11 Tools That Will Save You Time with Content Marketing

Quality content marketing takes a lot of time and effort—there’s just no way around it.

But there are, of course, some marketers who accomplish more than others and in less time.

I’d like to see you become one of those efficient content marketers, if you’re not one already.

There are a few ways to become faster, and one of the best is to use tools.

There are a ton of tools out there—some good, some bad. Some save you time, but some may actually cost you time.

I’ve put together a list of 11 tools that I’ve tried at the very least or use on a regular basis.

Instead of having to test out a ton of tools, I hope you can take my word that these are quality tools that will save you time. This, coincidentally, will save you even more time. 

Get content ideas, fast

All content marketing begins with content. It’s in the name after all.

As you might know, a content idea can determine the success or failure of the content before you even start.

It’s important to get it right, and it’s a difficult thing to do.

Naturally, it can take a lot of time.

However, you can speed up the process significantly by using the tools in this section.

1. Feedly: One of the most popular techniques to come up with content ideas is to look at content being published on other popular blogs and then improve upon it or extend it.

What you might do is compile a list of blogs you really like and then visit them when you need to come up with a few ideas.

A huge waste of time.

Instead, use an RSS reader (Feedly is arguably the best), which allows you to collect all the posts published from multiple sources all in one place.

You can quickly scan the titles to see if any pique your interest and click through if you need to.

Once you add a bunch of sites to your new Feedly account, you’ll log in to a page like this:

If you visited those 7 blogs individually to find those posts, it would take at least a few minutes. Instead, it takes a few seconds.

That doesn’t sound like much, but it adds up over time.

To add a site to your account, type in a site name in the search bar:

That should bring up the site you’re looking for. Just click the little plus icon next to the blog name, and you’ll automatically have all its posts added to your feed as they’re published.

2. TrendSpottr: If you’re able to create content on a trending topic before competitors do, it’s good not only for your reputation but also for getting a lot of extra traffic.

Spotting trends isn’t easy even if you’re an expert in the field.

This tool focuses on spotting trending content, hashtags, phrases, and even influencers before everyone else catches on.

You might not be the first, but you’ll be way ahead of most of your competition.

It’s a simple tool to use. You pick a search term, e.g., “content marketing,” and then a label inside the tool, e.g., “trending influencers.” The tool then finds the most trending users who post about that subject.

Use the tool to build relationships with up and comers and to create content around trending phrases and hashtags.

Create better content, efficiently

The better your content is, the easier it will be to promote, and the better results you will get (traffic, conversions, etc.).

Tools can help you create higher quality content, and the best tools can help you do it faster as well.

I have a few tools here that you should give a try when the time is right.

3. Easel.ly: Creating images is one of the most time-consuming and expensive parts of creating great content.

Great images can turn good content into amazing content.

Easel.ly is a tool that allows even the design-challenged like me to create some fairly attractive infographics.

Of course, they don’t compare to the ones I get designed for hundreds of dollars, but if you need a decent infographic on a budget, give this tool a try.

To use it, create an account and then select a free template:

Next, you can click on any main element and change the text and alignment and even add shapes and backgrounds to it:

It’s designed to be as simple as possible, and you’ll have it figured out after using it for a few minutes.

4. Canva: This is another tool that can help you create great images without needing a great designer (I even wrote a guide to creating custom images with it).

Most of the time, you don’t need a full infographic, just small images for your content to make it more attractive. That’s where Canva comes in.

The tool has several different templates to choose from for social media posts, blog posts, and more:

You can also create an image with custom dimensions.

Depending on which template you choose, there will be different templates available in the “layouts” tab:

The canvas on the right is fully editable. You just click and drag, or click and type.

You can create great-looking images under 5 minutes—once you get good with Canva.

5. Hemingway Editor: We’ve looked at images but not your text. Great content needs to be well written.

“Well written” can mean a lot of different things:

• Good grammar
• Proper spelling
• Easy to read

This tool can help you with all of them.

To use it, paste your text, and the tool will indicate your mistakes by highlighting them in different colors:

Here’s an excerpt from my Beginner’s Guide to Online Marketing, and you can see that it’s not perfect.

While there aren’t any huge mistakes (no red), there are areas for improvement (in yellow and blue).

I re-wrote those sentences until the tool indicated that the problems were fixed, as shown below:

The reading grade level went from 8 to 7, which is generally a good thing. In addition, it got more concise, going from 189 words to 171 (almost a 10% reduction).

Stay focused on your task

If, in addition to marketing, you’re responsible for writing content, it’s important that you become an efficient writer.

A key part of that is not getting distracted or procrastinating.

The tools here will help you focus like a laser.

6. StayFocused: The name of this tool gives away its use. It’s a free Chrome plugin that allows you to block distracting websites.

Once you install it, go into its settings and choose which sites you’d like to block:

You can choose the “nuclear option,” which blocks all websites for the time period you specify.

Or you can add a few websites that waste most of your time to your “blocked sites” list.

7. Tomato Timer: There are many productivity techniques you can use to stay focused. One of the most well-known is called the pomodoro technique.

The basic idea is to break up your work into 25-minute periods with 5-minute breaks in between.

It’s a short enough time that you won’t feel too fatigued, but long enough that you maximize the amount of work you can do.

This is a simple timer built for this technique:

 

Keep organized so that you’re not doing things twice

Redundancy kills efficiency.

If you have to repeat keyword research or continuously sort through lists of outreach targets, you’ll waste hours of your time.

The only prevention is good organization. There are some really great tools that can help you keep everything in order.

8. Trello: Trello is a free project management tool. It’s built to be used by teams, but it is also useful for keeping your personal work organized.

It allows you to create “boards,” almost like one of those cork boards that people hang on walls, and then to create “cards” for them.

Create one board for each main thing you want to keep organized. For example, you might have one for your content schedule (with cards for content published, upcoming content, and content ideas) and another one for your promotional work.

On each board, you can create as many lists as you’d like and add cards to each of those lists. Here’s what a board for content ideas might look like:

You can edit the cards as well as drag and drop them from list to list.

Finally, it helps keep you organized by sending you reminders before the due date.

One more feature that you might want to use is the “add members” option, which can be found in the menu of any board.

 

Members can be assigned to particular cards so that they get notified of changes and due dates.

Improve the efficiency of your promotion

Even if your content is great, it won’t do much for you until you promote it.

You can do all your promotion manually, and it will work. But a lot of promotion is tedious, repetitive work that can be automated by tools.

You can save tens of hours a month by using the tools in this section for outreach.

9. ContentMarketer.io: This is a really thorough tool that helps you streamline all parts of content promotion.

I can’t give you a full overview here, but I’ll show you a few features.

You can upload your content or enter a URL of content you published into the tool:

The tool then scans your content for keywords and finds influencers based on those keywords.

But it finds more than the names—it also finds their email addresses and Twitter accounts.

You can easily make quick edits to the list until you’re happy with it.

The final main feature is that you can quickly email or send a message on Twitter to all those people. You can use a template if you’d like.

I recommend choosing one of my personal templates as I’ve tested them thousands of times.

10. Buffer: If you’re doing any promotion on social media, Buffer is the first tool you need to have in your toolkit.

It allows you to connect all your major social media accounts (Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Pinterest) and to manage them.

