Editor's note: The following is a guest post written by Journalist Lisa Ling, host of Our America on OWN and program ambassador for the IKEA Life Improvement Project — a program designed to inspire people to make a positive impact on their homes and the lives within. Below, Lisa shares tips for creative ways to cut the clutter at home.  

Your home should be a peaceful retreat, a place to relax and unwind. Since clutter can be a big cause of stress, my husband and I built in solutions for staying organized when we built our new home. With a new baby and a hectic travel schedule, knowing I will come home to a clean and clutter-free home makes all the difference in staying focused while I’m away. Below are a few tips for you to make sure that everything in your home has a place:

Pictured: Ling's master bedroom.

Make A Plan: If you’re not starting from scratch with a new home, you’ll need a plan to whip your current place into shape. Create a three or six-month plan and think through which areas of your home you’d like to tackle first. Focusing on one room at a time will keep you from getting overwhelmed and abandoning the project. Breaking it into accomplishable chunks will help you get everything done.

Assign Categories: Sort all of your belongings into three categories — display, store and donate/toss. Donate clothes you haven’t worn in the last six months (excluding seasonal items) and things you no longer have a use for. Store seasonal items — like heavy textiles and winter coats — out of reach. Lastly, keep things you use constantly handy. For instance, if you’re a big smoothie maker, keep your blender on the countertop in your kitchen. If you eat granola bars each morning, store the blender away.

Read on for more.

Editor's note: The following guest post was written by Andy Murdock, the US digital editor for Lonely Planet.

As much as you'll miss your roomies and classmates, the next best thing to chucking your graduation cap into the air is hitting the road and watching your alma mater shrink to a blip in your rearview mirror. For at least a brief moment in time, there's nowhere you have to be, nobody telling you where to go or what to do. The only boss of you is, well, you.

With a few good friends or flying solo, the postgraduation Summer road trip requires distance, new vistas, and time — time for the experiences you set out to find, and more importantly the transformative ones you'll never see coming.

So if it's all up to you, why do what everyone else is doing? Here are a few creative ideas to get you started planning your trip:

Get Your Cross-Country Kicks Out of the Way

If you strategically went to college far away, then a slow, meandering trip back home across the country is in order . . . with the emphasis on slow and meandering. While all of the east-west interstates have their moments, they're about speed over scenery, local culture or adventure. The best of the US for the savvy traveler is on the back roads and the lesser-known north-south highways.

A road trip is a journey, not a destination. Instead of stringing together cities in a cross-country itinerary, plan your trip around the interesting roads themselves, and use the interstates to connect them as necessary. Some roads to aim for: Skyline Drive to the Blue Ridge Parkway, the Great River Road along the Mississippi, US Route 89 (a road-tripper's dream that connects more national parks than any other road in the US), US Route 395 along the eastern Sierra Nevada, or the famously scenic Pacific Coast Highway.

The scenic Pacific Coast Highway

Read on for more.

Editor's note: The following is a guest post written by journalist Lisa Ling, program ambassador for the Ikea Life Improvement Project — a program designed to inspire people to make a positive impact on their homes and the lives within. Below, Ling shares tips for turning your home into an oasis. 

When my husband and I built our house, we wanted to make it our oasis — a warm, inviting place for us to make roots and raise our family. And because I travel so much, it was important to create a space that I’m excited to come home to. We were really involved in the building and decorating process and created a space that is truly our oasis. Based on this experience, these tips, below, will help inspire you:

• Focus on You: Your home has to be a relaxing space for you, so make your space personal and a reflection of you. Since my husband and I are environmentalists, we had our home LEED Platinum certified — the highest environmental rating a home can be awarded — because that is what is important to us. If you love to read, display your favorite books on large bookshelves in your living room. If you’re a passionate cook, hang your pots and pans and display your best chef’s knives in the kitchen. The most important part of making your home an oasis is personalizing it to your own tastes.

Pictured: Ling's living room

Read on for more tips from Ling on turning your home into a peaceful abode.

