With banks crashing left and right thanks to making bad financial decisions, there aren't many �€œprofessionals�€ left to trust with your money �€“ and in this economy, you need to be really smart with every last dollar. Without a professional to help, you're left to do all that digging on your own �€“ but where to start?

Look no further - here are 9 fabulous financial tools you can use to shave a few bucks off your monthly budget.

If your cell phone is burning a hole in your pocket, search for a better deal at BillShrink.com. Just answer five simple questions about your usage, or upload your latest bill to search plans and add-ons from all providers, including call quality and cost to switch.

Keep track of your TransUnion credit score and simulate the effect of future decisions on your credit with CreditKarma.com, absolutely free.

Compare thousands of financial accounts �€“ from credit cards and checking accounts to CDs and 529 college savings plans �€“ at FiLife.com.

Mint.com works with just about any bank to help you get a grip on all your household finances. Keep track of everything, from your 401(k) to that daily double latte.

Let banks compete for your savings account �€“ MoneyAisle.com helps you get the best rates by pitting banks against each other in a real-time auction that takes just a few minutes.

QuickenOnline.com has finally dropped that ugly monthly fee, so now you can get a snapshot of all your accounts, with forecasts and text messages when you overspend for absolutely nothing.

Stop calling brokers to find the best mortgage rates. SmartHippo.com just needs a zip code to tell you who is offering what in the area, and more.

Bulk up your financial muscles with JustThrive.com, a new budgeting and money management site made to help you get better at reaching your financial goals.

If Quicken, Thrive, or Mint don't work that well for you, give Wesabe.com a try. The site works in a very similar fashion, but with an added community learning style.

You can find out more about Patricia Mayo and her other projects at Mayobrains.com or ComHacker.org.

It has always mystified me how some people can pick a job out of high school or college and stay in it for their entire life. When I was a little girl, considering what I would do for work, I thought that "one true job" ideal was expected and normal - but then I found out differently.

At first I beat myself up. "Why can't I keep a job longer than a few months to a couple years? What is wrong with me?" Truth be told, sticking to one job for almost your entire life can actually be more of a curse than a blessing - and could even be extremely problematic if your job can't grow with your needs.

Since most jobs these days preach and practice single-mindedness and specialization, keeping one job your entire life can mean disaster in a slumping economy. Every savvy investor knows that a good portfolio is a diversified portfolio - and having a variety of jobs under your belt is a great way to diversify your portfolio of useful and marketable skills.

With the right string of jobs, you could even give yourself an entire college education - and get paid for it. I have done just about everything under the sun, from common grunt to middle-management and direct assistant to a myriad of entrepreneurs and business owners. Several years later, when I wanted to start my own business, I had all the right skills at my fingertips.

Unfortunately, many people still subscribe to the idealistic "one true job" concept, and end up unemployable once their boss walks out on them. The only constant in life is change, so prepare for the worst by trying different types of jobs every few years. Eventually you just might find the perfect way to contribute as an entrepreneur - and when that moment of eureka strikes, I hope you're ready to capitalize on it.

You can find out more about Patricia Mayo and her other projects at Mayobrains.com or ComHacker.org.

There are so many rules and catches and "if this then that" little gotcha's in personal finance - no wonder so few people can accrue any real interest in managing money. How much do you invest? How do you invest? How much should you keep liquid?

Well, the only good way to find out is to try it out. But, not everyone has an endless stream of cash to blow on the financial learning curve. Unless, of course, you play with fake money...

Ah to be young - but there is definitely a downside. Being green with "the green stuff," in this economy, is not only scary, it's also pretty hard to learn the best ways to do right with your money when hardly anyone else knows what they are doing anymore.

You just need to learn it all on your own - invent your own rules - because this is one lesson everyone is learning now too. So think of your "lack" of knowledge in money management as an advantage, since you're not an old dog trying to learn new tricks.

Even a few years ago jobs for those with a bit more than a few gray hairs were scarce. Now, everyone is hurting for a job - and semi-retirees are far from an exception. Adding insult to injury, did you know most states have outlawed folks over a certain age from driving (and hence getting a low impact job) altogether?

With gas prices rising and social support wages declining, what is a certain silvery someone to do?

So you're sitting in the same gray cubicle, thinking the same thought - “some day, I'll start my own business, and break away from this hell.” But then you start to realize how much it costs, and if you're really serious, eventually you come up with a figure - “if only I had $200,000, I could start a business.”

The truth is – you don't need any money to start a business. I dropped out of the rat race completely 4 years ago with hardly a dime to my name, but I have managed to survive and even live my ideal lifestyle the entire time.

In this “slowing economy,” you're probably worried about your job – and quite rightly, too. Most larger companies will definitely lay off a few thousand workers, and if one of them is you, what are you going to do? Well, how about start a business?

I'm sure you know by now most of those “business opportunities” that charge money to join are scams (most people I know ended up in debt because of them too). You can do exactly what they're doing, and not pay them a dime – or you can start a myriad of other businesses absolutely free as well.

For many of us, dealing with financial matters is emotionally stressful. Bills in our mail, notices in our email inboxes, voicemail messages - all of these have the potential to add up to one major headache. Equally difficult is the research we need to perform to get ahead with our finances - 401k options, mutual funds, stocks. Often, conventional wisdom suggests that we should try to keep our emotions out of money affairs, since they're often negative and only lead to
more stress, or worse, less action.

