All the tools to help you improve your finances and get a step closer to Financial Independence.

Welcome to my resources page. Here I share all the tools I personally use to educate myself on all things about money and life. I don’t recommend things that I’ve never used before. I update this page regularly so please come back and check it every now and then. If I use and find value in any of them, I’ll put them here.

Before digging into the great resources that I enjoy and believe in, here is an important disclosure:

Some of the links on this page are affiliate links. It means if you make a purchase or sign up through my affiliate links, I may earn a small commission at no cost to you. Some of these companies offer commissions for referrals and some others don’t. This doesn’t impact my recommendations as I always focus on products that I actually use and enjoy. Please understand that I only recommend products and services that I find useful and bring value to life whether they have a referral program/affiliate commission or not. Please read my Affiliate Disclosure for more info. 

Let’s dig in…

 

 

1.  The Millionaire Next Door: The surprising secrets of America’s wealthy by Thomas J. Stanley and William D. Danko

The New York Times bestselling The Millionaire Next Door identifies seven common traits among those who have accumulated wealth. Most of the truly wealthy in the U.S. don’t live in Beverly Hills – they live next door. I bought this book in late 2015 and didn’t read it until 2016. What an eye-opener – I highly recommend this book. The book has comprehensive statistics and facts conducted on who the wealthy are in America and how they got their wealth. Basically, the book was written based on statistics and facts. There are over 30 research tables that show real numbers. It showed that wealth takes discipline, sacrifice, and hard work to build. The majority of the wealthy in America looks normal. They don’t drive luxury cars. And they don’t live in McMansions.

The 7 common traits among affluent people in America:

1. They live well below their means.
2. They allocate their time, energy, and money efficiently, in ways conducive to building wealth.
3. Financial independence is more important than displaying high social status.
4. Their parents did not provide economic outpatient care.
5. Their adult children are economically self-sufficient.
6. They are proficient in targeting market opportunities
7. They chose the right occupation.

 

This book discusses these traits and teaches you how to develop them for yourself. I wish I would have read this book when I was in my 20’s. The only regret I have is I didn’t read it sooner.

Do you really want to become financially independent? Are you willing to change your lifestyle to achieve this financial state? If you’re willing to trade off of your time, energy, and consumption habits, you can begin building wealth and achieve FI. This book will start you on this financial independence journey.

 

2. Rich Dad Poor Dad  by Robert T. Kiyosaki

The New York Times bestselling Rich Dad Poor Dad is Robert’s story of growing up with two dads. The real father, his poor dad, and the father of his best friend, his rich dad.  Both dads influenced his thoughts about money and investing. The book shows that you don’t need to earn a high income to be rich and explains the difference between working for money and having your money work for you.

I truly enjoyed reading this book. It’s like a story-telling book – almost like a novel. This book will change your mindset about money and life. It’s really fun to read. This book changed my life and it will change yours. Do you want to change or do you just want to talk and think about changes? There is a big difference, read it.

 

3. The Simple Path To Wealth: Your roadmap to financial independence and a rich free life by Jim L. Collins

I bought The Simple Path to Wealth after listening to the Mad Fientist podcast in 2016. The book was self-published which means authors don’t have to satisfy shareholders or the publisher or generate sales, so the author’s message is truly organic for the reader’s best interest. Collins’s persistent reference to Jack Bogle, who was the pioneer on index funds and founded Vanguard, helped me start my own investing journey and earn real money from my investment.

The book grew out of a series of letters to his daughter concerning various things—mostly about money and investing. You can find those letters on his stock series here.

If you need a book on investing, this is the only book you’ll ever need. Like the title of the book says, he made investing so simple. There is a sh..t load of investing books out there but this is the one to get. He makes complicated subjects simple and easy to understand. The 4 most important messages that jumped out at me are:

1. Debt: Why you must avoid it and what to do if you have it.
2. The importance of having F…u money.
3. How to think about money, and why this is key to building your wealth.
4. What investment firm to use/what investment fund to buy and why the one he recommends is so far superior to the competition.

 

The book tells you everything you need to know to get started on investing, to continue on with success and to achieve financial independence. I find it very easy to read. Believe it or not, I finished reading the book in one sitting (there are 265 pages). This is the only investing book that you need to read.

