Dave Ramsey: Appreciate depreciation

Dear Dave,I’m self-employed, and I travel about 30,000 miles a year in my van. I’m three payments away from having the vehicle paid off, but it has 170,000 miles on it. Do you think it would be a good idea for me to buy a new van and have the tax advantages that would go along with it?DougDear Doug,There are two things you can do on taxes when it comes to your automobiles. You can straight line depreciate them, which is what you do with [...]

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10 Weird Ways for Moms to Earn an Extra $600 from Home

Hey Moms! We all know summer time can be tough on the budget…

We want this summer to be as stress-free as possible, so we’ve put together a list of 10 ways you can bank some extra cash.

Just take 2 hours and complete everything on this list and you’ll be $640 richer. Pretty cool, right? 

1. Let SlideJoy Put an Ad on Your Smartphone: $60

You pick up your cell phone dozens of times a day, whether to check the weather report, answer emails or text a friend.

What if you could make money just by picking up your phone to do all those ordinary things?

Instead of a picture of your dog or some flowers on your lock screen, Slidejoy presents ads for various products and services. Like what you see? Swipe left on the ad to go straight to the advertiser’s website, YouTube video or app download page. If the ad doesn’t resonate with you, or if you’re in a hurry, simply slide right to go to your phone as normal. Or, if you just want to check your notifications, just slide down to display them.

Either way, you get paid just for looking at the ads on your lock screen. In fact, you can earn up to $60 year just by using your phone normally!

Click here to download the app.

2. Open A New Bank Account at Chase: $250

I’ve personally been banking at Chase for awhile now, because there are no monthly fees (see more on this below) & it’s easy to find a Chase atm just about anywhere.

Anyhow, Chase is offering a huge bonus to new customers this month. You can make this your primary checking account or use it as a separate account to save for things like Christmas presents, vacations, and new cars.

Here’s how it works…

1. Visit this Chase Total Checking® page and enter your email address to get a unique coupon code. You’ll need this code in order to get the bonus.

2. Open your email and click the “Open Now” button for Chase Total Checking, and then select the “I would like to start a new application” option under the Getting Started section. This offer expires on 10/14/15, so you’ll need to complete the application before then.

3. If you make a direct deposit in your account within the first 60 days, Chase will credit your checking account with $150.

4. You can earn an additional $100 if you open a Chase savings accounts with a $10K deposit. You are not required to open the savings account to earn the $150 Chase checking bonus.

Fine print: This offer available to new checking account customers only. You must deposit at least $100 of non-Chase funds within 60 days of account opening. You must initiate first direct deposit within 60 days of account opening (direct deposit needs to be from paycheck, pension, or government benefits like social security). If the account is not open for at least 6 months, Chase may deduct the $150 bonus at account closing.

3. Take 10 Surveys from Swagbucks: $20

Swagbucks is one of the only legitimate paid survey companies out there (they’re rated an A+ with the Better Business Bureau)

I’ve heard some of the top-end surveys can pay up to $95, but those are rare and can take awhile to complete. Most surveys pay a buck or two and only take 10-15 minutes.

Also, Swagbucks rewards you with points which can then be redeemed for Paypal or gift cards to Amazon, iTunes, etc. You can usually expect to get roughly $1 on a gift card for every 100 SBs you redeem, and the redemption rate is the same across the board, so 500 SBs will get you a $5 Amazon gift card or $5 on PayPal.). Click here to sign up.

4. Get Paid $50+ to Write an Article for These Sites

If you like to write, we found a few blogs that will pay you to share your thoughts. And there’s no limit to the number of articles you can submit, so this really is a nice side gig…

TheKrazyCouponLady.com – $50
This site accepts articles on a broad range of topics including style/fashion, couponing, family/parenting, and personal finance. The ladies guarantee that you’ll hear back from them within 7 days and will receive $50 via Paypal if they choose to publish your article. You can read all the details here

Listverse.com – $100
Listverse publishes nothing but lists. Their posts are all long lists (usually beyond 1,500 words long) containing at least 10 items, with an explanation of why each item deserves its place on the list. Read more details here.

ThePennyHoarder.com – $75
Got a crazy way to make/save extra money? We also pay our readers to submit articles and would love to have you contribute. Read all of our guidelines here.

5. Watch YouTube-Like Videos: $30

The folks over at InboxDollars will actually pay you to watch videos! Now, most of them aren’t as entertaining as the Grumpy Cat series, but you’re getting paid – so who cares?

This works because the videos are sponsored by brands who need to get it in front of as many eyeballs as possible. Every time you watch one of their ads, they’ll credit your account with a little bit of cash.

Here’s a link to signup.

6. Change Search Engines: $60

If you spend a lot of time searching online, you might want to think about leaving Google/Yahoo and make Bing your default search engine.

Why? Bing wants to pay you for your searches!

You can earn credits through Bing Rewards every time you make a search — credits you can cash in for gift cards to a variety of stores like Amazon, Toys ‘r Us, and Starbucks. I usually only make an extra $5-$10/month, but it all adds up, right?

7. Sell Some of Your Old Stuff Earnings: $50

We’ve all got way too much extra junk just sitting around. Try selling some of it and banking the extra cash…

You could of course have a garage sale or sale some stuff on Craigslist, but one of my favorite ways to get rid of stuff is to use the Bookscouter app. You scan your book’s barcode with your smartphone and Bookscouter will let you compare the payout of 20+ different buyback companies. Cool, right?

Once you’ve found the buyback company offering the most cash, you just fill out a little information about where you want your payment sent and prepare the books to be shipped. Most of the buyback companies offer prepaid shipping labels too, so there aren’t any costs associated with this.

8. Earn $100 By Helping a Company Name Themselves

Professional branders aren’t going anywhere, but for small businesses that can’t afford the million dollar price tag, there is a new trend called crowdsourcing that allows businesses to outsource the creative process to people like you and I through “naming contests.”

There are hundreds of naming contests on websites like NamingForce.com and SquadHelp.com. The way it works is that nameless businesses list a little information about their company and a prize amount for the person who can come up with the best name. The rewards are anywhere from $50-$500, with the average amount around $100.

For example, one company on SquadHelp lists that they are a company that buys used video games and that they will pay $80 to the person who can come up with the best name. A few of the submissions so far are “Cash 2 Gamers” and “Game Epix.” Think you can do better? Give it a try here.