In addition, you can post to multiple networks at once from within Buffer.

Another big feature is that you can schedule posts to be shared ahead of time. Once you set a schedule (in your settings), you can add posts to your queue:

Buffer will post them in the order you’ve laid out. You can drop and drag them around as you please.

You can either create these posts inside Buffer itself or add the Buffer extension to your browser.

When you come across content that you want to share, you can use the plugin to quickly add the article you want to share.

Another useful feature of Buffer is result evaluation.

The tool makes it easy to see which posts are the most and least popular. You can learn by studying the data and use those lessons to get more shares and traffic in the future.

11. Narrow.io: Narrow is a tool specifically designed for Twitter.

It finds the best people to connect with based on the keywords you enter.

The big appeal is that a lot of the following/unfollowing research and activity is automated by the tool, saving you a ton of time.

It is not a free tool, however, so I only recommend it if you’re serious about growing a Twitter following.

Conclusion

Once you have the knowledge to be a great content marketer, you need to implement it.

Good marketers know how to make use of available tools to not only keep their work at a consistently high quality but also save time that could be spent elsewhere.

I’ve shown you 11 tools here that can save content marketers’ time, but there are definitely some good ones that I might have missed.

If there are any other tools you absolutely love and use on a regular basis, I’d appreciate it if you shared them in a comment below with me and everyone else.

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Questions About Hail Damage, Inheritance, Startups, Cheapness and More!

What’s inside? Here are the questions answered in today’s reader mailbag, boiled down to summaries of five or fewer words. Click on the number to jump straight down to the question.
1. Hail damage question
2. Other views on “cheapness”
3. Withdrawing money from index funds
4. First steps toward investing
5. Starting out with 529 plans
6. Inherited cash
7. Inherited debts
8. Banking startup companies
9. Disability income and benefits
10. Navigating expenses after salary reduction
11. Buying life insurance for anyone?
12. 401(k) withdrawals while on disability

On this day when federal income taxes are due, I wanted to give a shout out to the Tax Filing Simplification Act of 2016, which I think is a sorely needed piece of legislation.

So, here’s the idea behind it. The IRS already has all of the data that we’re putting into our tax returns. They have copies of our W-2 forms and our 1099 forms already in hand. All that happens when we file our taxes is that they match the numbers we submit up with their database and then check for anomalies.

The proposal here essentially turns the tables. In February or March, most Americans would receive what amounts to an already-completed tax form from the IRS, with all of the work already done and standard deductions and typical tax credits already assumed based on the tax forms from the previous year. Most people would just sign the form and return it, while some people might send back a revised version with more deductions on it.

This would essentially eliminate most of the tax preparation industry, but it would save most Americans varying amounts of money, anywhere from $10 to thousands of dollars.

There is no rational reason why our tax filing process needs to be as complicated and fraught with confusion and challenges as it is. I’ve received dozens of tax questions from readers in the last month or two and virtually all of them would be solved instantaneously by this system.

Q1: Hail damage question

I recently got caught in a hailstorm driving to work. My 2013 Hyundai Accent, which I have no debt on, took a major pounding—cracked windshield, broken taillight, a tiny hole in the front bumper and dented hood and roof.

My insurance totaled the car and handed me a check. However, the car is still driveable. I took it to an auto shop and they said they could make the basic repairs for a reasonable amount, but repairing or replacing all of the parts would essentially be the same cost to me as buying a new car.

You’ve written before how you believe a good car should be able to reliably get you from point A to point B. A car’s appearance means nothing to me and I’m fine with driving this vehicle into the ground.

Should I get a new car or make only the necessary repairs, leaving my hood and roof dinged up, but with $2,000 more in my wallet? What are the pros and cons?
– Marcus

I’d keep driving it, but do it under the understanding that if something else happens to the car that damages the functionality, your insurance company won’t pay anything.

Most of the time, in a situation where your car has been “totalled” by the insurance company, they won’t insure it for anything more than liability insurance. Thus, if you render this car undriveable in the future, you won’t receive any compensation for it. You’ll just need to replace it out of pocket.

So, in your shoes, I’d stick with this car for now, but I’d start saving for the replacement for this car down the road.

Q2: Other views on “cheapness”

I live in Mexico and as you may have heard Mexicans have a close relationship with family (including parents and siblings) even after marriage. I like that, but I have this problem: my wife and I are not the kind of people that try to keep up with the Joneses. However; my brother has an expensive lifestyle and he thinks I am cheap because I do not spend the way he does. My wife and I have a good income but we like to save some money for the future. Can you give me an advice to stop caring about his opinion? I mean, sometimes I really don’t care but he is my brother and at some point I feel bad about what he thinks of me.
– Neal

You really need to stop worrying about what your brother thinks. Your brother is operating from a different set of values than you are. He values and cares about material things much more than you do.

There’s nothing wrong with that per se, but many people feel as though others who are not operating with the same set of values as them are actually insulting them in some subtle way, so they often feel the need to insult those who do not share their values. Not all people do this, but a lot of people do, and it’s often people who haven’t spent a lot of time thinking about their personal values and why they hold them and why other people might hold different values. Once you’ve done that, it becomes kind of silly to insult people who hold different values than you.

If you want to bring your brother around to your way of thinking, which I think is your underlying goal here, start sharing some personal finance articles with him. Look online for some articles that really sum up your view on things, summarizing how frugality is a tool for achieving personal finance success while still being fulfilling, and share them with him.

For instance, you might simply tell him that you don’t want to live on the paycheck-to-paycheck treadmill any more, that you’re willing to give up some things for personal freedom, and this is the path that you’re following. This approach isn’t a guarantee of the results you want from your relationship with your brother, but it’s a pleasant way to show him your perspective without conflict.

Q3: Withdrawing money from index funds

What’s the process (and penalties) for removing money from index funds? Similarly, when you are to the point of removing money from your index funds to live on when you’re financially independent, what does that look like?
– Tammy

If you have money in a typical index fund that’s not in a retirement account or anything else – such as money invested directly through Vanguard in a taxable account – withdrawing money is pretty painless. In fact, it’s a lot like withdrawing money from a savings account. You just go to their website and indicate how much money you want to withdraw and Vanguard will “sell” enough shares from that index fund to free up the amount of cash you want and then transfer it to your checking account. You can do it with just a few clicks.

The only penalty you need to worry about in this situation is the income taxes. Usually, selling investments from an ordinary taxable account triggers capital gains tax, which you’ll have to pay at the end of the year. Let’s say you originally invested $10,000 and then the investment grew to $25,000. When you sell that investment, you’ll be taxed on that $15,000 that you gained while it was invested. Long term capital gains are taxed at 15%, so you’d have to pay $2,250 in taxes on those gains.

When you’re financially independent, you can tell Vanguard to sell off a certain dollar amount of your index fund investment each month and transfer it to your checking account. They’ll send you a form at the end of the year that will help you with taxes, but a good approach is to save 15% of what you withdraw for taxes. So, let’s say you need $4,000 a month to live on. You’d want to withdraw an extra amount – I’d withdraw 15% more than $4,000, or $4,600 a month – and then save the extra for taxes – in this case, $600 a month.

Tammy has a follow-up question.