 

4. The Richest Man In Babylon by George S. Clason (FREE!)

This classic book is a must read if you want to get better with money in general. This book will change your mindset about money.  I find it quite challenging to read (while others said it’s an easy read). Keep in mind that English is not my first language. What I learned from this book is you need to always save 10% of your earnings. The money itself will earn more money than you do. Every time you earn money, you keep 10%.

Lo, money is plentiful for those who understand the simple rules of its acquisition

– The Richest Man In Babylon

Here are the 7 cures for a lean purse:

1. Start thy purse to fattening (Pay ourselves first)
2. Control thy expenditures (Live below our means)
3. Make thy gold multiply (Make our money work for us)
4. Guard thy treasures from loss (Insurance protects our wealth)
5. Make of thy dwelling a profitable investment (Our home is our biggest expense)
6. Insure a future income (Have a retirement plan)
7. Increase thy ability to earn (Invest in ourselves)

 

You can read it for FREE here.

 

5. More Wealth Without Risk by Charles J. Givens

Charles J. Givens’ More Wealth Without Risk has become a classic in the field of personal financial self-help books. His book explains and shows you how to accumulate wealth through better strategies for personal finance, tax reduction, and investment. It’s like a personal finance reference book.

There are 3 main strategies in his book that he teaches more than 350 low-risk financial strategies you can practically apply.

1. Personal finance strategies
2. Tax-reducing strategies
3. Powerful investment strategies

 

I love the secrets being told in this book that other companies don’t want you to know about. This book is packed with personal finance advice and strategies. He explains how to save money in every aspect of your life (life insurance, home insurance, car insurance, and credit cards). It’s like a personal finance reference guide for your life. Even though it’s old and outdated it’s truly a classic read and it still works. Get it.

 

6. Your Money Or Your Life by Vicki Robin and Joe Dominguez

I recently finished reading this classic personal finance book. Definitely, this book is one of my favorite books to read by far because it’s SO inspiring. Your Money Or Your Life, first published in 1992, is still very popular today. The new fully revised and updated for 2018 version has a Foreward by Mr. Money Mustache and updates to reflect today’s reality. The first page of the book reads:

Why Read This Book?

• Do you have enough money? 
• Are you spending enough time with family and friends?
• Do you come home from your job full of life?
• Do you have time to participate in things you believe are worthwhile?
• If you were laid off from your job, would you see it an opportunity?
• Are you satisfied with the contribution you have made to the world?
• Are you at peace with your money?
• Do you have enough savings to see you through six months of normal living expenses?
• Is your life whole? Do all the pieces -your job, your expenditures, your relationships, your values – fit together?

 

IF you answered no to even one of these questions, this book is for you.

– Your Money Or Your Life

Did you answer “No” to any of these questions? If yes, then you’ll enjoy this book. Personally, this book has really changed my relationship with money and other things like time and life. Vicki and Joe did an excellent job telling you about the real value of working for the money. They translated that into a term called “Life Energy”.

How much money are you making for the amount of time you work?

– Your Money Or Your Life

My favorite chapter of the book is “Catching FIRE: The Crossover Point”. It talks and teaches about how your savings and investment income generate enough money to meet your living expenses. They called this point “The Crossover point” and this is basically the Financial Independence point.

The Crossover Point provides us with our final definition of Financial Independence. At the Crossover Point, where monthly investment income exceeds your monthly expenses, you will be financially independent in the traditional sense of that term. You will have passive income from a source other than a job.

– Your Money Or Your Life

My only regret is that I didn’t read this book earlier. If you want to find peace with your money and your life, this is a must-read. Your Money Or Your Life will transform the way you think about your “money” and your “life”.

 

 

1. Personal Capital  (FREE!)

I stumbled upon Personal Capital in 2016 while surfing the internet. I really didn’t know what it was and was afraid to try it (I had to aggregate all of my financial accounts with my passwords). Later that year, I decided to give it a chance. At the time, I’d been using Mint for nearly 15 years. Heck, let’s try it to see if it’s better helping me with my FI goal. I later signed up for an account in the Fall of 2016.

It’s a free web-based financial account aggregator. This tool helps me with tracking our net worth, budgeting, managing our financial portfolio, analyzing investment fees & performance, and planning our retirement all in one place. I’m obsessed with Personal Capital. There’s not a day that I don’t log in and check my numbers. I am excited to see my financial improvement little by little each day goes by. It’s super easy to use. There’s also a free app which makes tracking your finances easier than ever. I am very happy with this new tool. The only regret I had was that I didn’t sign up sooner. You can sign up for a free Personal Capital account here. I highly recommend it.

