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Saving Money, Budgeting and Frugal Living

This page holds all of my articles on saving money. If you want to learn all you can on how to save money then you will want to stick around and read as much as you can.

Free Checking Accounts With No Monthly Fees That You Can Open Today!

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Are you looking for a free checking account with no monthly fees? How about a checking account that you can open with little or no deposit today?

According to a 2020 MoneyRates.com survey, monthly checking account fees now average $14.13, the highest level in the seven-year history of doing the survey. This means the average fee would cost you a total of $169.56 over the course of a year.

Considering that is the average, there are people paying a whole lot more especially when you take into consideration ATM and overdraft fees.

This is why many people are switching to online banks. Not only are they super easy to open but some of them offer no monthly maintenance fees, no ATM fees, and so much more.

Below I’m sharing with you two great free checking account options that both offer no monthly maintenance fees, free ATMs, and many more benefits.

Let’s take a look at them both and see which one may work for you.

Free Checking Accounts with No Monthly Fees

Radius Bank

What I love about this first option is that not only is it a free checking account with no monthly fees, and free ATMs but you can also get rewards with it.

Let’s go over some of the most common questions people have when opening up an online Radius Checking Account and then we’ll go into some pros and cons.

Is Radius Safe?

Radius is a digital bank meaning there is no physical bank you can walk into. However, just like a regular brick and mortar bank, your deposits are FDIC insured up to $250,000 and you can do many of the same transactions you would with a traditional bank.

Not sure if a bank is FDIC insured? Use FDIC.GOV’s bank find tool here.

How to Apply For a Free Radius Checking Account

Opening your account for the first time can be done right online on your phone or computer in a matter of minutes! Radius eliminates the paperwork and signatures traditional banks make you fill out and combines it all into a three-minute online application.

Besides a no-fee checking account, Radius also offers a personal savings account, small business checking account, CD account, credit card, student loan, and much more if you’re looking for these other types of accounts.

Online & Mobile Banking with Radius

Radius Bank makes it easy to access all your banking information no matter where you are. You can sign in to your account from your computer or from your phone using their mobile app.

Some actions you can take via the app or online include:

  • Depositing checks
  • Paying friends or businesses
  • Turning your debit card on or off
  • Applying spending caps
  • Creating and managing a budget
  • Chatting with support

As you can see, they are pretty much like your traditional bank so what’s the difference?

How is Radius Bank Different from a Traditional Bank?

The main difference with a digital bank like Radius is mainly that they don’t have a physical location that you can visit (like I mentioned above).

How Do You Withdraw and Deposit Cash into a Radius Bank Account?

Depositing cash is one of the main differentiators between a digital bank and a traditional one. Because Radius doesn’t have a physical location you cannot go there and make cash deposits (if you think about it when was the last time you stepped into an actual bank?).

To make a cash deposit or withdrawal you will need to visit one of the thousands of deposit-taking NYCE and MoneyPass ATMs across the US. According to Radius, depositing cash will be a no-fee transaction, so you won’t have to worry about being charged.

To deposits checks, you would just use the Radius Mobile app.

Also, if you happen to use an out of network ATM Radius Bank will refund you your ATM fees at the end of the month.

You can visit the Radius website for more information but I’ll also give you a quick list of pros and cons that I see.

Radius Bank Checking Account

Radius Free Checking Account Pros

  • Unlimited Cashback: Receive 1.00% cash back on online and signature-based “credit” transactions made with a Radius Bank debit card.
  • Free ATM’s Worldwide: Radius won’t charge a fee, and they rebate ATM fees charged by other banks, worldwide.
  • Early Direct Deposit: Set up direct deposit into your Radius account and you’re eligible to receive your money up to two days early.
  • No monthly maintenance fees and no minimum balance required after the first $100.00 to open.

