Unfortunately, there’s a downside to auto-payments: they’re easy to forget. If you don’t stay on top of them, you might continue to pay for items that you don’t really need—or want—anymore.

Review your auto-payments

Maybe you’re paying for the Netflix DVD service when all you use is the streaming service. Perhaps you’re paying for a gym membership when you haven’t been there in months. I recently realized that I’ve been paying for a monthly subscription to an online publication that I don’t read anymore.

Go through your account statements for your checking, savings, and credit card accounts. Are there recurring charges in the form of auto-payments? List out which items are paid automatically, taking care to record the name of the company and the amount sent each month.

Next, review each auto-pay account. Ask yourself the following questions:

• Do I still use this service/subscription/item?
• Do I like what I’m paying for?
• Can I afford to keep making this payment?
• What else could I do with the money I spend on this payment?
• What will it cost me to terminate the payment?

Canceling auto-payments

If you have decided that it’s time to cut back on the number of payments automatically deducted from your account, find out what steps you need to take to properly cancel them. Because it can take between three and 21 business days for your cancellation to take effect, get started with the process as fast as you can to avoid getting charged for another month.

Also consider that you probably need to do more than just cancel the automatic payments with your bank. Find out from the subscription, service, or company what steps you need to take to cancel your account completely. For example, many gyms require that you go in and sign termination papers in person. If you don’t do this, your canceled auto-pay may make it look as though you aren’t paying as agreed. The gym can then decide to turn your account over to collections, potentially harming your credit score.

After you have followed proper account termination procedures, monitor your funds for a couple of months. Make sure that the automatic payments have truly been canceled and that the money is no longer coming out of your bank account. You might need to continue monitoring your bank and credit card accounts, as well as your credit report, as errors and glitches could potentially result in auto-pay being reinstated later on.

The bottom line

Don’t let automatic payments bust your budget, and don’t continue paying for services and subscriptions you don’t use. Periodically review your budget and your accounts to identify auto-pay situations that might be costing you—and then cancel them.

Miranda Marquit is a freelance writer and professional blogger specializing in personal finance, family finance and business topics. She writes for several online and offline publications. Miranda is the co-author of Community 101: How to Grow an Online Community, and the writer behind PlantingMoneySeeds.com.

Leasing Commercial Property

Let’s start with making the decision to lease a commercial space. In some cases, you might not have a choice at all. If you’re just starting your small business, you might not have the resources to buy and funding can be difficult to come by as a fledging enterprise.

But leasing isn’t necessarily a bad thing. Some of the advantages of leasing your business location include:

• Flexibility: As your business grows and you need to expand, you can change your business location quickly without worrying about whether you can sell your existing commercial space.
• Lower market risk: You don’t have to worry about owning commercial property when the real estate market is bad; you don’t have to try to unload at an inopportune time, and potentially lose money.
• Tax deduction: Even though you’re paying rent to someone else, you may be able to receive a tax benefit by writing off the lease costs against business income.

On the flip side, though, you might not be able to customize the property to fit your business needs. Additionally, there is a chance that you will be forced to relocate when the lease is up. If the owner of the property finds a tenant who is willing to pay more, your lease might not be renewed.

Many business owners choose to lease until they really get their businesses going. Buying commercial real estate too early in the game – especially if your business finances are highly leveraged – can lead to financial difficulties for you and your business if something goes wrong. Buying commercial real estate makes more sense after establishing a successful track record for your business.

Buying Commercial Property

Commercial real estate expert Chris Hurn agrees that buying commercial property to house your own business can be a savvy move. In his 2012 book The Entrepreneur’s Secret to Creating Wealth: How the Smartest Business Owners Build Their Fortunes, Hurn points out that one of the best way to grow your wealth as a business owner is to buy commercial property. You don’t have to worry about being forced to move. It’s possible for you to alter the real estate to fit your specs, and you don’t have to worry about the rent going up.

Another advantage of buying commercial property to house your business is the possibility of selling the property later at a profit. Or if you decide to keep it, you may be able to lease it out to other businesses. Indeed, if you don’t need the entire property for your business, you can get other businesses to move in – and help you pay the mortgage, taxes and insurance, as well as contribute to upkeep and maintenance costs.

Later, when you retire, Hurn says in the book, you can simply lease out the entire property, and use the income to help support your desired lifestyle.

