Yakezie Carnival, The Hurricane Season Edition

What a week this has been! Steve and Irene were the two most popular names in the American news media. In world media, perhaps it’s Gaddafi who was in the limelight.

While Steve made Apple ‘job’ less, Irene made people homeless. I don’t have AAPL in my portfolio, so I don’t care if it’s Steve or someone else at the helm, but when a category 4 hurricane comes rushing, I panic! Living in south Florida is like living on the fault line – under constant threat of the biggest weather forces coming toward you and taking your every belonging away. If you can save your life, you are fortunate.

Irene was originally directed toward us, only to change direction towards the most populated areas of the United States.

This picture is of hurricane Wilma, which hit us in 2005 (picture obtained through creative commons license), rendering us without power and water for days.

My car was severely damaged by flowing roof tiles. The trees surrounding my home were on the ground and the only standing palm trees didn’t have any leaves. Fortunately we were prepared with packets of nuts, cracker bars, cold sandwiches, flashlights, candles, a bathtub full of water, and water filled in every available container. The freezer was full of 3 bags of ice and we made sure we had a full tank of gas.

The night after the hurricane was spent at a friend’s barbecue, followed by a candlelight party.

The next day was spent searching for open stores. We found none (it was difficult to drive with a shattered windshield) but collected our quota of drinking water and ice from a govt. distribution center. We are prepared this year as well since, unlike Irene, the next one might not change its direction.

Host’s Pick This Week

In the Yakezie carnival, we typically do not pick favorites among the posts, but I’d like to start a trend. We’ll see if future hosts decide to keep the tradition.

Invest It Wisely produces the mother of all posts consisting of images, graphs and video to warn us about the gold bubble in Gold Versus Fiat and the Mother of all Bubbles. This is an absolute must-read if you are invested in gold or planning to invest in gold. In his own words; If the government continues on its current path then times will get harder; however, humans are great at adapting, especially in response to pain. I believe that the outcome of the mother of all bubbles will be a healthier economic and monetary order. This post gave me a new perspective on the metal, which was just an ornament for me before.

My University Money finds it hard to get out of the college groove. He advises ‘cheap beer’ for students in a post with a lot of intensity and written in college guy style. Do read Party Hard – Save Hard. While attending frosh week at campus, you probably aren’t thinking about saving money; you just want to get in on the action and have fun. We’ll show you some ways to save big in the end. He helped me find the college guy within, which I thought I lost years ago.

Krantcents goes micro! Can you sum up your entire article in a single Tweet? You do each day with the new post, Can You Sum Up Your Career in Six Words? Can you sum up your career in six words? Expressing yourself succinctly is difficult. Finding exactly six words to express a whole career meaningfully makes you think about your choice of words. Go micro and find out the real value!

Smart Family Finance is a detective, and doesn’t even spare the corporate world in this post on saving and making money. This post is a refreshing breeze; although there is not much lesson, still a nice read! Biggest Corporate Social Media Fails for Every Major Medium The greatest social media failures come not from your college roommate posting partying pictures, but from corporate marketing blunders. There is one example for every major social media outlet.

Rest Of The Best

Aaron Hung goes philosophical and asks, Does money guarantee happiness? There are two sides to everything and this is no exception. Some might argue that money is everything because, in order to have happiness, you must have the things you want.

The Year of Shopping Detox is more or less frustrated with lavishness and does a Kardashian wedding frugality audit. It was one of the most publicized and lavish celebrity weddings this year. But how frugal was Kim Kardashian’s wedding to whatshisface?

My Journey to Millions goes hyper and tries finding management lessons within the funniest jokes. Read hillarious jokes with micro lessons in Management Lessons Taught by an E-mail Forward I am not a huge fan of e-mail forwards as they are usually not funny, but this one actually had me laughing out loud so I figured I would share it!

Prairie Eco Thrifter is generous enough to submit a guest post from another fellow Yakezie, Going Green on a Budget. There are ways to build a green budget without breaking the bank.