Radius Free Checking Account Cons

I wouldn’t exactly call these deal breakers but if I had to pick some they would be:

  • There is a $100 minimum to open the account (no minimum after that). This may be a deal-breaker if you have no money now but need an account for future funds. You would have to come up with $100.
  • To qualify for the 1% cashback you will need to receive $2,500 worth of direct deposits into your Rewards Checking account from an employer or another source of income, or keep an average balance of $2,500 or more in your Rewards Checking account.
  • No physical location. Obviously like all digital banks, Radius does not have a physical location to go to if you have any issues or need to make a deposit or withdrawal and didn’t have your debit card. You would have to call them, chat them online, or email them with any issues or concerns.
CHECK OUT RADIUS BANK
Free Checking Accounts With No Monthly Fees

Chime

Chime is the one mobile banking option out of this list that I’ve personally used. I was amazed at just how easy and fast it was to open an account.

How is Chime Different from a Traditional Bank?

Just like Radius, Chime is an online bank with no physical locations.

Chime also doesn’t have the fee schedule of a traditional bank. Plus, there is no credit check and no fees. You can get Chime, even with bad credit or dings on your ChexSystem account. This is a plus for many.

Also, another great way they are different from your traditional bank is that you can open an account in minutes right on your phone and you don’t even have to make a deposit!

Yup, you can open a Chime account with $0.

Is Chime Safe?

Chime deposits are FDIC insured up to $250,000, just as if you used a traditional bank. Their banking services are provided by The Bancorp Bank or Stride Bank, N.A.; Members FDIC.

Online & Mobile Banking with Chime

Your Visa debit card can be used anywhere and you can manage your money and do your banking right from their mobile app.

Chime’s mobile app lets you manage your money via your smartphone. Within the app, you can deposit paper checks with the snap of a photo, get daily balance notifications, and send money to friends.

You also get transaction alerts when you use your Chime Visa® Debit Card. I was immediately notified once I made a withdrawal at an ATM.

Chime App and Debit Card

How Do You Withdraw and Deposit Cash into a Chime Bank Account?

To withdraw or deposit cash you can use one of their over 38,000 fee-free MoneyPass and Visa Plus Alliance ATMs.

More Chime features:

  • Save money automatically. If you open up a Chime High Yield Savings Account, you can activate the Round-Up feature and Chime will round up your transactions to the nearest dollar and deposit the rounded-up amount into your savings. You can also have Chime automatically transfer 10% of each deposit into your savings.
  • Direct deposits. Get your direct deposit up to two days early.
  • Transparency with fees.
  • Daily balance notifications. Get notifications when you make a transaction.

Chime Bank Checking Account Pros

  • No Deposit Required. You can open an account with no money.
  • Fee-free overdraft up to $100 for eligible members (see site for more info).
  • Early Direct Deposit: Set up direct deposit into your Chime account and you may be eligible to receive your money up to two days early.
  • No Credit Check. According to their website, there is no credit check to open an account.

Chime Bank Checking Account Cons

  • No Physical Location. Again, like all digital online banks, Chime does not have a physical location to go to if you have any issues or need to make a deposit or withdrawal and you didn’t have or lost your debit card. You would have to call them, chat them online, or email them.
  • No Rewards. This free checking account does not offer rewards from what I can see.
CHECK OUT CHIME BANK

Radius Versus Chime

The main differences between Chime Bank and Radius Bank are:

  • Chime does not offer rewards and Radius does as long as you meet the requirements.
  • Radius requires a $100 deposit to open an account and Chime requires nothing to open one.
  • Radius does a soft inquiry on your credit where Chime says they do not do a credit check.

I hope this helps you decide on a free online checking account and saves you money on those bank fees! As with anything else, this information is just meant to inform you and you should always do your own research.

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This post may contain affiliate links. Read my disclosure policy here

How to Find Free Craft Classes Online

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Looking to find free craft classes online? I found a few awesome websites that offer free online craft classes as well as many other classes that I think you’ll love.

I love to take courses/classes and I take a lot of them each and every year. A great way to take a lot of them is to find free ones. If you love crafting and creative classes then you’re in luck because you can find lots of free craft classes online in a matter of minutes and I’ll show you exactly how to find them.

I’m talking about free classes in categories such as paper crafts, knitting, sewing, crocheting, and many more.

So let’s get into where to find free craft classes and how to access them.

Bluprint Craft Classes

The first place I recommend looking into free craft courses is on a website called Bluprint.

Bluprint is an awesome site for all things crafts, cooking, and more so you can explore and find anything that interests you. They offer a ton of affordable classes on so many crafts but they also have completely free courses you can take as well and that’s what I will show you how to find below.