Q4: First steps toward investing

We were going to get started with about $10k from a CD that just matured. We also have $30k in a money market savings account that earns basically nothing. It’s our “we both lose our jobs” emergency fund, which we plan to never tap. But should we need to tap it, we’d like it to be relatively liquid. Would you put that into an index fund, as well?
– Tammy

I would generally not put money in the stock market unless I had a specific goal for that money and that goal was more than a decade down the road or that investment will be slowly withdrawn over a very long period that’s ideally significantly more than a decade (like retirement or some other form of long-term support).

If you don’t have a goal, or your goal is shorter term, I would put your money into that very savings account or money market account that you decry.

There are several advantages to such an account that you’re overlooking. First, savings accounts are FDIC insured, which means you can’t lose money on balances lower than $250,000. They’re also really flexible – you can get cash out with incredible ease. They do earn a return, though it’s a small one, so you’re basically guaranteed to move in a positive direction, albeit slowly.

Putting that money in the stock market means that, based on past performance, you’ll earn a higher average annual return. However, that annual return is an average – there are one, three, and five year periods in the stock market where the overall return is negative, which means that you’ve lost money on your investment. It’s actually quite possible that your investment is worth less in five years than it is right now. That risk really only balances itself out over the long term, at least according to historical data.

Basically, investing in stocks comes with significant risk, one that you can mitigate but only over a lot of years. If you’re not going to be in stocks for a lot of years, it doesn’t make sense to take on that risk.

Q5: Starting out with 529 plans

I’ve been wanting to open up 529s for my children for a few years now and just do not know how to sort through all the information to make the best decision for my family. My husband and I make over 200K gross, adjusted I think was around 150. We are not maxed out on our 401K/403b accounts around 10% each. I want to open up 529s for our children and want something direct sold, low cost, and does decent. They are 1.5 and 5 years of age. We live in Hawaii and there is no one (with savings for college) to help me comb through it all to help. Hawaii does not have any tax breaks for joining the state’s 529. However, I was also reading about tax-efficient investing. What should I do? Where do I start? We have a huge mortgage (and a second mortgage on our rental that is being covered by the rent) and after our bills and budgeted spending, we manage to still save about 2100/month, 200 dollars of which are budgeted for college education savings. We’re still trying to build an emergency fund of 6 months, which for us is about 37K. We want to have a little bit more because we have a rental and if my husband’s parents are unable to pay their share of the mortgage (1400) then we need to be able to cover that as well. Housing is expensive in Hawaii. I am still trying to pay off my student loans, which is still at 60K. I currently pay my standard 465/month plus an additional 600/month to it at this time (the 600 is budgeted as bill pay, not savings).
– Nina

The advantage of a 529 is that any money gained in the 529 account is free from federal taxes if used for educational purposes. Some states do offer additional benefits for residents of those states where the money contributed to the 529 is an additional break on state income taxes, but not all states offer that and the benefit is usually much smaller than the educational use tax break you’ll get later on. I think a 529 is still useful for you.

I think your overall savings plan seems reasonable and the $200 per month for college savings is reasonable, too. Your question is, obviously, what should you be doing with it.

In your shoes, I’d start looking at lists of the best 529 plans for non-residents. I generally agree with FinAid.org’s listing of these plans. They suggest that the best 529 plans for non-residents are, in no particular order:

All of the TIAA-CREF plans except Kentucky (which is not open to non-residents): Idaho, Mississippi, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Vermont, California, Connecticut, Georgia, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, New York.
Pennsylvania
Iowa
Hawaii
Illinois
Utah
Nebraska
College Savings Bank

I live in Iowa, so I use the Iowa plan and get the additional tax benefit. I am very happy with Iowa’s plan.

I’d look at the plans on that list and choose one that works well for you.

Q6: Inherited cash

The money from a money market was given to daughter upon death of the owner. Is this full amount taxable?
– Sandra

If your daughter simply inherited cash from an estate for which the estate taxes have already been paid (that’s their responsibility, not yours), the inheritance is yours without federal taxes and without taxes in most states, either. Only a few states have inheritance taxes and they’re almost all limited to very large inheritances.

From TurboTax’s reference on this: “The eight states that impose an inheritance tax include Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Maryland, Nebraska, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Tennessee.” If you live in those states, you’ll want to look into the specifics.

My guess is that this is a small amount, so it’s very likely that you won’t owe any taxes at all!

Q7: Inherited debts

Can you tell me if I can go after bad debts from an apartment building that I purchased?
– Charlotte

If I’m understanding you correctly, you acquired an apartment building that previously had renters that did not pay their rent to the previous owners.

In that case, unless those debts were also sold to you, you have no grounds to go after those debts. Those debts are owed to the previous owner of the apartment building, as the debts were incurred due to an arrangement between that owner and the renter. That has nothing to do with the building itself.

So, unless you purchased the debts, too, you can’t go after those bad debts.

Q8: Banking startup companies

Could you please give your views on saving startups in the US, specifically Qapital Inc.?
– Quentin

First of all, there are a lot of savings startups in the United States. Qapital is one. SmartyPig is another. I could list many of them.

They tend to operate in a similar fashion. Many of them are focused on having great user experiences, with some going for a full-featured approach while others are going minimalist. Most are associated with a larger bank in some fashion, allowing that larger bank to handle the actual accounts and banking regulations. They’re required to use banking industry level security, so they’re each as secure as any other bank. Many of them offer different “perks,” such as the ability to get withdrawals in the form of gift cards with a small bonus attached to the value of the card.

I don’t really have a strong feeling about them one way or another. They mostly just offer user tweaks that enable people to manage their accounts in a way that’s appealing to them.

Q9: Disability income and benefits

I’m a disabled veteran and I’m trying to file my taxes. I haven’t seen any forms come in the mail and this is the first time I will be filing with getting a disibility income. I’m trying to figure out what form (W-2, 1099) I need and where can I get it?
– Eric

Disability income is not considered earned income. In the words of TurboTax: “Worker’s comp and service-connected veteran’s disability payments aren’t taxable and don’t need to be reported on your return.”

In other words, you don’t have to pay taxes on it and you don’t even need to report it. You shouldn’t have any tax forms related to it.

Breathe easy, my friend!

Q10: Navigating expenses after salary reduction

I am a single parent, with one child at home in college and three others mostly out on their own. I lost my husband two years ago. The house was in his name and it has been sold by heirs. My mother left her children some money when she passed away. With that I bought a home at the age of 56 and my daughter and I live here. I am a journalist who made about $42,000 a year until recently when new owners raised insurance greatly. Now I make about $36,000. I barely had room to make my mortgage payment, even though it was low, about $450, and I sometimes had to use remaining inheritance money, which is in an inherited IRA. It was difficult imagining doing this until I was in my 80s. I decided to pay off the remaining mortgage last year. I hadn’t figured adequate taxes and the tax bill for 2015 greatly reduced my inherited IRA. It was a shock, I’ve got to say. I do have aother IRA. Now I guess I’m having “payer’s remorse.” But I truly was unable to make my monthly house payments, while still helping two children with some of their expenses. It’s done, but any hand-holding you can give would be most appreciated. thanks you so much.
– Nadine

So, right now, you have a fully paid for home. You make $36,000 a year. However, you now have less saved for retirement than you originally expected. You have four children, three of which are independent and another which is close to it (as soon as she finishes college). You’re getting fairly close to retirement age and are concerned you now won’t have enough to retire according to your previous plans. That’s my understanding of your situation.