One of the main downsides to buying commercial property is the fact that you are wholly responsible for the property. You either have to hire someone to manage it for you, or you have to take time away from building your business to manage it. The other downside is that real estate taxes and insurance, while usually deductible, tend to rise over the years and often make the property more expensive to own.

Still, there are enormous tax advantages to owning commercial real estate. Depending on how you set up the ownership of the property itself, you may be able to make a significant dent in the amount of federal income tax you pay personally. And, you may be able to leave a significant tax-managed asset for your heirs.

If you decide that buying commercial property for your business is the way to go, Hurn’s book recommends the SBA 504 loan. This loan program offered by the Small Business Administration is expressly designed to help small business owners with large capital expenditures for property.

Bottom Line

There are pros and cons to both leasing and buying commercial property. You need to weigh your options, and decide what is likely to work best for your business at this time. Before making any moves, consult with a business attorney, an accounting professional and a real estate attorney to understand whether buying or leasing real estate is the better move and how it will affect your business’ bottom line, and your own.

Miranda Marquit is a freelance writer and professional blogger specializing in personal finance, family finance and business topics. She writes for several online and offline publications. Miranda is the co-author of Community 101: How to Grow an Online Community, and the writer behind PlantingMoneySeeds.com.

Setting an allowance amount

Set an allowance amount that is reasonable for your child’s age. Ten dollars a week is too much for a three-year-old but may not be enough for a 14-year-old. Consider your child’s age and the types of things he or she is likely to buy:

For what expenses is your child responsible? If you expect your child to buy personal-care items and most of his or her clothes, you will need to provide a bigger allowance. My son is only responsible for his entertainment purchases, which means that most of the time he buys his own video games, music, books, and movie tickets. Twenty dollars a month is sufficient for him right now.

Do you have other spending requirements? My son is required to pay tithing as well as set aside 20 percent for long-term savings. If you have these requirements, you need to make sure that your child has enough money to feel as though working toward his or her own goals is feasible while still learning good habits like charity and saving.

Whatever amount you decide, be sure that your child understands the expectations that come with an allowance.

Should you pay allowance for chores?

Generally speaking, there are two main camps when it comes allowance: Those that base it on chores performed and those that make it automatic.

On the one hand, many parents don’t want children to think that money is free. Tying allowance to chores requires children to work for their money.

On the other hand, some parents avoid tying allowance to chores because they want their children to understand that pitching in around the house is just part of being a family.

This choice weighed on my husband and me as we tried to figure out what to do about our son’s allowance. In the end, we decided to give him a somewhat modest allowance automatically. As he’s grown older, we’ve explained to him that the allowance will end when he’s old enough to get a real job.

In the meantime, our son’s smallish allowance is enough for him to purchase a few items occasionally, but if he wants something bigger, he needs to earn extra money—and we encourage him to do so. He can achieve this by doing well with 4-H projects and earning ribbon money as well as by taking on extra chores for my home business, like shredding documents and filing.

Our compromise combines both methods. We’ve made it clear that he’s not getting paid for taking out the trash and unloading the dishwasher; these are things he’s required to do as part of the family. I don’t get paid for vacuuming, and my husband doesn’t get paid for doing the laundry.

The main thing is that our son has been learning lessons about money management that will serve him well in the future. He’s also learning about priorities, carefully considering his purchases, and finding ways to make more money. These are lessons that, hopefully, will create good habits for his financial future.

How do you deal with your kids’ allowances?

Miranda Marquit is a freelance writer and professional blogger specializing in personal finance, family finance and business topics. She writes for several online and offline publications. Miranda is the co-author of Community 101: How to Grow an Online Community, and the writer behind PlantingMoneySeeds.com.

If you’re a small business owner, now could be the time to consider selling your product online. Online shopping is so popular that, according to the “U.S. Online Retail Forecast, 2011 to 2016 ” report by Forrester Research, Inc., e-commerce sales in the U.S. are expected to reach $327 billion by 2016.

Providing a product online is one of the easiest ways to become an entrepreneur, and one of the best ways to boost sales for your existing business.

Steve Chou (pictured right) and his wife, Jen, learned just how popular online shopping is when they started their online business, Bumblebee Linens, on a shoestring budget. Within a year, they saw a six-figure profit. While Chou’s success is a little out of the ordinary, he insists that starting a small business doesn’t have to be complicated.

“Thanks to open source software and a slew of very inexpensive, fully-hosted shopping cart options, you can start an online store in a matter of days if you have products to sell,” he says.

