How Bunnings is pulling a swifty on us

MASTERS is flailing, while Bunnings is pulling out all the stops to dominate. But everyone will feel the pain if Masters collapses.

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Ready to Work From Home? Here’s How to Save Money on Your Home Office

Let me ask you a question. Who pays for your home office equipment?

The answer is simple: You.

It’s obvious, but when you think about what it means, it’s kind of a kick in the butt. An employer isn’t going to pick up the cost of your office supplies, so it’s all coming out of your own pocket.

Depending on your industry and whether clients will visit, it might cost you anywhere between $800 and $3,000 to create a home office from scratch.

The essentials include a desk, a chair, a computer and software. You might also need a printer with ink cartridges, a stapler, a desk calendar, sticky notes and pens.

But you don’t want to just snag a cheap Craigslist office chair that’s falling apart at the seams. Here’s how to save money on your home office without sacrificing quality.

Shop at the Right Time

September and October are the perfect months to hit up the stores for basic office supplies. School is in full swing, so stores are trying to get rid of their inventory on back-to-school supplies. You’ll likely find the best prices on smaller items like pens and notebooks.

Holiday sales and clearance events are great options for office furniture. January is a good time for most office furniture, as retailers clear out their inventory to make room for the new models many companies release in February.

Another good time to buy office furniture is in May, after tax time. If you’re creative, skip the shopping altogether and build your own furniture!

For a new computer, you’re better off waiting until August, because competition between retailers rises as college students are in the market for laptops, and because new models typically release during the summer, so last year’s models will be on sale. If you’ll need an upgrade next year, set a reminder in your calendar.

Get Free Shipping

Shopping online saves you the trip to the store, and can help minimize impulse buys. However, the cost of shipping can really put a damper on things. Instead, save your cash by using one of these programs to get free shipping:

• Staples Rewards: Sign up to get free shipping on your purchases. You’ll also get up to 5% back in rewards, and you can earn $2 on recycled ink and toner cartridges.

• Quill.com: Spend more than $45 on this office-supply and furniture site and get free shipping. I also saw a pop-up for a $20 coupon for new customers, which could help you save even more.

• Amazon Prime: If you plan to buy lots of items online, you might enjoy Prime’s two-day shipping. If you don’t want to spend $99 a year (or your 30-day free trial runs out), just make sure your order’s over $35 to get free shipping.

Opt for Free Online Alternatives

Software is sure to take a big chunk of your home office budget. For example, the Microsoft Office Home and Business bundle will cost you $219.99.

But Google’s Docs, Sheets and Slides tools are free and quite similar. For video chatting, use Skype or Hangouts. For anti-virus protection, I like Avast.

Rather than splurging on a program right away, try a quick search for an alternative and save your cash for other expenses.

Don’t Buy in Bulk

Hear me out, here.

While it’s common sense that buying in bulk will save you money per item, first consider how much you’ll actually use. Sure, you could save a couple pennies buying pens in bulk, but what good does that do you when you really only need one or two pens? The rest will simply take up space.

While buying in bulk is good advice for businesses that use up office resources quickly, it’s not always necessary for a one-person-show home office when you’re just a one-person show.

Opt for bulk items when it really is something you use often, such as printer paper, but don’t waste your money buying extra supplies you don’t really need.

Your Turn: Are you building up your home office? What sneaky tricks have you come up with to save?

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!

Lisa Stein owns FreelanceMom.com, is a college business professor and a mom to two growing daughters. Lisa is dedicated to playing a part in helping women and moms run a business they love, help support themselves and their family and create a flexible lifestyle. Grab her free course: 10 Surprisingly Simple Step-by-Step Tasks to Get More Clients.

The post Ready to Work From Home? Here’s How to Save Money on Your Home Office appeared first on The Penny Hoarder.

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10 Things to Do When Choosing an Obamacare Health Plan

Open enrollment begins Nov. 1 for federal and state health care exchanges.

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Four Reasons to Add Your Teen as an Authorized Credit Card User

While naming your teen as an authorized user on your credit card may sound scary, there are some distinct advantages to this arrangement. But first things first — what exactly are you authorizing, anyway?

What Is an Authorized User?

In the context of your credit card, an authorized user is someone to whom you’ve granted financial access. When you add an authorized user to your account, they get their own credit card with their name on it. However, only the primary cardholder (you) will receive the bill.

Depending on your card issuer, you may have access to account settings that let you limit the amount of money your authorized user can spend each day or each month. Generally speaking, you should also be able to set other stipulations on your authorized user’s account, such as limiting or denying cash advances made with the card.

By adding your teen (or anyone else) as an authorized user, you are taking full responsibility for any purchases they make. In other words, it’s up to you to set the ground rules to make sure everything goes as planned.

Four Reasons to Make Your Teen an Authorized User

While it’s easy to assume that teens and credit cards don’t mix, adding your teen as an authorized user on your account comes with benefits:

It’s a matter of convenience

Teen social lives are more active than ever, which means the need for pocket money is real. If you forget to give your teen money for a bus ride home, a quick bite to eat between sporting events or practices, or a movie with their friends, they can use their authorized user card to pick up the tab.

