Personalfinance tips

Your credit report is an important piece of your financial identity. Whenever you apply for a new loan or credit card, companies will check your credit report to see how good you are at paying off debts. Some employers will even check your credit report as part of the application process. So as you can see, your credit report is pretty essential. That's why it's important to check your credit report regularly, but this usually costs money. That's why I recommend using Credit Sesame (or Borrowell if you're Canadian). With either of those tools, you can check your credit report for free with ease.

When it comes to car maintenance, it's a lot easier to ignore that weird noise coming from your engine than it is to schedule an appointment with your mechanic. However, ignoring a weird noise can cause a lot more trouble than it's worth. A few months of waiting could be the difference between a quick & cheap fix and a not-so-quick OR cheap fix. Bottom line: Keep your car regularly maintained. Whether you do it yourself or bring it into a mechanic doesn't matter, just keep it maintained. It will save you money in the long run.

This is a money saving tip that a lot of people never think of, and it's a lifesaver. If you're anything like me, you put off your Christmas shopping until the very last minute. You then go online or to a mall and you start buying everything you see because giving people gifts is a blast! This is all very fun, but then you check your bank account, and it doesn't seem very fun anymore. That's why it's best to have a Christmas fund. A sum of money set aside strictly for Christmas. You could do this for other big holidays as well.

Have you ever seen that science fiction movie “In Time” with Justin Timberlake? In that movie, time is literally money. They pay for things with minutes and when they run out, they die. Luckily we aren't going to die if we spend too much money, but it can be interesting to think of your purchases in terms of time instead of money. For example, if you make $25 an hour and you want to buy a new car for $10,000, that's going to cost you 400 hours of work. That's over 16 days of your life. If you start thinking of your purchases like this, you might be less inclined to waste your money time on things you don't need.

If you live in an area with a good public transit system then you're better off taking the bus instead of paying for a car, gas, insurance, and maintenance. Sure, public transit can be noisy, annoying, and sometimes nasty, but it's also a great way to save money, and it's better for the environment. Also, think about all the fun stuff you can do on your way to work since you're not driving: you could read a Blinkist book, play a game, listen to music, work on your blog, or you could even take a nap!