Given that situation, the first thing I’d do is take a look at my Social Security benefits statement. What do those benefits look like? How much will you be receiving annually at various ages, and how close is that to the amount you’ll need to live on?

The ground you’ll have to make up in retirement is the difference between your Social Security income and how much you think you’ll need each year, so the next real step is to figure out what you’ll need each year. Start by looking at your own annual spending right now, minus what you spend on your daughter who will be independent by then. Will that spending go down when you retire? It’ll likely go down somewhat, as you won’t need to commute for work or buy work clothes (I’m not sure what your wardrobe requires) or incur any other work-related expenses (like eating out).

Likely, there’s still going to be a gap between what you need and what Social Security can provide you. Figure out that annual amount and multiply it by 25. That’s roughly what you need to have saved between all of your retirement accounts to have enough money to cover what you think you need in retirement. Hopefully, it’s close.

If you find you have a lot of ground to make up, you have several options. Obviously, you need to save as much as humanly possible for retirement starting right now. You may also need to consider working a bit later than you planned, especially so that you can kick in your Social Security benefits at the last possible year to get the largest benefit that you can (making your gap smaller). You may also want to consider things like downsizing your home and moving to somewhere smaller when your last child leaves the nest, as the extra money from the sale will stay in your pocket.

I don’t think you’re in a bad situation, especially not compared to many other people your age.

Q11: Buying life insurance for anyone?

When buying life insurance, can one buy a policy for another person if they are not related as family or employee, if Purchaser is also beneficiary?
– Sarah

The only way you can buy a life insurance policy for someone else is when you have what is called “insurable interest” in that person’s welfare, meaning that you would be adversely impacted financially if that person were to die.

In cases of immediate family and of employees, this is easy to prove, but outside of that, you’re going to have to show the insurance company clear evidence of insurable interest to be able to get that policy. Insuring someone without their consent or without insurable interest is considered insurance fraud.

In general, it’s difficult to buy policies for people besides yourself, your spouse, your children, your parents, or your employees because proving that you have “insurable interest” in such a person becomes very tricky.

Q12: 401(k) withdrawals while on disability

I am a 100% service connected disabled veteran. I am on disability retirement from the state of NC as well, I have a 401k from my my County, as a Detention Offier. Can I withdraw/cash out my 401k without tax penalty? I also get social security, disability, retirement. I am 57 years old.
– Taylor

Your disability income is tax free. Your 401(k) income is not tax free, but in the description you gave, it would be your only taxable income, so the amount of taxes you would pay on it would be very low. In fact, for small annual withrawals, you’d pay zero taxes on it.

Since I don’t know the full specifics of your situation, my honest recommendation is to visit with a tax preparer to figure out the details. This situation can probably be handled out of season, however.

Good luck!

Got any questions? The best way to ask is to follow me on Facebook and ask questions directly there. I’ll attempt to answer them in a future mailbag (which, by way of full disclosure, may also get re-posted on other websites that pick up my blog). However, I do receive many, many questions per week, so I may not necessarily be able to answer yours.

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Oil Prices Dive after OPEC Fails on Doha Deal

Oil Prices Dive after OPEC Fails on Doha Deal

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12 Simple, Eco-Friendly Ways to Save Money

The first thing we noticed when we moved into our new home was the hot water was burning us.

Fortunately, I fixed it by simply adjusting the temperature setting on the hot water heater. No more burns, and it’s good for the environment to use less electricity or gas to heat the water.

But it was also good for our bank account.

Using House Logic’s guide to reducing your hot water heater energy use, I figure we’ll save $40 per year by keeping the setting lower.

If the idea sounds good to you, here are a dozen more habits for saving money while going green.

1. Use the Sun to Save Money

You don’t need expensive equipment to do a little solar heating.

Just open the curtains on the south side of the house during winter days to let the sun shine in. And open the drapes on east-facing windows in the morning (if they’re not shaded).

Of course, the opposite is true when you need to keep the house cool.

Close drapes on the sunny side to keep out sunlight. And if you want to really go green — and save more money on heating and cooling — you can apply passive solar design to a new or existing home.

2. Drink Tap Water

I was so happy to taste the tap water when we recently moved back to Colorado from Florida. It’s delicious!

Immediately we ended our $250-per-year bottled water habit — and we’d been drinking the cheap bottled water.

What about the environmental impact? The Water Project says:

• It takes three liters of water to package one liter of bottled water.

• Water bottles can take 1,000 years to biodegrade, and if incinerated they produce toxic fumes.

• Making water bottles for U.S. demand alone takes more than 1.5 million barrels of oil.

If you can, drink from the tap. We also keep a bottle of tap water in the fridge to take with us when we drive anywhere.

3. Develop Green Laundry Habits

There are a number of ways to save money doing your laundry — and almost all of them are also environmentally friendly.

Here are some of the best green and frugal habits, according to these various sources, along with the potential annual savings:

• Wash in cold water ($40)

• Use less detergent ($80)

• Line-dry your clothes ($85)

• Skip the fabric softener ($65)

• Replace the old washer ($55)

• Run full loads (savings vary)

• Keep the dryer lint trap clean (savings vary)

4. Hunt Down and Put an End to Energy Vampires

The U.S. Department of Energy says energy vampires — electronics and appliances that keep using power when turned off — can add 10% to your electrical bill.

For example, phone chargers keep sucking down power even when you’re not charging, and a digital cable box can add more than $40 per year to your bill if you don’t unplug it between uses.

But who wants to run around unplugging things all the time?

Instead, plug electronics into power strips that have an on/off button so you can easily cut the power to the TV and DVD player with a flip of a switch.

5. Walk and Bicycle More

If the store is nearby and you only need to carry a few things, just walk. Use a bicycle for slightly longer trips.

Depending on how many places are within reasonable walking and biking distance, you can significantly reduce your car-related expenses — and you’ll put a lot less pollution into the air.

6. Use Public Transportation

When we lived in Tucson, Arizona, my wife and I bought unlimited bus passes for $40 per month, and we went without a car for a while.

A car certainly costs more than the $80 we spent for monthly transportation, and there are at least five ways public transit helps the environment.

Even if you own a car, you can save money using public transportation. Take the bus or train on longer cross-town trips that would eat up more gas, or to avoid paying for parking.

7. Get an Energy Audit

A home energy audit can identify easy-to-correct energy waste issues in your home, and many utility companies offer them for free or a small charge.

If the cost of a professional audit or assessment is too high for you, just do it yourself. The U.S. Department of Energy has a video to walk you through the process.

8. Change Your Diet

Many scientists think a plant-based diet is better for the planet (and people), and recent headlines saying they may be worse for the environment are largely discredited.

It seems eating healthier in general, especially eating fewer calories and less red meat, is the green way to go.

To make your new dietary habits green and frugal, base your meals on inexpensive healthy staples, like rice and beans. See my post on how to eat healthy on a budget for more tips.

9. Stop Those Water Leaks

Leaky faucets and showers are bad enough, but constantly running toilets can be really expensive.

A moderately leaky flapper can cost you $70 per month!