Whether you’re interested in starting a business online or bringing your offline product to the Internet, these five things can help get you started:

1. Webhost

You’ll need a home on the Web, so your first step—aside from having something to sell—should be finding a hosting service that can provide you with space for your e-commerce store. You have the option of paying for a hosting plan or finding free hosting, so be sure to fully research each option to figure out what’s best for you.

Questions you may want to ask include: How much storage does the webhost provide? How much does additional storage cost? Does the host have e-commerce capabilities? In addition, you will want your own IP address; your webhost can usually help with domain name registration.

Chou points out that you can buy hosting for as little as $4.95 per month. Try to choose a plan that allows you to scale up to more space and bandwidth as your business and sales grow. As your sales increase, you will be able to afford to pay more for your hosting

2. Website design or template

Chou says it can be much easier to purchase a template or hire someone to design your site than to try to code it yourself. With an e-commerce template, you can quickly and easily create a catalogue of items, add descriptions, and set up navigation for customers.

If you have the budget and are looking for a site that’s a little more personalized, a customized e-commerce Web design from a professional can be a great way to get exactly the look and usability that you want for your site.

3. Open source shopping cart

Chou recommends installing a free open source shopping cart for your e-commerce site. A shopping cart is essential for handling orders for your business and for processing payments, and open source (freely available) carts are generally easier to customize than proprietary carts. Many of them will allow you to install upgrades as needed, and they often come with additional features.

Research your options and consider shopping carts with extras like inventory tracking and newsletter management. An added bonus: Some open source shopping carts, like other open source software, are backed by lively online forums where you can get many of your questions about the product answered.

4. SSL certificate

Your customers need to trust that their information is safe on your site. If you’re going to be taking online payments, find out if your platform or shopping cart provides an SSL certificate. This certificate protects, or encrypts, all the transactions between your server and the customer’s Web browser so third parties, including bots or malware, can’t read them.

5. Credit card processor

You need a way for customers to pay. If you already have a business and accept credit cards, you likely have a merchant account. Check with your service provider to find out what you need to do to set up payment processing through your e-commerce site. You may also want to check with your webhost or shopping cart to see what payment processing options it provides.

Another option is to offer third-party payment processing. Many large companies have payment processing services that can all help you process payments from customers, and they also offer merchant accounts that allow you to accept credit cards. Many third-party payment options also allow customers to check out using their smartphones.

Chou’s e-commerce site gave him the opportunity to reach more customers than he ever could have with a brick-and-mortar store, and he’s enjoyed the experience. “Basically, I work for fun,” he says. “I design microprocessors for a living, and I don’t want to give up the technical aspects of my education.” But he now has another option on which to fall back.

“Not too many people can say that they work for fun,” he points out. And if he does decide to quit his job, Chou can help Bumblebee Linens grow even more. With these five elements combined, you too can be ready to grow your business by expanding your customer base through the Internet.

Miranda Marquit is a freelance writer and professional blogger specializing in personal finance, family finance and business topics. She writes for several online and offline publications. Miranda is the co-author of Community 101: How to Grow an Online Community, and the writer behind PlantingMoneySeeds.com.

If so, break the cycle. Jumpstart the tax filing process and avoid the long lines. If you’re entitled to a refund, you’ll get it faster, and you’ll alleviate a major source of strain in your life.

1. Put the tax-filing process in motion now.

One of your problems could be putting off the opening stages of preparing your taxes. If you normally have a tax professional prepare your return, call right now and set up an appointment. You can set the appointment for three or four weeks down the road if you want—but call now.

If you do your own taxes, make it a point to buy the tax prep software you plan to use, download it your computer, and begin entering your information. For those who use online versions of tax prep programs, start now and fill in your basic information. The important thing is to get started—and you’ll be more motivated to finish.

2. Make a list.

Create a list of all the tax documents you expect to receive in the mail. From a statement of mortgage interest you have paid, to your W-2s and 1099s, to statements from your retirement account or investment broker, take a few minutes to think about what might be coming. As each item arrives, check it off the list. If you get toward the middle of March and you have not received something, make the necessary phone calls to find out how you might be able to get your hands on the information.

In some cases, you have to download your tax forms from the Internet. Many banks and brokers are starting to provide tax forms online rather than mail them out. Check your online accounts for this information. Many sites have “tax centers” where you can find your forms.