9. Sign Up for Free Gift Card Promotions: $10

Believe it or not, there are sites that will give you free gift cards just for signing up with them.

One of my favorites is Ebates, the cash-back shopping site. They’re giving away $10 gift cards if you sign-up as a new member and earn your first cashback rebate. You can choose either a $10 Target, Walmart, Macy’s, or Kohl’s gift card.

You do have to wait 30 days. But, it’s free money so can you really complain?  

10. Evaluate Your Local Stores with Mobee: $10

Have you ever tried mystery shopping? The Mobee app will pay you to go undercover in your local stores and rate the level of customer service and cleanliness, among other things.

Most of you know that I’ve done quite a bit of mystery shopping, so I was pretty excited to find this app. I found it really easy to use and the shops went pretty quickly, but I wasn’t too impressed with the payment amounts. For example, there was a Subway mystery shop in my area that was paying $8. That’s not a huge amount for a mystery shop, plus I had to buy a sandwich during the shop that wasn’t reimbursed.

Regardless, it was like getting a free lunch, so I’ll take it!

Good luck Penny Hoarders!

Editorial Disclosure
This content is not provided or commissioned by the bank advertiser. Opinions expressed here are author’s alone, not those of the bank advertiser, and have not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by the bank advertiser. This site may be compensated through the bank advertiser Affiliate Program.
UGC Disclosure
These responses are not provided or commissioned by the bank advertiser. Responses have not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by the bank advertiser. It is not the bank advertiser’s responsibility to ensure all posts and/or questions are answered.
FTC Disclosure
This site may be compensated in exchange for featured placement of certain sponsored products and services, or your clicking on certain links posted on this website

The post 10 Weird Ways for Moms to Earn an Extra $600 from Home appeared first on The Penny Hoarder.

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What you should never say at work

DON’T be that guy. You know the one, throwing around wanker words and acronyms like he’s a hot shot. Here are a few terms to avoid if you want to be taken seriously.

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Check out the SuperZoo pet trade show — PHOTOS

Mandalay Bay may be the most pet-friendly resort in town this week. That'€™s because through Wednesday, SuperZoo — the most popular trade show for the pet store industry in North America —€” is in Las Vegas with more than 20,000 people at the Mandalay Bay Convention Center.

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Yahoo Reports $1.24 Billion In Revenue For Q2 2015, Up 15% YoY

Company says this quarter marks its most substantial revenue growth in nearly nine-years.

Please visit Marketing Land for the full article.

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Customs crackdown on killer crayons

YOU don’t want your child putting these in their mouth. Crayons are among children’s toys containing asbestos that are being imported into Australia.

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MGM Resorts 'very engaged' in REIT discussions

It hasn‘t been a quiet year for MGM Resorts International. The general belief is that it‘s going to get much louder. Wall Street expects MGM Resorts to announce some type of corporate initiative in the next few months, most likely spinning off a portion of its casinos into a real estate investment trust. The goal is to boost the company‘s stock price and unlock more value.

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SmarterHQ Lands $8M Funding To Expand Predictive Marketing Platform

Company has now raised $20 million since start of 2014.

Please visit Marketing Land for the full article.

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Microsoft Reports $22.2 Billion In Revenue For Its Q4 2015

CEO Satya Nadella says the company's investments are paying off.

Please visit Marketing Land for the full article.

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PDQ teams with PBS to raise money for vets, disabled

The Las Vegas PBS Workforce Training and Economic Development program as well as the Vegas PBS Described and Captioned Media Center have teamed with casual restaurant chain PDQ to raise money for each group.

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Marketing Day: Apple Earnings Report, Google’s New Manufacturer Center & Jet.com

Here's our recap of what happened in online marketing today, as reported on Marketing Land and other places across the web.

Please visit Marketing Land for the full article.

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Apple Beats Expectations With $49.6B But iPhone Sales Disappoint Analysts

Apple just announced its fiscal Q3 earnings. The company generally beat analyst expectations with $49.6 billion in revenue. However guidance was light and iPhone units underperformed vs. analyst expectations, even though iPhone revenue was up 59 percent over last year. Of the $49.6 billion, Greater...

Please visit Marketing Land for the full article.

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See how your paycheck measures up in the world

Next time you‘re upset with your paycheck, just remember you‘re rich compared to the rest of the world.

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Google Launches Manufacturer Center To Standardize Product Data

Includes analytics to show manufacturers how their products compare on search compared to competing products.

Please visit Marketing Land for the full article.

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Aussie sisters taking on Europe

IT’S a brand beloved by celebs and ordinary people alike, now this Aussie family is planning to crack Europe and the US — without spending a cent on advertising.

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How I Paid Off $28,000 in Student Loans in 3 Years While Making $30,000 a Year

A character in the Shopaholic series from Sophie Kinsella tells the main character, who’s up to her eyeballs in credit card debt, she can either spend less or make more money.

Most people try to spend less. So many financial books and blogs (even mine) focus on cutting your expenses. But the biggest thing I realized while paying off my debt was that spending less wasn’t enough.

If you’re only making $28,000 a year, you can only cut so much before you reach your breaking point. That’s when the amount of money you could save becomes less valuable than what you’re buying with it.

If You Can’t Spend Less, Make More Money

I was paying $550 a month for my apartment, I was driving six hours every weekend to see my boyfriend (and paying $300 for gas) and I was contributing $250 to my savings account every month, trying to build up an emergency fund.

At one point, when I was going on vacation for 10 days, I called my Internet provider and asked if I could disconnect the service while I was out. At that time, I was putting $10 extra a month toward my debt, which was enough to knock off one year’s worth of payments. But paying off my student loans in nine years versus 10 wasn’t enough.

That’s when I realized that spending less couldn’t be my only plan. I had to find a way to make more money.

Due to my schedule, a part-time job was out of the question. I was working as a journalist, and the random hours of my job made it impossible to find a second gig.

I decided to start putting any extra money toward my loans. When I visited my grandma and she handed me a check, I added it to my monthly student loan payment. If I had a freelance gig, I put all that money toward my loans. If I got a hefty tax refund, I put that toward my loans.