Given the potentially high cost of this wasted water, it’s probably worth $5 or so to buy and install a new flapper if you ever hear the toilet running in the middle of the night.

10. Vacation Closer to Home

One poll shows 36% of people vacation closer to home to minimize their environmental impact.

Of course, this green habit can also save you a lot of money.

11. Dress Warmer

One of the easiest ways to save on your heating bill is to simply turn down the thermostat.

You can knock $10 per month off your winter heating bill for each degree you lower the setting.

To do so comfortably, you may have to start another new habit and wear warmer clothes around the house.

12. Have Fewer Kids

OK, some of you won’t like this next suggestion, but according to many reports, kids are one of the biggest threats to our planet.

Well, having too many of them may be the problem. And in any case, the average cost to raise a child to the age of 18 is $245,000.

So, perhaps the biggest thing you can do differently to be “greener” and save a ton of money is to choose to have one child less than you’d originally planned.

Your Turn: Do you have some green money-saving habits you can add to this list?

Steve Gillman is the author of “101 Weird Ways to Make Money” and creator of EveryWayToMakeMoney.com. He’s been a repo-man, walking stick carver, search engine evaluator, house flipper, tram driver, process server, mock juror, and roulette croupier, but of more than 100 ways he has made money, writing is his favorite (so far).

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Filling Prescriptions? You’re Probably Paying Way Too Much for Them

Like many people, to best live my life, I have to take daily prescription medications to manage chronic medical issues.

However, prescription drugs can be expensive — and the prices keep increasing. Plus, the high cost of insurance can put them out of reach for many adults.

Not long ago, I was without insurance. With a degree in social work and a background in the nonprofit arena, I wasn’t exactly rolling in cash to pay for my medication.

Looking for solutions to my dilemma, I discovered a few ways to save money on prescription drugs. Here’s how I get the medication I need, for less.

1. Check for Generic Equivalents

This one’s simple, but you’d be surprised how many people overlook it.

Ask your doctor or pharmacist if the drug you’re prescribed has a generic equivalent.

Generic medications contain the same active ingredients, and are the same strength, dose and form, as their brand-name equivalents. The only real difference is the cost.

Generally speaking, there’ll be a generic version of any medication that’s been on the market for some time. If the medication you’re being prescribed isn’t extremely new, always check for a generic equivalent.

2.  Ask About Prescription Assistance Programs

Ask the drug manufacturer to see if it offers a prescription assistance program for your medication.

Many manufacturers of prescription drugs that don’t have generic equivalents offer programs through which they sell the medication at a reduced cost — or even for free.

To see if your medication has an assistance program available, check with your doctor or pharmacist, or do an online search with your drug name.

Last year, I was able to use a prescription assistance program to help a family member who was prescribed a very expensive medication with no generic equivalent.

His insurance helped with a large portion of the cost, but he was still left to pay $589 per month out of pocket. Through the prescription assistance program, he was able to get his medication for free.

In addition, a prescription assistance program covers the full $100-per-month out-of-pocket cost for one of my medications.

3. Look for Coupons or Rebates

Before you pay full price out of pocket, search for coupons or rebates for your prescription medication.

Several websites, such as Needy Meds, will do the research for you and can help you save up to 70%.

4. Shop Around for Pharmacies

Different pharmacies sometimes charge different prices for the same medication.

Before you get your prescription filled, call or stop by a few different local pharmacies to see what they charge individuals without insurance.

Or research your options without leaving your house using sites like GoodRx and LowestMed. Simply search for the name of your medication and they’ll list the cost of the drug at nearby pharmacies.

5. Ask About Pharmacy Discount Programs

While you’re comparing prices at pharmacies, ask about possible discount programs.

Some discount programs are specific to individual pharmacies, such as the Rite Aid Rx Savings Program and Walgreens Prescription Savings Club.

Others work at almost any pharmacy. For example, Drugs.com offers a discount card with savings up to 80% off medications, and LowestMed’s discount card saves you up to 70%.

For maximum savings, ask your pharmacy if you can combine its discount program with one of the above non-pharmacy-specific discount cards.

6. Consider Shopping Online

Some companies buy prescription medications directly from the drug manufacturers and sell them to individuals — which can help you save money.  

Since the FDA doesn’t approve pharmacies, these companies are licensed by the states they’re located in.

For example, Health Warehouse is licensed to directly distribute medication to individuals in all 50 states, and it ships your prescription straight to your home.

Blink Health works a little differently; rather than sending medication to individuals, the company distributes medication to patients’ pharmacies. After you submit your prescription online, you can pick it up at one of more than 60,000 pharmacies nationwide, including major chains like Walgreens and CVS.

While neither company is accredited through the Better Business Bureau, both have 4+ stars out of five on Google Reviews, with more than 150 reviews each.

How to Save the Most Money on Medications

Often, I’ll combine these tips to get the best possible price for my prescription drugs.

For example, there’s a name brand available for one of my current medications, as well as a generic option. The name brand ranges from $158 to $240 per month, depending on the pharmacy.

If I find a coupon for the medication, it’ll lower the cost to between $87.66 and $158. I can’t spend that much on one prescription per month, especially since I have several daily medications.

If I choose the generic version of the same prescription and use one of the national discount cards, I’ll only pay $31.80 for the same one-month supply.

While I’m thrilled with the low price, it gets even better.

Through Health Warehouse, I was able to buy my one-month supply of this same medication for $16.50 — a potential savings of $223.50 each month on one prescription.   

Prescription medication is expensive, but it doesn’t have to be.

If you’re not able to make your medication more affordable with these strategies, talk to your doctor to see what other options are available.

Your Turn: How have you saved money on prescription medication?

Kelli Lynn has been living well with chronic medical issues since she was a young child. Her goal is to help others living with medical issues to do the same.

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19 Quick Ways to Make $100 Without Getting a Job

When you’ve got the money to spare, $100 may not seem like a lot.

A crispy Benjamin might get you a nice dinner at your favorite restaurant (go ahead, order dessert), or cover your phone bill for a month.

But $100 only goes so far, right?

We disagree.

Since we’ll stop traffic to pick up change, we’ll definitely hustle a little harder to earn $100. If you’re wondering how to make money, there are plenty of ways to do it, too.

Whether you’ve got a special skill, reselling savvy, or want to earn back on the purchases you’ve already made, we’ve figured out some great options for making your next quick $100.

1. Sell Your Unlimited Data Plan

Grandfathered into an amazing unlimited data plan for your phone or tablet?

You can sell that.

If you’re not making use of all those GBs, put it up on eBay — unlimited data plans are selling for between $300 and $2,000 each.

It’s a little more complicated than it sounds — after all, these plans weren’t meant to be resold. But if you’re down with a little loophole dance, this could net you big.

2. Get Price Adjustments With Paribus

My new secret weapon is called Paribus — a tool to get you money back for your online purchases.

It’s free to sign up, and once you do, Paribus will scan your email archives for any receipts.

If it discovers you’ve purchased something from Amazon, Target or one of the other 16 retailers listed on their website, it will track the item’s price and issue you a refund any time there’s a price drop!

For its role in the refund, Paribus charges a 25% commission, billed to your credit card at the end of each month.

Of course, Paribus works best if you shop online a lot. But especially on Amazon, where prices can change any minute, it’s worth having Paribus on your side. You could earn $100 back in a few months.

