★ 38 Money Tips from the Rockstar Community

When no one talks about money, everyone sucks at it. When everyone sucks at money, no one wants to talk about it. And when people do talk about money, everyone gets better at it. When everyone is better with their money, they are more likely to talk about it. It's either a problem that feeds itself, or it's a solution that feeds itself. We like to be part of an open conversation about money. One that helps grow everyone's knowledge and encourages everyone to stay focused on growing their wealth. So, we reached out to the Rockstar community and asked people to share their best money tips. Then we topped it off with some from other money blogger friends, mostly in the FinCon community. The result?

38 Hot Money Tips

We hope these help :)

Turn your budget upside down! Instead of taking expenses out of your income first and having nothing left for saving, take out money for saving first and then budget for expenses. You'll be forced to cut expenses rather than forgo your financial future. - Joseph, Peer Finance 101
While paying off debt, always make sure you save money too. You not only need to pay off debt, but change your mindset to that of a saver. A percentage-based payoff/saving method is a great way to ramp up savings as more debt is paid off. - Grayson, Debt Roundup
Don't just have an emergency fund - have an emergency plan. Create and write down your emergency plan so if disaster strikes you'll have one less worry. No one wants to worry about money when they're sitting in the ICU next to their spouse on a ventilator (trust me on this one). It wasn't the emergency fund itself that saved our financial lives. It was executing on our emergency plan. - Chief Mom Officer
Diversify your income. Look for small new ways to add income streams into your life. Whether that's selling your old stuff on eBay, making something to sell at markets on weekends, driving a shift per week on Uber, starting a blog and making a few dollars in affiliate commissions or taking a temporary part-time job over the summer - lots of little extra streams of income add up to significant earnings over time. - Darren, ProBlogger
Don't solely focus on reducing your expenses. Increasing your income has unlimited potential and can help your budget in more ways than you can imagine. Just make sure as your income increases that you have a plan for how to use that extra money. If you spend it all, you'll be in the same situation. - Lance, Money Manifesto
Grow your career. It's likely the only multi-million dollar asset you own and if you work at it a bit you can make it worth a few million more. - John, ESI Money
The secret to building wealth isn't necessarily earning a six-figure income—it's consistently saving and investing. Tip 2: It's better to have an imperfect investing strategy than be paralyzed by indecision. Just get started. Your future self will thank you. - Kate, Cashville Skyline
Set aside a weekly or monthly check-in with your money. Celebrate your wins and figure out how to fix your mistakes. (No shame or blame game). Do this as a couple or as a single person! - Elle, Couple Money
Only spend money you already have. It's deceptively simple, but when you only spend money you already have, you automatically live within your means. This means you end up with MORE money to do the things you love because you aren't paying extra for every single thing in the form of interest. - JackieBeck.com
Everything is negotiable. Call your providers (utilities, cable, phone, etc.) and ask for a discount. That's a no? A quick online search will give you a list of the cheapest providers who will be happy to get your business. You might even get cash back for the switch. Refinancing your mortgage is one of these little tweaks that takes just a few hours and can save your thousands of dollars. If you keep making the old payments, you'll shave months or even years off the life of your loan are well! - Pauline, Reach Financial Independence
Run *your* numbers. When making financial decisions, run the numbers (your numbers) instead of just accepting rules of thumb or general ideas. - Julie Rains, Investing to Thrive
Spend less than you earn and invest the difference wisely. - Todd Tresidder, Money Coach at Financial Mentor
Focus is key. Do one thing with as much intensity as you can until said thing is done and then start on the next! Don't try to do everything at once. - Steven Goodwin, My Family on a Budget
Think in terms of a trade off. It's hard to cut back on your morning latte just to "save," but it's easier to cut back if you know saving that $5/day will mean you can take a vacation with your family next year. - Jim, Wallet Hacks
Create an annual budget first. The first budget you should be creating is an annual one. It will help you plan for those larger, less frequent expenses that derailed your plan in the past. - Adam Hagerman