Editor's note: The following guest post was written by Robert Reid, the US travel editor for Lonely Planet.

The definition of what defines an "adventure" is all over the map. For some, it’s a row in the Thames or a bike ride on Prince Edward Island. For others, it’s something a bit more, well, adventurous. Like taking canoes up Amazon tributaries with a full bottle of DEET mosquito spray, running with the bulls in Pamplona, or eating live bugs. All are good. All test and reward in their own ways. At Lonely Planet, we have just released a book called Great Adventures, a gorgeous pictorial of the world’s best adventures in various categories according to interest. I thought I’d share a few classic American adventures from the book that are somewhere in between — wild yet accessible and possible to do.

Read on to find out what they are.

Editor's note: The following guest post was written by Robert Reid, the US travel editor for Lonely Planet.

I always say the things we do when traveling — going to museums, climbing a tower for a view, sitting in a park, standing below an iconic monument — are simply the way we fill time between meals. It's the food, served in first-class restaurants or on plastic-stool seats on cracked sidewalks, that gives you more of a sense of how a place lives. And anyway, we have to eat, right? If you think this way too, Lonely Planet’s new Food Lover's Guide to the World is perfect for you.

Read on for more.

Editor’s note: The following guest post was written by Robert Reid, the US travel editor for Lonely Planet.

The question Lonely Planet gets the most often — other than “How can I be a travel writer?” — is “Where can I go that’s new and interesting but won’t drain my bank account?” Luckily, each year we put out the book Lonely Planet’s Best in Travel, which includes a "Best Value Destinations" list for the year ahead. We define value as getting the most out of your dollar. We don’t necessarily suggest the cheapest destinations, but rather great value options for travelers who want rich experiences without a rich price.

Safari travelers have long booked trips to Kenya, Tanzania, and South Africa, with Botswana’s Okavango Delta being the more offtrack place for unparalleled access to wildlife. Safari price tags are counted by thousands, but it’s possible to do a DIY safari for a few hundred dollars in Namibia.

Read on for more.

The following is a guest post by Kimberly Palmer, creator of The 2012 Money Planner and author of Generation Earn, available on Etsy. She is also the personal finance columnist at US News & World Report. Take it away, Kimberly!

The new year means a fresh slate—and new money goals for 2012. Whether publicly on a website such as 43things.com or privately in our own heads, many of us are brainstorming for how we can find greater financial success in 2012.

After interviewing dozens of finance gurus, goal experts, and ordinary people trying to get ahead, I’ve learned that one of the most important things you can do to create a richer life is simply to treat that project like any other. Dedicate time to it, define it, break it into smaller steps, and then slowly cross off your to-do list.

Many of us get caught up in that first step—defining just what we want our goals to be. As you brainstorm your own biggest money goals for the new year, here are some prompts to help:

The following is a guest post by Kimberly Palmer, creator of The 2012 Money Planner and author of Generation Earn, available on Etsy. She is also the personal finance columnist at US News & World Report. Take it away, Kimberly!

Ready to rev up your earning engine in 2012? It’s not too early to start planning some big moves, whether you want to launch a side business, start freelancing, or pick up some extra work on the weekends.

Giving your professional image a boost can be key to maximizing your earning potential through a side gig. The idea of spending money on your freelance or side business might sound backwards. After all, you’re looking to earn more money, not drain your existing bank account. But these five investments can help turn your budding venture into something that provides steady financial support throughout the new year.

1. Create a professional website. One of the beauties of our Internet age is that Blogger, WordPress, and other platforms make setting up a website simple and free. But if you stick with the gratis version, you’re going to look like an amateur. Of course, if that’s your goal — if you’re blogging to keep up with friends and family or for yourself — then there’s nothing wrong with that. Free blogs serve a valuable purpose. But if you’re reading this, then you probably want more than that.

