posted a total of 800 comments on the Yakezie Forums advising and learning from others. Also, I have now coordinated 5 advertising campaigns, bringing in a total of $3700 revenue (and counting!) to partner blogs and have hosted the 4th Yakezie Blog Swap.
  4. Publish 3-5 blog posts per week. On target for this average currently. I’m very proud that I’ve kept up the consistency!
  5. Obtain 200 unique visitors per day average by end of 2011. Currently averaging 180 per day. I was up to 307 average per day a month ago before I had to focus more time in to my graduate program’s classes.
  6. Host all personal finance blog carnivals (Festival of Frugality, Best of Money, Tax Carnival, Carnival of Personal Finance, etc). Have hosted all blog carnivals that have allowed me! If any one out there needs a host in the future, just send me an email!
  7. Grow Carnival of Passive Investing to point where someone would be proud to host it. Have now had 4 editions of the carnival. Three were hosted by me, and the last one was hosted by Tom @ Canadian Finance Blog (who actually just won the Free Money Finance March Madness tournament!). The April carnival will be hosted by A Rich Life. Submit your passive investing posts by clicking here.
  8. Continue to spread word about benefits of passive investing over active investing. Get involved in BogleHeads forums as well. Need to do this more. I have done a good job organizing the Carnival of Passive Investing, but have neglected visiting the BogleHeads forums. However, I just placed an automatic weekly recurring reminder on my Outlook calendar to try to increase my participation.
  9. Write and publish 1 guest post for another blog per month. On target with this goal. Have guest posted once this year on Free Money Finance, twice on InvestorJunkie.com (a review of Sharebuilder and a review of Vanguard), and guest posted a total of three times during the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th Yakezie Blog Swaps.
  10. Create an eBook on one of the following topics – a) Ways to be Frugal b) Investing Strategy c) Steps to Buying a Home. Ongoing, but have not yet started.
  11. Possibly transfer blog to WordPress hosting???? This is still a maybe. I am leaning more towards not going to WordPress. I know that it limits me from doing some things, but with weekly manual backups, I feel safe using Blogger for now.
  12. Create newsletter – “X Number of Weeks to a Frugal Lifestyle”. Ongoing, but have not yet started.
  13. Two free giveaways / contests during 2011. Have hosted 3 giveaways so far this year – a $25 Amazon gift card to the best cheapskate story, a $25 Wal-Mart gift card for the best passive investing article from the March 31st Carnival of Passive Investing, and an H&R Block At Home giveaway of 5 tax software codes.
  14. Put together material to present to groups and or classes on personal finance. Ongoing, have not done yet.
  15. Attend blogging, marketing, finance, or real estate classes at local community college or nearby conference locations. Need to search for seminars. Found classes offered at local community college in blogging and marketing. Have not made any progress on this yet.

How about you all? What goals do you have set for 2011?

Share your experiences by commenting below!

    ***Photo courtesy of http://bobhyatt.typepad.com/photos/uncategorized/2008/03/07/goals.jpg

    Yakezie Blog Swap # 5 Roundup and My Favorite Pick

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    Welcome to My Personal Finance Journey! If you are new here, please read the “About” or “First-Time Visitor” pages to find out more about us. If you would like to receive free updates on articles like this by email, then sign up here or you can subscribe to the RSS feed. Also, check us out on Twitter or Facebook. Thanks for visiting! Keep on learning!
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    Click here to enter my free giveaway for 5 copies of H&R Block At Home Premium Edition

    On Friday of this week, My Personal Finance Journey participated in the 5th ever Yakezie Blog Swap. 

    In this event, members and challengers of theYakezie Personal Finance Blog Network paired up and traded posts amongst themselves on the common topic of “what motivates us to be financially responsible.”

    My Favorite Swapped Post

    After reading through all of the posts for this week (there were a lot of great ones!), I’ve decided that my favorite one was written by Justin from Money is the Root.

    In this article, Justin explains how he had two parents with very different viewpoints and actions regarding money. However, he explains how through a lot of sacrific, his mother was able to support him going through college and getting his MBA in finance from The University of Michigan. Quite an inspirational post!

