Money
Small steps that worked for real people, on money.
The sky over Money · 177 small steps
- A brown bag, a marker, and their name on it
- An old map turns the wrapping into part of the present
- Any library can borrow from every library
- Ask the librarian — rent help counts as a question
- Be in the room for the move-out walkthrough
- Book tonight, sleep on it
- No internet at home? Borrow it from the library
- One story: the first full tank
- When you shop for a car, price the crash too
- The library is shelter you've already paid for
- Take the VIN to the dealer before the cash changes hands
- The fee the counter skips
It sounds heavy. We’re here.
In the US
In the UK · Samaritans
Worried about someone else? What helps →
In the US · National Domestic Violence Hotline
Call 1-800-799-7233Text START to 88788
In the UK · National Domestic Abuse Helpline (Refuge)
For men in the UK · Men’s Advice Line Lines open Monday to Friday, 10am to 5pm
Outside those hours: Samaritans will listen any time, on 116 123.
Need somewhere safe to sleep tonight? What to do, step by step →
More lines: Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland
In Scotland, Wales or Northern Ireland · your nation’s own 24-hour line
Scotland: 0800 027 1234Wales: 0808 80 10 800Northern Ireland (18+): 0808 802 1414
In the US · Childhelp National Child Abuse Hotline
Call 1-800-422-4453Text GO to 1-800-422-4453
In the UK · Childline
An adult worried about a child? Childhelp takes those calls too. In the UK: NSPCC, 0808 800 5000, 10am to 4pm, Monday to Friday.
Under 18 and told to leave home, or not safe there? What to do, step by step →
More: Childline’s online chat
Can’t talk out loud? Childline’s 1-2-1 chat → You make a free account first (no email needed).
It was not your fault.
In the US · RAINN — National Sexual Assault Hotline
Call 1-800-656-4673Text HOPE to 64673
In England and Wales · Rape Crisis (16+)
18 or under in the UK? Childline, any time: 0800 1111.
More lines: Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland
In Scotland · Rape Crisis Scotland (13+) Lines open every day, 5pm to midnight
Call 08088 01 03 02Text 07537 410 027
Outside those hours: Samaritans will listen any time, on 116 123.
In Wales or Northern Ireland · 24-hour lines that cover sexual violence
Followed, watched or harassed? What to do, step by step →
In the US · VictimConnect Resource Center
Call 1-855-484-2846Text 1-855-484-2846
In the UK · National Stalking Helpline (Suzy Lamplugh Trust) Lines open Monday and Wednesday, 9:30am to 8pm. Tuesday, Thursday and Friday, 9:30am to 4pm
Outside those hours: Samaritans will listen any time, on 116 123.
Someone sharing, or threatening to share, intimate images of you?
StopNCII.org (18+): help stop them being shared online →
In the UK · Revenge Porn Helpline (18+) Lines open Monday to Friday, 10am to 4pm, excluding bank holidays
Outside those hours: Samaritans will listen any time, on 116 123.
Under 18 in the images? In the UK, Childline can help you get them removed (Report Remove): 0800 1111. In the US, NCMEC can point you to Take It Down, any time: 1-800-843-5678.
Forced or tricked into work or sex?
In the US · National Human Trafficking Hotline
Call 1-888-373-7888Text 233733
In the UK · Modern Slavery & Exploitation Helpline (Unseen) Lines open 8am to 6pm, Monday to Sunday (reduced hours until further notice)
Outside those hours: Samaritans will listen any time, on 116 123.
An older person being hurt, neglected or exploited?
In the UK · Hourglass (older people and abuse)
Call 0808 808 8141Free text 078 6005 2906
If any of this is about you: call 988 in the US or Samaritans on 116 123 in the UK. In danger: 911 / 999. Someone to talk to →
Afraid of someone at home? Domestic abuse lines → Worried someone checks this device? Browse more privately →
About a child? Childline 0800 1111 in the UK, Childhelp 1-800-422-4453 in the US.