3. Sell Your Food Packaging

Instead of tossing your food packages in the trash or the recycling bin, why not sell them on Ebay?

Not every piece of trash is created equally, but the “Reward Points/Incentive Program” category is a popular place to sell food packages that can be redeemed in different loyalty programs.

For example, General Mill’s Boxtops for Education sell for around 10 cents each on Ebay and Coca-Cola caps sell for around 25 cents. Even Campbell’s soup labels can be sold for extra money.

Read more about how to sell food packaging here.

4. Get Cash Back From MyPoints

MyPoints is a cash-back site that lets you earn rewards by shopping online and printing coupons.

Want to get started with a free $10 to spend at Walmart? After you sign up, buy your next $20 in groceries on Walmart.com (using the Mypoints portal). Choose in-store pickup for free shipping. Mypoints will reward you with 1,750 bonus points, which you can redeem for a $10 Walmart gift card.

Plus, even better, they give you eight points per dollar you spend at Walmart, which is equal to 5.4% cash back. Sweet!

5. Join an Ipsos Panel

Most of you know surveys aren’t our favorite way to make extra money, but we make an exception when we’re just vegging out on the couch.

We figure as long as we’re just watching TV, there’s no reason we can’t click a few buttons at the same time.

Ipsos Panel is one of the best legitimate paid survey companies out there — the company’s even rated A+ with the Better Business Bureau. You might recognize the name Ipsos from the news because they conduct a lot of the presidential election polling.

Top-end surveys can pay up to $95, but those are rare and can take a while to complete.

Most surveys pay a buck or two and only take 10-15 minutes, making it pretty easy to earn $100 or more per month.

6. Sell Board Game Pieces

Ever seen a board game in the thrift store but noticed with great sadness that it was missing half the pieces?

You might want to put the game in your shopping cart anyway. One Penny Hoarder made $250 in six months selling spare board game pieces online. You can even sell “mystery bags” of pieces for $12 a pop!

It may take some time for your listings to sell, but if you follow Laura’s guide, you can probably make $100 in about three months.

7. Test Websites

Like most of us, you’ve probably commented on how some websites are confusing and others excellent.

Rather than complaining to your spouse or friend, how would you like to make those comments to the owners of the sites and get paid for playing critic?

In fact, you can make $30 per hour as a website tester.

The company is called User Testing. Here’s what the process looks like: you’ll download some software and then when tasks are available, look over a website while your mouse movements, clicks, keystrokes and spoken comments are all recorded as a video.

Afterward, there might be a few questions to answer. But the whole process often takes 15 minutes or less. Cool, right?

How about earning $100 for three hours of website-testing time? Sounds pretty comfortable.

8. Drive With Uber

If you find solace on the road and enjoy finding the best route across town, this is a great way to make money doing it!

As an Uber contractor, you’re responsible for setting your schedule and motivating yourself to work — no one’s keeping tabs on you. You earn 80% of everything you earn as a driver — Uber keeps 20%.

If you want to give it a try, there are a few things to keep in mind.

You must be at least 21 years old, have three years of driving experience, an in-state driver’s license, clean driving record and be able to pass a criminal background check.

Finally, your car must be a four-door, seat at least four passengers (excluding the driver), be registered in-state and covered by in-state insurance.

Here’s a link to apply with Uber. One of our writers in a major city recently rode with an Uber driver who said on weekends, he can typically make $200-$250 in an eight-hour shift. Making $100 for a half-day’s work sounds pretty great, right?

9. Watch and Earn With RewardTV

It’s definitely possible to get paid to watch TV.

RewardTV pays you to answer trivia questions about last night’s TV shows! Do you know who they killed off on Game of Thrones last week? Tell them about it and they’ll pay you.

Know which contestant got kicked off “The Voice” this week? They’ll pay you.

You’re not going to get rich doing this, but it’s a fun way to make an extra $15-$20/month. And it could add up to $100 in about six months if you’re keeping up with all your favorite shows.

10. Braid Horse Manes

Ever wonder how much it costs to maintain a horse’s locks? More than you might think!

Contributor Kat Tretina started braiding the manes and tails of show horses after she learned the task could earn her $100 per horse.

The job requires dexterity and a bit of horse appreciation, but if you live in horse country, it could pay off.

11. Use Swagbucks Search

Use Swagbucks as your default search engine (powered by Yahoo!), and earn SBs — which can be cashed in for Paypal or gift cards.

Plus, you’ll get $5 just for signing up!

One SB is equal to about one cent, so every 100 SBs is about $1. By using Swagbucks Search, you’ll earn about 25-50 cents per day.

And keep an eye out for bonuses to earn you extra SBs and their Rewards page, which sometimes lets you get larger gift cards for fewer SBs.

If you work from home and spend a lot of time online, your 50 cents per day could turn into $100 in about six months.

12. Resell Thrift Store Clothes

Always finding the best brands at thrift stores?

Always feeling disheartened when the awesome bargain isn’t your size? Take it home anyway, and flip it on eBay.

One contributor took a $5 pair of thrift store jeans and sold them online for $50. Can you imagine making $100 just for reselling two pairs of designer jeans?

13. Test Drive a Car

Car dealerships often offer incentives to customers to come in and take a look at their cars.

They’ll give you cash or a gift card just to take a new car for a spin.

For example, Kia dealerships were recently giving $25 to anyone who came in and test drove a new car. How easy is that?

I’ve often seen these incentives go up to $100, which is pretty great considering this takes less than an hour of your time. A great way to find promotions is to check your local newspaper’s classified section.

Pay attention to advertisements on TV as well for national advertising campaigns by major automobile companies.

14. Sell Craft Supplies

Not thrilled about trying to recoup the money you spent on crafty projects by selling them?

Maybe you can earn more — without the time investment — by selling supplies. Contributor Janet Berry-Johnson bought cross-stitch patterns at thrift stores and resold them on Etsy, earning $600 in her online shop’s first five months.

To pick up supplies on the cheap, check thrift stores, Craigslist, Facebook yard sale groups or even craft stores when they’re having major clearance sales.

15. Deliver Groceries

While you’re at the store, earn extra money picking up someone else’s groceries.

Connect with clients through TaskRabbit or Instacart. Pick up and deliver groceries to people in your area who don’t have the time or interest for grocery shopping.

Use these apps to work whenever you want to make some extra money. You might as well pick up a job anytime you’re headed to the store yourself.

Instacart is an app designed solely for grocery pickup and delivery in San Francisco, New York, Chicago, Boston, Washington, Philadelphia and Los Angeles.

After brief training, you can log on to Instacart when you want to work and accept job assignments. Shoppers can earn up to $25 an hour during peak hours, plus occasional tips.

Make $100 in four trips to the store? It’s almost too easy.

Meanwhile, TaskRabbit is a general gig site available in 18 U.S. cities and London. You can pick up tasks from housecleaning to bartending at a private party — or shopping and delivery.

16. Share Stories About Your Kids on Scary Mommy

If you’ve got kids, you’ve got automatic story generators.

From pregnancy fashion choices to dealing with finding your tween daughter’s dating profile, there’s lots to say about parenthood. And on Scary Mommy, it’s “real talk” only — no sanitized, TV-commercial family frolicking in a white-picket-fenced yard.