To access any of the courses you will need to sign up for an account here. The account itself is free to create. Once you create it you will be able to search for free and paid classes.

To find free craft courses, search “FREE” at the top of the page and hit ENTER.

A Picture of how to find Free Craft Classes at Bluprint.com

After you hit enter you will get a list of classes but you will still need to filter them further. When the results come up, click the drop-down arrow next to “sort by” and choose “Price: Low to High”.

Picture of free craft courses at Bluprint.com

You will get pages of free courses (they will say free under the course name) to choose from.

One that I found and I thought looked kind of cool was a sock knitting course. The class is free but you also have the option to buy the kit for the class as well at an affordable price.

Free Sock Knitting Class Picture from Bluprint Website

Once you try a few of their free craft classes you may decide you want to subscribe to get more classes and a discount on the kits if you choose to purchase them.

This is optional but you can also try out some of their paid classes with a free 7-day trial. At the time of writing this article, Bluprint was also offering 50% off the annual plan which I think is a steal at $39.99 versus $7.99 a month if you love them and decide to become a member.

But like I mentioned above the account is free and you can just take the free classes or choose to purchase one-off courses versus a membership, it’s up to you but I wanted to let you know your options.

Check out Bluprint!

Creativebug Craft Classes

Creativebug is another great site that offers free craft classes as well as paid ones.

There is no need to create an account with Creativebug just go to their homepage here.

Then search “FREE” into the search bar at the top of the page.

A Picture of Free Craft Classes at Creativebug

Scroll through and view the free craft classes and find one you like. Free classes are clearly marked as seen in the picture above.

I found this really cool one on making a gigantic cable knit scarf. I was able to start watching it right away and I will definitely be trying to make one for next fall.

Picture of Free Class on Knitting a Gigantic Cable Scarf

If you’re interested in taking some of their more in-depth paid classes, you can do a 30 Day Free Trial by clicking on the trial button on the top of the page.

CHECK OUT CREATIVEBUG!

Skillshare Craft Classes

Skillshare is an online learning community for creatives. Skillshare is a great site to learn almost anything on topics including illustration, design, photography, video, freelancing, and of course crafts.

To get the free courses you do need to sign up for an account here. After creating a username and password it will ask you to sign up for a plan but you don’t have to right now. Just click away from that screen to the main page and start browsing.

Search “Crafts” in the search bar, and then go to where it says filter and click on “free”.

A Picture of Free Craft Classes at Skillshare

You will then see all the free craft classes they offer. They also offer some really great paid courses you may want to check out with their premium service.

At the time I am writing this article, Skillshare is offering 2 free months of their premium service so if you want to grab that now is the time but if not, just go to the main page after creating your username and password like I mentioned above and explore the free classes.

CHECKOUT SKILLSHARE!

Questions? Comments? Leave them below! Let me know which sites you signed up with and what classes you’re taking. I love to hear from you!

This post may contain affiliate links. Read my disclosure policy here

Zero Based Budgeting for Beginners

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ZERO BASED BUDGETING FOR BEGINNERS

Have you been budgeting and you still wonder where your money is going each month?

The point of a budget is to tell your money what to do for you. Tell it where to go each time it comes in.

In order for this to work you want to have a “job” for every dollar that you make.

This is where zero-based budgeting comes in. A zero-based budget is basically a budget that once done correctly you have $0 leftover.

Wait? What?

Yes and don’t worry that doesn’t mean you won’t have any fun money or money for unexpected things that may arise. It just means that you will account for all of that in your zero-based budget.

A budget is telling your money where to go instead of wondering where it went.

Dave Ramsey
Zero Based Budgeting for Beginners

How to Start Your Zero Based Budget

Start With Your Income

In order to do a budget, you need to know how much money your household brings in.

Write down all of your income that you expect for the month. If your income varies then go by the average of the last three months. To get your average, add up all of your income from the last three months and divide it by three.

Never overestimate your income! It is better to underestimate than overestimate when it comes to your budget. Obviously, you want to be as accurate as you can but don’t stress and let income be the thing that stops you from budgeting.