    You can read the whole article at the link below!

    What Motivates You Financially? – Just from Money is the Root

    My Swapped Post
    This week, I partnered with Khaleef from KNS Financial! His and my posts can be read at the links below.
    • Khaleef writes about how how his faith drives his finances here at My Personal Finance Journey.
    • I share the three things I do to keep focus and motivation at KNS Financial. These include keeping on target with my Purposed Focused Financial Plan, updating my net worth and financial goals, and keeping myself accountable by posting these updates on my blog.

    The Rest of the Great Financial Motivation Posts

    • Kevin from Thousandaire.com wrote an article about being Snubbed for “Most Likely To Succeed” at LifeAndMyFinances.com
    • Derek from LifeAndMyFinances.com posts about Fear, Family and Independence on Thousandaire.
    • Andrea writes about how she is finally done with debt even though her friend might not be at Money Sanity.
    • Alan shares 5 Great Reasons to be Financially Responsible at So Over Debt.
    • Kevin talks about experiencing the world at Financial Success for Young Adults.
    • LaTisha D Styles says Financial Freedom Brings Options at Debt Eye.
    • Robert tells the world 10 Things That Motivate Him to be Financially Responsible at The Single Saver.
    • Denise talks about real life Horror Scenes and their Financial Impact at The College Investor.
    • Jason shares how three little monsters, better known as children, keep him financially focused at Narrow Bridge.
    • Eric just wants to Live the High Life, whether that’s being active and single today or settling down in the future, and shares at Live Real, Now.
    • Penny talks about making a big change and saving a quarter of her family income for the sake of her children at Budgeting in the Fun Stuff.
    • Crystal wants to live well today and retire early, and she has the plan to make it happen at The Saved Quarter.
    • Melissa talks about finding enough money to send her kids to Japanese school so they can learn their dad’s language at Money is the Root.
    • Dave learned his lessons about gambling in college and now wants to retire young. Check out his story at Barbara Friedberg Personal Finance.
    • Joe is about to be an asset millionaire, but he’s in it for the kids, not the money, and shares at Invest it Wisely.
    • Kevin (note from Jacob – look at all these people named Kevin!) shares a powerful story about growing up in poverty and taking control of his life as an adult at Smart Money Focus.
    • Sandy from Yes, I Am Cheap posted about Fear of Poverty at Beating Broke.
    • Shane from Beating Broke posted about Financial Intentionality at Yes, I Am Cheap.
    • Barbara shares some financial tips with you at Money in the 20s.


    How about you all? Which post was your favorite? And more importantly, what motivates you financially? 


    Share your experiences by commenting below!

      ***Photo courtesy of http://26.media.tumblr.com/51oitr3wVqin3ncrpC4CQf7fo1_500.jpg

      New Commenting System on My Personal Finance Journey – WITH CommentLuv!

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      Welcome to My Personal Finance Journey! If you are new here, please read the “About” or “First-Time Visitor” pages to find out more about us. If you would like to receive free updates on articles like this by email, then sign up here or you can subscribe to the RSS feed. Also, check us out on Twitter or Facebook. Thanks for visiting! Keep on learning!
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      Click here to enter my free giveaway for 5 copies of H&R Block At Home Premium Edition

      Good evening fellow financial faithful! I have good news to report!

      At midnight last night, My Personal Finance Journey switched over to the Intense Debate commenting system (previously, we were using the Disqus commenting system). We made the switch for the following two reasons:

      1) Several people were emailing me mentioning that they were unable to comment on the site because the Disqus commenting box was not showing up. I am guessing that this was some sort of problem between the Disqus/Blogger platform interface.

      2) Disqus did not offer the CommentLuv plug-in/application, which allows commentors to display a the title and link to their most recent post whenever they comment on the site.

      Note: If you are a fellow blogger, you can sign up for a free CommentLuv account, which will enable you to choose between the last 10 posts written on your blog to display next to your comment, by clicking the link below.