As long as you have a way with words, you can generate some cash off those face-palm parenting snafus.

Here are eight parenting magazines and blogs that pay contributors, averaging about $100 per submission.

17. Sell Baked Goods

One enterprising woman told us how she makes $500 to $600 each month selling baked goods at farmers’ markets and to her neighbors.

Setting up a baking business is different in every state, but the startup costs are low — you probably already have the supplies and just need to stock up on ingredients.

Just testing the waters? Go into it with a bake-sale mentality and sell small items to friends, family and neighbors. Charge a few bucks for a slice of your best dessert and earning $100 could be a piece of cake.

18. Feed a Cat

Want to make $20 a day just for checking up on Fluffy or Fido?

Sign up for a site like DogVacay and pick up pet-sitting gigs when you’re itching for a few extra bucks. The more care required, the more you tend to get paid.

Walking dogs pays more than feeding cats. Staying overnight with a pet pays more than either of the first two options, and so on.

But hey, when the weather’s nice, those dog walks can be great exercise.

19. Get Paid to Earn Straight A’s

Got big goals for your grades this semester?

Earn cash for studying by signing up for Ultrinsic. Choose an incentive by course, or set a goal for the whole semester to find out what you can get paid for making the grade.

Your Turn: How did you make your last extra $100?

Disclosure: A toast to savings! Thanks for allowing us to place affiliate links in this post.

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Virgin Money launches 40 month 0% balance and money transfer card

Tom Wilson

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Virgin Money has relaunched its market-leading balance transfer card, offering 40 months’ 0% interest for balance transfers and money transfers.

Virgin Money has relaunched its market-leading balance transfer card, offering 40 months’ 0% interest for balance transfers and money transfers.

Fees for balance transfers are 2.59%, or £77.70 when moving £3,000, while there is a 4% fee for a money transfer, or £120 for a £3,000 balance.

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Nearly three in four think the state pension is enough to live on

Helen Knapman

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Nearly three in four (73%) people think the state pension alone would enable them to live comfortably in retirement, according to The Pensions Advisory Service (TPAS) latest ‘Women and Pensions’ survey.

Nearly three in four (73%) people think the state pension alone would enable them to live comfortably in retirement, according to The Pensions Advisory Service (TPAS) latest ‘Women and Pensions’ survey.

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Establish Credibility for Your Work-from-home Business

Sponsored by The UPS Store Running a business from home is a great way to cut costs and keep your schedule flexible, but it can present some unique challenges. One of the biggest challenges is establishing business credibility. Fortunately, there are a number of actions you can take to legitimize your home-based small business. Establish […]

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Live with parents to save for a first home faster

Hannah Nemeth

First-time buyers can significantly reduce the time it takes to save for their first home by moving back with their parents, according to new research.

First-time buyers can significantly reduce the time it takes to save for their first home by moving back with their parents, according to new research.

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How Our Financial Goals Have Changed After 10 Years of Marriage

In December, my husband and I celebrated 10 wonderful years of marriage. And after looking back on all of the memories, the triumphs, and the disappointments we lived through and experienced, we both realized a crucial fact – that, no matter what, neither of us would change a thing.

All of the amazing experiences we had together – including the birth of our two children –led to moments in time we can cherish our whole lives. Our children’s first birthdays, their first days of school, and all of the wonderful moments in between will be etched into our minds for all of eternity.

And, even the bad times had meaning. The miscarriage I had between our oldest and our youngest child, for instance, is the only reason we were blessed with our youngest daughter, Vivian. And the chronic back pain I experienced after each of my pregnancies, while often debilitating, was the main reason we started the online business that provides for our family to this day. Even through pain and despair, we emerged with something better than we had before – something to be grateful for.

As we recognized our anniversary, we also noticed how our view of money has changed over time – and how our new views have transformed our lives. Where we once failed to recognize the power of the money we earned – and the value of the time we spent to earn it – we now see how we wasted our life force for so many years. And now that we know better, we are hell-bent on creating goals with meaning – and achieving them.

How Our Financial Goals Have Changed Over the Years

Yes, 10 years of marriage can change the way you see nearly everything – and it can change your goals, too. Over 10 years, we experienced some of the highest highs and the lowest lows – both in a personal sense and in terms of our finances. Here’s how our financial goals have changed, and why I’m glad they did.

Fast forward 10 years, and now a big house seems absurd.

When my husband and I first got married, we lived in a small apartment on the top floor of a funeral home. Set in an extremely affluent area, our apartment included walking paths through some of our county’s most expensive neighborhoods.

Walking on their perfectly groomed sidewalks, we imagined who lived in these houses, what they did for a living, and their seemingly perfect lives. And we wondered if we, too, would be able to afford a large, stately home one day – the kind with four or five bedrooms, a huge pool in the backyard, and a white picket fence.

Now that we’re older and could afford something nicer, we balk at the idea of a large and expensive home. We already have exactly what we need, and we know we don’t need anything more. And more importantly, we would rather use our extra funds to see the world and save for retirement.

And, let’s face it: Now that we’re no longer in our 20s, a big house just means a bigger mortgage payment, more rooms to clean, more space to heat and cool, and more expensive repairs. While it might look cute from the curb, a big house requires a lot of work – work I am no longer willing to do.

• Related: Why You Should Buy Less House Than You Can Afford

I want less to take care of, not more.

Speaking of large and expensive houses, I have no desire to take care of one. Where I once dreamed of large and professionally-decorated living spaces, I now enjoy my average-sized home with minimal décor – and have no desire to move up or move out.

Where I once shopped for new appliances, home decorations, curtains, and rugs as a hobby, I now look for stuff that will last forever – and I keep it forever.

And where I once collected quite a few items, I now set boxes of “stuff” out on the curb on a regular basis, give away stuff I don’t use on Craigslist, and have an annual garage sale.

While I once wanted “stuff,” I now see it for what it really is – clutter that detracts from our lives. Now that we’ve embraced minimalism, my husband often jokes that we’ll have nothing left when I’m done. Funny enough, I think I would be fine with that.

• Related: Do We Have Our Possessions Backwards? Some Thoughts on the Stuff We Own

We want to help our children live debt-free lives, too.

While we didn’t worry too much about debt in our early 20s, having children gave us a new perspective on life. Actually, it was getting pregnant with a child that convinced us it was time to rein in our spending, get on a budget, and make the most out of every dollar we earned.

But enduring several years of debt and the struggle that came with it taught us one more thing – that we didn’t want our children to fall into debt willingly, either. As a result, some of the newest financial goals we have involve paying for their college education – and potentially their weddings – to help them ease into adulthood without the burden of debt hanging over their heads.

Before we had kids, we only thought of ourselves, but now we think of everything in terms of “us.” And that’s probably part of the reason for our transition towards minimalism, too. The less we have and the less we spend, the more we can save for the future – both ours and our children’s.

What I want more than anything else is time.

I must admit, there was a time in my life when I paid no attention to the hour or what I had accomplished each day. I slept in on weekends, wasted evenings watching all of my favorite television shows, and existed with almost no purpose in life.

But now that we’re older – and especially now that we have children – we take note of every second that ticks by. And we now know each moment we waste doing something we don’t want to do is a moment lost – one we will never get back.

