In today’s inflation-driven economy, finding the best online outlet stores is essential for consumers looking to save money without sacrificing quality.

What sets these outlets apart is not just their remarkable deals but also their commitment to customer satisfaction. 

Many of these stores boast return policies that are a breath of fresh air compared to traditional wholesalers or liquidators. 

It’s reassuring to know that when you shop at these outlets, you’re not merely taking a chance; you’re buying with confidence. If an item doesn’t meet your expectations or isn’t in great working condition, most of these stores offer a hassle-free return process that … Read more »

This Budget Success Stories Page contains a growing list of Budgeting Ideas from readers like you!

If you want some encouragement about how a budget can revolutionize your personal finances, you’ve come to the right place. We love hearing stories of budgeting success – going from debt to equity, desperation to determination, and seeing the joy of families who have learned to make their money do what they want it to do. Read these stories and be encouraged!

This page contains the following stories:

Budget Success,    Young Adult Success,   Budgets Lift Burdens, Budget with Confidence,  A Child Running A … Read more »

This Banking, Taxes & Charitable Giving Tips Page contains a growing list of money-saving tips from our readers to help you deal with bank fees, tax preparation, and charitable giving!

TABLE OF CONTENTS

1 25x the Interest – FDIC Online Bank2 Budgeting at the Bank3 Check It Out – Banking On It!4 Free Checks – Just Ask5 Having a Plan for Charitable Giving6 Bank Savings7 Banking For Free8 Free Income Tax Preparation9 Tax Refunds as Your Windfall Plan10 Charitable Giving for Babies11 De-Clutter and De-Tax12 One Philosophy of Charitable … Read more »

Are you looking for Creative Ways to Save Money? This page is full of great ideas to help you spend less on everyday expenses!

You’ll find tips for saving money including using cash; tracking sales cycles; bartering; negotiating; shopping on CraigsList and military discounts. These are super frugal, creative and fun ways to make your money go further.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

1 1. The Windfalls Plan Really Works!2 2. Creative Ways to Save Money with Rain Checks3 3. Online Savings 1, 2, 34 4. Speak Up For Cash5 5. Sales Tracker for Saving Money6 6. Electronics … Read more »

Budgeting got you stumped? You’re not alone! That’s why we asked our email subscribers, “What’s your biggest budgeting question?“

Now, we’re answering the top 17 questions we received – covering everything from getting started to optimizing your spending.

If you have a budget question, please use our contact form and send it in!

Whether you’re afraid to ask or just need a refresher, this page has the practical solutions you’ve been searching for. Get the budgeting guidance you need to take control of your finances once and for all.

Keep reading to unlock the answers to your most pressing budgeting questions:

Read more »

Can Frugal Living make a difference in how soon you retire or is it just a waste of time? We’re going to give you one example of the power of frugal living as it specifically pertains to how soon you can retire.

How Much Money Do You Need to Retire?

TABLE OF CONTENTS

1 How Much Money Do You Need to Retire?2 A Retirement Rule of Thumb3 Building Savings is a Huge Hurdle4 How to Clear the Savings Hurdle5 How Fast Can the Savings Add Up?6 Frugal Living Reduces Your Retirement Savings Goal!7 Cut Your … Read more »

If you’ve ever wondered how to live on one income or whether your family can afford to do it or not, the following 5 email questions should help you get your answer.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

1 1. One Income for a SAHM Wannabe2 2. Convincing Your Wife to Live on One Income3 3. Living on One Income When Illness Hits the Family4 4. Living on One Income after Bankruptcy5 5. Living on One Income, Drowning in Debt & No Fun6 One Income Wrap Up

1. One Income for a SAHM Wannabe

First I would like to say … Read more »

Finding free tax help and filing your taxes doesn’t have to be expensive.

If you’re a lower-income family, just starting out after college, a senior, military or former military family, there are lots of options for getting your taxes filed for free or for almost nothing. We’re hoping that you’ll check out these three options and be able to save a boodle! We’ve personally used two of the three services, and Steve’s dad was a volunteer with the last one.

Filing your income tax return doesn’t have to be a taxing (or expensive) proposition

Filing taxes is an annual ritual that most of … Read more »

Did your employer make a mistake on your paycheck? Have you been shorted some money or do you have one of these other problems:

Not enough tax withheld?
Vacation time not correct?
Overtime not correct?
Hours missing?

