Money Tips Network

I have been writing about personal finance (as in, my own) for nearly a decade.  In that time, I’ve had some financial success – paying off my consumer debt, purchasing a new home – and some blogging success – mentioned in the New York Times, interviewed on television and on radio – but the truth is: I still buy stuff I do not need.

I also use unnecessary dashes and commas when I write, but that’s a topic for another day.

Convenience Items – I am a sucker for anything that makes life easier.  I tend to spend too much on convenience items – because, you know, they’re convenient.

Tools – I love new tools, used tools, old tools, broken tools, cheap tools, and expensive tools.  My woodworking skills are minimal, at best, but I love hanging in the shop and building stuff.  The problem is – I’ll buy tools, just to own them.  While not a complete waste, I do have to pace myself.

When you spend most of your time either at home or at the office, you probably take your Wi-Fi signal for granted. Then when you travel, suddenly connecting to a Wi-Fi network becomes a privilege. Sometimes you can enjoy it for free; at other times you have to pay high premiums for it. But with a little bit of planning, you can get free or cheap Wi-Fi almost anywhere. Here's how. (See also: 10 Ways to Keep Your Laptop Safe While Traveling)

Maintaining good health can be a difficult task without the right motivation, but fortunately, there are many tools available to help you support a healthy lifestyle. When it comes to exercise, a good fitness tracker can quickly become an invaluable gadget for keeping you informed about your overall health progress, which in turn can further motivate you to push forward.

Fitness trackers are relatively new technology, so you may find it a bit difficult to determine what makes a good fitness tracker. We here at Wise Bread have done the research for you and have compiled our list of the top 5 fitness trackers worth your money.

When it comes to saving money, I should give myself more credit. That's the clear-cut frugal message from more than 50 recycled glass jars in my kitchen. Those containers once held: spaghetti sauce, pickles, olives, mayonnaise and other stuff.

I started saving glass jars because the ocean-front place where I used to live did not have recycling bins. After emptying and washing the jars, I started storing the glass with a plan to find a nearby recycling collection bin. Ha! I did this once or twice, but let me tell you: carting around large bags of glass jars is very hard work.

But in the meantime, I discovered that glass jars have many money-saving uses that are also eco-friendly. Here are a few:

Welcome to Wise Bread's Best Money Tips Roundup! Today we found some wonderful articles on saving on food costs this summer, tips to stick to your budget, and saving on designer wear and apparel.

Top 5 Articles

Saving Big Time on Designer Wear and Apparel — Seeking out seasonal deals and essentials on clearance can help you save on designer wear and apparel. [Budgeting in the Fun Stuff]

Whether it’s playing guitar or writing short stories or telling jokes or taking photos — whatever — amateurs are far more likely to think they are experts than actual experts are.

That is a summary of the Dunning-Kruger Effect, as explained by David McRaney in his first book, You Are Not So Smart. I’ve mentioned the author previously as I expressed frustration with the idea that entrepreneurship is a panacea for financial problems that are interpreted as a lack of income. The Dunning-Kruger Effect shows that self-evaluation of competence at any particular skill is an inaccurate measurement.

This article is by staff writer April Dykman.

“You + me + swimming date at the springs.”

That was the text message I sent to my friend Kacey last week. “Are you flirting with me?” she replied. “Let’s make this official.”

See, every summer I solemnly swear that I’m going to spend the next several months in the water, yet I never do. (I say several months because I live in Texas, where it’s summer for most of spring and fall.)

This year, however, I was serious. Since I’ve moved from the country and bought a house in the city, things-to-do are much closer to me. Driving time and gas expense are no longer an excuse.

Throughout our engagement and the first few years of our marriage, Sarah and I never really sat down and had a real conversation about money. We each just more or less followed the pattern we learned from our parents. We dealt with any shared issues that were absolutely required in the briefest way possible.

Needless to say, it didn’t work. Before our third anniversary, our finances were a complete train wreck. We were in debt up to our ears and didn’t have enough money in either checking account – we didn’t have shared accounts yet – to cover our bills.

We simply had to change what we were doing, so we started talking about money. It started with one pretty long money talk split up over several days, as we were both frustrated and upset. Over time, though, we figured out a lot of things that work well for our conversations about money.

Let’s not wait until January 1st to focus on getting out of debt.  It’s July – It’s time.  Fight for your independence-  and get out of debt, today!

No doubt, a little dramatic, but you get the point.  Today is the day to start planning for tomorrow.  Here’s how I paid off my consumer debt – including credit cards and an automobile loan – plus some tips and tricks I’ve learned along the way.

Stop Borrowing – This is the key, first step.  Put the credit card in the wallet, and stop using it.  You don’t have to cut it up, or freeze it in a bucket water.  Make a decision to stop going deeper into debt – and then work hard every day to honor that decision.