It can help them build credit

Once your teen is an authorized user, your card issuer will begin reporting your credit details to the three credit reporting agencies — Experian, Equifax, and TransUnion. Furthermore, because of the Credit CARD Act of 2009, adults under the age of 21 may not qualify for a credit card without a co-signer or proof of income. By making your teen an authorized user early on, you can let them build credit they couldn’t build on their own.

Emergencies happen

While it’s convenient for your teen to have money for necessities, it’s important for them to have access to emergency money as well. If your teen goes out of town for a school field trip, gets a flat tire on the side of the road, or gets stuck in an uncomfortable situation, it would be nice to know they have access to emergency credit if they need it.

Teens can learn how to use credit responsibly

Teens who haven’t had access to credit in the past may be in for a rude awakening once they come of age and apply for their own cards. If they have no idea how credit works — or how easy it is to rack up a huge balance — they could be in for a world of hurt.

Letting your teen ease into using credit as an authorized user, on the other hand, with your watchful guidance, allows them to learn about credit in a relatively safe, low-risk environment.

What to Watch Out For

While adding your teen as an authorized user can make a lot of sense, you should still tread carefully. Here are some factors to consider as you ponder this move:

• All liability is yours: When you add an authorized user to your credit card, you take all liability for their purchases — whether they were authorized by you or not.
• Potential credit damage: If your teen gets out of hand and runs up a balance you cannot repay, any late or delinquent payments will go on both of your credit reports. That’s why it’s a smart move to put a cap on how much they’re allowed to charge, or use a card with a lower credit limit.
• Possible drama: Dealing with teens isn’t always easy, and helping them learn about credit may present a challenge. If your teen has trouble with spending limits, uses their credit without your permission, or is otherwise unreliable, you can expect some bumps along the road.

While these disadvantages are real, the easiest way to avoid a sticky situation is to set account limits on how much your teen can spend — and when. By adding these limits, you can save yourself the headache of finding out that your teen overspent, plus set boundaries that your teen must learn to live with.

The Bottom Line

Adding your teen as an authorized user is a great way to teach them credit basics — and allow them to start building credit. As they grow up, both of these things will become increasingly important. Meanwhile, your “hand up” could actually give them a leg up when they are old enough to get their own unsecured line of credit, finance a new car, or buy their first home.

The key to making the situation work is setting limits and sticking to them. Furthermore, talking with your teen about credit along the way can help them adopt the right credit mindset.

Would you ever add your teen as an authorized user? Why or why not?

The post Four Reasons to Add Your Teen as an Authorized Credit Card User appeared first on The Simple Dollar.

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Google and The Simple Dollar Team Up on Expert Answers

Image: Radcliffe Dacanay/TSD

I’m super excited to announce that The Simple Dollar is one of the partners Google has selected to be a trusted contributing voice on the search giant’s new consumer-focused product called Expert Answers. Behind the scenes, The Simple Dollar team has been working on content for months. We’re very happy to see that work go live to the world.

What is Google Expert Answers?

From Google: Expert Answers is a set of web pages aimed to help consumers understand credit card and mortgage terminology and answer basic questions in these domains.

Why Google Expert Answers?

If you’ve been reading The Simple Dollar for a while, you know that credit and mortgage issues can be complicated and confusing. And it hasn’t always been easy to find concise answers to specific questions from trustworthy sources. Google’s aim is serve up relevant and accurate answers to its users’ top questions — in plain English, from trusted online authorities in personal finance.

How Will The Simple Dollar Be Represented Within Expert Answers?

The Simple Dollar’s credit and mortgage experts have written simple, direct answers to the most common questions Google receives every day related to credit cards and mortgages. When you navigate through the Expert Answer pages, you’ll find answers written by The Simple Dollar staff that are branded with an easily identifiable logo and link back to our site.

Some examples of answers The Simple Dollar provides on the Expert Answers platform are:

• How should I choose a credit card?
• How can I pay off my credit card debts?
• What is a rewards card?
• How can I make travel cheaper with a credit card?
• How do mortgage fees work?
• How should I choose between a fixed-rate or an ARM mortgage?
• How do I get a mortgage if I have bad credit?
• What is pre-approval or pre-qualification?

So click around the mortgage and credit card sections today!

The post Google and The Simple Dollar Team Up on Expert Answers appeared first on The Simple Dollar.

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Wal-Mart, others speed up deliveries to shoppers

BETHELEHEM (AP) — Christmas won't come early this year, but the gifts might.Just in time for the winter holiday shopping season, Amazon, Wal-Mart, Macy's and other retailers are working behind the scenes to make sure they can deliver online orders to shoppers faster.Retailers are building bigger warehouses —some the size of 20 football fields — to handle shipments. They're also sending orders to shoppers directly from their stores and using [...]

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Happy World Food Day! Here Are the Best Cities for Foodies on a Budget

Happy World Food Day! We love any excuse to get together and eat good food, so we’re pretty stoked this holiday exists.

Eating well on a budget, however, can be tough. If you’re a true foodie, gourmet groceries and nice dinners out can quickly gobble up your discretionary funds.

The cost of eating well varies greatly depending on where you live — so to help you find cities that appease both your wallet and your stomach, WalletHub recently released the best and worst food cities for foodies on a budget.

Where Should Food Lovers Live?