To keep myself from going crazy, I usually kept about 10% of everything I earned and used that as a small splurge. That way, I could still celebrate without forgetting my goal.

Get a Raise? Put It Toward Your Debt

A year after my first job, I moved to the city where my boyfriend lived. My new gig came with a slight pay increase, and I no longer had to fill up a tank of gas every week. I added my new savings toward my loans and suddenly I was more than doubling my monthly payment.

It was at that point that I wanted to see how quickly I could pay off my debt. If $10 a month shaved off a whole year, how much would $400 do? I set myself a goal of paying off my student loans within three years of graduation.

When my lease ended, I moved in with my boyfriend and a mutual friend. Having roommates for the first time since college meant even lower living expenses. We chose a cheap duplex, and my rent only cost 14% of my take-home pay. You can probably guess where I put the rest of my money.

While I was paying off my loans, I also found other ways to save. I clipped coupons and bought items on sale, I discovered Goodwill and other thrift stores and I always researched an item before I bought it.

A little more than a year after that move, I made my last student loan payment — three years after my first.

How Much You Make Matters Less Than What You Do With It

Throughout this journey, I learned that how much you make doesn’t matter as what you do with it. I know people who make double than I do that have more debt and fewer savings. I know people who make more who travel less. I know people who live on six figures and feel broke.

Even though I still have yet to make much more than $30,000, I don’t feel poor. I can buy everything I need and most things that I want.

Make the most of your salary by figuring out what truly makes you happy and how to save money on the rest. I love to travel, so I don’t scimp there. I use credit card bonuses to buy flights at a discount, and I stay at Airbnb to save money. Traveling is expensive, but I’d rather go to a new country than buy nice purses or hit up the bars. So I skip those.

No matter how much I earn, I still have habits that I developed over the last three years to carry me through.

Your Turn: Are you working on paying off your student loans? What strategies are you using?

Disclosure: We have a serious Taco Bell addiction around here. The affiliate links in this post help us order off the dollar menu. Thanks for your support!

Zina Kumok writes about paying off $28,000 worth of student loans in three years at Debt Free After Three. She has been featured in DailyWorth, LifeHacker and Time.

The post How I Paid Off $28,000 in Student Loans in 3 Years While Making $30,000 a Year appeared first on The Penny Hoarder.

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Las Vegas jobless rate rises in June

Unemployment in Las Vegas rose in June despite job growth. Local joblessness came in at 7 percent in the month, up from 6.6 percent in May but down from 8 percent in June 2014, the state Department of Employment, Training and Rehabilitation reported Tuesday.

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Facebook Pages Get New, YouTube-Like Tools For Publishing & Managing Videos

Secret videos, expiration dates, custom thumbnails and a new Video Library for organizing everything are among today's announced upgrades.

Please visit Marketing Land for the full article.

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Sell This, Not That: How to Manage an Estate Sale

Getting top dollar for a family member's belongings can be a difficult and emotionally challenging task.

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15 easy credit card hacks

With many credit card options on the market — from rewards points, to cash-back bonuses and more — the quest to save money and navigate credit card incentives has become a little more complicated.

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Survey: Apple Watch Customer Satisfaction Scores 97 Percent

Ahead of Apple earnings today there have been numerous reports about how Apple Watch sales are tanking. But whatever the actual sales figures apparently the early adopters are highly satisfied. In fact the satisfaction numbers are higher than any other first generation product launched —...

Please visit Marketing Land for the full article.

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You Won’t Believe How Much the Average Bride Spends on Flowers

You’ve probably heard the average American wedding now costs a whopping $31,000. This figure is frequently bandied around by everyone from news outlets to newly engaged friends (though it may not be entirely accurate).

But we hear less frequently about how that money is spent. What does the average bride spend on flowers? How about the band? Or the cake?

These numbers matter — because we can only figure out how to save money when we know what we need to save it on.

So when popular wedding website The Knot released their 2014 Real Weddings Study based on survey responses from 16,000 American brides, we were eager to discover where that 31 grand actually goes.

Curious, too? Below, we’ll reveal the results, as well as share tips for saving on your own big day.

What Makes Weddings So Expensive?

The survey broke down the costs of weddings into 19 different categories. Here are some of the biggest ticket items:

Venue: $14,006

The average cost for just the reception venue (the ceremony site is a separate category!) is more than many people would want to spend on their entire wedding.

If you’d like to save in this area, skip the hotel ballroom or country club. “Locations that don’t host weddings around the clock are likely to have more amenable price tags,” writes Lisa Rowan, who’s planning to hold her wedding in a restaurant.

Photographer: $2,556

Yes, photos are incredibly important, but almost $3,000 for a professional photographer? Save a bundle by hiring an amateur photographer through Facebook or Craigslist. Ask him to give you a digital CD of the photos, and then create your own physical album. (Professional photographers often charge an arm and a leg for this service.)

Another thing that’s worth keeping in mind: If you plan to have kids, you may soon replace your wedding photos with snaps of your whole family. So carefully consider how much you’re willing to shell out for those Instagram-worthy shots, and how many of them you’re likely to actually display.

Note: If you’re a shutterbug yourself, taking photographs is a great way to make money at weddings.

Florist/Decor: $2,141

As the headline suggests, this was one of the most surprising figures to us. More than two grand on flowers?! We’re pretty confident no one is going to look back on your wedding and say, “It was great, but I wish they’d had more flowers” — so this is an easy area to cut costs.

Again, Rowan offers smart advice: Visit a flower wholesaler. One near her offers a “mega box” of flowers that includes 250 stems for $200. When combined with decorations from your local craft store, your decor costs should come in well under the national average.

Reception Band: $3,587

Most of us love live music, but cutting out the band is a quick way to save a bunch of money. Instead, hire a DJ or create your own playlist; in the end, all that matters is playing tunes that get your guests onto the dance floor.

Engagement Ring: $5,855

Whoa. Almost $6,000 for a piece of jewelry? This number is undoubtedly skewed by the few couples who spend tens of thousands on a ring, but it still blew our minds.

Despite the fact diamond engagement rings only became popular as the result of an incredibly successful advertising campaign, most women still want them. So what’s a frugal bride to do? Fake the ring, says Kelly Gurnett: She describes one couple who spent $25 on a ring that looked like the real thing.