The Happy Homeowner is one heck of a multitasker! He once worked three jobs at a time. Now he tells us How to Manage Multiple Jobs. This is an oldie but goodie post of mine that lists my best tips & advice for how to manage multiple jobs. Using these tips as my baseline, I’ve been able to successfully hold down a full-time job and 2 part-time jobs for many years.

Live Real, Now is bored with warranties.His things must be very durable! Check out Money Problems Day 11: Extended Warranties. When you buy something and have a warranty offered, turn it down and put that money in a special savings account. That money will get set aside to repair your stuff when it breaks.

Living in Financial Excellence seems fed up with insurance companies and asks us to self insure. Jokes aside, its a very valuable read: Winning with Money Part 3: Self-Insure Against Emergencies. When you’ve built up a good emergency fund equal to 3-6 months of your household expenses, you’re effectively self-insuring against a variety of financial emergencies.

Money Reasons has a very high credit score, so he knows how to use it to his advantage in High Credit Score. There are many perks to having a high credit score! I list some of the better ways to take advantage of having a high or excellent credit score.

Daily Money Shot is worried – read Fear Factor: Self-Employment to find out why. In this post, Daily Money Shot discusses what fears are holding her back from working for herself.

Little House in the Valley is leaving the house to take pictures with a GorillaPod. I wonder what they’ll be doing, hanging cameras on a tree branch?? GorillaPod to the Rescue! How I finally figured out a way to take photos of both my husband and me instead of either/or. And I don’t have to ask strangers anymore!

Free Money Wisdom gives us the potential pitfalls of social media in the workplace with Burn Bridges and Go Hungry. An employee is well-advised to keep his emotions under control and perform his duties as best he can.

Money Cone finds some Warren Buffet haters. This was almost a host’s pick this week: 10 Reasons Why the Rich Hate Warren Buffet. Warren Buffet is not your usual billionaire. Here are 10 reasons why the rich hate him (and what makes him so unusual). Warren is my idol, I love everything Warren.

The College Investor loves women! Unfortunately, corporate boards don’t always agree. How To Lose Gen Y Investors and Alienate People. A look at how some boards of directors have no women and how it hurts company performance.

Investor Junkie plays Jim Cramer and gives REIT a BUY BUY BUY! REIT (Real Estate Investment Trust) Investing REITs are a great alternative to owning real estate directly. While they do have some disadvantages to owning real estate directly, they are an easy way to gain exposure to real estate with very little money.

KNS Financial is considerate of students and tries help them by extending a loan. Nah, not from his pocket. Subsidized Versus Unsubsidized Stafford Loans: Why Knowing The Difference Can Save You Thousands! Subsidized versus Unsubsidized Stafford Loans is a very important distinction to make. Get it wrong and it can cost you thousands! Find out the difference here.

Fat Guy, Skinny Wallet is moving on saving.. or saving by moving.. or moving by saving..nah, saving on moving! Yeah, got it! . How We Were Able To Save Money On Moving Costs I’ve already written about how we were able to save money on car insurance simply by calling the company and giving them our new address; and also how we handled emergency travel expenses, and had to postpone our move due to a death in the family. Now find out how we were able to save money moving.

Totally Money is worried about going freelance. Interesting post! The biggest mistakes you can make working for yourself How to be a good freelancer or at least avoid some obvious mistakes

Financial Success for Young Adults tries to mix college students, beer and mint together..yo! How Can a College Student Budget with Mint.com? If you are looking to save money and learn to budget better as a college student, this post will show you how to use the budgeting tools available at Mint.com.

Investorz’ Blog plays matchmaker and finds us perfect match in form of a broker. How to Find a Broker Finding a good broker is tough. Here are three rules to follow when you’re looking for the right broker.

Family Money Values seems uninterested in other forms of investments and their meager returns; she finds something huge! Tax Lien Certificate Sale – How to Research Properties – Visit the Collector’s Office Buying tax lien certificates can be an interesting way to earn a higher percentage return on your money than you would at the bank. In our county for instance, you could earn 10%. FamilyMoneyValues is chronicling experiences in her sale this year – read about researching for the sale.