To come up with the rankings, WalletHub analyzed the affordability (factors like the cost of groceries and alcohol, and the prevalence of affordable and well-rated restaurants) and diversity, accessibility and quality (factors like number of restaurants, farmers markets and coffee shops per capita) of the 150 biggest American cities.

Based on those factors, the best cities for people who want to eat amazing food at affordable prices are:

1. Portland
2. Orlando
3. San Francisco
4. Oakland
5. Seattle

Don’t live on the West Coast? Don’t be too jealous of their dominant positions on the list; you’re lucky when it comes to prices. Indianapolis and Omaha have the cheapest wine and beer, while four cities in Texas topped the cheapest groceries list.

Not to mention, these cities also fared well:

6. Cincinnati
7. Rochester
8. Pittsburgh
9. St. Louis
10. Madison

For the full list of best and worst food cities, visit WalletHub.

Your Turn: Are you a foodie? Do you have good options in your city?

Susan Shain, senior writer for The Penny Hoarder, is always seeking adventure on a budget. Visit her blog at susanshain.com, or say hi on Twitter @susan_shain.

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Produce More Content in Less Time With These 6 Science Backed Tactics

Don’t you hate it?

You understand how content marketing works, but you still can’t quite get the results you want.

It’s hard to pump out enough high quality content in order to reach your goals.

There are two main reasons for this.

First of all, writing isn’t easy.

Creating great content that is worthy of being shared is even more difficult.

In order to create content of that level, writers often spend several hours on a single post.

In my experience, though, most bloggers could double or triple their writing speed by becoming more efficient.

The second main reason why producing enough content is difficult is because there are many distractions.

Even if writing is the only job you do, you still have to contend with distractions such as social media and email. When you’re not very motivated, it’s really easy to click over to Facebook and waste 20 minutes.

If you’re a small business owner, it’s even worse.

In addition to the same distractions that a writer might have, you can also get distracted by other parts of your business: product creation, content promotion, customer service, etc.

You put those two factors together, and it’s no wonder that it’s difficult for you to publish content on a consistent basis.

You and I both know that’s a problem.

Without consistent output, your results will be a fraction of what they could be.

And since we both know the power of content marketing, it’s a shame.

But I have good news! It’s a problem that can be fixed if you’re willing to keep an open mind.

I’m going to show you six writing tactics that can turn you into a more focused and efficient writer. They have worked for me and other top notch writers.

You might not be interested in trying them all at first, but give one or two a try, and once you get good results, try others. 

1. Don’t leave yourself an option to procrastinate by doing this…

Let’s deal with the most common form of procrastination first:

wasting time on the Internet.

Anyone can go to Facebook, Twitter, or Reddit and waste hours with the endless stream of content.

But when you have writing that needs to get done, you can’t afford to do this.

If this is something that you’re struggling with, you need a more robust solution than simply trying not to go to those sites.

My suggestion? Use a plugin to block your biggest time-wasters while you work.

If you physically can’t access the sites, you can’t waste time on them.

Here’s what you’ll need (options for Chrome and Firefox).

For Chrome – StayFocusd: Once you install this Google Chrome plugin, click the little blue-and-black clock icon beside your address bar.

It’ll show a little pop-up, where you can click on the tool’s settings:

This extension is incredibly well developed. Considering that it’s free, it’s pretty amazing.

The first things you’ll want to set up are your blocked and allowed sites.

You’ll only need to fill in one of these sections, depending on which options you’ll eventually go with.

But let’s look at both.

Make a list of the sites that you waste the most time on when you’re trying to be productive.

Then, remove the “http://” part of the URLs, and paste them all into the “blocked sites” section:

Finally, click the button below the text box.

The other option you’ll have is to block all websites except for the ones you specify in the allowed sites tab.

If you’d rather use this option, follow the same procedure as above, and paste in sites you’ll need (e.g., Wikipedia):

Here are your two main options: You can either schedule certain times to run the plugin, or choose the “nuclear option.”

First, let’s start with the “nuclear option” because it sounds cool.

If you were paying close attention, you probably saw the link to the nuclear option page on the original tiny pop-up (from the icon).

This option allows you to start the blocking immediately and specify how long it should last. Once it’s started, you can’t stop it.

First, you’ll pick which sites to block.

You could go with “all websites,” but that might be a problem if you need to do some research.

My preferred option would be to only block the sites on the “blocked sites list.” This way, you’ll stop yourself from using the most distracting sites.

Then, specify for how long to block the sites and when the blocking should start. Finally, click the button.

The second main option you have is to simply schedule when the plugin should be active.

There are two menu options—“active days” and “active hours”—that you use to control this.

For example, if you wanted to write every day from 9 until 11 in the morning, you would set those as the start and end times in active hours.

Choose whichever days you want to work as the active days.

There’s one final cool feature that might come in handy.

If you go to the “max time allowed” tab, you can set a simple counter to indicate how many minutes a day you allow yourself to browse your blocked sites. 

The plugin counts how much time you’ve spent on the sites on your blocked list (in total), and if you exceed this max time, it will automatically block them for the rest of the day.

For Firefox – LeechBlock: The highest rated plugin of this sort for Firefox is LeechBlock.

It’s not quite as comprehensive as the Chrome option, but gets the basic job done.

After installing the extension, type in “about:addons” in your address bar, and click on the Extensions menu option:

Finally, click on LeechBlock’s options to bring up a popup.