Though those are some of the biggest wedding costs, the smaller items add up, too. Here are some easy ways to save money in these categories:

Favors: $275

Half the people forget their wedding favors at the table, so just skip ‘em. Memories are the best souvenir you can give.

Ceremony Musicians: $637

To us, this sounds like an awful lot of money to pay for a few songs. You probably have a friend with a younger sibling who plays an instrument; hire them in exchange for some cake or cash. After all, you want people to focus on you and your new spouse — the music is, literally and figuratively, just background noise.

Invitations: $439

Save trees and money by sending digital invitations. Beautiful options from Paperless Post start at $18 per 100.

Wedding Cake: $555

If the party is hopping, chances are most people won’t touch their cake. We’d suggest skipping this extravagant expense entirely, instead leaving out a few plates of cookies or cupcakes for anyone looking to satisfy their sweet tooth.

Whatever You Do, Don’t Forget This…  

If you’re curious about the other average costs of a wedding, check out the full results of The Knot’s survey. And if you’d like more ideas like the ones above, bookmark this: 101 creative ways to save money on your wedding.

Whatever you do, don’t forget one thing: a budget! We were aghast to learn that, according to the survey, 23%of brides had no wedding budget — and of the ones who did, 45%t went over it.

When making your budget, remember that though it’s easy to get wrapped up in the intricacies of wedding planning (“But we need the chair covers to match the centerpieces!”), the important thing is celebrating your love with your family and friends.

After all, those thousands you save on your wedding could fund your honeymoon, go towards a down payment on a home or start your future kids’ college funds.

Your Turn: Did any of these costs surprise you? How do you plan to save money on your wedding?

Susan Shain (@Susan_Shain) is a freelance writer and travel blogger who is always seeking adventure on a budget.

The post You Won’t Believe How Much the Average Bride Spends on Flowers appeared first on The Penny Hoarder.

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10 Reasons Moving Always Costs More Than You Think

That moment when you realize you need to buy a table set for your new eat-in kitchen, pronto. Photo: Grant Barrett

If you’ve ever considered moving on up to a bigger, more expensive home or apartment, you’re not alone. In fact, a recent survey from the U.S. Census Bureau revealed that a sheer desire to upgrade is the number one reason (14.8%) people packed up their belongings and performed the dreaded deed in 2013.

Other reasons survey participants moved that year included: other family reason (14.8%), other housing reason (14%), to establish own household (10.4%), new job or transfer (9%), wanted cheaper housing (8.3%), or wanted to own instead of rent (5.8%). What these survey results show is that there are plenty of different reasons people move each year, many of them totally out of their control.

But, what about the reasons that are within our control – like moving simply for the sake of moving or because you “found a good deal?”

I see these kinds of moves happen all the time, and I often wonder if it truly ends up being worth it in a financial sense. Why? Because moving always seems to cost more than you think. And sometimes, the expenses you don’t anticipate can completely devour any “savings” or equity you were hoping to gain with the transaction.

10 Reasons Moving Will Cost More Than You Expect

It’s true that a house or apartment can look good on paper, but it can be difficult, if not impossible, to estimate all of the various moving expenses you’ll encounter until you’re knee-deep in boxes. Here are 10 reasons moving is always more expensive than you think it will be.

Reason #1: You might have to hire movers.

When you’re single or first married, your belongings are usually fairly easy to move. You order a few pizzas, buy a few cases of beer, and invite your family and friends over to fill their minivans, cars, or maybe a U-Haul rental with your belongings. No big deal, right?

Unfortunately, a few kids and a decade later, the same people who helped you move then won’t be quite as eager. And more importantly, you’ll have a lot more stuff! Even if you’re not a pack rat, possessions tend to accumulate over time. More members of your family generally means additional bedroom sets at the very least, plus a bigger kitchen table to sit at, more clothes and belongings to pack, and more tools and supplies.

According to the American Moving & Storage Association, the average 7,100-pound move cost $1,170 in-state and $5,630 out-of-state in 2014. That’s a lot more than the cost of pizza and beer. And as your furniture gets heavier (and you get older), you may find that a do-it-yourself move comes with more risk than the savings can justify.

Reason #2: Paying for temporary storage or lodging is a very real possibility.

When you’re moving, it’s rare that everything goes as planned. Case in point: When my sister and her husband moved a few years ago, the sale of their home went perfectly. Unfortunately, the closing on their new home – which was supposed to take place just a few hours later – was delayed, which meant that they were left with the clothes on their backs and a giant moving truck filled with their possessions for almost a week.

The extra costs from these shenanigans added up into the thousands. Not only did they end up getting a hotel room, but they had to pay to keep the moving truck for several extra days too. My sister was not happy.

Her story just goes to show that moving is almost never as neat and tidy as we hope it will be. It seems like something is always shaking up the sequence of events, whether it’s a delayed closing, some sort of paperwork bungle, or even inclement weather.

Reason #3: Buying and renting have start-up costs.

When you’re renting an apartment or home, start-up costs usually include things like a security deposit, your first and last month’s rent, an application fee, and a pet deposit.

When you’re buying, meanwhile, initial costs can run up the tab even faster. Aside from your down payment, the closing costs for your new mortgage will likely be in the thousands of dollars.

Average closing costs typically range from 2% to 5% of the cost of your home, according to Zillow. These costs include everything from a fee for running your credit report to a loan origination fee, attorney’s fees, the cost of a home inspection, a title search, an appraisal fee, and a survey fee, among other charges. You may get the seller to pay for some or all of these costs, but that typically comes at the expense of a higher sales price on your new home.

There’s usually no way around it: Moving to a new house or apartment will always come with a certain amount of unavoidable, upfront costs.

Reason #4: New utilities cost money to set up.

Whether you’re moving across town or across the country, you’ll probably need to set up new electric, gas, Internet, and television services. Other utilities to set up can include things like water and sewage or a new home security system. It all depends on where you’re moving and what kind of utilities you require – and desire – in your new home.

A lot of factors play in to how much these new utilities will cost to set up, so you should call ahead to find out and budget accordingly. In many cases, utility deposits can run into the hundreds of dollars – of course, some utilities will waive these fees if you have excellent or decent credit.

On the flipside, you might also have to pay to terminate utilities at your current residence. Cable and satellite television companies, for example, may require you to pay to get out of your contract.

