Hey there! Are you looking for valuable tools and resources to help you make money, save money and manage your finances? If you said yes, then I’ve got you covered!
This page includes the full rundown of my favorite money tools for improving your financial life. You can give one or all of them a try to see what works best for you!
Note: This page does include affiliate links. That means I may earn a small commission if you click and make a purchase.
Best Tools for Saving Money
Acorns
Acorns is a money-saving app that lets you invest with your spare change. Here’s how it works: you link your bank account to the app. When you make a purchase, Acorns rounds up the transaction and invests the difference in an investment account.
It’s a simplified way to invest with small amounts of money. This tool is great for younger families who are new to investing but you can also use it to build up extra cash even if you’re already saving for retirement or investing elsewhere. And pricing starts as low as $1 per month!
Sign up for Acorns today and Get $5 to start investing!
Hulu
Cable TV can be a huge drain on the family budget so why not stream instead?
With Hulu, you can watch all your favorite shows at a fraction of the cost of cable. And when you sign up now, you can get a free trial. After that, it’s just $5.99/month.
Start your hulu free trial now!
Instacart
I hate spending hours in the grocery store. Not only does it feel like a huge time-waster but it also seems to end up costing me money because I buy things I don’t need. (Thanks, kids.)
Since making the switch to having my groceries delivered with Instacart, however, I’ve saved hours of time and hundreds of dollars on groceries! It’s easy to sign up, shop for the groceries I need and save money. And as a busy mom, it’s one money tool I can’t do without.
Honey
Honey is a free browser extension you can use to save money when you shop online. When you shop participating stores, Honey scans its database to find promo and coupon codes to apply to your purchase. If it finds valid codes, you save money instantly.
Another cool feature: Honey always looks for the lowest price when you shop at Amazon. As someone who spends a couple of thousand dollars per year on Amazon, getting the best price helps me save big.
Amazon
Amazon is one of the most convenient ways to buy the things your family needs. Whether it’s books, baby gear or groceries, Amazon has you covered. Plus, when you become an Amazon Prime member, you can get free 2-day shipping on most items!
If you’re not taking full advantage of what Amazon has to offer yet to save money, check out these services:
Best Tools for Making Money
Rakuten
I just love that commercial where they try to get people on the street to pronounce “Rakuten” correctly. It’s so silly and fun.
But more than that, I love being able to earn a ton of cashback on shopping.
With Rakuten (which used to be Ebates, by the way), you can earn cashback at thousands of stores. You can also get cashback deals on travel, which is great if you’re planning a family vacation.
You can earn cashback in-store or online when you download the Rakuten browser extension, so you never miss a chance to make some extra money.
Sign Up for Rakuten Now and Get Your Bonus Cash
Swagbucks
Swagbucks lets you earn cashback and gift cards for things you already do online. For example, you can get cash rewards or gift cards for watching videos, taking surveys or searching for stuff on the web.
You can also find coupons to popular stores here, which is great for trimming a few extra bucks off when you spend.
And you can redeem the gift cards you earned for things like holiday spending or birthdays, which is great if you have multiple kids you’re buying gifts for.
Join Swagbucks Now and Get a $5 Bonus!
Survey Junkie
Taking surveys in your spare time is an easy way to make money as a busy mom. There are lots of survey sites to choose from but Survey Junkie is one of the most user-friendly.
Survey Junkie lets you earn cash or gift cards when you fill out surveys online.
It works like this: you take surveys and earn points. You then convert those points to cash or gift cards.
It’s great if you’re looking for an uncomplicated way to supplement your family’s income.
Join Survey Junkie and Start Earning Rewards!
MyPoints
Does being able to get free gift cards sound good to you? Me too!
That’s exactly what you can do with MyPoints. When you sign up for MyPoints (it’s totally free!), you can earn points for shopping or doing simple tasks online, like watching videos or taking surveys. As your points add up you can redeem them for gift cards to Amazon, Walmart and lots of awesome stores.
Sign up for MyPoints now and get a free $10 Amazon gift card!
Tada
Tada is a sister site to MyPoints that makes it super easy to make money and save money when you’re shopping online.
All you do is create your free account, shop online at your favorite stores and earn cash back. You can also snag coupons and take advantage of special deals to rack up savings!
Get Started With Tada now and get a $10 bonus!
Healthy Wage
Healthy Wage is a pretty genius idea if you ask me.
You sign up for an account for free, then set a wager on how much weight you want to lose. (You can also join a group weight loss challenge.)
If you meet your weight loss goal, you earn money. So basically, you’re getting paid to get healthy.
How cool is that?
Best Tools for Managing Money
Empower
If you have multiple savings or investment accounts like I do, managing them all can be a pain. Empower makes it easier by letting you view and manage all your money in one place.
It’s free to sign up and you can get access to your own customized financial dashboard. You can use the app to do everything from managing your budget to analyzing your retirement accounts to calculating your net worth.
Empower also offers personalized wealth management services if you need it, for a fee.
Credit Karma
Good credit is really important for saving and managing your money. When you have a good credit score, you can get lower rates on insurance and snag better interest rates on loans and credit cards.
I use Credit Karma to monitor my credit month to month. It’s free to sign up–you don’t need a credit card to register. You can get your credit report and score updated monthly.
Credit Karma also gives you recommendations on ways to improve your credit, as well as suggestions for credit cards and loans. It’s hands-down one of my favorite tools for saving money and improving my family’s financial situation.
Start monitoring your credit with Credit Karma!
CollegeBacker
I’ve been saving money for my kids in case they want to go to college someday for a while now. If they decide to go, I’ll be able to pull the money out of their 529 plans tax-free.
If you haven’t gotten started with college saving yet, CollegeBacker can help. It takes five minutes to open a 529 college savings account for your kids and you only need $25 to do it.
CollegeBacker doesn’t charge any commission fees for their services, which is great. And when you sign up and open an account with $25, they’ll give you a $55 credit toward your child’s college savings!
Get Your $55 Credit from CollegeBacker
Earnin
The Earnin app is a simple way to borrow money that you’ve already earned.
You can access up to $100 a day from your next paycheck, with no interest or fees. When you get paid, Earnin deducts the amount you got advanced to you.
The app is targeted toward younger spenders who live paycheck to paycheck but it’s also good for families who need quick cash every now and then. I don’t recommend depending on it to always help meet the bills or cover unexpected expenses, though. For that, you’re better off growing your emergency savings.
Got a Favorite Money Tool You Can’t Live Without?
Is there a money resource you absolutely love? Drop me a line at Rebecca@Bosssinglemama.com and tell me about it! And remember to share this list of money resources with anyone you know that could use it!