With LeechBlock, the options are much more straightforward. Pick the sites you want to block, and pick when you want to block them.

First, enter the domain names of the sites you want to block:

Then, click the “when to block” tab, and enter the time in the military time format:

You can, of course, pick which days the extension should be active.

In the final tabs, there are a few advanced options where you can specify how the extension blocks the sites. You can set it so that there’s no way you can access the sites until the time is expired or leave it so you can disable the extension.

2. Develop a system and never stare at a blank page again

Many writers waste time “thinking.”

And what I mean by that is that they stare at their page wondering what they’re going to write about.

I’ll let you in on a secret: The most prolific bloggers don’t do this.

They all have their own personal system of writing, which maximizes the time spent creating content and minimizes the time trying to figure out their next step.

A system consists of 3 main things: input, output, and process.

 

The input of writing a post is time and energy.

The output is ideally a great post.

But what you really need to focus on defining, if you want to create a system, is a solid process.

Why do you need a system?

A system—more specifically a process—is a set of instructions that explains how you do certain things, e.g., write a blog post.

The most important thing is that they are specific.

It’ll be much easier to understand with an example. Here’s what a system for writing a blog post might look like:

• Step #1 – Create headings for an outline

• Create the main heading
• Create subheadings for each section
• Outline each section with a few bullet points describing what it’s about

• Step #2 – Find supporting research and resources

• If there are any holes in your knowledge (needed for the post), learn about them
• Find 2-5 studies about the problem/solution
• Search for each section topic, and write down the URLs of any great resources

• Step #3 – Write each section, one by one

• Follow the outline
• Write the first thing that comes to mind (more on this later in the post)

• Step #4 – Create any necessary images for the post

• Have at least one image for every 350 words

• Step #5 – Add internal links and a lead magnet

• Add one internal link to a relevant post for every 200-400 words
• If a post-specific lead magnet is possible, create it now

• Step #6 – Edit and publish

• Remove any “fluff”
• Check for spelling and grammar issues
• Format for WordPress, and publish

You could develop an even more detailed process.

You basically want a set of instructions that you could hand off to any writer and say, “Write me a great post.”

Do you see why this will save you a ton of time? Instead of continually pausing and wondering, “What part of the post should I do now?—you already have the answer.

The better your system is, the less “thinking” time will be required. Most of it is upfront in the outlining and researching phases.

Your system will probably look different from that example, and that’s a good thing. Customize your system so that it reflects your working preferences.

2 other benefits of systems: Although the primary function of a system here is to minimize non-productive time, there are a few other smaller benefits.

First, the quality of your posts will be extremely consistent.

When you don’t have a system, sometimes you’ll be motivated to do extra research, make great pictures, and do a great editing job.

But other times, you might skip these steps.

This will result in some great posts and some okay posts.

With a system, you do the exact same things every single time. Remember the input/output diagram? Your output should be the same if your input and your process are the same.

The second benefit may or may not apply. If you write monster posts like I do (and that I recommend), you might have noticed that you get a little overwhelmed from time to time.

It’s hard starting a mammoth post when it seems like it’s going to take forever to put together, and it’s going to be difficult.

But when you have a system, you already know that if you follow the steps you laid out, you’ll get the output you want.

Instead of worrying about the final result, you can just follow each small step, one-by-one, knowing that you’ll finish it in a reasonable amount of time.

In essence, your system breaks up a giant task into bite-sized, and thus less intimidating, tasks.

3. Learn to get “in the zone”

If you’ve ever played a sport, at any level, you know the feeling of being “in the zone.”

Everything just melts away, and all your focus goes to the task at hand, whether it’s running or playing basketball.

Needless to say, this is how you get your best performances.

But getting in the zone isn’t just limited to physical activities.

You may have also experienced it when working or studying. One of the most common examples of being in the zone is when a programmer “plugs in” when they get engrossed in a challenge:

As far as I know, no one knows how to get “in the zone” at will. However, that doesn’t mean that there aren’t ways to improve your focus, which will in turn improve your efficiency.

Here are a few effective strategies…

Strategy #1 – Efficiency and batching go hand in hand: Batching is a concept that is typically used in industrial settings.

Smart factory owners noticed that when they created large batches of their product at once, it was much cheaper and faster than creating products one at a time.

Imagine if people who delivered mail only took one letter at a time from the distribution center? It would take forever.

But taking mail in bulk, the delivery person can deliver the mail without having to go back and forth all the time.

That’s an extreme example, but it applies to every step along the way.

So, how can you use batching as a writer? It’s pretty simple. Stick to one task, and don’t switch to another one until you’re done.

• Coming up with blog post ideas? Come up with 50-100 at once, not just one per post as you need it.
• Need to outline a post? Outline the full post before you start writing, instead of outlining a single section, writing it, and then repeating the process.
• How about editing? Don’t edit as you go—do it all at once at the end.

Applying batching in these ways will save you a lot of time.

But possibly more importantly, it will help you focus better.

Our minds work best when we concentrate on one specific task. However, the typical writer is constantly jumping between outlining, writing, researching, and editing.

Sounds familiar?

There’s no way to get in the zone when you’re constantly shifting gears like that.