After 10 years of marriage, we finally realize the most important asset we have isn’t money at all; it’s time. And while our children are young especially, we go out of our way to spend as much of it with them as we can.

• Related: ‘Money Cannot Buy What Time Delivers’

We strive for real wealth – not just the illusion of wealth.

When we were young and first figuring things out, we fell into many of the financial traps that plague today’s young people. We traded in cars frequently to keep up appearances, spent money on expensive clothing, and poured thousands of dollars into making our home appear ideal.

Now that we’re older, we realize that how other people see us doesn’t really matter. Plus, we have learned the most important financial lesson of all – that real wealth and the illusion of wealth are two entirely different things.

Cheap and easy credit makes it possible to create the illusion wealth with no basis in reality at all. And now that we’re in our mid-30s, I realize it’s all one big, pointless game. And as my mother would say, “The only way to win is not to play.”

We don’t want to be a burden on our children, or on society.

While we have always wanted to retire, getting older – and having kids – added a sense of urgency to our plans. In our 20s and without kids, it was easy to see retirement as some far-off goal we could pursue in the future. But once we had kids and turned 30, we looked around and realized that the time to get serious was now.

With children to take care of and nurture, too, it’s painful to imagine being a burden on them. Where I once wanted to retire only for selfish reasons, my husband and I now see saving for retirement as a way to avoid putting undue burden on our adult children.

They’re only kids now, but they’ll one day grow up and have families of their own – or, at the very least, want to support themselves without taking care of us, too. Both my husband and I are blessed with parents who don’t need financial support, but I know not everyone is so lucky.

After 10 years of marriage and two kids, I now realize that saving for retirement isn’t just for you – it’s for the people who love you as well. And if we all saved more, we would all be better off.

• Related: Some Thoughts on Children and Planning for the Future

The Bottom Line

Marriage is full of ups and downs, but I can say with a full heart that it’s been an amazing journey so far. But most of all, it has been a learning experience. Over the last decade, we’ve learned so much about ourselves and where we’ve been, but also, where we want to be.

In just 10 years, we grew from selfish 20-somethings to middle-aged parents who plan for the future as best as we can. I can only imagine how differently we might see life 10 years from now, or even 10 years after that. Fortunately, I can now say we are doing our best – both for ourselves and our children. Dreams and goals may change, but my love for them never will.

Has marriage or having children changed your financial goals? How do you see things differently today?

Related Articles:

• Six Principles of a Marriage Without Money Fights
• Why Your Spouse Is Your Most Important Money Decision
• What Turning 35 Taught Me About Money

The post How Our Financial Goals Have Changed After 10 Years of Marriage appeared first on The Simple Dollar.

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How This Couple’s Opposite Money Habits Made Their Marriage Stronger

We’ve all heard it before: Money is one of the leading causes of stress in relationships — so make sure your partner has the same views you do.

But what if you fall in love with someone whose money habits are the complete opposite of yours?

Most people would say you’re doomed…

Which is why I loved Britni de la Cretaz’s recent story in DailyWorth.

“Money has never been something I’ve been very good at dealing with,” she writes.

“While this way of living was sort of acceptable for me as a single person, it suddenly became a very big problem when I became one half of a couple.”

Though she and her partner almost split up because of her poor financial habits, they instead figured out a way to make it work.

And now they’re happier — not to mention more financially secure — than ever.

Here’s how they did it…

How This Smart Couple Managed to Make It Work

For de la Cretaz, who’d spent her life “overspending, paying overdraft fees, maxing out credit cards, and falling behind” on bills, her financial illiteracy was one of her “biggest sources of shame.”

And when she moved in with her then-boyfriend, now-husband, she knew she had to change.

Because, as she writes, “Now, when I blew all my money and didn’t have the cash for rent, it wasn’t just me I was screwing over — it became my partner’s problem too.”

Patient at first, her partner eventually became frustrated.

Their “fights over money almost brought [them] to a breaking point” — and that’s when most couples would’ve quit.

Instead, though, they worked together to find a solution.

First, a joint account just for bills — with automatic transfers whenever they got paid.

Second, a weekly money meeting, during which they discuss their spending, saving and long-term goals.

Not only does her husband say this makes their relationship feel “more like a partnership,” she highlights their budgeting and money management as one of the reasons they’re stronger than ever.

“Because we’re being transparent — and holding each other accountable — we’ve achieved a level of intimacy we never had before,” she writes.

“As a team, we know we’ll be able to weather whatever financial storm may come our way because we’re prepared and facing it head on, together.”

I don’t know about you, but those lines gave me ALL the feelings.

They also reminded me, ultimately, it’s not money that matters — it’s communication.

Your Turn: Do you and your partner have similar or differing views on money?

Susan Shain, senior writer for The Penny Hoarder, is always seeking adventure on a budget. Visit her blog at susanshain.com, or say hi on Twitter @susan_shain.

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Pocono Family YMCA sees better days ahead after personnel moves, alleged embezzlement scandal

There’s no one thing that has put the Pocono Family YMCA in Stroudsburg in its predicament. Instead, the 102-year-old organization has faced a litany of economic issues in the past decade — most coming in the past year — that have called for personnel change and reassessment of its parts. A look into the YMCA’s 990 documents — a required informational tax form for tax-exempt organizations — shows, from 2010 to 2014, a steady rise in [...]

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Deeds, Sunday, April 17, 2016

Barrett TownshipTighe J. and Neil A. Scott to Carl and Holly J. Martin, 3 Tracts: Tax ID 1/3/1/6, 1/3/1/6 and 1/2/1/4, $3,850,000Coolbaugh TownshipDE&S Properties Inc. (T/A) Classic Quality Homes to Patrick and Marica Marlon, Lot 127, Section G, A Pocono Country Place, $219,900Jackson TownshipDE&S Properties Inc. (T/A) Classic Quality Homes to Timothy Caldwell and Nicole Boisseau-Caldwell, Lot 2, [...]

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Sherman's trendy listening room enhances crossmarketing

Even nonprofits rely on and update their business strategy.The newly re-named Sherman Showcase, located next to the Sherman Theater at 524 Main St. in Stroudsburg has been reconstituted to musical performance like its big brother next door. It is more eclectic now than in the past where it has hosted mostly heavy metal and punk bands, and also had displayed local artwork. Now, it’s all about the music.The makeover includes new flooring, newly painted walls, a better [...]

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High tech approach for better home improvements

Getting moisture out of a room soaked with water needs careful analysis to be done right, said Erwin Van Uden, owner of Rainbow International of East Stroudsburg, which he started in January. “You don’t just stick fans in there and open windows,” Van Uden said. “You have to consider the laws of psychometrics: vapor pressure and relative humidity. Grains per pound of how much water is in the air.” Van Uden hopes Rainbow’s [...]

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Pocono camp helps kids, young adults lose weight, live healthier lives

For many, entering the lush surroundings of Camp Pocono Trails is like arriving at a luxury vacation resort.With pristine and manicured lawns and trees and a private lake, the 350-acre property in Reeders, Jackson Township, is a welcoming sight.For children, particularly those who arrive convinced that they’re overweight, out-of-shape and have been teased, taunted and bullied by schoolmates and neighbors, sighs of relief are usually instant as they come upon the most [...]

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