Simple Life Habits is not passionate enough to show off a Yakezie badge, but, very passionate about getting out of debt. Get Me Out of Debt! A few practical tips that you can start today to begin to get out of debt.

Wealth Informatics acts like Ali Baba! Read this and go hunting. How to find unclaimed money Unclaimed money or unclaimed property is the money/property that belongs to you but left abandoned. Here are the ways to find the lost loot.

Broke Professionals is one tough lady and I would need some tough conversation with her to justify not including her post as this week’s pick. Get what you need by handling tough conversations A lot of people avoid tough conversations. Here is a 10 step process to handle tough conversation and get what you need.

Financially Consumed finds a bingo, wanna tango? Free HDTV: Pay No More The miracle of free HDTV is not just another urban myth. I made the switch this week and I’m happy to report that there is life on the other side.

Money Talks can tell your financial habits by the car you drive and tip you give Can You Tell a Big Tipper by the Car They Drive Fancy car or Junky car, who do you think leaves the bigger tip?

Money Is The Root goes from personal finance to business finance with finance as his root. Pay TV Industry on the Decline? The pay-for-television industry is quickly on the decline, and for a good reason.

PT Money Personal Finance has all the great qualities of becoming a recruiting agent. Contact him if you need a job. 10 Places You Might Not Expect to Find a Job The traditional job search portals are saturated. That’s why it’s important to consider other avenues for locating a job. Reviews 10 places you might not expect to find work.

Outlaw Finance is very concerned and does not want us to makes any investing mistakes. We won’t, if you’re there! Top 5 Common Investing Mistakes Putting your money to work for you is a great way to save for retirement, pay for college, and increase your overall wealth. The trick is to avoid investing mistakes – which almost always lead to a loss of money.

Deliver Away Debt is redefining reviews, click to see! Perkstreet Financial Review An overview of Perkstreet Financial and its rewards.

Control Your Cash is fed up with people checking stock market health frequently and asks us to go slow! Less is More. Even Less is Even More. It does you no good to let your moods move in sync with what other people are willing to pay for stocks.

Mom’s Plans has a warning for you in case you are not enjoying yourself enough as you try to save money. Are You Frugal at the Expense of Enjoying Life? Many people are frugal and learn to love to save and plan for the future. Yet at some time, you should be willing to spend some of your money to enjoy your life.

Cash Flow Mantra has a new mantra for stock investment, which is putting money with lot of protection. Protective Puts Saved Me Nine Percent in a Volatile Market The recent volatility in the stock market caused many of my stocks to fall dramatically in price, however, protective put options helped to contain the damage.

ChristianPF is the messiah of your finances. He suggests planning for a planner who will plan your financial plan…ughhh! 10 Questions To Ask A Financial Planner If you’ve ever considered using a financial planner, you should be prepared to ask a few questions. Don’t be shy here! Asking a few tough questions up front could save a lot of heartache down the road!

Our Journey To Zero loves Lucy and she’s juicy, ummm… I Can Cook That! – The Juicy Lucy The Juicy Lucy stuffed burger is all the rage in Minnesota the last few years. Can you make one at home for cheap? You bet you can, I’ll show you how.

Squirrelers sees nuts are changing in size, shape and taste and tries to cope with the changes. Workplace Trends that Impact Us The workplace is continually changing, each year. Keeping in mind the impact work has on one’s finances. This post explores these changes.

Yakezies, while presenting your articles I tried to add humor onto it to have people at least read through the entire post, if not click through the links. If for some reason the humor is toxic to your taste, I apologize in advance! Hope you’ll take this in the spirit it is written with.

All the best to readers and fellow bloggers in the northeast. Stay safe and help other people – looks like Irene is going to cause massive damage in your area.

Please use the comment box very generously throughout the day. Keep coming back to see if anyone responded to your comment. And, do the usual +1,Like, Reddit and Tweet stuff. Let the Yakezie fun continue..till next week!