If you only apply this strategy, you’ll still have great improvements in your focus and efficiency.

Strategy #2 – Visualization is a powerful tool: The mind will try to find a distraction if it gets in an uncomfortable situation.

Sometimes, writing a post can become uncomfortable.

You start writing, but then you get to a particularly tricky or complex part of the post. All of your doubts about people not liking it, or thinking you’re an impostor, come to mind.

This is uncomfortable for any writer.

This, of course, causes them to get a little twitchy and think or do something else (like check Facebook).

Having a system will help reduce the chances of this occurring.

In addition, you can use visualization to quell these worries and get back on track if you feel that it’s happening.

How do you do it?

The basic idea is that you want to see yourself succeeding in a realistic situation.

Close your eyes, relax for a minute, and picture yourself publishing the finished post on your website, followed with a slightly above average number of shares and comment.

This isn’t some hippy idea that involves attracting your desires.

This is about knowing what you’re trying to achieve and being confident in your ability to do it.

Studies have shown that visualization can improve performance in a wide variety of situations.

Strategy #3 – Clear your mind beforehand: Finally, what if you have a really active mind? I think most Internet marketers and business owners have this problem.

You constantly look and think about new opportunities plus all the other things on your to-do list.

With your focus divided, you will be less productive.

One potential solution is to meditate beforehand. It doesn’t have to be long: just 5 to 10 minutes will go a long way.

But isn’t meditating hard? If you’re a bit apprehensive about trying meditation because it seems like a complicated thing used by monks, don’t be.

Although they might be great at it from years of intense practice, you don’t need to be a monk to experience the benefits of meditation.

There are many types of meditation, but the most basic one is to focus on your breath. Just acknowledge your thoughts as they come up and return your attention to your breath instead of staying with your thoughts, which will be tempting.

Depending on how busy your mind is, you will notice that it becomes clearer after 5-15 minutes of doing this.

Here’s a short, but detailed explanation of how to perform meditation:

4. The simple science of habits (use them to make writing easy)

We all know the power of habits.

The more you do something, the easier it becomes.

For writers who struggle getting started with writing a post, looking at the science behind habit formation can be incredibly helpful.

There are 3 parts to every habit:

1. The cue – What triggers you to do the routine.
2. The routine - What action(s) you perform.
3. The reward – What the immediate benefit of the routine that makes you feel good is.

Put them together, and you have the “habit cycle.”

How to create a writing habit: Once you understand the habit loop, you can use it to form new habits, whether it’s for writing or anything else.

The first element is to pick a “cue” for writing.

The cue should be something that happens often.

The cue can be many things:

• An alarm going off
• Having a meal
• Checking email
• Turning on the lights in a room
• An activity like stretching or meditation
• A song you’re listening to ends

It can be any cue you want, but try to pick one that will happen (or you can make happen) at a specific time just before you want to start writing.

For example, if you like writing in the morning, start writing after you finish breakfast.

Or start writing after you’ve checked your emails.

The second part is the routine.

Obviously, you already know how to write.

The key is, at least for the first month or so (it takes about a month or two), to just write. Even if it’s only for 5 or 10 minutes, you’re just trying to establish the habit.

Then, write for longer after you’ve established the habit.

Finally, you need some sort of reward.

The biggest problem with creating a great post is that you don’t get much of an immediate reward. It can be weeks or months before it is published and gets any attention.

It can be several months before you see the long term SEO traffic benefits of a post.

The alternative is to make your own reward.

For some people, a reward might be as simple as telling yourself “good job.”

For others, it might be playing a game for a few minutes or having a small snack of their favorite food.

Find a reward that will help you associate the action of writing with a good result.

Follow that 3-step process and you’ll form a new strong habit before you know it.

5. Don’t worry about perfect, do this instead

You’re trying to create great content, right?

The kind that really adds value to your readers’ lives.

For that, I congratulate you because that’s really how marketing should be done when possible.

But there’s a side to this that isn’t often talked about.

It’s easy to obsess over making a post as good as humanly possible—or perfect.

But perfection can cause a writer to freeze up.

When your goal is perfection, everything less than that becomes failure, even if it’s really good.

As you might know, most people have an innate fear of failure (to different degrees).

If, while writing a post, you ever wondered “How can I make this perfect?” only to freeze up or get overwhelmed, it’s likely due to this.

But I have a solution that you can put into action right away.

The simple strategy for productivity AND quality: First, realize that there is no such thing as a perfect post, and that your readers don’t need perfection.

A very good article will give your readers almost the same value as a “perfect” article.

But where does the value come from?

From the design of the content? A bit.

From the choice of words? A bit.

From the meaning behind the content? A lot.

If you truly have something of meaning to say, it won’t matter how good of a writer you are. It can still make an impact on the people who read it.

Sharing valuable knowledge is the most important thing.

That doesn’t mean that writing style and formatting aren’t important at all; it just means you should focus on making the valuable message as clear as possible.

And you don’t do this by picking the “perfect” words.

So, instead of killing yourself, wasting minutes between sentences, thinking of the absolute best way of phrasing something:

write each sentence down as simply as possible.

Simple words come to mind quickly, and readers can understand them easily.

Your goal isn’t to create art; it’s to create something that gives the most value to readers, which means that they must understand your message.

Will it be perfect? Heck, no.

