Money Tips Network

During a given day, I spend time on a lot of things.

I usually spend quite a bit of time doing things to earn an income – writing posts, sending emails, doing research.

I spend some time doing household tasks, which generally don’t earn much money but don’t cost much, either.

I spend some time engaging in personal tasks, such as eating and hygiene, which have some costs associated.

I also spend time engaging in hobbies and entertainment, which can vary a lot in costs.

The same is true for almost every employed person. You spend some time working – earning money – and the rest of your time revolves around expenses.

Now, as I’ve said many times, my fundamental rule of personal finance is to spend less than you earn, which breaks down to two pieces: spend less and earn more.

There’s a fundamental connection between those pieces and how we spend our time.

When making our monthly mortgage payment, I always round up.

I use a zero-based budget to manage our household finances.

When calculating the allocation for the mortgage payment category – I round up to the nearest 100′s place.

I do this, because I like easy-to-do math.  This works in our situation, because our payment ends with 60.12.  So, rounding up adds approximately $40 to our monthly payment.  If our payment ended with, say, 98.16, I’d round past the nearest 100′s place, and add an amount that felt comfortable within our budget.  And, if our payment ended with, say, 11.92, I might round up to the nearest fifty, and not go all the way to the next 100.  Clear as mud?  Basically, I’m adding an amount to my mortgage payment, each month, consistently.

Welcome to Wise Bread's Best Money Tips Roundup! Today we found some awesome articles on controlling your money and mind, splitting costs with your partner, and life truths you should live by.

Top 5 Articles

Control Your Money, Control Your Mind 12 Tips — Feel more in control of your life by writing things down and improving your methods. [And Then We Saved]

Drama Free Guide to Splitting Costs with Your SO — When in a relationship, consider taking turns when paying for things. [PopSugar Smart Living]

I love new electronics, but I don't always let myself buy them. There's simply too much available, and they cost too much money. Lately, I find myself turning more and more to buying my electronics refurbished. Right after the latest iPad was released, I bought the previous version refurbished for about a hundred less than it was currently running, which saved me even more from the new version. Since they had very similar guts, it was a great deal. (See also: Frugal Advice for the Gadget Addicted)

There are some adventures that are simply out of reach for most people. It reportedly cost space tourist Guy Laliberte $35 million for his ticket on the space shuttle, which means that one very common dream is out of reach even for the most diligent 99% types.

On the other hand, $20,000 will secure a reservation on a suborbital flight on Richard Branson's Virgin Galactic, which is still testing its aircraft. When that gets going, the full fare for a ride into space will cost $250,000, according to the company's enticing website.

We'll step it down a notch to list more accessible (but still fantastic) adventures that everyone can aspire to experiencing.

If you could earn more money on a regular basis, how would that change your life? How would you use the extra cash?

Would you finally pay off your debt? Help out your friends who are struggling financially? Invest more so you'll have a wonderful retirement? Stop penny pinching because you don't have to worry about not having enough money?

Do you think it's possible? Well, it is! So follow these proven steps to start earning more money today.

Assess Your Availability

Before you can start making more money, you need to figure out the amount of time you can put towards this effort. Sure, you probably have a busy life. Even so, can you find moments during the week where you have free time, and devote that time to making more money? How many hours can you commit?

When I was a teenager, I went through a period where I was obsessed with card tricks. I learned a bunch of them – some that relied on preparing the deck beforehand, some that relied on a bit of sleight of hand, and some that relied on mental math. I was always better at understanding the tricks than performing them, though, and I was always better off at the ones that required me to think than required me to use dexterity.

Like any curious kid, I eventually wound up at the library. I checked out several books on card tricks and magic and devoured them, learning the inside tactics of many different card tricks and coin tricks.

One element that always stuck with me is that many tricks are never guaranteed success. Quite often, when you see a magician doing a card trick, they’re not sure that the trick will actually work. Usually it involves some serious uncertainty.

Good news: spending less on your kid’s sports will actually make him better at them.

That’s according to a Utah State University study just reported by the Wall Street Journal, which contends the more you spend on your children’s sports, the less they’ll enjoy them, and the less successful they’ll be at them.

This article is by staff writer Holly Johnson.

If you visit personal finance or investing blogs on a regular basis, you’ve probably read countless articles on the virtues of passive income. After all, many personal finance experts believe that passive income is the key to early retirement, financial independence, and permanent wealth. But, what exactly is it?

A definition:

Investopedia describes passive income as “earnings an individual derives from a rental property, limited partnership or other enterprise in which he or she is not actively involved.”