Unless you’re a techie design genius, creating a professional-looking website costs money. Web designers charge anywhere from $1,500 and up for a full website, but you can start by just purchasing your own domain name for as little as $8. Because your website is the first place most people will get to know you, it will be a deciding factor in whether or not they hire you. Putting money into making it look good, which means clean and uncluttered design along with a bit of personalization, is essential. It can make the difference between potential clients sending you an email to ask about your prices vs. clicking off your page.

Read on for more ways to invest in yourself.

Editor's Note: The following is a guest post by Kimberly Palmer, the author of Generation Earn and creator of The 2012 Money Planner, available on Etsy. She is also the personal finance columnist at US News & World Report. Take it away, Kimberly!

I’ve always been a sucker for self-improvement books, which is why I almost always have a huge stack next to my bed. So many of them seem to start with the same premise: You can’t reach your big goals without first defining just what they are. Many of my favorite authors urge a visual approach, with instructions for creating a vision board by cutting up favorite images from magazines and catalogs and gluing them onto a poster board.

When I was working on my own vision board recently, I suddenly had a flash of inspiration: What if we created vision boards for our financial lives? If creating a visual image of our goals is so helpful in regular life, then couldn’t it help with our money, too? After all, personal finance can get a little dry when it’s all about numbers. People who prefer art to math might like this approach better.

So I set to work coming up with a more creative and visual approach to managing money, which I ended up publishing in my new line of money planners, which are available on Etsy. In addition to vision boards, I focused on visual methods for thinking about spending, budgeting, and paying off debt. And as I learned more about how right-brained people like myself think, which tends to involve focusing more on the big picture and less on the details, I made sure to keep the emphasis on that big picture.

Here’s one exercise you can try right now: On a sheet of paper, draw a big circle for each of your main money priorities. They might be housing, food, and transportation. Then, draw smaller circles for other expenses that weigh on your budget, with the size of the circle indicating how important the expense is to you. You’ll end up with bunch of circles, all of differing sizes, that reflect your budgeting priorities. If you have time, color code them as well, with one color for necessities, another for “wants,” and a third for luxuries.

Read on for more on being creative with your budget.

The following is a guest post by Kimberly Palmer, the author of Generation Earn and creator of The Baby Planner: A Step-by-Step Guide to Getting Ready For Baby, Without Going Broke!, available on Etsy. She is also the personal finance columnist at US News & World Report. Take it away, Kimberly!

As a relatively frugal person, I’m usually happy to accept hand-me-downs from friends. Got a bread-maker you no longer use or shirt that doesn’t fit? I will take it off your hands! But some items just shouldn’t be shared — and that’s where things can get awkward.

Recently, a friend offered me her used Diaper Genie. For anyone who is unaware, this is a receptacle used for dirty diapers. You can imagine how disgusting it can get. But instead of politely declining her offer, I thanked her for it and brought it home. I didn’t want to be rude. The next day, I put her Diaper Genie outside in the trash, where it belonged.

I’ve also been offered five bags of old clothes at once, car seats that no longer meet safety requirements, and a crib that had been recalled after being deemed dangerous. (It was a beautiful, $600 crib, but still, I’m not putting my baby in anything that the federal government has declared unfit for use.)

The problem is that it can be uncomfortable to turn down a friend who has made a kind and generous offer. Just how do you tell someone that you would prefer not to wear her party dress from 2008, even if it carries a designer label? And especially if it has a stain on it?

Read on to find out more about this awkward etiquette situation.

Editor’s note: The following guest post was written by Robert Reid, the US travel editor for Lonely Planet.

This will be my final blog post for you all! And this is your last chance to download any of our 15 free mini-guides off our website so go now and collect them all before they go away on September 5th.

Since this weekend is Labor Day, I’m sure many of you already have your travel plans set. Thus, I won’t give you new suggestions for where to go but rather give some advice that you can perhaps use this weekend, and for years to come.

With rising airfares, hotel costs, and gas prices, people fortunate (and unfortunate) enough to live in destination-friendly places often get a double-dose of cousins and friends dropping by to set up camp for a few days, or more.