      Sign Up for a Free CommentLuv Account

      While the change in commenting system may be a little different, I am hopeful that all of my readers will bear with me in adjusting to this change, as I think it will 1) foster more community on the site, 2) be easier to use, and 3) give more incentive for commenting by enabling you to display your last blog post with the CommentLuv plug-in.

      How about you all? What have your experiences been using the Intense Debate and/or Disqus commenting applications? Which did you like better? 


      Share your experiences by commenting below!

        ***Photo courtesy of http://lifentechnicolour.files.wordpress.com/2010/04/change-management11.jpg

        Yakezie Blog Swap # 4 Roundup and My Favorite Pick

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        Welcome to My Personal Finance Journey! If you are new here, please read the “About” or “First-Time Visitor” pages to find out more about us. If you would like to receive free updates on articles like this by email, then sign up here or you can subscribe to the RSS feed. Also, check us out on Twitter or Facebook. Thanks for visiting! Keep on learning!
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        Click here to enter my free giveaway for 5 copies of H&R Block At Home Premium Edition


        On Friday of last week, My Personal Finance Journey participated in and organized the 4th ever Yakezie Blog Swap. 

        In this event, members and challengers of theYakezie Personal Finance Blog Network paired up and traded posts amongst themselves on the common topic of “our biggest financial pet peeve.”

        My Favorite Swapped Post from the Event

        After reading through all of the articles in this blog swap, my hands-down favorite is the one below! Very insightful about a crucial topic! Nice work Robert @ College Investor!


        Robert from The College Investor wrote about how people making mistakes with their 401k accounts is a big “no-no” at Thousandaire. 

        My Swap



        I wrote about 3 of my financial pet peeves (spending too much money on drinks, financing expensive furniture, and active investing strategies) on Narrow Bridge Finance.


        Narrow Bridge Finance posted about how people not taking responsibility for their financial actions infuriates him on My Personal Finance Journey.


        The Rest!

        Prairie Eco-Thrifter posted about how sales tax is her biggest financial pet peeve at 101 Centavos.

        101 Centavos posted about how wasting food makes his blood pressure rise at Prairie Eco-Thrifter.

        LaTisha D Styles writes about how greedy banks upset her at Retire by 40.

        Retire by 40 wrote about how bigger is not necessarily better at FSYA Online.


        Bucksome Boomer writes about how advertisers that hide the real price of a product is maddening at The Single Saver.


        The Single Saver wrote about parents who do not teach their children financial responsibility at Bucksome Boomer.


        Kevin from Thousandaire writes about people having misconceptions about Roth IRA’s at The College Investor.


        Time from Faith and Finance vents about financial institutions charging to send paper account statements, but still send out a plethora of paper junk mail at Live Real Now.


        Jason from Live Real Now politely rants about how aggravating it is to see people whine about their less-than-ideal financial situations, yet do nothing about it, at Faith and Finance.


        Money Sanity vents about people complaining about paying overdraft and bank fees, while at the same time, having no idea how much credit card debt they have or their checking account balance at The Saved Quarter


        The Saved Quarter writes about people who are financially irresponsible and want to complain about how broke they are while showing off the new things they bought at Money Sanity


        Barb Friedberg talks about how investment advisors that get paid to sell products (more salesman than investment advisors in my book) upset her at Happy Simple Living


        Happy Simple Living writes about how companies and people that exploit others aggravate her at Barb Friedberg Personal Finance.

        How about you all? Which article was your favorite? 


        Share your experiences by commenting below!

          ***Photo courtesy of http://cdn2.yakezie.com/wordpress/wp-content/themes/yakezie/images/300default.png

          Vote for My Vanguard Vs. Fidelity Post Today at The Free Money Finance March Madness Tournament – Round 3

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          Welcome to My Personal Finance Journey! If you are new here, please read the “About” or “First-Time Visitor” pages to find out more about us. If you would like to receive free updates on articles like this by email, then sign up here or you can subscribe to the RSS feed. Also, check us out on Twitter or Facebook. Thanks for visiting! Keep on learning!
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          Click here to enter my free giveaway for 5 copies of H&R Block At Home Premium Edition

          Folks!!!!! I really need your help! My Vanguard vs. Fidelity post (from August, 2010) is in Round 3 of Free Money Finance’s March Madness Tournament.