Will it be good? Hopefully, but not necessarily.

When you write down the first thing that comes to mind, it sometimes turns out okay. Other times, you’ll ramble on and add “fluff” content that doesn’t add to the main message you’re trying to get across.

Would it surprise you to learn that most top writers do this?

The difference between them and an average writer (besides practice) is editing.

After you’ve written the post, you can edit it to remove the fluff.

With this simple method of writing, you’ll typically end up with a better article than you would have if you aimed for perfection:

1. Write the first thing that enters your head
2. Spend a good amount of time editing it

When you’re editing it, don’t go for perfection—go for clarity.

6. Four aspects of an optimized writing environment

Most of what we’ve looked at so far has focused on improving the way you approach writing.

But what we haven’t looked at is how to create a good environment for writing.

Imaging how hard it would be to write with a bunch of noisy kids running around? Almost impossible.

And while you may not be able to create a perfect writing environment, there are four fairly simple things that you can do to make creating great content easier.

1. Create your own writing space: No doubt, you do at least some work from home. But you may find yourself being less productive because of where you’re doing it.

Our brains create connections between locations and activities.

For example, we associate the bedroom with sleep. What studies have shown, however, is that working in bed (or even the bedroom) weakens the association between the bedroom and sleep.

If you work in bed, not only will you make it harder to sleep, but you also won’t be as productive. You’ll always have a significant association to sleep in your bedroom, so don’t be surprised if you feel a little tired or too relaxed when writing in bed.

But this can be extended to other areas as well.

Do you always play games in a certain room?

Do you always Skype or go on social media in a certain room?

Your mind creates associations between those activities and those locations, which means that you will be more prone to do those things rather than write in those spaces.

The solution? Create a specific space that is only used for writing.

It doesn’t need to be large, but it should feel unique so that over time you will associate it with writing.

What you will gradually start noticing is that when you work there, you will begin to write automatically instead of having to force yourself.

2. Breaks are not for the weak: It’s a brutal cycle. You don’t want to take a break because you want to spend more time writing to be more productive.

But when you do this, you fatigue faster, lose focus faster, and end up writing slower, which makes you even less productive.

In addition, sitting for long periods over the long term can cause back pain and even create deadly blood clots.

Ideally, you should take a short 2-5 minute break every 30 minutes. And don’t go without a break for longer than 60 minutes.

During this break, get away from the computer.

Get up and stretch, or do something that involves a bit of moving.

If you Google “work stretching routines,” you can find many simple ones to try:

This is good for your physical health, but it’s also good for your productivity.

Studies have found that brief diversions from a particular task significantly improve focus in upcoming periods of work.

3. Your seat matters: When you’re “in the zone,” all your focus is on the task at hand. If you’re sitting in an uncomfortable chair, you’ll be constantly distracted by it.

Whether it’s the general discomfort or pain from the chair, the same effect occurs.

As a writer, you probably spend at least 20 hours a week in your chair, or almost 1,000 hours a year.

That’s too much time to be uncomfortable, and you’re costing yourself a ton of productivity.

If you have any budget at all: get a nice comfortable office chair.

The most famous one is the aeron chair by Herman Miller. While it costs a bit over $900, it’s also one of the most comfortable and ergonomic chairs you can use.

Another option is to use a standing desk.

A lot of research has come out recently on the dangers of sitting for a long time. One study found that men who sat more than 6 hours a day (on average) had a death rate 20% higher than those who sat for less than 3 hours.

Other studies have concluded that those who sit for prolonged periods of time are 50% more likely to die from any cause and 125% more likely to have a cardiovascular event (like a heart attack).

One good option is to use a standing desk instead, which may help you stay more focused as well.

A quick caution though: Although research on standing desks is still pretty new, some studies have shown that standing too much is also bad for your health.

I’d suggest doing both if possible, mitigating the health risks as much as possible while keeping you comfortable and productive.

4. Take it easy on your eyes: Finally, staring at a screen all day is tough on the eyes, especially if you work at night.

A simple solution to reduce the amount of eye strain and fatigue is to install the free program f.lux.

It alters the intensity of the light coming from your screen, which not only reduces strain on your eyes but is also said to help you sleep better.

At first, it will look really weird, but you’ll quickly get used to it and wonder how you ever lived without it.

Conclusion

Although writing a great article takes time, there’s no reason for it to take all of your time.

Most of you who are writing, if you used all the tactics in this post, you will be able to double or triple your output, which is huge.

You don’t need to try them all right now. Look for your biggest problems as a writer, and use the matching tactics I’ve shown in this post to address those specific problems.

If any of these techniques have worked well for you or you have any of your own to share, I’d love to hear about it in a comment below.

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Replacing Three Common Service Plans to Save Hundreds a Month

Over the last twenty or thirty years, most Americans have come to accept three new service bills into their life. Each one is expensive, with two of them often climbing over $100 a month. Together, they can easily gobble up $300 to $400 a month out of a family budget.

Yet, many Americans simply won’t even consider life without these plans.

Those three problematic plans? Television, internet, and cell phones.

I’m willing to bet that you cringed when reading at least one of those things, if not all three of them. Dropping your cable or satellite service? Getting rid of your home internet service? What about your cell phone service? It probably sounds painful. For many people, the mere thought of dropping one of those services is met with immediate rejection, without any real consideration of the alternatives.