Reason #5: Your furniture and décor might look crazy.

There are dozens of reasons moving may require new furniture or décor. If you’re moving to a much bigger place, you may need more furniture in general – or just bigger furniture. Maybe you have more bedrooms to fill, a bigger spot for your dining room table, or a finished basement that’s crying out for a pool table.

Or maybe your stuff just looks awful in its new home – it happens sometimes. Your country blue couch and loveseat may have looked stellar in your cozy, rural apartment, but that doesn’t mean they won’t look super weird in your new, urban loft. And if you’re moving into your first “adult” residence, you might suddenly realize it’s time to upgrade your bean bag and tray tables to a respectable sofa and dining room table.

Either way, new furniture and decorative items cost money. And you may not realize you need them until it’s too late.

Reason #6: Lost wages add up.

Whether you hire people to pack for your move or do it yourself, you’ll pay out the nose. Why? Because packers cost money, even if you’re hiring out the job as an add-on with your moving company. And even when you do it yourself, you’ll have lost wages to contend with, plus lost productivity.

I’ve known people who take a week off work just to pack up their home and move a few neighborhoods away. If you’re lucky, you’ll be able to use paid time off for that — but you’re still down a week’s vacation. And if not, you’re on your own.

Reason #7: You’ll need to restock your pantry.

Even when you’re careful, moving can be a very wasteful endeavor. You usually wind up throwing out stuff you don’t feel like moving, as well as wasting half of the perishable goods in your refrigerator and freezer. After all, very few people have the will or means to transport boxes of frozen waffles and Hot Pockets across the state or country, right?

When you move into your new place, however, all of that stuff will need to be replaced – the spices you threw away, all of your frozen goods, and those cans of corn that never quite made it to your new kitchen. After a move, you’ll want to head directly to the store and get two shopping carts; you’re going to need them.

Reason #8: A new home or apartment always needs something.

Moving into a new place almost always requires a new purchase of some kind. Maybe it’s a washer and dryer because you no longer have one, a refrigerator that actually matches the existing appliances, or a new lawnmower to take care of your very first yard. Or maybe you need to replace the smelly, outdated carpet that the previous owners left behind.

Remember, there will be something you need to purchase or replace.

You can minimize these costs by buying used or shopping around for the best deal you can find, but these squirrely, unexpected expenses still tend to add up.

Reason #9: Something always breaks.

Moving your stuff in boxes and trucks isn’t without risk, and there are times when appliances, sofas, desks, and glassware don’t quite make the journey. We’ve all been there, and when you’re moving on your own, there is little you can do.

If you bought movers insurance or your mover offers coverage on its own, on the other hand, you can usually file some sort of claim. According to the American Moving & Storage Association, about 80% of moves hired out to professionals go claim-free each year. Among claims filed, 99% were settled before arbitration.

That’s good news, I suppose, but that doesn’t mean replacing your broken items will be without any sort of cost.

Reason #10: Realtors are freaking expensive.

Let’s face it: Realtors are really expensive. I’m not saying that their services aren’t worth it, or that they can’t help you get more money for your home or a better deal on the one you’re buying, but paying them a commission of 5%-7% of your home’s purchase price can certainly sting – especially if you don’t have a ton of equity already.

In my area, the average seller’s cost is 6% of your home’s final selling price. So, for a $200,000 home, you should expect to pay around $12,000. For a $400,000 home, you can double that. If your home takes a while to sell, you might really get your money’s worth. Likewise, if your home sells immediately, you may spend a whole lot while getting very little in return.

Even if you avoid a real estate agent and sell your home on your own, you’ll likely have to pay to get your home listed in your local MLS, or multiple listing service, plus pay for things like title work and lawyer’s fees. Either way, all of the expenses that come with actually selling your home can add up in a big way.

Save Money by Staying Put

If you need to move for work or seriously need more space, a move is almost always justifiable. But if you’re moving just for a change of scenery, it is rarely in your best interest.

Not only will you incur all of the hidden costs of moving we already talked about, but you usually have to start a brand new mortgage term as well. In some cases, that can mean spending many more years in debt than you ever planned for, or other undesirable consequences like putting off retirement or depleting your cash reserves.

If you’re on the fence about moving, don’t rush it. Take some time to figure out what you really want instead and determine whether your current abode could work with a few tweaks. Perhaps remodeling a few rooms, adding an addition, or reconfiguring some space could help you accomplish the same thing – but without the added costs of starting over.

And remember, buying a home is a lot like buying a new car. Once the “new car smell” and excitement wears off, the only thing left to look forward to is the payment.

Have you ever been surprised by the cost of a move? Do you think moving costs more than people realize?

The post 10 Reasons Moving Always Costs More Than You Think appeared first on The Simple Dollar.

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Pinnacle and GLPI reach $4.75B merger agreement

Gaming and Leisure Properties Inc. said Tuesday it will acquire the real estate owned by casino operator Pinnacle Entertainment for $4.75 billion in an all-stock transaction and lease the properties back to the Las Vegas-based company.

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Deep Thinking: Fourteen Books That will Change Your Perspective on Work, Life, and Money

It’s a story I’ve told quite often. When I first realized the extent of my personal finance troubles several years ago, my first reaction was to go to the library and grab a giant pile of personal finance books. Some of those books were utterly forgettable. Others offered really good practical advice. One of those initial books changed my life completely.

Since then, reading about personal finance and self improvement has been a constant part of my life, both because it’s a passion of mine and because I do so to continue to write interesting articles for The Simple Dollar.

As with that initial batch from the library, some books are forgettable, others offered really good practical advice.

A few changed the way I behaved in a fundamental way. They changed how I thought about the world. They altered my relationship with my money, my work, and my overall life.

This article is a list of fourteen of those books.

These books are not intended to provide easy fixes for your current financial predicament. While some of them do provide some degree of advice on how to directly change your financial standing, the primary focus of this list is something different entirely. The focus is on cultivating a mindset and relationship with your money, career, and the people around you that will lead directly to abundance in every sense of the word.

As you’ll learn, quite often that abundance is found by subtraction, not by addition. You’ll also find that solutions to one type of problem in your life are often found in completely different areas of your life.

