Money Tips Network

Over the last few years, I’ve been recording every tabletop game I play and often adding a few notes about that play afterwards so that I can remember something about the game and whether I enjoyed the play or not. I do this for long strategic board games and quick card games and storytelling games and everything in between.

What I’ve come to realize lately is that I am much more interested in adding another entry to that little database of plays than I am in acquiring a new game for my game shelf. I would far rather add another “play” to my collection of “games played” than another board game or card game to my collection of games. In fact, I’m finding it enjoyable to accumulate lots of plays of individual games, too.

His name is Dave. A retired Naval officer, he’s written two novels and about to publish his third. His books (thrillers in the style of Dan Brown and John Grisham) have been well received and even won awards, yet he’s still a relative unknown in the competitive world of fiction.

Her name is Michal. She’s a residential and commercial painting contractor in central Ohio. She’s a natural artist, a trait she inherited from her father and passed on to her daughter. She’s truly gifted, yet has struggled to grow her young business.

His name is Rob. He wants to achieve financial freedom at a young age. Yet, fresh out of college, he has mountains of debt. He makes a good salary, but most of it goes to paying school loans and everyday expenses. He manages to save and invest $100 a month, but feels like he’s making little progress.

These are all true stories.

Keeping an eye on your credit score may be more important than you think — even if you haven't had to use it yet. After all, you'll need good credit if you hope to take out a car loan, rent an apartment, or get a mortgage to buy your first home.

Most life changes go through three major steps.

At the start is the “honeymoon phase.” You’re enamored with the big goal you’ve set for yourself. You’re having fun exploring all the new changes you’re making in your life. It’s all novel and interesting. You’re seeing those first steps of progress and it’s super exciting.

At the end is the actual achievement of the goal, which feels great. You did it! You’re able to retire with a healthy retirement income. You’re able to finally launch your business. You’ve lost X pounds. That’s fantastic!

It’s the middle that’s the problem.

The “boring middle” is all of those steps that have to happen after the excitement of the “honeymoon period” wears off but before you even get close to the goal (it can get kind of exciting once you get pretty close to the goal and the destination starts to feel like it’s about to happen).

Let’s face it. Most of us, at one point or another, have been faced with a financial emergency, or a plain, old-fashioned cash crunch. It’s definitely not a fun spot to be in. While there are steps we can take to avoid such situations (more on that later), that’s often the last thing on our minds when we need to come up with money — quick.

To assist, I’ve compiled the following list of money-making ideas. While some of the items included are more lucrative than others (you’ll never get rich taking surveys, for example), they all share a common theme: making money fast. Ready? Let’s dive in.

And before anyone mentions it, yes we're aware of the irony of publishing an article about making money fast at a website called Get Rich Slowly.

Are office solicitations becoming a regular drain on your paycheck?

Last week, it was the IT woman asking if you'd buy overpriced gift wrap to support her daughter's music program.

Habits play such an important role in every aspect of your life. And those habits, good or bad, are reflected in your finances.

Some of our habits are small, almost insignificant. Over time, though, they have a large effect. There are little things that I've done over many years that have had outsized results. Individually, they don't move the needle. But they're like little course corrections on the cruise ship of life. A little change early on, repeated and compounded over many years, can have a significant impact.

When you add them together, they can help you achieve things you never thought possible.

Mary wrote in with a great question:

Loved your article about personal finance and time and philosophy. I had a question about the last part, about figuring out what you want out of life. I know what I want my life to be like but it feels like an impossible leap from where my life is right now. What do you do if the life you have now and the commitments and financial situation make the life you want impossible to reach?

This is a common problem that happens to people when they start to really figure out what they want out of life. Often, they’ve already made a lot of fundamental life decisions that have given them a lot of responsibilities. They’ve committed to a career path and invested a lot of money in training for it (by going to college). They might be married. They might have children. They might have very limited financial resources.

Back when I was in college, a friend consistently asked for extensions on her essays.