Your goal should be to pay off your credit card bills in full at the end of each month and set aside money toward your emergency savings.

Those carrying a credit card balance should scale back to making the minimum payment each month so they have more money to put into savings.

I get so frustrated when people tell me it's unrealistic to create an eight-month emergency savings fund, or have money saved for a home down payment, or pay off their $5,000 credit card balance.

The last thing family and friends want is for you to spend money on them that you don't have or that you can't really spare.

I think I'm actually quite a materialistic person, I value what it takes to make a car or build a nice house. Money does change things, but how it changes people depends on how they react to it.