It’s not fun finding a mistake on your paycheck. But with a little work, most of these types of problems can be overcome quickly.

We received this question from a Free Email Newsletter subscriber and thought you’d find it helpful.

Question about IRS Paycheck Withholding Shortfall

TABLE OF CONTENTS

1 Question about IRS Paycheck Withholding Shortfall2 MoneySmart Answer:3 8 Things to Do About A … Read more »

Facing a financial crisis, job loss, or pay cut? Whether it’s due to the COVID-19 pandemic, inflation, or other challenges, you’re not alone.

Ever wondered if you could stay afloat if you missed a paycheck?

We’ve been there—job losses, pay cuts, career changes—and we’ve managed to stay debt-free. In this article, we share our journey and tips on how you can do the same. Dive in to discover our strategies for surviving tough financial times.

Take our 2024 Economic Well-Being One Question Survey Below

List of Economic Downturns

TABLE OF CONTENTS

1 List of Economic Downturns2 Wallet Watch 2024: Where Do You … Read more »

If you’re building an emergency fund, you’ll want to set some savings goals based on the five-category examples in this article. We’ll give you emergency fund examples, amounts and categories.

If you’re managing a budget and have extra money available each month, you’ll want to take note of our emergency fund examples.

We took several years to accumulate our 5 category Emergency Fund Savings account. We’ll tell you what the categories are, how much we saved and where we keep it (it’s in a special high-yield bank account).

We’d love your input on our Medical Coverage Poll below – if you have … Read more »

If you’re looking for the best way to build financial confidence, try setting up a written budget.

We’ve spent the last few weeks describing different spending plans or budget systems.

We’ve described several options for budgeting success and the amazing key to our budgeting success.

Today we’re sharing five benefits to having a written budget like we use. And yes, we do understand that a written budget may sound less tech-savvy than using phone apps or online budget systems.

But honestly, most budgeting apps aren’t as usable as our system and the online (web-based) systems are very difficult to set up.

Our written … Read more »

One of the pinnacles of financial stability and security is to Pay off your mortgage early. Owning your home free and clear may seem like a fantasy. But if you follow the 5 steps we took, it can be your reality too.

Some people pay their home off in 30 years, others 15. But there are a group of people who simply hate having a mortgage pay it off quicker.

We paid our home off in 9 years.

Our efforts to pay down our mortgage debt started with just one dollar extra each month . . . but quickly grew to much more. … Read more »

Are you ready to learn about an amazingly easy budget-tracking tool? It’s the most unexpected, simple, and amazing key to an effective household budget ever!

We’ve got Budget Tracking secrets to help you become successful financially. 

Lots of people talk about household budgets at the beginning of the year. With the holidays quickly fading in the rearview mirror, we’re motoring at full speed into a new year, full of optimism and powered by new resolutions. While some cruise down that road with apparent effortlessness, others will hit speed bumps or have collisions with unseen obstacles. The road to resolution … Read more »

Why Budget? We’ve got six reasons why you should overcome your budgeting problems! One of the top two New Year’s Resolutions is to get personal finances in order. Many folks want to get out of debt or set up a budget.

But too often this resolution is made, and then quickly abandoned.

We’ve heard it, we’ve seen it, and we’ve helped many families to overcome it.

Any effort you make to manage your money will immediately start producing positive dividends.

We’ve created a four-part series that covers the benefits and “How To’s” of setting up a realistic, workable and maintainable household budget.

The Four … Read more »

Have you ever wondered how to cash a personal check when you don’t have a bank account? Or where you can cash a check right now and what the charges would be?

You might need to cash a check from a friend because you’re traveling out of state, or you could have an online bank or you may simply not have a bank account at all.

If someone writes you a check and you don’t have access to your own bank, you may have a problem.

Don’t fret, there are several ways you can cash a check without a bank account.

Here’s how you … Read more »

Are you coming into an inheritance in the near future? Or have you already inherited some money? Are you wondering what to do with inherited money?

We’ve been going through the process for the past few years and have learned a lot. We’ve also met with some incredibly wise and experienced estate and investment experts in the process. In this article, we’ve reached out to Attorney Lyle Soloman, the principal from Oak View Law Group in Rocklin, California.

