If you’re visiting SmartAsset, chances are you’re here because you’re interested in making smart personal finance decisions. Whether you’re looking for tips so you can save up to buy a home or are contemplating your financial future and saving for retirement, we have a few tips for you. But we know you may want to read from a different perspective now and then. If in the course of your browsing, you decide you want some one-on-one help from a financial expert, head on over to SmartAsset’s financial advisor matching tool, which will pair you with a professional best suited for your particular needs.
1. Squawkfox
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Squawkfox is written and run by Kerry K. Taylor. She began her blog in 2008, urged by her husband to squawk about frugality to people other than him. Squawkfox is fun, easy to read, well-written, and most of all a money-saver in the craziest ways. From duplicating a McDonald’s McMuffin for 65% less to a Starbucks Frappucino for only 32 cents, her blog is equal parts helpful as it is creative.
Voted the #1 blog in Canada and praised by various press outlets, both U.S. and Canadian, Squawkfox has created a presence in personal finance. Her blog is chock full of tips on how to de-clutter your life, replicate consumer items for cheaper, cut your spending, accomplish goals within a budget, and make your own products. Organized into categories such as Recipes, Shopping, Holidays, Home & Organizing, and more, Squawkfox is easy to navigate and even comes with a section representing the best of Squawkfox so newbies know where to start.
2. And Then We Saved
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Anna Newell Jones is the writer of AndthenweSaved, a blog guided by a debt-free life pledge. Jones paid off her $24,000 in debt in only 15 months using a “Spending Fast,” a term she coined to cut out extra spending by committing to 1 year of spending only on necessities. Think utilities, rent, groceries… and that’s it. After the fast comes the “Spending Diet,” a less extreme version of the spending fast which Jones actually says is way harder. She invites others to join her in taking the debt-free life pledge and start by doing either a spending fast or a diet.
Aside from that, her blog is comprised of fun and fresh ways to live “without all the crap.” She also has guest bloggers who regularly contribute with titles like, “How We Got Out of Over $147,000 in Debt” and “How I Got Out of the American Dream and Changed My Life in 3 Years.” A sample of her own articles: “6 Homemade Beauty Recipes Made From Scraps,” “How to Make Money Selling Your Crap” and “98 Cheap Date Ideas.” Jones has been featured by Self, CNN Money, Psychology Today and U.S. News & World Report to name a few.
3. Mint
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You may have heard of mint.com – it’s a website that organizes and categorizes your spending for you, and puts all your financial accounts into one place. The idea is that by seeing exactly where your money goes, you can establish patterns to make better money decisions. The good people at Mint now have a second financial resource available, that being their blog.
It’s full of tons of categories including Goals, Investing, Saving, How To, Credit, Consumer IQ, Family, etc. It’s chock full of human interest pieces like “The 10 Cheapest Pets to Own” and “The Top States for Credit Card Fraud.” It’s also full of informative pieces dispensing vital information like “6 Steps to Starting an Emergency Fund” and “5 Times You Should Never, Ever Wire Money.” The website is vibrant, well-designed, and consistent, making for a great reader experience.
4. Wise Bread
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“In fact, if you are living a truly frugal lifestyle, you’ll only appear to be paying top dollar for the finer things in life, even as your wallet stays fat and happy.” That sounds pretty amazing, doesn’t it? Well, amazing as it is, this kind of lifestyle is exactly what Wisebread.com promises, guided by a mission to help others live large on a small budget.
Wisebread.com is a community of bloggers as varied as their readers, dispensing tips, financial advice, career and money-making ideas, as well as “general adulthood know-how your parents forgot to tell you.” On certain posts, the site even offers drawings for readers to win free prizes like Amazon gift cards in exchange for participating via social media or by adding comments.
5. Get Rich Slowly
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This site is text-heavy and straightforward. The goal is to stay away from get-rich-quick schemes and follow sound financial principles. Time Magazine named Get Rich Slowly one of the best blogs of 2011, along with outlets such as Family Circle, Yahoo, and the Los Angeles Times.
More frank than fun, Get Rich Slowly takes a no-nonsense approach to personal finance, guided by 12 key beliefs. Some of them include paying yourself first, spending less than you earn, and money is more about mind than it is about math. Intrigued? Head over to see what the seven hand-picked staff writers have to offer, picked to preserve founder J.D. Roth’s philosophy of sensible personal finance.
6. Budgets Are Sexy
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Basically the complete opposite of Get Rich Slowly – this is personal finance’s frivolous, risqué and daring representative. Everything is done tongue-in-cheek, complete with an endorsement in the form of a guaranteed fictitious quote from Benjamin Franklin. Categories include Randomness 3000, Home Ownership, Credit Cards, Side Hustle Series, Cockamammy Indeed and more.
It would be surprising to not come across at least one thing outrageous within the site, whether that be a title (“Sex, Limes, and Making Money at the DMV”), a question (“On a scale from 1-10, how sexy is Ryan Seacrest?”), or the plethora of winky faces that are thrown into the mix. However, Budgets are Sexy does tackle these unorthodox topics with sincerity and tact, such as their post on “Non-Financial Ways to Help the Homeless.” The information may come delivered by a Mohawk-rocking, beer-drinking, hip-hop blaring, baby-toting dad, but that’s what makes it so engaging. The blog-baby of J. Money as he is known, has been praised by Lifehacker, Kiplinger, MSN and more.
Read also : Top 8 Personal Finance Blogs to Take Care of Your Money in 2024
Read also : Top Finance Blogs to Skyrocket Your Money Skills