Track your net worth! You will automatically start saving more when you know you'll be checking up on yourself every month. And it'll help you make decisions faster too knowing exactly where you stand! - J. Money, Budgets Are Sexy (Check out the ultimate net worth tracker.)
Treat your debt like your house is on fire! Make it a priority to get out of debt as soon as possible. - Frankie, Student Loan Hero
Focus on the big bills first. If you can get your biggest bill or expense down, it may save you more money than several smaller categories combined and it takes less time and effort. - Justin, Saving Sherpa
Get rid of your biggest bill - housing - by doing a house hack. Buy a duplex, triplex, or fourplex with a regular mortgage, rent out the other units, and let them pay for your mortgage. I lived FREE this way! OR... Do a live-in flip. Buy a fixer-upper house below value, move in, fix it up, and after 2 years sell it and make a tax-free profit (up to $250,000 for individual/$500,000 for couples filing taxes jointly). - Chad Carson
Manually track your budget. Either by hand or by entering transactions manually into software for at least 2 years. Then you'll have a really good handle on your habits and where your money goes. - Nick, Mapped Out Money
Tape your budget to your credit cards! (If you want a reality check!) It prevents overspending dramatically. - Whitney Hansen
Be greedy when others are fearful, and fearful when others are greedy (a quote from Warren Buffet). This advice served me well in 2008! - Chief Mom Officer
Shop smart for groceries and make a plan. I used to go to the store and bought what I wanted - and that's how we had a $1,000/month grocery bill! - Mrs Picky Pincher
Use the library for more than just books. We're loyal patrons of our local library. I use the library to check out cookbooks for free so we always have fresh menu ideas. We also use the library to check out DVDs so we don't need to go to the movies or buy films online. - Mrs Picky Pincher
Debating between two options for your money? (Like paying off debt or investing?) Choose the one that excites you the most. You are far more likely to accomplish the mission when you're jazzed about something vs. going a route just because it's the "right thing to do." - J. Money, Budgets Are Sexy
After taxes, housing is likely your second largest expense. Living somewhere expensive can add years to the duration of your FIRE journey, while there isn't much that can suck the joy out of life like a lengthy commute. - Slow Dad
Pay yourself a car payment. If you have a car loan (gasp! ;)) and pay it off, keep saving 1/2 (or more) of the payment you were making in a car savings fund for eventual repairs and/or replacement costs. You'll never take another car loan! - Mrs_Need2save
Invest 50% of your raises. Bump up your savings or investing by half the amount of your raises (so if you get a 4% raise, put 2% more into your 401k) every single year. - ChiefMomOfficer
Track your spending. A budget should include both tracking your spending and planning your spending. - Derek, How Do I Money?
Gamify your finances. I have built challenges into our daily living. For example, if the kids leave the lights or the TV on, they have to (each) pay me $0.25 out of their allowance. This has led to them calling us out on our poor utility saving skills (yes, I've paid $0.25 as well!). We put it in a jar and see if we can beat last month's goal. I do the same with our spending money: I see how much we can save and how far it will go. Challenges encourage people to constantly do better and while no one is perfect, it's at least getting our family to think of things they take for granted. - Tucker
Automate your savings. When I worked a 9-5, setting up 3 different direct deposit accounts made saving money easy! Aside from a quarterly look at the savings account, this kept the money out of sight and out of mind. - Tai Stewart
Understand the difference between price, cost and value. - Primal Prosperity
Make financial decisions based on your 'inner musts' and not 'societal shoulds'. - Primal Prosperity
Start young. Take advantage of compounding, the most powerful force in the universe! - The Retirement Manifesto
Shop your car insurance. Insurance companies are notorious for bumping up your premiums each year, knowing most folks will never leave. Leave! - The Retirement Manifesto
Spend less than you earn. (And keep working on both sides of the coin.) We usually work hard on one part of it, but you can really boost things by finding ways to earn more while being smarter with your spending. - Elle
Set (and follow) an investment plan. You need to define how you should react to various situations up front and stick to the plan through good and bad. - Full-Time Finance
Automate your investments. It's SO much easier to invest when you don't have to actively make the payment. - Shin, Money is Not Taboo

Got your own money tip? Lay it on us!