 

2. Credit Sesame (FREE!)

This awesome credit score monitoring website is a 100% free, with no credit card required or trial period. Summer of 2015, my co-worker told me about this free Credit website while I was looking for houses online. My husband and I were looking for a new house (my sister’s family is going to live with us when they move to the U.S. so we needed a bigger home). So I thought I should check this out as we were going to need to apply for a mortgage anyway.  Since it’s free, why not? Boy, I learned so much from this website and we raised our credit scores by 100 points! We’ve always had good credit scores. However, Credit Sesame helped us be in the excellent credit range 🙂 !

One decision of signing up for Credit Sesame account helped us get the lowest interest rate on our mortgage. Furthermore, when we moved into the new house, all the utilities connection/installation fees were waived because we had excellent credit scores. I couldn’t be happier! Not to mention that we’ll save a ton on the mortgage interest but also we saved $190 instantly on our utility connection fees. You can sign up for Credit Sesame here.

 

3. U.S. mortgage calculator  (FREE!)

If you have a mortgage and want to pay it off sooner rather than later. This tool is for you. You can add in different variables to your mortgage numbers like adding extra payments and see which scenarios could work for you and your family. This is the best (and free) U.S. mortgage calculator on earth. They say compound interest is the 8th wonder of the world. I say U.S. mortgage calculator is the 9th wonder of the world. And I’m really excited to share this tool with you. Because it’s super friendly to use and it helps and motivates me to pay our own mortgage off early. If you have a mortgage and want to learn all about your monthly mortgage payment options, especially if you want to pay it off, make sure you check this tool out. It shows you how much interest you could save if you add a certain amount of extra payments. This tool will help you to do just that.

 

4. Vanguard blog  (FREE!)

You can get insights and opinions from Vanguard leaders all in one place from this valuable site. If you want to learn about investing and personal finance in general, start reading this blog! There are Economy & Markets, Investing, Personal Finance, Retirement, and College sections. I find reading their blog really helpful to gain insights and general knowledge about personal finance. The length of the blog content is concise and short. However, the comment sections are super active and super helpful. You gain even more knowledge by just reading other people’s comments. I’m addicted to their blog!

 

5. Vanguard (Low Fee Investing Provider)

I highly recommend Vanguard for your investing needs because they have the lowest fees. Do you know how much you pay for your investment account? What are your fund expense ratios? It’s time to check your investment fees if you’re not sure about it. Because Vanguard is best known for their low-cost index funds. The company was founded by John Bogle, who has also created an index fund. Basically, they are owned by customers, not by shareholders. If you decide to go with Vanguard, you can opt out the $20 annual account service fee by choosing electronic statements/communication instead of having the paper statements/communication mailed to you.

 

6. DollarSprout (FREE!)

DollarSprout is a personal finance website sharing ways to earn extra money, make smart financial choices, and teach you the best saving hacks. The website regularly publishes personal finance articles that are written by a team of contributors. This is a very useful website to learn all things personal finance for free. Check them out if you want to learn how to make more money and save money. I highly recommend it.

 

7. Cost of raising a child calculator  (FREE!)

If you plan to have children, head to this website to see some financial perspective you’ll be dealing with. It gives you a general idea in regard to financial preparations about the costs of raising a child, cost of college, etc. The second best thing you could do for your children is the ability to successfully prepare your finances.

 

8. Financial calculator  (FREE!)

It provides the most comprehensive lists of personal financial calculators.

9. College Savings Calculator (FREE!)

In my opinion, this is the best college savings calculator out there. It combines a college cost calculator with a 529 college savings calculator. If you have kids and plan to pay for their college education, I highly recommend you check this one out.

 

10. Portfolio Analysis (FREE!)

It’s a free online tool for backtesting, Monte Carlo simulation, tactical asset allocation & optimization, and investment analysis tools for exploring factor regressions, correlations, and efficient frontiers. If you are a math nerd or just want to check your portfolio to the next level, this tool will give you just that. I highly recommend it.

 

11. Employer-Sponsored Retirement Plan Analysis  (FREE!)

I think Blooom is one of the best online tools for retirement planning. If you have a retirement plan through your employment like 401(k), 457, 403(b), or TSP, you can check your retirement account for free to see if you have a proper asset allocation (based on your age, your retirement age, your risk tolerance), risk, and potential growth. You get a quick analysis of your retirement plan for free. If you want more services, you can enroll in their paid retirement plan management and analysis for a minimal charge.

