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As the new year approaches, there’s a theme of looking at current life assumptions and practices and deciding to make changes based on the introspection.

For about a year now, I have read books, blogs, and attended classes on money management.  I’m not okay that I’m in debt and have no savings.  I know I can do better and am constantly trying to figure out how to make that happen.

I know many of you are in a similar situation, so I’m going to share some of the more useful resources.  Some of these resources have appeared in previous posts, but are awesome enough to be included twice.

1. mint.com: You can load your bank accounts and set up a budget.  Mint will send you notifications when you exceed a category in your budget.  This is not a helpful tool if you have no cash flow; it’s better for those who have a consistent income.  Thrive is another resource, similar to mint.  I don’t use it, but it got a good review in some book I read.

2. Young, Fabulous, and Broke, by Suze Orman: Suze made me feel a lot better about being a broke 20 something, cause she gets it.  This book has a lot of good advice for young people, duh.  There are chapters that might not apply yet, but are good to read because they may apply soon.

3. Hot (Broke) Messes, by Nancy Trejos: This is a memoir/resource book.  It’s easy to read because Trejos went through a debt reduction process and pulled on knowledge from all sorts of gurus at the same time.  I don’t have a lot of sympathy for her need to have name brand clothing and nice jewelry, but I appreciate that she wrote about the inaccessibility of health care.  Check out the resource section in the back.

4. Vagabonding, by Ralf Potts: Find the motivation to cut back on your spending here.

5. Move Your Money:  Credit unions are nicer to people who don’t have much money.  They charge less for overdrawing accounts, or don’t let us do it.  Their interest rates are much lower than traditional loan and credit card companies.  I am in the process of switching to a local credit union.  I’m impressed so far; a banker took ten minutes to explain to me the printout of my credit score when I opened my checking account.

6. Fun Blogs: Frugalicious Foodie, Go Frugal, Wise Bread.  All of these blogs link to other blogs that can take you on an adventure of getting nothing done but reading people’s tips for saving money.

Basically, what I have learned is:

that if you’re broke, the distinction between needs and wants is very different.  I need to pay my car bill, but I want the Vogue with Natalie Portman on the cover.

that saving for retirement in my twenties is the only way I’ll be able to retire ever.

that paying down the line of credit with the highest interest rate is the place to start.

that having solid credit history is vital to cheaper insurance rates, rent, and interest rates.  If you don’t have a credit card, look into it, please, for the sake of your credit score.  Don’t use improving your credit score as an excuse to rack up debt on said credit card.

that happy hours and brewery tours = cheaper beer, that libraries have good book selection and they’re free, that volunteering can get me into events that I otherwise couldn’t afford.

that I don’t need as much stuff as I think I do and that the merit of my personality is not determined by how much money I have.

Good luck!