Sexual assault: RAINN 1-800-656-4673 in the US, Rape Crisis 0808 500 2222 in England and Wales.
In danger now: 911 in the US, 999 in the UK.
A teen or young adult in the US? Love Is Respect, any time: 1-866-331-9474, or text LOVEIS to 22522.
18 or under in the UK? Childline, any time: 0800 1111.
If you’re over 18: domestic abuse lines →
Worried someone checks this device? How to browse more privately →
Someone to talk to, and more →
Thinking of ending your life, or in danger? 988 (US) · Samaritans 116 123 (UK) · 911 / 999
Or browse another area:
- moneyBefore you cut your car insurance, get quotes for the same policy elsewhereBefore you cut car insurance to save money, get quotes for the same cover and check what your car would sell for today. US and UK.
- moneyBefore you feel behind on savings, check where the number came fromIn a 2025 Federal Reserve survey, 62% of US adults said savings alone would not cover a $5,000 emergency. Check the number you compare with.
- moneyBefore you quit work over childcare costs, look up the help that existsHelp with childcare costs is easy to miss, and several kinds depend on you working. Look up what exists in the US or UK before you quit.
All 177 tips on money
- A brown bag, a marker, and their name on it
- A buyer never needs you to send money
- A credit union is a bank you own a piece of
- A deal you didn't need is not a saving
- A second opinion costs an exam fee
- A tax bracket cannot make a raise cut your take-home pay
- Add a child to a card you pay in full
- Add up the whole loan, not the monthly payment
- Add up what the habit costs in a month
- An old map turns the wrapping into part of the present
- Any library can borrow from every library
- Ask about a special needs trust before the money lands
- Ask for free diapers or nappies instead of leaving each one on longer
- Ask for lower rent with the cheaper listings in hand
- Ask for separate bills before you order
- Ask for the free version by name
- Ask someone to do the back
- Ask the aid office before you drop out
- Ask the bank to take the fee off
- Ask the four-year school before you take the class
- Ask the librarian — rent help counts as a question
- Ask the stall for the seconds
- Ask to see the air filter in the car
- Bank the warranty money instead
- Be in the room for the move-out walkthrough
- Before you cut your car insurance, get quotes for the same policy elsewhere
- Before you feel behind on savings, check where the number came from
- Before you quit work over childcare costs, look up the help that exists
- Book tonight, sleep on it
- Buy it once: the boots rule
- Buy the ingredient, not the box
- Buy the plain test and ask for free condoms
- Call before the shutoff date
- Cancel the trial the day you start it
- Carry the bottle through empty
- Change the reused password when a site emails it to you
- Cheap rent is a ratio, not a number
- Check the pockets. And the Bibles.
- Check the spare, and fill to the door sticker
- Check your email against the breach list
- Choose the local currency when the machine asks
- Cost per use: one small formula for the store aisle
- Creep arrives as a monthly payment
- Cut the simple haircut at home first
- Decide whether you want a big tax refund
- Decide your giving before the register asks
- Don't pay the first bill
- Every hobby has a cheap door
- Find ten percent first
- Find the date the no-interest deal ends
- Find the yearly cap before you buy dental insurance
- Fix the rate, then calendar its ending
- Forty prices for the same textbook — search the ISBN
- Freeze it at all three
- Get safe, then get facts
- Getting off at the layover: the cheap trick with teeth
- Give one garage the small jobs first
- Go one desk up, in writing
- Go through a parent's bills line by line
- Grow the herbs, not the potatoes
- Hang up, then call the IRS yourself
- Have a spare car key made before the last one is lost
- Help exists. Using it is what it’s for.
