Money Tips Network

Much of our day-to-day lives has personal finance implications. We’re constantly making choices that either directly spend money or use up resources that are going to have to be replaced. When we eat, we shop, we go to work – all of those things, and many many more, have financial impact.

At the same time, humans are routine-oriented people. We like patterns, and it’s not hard for us to get stuck into a daily routine filled with familiar ways of doing things. Even the craziest of lives is filled with little patterns that repeat themselves over and over again, because we tend to just do what’s familiar when it comes to the day-to-day process of living our lives.

For various reasons – marketing, bad role models, an addiction to momentary pleasure – some of the routines we choose in our life aren’t the best ones in terms of our money. Yet, they’re familiar and we understand them, so we keep using them.

This article is by staff writer William Cowie.

Have you considered how your life would freeze to a standstill if a general outage cut electric power for more than two or three days? As every summer dawns, it’s a question more and more people ask, because demand for electric power is growing inexorably, and summertime is when the grid always gets strained to the max. Many experts say all it will take is one unusually bad heat wave and a single computer glitch. The last major outage happened in the summer of 2003, and it affected over 55 million people.

For those who find themselves running out of space on their kitchen stove while preparing a holiday feast or potluck, or frequently cooking on the go, a countertop burner may be a perfect solution. While the general concept of a countertop burner, also referred to as a hot plate, hasn't changed much since its inception, modern burners come with many additional features such as an automatic shutdown and an adjustable thermostat.

Welcome to Wise Bread's Best Money Tips Roundup! Today we found some fantastic articles on saving on gas, upcycling ideas that will blow your mind, and how to keep your identity safe.

Top 5 Articles

5 Ways to Save Gas Money — Targeting the best day and time to buy gas can help you save at the pump. [Kiplinger]

221 Upcycling Ideas That Will Blow Your Mind — Would you have ever thought to repurpose your old maps into coasters? [POPSUGAR Smart Living]

I’m a financial analyst, not a philosopher, and yet in my writings about money I often touch on the subject of time. Generally, this is because the two are somewhat interchangeable with one another — some people sacrifice their free time to plunge headlong into their careers, while others sacrifice income to have more leisure time.

The sun is rising earlier these days, which means you can exercise earlier than usual, before your normal workday begins. Plus, who wants to go for a walk or jog outdoors when the temperatures regularly hit peaks in the 90s and humidity levels are sky high? Not me. There are also many advantages to switching routines to the AM hours, foremost of which is eliminating the excuse factor for skipping workouts. If you get it out of the way for the day, you'll likely stick with the routine. (Related: These At-Home Exercises Will Give You a Gym-Quality Workout for Free)

This post is by staff writer Honey Smith.

In my last post, I talked about motivation and money. Motivation is a huge yet under-discussed concept in personal finance, I think. While big wins may be the quickest way to wealth, that doesn’t mean you’ll reach your goals overnight. Even if you have become wealthy, you still need motivation to manage your money and prioritize your spending. After all, if you want to stay wealthy, then you can have anything you want but not everything you want. And if (like most of us) you’re not wealthy yet, you may have to be even more ruthless in your prioritization.

I've previously detailed my process for saving a fortune on a new car (and for those of you wondering, here's why I buy new cars). I've used this system to purchase three cars (four now) in the past 10 years, but had never shared the specifics on FMF. Well, a recent new car purchase opportunity came up and I thought I'd detail the process for you.

Background

When we moved to Oklahoma last fall, our intention was to give my wife's car (2005 Toyota Corolla with 68,000 miles) to our son and buy my wife a new car. But we got down here and a few things happened:

Susan Ladika

Saving money is always one of the top New Year’s resolutions, but halfway through the year, you’ve usually kicked that goal to the curb. Hard to believe, but some banks and credit unions actually want to help you make those resolutions stick, paying higher interest rates or bonuses if you stash money in your savings [...]

Kick start your savings with goal-based accounts from personal finance blog Bargaineering.com.

This blog was posted by Susan Ladika