          I’m up against Crystal from Budgeting in the Fun Stuff (one of my good friends and a very good blogger! – both of us are Yakezie members!!! Go Yakezie!), so I need everyone out there’s votes by tomorrow morning (Friday, March 18) in order to advance.

          To vote for my article, click on the link below, scroll down to the comments section, and enter the word, “Better.”

          Free Money Finance March Madness Tournament Round 3 – Vanguard vs. Fidelity Post vs. How to Make Money Blogging

          Thanks so much for your support!

            ***Photo courtesy of http://blogs.agu.org/martianchronicles/files/2010/11/vote-button.jpg

            Totally Money Blog Carnival # 9 – Funny Baby Videos Edition – March 7th, 2011

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            Welcome to My Personal Finance Journey! If you are new here, please read the “About” or “First-Time Visitor” pages to find out more about us. If you would like to receive free updates on articles like this by email, then sign up here or you can subscribe to the RSS feed. Also, check us out on Twitter or Facebook. Thanks for visiting! Keep on learning!
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            Interested in receiving a free $25 Amazon gift card? Click here to sign up for my Cheapskate Jake “Cheapskates Need Love Too” giveaway! Or, click here to enter my free giveaway for 5 copies of H&R Block At Home Premium Edition

            Welcome personal finance fans to the 9th edition of the Totally Money Blog Carnival, a weekly carnival that includes the top personal finance and money posts.


            Today, I was watching the movie, Juno on DVD. If you haven’t seen it, it is a very good movie about a teenage girl that gets pregnant and all of the details that she has to handle that go along with the results. 


            Since this movie was on my mind while putting together this carnival, the theme for today’s Totally Money Carnival is funny baby videos!  I sent my girlfriend on the mission of finding these videos, so I can’t take credit for how awesome they are! Enjoy. 


            Listed below are the top 3 articles of this week’s submissions!


            Top 3 Editor’s Picks

            1. JT McGee presents Today I Solve Student Debt Forever posted at MoneyMamba, saying, “Could a small change to the FASFA means big changes in college graduate debt loads?” 


            2. Mike Piper presents Picking Mutual Funds: Don’t Just Look at the Winners posted at The Oblivious Investor, saying, “When researching mutual funds, many investors only look for characteristics common among winning funds. But that’s only half the picture.”


            3. My Journey presents Save Money by Having a Child posted at My Journey to Millions, saying, “Raising a child can be expensive. However, I have found in the two months after my child’s birth that my wife and I have actually saved money, not spent more.”

            This baby has the cutest laugh ever…. 🙂

            And, listed below are the best of the rest!

            BUDGETING


            Jason Price presents YNAB (You Need a Budget) iPhone App Review posted at One Money Design, saying, “The YNAB iPhone app is a great complement to the popular YNAB 3 money management software.”

            Careers

            The Wise Squirrel presents Glory over Money: Mike Bibby Walks Away from a $6.2 Million Salary posted at Squirrelers, saying, “Would you give away a guaranteed $6.2 million dollar salary? Someone just did!”

            liverealnow presents How to Deal with Debt While You’re Out of a Job posted at Live Real, Now, saying, “Fighting debt and unemployment at the same time sucks.”

            Credit

            Christien presents How Much Does Credit Card Processing Cost? posted at How Much Does Everything Cost?.

            Sustainable PF presents Age Ain’t Nuthin’ But A Credit Card Number | Sustainable Personal Finance posted at Sustainable Personal Finance, saying, “Depending where you are in your life your credit card needs will vary.”

            Jeffrey Weber presents 4 Reasons Retail Credit Cards Are a Bad Idea posted at Credit Card Wisdom, saying, “Retail credit cards are simply a bad idea in most cases. They encourage overspending (and increasing debt) while charging sky high interest rates and adding yet another bill to worry about every month.”

            Economy

            Control your Cash presents Your mutual fund is battling back posted at Control Your Cash, saying, “How does today’s Dow Jones Industrial Average compare to, say, the Dow of February 1997?”