But being a good host or guest isn't easy, so how do you make sure you're still friends at the end of the stay, and maybe even have plans for doing it all again next year? We need rules! So, we polled the Lonely Planet staff, and came up with a set of rules for hosts and house guests alike.

Lonely Planet co-founder Tony Wheeler was one of the first to offer a rule for house guests: "The oldest line is still the best — guests and fish begin to smell after three days. Or, like fish, guests should go off after three days." There you have it — Rule #1: Three days max, even for family. If you're staying longer, get a hotel.

A general rule everyone should follow: have fun, but remember to play fair.

For house guests:

• If you borrow your hosts' car, fill up the tank.
• Contribute to food: assist in shopping or offer money for groceries. Or replace things like milk and toilet paper as they are used. If you have dietary restrictions, bring your own food. Do the dishes. Or take your hosts out to dinner.
• Send a hand-written thank you note. It's a nice touch.

Read on for more house guest rules.

Editor’s note: Summer travel is heating up! The following guest post was written by Robert Reid, the US travel editor for Lonely Planet. He will be guest blogging on Savvy for the Summer, helping you find some great ideas of how to get your vacation on this travel season.

Some cities in the US will always be prime-time tourist attractions. The New Yorks, the LAs, the Vegases, the San Franciscos. And they justify their fame. For the penultimate article of Lonely Planet’s 15 Weekends of Summer season, I’d like to pay a nod to five of the most surprising US cities – ones that are sometimes zipped through and given less time as we blaze trails elsewhere. And if you want a free mini-guide to NOLA, we’re giving one away on the Lonely Planet website.

Pittsburgh

No city has improved more in the past 15 or 20 years that Pennsylvania’s burg with the "h." Steel town doesn’t quite describe what you find in this walkable downtown area of golden bridges, with funicular trains going up the Allegheny mountains and a serious investment in art. There are sculptures across downtown, but the best museums are across Andy Warhol Bridge where you can see the Warhol Museum, huge rotating fish on sticks outside the Children’s Museum and the avant-garde Mattress Factory, built from, um, an old mattress factory.

North of downtown, the Strip District is lined with eateries and bars; big for breakfast is the timeless Deluca’s. Frank Lloyd Wright’s famous Fallingwater is near Ohiopyle, a 90-minute drive southwest.

Denver

Long dismissed as just the gateway to the mountains – yes, the mountains! – Denver has never made a better case for sticking around a couple days. They’re easily filled by a visit to the superb collection of Western art at the avant-garde Denver Art Museum. Catch a show at the Red Rocks Amphitheatre and spend lazy hours in the historic LoDo district, which is filled with good restaurants and bars (Denver takes beer very seriously; the governor rose to fame based on his microbrew credentials). Stay at the Brown Palace Hotel, one of the country’s great historic hotels.

And, yeah, there’s always the mountains.

Read on for more surprising US cities.

Editor’s note: Summer travel season has officially begun! The following guest post was written by Robert Reid, the US travel editor for Lonely Planet. He will be guest blogging on Savvy for the next two months, helping you find some great ideas of how to get your vacation on this Summer.

It’s July and it’s hot. Anyone up for some beer?

American microbreweries – so termed after an English term, developed for cask ales in the 1970s – justify a detour in their own right. But not all are equal. So I’ve assembled some of the country’s best. You can also download a free mini-trip of the best beer spots in Oregon at Lonely Planet’s 15 Weekends of Summer website.

Born on the bayou, Abita Brew Pub is in a north shore village outside New Orleans that got on the map over a century ago for its curative (gator-free) waters. Not all the liquids come carbonated. The brewery, nine miles west of town, and the brew pub are both attractions, for a tour and a sip of the nine beers. Work up your thirst – easy in summer heat – along parts of the 31-mile Tammy Trace hiking trail.