3. Organize your paperwork.

Start organizing your paperwork today. Set aside 15 minutes to begin. Look through the documents you have received in the mail, and hunt up receipts that you need for confirming deductions.

You don’t have to organize everything all at once. Devote 15 to 30 minutes two or three times a week. Start today and you’ll have your paperwork organized well before the tax-filing deadline.

An even better habit is to keep your tax documents organized all year. I have a folder that I keep on my desk. Every time I come across something tax-related, it goes straight into the file folder. No need to hunt for it later.

4. Ask for help.

Look over your forms ahead of time (they are all available online for free). To get help, you can use the IRS website or call 1-800-829-1040. If you find yourself lost and think your tax return may be too complicated to handle on your own, don’t hesitate to make an appointment with a tax professional.

Clear up any confusion now, before tax season progresses too far. Understanding your tax return now can help you avoid problems later.

5. Use e-File.

The IRS offers e-File as a convenient way for you to file your tax return. In fact, this is the way that the IRS prefers to receive your paperwork. Major tax prep programs, as well as most tax professionals, can help you e-File your taxes. In some cases, you might even qualify for Free File on your federal taxes.

Miranda Marquit is a freelance writer and professional blogger specializing in personal finance, family finance and business topics. She writes for several online and offline publications. Miranda is the co-author of Community 101: How to Grow an Online Community, and the writer behind PlantingMoneySeeds.com.

Identify your priorities

The very first thing you need to do is figure out what’s important to both of you as individuals and as a couple. Acknowledge where you differ from your partner, and focus on where you are the same.

For example, my husband likes to live in a comfortable home with nice furniture, surrounded by action figures. I like to get out of the house and travel. He’s more about things, and I’m more about experiences. Putting together a spending plan that melds these priorities has been difficult, but we’ve made our peace over the years.

Part of that peace-making process involves focusing on the priorities we share. Of course we have regular bills to pay, and we meet these obligations. Our more discretionary priorities as a couple include donating to charity, planning for retirement, and eating out. We also agree that our son should have extracurricular opportunities.

This means that before we fund our selfish individual priorities, we make sure to take care of our shared priorities. We donate to charity, contribute to our retirement accounts, and identify enriching activities for our son—and we go out to eat on occasion.

Next we can move forward with our individual priorities. Some couples find it easier to provide allowances for each individual, and that can be one way to ensure that personal priorities are met.

TIP: Make sure you have a complete picture of your finances. Check your credit report to make sure you’re aware of your financial accounts and catch potential mistakes.

Know your cash flow

When you first decide to make a budget, take a month to track your income and expenses so you can get a better picture of your shared cash flow. Each partner should keep track of what he or she makes and where that money goes. Personal finance software or an online system like Mint.com can be helpful in this process. However, don’t get intimidated by fancy programs. You can just as easily track this on a piece of paper in your wallet.

Your shared spending plan should be based on your cash flow as a couple, which means that you both might need to make adjustments based on the new situation. If you keep some of your finances separate, you will need to figure out who is responsible for which bills. If you have “mine, yours, and ours” accounts, you will need to work out a cash flow to ensure that the account for shared expenses is adequately funded in time to pay bills.

Sit down and hammer out the logistics of your personal economy so that you know where your money comes from and where it is going.

Remember respect

It’s tempting to think of your partner’s priorities as “silly,” but remember that some of your spending priorities might seem equally silly to someone else. You have to remember to respect each other when you start putting your first shared budget together.

Keep in mind that you love your partner and that you’re together for a reason. As you work out the basics of your budget, make sure you both keep calm. If either of you needs to take a break from the planning session, do so.

In some cases, it makes sense to get professional help in creating your financial plan. Consider a trusted financial planner or expert who can help you both identify problem areas as well as come up with solutions that you can both get behind. Sometimes, having a third party involved can help smooth the process.

Creating your first shared budget can get a little tense. Remember, though, that you both need to compromise, and that a shared budget can help you both use your resources to get what you want out of your partnership.

Miranda Marquit is a freelance writer and professional blogger specializing in personal finance, family finance and business topics. She writes for several online and offline publications. Miranda is the co-author of Community 101: How to Grow an Online Community, and the writer behind PlantingMoneySeeds.com.