Personally, I just use their free service. It’s nice to have an expert take a look at my retirement plan and see if my plan is financially sound. It’s so simple. You only need to answer a few questions. There is no credit card or subscription needed. You can get your retirement plan analyzed for free here. There are no strings attached.

 

12. MyMoney.gov (FREE!)

MyMoney.gov is the U.S. government’s website dedicated to teaching you the basics about finances. Whether you are planning to buy a home, trying to pay off debt, investing in your retirement account, or balancing your checkbook, MyMoney.gov can help you do it better. Throughout the site, you’ll find important information from 20 U.S. federal agencies government-wide.

 

13. HOPE NOW (FREE!)

HOPE NOW is connected to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). It’s an alliance between HUD-approved counseling agents, mortgage companies, investors, and other mortgage market participants that provides free foreclosure prevention assistance. Counseling organizations play a key role in the success of HOPE NOW, providing borrowings in-depth debt management, credit counseling and overall foreclosure counseling. There’s a VDO section about “Homeowner Success Stories” that I find it very inspiring.

 

14. eXtension (FREE!)

eXtension is an interactive learning environment delivering the best, most researched knowledge from the smartest land-grant university minds across the U.S.. The personal finance section offers multiple resources on financial matters, the opportunity to ask questions of experts, and a link to local resources.

 

 

1. Mad Fientist  (FREE!)

Years back, I got to know his blog while making trips to my parents’ house which is a 9-hour drive from our home. I had so many hours to kill while driving. I listened to several personal finance podcasts at the time and wanted to listen to something that was more FI specific. Then I found Mad Fientist podcast. I feel like I have found my tribe! The way he interviews his guests is incredibly helpful to listeners. His podcast led me to his blog. And magical things happened from there. I got to know so many helpful tools he created on his blog. His blog also introduced me to so many other great FI bloggers; Mr. Money Mustache and J.L. Collins.

If you love traveling and want to save your hard earned money, you need to check out his travel hacking and travel card tool. I can’t get enough of Mad Fientist and his Fience lab!

 

2. Mr. Money Mustache  (FREE!)

Thanks to Mad Fientist, I got to know the King of FI. After listening to this podcast, my heart skipped a beat and I finally had my light bulb moment. The way he writes on his blog is blunt and direct (which I love). He talks about ways to reduce your expenses and practical actions to help you achieve financial independence.

Mr. Money Mustache retired in his 30’s and is FI. He decided to start his blog to share his secrets of how FI can be done. My favorite post of all time is “The Shockingly Simple Math Behind Early Retirement“. Yes, an early retirement can be done and just happens to cost 50-75% less. His blog really gives you a whole new perspective on money and life.

 

3. jlcollinsnh  (FREE!)

He is the author of the Simple Path to Wealth book. His blog is best known for the Stock Series. Beyond the Stock Series, there are posts about Money, Life, Travel, and Business. I found his posts very inspiring and helpful. He tells compelling, fun to read stories from his own experiences. Check out my favorite post to get you started.

It’s not just about how much you have but also how little you need. – J.L. Collins

 

4. Our Next Life  (FREE!)

Tanya, the author of the blog, retired at the age of 38. She and her husband are living FI. If you need early retirement inspirations, this blog is for you. I love the way she writes and is really inspiring to read. Her blog is all about early retirement. She is really passionate about that and it shows through her writing and her blog.

 

5. The Money Habit  (FREE!)

JP Livingston, the author of the blog, retired at the age of 28 and has a net worth of $2.25 million. She was featured on a Yahoo Finance article, and that’s how I found her blog. Her blog is all about how small money habits can drastically build wealth for everyone. I love the way she writes. Her posts are packed full of valuable knowledge.

 

6. Making Sense of Cents  (FREE!)

Michelle, the author of the blog, was able to pay off her $40,000 student loan in 7 months through her side hustlings. She was also featured on a Yahoo Finance article, and that’s how I found her blog. She and her husband are traveling full-time and living a digital nomad lifestyle. Her story is so fascinating. After earning two undergraduate degrees and an MBA in finance, she had racked up $40,000 worth of student loan debt while working full-time. She created her blog as a way to tackle her own finances so she could pay off her student loans and stop living paycheck to paycheck. The extra income from side hustlings allowed her to quit her full-time job as a financial analyst and travel full-time. Through her blog, she teaches you how to save money and make more money.