Laverne and Shirley, of ‘70s sit-com fame, bottled lesser beers of Milwaukee, but the city’s finest and most loved is from the Lakefront Brewery, which offers afternoon tours and unbeatable fish-fry Friday nights, complete with 16 beers on tap – AND live polka. Nothing makes beer tastes better than oompah.

Read on for more great beer places to visit.

Editor’s note: Summer travel season has officially begun! The following guest post was written by Robert Reid, the US travel editor for Lonely Planet. He will be guest blogging on Savvy for the next two months, helping you find some great ideas of how to get your vacation on this Summer.

Hope everyone had a great Fourth of July weekend! That means summer travel season is stepping up a notch. For most, that means beach time, and on Lonely Planet’s 15 Weekends of Summer, we’re giving away a free itinerary on how to “Escape to the Beach.”

Why just go to a beach, when you can find one on an island? This week I’m giving suggestions of my favorite US islands that won’t break the bank. Some of these are your classic sun-and-swim spots, others are a bit more adventurous.

Florida’s “other coast” is really something special and Sanibel Island is our top getaway for our free itinerary give-away this week. With some 50 miles of accessible coastline, there’s a beach for everyone: from unspoiled ecosystems to fun seaside communities where you can order cocktails and go clubbing, or take in local art and even Thomas Edison’s summer home. The area has all the outdoor recreation you could dream of with mountain biking trails, kayaking opportunities, but also has great shopping, restaurants and nightlife. I visited last year and managed to squeeze in a couple kayak hours to see manatees and dolphins on the way to the airport.

Fire Island is well-known as a popular weekend getaway for New Yorkers but the real beauty of it lies in the east, where most villages are blissfully car-free. At night, you can walk among the boardwalks through the dunes that connect the houses or take advantage of water taxis to take you between villages. Hike the Sunken Garden and Otis Pike Wilderness Area or check out the views from the Fire Island Lighthouse. Try to go mid-week to snag the best rates.

Read on for more islands that won't break the bank.

Editor’s note: Summer travel season has officially begun! The following guest post was written by Robert Reid, the US travel editor for Lonely Planet. He will be guest blogging on Savvy for the next two months, helping you find some great ideas of how to get your vacation on this Summer.

For most of us, July 4 — unlike family-oriented holidays like Christmas or Thanksgiving — is a true Americana community day. It’s when the modern world takes a backseat to simple pleasures like hot dogs and Little Leaguers marching in small-town parades. Basically we all become a bit more like a character in a John Cougar Mellencamp video.

For Lonely Planet’s 15 Summer Weekends website, we’re highlighting a drive that cuts through the heart of Americana — Route 66. But that’s only one of a few classics to consider if your July 4 plans aren’t set in stone. Probably the best place to be – everyone should try it once – is where it all started, Philadelphia, where independence was signed and the first Fourth of July celebrations were staged a year later in 1777. The parade, centered around Independence Hall downtown, is a colorful mix of international dancers, Civil War reenactors, drummers, and the like. At night, homegrown band the Roots takes over the Benjamin Franklin Parkway, capped with a fireworks show. Stick around to July 8 for the reenactment of the first public reading of the Declaration of Independence. I volunteered as a Loyalist last year.

Read on for more places to celebrate Independence.

Editor’s note: Summer travel season has officially begun! The following guest post was written by Robert Reid, the US Travel Editor for Lonely Planet. He will be guest blogging on Savvy for the next two months, helping you find some great ideas of how to get your vacation on this Summer.

There are so many places in the US to spend a long weekend, or even a week or two, that it can become overwhelming to decide. It’s why a lot of people just go to the same vacation rental every year and don’t change it up. But I think it’s a lot more fun to try somewhere new and have unique adventures. We’ve started a website called 15 Weekends of Summer to get you inspired, and every two weeks I’ll pick one of those themes, tell you some of my favorite places to go in relation to that theme and then let you know how to download a free detailed itinerary of our favorite summer trip within that theme. Sound good? Let’s start with “Take Your Clothes Off”."

