Money Tips Network

Drinking isn't cheap. We all know that whether it's a quiet glass of wine at home in the evening or a full-fledged night out on the town, alcohol can cost you. But do you know the true costs? Those that go beyond just the actual price you're paying for that can of Coors or bottle of chianti? (See also: How to Make Moonshine)

Check out some of the common pitfalls associated with your drinking expenditures, as well as frugal ways to still have your wine and drink it too.

Plastic comes in handy during an emergency, and when you're building reward points or your credit history. But although credit cards can be used for just about any purchase, there are things you should never charge to your card. Sometimes, you're better off using cash or a debit card. Here are 10 things you should never put on your credit card.

Unless you have a particularly mean streak, or you're in the middle of a bid for vengeance, you never knowingly want to offend people. It's human nature to actually do the opposite, and tread carefully to avoid making someone feel bad. After all, the consequences of that can be broken friendships, lost jobs, fights, or much worse.

But that doesn't mean we aren't all guilty of using the occasional phrase that, while seems harmless enough, is actually offensive to some people. Here are 10 phrases you should rethink.

I use rebate sites for as many of my online purchases as I can.  After getting a free account, it’s only a small amount of extra work to save a few dollars — or even more than a few! — on thousands of online stores.

Mr. Rebates is one of a number of rebate sites available.  Using Mr. Rebates is simple:

• Sign up for a Mr. Rebates account, which is completely free.
• Log into Mr. Rebates before you shop online.
• If Mr. Rebates offers cash back on purchases from your favorite stores, go through the links on Mr. Rebates to get to the store instead of typing it into your browser.

It really is just about that easy to start accumulating your rebates!

How it works under the hood

In my travel experience, I've become quite good at finding a great hotel deal. This post is geared to those of you that would like to find the same deals like me and travel the world a little cheaper! (See also: 3 Ways to Get Hotel Deals)

1. Refuse Maid Service

This option is available at Starwood Hotels worldwide, and you can ask at other hotels if they offer it as well. If you refuse maid service at Starwood on multi-day stays, you can net either a $5 daily voucher or 500 daily points added to your Starwood account.

Welcome to Wise Bread's Best Money Tips Roundup! Today we found some amazing articles on saving on medical costs and improving your family's health, things you need to throw away, and remaining frugal while traveling.

Top 5 Articles

Twelve Inexpensive Strategies for Saving on Medical Costs and Improving Your Family’s Health — To save money on medical costs and improve your family's health, eat a better diet, and evaluate free health clinics. [The Simple Dollar]

About 35 years ago, when I was new to the corporate world and fired with ambition, but not the least bit fired-up about staying with my big corporate employer, I had a series of bewildering conversations with colleagues, many even younger than I.

See, the place where I worked had long been the number one name in its field, and that status conferred a certain sense of stability. So when I talked with co-workers about what job they expected to jump to next, where they intended to go professionally, and what bold new career worlds they hoped to explore, many responded in very clear terms that they had no intention to go anywhere.

There was a time when I was absolutely obsessed with keeping track of my money. I checked all of my account balances daily. I recalculated my net worth on a weekly basis. I meticulously tracked every single expense. I didn’t want to miss out on a dime.

Over time, I mellowed out on this type of tracking. I still follow my finances pretty carefully, but I don’t do the things above, at least not with such fervor.

Don’t get me wrong, I still pay attention. I still want my spending to be low and my net worth to keep going up.

The big change is that I realized it’s not really about the money. Whenever I make a financial decision, what I’m really asking myself is this: is this thing I’m about to spend money on a good use of my life’s energy and time?

This article is by staff writer Holly Johnson.

A few weeks ago, I was browsing the Internet with my morning coffee when a link to a write-up at USA Today caught my eye. It read “Price tag for the American dream: $130K a year.”

The article, which is based on a study conducted by researchers at Cornell University, claims that the rising costs of everything from food to housing have resulted in a new American dream that is out of reach for all but the one in eight American families who earn at least $130,000 per year. They apparently wrote a book about their study as well, in which they described the American dream as “finding and pursuing a rewarding career, leading a healthy and personally fulfilling life, and being able to retire in comfort.”

Why does the American dream suddenly cost 130K?