 

7. Retire by 40  (FREE!)

Joe Udo, the author of the blog, was an engineer who retired at the age of 38. He writes about pretty much everything personal finance related. His posts are easy & fun to read. I love everything he has to say. Seriously! He is very knowledgeable about passive income. And that allowed him to quit his job and become a stay-at-home dad (and a blogger).

 

 

1. Mad Fientist  (FREE!)

Here you’ll find all quality early retirement and financial independence podcasts. He doesn’t produce podcasts on a regular basis. Once in a while, he pops out just one or two episodes. But don’t let that stop you from subscribing to his podcast. It’s because each episode is so valuable and worth your time listening. I’m talking about quality over quantity here. If you don’t have much time to spare, this is the only FI podcast you need to listen to.

 

2. Choose FI  (FREE!)

It’s quite awkward to say but it’s true that I found Choose FI podcast while searching for another Financial Independence specific podcast to listen to (while waiting for a new episode of Mad Fientist podcast). And man…let me tell you, I’m hooked. Brad and Jonathan complement each other perfectly. The way they talk and interview their guests is so inspiring. What I like the most is that they tell you actionable advice that you can apply to real life. This is a game changer! Ok, if you have more time to spare, this is the second FI podcast you need to listen to. Keep up the good work, Brad and Jonathan!

 

 

1. ibotta  (FREE!)

ibotta is a free app that pays you real cash with grocery and everyday shopping. After you download the app and complete the registration, before you shop, you just need to add offers to your profile using your smartphone through the app or using a PC. Then you go buy the products (that you added to your profile) just like you normally do in a store. Redeem your offers by taking a photo of your receipt. ibotta will match the items you bought to the offers you selected and gives you the cash! Your cash back will be deposited into your ibotta account within 48 hours. You can then redeem your cash through PayPal or by requesting a gift card.

What I like about ibotta is that it gives you real money, not points or other made-up currencies. You can sign up for ibotta through my referral link here and get a $10 welcome bonus.

 

2. Ebates  (FREE!)

Get ready to make some easy money. If you regularly shop on Amazon, you’ll love this amazing cash back tool. It gives you 1% or more when you shop at Amazon. It’s so user-friendly. After you sign up, you just find the store on Ebates, click “Shop Now” and shop like you normally would on the store site. You can also earn cash back through in-store purchases (with participating stores). After you make an eligible purchase, you’ll earn cash back and Ebates will send you a check or PayPal payment quarterly.

Do you shop online? Do you shop in-store? If you do, it’s time to earn easy money for your purchases. Don’t leave money on the table. If you sign up through my referral link, you’ll receive a $10 welcome bonus when you sign up and make $25 eligible purchase.

What I like about Ebates is that it’s very easy to use, their support team/customer service is super helpful, and they always have great promotions year round (like get 10x cash back, 30% regular price + 10% cash back, etc.). A cash back shopping website/app like Ebates really pays you when shop, what not to like? You can sign up for Ebates here.

3. Receipt Hog (FREE!)

It is a fun money earning app. In my opinion, it’s almost like a game but it’s just better! It’s a free app that turns your everyday shopping receipts into cash rewards. For every qualifying receipt, you take a picture and submit, you’ll earn coins. Depending on the retailer on your receipts, you also get to spin a hog slot for a chance to get more coins and sweepstakes entry for a monthly drawing. I earned 200 coins one time through the hog slot – it was fun!

What I like about this app is that there’s no shopping planning like other apps I’ve mentioned above. You just snap your receipt, submit it through the app, accumulate your coins, and redeem it for cash through PayPal or by requesting an Amazon gift card. You can sign up for Receipt Hog here.

 

4. Checkout 51 (FREE!)

Checkout 51 is a company that partners with brands to bring its members cash back offers. Use the free app to get some cash back on groceries and personal care products (like cereal, produce, milk, diapers, toothpaste, etc.), by taking a picture of your receipt and earning cash back for qualifying purchases through the app. You can sign up for Checkout 51 here.