The US is full of geothermic activity so why not go hot spring hunting this summer? Soaking in hot water appeals to almost everyone and there’s a wide variety of experiences you can have—from spending a weekend at a resort to hiking out to an isolated spring in the middle of nowhere. Hot springs occur when water is heated from within the earth’s crust and then forced up to the surface. Some feel the water has healing properties due to its high mineral content. Most of the hot springs in the US are in the west, so for some of you, a road trip is definitely in order.

In Northern California, you can find affordable resorts within just hours of the San Francisco Bay Area. Wilbur Hot Springs and Orr Hot Springs are two favorites: both provide either indoor accommodation (private rooms and a bunk house) or camp sites with a shared kitchen to prepare your meals. The tubs are clothing-optional and thus your space is respected — any inappropriate behavior will get you kicked out pronto. Although rustic, these resorts have amenities like massage, yoga and plenty of hiking trails to the adjacent wilderness.

For more hot spots you don't want to miss out on, read on.

Editor’s note: The following is a guest post by Kimberly Palmer, the author of Generation Earn: The Young Professional’s Guide to Spending, Investing, and Giving Back, and personal finance columnist at US News & World Report. Take it away, Kimberly!

Along with the cute outfits, nursery, and rocking chair, there’s one more thing to get ready for baby: Your bank account. Because along with being cuddly and adorable, babies are also insanely expensive. Just how much will one end up costing you? Well, according to the latest estimates from the Agriculture Department, middle-income couples (earning between $57,000 and $98,000) spend around $12,000 a year on their babies.

Luckily, parents don’t need to come up with all that cash at once. In fact, we often don’t even realize when we’re spending it, because it includes the fuzzier costs of moving to a bigger home and buying more groceries in addition to the more obvious ones, such as baby clothes and baby sitters. There are ways, though, to start priming your accounts for an extra family member in advance, so you don’t have to worry about bouncing any checks during your first years together. Whether you’re pregnant or your future baby exists only in your daydreams, here are some ways to start getting ready:

1. Figure out your work (or no work) plan. Babies often make their biggest financial impact on their parents’ earning potential, since new moms (and dads) frequently decide to scale back their work hours in order to spend more time with the new love of their lives. In this country, even a relatively brief maternity leave of three or four months is usually unpaid, which means new parents have to live off savings at a time when they’re also taking on more expenses.

Meanwhile, parents who continue working full-time take on the mega-cost of nannies or daycare, which can average well over $12,000 a year, especially in cities. One way to mitigate the budget shock: Practice living off one salary before the big birth day, and sign up for childcare flex spending accounts if your employer offers them, in order to take advantage of the tax benefits.

For more tips on how to get your bank account ready for a baby, read on.

Editor’s note: The following is a guest post by Kimberly Palmer, the author of Generation Earn: The Young Professional’s Guide to Spending, Investing, and Giving Back, and personal finance columnist at US News & World Report. Take it away, Kimberly!

We’ve all been there. Maybe it happened when your girlfriend casually mentioned her last-minute getaway to the Caribbean, or when you noticed that she was wearing yet another new pair of designer jeans. Or maybe she even flashed her Platinum American Express card or casually mentioned how much her apartment costs each month. Or maybe she just keeps suggesting that you check out the latest five-star restaurant together.

Financial jealousy can pop up when you least expect it, after you’ve finally convinced yourself that you’re happy with the fact that you chose a creative-yet-low-paying career, or that you realize it will take a few years before you can fully pay off your debts. It can be an ugly, over-powering, depressing feeling, and it can even ruin friendships. But it doesn’t have to, and in fact, this particular brand of jealousy can be incredibly useful, if used correctly.

First, there’s a very good chance that there’s no reason to be jealous at all. It’s entirely possible that your friend’s credit card balance equals the GDP of a small nation, or that she’s secretly subsisting off SpaghettiOs when in the privacy of her own home. And she might willingly trade in all her money in exchange for your job, hair, or boyfriend. The point is, we all have our strengths, and hers might happen to come in the finance department.