Here’s the thing, though: there are pretty good free and low-cost alternatives to each of those things. If I were in even a slightly different financial, professional, or personal state, I would dump all three of these services (the television subscription is my wife’s vice, while I need internet service of some kind for professional needs).

Here are some strategies to consider if you’d like to take a scythe to your monthly bills.

Internet

The average American household pays $47.30 per month for internet service. (source)

That amount adds up to about $600 per year, which can be a rent payment or a few car payments for most people. $600 a year can make a real difference in many household budgets.

But how do you drop home internet service? Don’t you need internet service? Here’s how I would easily get by without internet service at home.

I’d hit the abundance of open wi-fi points in my town. The library has one. So does the coffee shop. So do at least half of the restaurants. You just go there, fire up your internet device of choice (I take my laptop), and log on. I prefer to use the library, myself, as there’s no pressure to buy anything there and it’s quiet with plenty of open table space.

I’d disconnect from using the internet for entertainment. Honestly, most of what I use the internet for (outside of strictly professional puropses) is pretty unnecessary entertainment. I read websites that aren’t particularly useful. I sometimes play computer games. Sure, it’s useful for looking up stuff sometimes, but I can just make a list of things to research in my pocket notebook and go through those things when I’m at the library the next time. Instead, I’d just find something else as a source for that entertainment – books, for starters, but I have a ton of other hobbies to engage in.

I’d just not work at home. Right now, I work in a home office. It means that I don’t have to commute for work in any way, which is pretty nice. However, in order to really focus, I often have to shut that office door and pretend I’m not at home. Without home internet, I would simply turn that “pretending” into a real thing and work at the library or somewhere similar, a place nearby with internet access so I could submit my work.

Television

The average American household pays $76.08 per month for television programming. (source)

That number adds up to just shy of $1,000 per year. That’s several car payments. That’s a month of rent in an expensive area and multiple months in a less expensive area. That’s an amount that can really make a difference in many people’s lives.

But how do you drop this source of entertainment and information? The average American watches five hours of television per day. That’s a lot of time devoted to television programming. How can we fix that? Here’s how I would do it.

I’d get free television programming over the air. With a digital antenna, you can receive as many as twenty channels in digital quality for free over the air. The antenna that Consumer Reports recommends, the RCA ANT 1650, amounts to a one-time $50 purchase on Amazon. With that antenna, you can get tons of network programming – live news, dramas, comedies, and sports – without paying a dime for it once the antenna is installed.

I’d spend time on other hobbies and forms of entertainment. In the end, television is mostly a tool for entertainment, so why not find entertainment elsewhere? Engage in other hobbies instead. Check out some books from the library. Dig into whatever passion you might have and actually use those hobby supplies you have stowed away in the closet (most of us have them).

I’d check out DVDs from the library. Our local library has tons of DVDs and Blurays available for checking out, including many full seasons of television series. Their service would make it easily possible to watch an awful lot of movies and television shows – even things that only appear on cable – without any significant additional expense.

Cell Phone

The average American household spends $102 per month on cell phone services. (source)

Again, that adds up to about $1,200 per year, a large chunk of money that could make a huge difference in the lives of many people. That’s several car payments or a few rent payments or a few months of food, all devoured by a hungry cell phone and the plan to support it.

But life without a cell phone today? Really? You can actually do this – or you can cut that cost down to just a sliver of what it once was. Here’s the strategy I’d use to nuke our cell phone bill.

I’d get a cheap pay-as-you-go plan with a great provider like Ting. Pay-as-you-go providers usually offer the best bang for the buck in mobile service, and Ting repeatedly is one of the highest recommended providers in that market. The average monthly bill with Ting is $23 a month and they’re really flexible with helping you build the exact plan you need based on your real usage.

I’d keep an old cell phone charged in my glove compartment for emergency calls. One of the biggest reasons people like having cell phones is for emergency situations. The thing is, you can make a call on a cell phone to contact emergency services without any cell service plan. Just keep an old one charged up but turned off in your glove compartment.

I’d talk to my employer. Many employers that require employee cell use will provide one for their employees upon request. Simply tell your employer that you don’t own (or no longer own) a cell phone and that if they need to constantly contact you outside of normal work hours, you need a cell phone from them for work purposes.

Final Thoughts

Many people won’t even consider the options I’ve listed here for entertainment and communication, but there are certainly lots of alternatives available to the expensive internet, cell phone, and television plans that many people pay for each and every month.

The key there is consideration. Once you recognize that many of the services and other things that you pay for every month are actually not a requirement and are actually just things that you want and don’t really need, it becomes easier to consider dropping those services or moving to a lower-cost version of those services.

If you’re truly the average American, making the moves described in this article will leave about $250 a month more in your checking account. That’s a car payment on a really good late model used car. That’s a healthy chunk of a month’s rent. That’s a month’s worth of food for a single person. And all of that money often vanishes just to have entertainment services that everyone lived without just twenty years ago.

It’s time to spend some time opening the door a little. Consider, just a bit, what your life would be like without these services, and what it would be like with another $250 a month in your pocket. What would you actually miss without these services? What would you actually gain with a huge increase in available funds for you?

