Money Tips Network

This summer, my family is going on a very long road trip to multiple national parks, a stop at Disneyworld, visits with relatives, and many little side trips and journeys along the way. We are going to see large parts of the United States and do it all in an automobile.

No matter how we slice it, it’s going to be fairly expensive. Fortunately, Sarah and I have already planned out a bunch of tactics to bring down the cost of such a road trip.

Air up the tires before we leave. A quick stop at the gas station enables us to fill up our car tires to the maximum recommended air pressure before we depart. Every one PSI on any one tire improves our fuel efficiency 1/8 of one percent.

Welcome to Wise Bread's Best Money Tips Roundup! Today we found some great articles on affordable presents for dad, getting a frugal start on summer, and how not to drown in student loan debt.

Top 5 Articles

44 Affordable Presents for Dad — Need a gift for dad this Father's Day? Consider getting him golf ball soap or DIY shaving cream. [PopSugar Smart Living]

Getting a Frugal Start on Summer — To get a frugal start on summer, purge your apartment from useless gadgets and personal documents. [Get Rich Slowly]

Every once in a while, I’ll get a big windfall.

For example, not too long ago, one of my books was reprinted in Korean and I received a surprisingly nice advance from that, almost completely out of the blue.

When I get a nice windfall like that, I usually do smart things with it. I took a small portion of that advance and took the family out to dinner, then I actually invested the rest of it for the future.

For me, the challenge comes with smaller windfalls.

I won $40 in a NCAA tournament pool in early April. I could have taken that $40 and dropped it straight into savings.

I didn’t. I used it to buy a new board game. It was a complete splurge on something I didn’t need and it was basically $40 that never entered my budget.

The natural response that most of you will have – and the response I had at the time – is “so what?” If I can’t splurge a little bit, what’s the point of living?

Few of us are naturally forgiving. We tend to hold on tightly to any slight, offense, or grievance directed our way.

And what are the results of this behavior?

It certainly isn't happiness. Positive emotions rarely accompany harbored pain. When you hold on to these negative inputs, the emotions you experience are closer to anger, frustration, fear, confusion, anxiety, bitterness, or betrayal.

None of those sound very fun. So why do we hold on?

For some of us, we believe these negative emotions are the fuel that keeps us going. It's us against the world, and the pain of our past propels us forward.

You know the feeling: You start the car, and there's a weird noise. Or the check engine light starts to flash halfway into a road trip. Or before leaving for work you discover a disturbing pool of liquid under the car. Pangs of fear course your nervous system, and you frantically check your online banking portal to see if taking the car in will kill your budget. (See also: 6 Slick Tools That Can Help You Save on Car Repairs)

Whatever your daily routine, many people find themselves needing to boil water on occasion. Whether you're an avid tea drinker or you like a cup of instant coffee or soup from time to time, having an electric kettle can definitely come in handy. Kettles have several advantages over simply boiling water in a pot on the stove, including ease of pouring and shortened heating time. Electric kettles come in all shapes and sizes, from simple and utilitarian to those that look like works of art. Nowadays they have multiple features and are made in a variety of different materials, each with their own advantages and disadvantages. We here at Wise Bread have take the guesswork out of boiling water by choosing the five best electric kettles on the market today.

This post comes from Colleen Oakley at our partner site LearnVest.

“There just aren’t enough hours in the day.”

“I’m crazy busy.”

“My to-do list is a mile long.”

If you’re like most Americans, you likely say one (or all) of the above statements on a regular basis.

A few years ago Brigid Schulte—a journalist for The Washington Post and a mother of two—did too. “I kept waking up in a panic at 4 A.M. worrying—not only about all of the stuff on my to-do list that I hadn’t done that day and how much more there was to do,” Schulte says, “but also whether I was missing my life even as I was living it.”

CNN is sounding the alarm bells. The “Fear and Greed Index,” which is a strange measure of market sentiment, has passed the threshold into the “extreme greed” level.CNN is sounding the alarm bells. The “Fear and Greed Index,” which is a strange measure of market sentiment, has passed the threshold into the “extreme greed” level.

That’s one week after the level has been on the opposite end of the spectrum, “fear,” for several weeks.hat’s one week after the level has been on the opposite end of the spectrum, “fear,” for several weeks.

The editors at CNN devised the index by looking at seven factors in stock market prices, including the value of the S&P 500 index versus its 125-day maximum and other measures of price relative to recent history, demand for junk bonds, and the perceived benefit of stock investing versus Treasury bonds.

Here is what you can expect from the index:

This article is by staff writer Kristin Wong.

Last Friday, I had an amazing realization: It was the weekend, the weather was beautiful, and I had absolutely nothing to do. Great feeling.

On Saturday morning, my boyfriend and I decided to slap some sandwiches together and head to the beach. It was relaxing and low-key, and it made me anticipate summer.

But at the beginning of the year, I made some lofty savings goals for myself, and I’d like to stick to them. So I’m using the change in season to assess my savings and remember those goals. Last year around this time, I spent quite a bit of money on travel. This year, I want to focus on being frugal. Here’s how I plan to make frugality a part of my summer.

Purging my apartment