Guides
Plain-language money and home project guides
Overview
Worked examples, common mistakes and a free calculator for each: car loans, refinancing, down payments, paint, flooring, tipping and more.
How Much Car Payment Can You Afford?
Work backward from a monthly budget to a price you can finance, and see how loan length changes the total you pay.
Read the guide →GUIDEHow Car Loan Interest Works, Month by Month
See why early payments are mostly interest, how each payment splits, and what an amortization table tells you.
Read the guide →GUIDEIs Refinancing Worth It? Find Your Break-Even
Divide closing costs by monthly savings to see how long a refinance takes to pay for itself, and what the simple math leaves out.
Read the guide →GUIDEHow Much Down Payment Do You Need?
See what a down payment looks like at 3%, 5%, 10% and 20% of the price, and how it changes the loan you take on.
Read the guide →GUIDEHow to Compare Two Loan Offers
Compare payment, total interest and term side by side so a lower monthly payment does not hide a higher total cost.
Read the guide →GUIDEHow to Calculate Stacked Discounts Correctly
A 25% sale plus a 10% coupon is not 35% off. Here is how successive discounts really combine.
Read the guide →GUIDEHow to Tip and Split a Bill Fairly
Figure the tip, the total and each person's share, plus simple ways to handle uneven orders.
Read the guide →GUIDEHow to Figure Gas Mileage and Trip Fuel Cost
Measure your real miles per gallon from one fill-up to the next, then estimate the fuel cost of a drive.
Read the guide →GUIDEHow Much Paint Do I Need for a Room?
Figure wall area, subtract doors and windows, multiply by coats and divide by coverage so you buy the right number of gallons.
Read the guide →GUIDEHow Much Flooring or Tile Should You Buy?
Measure the floor, add a waste allowance, divide by the piece size and round up to whole boxes.
Read the guide →GUIDEHow to Split Rent With Roommates Fairly
Compare an equal split with one based on income or room size, and settle utilities before anyone signs.
Read the guide →GUIDEHow to Convert Hours and Minutes to Decimal Hours
Turn 8 hours 20 minutes into 8.33 hours for timesheets and invoices, and convert decimals back.
Read the guide →GUIDEHow Much House Can You Afford? Budget to Price
Turn a monthly housing budget and your other debts into a price range, and see why a lender's maximum is not the same as comfortable.
Read the guide →GUIDEClosing Costs First-Time Buyers Should Plan For
A plain list of the fees due at closing, who usually pays them, and how to compare your Loan Estimate with the Closing Disclosure.
Read the guide →GUIDEHow to Build a Monthly Household Budget in Six Steps
List income, fixed bills, variable costs and yearly expenses, then give every dollar a job, with one worked household example.
Read the guide →GUIDEHow Big Should Your Emergency Fund Be?
There is no single right number. Multiply your essential monthly costs by the months you choose, then see how long saving takes.
Read the guide →GUIDETotal Cost of Owning a Car: Compare Two Cars
Price is only the start. See how tax, interest, fuel, insurance, upkeep and depreciation add up over five years for two example cars.
Read the guide →GUIDEDebt-to-Income Ratio Explained, With an Example
Learn how to calculate your debt-to-income ratio, what counts as debt, the difference between front-end and back-end, and how to lower it.
Read the guide →GUIDEHow to Split Shared Expenses Fairly With Roommates
Compare equal, by-room and by-income splits for rent, then handle utilities, groceries, settling up and what happens when someone moves out.
Read the guide →GUIDEHow to Set a Holiday Budget and Stick to It
Add up gifts, travel, food and events before you spend, work backward to a monthly amount, and see what putting it on a card really costs.
Read the guide →GUIDEYear-End Household Money Checklist
A plain year-end checklist: compare budget to actual, check sinking funds, trim subscriptions, review coverage, gather records and set next year's budget.
Read the guide →GUIDEThe 50/30/20 Budget Rule, With a Worked Example
Split take-home pay into needs, wants and savings, see the rule on a real number, and what to do when your needs come to more than half.
Read the guide →GUIDEZero-Based Budgeting: Give Every Dollar a Job
How a zero-based budget works, a full worked month where income minus the plan equals zero, and how to keep it from breaking mid-month.
Read the guide →GUIDESinking Funds: Save Monthly for Yearly Bills
What a sinking fund is, how to work out the monthly amount, and a worked example that turns three yearly bills into one steady number.
Read the guide →GUIDEDebt Snowball vs Avalanche: Which Pays Off Faster?
Both methods put extra money on one debt at a time. A worked example shows how the payoff order, the months and the interest differ.
Read the guide →GUIDEHow to Pay Off Credit Card Debt: The Numbers
Why minimum payments take years, a worked example of paying more each month, and the steps that cut the interest.
Read the guide →GUIDEPay Yourself First: Save Before You Spend
Why saving first works better than saving what is left, how to set it up, and what $200 a month becomes in five years.
Read the guide →GUIDEHow to Budget With an Irregular Income
A budget for freelancers, gig workers and anyone paid by commission or tips: plan on your low month and build a buffer from the good ones.
Read the guide →GUIDEHow to Find and Cut Subscriptions You Forgot About
Find every repeating charge in your statements, add up the yearly cost, and decide what to keep, with a worked example.
Read the guide →GUIDEHow to Track Your Net Worth (and Why It Matters)
Add up what you own and what you owe, see a worked example, and why the trend over time matters more than the number.
Read the guide →GUIDEHow to Budget as a Couple: Splitting Bills Fairly
Three ways couples split shared costs, a worked example of splitting by income, and how to keep money talks from turning into fights.
Read the guide →Looking for just the numbers? See all free tools.