 

5. Fetch Rewards (FREE!)

It’s similar to ibotta but this app gives you points (instead of cash). You earn points by snapping your grocery receipts through the app. It’s so easy to earn. There is no shopping planning like ibotta and Checkout 51. What I like about Fetch Rewards is that you can still earn points without buying specific stuff. You earn points and save without planning. Buy whatever you want, wherever you want, and save. You just need to scan your grocery receipts when you shop. Once you accumulate enough points, you can redeem your rewards through the app. There are a ton of gift cards you can choose. Download Fetch Rewards and enter my referral code T4HHB at the sign-up screen to get 2,000 points on your first receipt. Start earning today. It’s an easy way to get free gift cards.  🙂

 

6. coinout (FREE!)

Coinout has become my favorite money saving app. It’s super easy to earn extra cash! There is no shopping planning. There is no specific item to buy. You just snap any receipt to earn real money! Yes – ANY RECEIPT! Coinout gives you real money, not point or other made-up currencies like Fetch Rewards or Receipt Hog. If you purchase at any online stores through the app, you’ll get coinout cash back as well. Here’s a catch, the app only allows you to snap a certain number of receipts per day. However, I do enjoy using this app to earn easy extra money. I have earned a little more than $10 for just a few months.

 

1. Azure

Azure is my favorite place to buy organic stuff ranging from foods, lotions to fertilizers.  The Azure company is independently and family owned. They practice sustainability at all its locations resulting in a zero waste organization. If you want to support a family-owned company, this is the one. We receive nothing but good experiences buying everything organic from them. They have big selections of organic foods, organic personal care products, organic household products, etc.

If you are a homesteader or a backyard chicken owner like us, they have a big selection of chicken feeds. This is the one we get for our ladies, Organic Naturally Free Poultry Layer Feed, 16% protein, Soy and Corn Free. My chickens are crazy about this feed.

The website also provides great recipes and health-related articles. Make sure you check Azure out. You can also request a free catalog here.

 

2. Great river organic milling

This is where we buy our organic grains for making our own chicken feeds. The prices are reasonable. We get free shipping on our orders most of the time. They pack orders well. We’re happy with them. We’ve been buying organic grains from them since 2015. If your family eats organic grains or flours, make sure to check them out. They have a huge selection on Amazon.

 

 

 

Blogging has changed my life. It helps me to write better. But the greatest benefit is beyond just being a better writer. Since the day I decided to blog about personal finance, I’m so much better at managing our own finances. Not to mention that I can talk freely about a subject that I’m passionate about, money. It’s a touchy subject, especially around friends and family. I am so glad took that first step.

In my opinion, I think everybody should have a blog. If you have a social media account, then you are capable of writing a blog. Say, if you enjoy posting on your social media account, you’ll enjoy blogging. The only difference is blogging is 10 times better! You don’t need complex coding skills or anything like that. It’s also so affordable to own your own website these days. Also, there are many good reasons to be self-hosted (instead of using other platforms like Blogger or Blogspot). It’s because you have a full control over your site. You own your space and no one can’t take your content down. If you’re interested in blogging, check out my step-by-step how to start a blog tutorial and read the benefits of blogging.

Here I share all of the blogging tools I use to build this site:

 

The Basics

1. Hosting service and Domain name registration (Affordable web hosting)

I highly recommend Bluehost. Their price is very reasonable. You can own your site for less than $4 a month. Bluehost provides a free domain name registration, a one-click WordPress (a blogging platform) installation and a FREE Secure Socket Layer (SSL) certificate. Their 24/7 customer service is super helpful and knowledgeable. When I have an issue with my account and/or service, I just chat with them on the chatting thingy. My issues are always resolved in a timely manner. You can check out Bluehost here.

 

2. Writing tool (FREE!)

Grammarly makes my writing so much easier. It points out typographical errors, punctuations, grammar errors, and plagiarism. Since English is my third language, this tool helps me greatly and ensures stress-free writing! You can sign up for a free account here. Even you’re not interested in starting a blog, you should at least sign up for an account. So you can use it with your homework, class assignments, resume, email, etc. It’s free anyway, so why not?

 

3. MonsterInsights

It’s a plugin that allows you to easily add, customize, and manage the Google Analytics website tracking services on your WordPress site. This plugin is the best and most popular Google Analytics plugin for WordPress.

 

4. Camera

The majority of photos on my blog are taken by me using my DSLR camera. What do you think of the photo quality?