            2 Cents presents The Financial Sector: Capitalist Bastion or Corrupt Oligarchy? posted at Balance Junkie, saying, “William Black makes the case that the financial sector is far too large and influential and that it actually does more harm than good to our economy.”

            Finance

            Bryan Vieregge presents 12 Ways To Make Some Extra Money – Money Bold – Money Bold posted at Money Bold.

            Paul Foley presents Training at Night posted at Life and Times Living with In-Laws, saying, “Applying the Training at Night method to personal Finance”

            Boomer presents Ways To Earn Investment Income: Part Two posted at Boomer & Echo, saying, “In part one of this two part series I showed you how you can earn investment income from GIC’s and Bonds. Now let’s take a look at several additional ways that you can earn investment income.”

            Barb Friedberg presents How Preconceived Ideas Can Cost You posted at Barbara Friedberg Personal Finance, saying, “Many many folks believe that what you drive and wear is a measure of wealth. If someone is driving a BMW or Mercedes and wearing designer clothes, then they are wealthy. The Millionaire Next Door slams that theory down! In fact, frequently, those with ostentacious signs of external wealth carry high debt levels and tally a low net worth!”

            Dividend Growth Investor presents Dividend Champions – The Best List for Dividend Investors posted at Dividend Growth Investor, saying, “The dividend champions list is by far the most comprehensive list of dividend growth stocks available for free. It breaks down the dividend growth universe into dividend champions, dividend contenders and dividend challengers.”

            I love how the camera operators in these videos are Dads…haha

            Frugality

            Money Beagle presents Are Internet Coupons The Future Or On Their Way Out? posted at Money Beagle, saying, “Printable coupons from the internet seem to be gaining steam, but some of the problems could put a halt to them.”

            BWL presents Creating A Church Website… And Doing it Cheap posted at Christian Personal Finance, saying, “Gone are the days of having to spend thousands of dollars to create a website. Here are a couple ways you can create your church website for a lot less…”

            Save Few Bucks presents How to Save Money on Airplane Ticket posted at Save Few Bucks, saying, “Airtarvel is pretty common for work as well as vacation, so here are some tips to help you save money when buying a airplane ticket.

            Eliza from Happy Simple Living presents Make Your Own Homemade Greek Yogurt posted at Happy Simple Living, saying, “You can save over 50% off the cost of yogurt by making your own, and this post has complete directions and photos. Yogurt is highly nutritious, and the process for making it from scratch is very easy.”

            Money Management

            Janet Russell presents Inferior Mutual Fund Performance | No Load Mutual Funds | Best No Load Mutual Funds posted at Best No Load Funds, saying, “The investment research literature does provide some modest evidence that substantially inferior past mutual fund performance is more likely to lead to inferior mutual fund returns in the future. Excessive costs and high management expense ratios are the likely culprits, when explaining sub-par diversified investment fund returns.”

            101 Centavos presents Random Thoughts on Money posted at 101 Centavos.

            Ryan @ MFN presents The Case for Automating your Finances posted at The Military Wallet, saying, “This articles makes the case for automating your finances to save time, money, and headaches. It is based on a missed credit card payment I had that occurred when I was relocating to a new state. The problem would not have happened if I had automated this account.”

            Saving

            BIFS presents 10 Tips to Reduce Healthcare Expenses posted at Budgeting In the Fun Stuff, saying, “Healthcare is one of the biggest expenses in life. Here are some ways to reduce it’s impact on #1”

            Jim Yih presents Enough Bull: The bull about GICs posted at Retire Happy Blog, saying, “I know a lot of advisors who are exceptional and sell GICs because it is the right thing to do even though they do not pay a lot. I also know some advisors who won’t touch GICs mainly due to compensation.”

            Moneyedup presents Saving for Retirement with Extra Income posted at MoneyedUP, saying, “One of the most important foundations of your financial future is saving for retirement.”

            Babies tasting lemons for the first time. I think I still look like that when I eat one! 