List All of Your Expenses

For your first budget you may have to guess a few things but again don’t let that stress you out. Budgeting takes a couple months to get right.

That DOESN’T mean just sit down and blindly guess what you spend in each area.

You actually want to sit down and go through your receipts, your bank statements, your credit card statements and more. Get the most accurate numbers you can for your first budget and then commit to start tracking your expenses from now on (don’t worry I have an easy way for you to do this coming up).

Start with your basic necessities or what Dave Ramsey would call your “four walls”. The four walls are food, utilities, shelter, and transportation.

Not familiar with Dave Ramsey? Check out Dave Ramsey’s Baby Steps Explained to find out more.

Then write down all your expenses after that. Be sure to think about everything such as groceries, savings, rent, utilities, transportation, insurance, etc.

Don’t forget your debt! You want to count any debt payments you make to credit cards or loans (besides the mortgage as that is part of your four walls and will have already been counted above) but keep these in a separate section of expenses.

Keeping debt separated will help you see how much of your hard-earned money is going towards debt each month and motivate you to pay it off faster (more on that later).

Creating a Zero Based Budget on Budget Printables

Subtract Your Expenses From Your Income

This is where the “zero” in zero-based budgeting comes in. Your income minus expenses must equal zero.

Add up all of your expenses from the last section and subtract the total from your income. What are you left with?

Hopefully, you have a positive balance but you may find you have a negative one. What do you do in both of these situations to bring your balance to zero? Let’s go over both scenarios next.

SPENDING MORE THAN YOU MAKE?

What do you do when your expenses exceed your income? Well, this is where the next step of tracking your spending will really come into play. We will go over tracking your expenses in the next section but for now, just know that every penny must be accounted for.

If you’re living above your means you will never get ahead. I share tons of ways to spend less, save money and make money on this blog that can help you with this issue.

I will list a few helpful articles here to get you started but before you jump to them, finish reading this and be sure to grab your free budget printables (sign up at the bottom of this page).

MONEY LEFT OVER?

What do you do with a positive balance? Well, that’s the easiest one to deal with. First, you want to make sure you have accounted for everything in your budget.

Did you account for bills you pay quarterly? How about renewals of subscriptions etc.? If you have anything like that coming up then allocate that money to those expenses first. You don’t want to be short one month just because you forgot about that sewer or tax bill.

Do you have an emergency fund? Once you have all your bills covered you need to plan for emergencies. Make sure you allocate money to an emergency fund until you get at least $1000 saved to start.

Once you have accounted for all of your bills (monthly, quarterly, yearly) and you have at least $1000 in an emergency fund, then you should put any extra cash towards paying down your debt!

Debt should be a priority when it comes to any extra money left after expenses. For every month you carry debt you’re paying tons of interest. That $50 pair of shoes is now costing you twice as much.

Start tackling that debt by throwing as much money at it as possible. Whether you use the debt snowball or debt avalanche method is up to you but I want you to get debt out of your life.

Printable Debt Snowball Tracker on desk. Used to help pay off debt and do a zero based budget.

No debt?

Then put that money towards savings. First, start with putting money towards a fully-funded emergency fund. That $1000 we talked about earlier was just a starter emergency fund until you paid off your debt.

A fully-funded emergency fund would be 3 to 6 months of expenses. Ideally, I’d recommend 6 months.

You can also start saving some money in what we call sinking funds for things like a new car, vacation or even a medical procedure.

The point of a sinking fund is to slowly sock away money for future expenses including our goals and dreams. You don’t want to be taking money out of your emergency fund or going into debt to fund items like these.

You can even make it fun and use visuals to see how much progress you’re making on your goals. Below are the ones I am using (available in my shop).

Fun Goal Printables for Budgeting.

Start Tracking Your Expenses

Now that you have the basics covered and made your first zero-based budget you need to start tracking your expenses. You will want to track your expenses every day during the month to make sure you’re sticking to your budget.

Don’t worry this doesn’t have to be hard. I use a free app called Everydollar to do this right on my phone.

I also then like to write it down in my expense tracker in my budget binder at night or at the end of the week when I review my budget.

Spending Tracker Printables to track expense when creating a zero-based budget.