The major advantage of a DSLR camera over a point-and-shoot camera is that point-and-shoot cameras typically cannot separate foreground from background whereas you have full control over depth of field with a DSLR camera. Do you notice that pictures taken by a DSLR camera have blurry background with sharp foreground? They look more professional. It is because you can bring your subject into focus (hence sharp subject with a blurry background) through aperture control of the lens.

Another major advantage of a DSLR camera is that the ability to change your lens. There are big arrays of lenses you can use depending on your needs, from a wide-angle lens to a telephoto. On point-and-shoot cameras, you are limited to the “optical zoom” of the camera lens itself while DSLR lenses are much better optically. With these advantages, DSLR cameras allow you to take better quality photos. However, a DSLR camera costs more, bulkier and heavier.

You can also get free stock images from various stock photo sites. However, since it’s free, everybody is using it. If you take your own photos and use them on your blog, then your photos are unique, thus making your blog unique.

 

Free photo editing software

1. GIMP (FREE!)

It’s a free and open-source raster graphics editor used for image editing and free-form drawing. GIMP is much more than an image editor. It gives you most of the features of Adobe Photoshop but it’s completely free. In my opinion, GIMP is not as user-friendly as other software I use (Fotor, Canva, and PicMonkey). You can download the software for free here.

 

2. Fotor (FREE!)

It’s a free online photo editing software, collage maker, and designer. It’s like an online Photoshop but much easier to use. You can adjust color, brightness, exposure, size, and more. There are some cool features like text inserting, portrait retouching, and photo effects. I personally use Fotor for years and I am very happy with its features and the ease of use. You can go sign up for Fotor here.

 

3. PicMonkey (FREE!)

I must say PicMonkey has become my favorite photo editing software. It’s also a free online photo editing software that has all the photo editing features. What I like about PicMonkey is that there are social media templates to choose from, like Instagram, Facebook, Pinterest, Twitter, etc. which makes it easy for bloggers. You can go check out PicMonkey here.

 

4. Canva (FREE!)

This free online photo editing site is super awesome. It has all the photo editing features. And here is what I like about Canva. There are some stock images you can use for free. However, the majority of them will cost you $1 for a one-time use. It’s definitely worth checking it out. You can sign up for Canva here.

 

Stock Photos

1. Pixabay (FREE!)

Pixabay is a free stock photos site. They have a large selection of photos. It’s my number one site when it comes to free stock photos. While they don’t cost anything, I find it discouraging when I see photos I use on my blog are also on someone else’s website. My best recommendation would be to take your own photos.

 

2. istock by Getty Images

istock provides great quality stock photos, royalty-free images. They are not free, though. I find it quite expensive. However, you get stunning images. In my opinion, istock is the best quality stock photos site out there. If you only need one or two stock photos on your blog, like on a landing page, istock is the best place to get it. It’s worth the investment. You don’t want to use a free image and later learn that everybody’else is also using the same photos as you.

Even though you are not planning to buy photos from istock. I recommend you at least to sign up for an account. It’s free to join. You’ll get free images every now and then when you sign up. You can sign up for istock here.

 

3. Shutterstock

Shutterstock is also a stock photo, royalty-free image site. They also are not free. But you get stunning images. Like I said with paid images, you get great photos and less chance of having the same photos as everybody else. The good thing about Shutterstock is that their pricing is very affordable (less expensive than istock).

 

4. Unsplash (FREE!)

Unsplash has great selections of royalty-free stock images. My problem with Unsplash is that I spend so much time trying to find an image because there so many great photos. I can’t decide which one to pick. I find that the quality of their images is much better than other free royalty-free stock photo sites. Unsplash has become one of my favorite websites for free royalty-free stock images. Again, while they don’t cost anything, I find it discouraging when I see photos I use on my blog are also on someone else’s website. My best recommendation would be to take your own photos. However, it’s a great option if you don’t have the time and resources to take your own photos.

 

5. Styled Stock Society (FREE! and Paid Option)

Styled stock society offers amazingly beautiful feminine royalty-free stock photos. They offer free stock photos monthly to their members. Here’s how you can get free images delivered to your mailbox every month: subscribe to their email list to get 20 free stock photos now and new photos freebies every month. They also offer paid subscriptions to over 2,000+ beautiful feminine stock photos or you can shop individual stock photo bundles for a low price.

 

 

 

If you like getting free stuff, you need to check out James’s website. After you sign up, you’ll get emails where you can get free stuff. It’s simple as that. And of course, it’s legit.