Money Tips Network

This past weekend, I was cleaning out the closet in my office when I came across some of my old journals from the late 1990s and early 2000s. In that timeframe, I barely had any money at all. I had a minimum wage part-time job and was trying to work my way through college. At one point, I lived in a two-bedroom apartment with several other people and my worldly possessions fit in my backpack and a single plastic storage container.

Most of these journal entries were concerned with figuring out who I was and where I was going in life. It all centered around transitioning from childhood under my parents’ roof to adulthood on my own.

What surprised me, though, is how many of the financial principles I use in my current financially stable adult life were already in place back then. In almost every page, I see some little hint of smart spending decisions and wise financial moves.

Over last year’s holiday break from school, my husband and I took our kids on a cruise. We planned our trip diligently for more than six months prior, shopped around for a good deal, and thought up all kinds of ways to save. Ultimately, that meant booking an inside cabin and cruising with MSC Cruises, one of the most affordable cruise lines for families.

We also saved money by avoiding the more pricey cruise excursions and coming up with day trips we could do on our own. With beach stops in the Caribbean, it’s pretty easy to create your own beach day with a quick taxi ride. We also spent our day in Guadeloupe on the ship to save even more, since it was one of the most expensive islands we visited.

Yesterday, Kim and I joined my cousins for an afternoon trip to the Oregon Coast. Our aim was to harvest a bounty of clams. We came home with zero. We managed, however, to harvest a bounty of mussels. Plus, the dog had fun.

My cousin Duane carpooled with us to and from the beach. We rode in Kim's car: a 1997 Honda Accord that's showing signs of its age.

“It's a little warm in here,” Duane said about ten minutes into our drive. “Would you mind turning down the heat?”

“Well, I can't turn down the air,” Kim said. “It's stuck on high. But I can turn down the temperature.” She laughed as she demonstrated that the knob for the air volume has broken off at the post. The vents now permanently blow at full force.

“This car is falling to pieces,” I said. “Literally.” As if to prove my point, a bit of molding fell from a roof handle. I picked it up and wedged it back into place.

The following is a guest post by Alexander from daytradingz.com

It has been proven that long-term money investments offer the best returns concerning the time expenditure associated with such investments. However, even speculative investments with a very short time horizon can generate profits. Day trading is one of the most popular speculative investment strategies. In this article, you will learn more about the different types of day trading.

Scalping

Scalping is an intra-day trading strategy, and it is applied by traders who attempt to complete round trip trades with the aim of making profits within very short periods, typically within seconds or minutes (a round trip is another word for buying and selling the whole position).

The winter blues strike me hard each year. When the Iowa winter reaches a point where it’s fairly miserable to go outside and the days are short to boot, I wind up spending far too much time inside. This causes me to not get enough sunshine, and even though I have a couple of good tricks for keeping the winter blues specifically at bay (vitamin D and a full spectrum light box), my mood can still be pretty low at times during the winter.

Over the years, I’ve developed a lot of simple little inexpensive tricks that help me lift my mood and I never rely on them more than I do this time of the year. They’re just little things I do that are designed with just two principles in mind. One, they need to be able to quickly improve my mood. Two, they need to cost next to nothing.

Credit scores are
vitally important for a whole host of reasons. For example, if you have a poor
credit score, you will not be eligible for a mortgage or even a credit card. To
keep your credit score healthy, make sure you pay any credit card debt off to reduce
the chances of these bills harming your score. Of course, we know this is
easier said than done.

It is important not
to bury your head in the sand. A lot of people will be scared about finding out
what their credit score is. It is certainly better
to know what it is, so you can take measures to remedy the credit score.

With this in mind, here are four reasons why you should check your credit score, with the help of https://drpiggybank.com/.

Airline miles, hotel points, and flexible travel points make it easy to see the world at a discount — and sometimes even free. Unfortunately, the devil is often in the details since points and miles can be difficult to use. If you’re using airline miles in particular, you must find an award seat on the flight you want before you can redeem them. That can be pretty easy or extremely difficult, and you may not know which until you’re actually ready to book.

But worst of all are those pesky expiration dates. If you don’t use certain types of points and miles within a specific length of time, your loyalty program will simply take them away — poof!

For example, did you know that American AAdvantage miles expire after 18 months of inactivity? The same is true for United Airlines miles, Hawaiian Airlines miles, and others. Meanwhile, Southwest Rapid Rewards points expire 24 months after your last account activity.

Join our Tweetchat this Thursday at 12:00 pm Pacific for lively conversation and a chance to win one of two $10 Amazon GCs! Use #WBChat to participate.

This week's topic: Date Night on a Budget! Learn about saving on date night meals, activities, finding affordable babysitting, and more!

All too often we explain away our lifestyle or money messes by saying, “I just don’t have time to do [whatever would have prevented the problem].”

Here’s a simple, supremely effective tactic: Any time something can be done (or at least well-begun) in two minutes or less, then for heaven’s sake, do it!

The two-minute rule can’t fix everything in our lives. But applying it helps to keep chores and paperwork from piling up quite so high. Every time a little thing doesn’t add to the big things, our lives get better.

More to the point, a small block of time can result in ongoing dividends. For example, shopping apps can get you discounts, cash back, or even refunds if a price drops. Downloading apps like Ibotta, Earny, Shopkick, Paribus, or Cartwheel gives the chance to both save and earn money when shopping for essentials and treats alike.