I challenge you to read those fourteen books. Make this list your reading list for the next year. Don’t just skim through these books, either. Think about the ideas they’re spelling out and how those ideas really connect to your life.

Your Money or Your Life by Joe Dominguez and Vicki Robin

This book singlehandedly transformed the way I viewed the connection between the choices I make every day and the greater decisions I make about my life. It opened my eyes to the value of frugality and day-to-day personal responsibility about my financial bottom line and that of my family.

Every dollar that I earn is representative of some portion of my life’s energy. If I’m making fifteen dollars an hour, for example, that fifteen dollars represents an hour’s worth of my life. If I then spend $150 on something, that means I just sacrificed ten hours of my life to have that item. Is it really worth it?

The tradeoff is actually even worse than that, because that $15 an hour rate doesn’t include factors like the cost of transportation to get there, the taxes and other money taken out of my pay, the time invested in going to and from work that I’m not paid for, and so on. If I look at the total number of hours invested in work and work-related tasks and the total amount of money I actually bring in, that rate goes even lower.

Those insights – and many more – came from this book, and they transformed not just how I was spending my money, but how I was spending my life. It was a heady change, to say the least, and it was that change that eventually gave birth to this very website that you’re reading right now.

You can read more about Your Money or Your Life by diving into The Simple Dollar’s multi-part discussion of the book.

Early Retirement Extreme by Jacob Lund Fisker

The subtitle of this book is A philosophical and practical guide to financial independence, and that description is pretty accurate. Rather than providing easy answers and recipes for retiring early, this book is all about the path to thinking differently about your money, your professional and life choices, and how those things connect to having personal freedom.

Many people have visions about making major changes to their life, but they feel “locked in” by most aspects of their life – their education, their career, their accumulated possessions, their debt load, their social circle and social standing, and so on. It is that internally perceived sense of “lock in” that keep people from making major changes to their life – and it is that discomfort that they feel about the distance between the life they truly want to lead and the life that they’re leading that convinces them to surround themselves with creature comforts to blur out that discomfort and forget about it.

Fisker’s solution to this is becoming a lifelong learner and having lots of goals that are strongly bent toward leading you to financial independence as quickly as possible. Ideally, you should be able to take actions that move you forward toward multiple goals in your life, such as taking up a free hobby that encourages physical fitness or engaging in fixing up a very inexpensive house. Another part of his solution is to recognize that there is no difference between needs and wants and most of our spending is directed by self-imposed “lines in the sand” dictating how we choose to spend our lives. Perhaps the biggest breakthrough we can make for financial independence is recognizing those artificial “lines in the sand” and simply wiping them away.

You can read more about Early Retirement Extreme in this earlier “Books with Impact” article discussing the book.

Shop Class as Soulcraft by Matthew Crawford

The core premise of Shop Class as Soulcraft is that the manual trades (repair work, carpentry, and so on) offer intellectual, personal, and physical challenges and pleasures that the information-based economy and lifestyle simply cannot match. This is why many people choose to spend their free time on hobbies that engage manual effort, such as gardening, woodworking, home improvement, and so on. They provide challenges and pleasures that can’t be found in front of a screen.

At the same time, manual trades provide a lot of skills that are often lacking in other career paths today – and those skills end up being invaluable in almost everything you do in life. They teach that the material world is not inherently a disposable one and that many of the elements you throw away often have a use. They teach that complex tasks aren’t something to be afraid of and are usually just made up of a series of smaller tasks that can continually be broken down until the individual steps are practically trivial. As a parent, manual tasks provide infinite opportunities for teachable moments. Perhaps most of all, manual tasks often encourage the practice of a large repertoire of individually simple skills that combine together incredibly well and also apply individually to other larger tasks.

There is something intellectually beautiful in making and building and repairing and doing things yourself, with your own hands, and that process builds the person into something more as well.

I discussed Shop Class as Soulcraft at length in an earlier article discussing seven things I’ve learned by doing it myself. You can also read Crawford’s original essay upon which the book was based.

Voluntary Simplicity by Duane Elgin

On one level, Voluntary Simplicity seems to be an argument regarding the connection between individual choices and the environment. When you make an individual choice to throw away some trash, for example, you are making a choice that has a small but detrimental long term effect on the environment.

That’s just the surface level of the book, however. Where Voluntary Simplicity really shines and makes you think is when you dig down to the deeper ideas. Voluntary Simplicity actually shares a key core with some of the books listed above – you don’t have to overconsume (or consume at all) in areas that aren’t key to the big picture of your life.

The thing is, all of us do that very thing. We consume resources in areas that amount to very little in terms of the key areas of our lives. We buy things and burn energy on stuff that is essentially useless to us and we do it every single day. We do it when we toss something in the trash or leave a light switch on. Even ignoring the environmental impact, those things cost us financially and separate us from the life we want to live.

You can learn more about this book in my earlier “Books with Impact article about Voluntary Simplicity.

Self-Reliance and Other Essays by Ralph Waldo Emerson

Ralph Waldo Emerson might just be my favorite American writer of all. His essays, of which Self-Reliance is an incredibly powerful and relatively long example, virtually always leave me thinking about my own life, my own choices, and my own place in the world.

In Self-Reliance, Emerson hammers home a few key points, the first of which is that you really shouldn’t care what other people think of you, especially those you don’t know and will never interact with. Those people do not matter and they often scarcely notice you anyway. They don’t notice and don’t care what car you drive or what clothes you wear or where you live. The ones that actually do matter and notice you are usually far more impressed by your character and your willingness to listen and thoughtfully converse with them than anything else. If you take that as true, what does that imply about how you spend your money and time?

The further point that Emerson makes – and remember that I am compressing a long and very thoughtful essay down here – is that having a set of skills that can serve you well no matter what life deals to you can help you survive challenging times, but it can also open the door to tremendous personal freedom. If you have built in yourself the skills necessary to take care of your basic needs and to learn new things quickly, you don’t really need much else from life. You have the capacity to choose your own path in radical ways, whether it’s simply walking away from the rat race or choosing a completely different path for your life. The more self-reliant you are, the less control society’s structures have over you and over how you live your life.

If you want to know more, I dug deep into Self-Reliance in a three part essay last year. You can also read Self-Reliance and Other Essays in a very inexpensive Dover Thrift edition.