A Budget is Permission to Spend.

-Rachel Cruze

TAKE ACTION!

Ok, it’s great that you’ve read this blog post and now you know what a zero-based budget is BUT if you don’t actually sit down and take action on what you’ve learned then this was all for nothing.

Zero-Based Budget Recap:

  1. Create a starter zero-based budget using the instructions above. Grab my free budget printables (sign up below) to get you started!
  2. Make a plan to either allocate the overage in your budget or to cut expenses to get to zero. Use the tips I gave you in this article to get started.
  3. Don’t give up! Budgeting takes time to work. It will usually take about three months to really get on a good budgeting rhythm.

That’s it! Just get started.

The whole goal of this blog is to make saving money and budgeting EASY and even fun! I was anti-budget for so long. I often thought it was kind of silly to track everything when I can just look online and see my balance and all of my expenses.

But let me tell you that budgeting (or call it cash flow planning if you like) gives you freedom!

It gives you so much control over your money that you feel relief once you’ve mastered it. In the beginning, it can be overwhelming especially if you’re overspending and in debt but just start! Give yourself a few months.

You’ve got this! Questions? Comments? Leave them below, I read every one of them!

This post may contain affiliate links. Read my disclosure policy here

Legit Apps That Pay You to Walk

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Yup! You read that right, there are actually apps that will pay you to walk!

I don’t know about you but I could use all the motivation I can get when it comes to exercise and being more active so making money is a sure way to get me to walk more.

In this blog post, I’m going to introduce you to some apps that will pay you to walk, run, and just be active!

Some will require you to “bet” on yourself, while others just require you to download an app to track your steps.

Take a look at them all and see which one best fits your lifestyle.

Apps that Pay You to Walk

StepBet

StepBet is a fitness game that motivates you to be more active. Players “bet” on themselves to meet their personalized step goals during every week of the game, and win money if they do.

The cash prize, accountability, and community support help you build a more active lifestyle.

If you hit your personalized step goals for the entire game, you split the pot with the other winners. That means you get your bet back plus a profit. The profit comes from those who do not reach their goals.

Bet amounts can vary from game to game. StepBet automatically can count steps from Fitbit, Garmin, Apple Watch, and Apple Health steps on iPhones. This is how they can keep the game fair.

Download StepBet on iTunes.

Download StepBet on Google Play.

StepBet App on Phone: Stepbet is one of the Apps that Pay You to Walk

Achievement App

This one is probably my favorite because you don’t really have to do much other than signup and download the app. And for this one there is no cost to you.

The Achievement app will pay you (via PayPal or direct deposit) to walk and for doing other healthy activities!

Earn points for tracking steps, sleep, meals, tweets & more! It’s free to sign up for Achievement and its pretty much plug and play once you set it up initially!

You can sign up here.

Check out my Achievement app review for full details and a video on how it works!

Below is a screenshot from the last time I got paid from them :).

Achievement App Payout-Apps that Pay You to Walk

Sweatcoin

Sweatcoin is a popular app that converts your steps into currency units called sweatcoins. You can then spend those coins on goods and services in their marketplace.

This one is definitely the app of the future in terms of style and the way it works.

In the past, Sweatcoin only counted outdoor steps but right now in light of the #STAYHOME orders, they have started counting indoors steps and exercise for up to 20 minutes a day.

I am just now giving this app a try so I will report back on what I think.

You can get sign up here to get started.

Woman using the Sweatcoin App

HealthyWage

Are you walking to lose weight? Then this app might be for you! It’s another “bet on yourself” app where you put money on the line in order to reach your goals.

HealthyWage uses cash-based challenges designed to help end procrastination, encourage perseverance, and harness the power of your desire to avoid losing your wager.

HealthyWage is quite popular and prizes can be quite large depending on how much you bet.

You can use the HealthyWage calculator on their website to enter your goal and calculate your winnings. Increase your winnings by adjusting your goal weight, how much you contribute, and the time you expect it to take!

Find a prize you like and make your wager. Meet your goal and win your prize!

Get started today and make your HealthyWager and Win Up To $10,000 In Cash Prizes While Getting Healthy. 

What do you think? Will you download one of these apps? Do you think money is a good motivator?

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