By KARA MCGUIRE, Minneapolis Star Tribune

Here are seven money tips to learn and live by.

1. Get to know your money personality.

If you're like many Americans, saving more tops your resolutions list. Here's a look at some incentives to keep savers on track.

The peace of mind that comes with having emergency savings is worth far more than any interest rate.

This will be the last year, I swear. Starting in 2012, I will not cram most of my charitable giving into December, donations haphazardly made based on the solicitations I get in the mail, charities my friends mention on Facebook, or giving patterns of the past. I vow to craft a thoughtful 2012 giving plan.

I have budgeting on the brain. Who doesn't, considering the budgeting brouhaha we've endured from Washington? While our budget isn't nearly as dysfunctional as the national one, our household could use a brush-up. We try not to go overboard, and once the month is over, we look to see if we blew it.

J.J. Sessions calls that the "trip-down-guilt-lane" form of budgeting.

Jayne Hergott is sick of jumping through hoops to receive the best price for her newspaper, garbage and cable TV. The longtime resident of Chaska, Minn., knows that her newer neighbors pay less for garbage service than she does. She also knows that if she calls to complain, the company will probably cut her a deal.

Amanda Steinberg has always been good at making money. Keeping it was the struggle. So she hit the Web in search of savings advice and found dry, jargon-filled financial news that seemed written for guys who work on Wall Street. Dissatisfied with what she was reading, the idea for DailyWorth -- a money website for women -- was born.

Many parents need to set aside funds for retirement and other long-term needs.

And most parents shouldn't save for college.

It's a tough stance to take, especially in an era of ever-rising college tuition and crushing college debt.

Yes, it's only October, and I'm as disturbed as you to see Santa Claus next to the Halloween candy on store shelves (lay off the Reese's Pieces, St. Nick). But the holiday season is just two months away. I'm sorry to bring it up, but it's time to figure out your holiday gift-giving and merriment budget.

Goodbye homework. Hello household budget. College graduates around the country are transitioning from life on campus to life on their own.

While being in college introduces many financial experiences to young adults -- from paying bills to handling debt -- graduates are about to receive a crash course in student loans and retirement savings.

Taxes done? Then it's time to get a start on the next tax year. I know you'd probably like to hit me with a rolled-up 1040 for saying as much, but think of it this way: Your tax situation, and the pain of tax filing, will never be fresher in your mind than it is right now.