But filing a claim can get dicey if you don’t have a list of the items that are in your home. After an incident, trying to remember everything that was damaged or destroyed can be a daunting task. Plus, the insurance company might balk at paying a claim if you don’t have some sort of proof of the value of the items you have lost.

In order to accurately document what your home is worth, and in order to speed the insurance claim process, you should create a home inventory ahead of time to help you quickly and easily evaluate what you have lost if need be.

Creating a home inventory list

Go through your home and make a list of items. You can organize this home inventory by room, cataloging the items as you go, or you can organize it by category (clothing, books, electronics, and so on).

You don’t have to list each item individually if you have a large number of the same type of items—for example, you can list books, movies, or clothing as a single lot and then estimate the lot’s total value. If you have a stand-out item, such as a rare book or a particularly nice suit, list it separately, along with its description and information about its value.

In the case of any valuable items, be as specific as possible. List the item, describe it (including make, model, or serial number, where applicable), and describe where and when it was purchased, if you know, or note if it was a gift.

Document the items visually

It is now easier than ever to take digital photos and videos to document your home inventory items. You can take pictures of each item individually, or you can take pictures of items together, grouped in rooms.

Perhaps the easiest way to create a visual home inventory is to walk through your home while creating a video. Clearly describe the items as you focus on them with the video camera. It’s simple, and it is a relatively quick way to put together your home inventory.

Where to store your home inventory

Your home inventory does you no good if it is destroyed along with your home—you need to keep it in a safe place. If you have images or video, you can store them on a disc or drive and keep that in a fireproof and waterproof safe. A written list can be printed out and stored in such a manner as well.

Another option is to use an online backup program that allows you to store your information so you can get to it from anywhere with Internet access. You can also email the inventory to yourself so it can be opened from almost anywhere. Keep multiple copies of your list in different places so that you can access it when needed.

Rebuilding a house is only part of the equation when disaster strikes. If you don’t have a home inventory, now is the time to make one. If something happens, you’ll be able to file an insurance claim and buy replacements for many of the items you have lost.

Miranda Marquit is a freelance writer and professional blogger specializing in personal finance, family finance and business topics. She writes for several online and offline publications. Miranda is the co-author of Community 101: How to Grow an Online Community, and the writer behind PlantingMoneySeeds.com.

Set a strong example

As with all things in life, your child will follow your lead when it comes to giving. Do you set a strong example? My son sees me write out the tithing check for our church donations. I also make it a point to have him help me gather items for the food bank—and then deliver them. In addition, my husband and I talk about different charities in our home.

Let your child see that you are giving—and that you enjoy it—and he or she will want to give as well.

Get your child involved

Children like to participate, and you can involve them in your efforts. When my family participates in Sub for Santa or Angel Tree programs, I get our son involved. We choose a boy close to his age, and then we encourage our son to help identify fun gifts for him. We also ask our son to kick in a few bucks to help out. That way he is financially as well as emotionally involved.

Another thing we do is encourage our son to carry pocket change during the holiday season. That way, when we pass a Salvation Army Santa, he always has some coins to put in the bucket. Even though he’s 10 now, he still gets immense satisfaction over being able to contribute to the collection tins around town this time of year.

Helping your child participate in these activities builds habits of generosity and can provide a solid foundation for future giving. Make sure you draw attention to the fact that you both feel good when you give. You want your child to recognize that giving has many benefits.

Practice gratitude in your family

Focusing on what you already have, and expressing gratitude regularly, can help your child develop a giving mentality. If you are always talking about what you want at your house and what you hope to get, it’s hard to show the value in giving.

Make sure that you spend time talking about what you are grateful for and recognizing your good fortune. In our home, we frequently talk about how lucky we are and express contentment with our situation and gratitude for what we already have. This outlook fends off the “gimmies” and fosters a general feeling of inward happiness, rather than looking outward for more material possessions.

Once you have established that you are grateful for what you have, it’s possible to move to recognizing that others need help. Your gratitude is likely to prompt actions that result in giving to others—an important part of helping your child learn.

The bottom line

We want our children to grow up to be financially responsible and to give to others when they can. However, these generous impulses require nurturing. If you make giving a part of your life and encourage your children to participate, they will grow up to manage their finances in a way that leaves room for charity.

Miranda Marquit is a freelance writer and professional blogger specializing in personal finance, family finance and business topics. She writes for several online and offline publications. Miranda is the co-author of Community 101: How to Grow an Online Community, and the writer behind PlantingMoneySeeds.com.