Don't get mad or frustrated. Consider the very obvious, but rarely taken alternative path: get *excited* about your money.

Do you have 3 to 6 months of living expenses tucked away in a safe place? Some people are fanatical about it - “I don't care if you're Donald Trump, you need an emergency fund” - but I subscribe to a more situationally based philosophy.

Take for instance, I don't owe anyone any money – no student loans, no car loans, no mortgages, no balance on a credit line – and I am in control of my paycheck. However, I also travel a great deal. Before you read on, ask yourself if you think I need an emergency fund.

The biggest challenge that we face when getting our finances in order isn't the stock market, global economics, current interest rates, or even our present rate of pay. It's our own egos.

Does this sound familiar? "I've had a rough day. I deserve a treat." Add a little bit of self-congratulatory confidence, and the treat varies in proportion. Stressful meeting? Buy yourself a special latte or top-shelf cocktail. Rough week? Take yourself out to a fancy dinner and order something special. Tough summer with the kids? Spend a little extra and take a better vacation than last year. Rough year? Buy a new car, because you've earned it, after all.

Here's the bad news: you don't deserve that treat.

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There are three big factors in the corporate equation – expenses, sales, and profits. The single most important part of that equation is profit, period, in any economic climate. Sales don't matter in a recession. When the economy turns sour, corporations get a clean excuse to cut expenses, be sloppy, and perform terribly – all the while making profits rise at an astronomical rate.

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Unfortunately for him, I meticulously check every charge on my account every few days. It has been a big pain in the rear, and I nearly lost my checking account, but all is well now – and hopefully I can help you avoid the mistakes I made.

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If you haven't already started to feel the pinch, you will soon – and you might have to pay much closer attention to when you let the bank subtract from your account. You could buy overdraft protection, but that just means you are subject to even more fine print than before.

Image by Getty Images via Daylife

I'm not going to terrorize you with senseless statistics – truth be told the whole “buyer confidence” thing is a self-fulfilling prophecy. Let's get real here and take our heads out of the sand, shall we?

As a businessperson and single parent, I've noticed that it's harder than it seems to simplify and cut out all the unneeded, unwanted expenses so that you get to a point where you understand where the money goes and why.

What I've been working on in the last few months is understanding all of my recurring monthly bills and evaluating whether they're really worth the money or not.

1. The less credit I have, the better my score will be.

Um - no. Actually, if you don't have anything to record, then your credit score can only be worse, not better. The age of your accounts is an important factor, and keeping as little credit as possible is a recipe for a lot of small, spoiled potatoes.

2. I can raise my credit score by asking my credit card company to lower my limit.

As a matter of fact, that's a quick way to send your credit score south. Your credit score is affected by your balance-to-limit ratio on each of your cards individually, and it's best if this ratio (also known as the "utilization rate") is always below 30%.

It's a little embarrassing to admit - but I have average credit. My score just hovers around 635, and so far, I haven't been able to do much about it. Now most people would say "wow, you've got a 635 score?! That's great!" - except, in a creditor's eyes, 635 is a hair above sub-prime.

I'm not really planning on making any credit purchases anytime soon, but I still want to improve my credit, so I've been reading up on it. Some of the statistics and facts are pretty shocking.

Here's something funny I recently stumbled upon - did you know Walt Disney and Abraham Lincoln both declared bankruptcy? Well, "Honest Abe" went bankrupt in more ways than financially (and I'm not talking about the whole assassination thing either), but I'll save that for a political blog.

There's also 13 factors that, despite what some may think, absolutely do not affect your credit score. I was pretty surprised about a couple of them too.

First and foremost, I just wanted to clear the air on something. Lately I've been getting a few emails from people assuming I own this blog, Real Life Debt. Sorry. I'm just a writer, and right now I don't have a regular Internet access so I apologize for not getting back to you any sooner, but a gal can only do so much ;)

Anywho, a friend has taken to calling me "Mother Hen." The ironic part - Tom (as I'll call him here) is nearly twice my age.

The battle between the electric car and the gas powered car, in my humble opinion, is just another case of passing the buck. The current arguments for electric cars over gas cars is they pollute less and you'll save on gas prices.

What they don't tell you is electric cars, in the end, probably pollute far more and end up costing a lot more in gas. You just don't see it first hand because you're not the one polluting, and you're not the one shelling out cash for the gas.

For some reason people seem to think the great newspaper downsize is because of the advent of Internet news and other forms of news on demand. I wholeheartedly disagree.

It just doesn't make sense for a newspaper desperate for subscribers to thin out their paper, lay off reporters and distributors, and on top of all that increase their subscription fees if they are trying to better compete with online news. Sure some are switching to online models, but with so few having any amount of success, I very much doubt the strategy being undertaken by newspapers has much of anything to do with thicker competition.

Lately I've had a pretty tough decision to make. Does that $10 in nickels and dimes go toward gas, or cigarettes?

Yes, I'll admit, I'm addicted to nicotine and would like to go from place to place in a somewhat expedient form. You see, I live in the boonies of the Bible Belt, and they don't believe in buses here. The only way to get around is to buy into that overpriced commodity they call “gas” these days, and it's amazing what those prices do to our mood.