To find out why you shouldn't be jealous, read on.

Editor’s note: The following is a guest post by Kimberly Palmer, the author of Generation Earn: The Young Professional’s Guide to Spending, Investing, and Giving Back, and personal finance columnist at US News & World Report. Take it away, Kimberly . . .

Even in our post-recession, tight credit market world, choosing a credit card can feel more overwhelming than sorting through dating profiles on Match.com. There are about a gazillion choices, each slightly different from the next, and who knows exactly what we want, anyway?

The good news is that with a little introspection, you can pick the card that will do the most for you, whether that means minimizing your fee and interest payments or getting you a free spa trip every few months with all your rewards points. Here are six key questions to ask yourself before selecting a piece of plastic:

1) Do you tend to carry debt? This is really the most important question, because if you carry any debt at all, meaning you don’t pay off your balance in full each month, then there is only one thing you need to worry about when selecting a card: finding the lowest interest rate. If you have debt, then you don’t have the luxury of even considering rewards points or other perks, because the extra costs in the form of interest payments are simply not worth it. On average, rewards cards carry an interest rate that’s about two percentage points higher than non-rewards cards, which means debt-carriers pay dearly for those rewards. Instead, look for a card like the Discover More card, which offers 12 months at a 0 percent introductory rate.

2) What’s your spending style? Do you use your credit card for absolutely everything, from coffee purchases to phone bills? Or are you more selective about your plastic habit, and only use it for online purchase, or hotel rooms? Your answer matters, because if you seldom use your card, then you want to be absolutely sure you won’t be charged annual fees for simply carrying the card around, and you certainly don’t want to pay extra for additional warranties or travel insurance if you are barely enjoying those benefits. On the other hand, if you use your card a lot and are racking up the rewards points (while taking care to pay off the balance each month, of course), then you’ll want to look more closely at those extra goodies. Extended warranties, identify theft protection, customized discounts at your favorite retailers, and travel insurance are just a few of the options.

3) What free tools do you want? Credit cards and banks are increasingly tempting users with online tools that analyze your spending patterns, help you set and reach savings goals, and alert you with low balance warnings. If you want that extra hand-holding, then make sure you select a card that offers it. But if you have your own systems in place already, then you can skip these bells and whistles.

For more key questions to ask yourself, read on.

Editor’s note: We are thrilled to introduce a new guest blogger, Kimberly Palmer. The author of Generation Earn: The Young Professional’s Guide to Spending, Investing, and Giving Back, and personal finance columnist at US News & World Report will be joining us for a monthly series with tips and advice on all things Savvy. Take it away, Kimberly . . .

In the wake of the recession, most of us are more suspicious of banks than ever. In fact, a recent survey by Aite Group found that more than one in five 20-somethings say they trust banks less than they used to. The good news is that just like a bad boyfriend committed to redeeming himself, banks are working hard to earn back our trust. As customers, we can take advantage of that.

Here are five steps banks are taking to win back customers:

They are teaching us about money. Some of the biggest financial institutions out there have launched financial literacy websites designed to make it more fun to learn better money habits. SunTrust’s LiveSolid.com offers a magazine-like approach to learning about money, with articles on how to be happier, meal planning, and how to improve your credit score. The site also offers free calculators that get into the nitty-gritty of saving for retirement and annuities, too. ING Direct offers wethesavers.ingdirect.com, which covers economic news as well as pop culture. The frequently updated blog features the voices of customers as well as chief executive Arkadi Kuhlmann. Many credit unions, such as the Texas Dow Employees Credit Union, are doing the same. TDECU’s www.youngfreetexas.com is full of videos, contests, saving tips, and blog posts, designed to appeal to its 20-something customers.

They are offering up free tools and resources to help us save. Many banks now offer free online spending analysis, which makes it easier to see where your money is going. Designed to compete with free software such as Mint.com, these free tools are accessible whenever you log in to your online account.

To see more ways on how you can get more out of your bank, read on.