            Spending

            vh presents AMEX Windfall…Disappointing and Not Disappointing posted at Funny about Money, saying, “This year’s annual kickback from American Express was pallid compared to previous windfalls, but it reflected success at cutting back the spending.”

            Taxes

            Ken presents Earned Income Credit (EIC): Meet the IRS Version of Welfare posted at Spruce Up Your Finances, saying, “Allows you to receive as much as $5,666 in refund money even if you do not have any tax liability, if you qualify1”

            Patrick LaRue presents Ten Terrific Tax Tips posted at 2010 Tax, saying, “Check to see if you are eligible to Free File your tax return. You will save a good amount of money on your federal tax preparation.”

            Suba presents Blogger tax deductions posted at Wealth Informatics, saying, “Here is a list of blogger tax deductions (works for any online business). There are lot of expenses you can deduct as a blogger or online freelancer.”

            Ryan @ CML presents 7 Simple Tips to Legally Pay Less Tax posted at Cash Money Life, saying, “These 7 tips can help you legally pay fewer taxes when you file this year.”

            And, for something totally unrelated to babies…

            Other

            Buck Inspire presents Black Swan Blogger posted at Buck Inspire.
            The Amateur Financier presents Some Kindly Advice to Would-Be Bloggers posted at The Amateur Financier, saying, “A guide to some of the issues that people do not consider when starting a blog, which hopefully will help people to be more reasonable with their money-making expectations.”
            Janet presents What Would You Buy on a $27,000 Shopping Spree with 46 Credit Cards? posted at Credit Cards Canada, saying, “What if you had 46 credit cards and a $27,000 shopping list? What would do? Before your cards were flagged you were busted for fraud, of course.”
            Melissa Batai presents Finding Personal and Familial Fulfillment One Cheerio at a Time posted at Mom’s Plans, saying, “Sometimes the most important things in life are not about money. Sometimes they are about pursuing a life passion and spending time with family.”

            Well – that concludes this week’s edition of the Totally Money Blog Carnival. Submit your blog articles to next week’s edition (scheduled for March 14th) using the handy carnival submission form. Tom at Canadian Finance Blog will be the host. He is also hosting the next (March 31st) edition of the Carnival of Passive Investing as well! Get excited!

            Also, if you are interested in hosting an upcoming edition of the Carnival, take a quick look at the hosting requirements, and then contact Budgeting in the Fun Stuff about arranging a hosting date.

              ***Photo courtesy of http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2350/2370733579_2505076a66.jpg

              Vanguard vs. Fidelity Article Competing Today in Round 2 of March Madness Money Tournament

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              Welcome to My Personal Finance Journey! If you are new here, please read the “About” or “First-Time Visitor” pages to find out more about us. If you would like to receive free updates on articles like this by email, then sign up here or you can subscribe to the RSS feed. Also, check us out on Twitter or Facebook. Thanks for visiting! Keep on learning!
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              Interested in receiving a free $25 Amazon gift card? Click here to sign up for my Cheapskate Jake “Cheapskates Need Love Too” giveaway! Or, click here to enter my free giveaway for 5 copies of H&R Block At Home Premium Edition

              Good morning everyone!

              Just wanted announce that my article comparing Vanguard vs. Fidelity is competing today in Round 2 of Free Money Finance’s March Madness Tournament. You can view the competition by clicking on the link below!

              March Madness Money Tournament – Free Money Finance – Round 2

              Also competing today are 3 other of my Yakezie Personal Finance Blog Network friends – Squirrelers, Darwin’s Money, and Budgeting in the Fun Stuff.

              Please stop by the link above and vote for your favorite post! If you like my article, you can vote for me by typing the word, “Better,” in the comments section.

                ***Photo courtesy of http://www.smh.com.au/ffximage/2007/05/26/oscarpistorius_wideweb__470x312,0.jpg

                The Digital Camera That I’m Glad We Splurged On

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                Welcome to My Personal Finance Journey! If you are new here, please read the “About” or “First-Time Visitor” pages to find out more about us. If you would like to receive free updates on articles like this by email, then sign up here or you can subscribe to the RSS feed. Also, check us out on Twitter or Facebook. Thanks for visiting! Keep on learning!
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                Interested in receiving a free $25 Amazon gift card? Click here to sign up for my Cheapskate Jake “Cheapskates Need Love Too” giveaway!


