Recommended Tools And Resources

In this boxed section is a list of the services, tools and products that we use personally at our house.

Down below this box I'll look at other products or services I recommend, even though I may not use them at this time.

NOTE: Most of these products and services are free to use, but the ones that aren't, are low cost, or often priced lower than alternatives.

Banking

When it comes to banking there is no shortage of great online banks from which to choose. While our main checking account is with a local bank here in Minnesota, most of our savings accounts are with online banks. Here are the main ones we have:

• Ally Bank: I've been with Ally for years, and I love their accounts because their interest is always among the highest available, their website and app are top notch, and they have the ability to easily setup multiple goal based savings accounts.
• Capital One 360: I've had several goal based savings accounts with Capital One since the bank was called ING. After the change to Capital One, the accounts stayed great, with good rates, great features and functionality. Others have raved to me about their checking accounts as well.
• CIT Bank: Their savings accounts have among the best rates available right now and everyone I've talked to who has an account there loves them.

Investing

We currently have several investing accounts that we use. First, my 401(k) for my day job is with Transamerica. For accounts that we have actually chosen to use outside of a company plan, these are the ones we still use:

Money Management Software

Over the years we've used a lot of different money management software, from Microsoft Money (which is no longer available), to an old fashioned spreadsheet. These days there are a lot of great options for managing your household budget, or keeping track of your investments Here are the ones we currently use actively:

• You Need A Budget: In my opinion this is the absolute best budgeting software out there. Our family has been using it for years. We use the older desktop version, YNAB 4, but these days it's an online software.
• Empower: If you want a 10,000 foot view of your finances, including your investments, Empower is one of the best tools available. The best part? It's free. Sign up through our link and get a $20 Amazon gift card as well.
• Tiller Money: If you prefer to keep your family budget in a spreadsheet, Tiller Money is one of the very best options available.f You link your accounts on their site, then manage your budget in a Google Docs sheet, or Excel spreadsheet. The spreadsheet will download your transactions automatically! Read our full Tiller Money review.

Credit Scores & Credit Reports

Staying on top of your credit score is important, especially if you've got a big purchase coming down the road, like the purchase of a new home.Having a good credit score can mean saving thousands of dollars on a mortgage. We regularly check our scores through Credit Sesame and Credit Karma, both of which are free. We also like to check one of our credit reports through the government site at AnnualCreditReport.com every 4 months or so.

• Credit Sesame: Credit Sesame gives you everything from a free credit score and identity theft protection, to recommendations for how to improve your credit. 
• Credit Karma: Credit Karma will give you a free credit score from Transunion and Equifax. In addition they help you to stay on top of your financial accounts, and can even help you to file your taxes for free.
• Credit Wise: Credit Wise from Capital One will give you a quick credit score, help you simulate the affects of decisions on your score, and more. Free to use.
• AnnualCreditReport.com: The government site will give you 1 free credit report from each of the 3 main credit bureaus every year. We like to pull one of our reports every 4 months, which allows us to better stay on top of what's happening in our credit files throughout the year. 

Cord Cutting & New Technology

We've saved a ton of money over the years by cutting out traditional services like cable TV, and replacing them with new technologies. Cable TV has been replaced by streaming services and over-the-air DVRs. Landline phone service has been replaced by VOIP phone service. Traditional cell providers are replaced by low cost mobile networks.Here are a some of the cord cutting services and technology disruptors that we use to save money.

• Philo TV: We signed up for Philo a little more than 4 years ago. Why? They had just about all of the channels that we used to watch on cable, and the price tag for their cheapest package with 70+ premium channels is only $28/month! They also have a free account with 70+ FAST channels. The only con? No sports or mainstream news channels (which helps keep them low cost). Read our full Philo review.
• Sling TV: From time to time we also sign up for Sling TV in order to take advantage of their regional sports package, and for news content. The great part is we can subscribe during the hockey or baseball season, and then cancel at any time! Read our full Sling TV review.
• Tablo Over-The-Air DVR: 94 of the top 100 TV shows are found on over-the-air broadcast TV, as well as NFL and other sports programming. The Tablo TV DVR is one of the best available over-the-air DVRs to record all of your favorite new (and old!) shows, and then stream them to your connected device. I've got 8 seasons of Perry Mason recorded on mine!  Read our full Tablo Networked DVR review and our Tablo Dual HDMI review. Don't forget to add an antenna, like our Mohu Curve 50 Antenna:
• Ooma VOIP Phone: We've been Ooma subscribers for our home phone for probably 7+ years now. We went from paying $40+ per month for a landline, to paying $4.50/month for Ooma. We even kept our old phone number after porting it to Ooma. Read our full Ooma review.
• Tello Mobile: I signed up for Tello for my mobile phone service after reviewing the service for this site. I found that their combination of good customer service, low pricing and great coverage in our area was hard to pass up. I pay $6/month for 100 minutes of calling, unlimited text and 500MB of data.  Read our full Tello review.
• Republic Wireless: We've used Republic Wireless, another low cost MVNO, for several years after reviewing them for this site. When I switched recently my wife voted to stay with Republic because she likes the service so much. That and her $20/month plan isn't exactly breaking the bank. Highly recommended. Read our full Republic Wireless review.