On the Moneyed Midways - July 31, 2009

Welcome to the Friday, July 31, 2009 edition of On the Moneyed Midways! Each week, we seek out the best and most entertaining posts we can find among the contributions to the week's business and money-related blog carnivals, which we then extract and present to provide the best weekend entertainment you'll find on these topics anywhere!

Each of the posts we've listed ranked at the top of the blog carnival in which they appeared, but some take it to the next level. We've identified these posts as Absolutely essential reading! And one post has earned the title of being The Best Post of the Week, Anywhere!

So why wait any longer? The best posts of the week that was are waiting for you below....

On the Moneyed Midways for July 31, 2009
Carnival	Post	Blog	Comments
Carnival of Debt Reduction	A Big Victory for Those in Debt Collections	Prudent Money	Bob Brooks reports on a secret deal the National Arbitration Forum had with a large debt collection firm, which put the consumers going through arbitration at a severe disadvantage, as the firm was forced to exit the business thanks to a lawsuit.
Carnival of Personal Finance	When to Start Collecting Social Security	Bad Money Advice	Frank Curmudgeon runs the numbers to work out that if you have a choice, it's better to hold off on applying for Social Security benefits for as long as you can.
Carnival of Real Estate	Marketing Home Listings Using Social Media & Twitter	Arch City Homes	Karen Goodman talks about what she's learned as she's begun to take advantage of Twitter to help her real estate business. Absolutely essential reading!
Consumer Focused Carnival of Real Estate	How to Protect Yourself from Someone Else's Unpaid Water Bill When Buying a Home…	Team Reba Real Estate	Reba Haas sends up a warning flag for agents representing property buyers to be sure they're not stuck with the previous owner's unpaid utility bills!
Consumer Focused Carnival of Real Estate	Consumer Focused Carnival of Real Estate	Searchlight Crusade	Carnival host Dan Melson has a special place to review the this week's off-topic or just-plain-awful posts submitted for consideration to the blog carnival. Absolutely essential reading!
Festival of Frugality	Make a Trashcycled Hermes Birkin Bag	Dollar Store Crafts	The world's most expensive handbag is made by Hermes Birkin and costs $200,000. A Craftster forum member, brainybee, took on the challenge of creating a "decent copy out of garbage," saving as much as $199,998. You'll need to follow the links, but brainybee's forum post is The Best Post of the Week, Anywhere!
Carnival of Money Stories	Famous Musician Bankruptcies: From Millions to Broke	Bible Money Matters	Peter Anderson identifies the lessons to be learned from the great failures following the great successes of some of the music industry's top talent.

Previous Editions

• OMM's Running Index for 2008
  
• OMM's Running Index for 2007
  
• The Best Blogs Found in 2006 (and our full 2006 index)!