                As I have mentioned previously, two of my blogging goals for this year are 1) to continue my active involvement with the Yakezie PF Blog Network community and 2) to do more guest posting on other sites. 


                Going along with these goals, the following is a Yakezie blog swap post from Derek at Life And My Finances, where he writes about his journey to debt freedom, money savings, and investing for the future. Check out my post When Splurging Was the Correct Thing To Do over at his site today!



                The Digital Camera That I’m Glad We Splurged On

                Since my wife and I are making a massive effort to pay off debts, we are very quick to say “no” to any expense that is not entirely necessary. I kept eyeballing the 55” Samsung television at our local Best Buy, but I knew that it would not bring us closer to our goal of becoming debt free. My wife often drooled at the latest fashion in the mall, but refrained from purchasing any of them for the same reason.
                The Splurge Sensation


                Then, the day came where we were both drooling over the same gadget… not a good scenario. This particular gadget was an 18MP SLR Canon Digital Camera. It was the top of the line at the time, and my wife was falling in love with the idea of being a photographer, particularly for weddings (she just loves weddings!).

                At first, I was completely opposed to the idea. Since we were focused on getting out of debt, I did not see how spending $1,000 would get us to our goal. However, I enjoy messing around with technology, and was still intrigued at the idea of getting the best SLR camera on the market.

                The Big Purchase


                With every tough decision such as this, there was a compromise. Instead of simply going out and buying the camera, we decided that we would spend less in certain areas of our budget, and put the amount saved toward the camera. So, we essentially would not be overspending, but we would be just be altering the categories within the budget. Here’s how our spending changed to raise the money:

                • Food = -100
                • Wife’s play money = -150
                • My play money = -100
                • Gift money = -100
                • Sell the laptop = ($200 gain toward camera)
                There were a few other categories that I do not recall, but just in the one month, we were able to raise $820 toward the camera. Then, as luck would have it, we found that exact camera (with an extra attachment) on Amazon for only $820 (after tax)!
                My wife and I decided to go for it and order the camera! We had been thinking about it for quite a while, and since this great deal came along, it seemed like the best time to make the plunge on this purchase.
                The Aftermath – Was it Worth it?


                We received the camera in the mail about a week later, and we absolutely love it! It takes crisp, clean pictures, and is very easy to use. Also, my wife has begun to come through on her promise of starting her photography business. She has not yet made any money with her photography, but she is getting great experience for her portfolio, which will no doubt make her some money in the future.
                Since this camera gives us an opportunity at creating more revenue, I simply love the purchase! Not only could it mean extra cash for us in the upcoming months, but it could be the start of a whole new career for my wife; one where she can set her own hours and be happy with her creative nature in photography. If I had the choice to relive those moments when we purchased the camera, I would have definitely done it all over again, without changing a thing.
                Is there something you purchased that may have seemed like a splurge to your friends and family? Why did you do it? Did you ever regret the purchase?

                Jacob’s Thoughts – Listed below are my random thoughts as I was reading this article.

                • @Buying a good camera – I definitely agree! Buying a good camera like this can be a great way to get started with your own photography business. I have several friends that have side-businesses photographing weddings. They get paid over $5000 per wedding, and many times, they’ll get flown around the country to the wedding location. 
                • @Planning for the big purchase – I applaud the way that you all cut back in other areas in order to save up money for purchasing the camera! It seemed like you all executed it perfectly. This is a great lesson for us all to learn – that it’s all right to splurge if 1) you have a logical reason and 2) you take time to plan out the purchase and don’t just do it impulsively with a high interest credit card!

                ***Photo courtesy of http://review239.com/images/20101123/3689/canon-eos-7d-18-mp-cmos-digital-slr-camera-with-3-inch-lcd-and-18-135mm-f.jpg

                Yakezie Blog Swap # 2 Roundup

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                Welcome to My Personal Finance Journey! If you are new here, please read the “About” or “First-Time Visitor” pages to find out more about us. If you would like to receive free updates on articles like this by email, then sign up here or you can subscribe to the RSS feed. Also, check us out on Twitter or Facebook. Thanks for visiting! Keep on learning!
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                Interested in a FREE $10 BP Rewards Card? Click here to find out how you can win one!