How Inheritances Can Be Received

TABLE OF CONTENTS

1 How Inheritances Can Be Received2 Reactions to Inheriting Money3 6 Smart Things … Read more »

Do you want to prepare your car for winter so you can get where you want to go safely? Do you live in a part of the country with the potential for severe winter weather?

We’ll share some of the best and least expensive ideas for what to keep in your car and how to get your car ready for winter. That way you can go over the hills and through the woods, to whomever’s house you go.

If you winterize your car, despite harsh weather conditions, you’ll still keep yourself safe and you’ll be less likely to be stranded.

Winterizing Your … Read more »

There are LOTS of blogs written about fun things to do when you’re bored.  So, we wanted to put a new twist on that, and offer you a list of productive things to accomplish in this season of staying home more than normal.

We’ve broken this list of productive activities into 9 categories:

TABLE OF CONTENTS

1 1) Money Activities (5 ideas)2 2) Outdoor Activities (6 ideas)3 3) Organizing Activities (13 ideas)4 4) Things to do with Your Computer (5 ideas)5 5) Cleaning Activities to do When Bored (7 ideas)6 6) Kitchen Activities (5 ideas)7 … Read more »

Are you trying to find a new job? Does your job search seem different than other times?

Hunting for a job in the midst of a worldwide pandemic and in life after it has changed significantly. In this article, we’ll help you understand what’s changed, what’s new, and what has stayed the same for job seekers.

Job Seeking During the Pandemic and Afterward

TABLE OF CONTENTS

1 Job Seeking During the Pandemic and Afterward2 How Job Hunting has Changed due to the Pandemic3 21 Tips to Help You Find A Great Job Now4 Pandemic Job Hunting Wrap-Up & Resources

No … Read more »

Would you love to find the best mobile survey apps that could earn you money? We’ve done all the work for you by researching and testing them.

Do you enjoy sharing your opinion about things? Most of us do.

We’ve researched the 22 of the most popular survey apps that pay you for sharing your views.

The promise of making some money for answering questions might sound too good to be true. And there are some instances where it is.

It’s true that some survey companies might be less than ethical. But the list below only includes legitimate survey companies with good reviews.

These survey … Read more »

Do you want to get out of Debt? Have you been trying to pay off what you owe, but keep getting hit with unexpected emergencies.

Keep reading – we have 9 things you can do to kill your debt. And several things you can start applying today.

How is Debt Like Being in a Car Crash?

TABLE OF CONTENTS

1 How is Debt Like Being in a Car Crash?2 How To Start A Debt Recovery Plan3 9. The Payoff  4 Debt Freedom Wrap-Up

Have you ever come across an auto accident where a battered, bloody victim was walking around … Read more »

What is a financial windfall?  Is managing a windfall something you are prepared to do?

Winning the lottery, a TV game show, a large inheritance or sweepstakes are all windfalls. What about smaller windfalls – like a tax refund? Have you ever been faced with managing sudden money?

How could this money help you? How would you manage it?

Have you ever thought of creating a plan for a financial windfall?

Will a Windfall be Coming Your Way?

What if you won the lottery? What would you do if you have $50 million dumped in your lap? Many of us would be able to quickly … Read more »

Did you ever ask yourself, “How does a budget work?” Do you like the word “Budget?”

We often hear people refer to budgets in negative terms. Words that imply pain or restriction or deprivation. 

We have a different view of the way budgets work.

We look at a household budget as a positive thing.

It’s a tool that preserves our money and lets us enjoy life and the things we have.  We think a budget is very similar to a dam on a lake. Keep reading and find out why.

A BUDGET Like a Dam?

TABLE OF CONTENTS

1 A BUDGET Like a Dam?2 … Read more »

Are you looking for the best type of budget for your family? With so many different types of budgets available, which one will work for you?

We’ve discovered that there are almost as many types of budget systems as there are people talking about it.

Family Budgets can be done with expensive software systems, free systems, apps, websites and grandma’s cookie jar system for budgeting.

With so many choices, it’s hard to know which type of budget will be best for you!

What Type of Budget System Will Work Best for Your Family?

Lots of people talk about having a budget for their money.

Lots of … Read more »