You might just find yourself on a better path for life, one that results in a lot less stress and a lot more time for getting in touch with the things you find most important in your life.

Good luck.

The post Replacing Three Common Service Plans to Save Hundreds a Month appeared first on The Simple Dollar.

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18 Cheap and Delicious Recipes for Your Next Football Party

Nothing quite says fall like bundling up on a chilly Sunday and heading to the stadium to watch a football game.

Fun? Sure. Economical? Not exactly.

Tickets can easily run you hundreds of dollars. That’s before you pay for parking or shell out money for insanely overpriced (and not very tasty) hot dogs and beer.

What’s a super fan to do? Throw a football party at home instead.

For a fraction of the cost of stadium seats, you can watch the game in the comfort of your own living room, munching on snacks that are fun, inspired and wallet-friendly.

Tie an apron over that jersey and whip up a few of these delicious, easy and inexpensive recipes. They’re sure to score big with your guests.

1. Asiago Cheese Soft Pretzels

Image from accidentalhappybaker.com

Stadium pretzels are almost always bland, stale and disappointing (not to mention costly!). These homemade pretzels are made with cheap pantry staples and asiago cheese.

Bonus points? You can bake them up to three days in advance.

2. Cuban Black Bean Quesadillas

 

Image from turniptheoven.com

These quesadillas are made from deli Swiss cheese and black beans, and then topped with a quick Cuban sandwich-inspired relish made from ingredients already in your fridge: mayo, mustard and dill pickles.

3. Barbecue Bacon-Wrapped Tater Tots

Image from missinthekitchen.com

Three inexpensive store-bought ingredients (tater tots, hickory smoked bacon and barbecue sauce) are combined in these flavorful one-bite treats. They’re perfect for popping without tearing your eyes from the screen.

4. Marinated Mushrooms

Image from turniptheoven.com

Marinate inexpensive white button mushrooms overnight in olive oil, lemon juice and a shower of dried spices. The results are so amazing, no one will guess how quick and cheap they were to prepare!

5. Jalapeño Popper Cheese Bread

Image from lifesambrosia.com

This six-ingredient recipe takes all the spicy flavors of jalapeño poppers and slathers them over gooey cheese bread.

6. Butternut Squash Nachos

Image from greenhealthycooking.com

These seasonally inspired nachos replace ground beef with cheaper and healthier roasted butternut squash. Don’t worry — they’re still blanketed with plenty of melted cheese.

7. Vegan Chipotle Sliders

Image from simpleseasonal.com

Football watching is a marathon, not a sprint. You don’t want to chow down on a burger right away, or you won’t have room to sample anything else.

These two-bite vegan black bean sliders topped with avocado-lime cream are the perfect solution.

8. Feta and Kale Dip

Image from turniptheoven.com

A handful of kale, crumbled feta, scoop of Greek yogurt, and some olive oil and lemon juice are all you need for this super simple dip. It will give any spinach-artichoke version a run for its money.

9. Cheesy Tex-Mex Cornbread Stuffed Peppers

Image from willowbirdbaking.com

These sweet bell peppers are stuffed with a vegetarian Tex-Mex mix of cheese, chili and black beans. They’re topped with a savory crust made from cornbread mix, one of the cheapest supermarket staples out there.

10. Blackberry Basil Nachos

Image from cottercrunch.com

These gluten-free, vegetarian, kid-friendly nachos are topped with Muenster cheese, fresh blackberries and chopped basil. Bake until the berries are soft and the cheese is melted and gooey.

11. Buffalo Popcorn

Image from turniptheoven.com

This ultra-quick, gluten-free vegan recipe takes all the flavors of Buffalo wings and applies them to popcorn. So much easier and cheaper than making real wings from scratch!

12. Black Bean Queso Dip

Image from peasandcrayons.com

Ditch the processed cheese product and make this healthier version: vegetarian refried beans, fresh pepper jack and mozzarella cheese.

13. Snickers Cereal Bars

Image from asimplepantry.com

Late in the second half, it’s time to bust out the desserts. These over-the-top, six-ingredient bars are made with chopped Snickers and chocolate-filled Krave cereal.

14. Maple Bacon Cake Pops

Image from cookiedoughandovenmitt.com

Cake pops can be a little too cute and Pinterest-perfect. These game-stoppers are sure to appeal to everyone, though, because bacon.

15. Chili Chocolate-Covered Potato Chips

Image from myfoodstory.in

If you’ve got five minutes and a bag of potato chips, you can make this spicy, chocolatey, totally addictive recipe.

16. Apple Brickle Dip with Chocolate Bits

Image from homemadehooplah.com

It’s all about balance. This no-bake dessert pairs healthy apple slices with a decadent dip made from cream cheese and chopped Heath bars.

17. Strawberry Lime Jalapeño Shandies

Image from turniptheoven.com

These beer cocktails are made by mixing equal parts fresh strawberry limeade with cheap, light-style lager, like PBR.

18. White Wine Mojito

Image from turniptheoven.com

Beer is the football watcher’s drink of choice, but it’s nice to have options. This refreshing cocktail stretches one bottle of white wine into seven drinks.

Your Turn: Would you make any of these recipes for your next football party?

Lucy Baker blogs about vegetables (and occasionally desserts) at Turnip the Oven.

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