The Millionaire Next Door by Thomas Stanley and William Danko

The core idea behind The Millionaire Next Door is that millionaires in the real world live a drastically different existence that what you might expect given the popular culture impression of what a millionaire is like. The evidence the authors have for this is a robust study of people who are millionaires in the United States.

Most millionaires are frugal and are quiet pillars of their community. They typically do not live in big ostentatious houses. They are usually very direct about what they want and what they have to offer you. This book digs deeply into the behaviors and relationships of the “average” millionaire and, often, those truths run counter to what you might expect from a millionaire.

Yet, beneath that, the even deeper lesson that this book teaches is that you can’t judge a book by its cover. If your initial impressions of a person’s financial state aren’t always accurate, who’s to say that your other initial impressions are accurate?

You can learn more about this book in my earlier “Books with Impact article about The Millionaire Next Door.

A Random Walk Down Wall Street by Burton Malkiel

The core idea behind A Random Walk Down Wall Street is that the stock market, over the long run, is basically efficient. Although there may be short periods where the stock market jumps a lot higher and a lot lower, it will, within a fairly short time, return to the long term average of growth and continue more or less along that path.

The idea of the “random walk” is that the stock market doesn’t stick precisely to that line of long term growth, but varies back and forth around it in an essentially random fashion, and from that observation (and others), Malkiel draws several conclusions about investing.

To me, there are two types of books on investing. The vast majority of them fall into what I view as a lesser class of them. They just tell you what to invest in or give you simple rules to follow. The better class of books, of which this is one, focus on the reasons behind those rules and actually create an investment philosophy. That’s why this book is on my list – it puts forward an investment strategy and explains, in detail, the philosophy behind that strategy.

I wrote a review of A Random Walk Down Wall Street a while back, which could be a useful read for you if you want to know more about this book.

Mindset by Carol Dweck

The core concept behind Mindset is that people subscribe to one of two distinct worldviews. They either view the world as “fixed” – in other words, the person they are is already defined and that their failure is indicative of a personal flaw – or from a “growth” perspective – in other words, that the person they are is malleable and that failure is an opportunity for growth.

A person can have all of the natural talent in the world, but without a “growth” mindset, they will never use that talent to push themselves toward greater things. They will stop when they fail for the first time, limit themselves, and never go further. Meanwhile, a person with relatively little talent paired with a “growth” mindset actually has great opportunity to succeed because they see failure as a teachable moment that shows them what they specifically need to work on and improve so they won’t fail next time.

Most of this book runs through the implications of that core idea, but when you start examining your own life through the lens of that core idea, you start to come to some interesting conclusions.

I wrote a detailed review of Mindset that you may find useful if you want to know more about this book.

Walden: Or, Life in the Woods by Henry David Thoreau

The core idea of Walden is familiar to most of us. The author, Thoreau, chose to live as deliberately as possible for two years on the shores of Walden Pond. He spent most of those two years living in incredible minimalism, growing his own food, writing in his journal, and so forth. Yet he didn’t live a solitary life, as he walked into the nearby town of Concord almost every day.

The profound message that this book hammers home throughout isn’t that you should live in complete minimalism (though that’s a theme as well), but that you should live with complete self-honesty. We often tell ourselves stories to make up for the poor choices we make or the ways in which we live that are in contrast with the things that we believe. Self-honesty means cutting through all of that and truly thinking about those conflicts and trying to resolve them.

In my eyes, that kind of self-honesty is an essential ingredient for independent and self-directed living today. If you are not honest with yourself about the consequences (and benefits) of how you spend your time, your money, and your effort, you’re going to constantly make poor choices that take you further and further from where you want to be.

I haven’t discussed this book in the past on The Simple Dollar, but it’s still quite worth reading. It’s available in an inexpensive Dover Thrift edition.

The Complete Tightwad Gazette by Amy Dacyczyn

This book is a collection of articles published by Amy Dacyczyn in her Tightwad Gazette newsletter in the 1990s. The book itself is a rather large tome, numbering nine hundred pages in length. The individual articles, of which the book contains hundreds upon hundreds, mostly focus on specific tactics for saving money, though some have a philosophical bent.

So what’s thought-provoking here? What’s thought-provoking is how the author just tears into every single aspect of life, breaking all of it down into simpler and less expensive chunks. There is nothing sacred here. There is no “line in the sand” that shouldn’t be crossed. Every single expense is something to mine, to tear down, to make smaller and more efficient and less wasteful and more minimal.

It is really easy for people to “wall off” certain portions of our lives and deem them untouchable, but if you take down those walls and look at everything and start rethinking everything, your life begins to change in profound ways.

I’ve discussed this book many times before. Perhaps the most effective overview comes from my original review of the book.

The Bogleheads’ Guide to Investing by Taylor Larimore, Michael LeBoeuf, and Mel Lindauer

The Bogleheads’ Guide to Investing provides an interesting pairing with the other investing-oriented book on this list, A Random Walk Down Wall Street, in that they both present an investing strategy but rather than focusing solely on how to implement that strategy and the rules to follow with it, they dig into the ideas behind that strategy and why it works. Both books connect the practical and the philosophical in a way that brings about deeper understanding of how to invest your money.

Here, the writers focus on a strategy that’s oriented toward index funds, which are very low-cost mutual funds that are broadly-based by design. Index funds simply invest in small fractions of lots of different things with very simple rules to guide those investments, which means that little active management is needed to run them, which thus means that they don’t have many costs to be passed along to the investor. This book runs deep into the reasons behind investing in index funds.

I wrote a detailed review of The Bogleheads’ Guide to Investing that you may find valuable if you want more information on this book.

The Shallows by Nicholas Carr

This book offers a fascinating perspective on the pervasive internet use of the modern world and how it encourages us to think in a very shallow way about information because it is available to us in a nonstop flood. Rather than drinking deeply from specific sources of information, the internet encourages us to dig into brief articles and sound bites on a lot of topics, leaving us with a shallow understanding of a lot of things rather than a deep understanding of anything, which leaves us open to manipulation and poor understanding.

Even worse, this kind of information flood eats away at our ability to focus, which makes it harder for us to accomplish bigger things. It becomes harder to study, to save, to build relationships, and it all comes down to losing the ability to focus because of the constant flood of information that the internet provides. This book really makes you consider the impact of that change in human thinking in the modern world and whether it makes sense to intentionally cultivate and retain the ability to focus more deeply.