                It was a pleasure reading through everyone’s tips and thoughts for Yakezie Blog Swap #2. The topic was to answer the question, “What is your best day-to-day money saving tip?”


                Please take a few minutes to visit my partner’s post and those from the rest of the Yakezie group.


                My Swap

                Eliza from Happy Simple Living shares easy ways to find and save money with all of the gain and none of the pain at 7 Painless Ways to Save Money at My Personal Finance Journey.

                I shared my tips about how I save big money on food and beverages at Saving Money On Food & Drinks at Happy Simple Living.


                My Favorite Post From My Yakezie Friends


                MoneyCone shares how he after discovering his printer’s inky little secret at The Saved Quarter.

                My Yakezie Friends

                Derek from Life and My Finances shares his parents’ story and best lesson with Paying Off Your Debts Early at Retire By 40.

                Joe from Retire by 40 saves money and improves his health by Learning How To Cook at Life And My Finances.

                Miss T. from Prairie Eco Thrifter Shares a Dozen Ways to Save Money Around the House over at Broke Professionals.

                Squirrelers gives examples as to why eliminating bad and unnecessary habits can save you money every day at Beating Broke.

                Beating Broke tells us why conscientious spending is the best day-to-day saving method at Squirrelers.

                Crystal from Budgeting in the Fun Stuff shared her Best Day to Day Money Saving Tip at Grow Rich Simply.

                Evan shows us how accountability will lead to success with Accountability Will Lead to Success at Buck Inspire.

                Penny from The Saved Quarter shares her pro-tips on saving money while shopping with Never Pay Full Price at MoneyCone

                Melissa from Mom’s Plans shares how Bartering and Substitutions can reduce expenses at Narrow Bridge.

                Buck Inspire discovered the money saving potential of Public Transportation at My Journey to Millions.

                How about you all? What’s your best money-saving tip? You ever participated in a blog swap? 


                Share your experiences by commenting below!

                ***Photo courtesy of http://216.77.188.54/coDataImages/p/Groups/65/65983/folders/200164/1517100SwapMeet.jpg

                Yakezie Writing Contest Voting About to Begin! Be Sure to Cast Your Votes For Your Favorites!

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                Welcome to My Personal Finance Journey! If you are new here, please read the “About” or “First-Time Visitor” pages to find out more about us. If you would like to receive free updates on articles like this by email, then sign up here or you can subscribe to the RSS feed. Also, check us out on Twitter or Facebook. Thanks for visiting! Keep on learning!
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                As most of you all know, My Personal Finance Journey has been a Yakezie Network participant since July 20th of last year (and just completed the Yakezie Challenge recently!).

                As we ventured in to the new year, I established one of my 2011 blogging goals to continue my active participation in this great community.

                Continuing with this goal, several weeks ago, I signed up along with several other Yakezie members to form the Yakezie Writing Contest Committee (see list below) for the 2nd Yakezie Writing Contest. The goal of the writing contest is to empower our youth to practice their writing, learn how to market themselves, and compete effectively for a chance to win money to help further their education.


                Important Note: The picture associated with this post is the actual winner from the last Yakezie writing contest! See – us bloggers do help the real world too! 🙂

                During the past ten days, the Committee was successfully able to review and narrow down the original 1,049 essays entered in the contest to only 60 finalist essays. The 60 finalist essays will be posted two per day on the Yakezie.com site so that readers can vote for them.

                You can read more about the Yakezie Writing Contest and submit your votes for the best essays each day by clicking the link below:

                Second Yakezie Writing Contest

                The Yakezie Writing Contest Committee (YWCC) (Great job team!! It was a pleasure working with each of you.)

                ***Photo courtesy of http://cdn2.yakezie.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/KaitylnYakezieScholarshipCheck1-300×268.jpg

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