When you prepare to give investments as gifts, here are some things to keep in mind:

1. Make it tangible. If you are giving an investment for a child, find a way to make it tangible. It’s a little more fun if there is an item to unwrap and hold. Consider buying stock in something that the recipient really likes, such as a video game company or a company that makes the child’s favorite snack. Then, find out if you can get a framed stock certificate. Many companies and brokers offer this service for gift-giving purposes.

You may also want to consider getting the recipient a bond that can be redeemed later. These are considered a little safer than stocks, especially if you get a Treasury security. Think about bonds that adjust for inflation for an even better gift. Although you can no longer get paper bonds issued from TreasuryDirect.gov, you can still get a certificate for gift purposes.

2. Consider a fund. Another option is to invest in a fund. Even if the recipient never adds to it, there is still the potential for growth. It’s often possible to start small, so you don’t need a large amount of money to make this gift. Choose a low-cost index fund or ETF (exchange-traded fund) so the fees seen with managed mutual funds don’t eat up the returns.

You can also find out if the minor recipient has a 529 plan or a Roth IRA. If he or she does, make a contribution to that account. Many brokerages make it fairly easy to contribute these accounts.

3. Talk with parents about custodial accounts. If you want to give the gift of investment to a minor who isn’t your own child, and you aren’t just giving a stock or bond or adding to a 529 plan, you will need to check with that child’s parents in order to coordinate the account.

It’s fairly easy to open a custodial account with most brokerages, and the money in this type of account is considered the child’s; he or she gains control upon reaching the age of majority. However, these accounts normally have to be managed by the parent or legal guardian, so you will need to coordinate your gift.

The gift that continues to give

Giving an investment can be a great way to provide a gift that continues to give. You can help the recipient build a stronger financial foundation, and you can also help him or her learn the importance of investing in building wealth.

Carefully consider the possibilities. Thanks to the Internet, discount brokerages, and other companies and options, it is possible to help a recipient get started with any amount.

Miranda Marquit is a freelance writer and professional blogger specializing in personal finance, family finance and business topics. She writes for several online and offline publications. Miranda is the co-author of Community 101: How to Grow an Online Community, and the writer behind PlantingMoneySeeds.com.

However, the number of charities out there can lead to information overload for many consumers. As much as we’d like to, it’s impossible for us to donate to everyone who asks for help. Instead of fretting about where to donate, consider how you choose which charities get your hard-earned dollars. Once you figure out a donation plan, stick to it.

Don’t worry about how it looks

First of all, you need to get beyond the worry you have of not appearing generous. You can’t donate to each charity out there. Worrying about looking as though you are or aren’t doing the right thing can take a good deed—helping others—and turn it into a reason for stress and anxiety.

Recognize that you are doing what you can to help out, and move on from the guilty feelings that you aren’t giving money to everyone that asks. Learn to say no so you can focus more of your charitable giving dollars on causes that are important to you.

Identify causes that resonate with you

Think about what causes really strike you as important. Then, look for charities that do their work in those areas. For example, I like donating to the local food bank because the thought of hungry children in my community really hits home. I also donate to an education fund that helps young adults in poor countries learn marketable skills. I think that education is very important, and I like the idea of helping others develop skills they can use to provide for themselves. These are things that can’t be taken away.

Vet charities for effectiveness

When giving to charities, you hope every dollar goes to the cause you are supporting. However, some charities may spend between 50 cents and 80 cents of every dollar given on overhead and administration. If high CEO salaries and other administrative costs are a concern for you, do some research before you give.

You can use sites like Give.org and CharityNavigator.org to look at the effectiveness of the charity. I like to find charities where at least 70 cents (preferably more) of each dollar donated actually goes to the work of helping others.

Give locally

There is one charitable organization that I donate to on the national level, but most of my donations are local. I like donating locally because I can see my donation at work in the community. When you can see the effects directly, it encourages you to do what you can to give even more in the future.

This holiday season, you don’t have to give to every charity that asks. Instead, concentrate your giving, and think about who is getting your money. Commit to two or three charities, and show solid support. You’ll feel more satisfaction in your life, and you’ll also improve your finances.

Miranda Marquit is a freelance writer and professional blogger specializing in personal finance, family finance and business topics. She writes for several online and offline publications. Miranda is the co-author of Community 101: How to Grow an Online Community, and the writer behind PlantingMoneySeeds.com.