I discussed this book at length in a recent article I posted here entitled “The Plastic Mind,” which you may find worthwhile if you find this brief summary of the book interesting.

Born to Buy by Juliet Schor

Born to Buy provides a fascinating deep look at how marketers reach out to children with marketing messages, shaping their desires and thoughts before they’ve even had the chance to reach the level of self-actualization that many adults reach.

As a parent, it’s easy to see the impact that this book discusses. There is perhaps more marketing directed toward my children than marketing directed toward me, and they don’t yet have the years of experience to deal with it. How is that marketing shaping them? How can I help channel it as a parent?

Not only does it provide a profound guide for parents in terms of helping their children navigate a challenging media world, it also provides much insight for adults as you can begin to see how marketing has shaped your thinking and choices from your earliest days, setting down patterns from childhood that continue on to your current life.

You may find some value in reading an earlier multi-part discussion of Born to Buy here on The Simple Dollar.

Bowling Alone by Robert Putnam

I haven’t previously mentioned this book on The Simple Dollar, but I’ve come to realize that it has had a deep and profound impact on my perspectives on life, money, and work over the last several years.

The premise behind Bowling Alone is that one of the most powerful elements that has altered our spending patterns and financial choices in the past few decades is the gradual decline in community. Community organizations have been on a long decline in the past several decades, leaving people without structures to plug themselves into for social contact and social support on a local level. This is where the title Bowling Alone comes from, as things like bowling leagues and teams have become less and less popular as people turn to individual activities in their homes (like watching television, for instance, or using the internet).

We’ve lost a lot in that transition. Social groups provide a strong social outlet, sure, but they often provide support and advice and direct help in other aspects of life, often creating a sense of well-being that’s hard to replicate elsewhere.

The key message? Get involved in some things in your community, both with people you know well and people you don’t know so well. If you don’t have a group to join, look for one using tools like Meetup or your local library.

Final Thoughts

Read these fourteen books. Make these your reading list over the next year or so. As you read them, don’t just flip from page to page. Instead, think about the books and how they apply to your life and how they change your understanding of how you work, how you spend your money, and how you live.

I will virtually guarantee that if you read through these fourteen books and give each of them the time and thought they deserve, your thoughts and perspectives on money, work, and life will radically shift in interesting and vital ways.

Good luck.

The post Deep Thinking: Fourteen Books That will Change Your Perspective on Work, Life, and Money appeared first on The Simple Dollar.

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Caesars reaches restructuring deal with second-tier creditors

Caesars Entertainment Corp. has struck an agreement with a large group of the casino company‘s second-tier debt holders.

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Technology And Creativity Must Play Nice Together In The Marketing Sandbox

Creativity and technology don't need to be at odds with one another. Columnist Mary Wallace explains why the two must work together to deliver the best marketing results.

Please visit Marketing Land for the full article.

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5 Offbeat Ways to Earn Extra Income

Almost everything you have is worth something. Even your opinions.


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Why Dumpster-Diving for Makeup is a Lucrative Business

I get the thrill of dumpster diving, I really do. I got my fair share of end-of-semester castoffs during my college years.

But most of the good stuff? I got it from next to the dumpster. You know, the stuff someone felt bad for throwing out. They left that lonely lamp or end table where a nice person might find it, and that person was frequently me.

Little did I know that dumpster diving was a big moneymaker, and maybe I should have been taking a peek inside those big dumpsters before loading the trunk of my car.

Some people dive for electronics or items that have a high resale value. Some people dive for coupons, because their single copy of the newspaper doesn’t contain enough savings. The truly brave dive for food, either to reduce food waste in their personal lives or to scrounge up good eats for the homeless.

The new hot dumpster-diving goal? Makeup.

Why It’s Worth Dumpster-Diving for Makeup

Reselling beauty products is a huge business. Reselling beauty products you found in the trash? Maybe just as big.

Racked’s Beca Grimm spoke with three dumpster divers about the rising popularity of picking through trash for resellable beauty products, from foundation to mascara and beyond. Online prices for beauty-dive finds can be really good: usually 50 or 60% off the retail price.

Plucking discarded beauty products to sell on eBay and at local flea markets is far from new, but dumpster diving for beauty products has reached peak popularity due to Facebook. Divers who work as a side hustle post photos of their hauls on Facebook marketplace pages and get paid by enthusiastic bargain hunters within minutes.

Why Facebook? Think of it as a yard sale on the Internet. You’re more likely to tolerate a slightly damaged or worn product if you’re getting it at a great price from the guy who lives down the block. When you shop on eBay, you’re likely looking for a sparkling, new product.

Facebook marketplace group members will take a chance on a product that’s obviously been used, Grimm explained. It’s a whole separate market to help dumpster divers unload their imperfect inventory while the brand-new items go to eBay or another auction site.

The legalese around dumpster diving is pretty iffy; rules about picking through a company’s trash may vary state-to-state. Full-time diver James Jugan explained to Racked that to him, the legal risk is worth the payoff, since the worst offense he can be charged for in his area is trespassing.

Isn’t Used Makeup Gross?

You might get creeped out by sharing a makeup brush with someone, but lots of people are willing to risk the cooties. Jugan told Grimm that he spends much of his time cleaning his dumpster hauls before they’re ready for sale. Another diver sprays 99% alcohol on the eyeshadows and other products she finds, because it disinfects without gunking up any powders.

Many dumpster finds, however, are new products that stores simply can’t sell, like items that have been returned by customers.

Head over to Racked for the whole article, which also talks about what happens when dumpster divers get caught.

Your Turn: Would you buy partially used beauty products that came from a dumpster? Would you be willing to start diving yourself for extra cash?

Lisa Rowan is a writer, editor, and podcaster living in Washington, D.C.

The post Why Dumpster-Diving for Makeup is a Lucrative Business appeared first on The Penny Hoarder.

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Tapping Into The Buyer’s Brain With Psychology-Driven Marketing

How do you increase sales? Know your audience. Columnist Jordan Kasteler explores 10 marketing strategies that will help you understand what makes buyers tick.

Please visit Marketing Land for the full article.

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