Throughout my blogging and personal finance journey, I've found a lot of useful apps, programs, and courses that have helped me improve various aspects of my life. Since they've helped me, I figure they might be able to help you too, which is why I've created this resource page.
Below you'll find my favorite products, courses, plugins, and whatever else that I use all the time.
Table of Contents:
- Blogging Tools
- Personal Finance Tools
- Online Shopping Toolkit (Save the maximum amount of money while shopping online)
Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links. If you click a link and make a purchase, I may earn a small commission at no extra cost to you. Learn more here.
Blogging Tools
These are all my favorite blogging tools. Without these, you probably wouldn't be reading this right now.
SiteGround Web Hosting
There are so many reasons why I choose SiteGround to host my blog. They are doing things that no other hosts are doing. For example, they have created something called the SuperCacher for WordPress which gave my site a big speed boost.
Also, their customer service is superb. I can get in touch with a live representative almost instantly, which has saved me multiple times because I somehow always break my site. If you want to learn more, check out how to start a blog with Siteground.
Blog Simple Framework
The Blog Simple Framework is a blogging school that had a huge impact on helping me get my blog up and running and profitable in my first year of blogging. I call it a school because it's packed with multiple courses and a community of like-minded people. It's pretty fantastic.
The founder, Paul Scrivens, runs several online businesses in various niches, he tests everything he teaches, and he's been in the game for years. In other words, he knows his stuff.
If you want to learn more, you can check out his free Blog Simple Guide, or my read some of my Blog Income Reports to see how buying access to this course/school was probably the best investment I've made for my business.
StudioPress Themes
If you want a great theme for your website that's fast, mobile friendly, SEO optimized, and super secure, choose StudioPress. They've got a ton of different themes so they offer something for everyone.
Also, if you purchase a StudioPress theme you'll be able to use it on as many websites as you please, unlike some other themes that require a license for each site.
Content Views Pro
Content Views Pro is one of my favorite WordPress plugins. If you're looking for a way to display specific posts on certain pages of your blog, this is the perfect plugin for that. The free version is a great place to start, but the pro version packs a lot more features.
If you check out my make money page you can see how I used Content Views to display all of my posts in a nice neat grid, this only took me around 5 minutes to set up (I'm using the “Pinterest” layout).
Tailwind
Pinterest is a huge source of traffic to my blog and, to be honest, I owe it all to automation. I simply don't have the time to go on Pinterest every day to manually pin. That's why I rely on Tailwind to schedule all of my pins with ease.
Tailwind makes sure my pins are going out at the best times, and it's super easy to set up. If you want to bring a ton of free traffic to your blog I highly recommend using Tailwind to automate your Pinterest strategy.
Grammarly
Grammarly is my go-to grammar checker. I use it when I'm writing blog posts, emails, affiliate pitches, basically anything. I've used both the free version and the premium version, and the premium version definitely has some nice additional features but the free version is great for starting out.
If you're someone who commonly makes grammar mistakes and you don't have the cash to hire a proofreader, it's worth downloading Grammarly just to act as an extra set of eyes.
Personal Finance Tools
Here are some of my favorite personal finance tools that I use.
Mint
Mint is my favorite personal finance tool at the moment. I use it to track my spending, create simple budgets, set goals, track my investments, and it also alerts me when I need to pay bills.
Also, since Mint is available on multiple devices I can stay updated whether I'm at home or on the move. Best of all, it's free to sign up.
Trim
Trim is the one and only personal finance robot with a lot of powerful features. For example, Trim can lower your bills for you automatically, help you budget, track your recurring purchases, remind you to pay off your bills, and MORE.
If you want to learn more check out my full review or sign up for free here.
Wealth Simple
Wealth Simple is my go-to robo-advisor because it does exactly what it says it does – simplifies investing. I could do exactly what Wealth Simple does by myself, but I love the convenience that this robo-advisor brings.
Since Wealth Simple handles my retirement account all I did was set up a recurring deposit every month, and now I don't have to touch the account at all – WS handles it for me. Sign up here.
Online Shopping Toolkit
If you shop online, these are the tools that will help you save money.
Ebates
Ebates is the #1 cashback website in the world offering cashback at over 2,000 stores. If you shop online, adding Ebates to your toolkit will help you save hundreds of dollars every year. You can earn up to 25% cash back at all your favorite stores including Nike, Amazon, eBay, Walmart and more!
This is definitely the easiest way to save money online. Sign up for free here and don't forget to download the browser extension.
Swagbucks
Swagbucks is generally seen as a survey site, but it's a lot more than that. There are tons of different savings opportunities on Swagbucks that you can't find anywhere else. They also offer a generous amount of cash back at a lot of different stores.
If you download the Swagbutton browser extension you'll get alerted whenever there's a coupon code, cash back opportunity, or a new Swag Code (which is basically free money). Sign up here for a FREE $5 bonus or read my full Swagbucks review & earning guide.
Paribus
Paribus is the online shopping tool that you never knew you needed. Paribus gets you free cash back by taking advantage of price drop policies.
When stores offer a price drop policy, it just means that if you purchase something and the price drops within a certain time frame (could be a week, could be longer), you can get the difference refunded. For example, if you bought something from Walmart for $20 and 3 days later the price drops to $15, you can get $5 back if you email Walmart and ask.
Paribus makes this whole process automatic by scanning for price drops and emailing the stores for you. Sign up for free here.
Honey
Honey is a SWEET (get it?) browser extension that makes couponing online a breeze. All you need to do is sign up, add Honey to your favorite browser, and then you're basically set.
When you shop online, Honey will test every single coupon code it can find on the web to get you the best discount. Sign up for free here.