- Hire the inspector yourself
- If the repair costs what the car is worth, it is not a repair
- If you are paid every two weeks, budget on two paydays a month
- Interview the apartment’s bills before you sign
- Keep some cash, then let the interest rate decide
- Know what plasma pays after the first month
- Leave a list your family can find
- Leaving for the winter? Keep it warm enough to come home to
- Let the cart sit until it ships free
- Let the search sites find it — let the airline sell it
- Lock your bike to something fixed, even for a minute
- Look up your real data use before you pick a phone plan
- Loosen the lug nuts before you lift the car
- Make the balance you see the money you can spend
- Make the coffee, keep the café for company
- Make the warehouse club prove itself
- Move the money that’s just sitting there
- Move-in day: photograph everything before the boxes
- Name the person you’re leaving out
- No internet at home? Borrow it from the library
- One email to the professor: will last year’s edition do?
- One story: the first full tank
- One subscription at a time
- Only co-sign what you could pay yourself
- Order the pickup straight from the restaurant
- Pay a shop you do not know by credit card, even if it shows a padlock
- Pay the bill directly
- Pay the card off and keep it open
- Pay the missed card payment now, then ask for the late fee back
- Pay yourself first, even if it’s $5
- Pick the job, then look up its route
- Plan for the age you will be anyway
- Plan the aftercare before you book dental work abroad
- Price a year of running the car before you buy it
- Price the airport one town over
- Price the childcare before you decide
- Price thrift electronics as if they’re broken
- Program the thermostat down — never off
- Put car problems in writing before the warranty ends
- Put it in the cart and close the tab
- Read the code before you pay for a diagnosis
- Read the denial, then appeal it
- Read the settlement notice before you file the claim
- Read the ticket before you pay it
- Read what the leather label leaves out
- Say “agent” plainly before you try anything else
- Say you want to cancel, and then say nothing
- Secondhand clothes: the bed-bug protocol
- Send the move-in photos to the landlord — the same day
- Set the Christmas number before the shops do
- Set the loss before you go, and ban yourself if it breaks
- Sew once, wrap forever
- Shaving without the subscription
- Spend where you touch the ground
- Start the new job with five pieces that mix
- Start with the oil and put the car on stands
- Stay in gear when you slow down to save fuel
- Take the empty tank somewhere that fills it
- Take the match first
- Take the VIN to the dealer before the cash changes hands
- Tell the landlord before the rent is late
- Tell the servicer where the extra money goes
- Tell your housing agency about missed income yourself
- Test the paid version of your hobby before you build on it
- Test your internet by cable before you blame the provider
- The attic is the 50% lever
- The casket can come from anywhere
- The cheap fix that costs more
- The comics you save all year become the wrapping kids read first
- The edge tells you faster than the date
- The eggs are the bonus, not the saving
- The energy audit is free — and it finds the leaks for you
- The fee has to be in the lease
- The fee the counter skips
- The fourth grader gets the whole car in
- The gift bag that comes back every year
- The library is shelter you've already paid for
- The library will lend you a sewing machine
- The line in the secondhand aisle
- The location is the test
- The manual outranks the sticker
- The person who wrote the paper will send it to you
- The repeated complaint is the real review
- The restaurant supply store is a thrift store that sells new
- The ring rule was an advertisement
- The route decides what you're owed
- The same seat, priced by country
- The student clinic costs less and takes longer
- The student discount waits to be asked
- The zoo pass is at the library desk
- Thrift where the rich people donate
- Treat the loss as gone and block the next bet
- Try the antenna before you cancel
- Try the cloth pads before the cup
- Turn on every alert
- Turn on payment alerts: a tug on the card reader can miss a skimmer
- Two decisions set the price of the whole wedding
- Wait on the textbooks — the professor may not use them
- Warm the bed before you get into it
- Wear what you own and add one clear sign
- Weigh what you're paying for
- When should you book the flight? Two honest answers
- When you shop for a car, price the crash too
- When your taxes deserve a professional
- Where the free notaries are
- Whose money is missing while the fraud is sorted out?
- Work out what a chest freezer will save before you buy one
- Wrap the gift inside a second gift
- Write down last year’s surprise bills
- Write down what you spend, then read it back
- You can leave the dealership mid-sentence
- Your card’s interest rate is worth one call
- Your charging port is full of pocket lint
- Your prescription is yours to take anywhere
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For the things that take longer than a day — a few small steps, in the order that helped real people.
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