The video you’re not meant to see

WARNING: Disturbing content. An undercover video taken by an animal rights group has revealed the shocking truth of what happens to baby chickens.

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PayPal service goes down globally

ONLINE payment service PayPal has been hit with a major outage. Users have flooded to social media to report being unable to make payments.

Source NEWS.com.au | Business http://ift.tt/1RhrTg1

The $565 million toilet paper scam

A SHADY meeting at a golf course led to a shocking case of corporate collusion which left millions of consumers paying more to wipe their bums.

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The Scariest Part About Halloween Shouldn’t Be How Much You Spend

Ah, Halloween. The one day a year it’s socially acceptable to panhandle for free candy while dressed up as a Disney princess.

But even though it’s a holiday whose main event is begging for free stuff, it turns out you can spend a good chunk of change (try $7.4 billion!) on Halloween festivities, from high-end costumes to pricey decorations.

But have no fear this Halloween — at least not for your wallet. Here are 13 great ways to save money this Halloween.

1. Make Your Own Costume

Some of these costumes require more crafts skills than others, but if you’re proficient at DIY, you stand a chance to make money on Halloween by selling your wares, let alone saving the cost of your family’s costumes.

Heck, you might even be able to reuse your creation to make some cash on the side later by busking!

2. If You Hate DIY, Get a Cheap Costume

Not crafty? No worries!

Raid your closet and your local Goodwill for items you can finagle into costume status — and wear later.

3. Make Your Own Decorations

Crafting Halloween decorations instead of buying them can save major bucks — and look how cute some of these ideas are!

And, of course, the jack-o’-lanterns you’re carving anyway are a great decoration in their own right. But before you go out and grab that book of stencils:

4. Use Free Stencils for Halloween Pumpkin Carving

No need to spend $10 every year for a bunch of knives that will fall apart as soon as they’re used and one-use-only stencils! Use these free stencils and your regular knives.

Or let your creativity run wild and free-hand it. If you think outside the box, who knows what you’ll come up with?

5. Buy Your Pumpkins at the Last Minute

Whether from pumpkin patches or the grocery store, the gourds are likely to be cheaper closer to the holiday. Your selection will be a little narrower, but that just makes it easier to decide!

Plus, if you pick and carve your pumpkin too early, it might rot before Halloween even arrives. So if you’re reading this and haven’t bought your pumpkin yet, you’re on the right track.

6. Actually Eat Your Pumpkins

Did you know that pumpkin pie filling doesn’t just come from a can? In fact, you can repurpose that pumpkin in lots of edible ways — and a few others, too.

7. And Your Indian Corn

Growing up in Florida, I didn’t see too many autumn-related weather changes. All the trees stayed green.

But one thing always meant fall was in full swing for sure: My mother would hang ears of beautiful Indian corn on our front door.

Turns out you can actually eat that Indian corn — Pam at Gingerbread Snowflakes made her own cornmeal, grits and popcorn!

8. Buy Candy in Bulk

You can save a few cents per bag by buying the economy-sized Halloween assortments of candy versus the family-sized or smaller bags. In general, fruity or hard candies are cheaper than chocolate.

And don’t just pick the biggest bag of sugary sweets willy nilly — shop around. Slight differences in what candies are included in your bulk bag can mean the difference between paying $25 or $14 for a similar number of giveaways.

But if you really want to save, stay up to date on local deals and check your local membership warehouse club (like Costco or Sam’s Club) — you might be talking about the difference between 11 cents per ounce and 26 cents per ounce.

9. Return Unopened Bags

If you open bags of candy one at a time as needed, you can return the unopened ones to the vendor and get your money back — and have less candy sitting in your cabinets.

10. Consider Candy Alternatives

Popcorn balls are cheap and easy to make, or you could pass out non-edibles like these Halloween-themed erasers (I might be a nerdy exception, but these treats would not have left me feeling tricked! So cute). At 720 pieces for under $14, they’re a steal.

Consider this: Even some bulk candies end up costing fifteen cents per piece, and most kids want to grab a handful. You could give away a quarter to each visitor and perhaps still be saving cash!

11. Go to a Halloween Party Instead of Heading to a Big Event

Lots of Halloween fanatics are willing to shell out big bucks on events like Halloween Horror Nights — tickets start at $50 apiece.

Even smaller haunted house events or ghost tours can have big price tags.

Instead, have a few friends over or head to the office Halloween party. Plus, keep your eyes on your local newspaper for low- or no-cost Halloween events near you.

12. Make Your Own Adorable Favors

Not just decorations, but tasty treats too — look how easy some of these recipes are! You can stay on theme without paying for bakery-decorated goods.

13. Screen Your Own Scary Movies

Heading to the theater for a scary flick on or around Halloween is a tradition in my family. But what did you spend last time you went to the cinema? The answer may be scarier than Paranormal Activity could ever hope to be.

According to this list of AMC’s ticket prices, an outing for two adults would run you almost $30 — before the popcorn (100% necessary).

Stay home, pop your own and enjoy one of Netflix’s creepy offerings. Plus, if you get too freaked out, you can always turn on the lights.

Your Turn: How do you find freaky, low-cost ways to have fun on Halloween?

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!

Jamie Cattanach is junior writer at The Penny Hoarder and a native Floridian. Halloween is her favorite holiday.

The post The Scariest Part About Halloween Shouldn’t Be How Much You Spend appeared first on The Penny Hoarder.

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How to Invest in Asia While Avoiding China

A lot of Asian countries are doing just fine, even as China's growth slows.

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10 People Who Really Need a Budget

Even if you’re the biggest superstar in the most popular sport on the planet, it’s just not financially prudent to go buying entire islands willy-nilly. Photo via Facebook

You might think that only coupon-clipping, rice-and-bean-eating super-savers need to be concerned about budgeting. Not the case! Even some of the highest-paid people in the world should be tracking their spending a little more closely.

I’m going to highlight a variety of people you never want to emulate, as well as some behaviors that could be killing your finances. If you’re the sort of person who engages in any of these habits, it could be a good time to start budgeting.

Budgeting can help focus your spending on the things that are really important in life. Once you know exactly where you’re spending your hard-earned cash, you will be more likely to cast a critical eye toward money-wasting behaviors.

Let’s take a look at 10 types of people whose actions can cause serious setbacks as they strive to achieve their financial goals.

People Who Let Their Cars Idle

This one is very personal for me. When I was 15, I read “The Grapes of Wrath,” John Steinbeck’s opus about a family moving from Oklahoma to California during the Great Depression. There is a passage early on in which a character lets his tractor idle: “The exhaust of the tractor puttered on, for fuel is so cheap it is more efficient to leave the engine running than to heat the diesel nose for a new start.”

I kid you not when I say I let my car idle instead of turning it off for my first 10 years of driving because of that passage. I took it as gospel. I recently learned that is not the case. Idling your engine wastes tons of fuel and is horrible for the environment.

Lesson: Don’t live your life based on information provided by a fictional book written decades ago about life in the Dust Bowl.

People Who Toss Their Old Computers Too Soon

Many people will encounter a battery problem or a slowdown and decide their computer has had enough. I used to take it a step further, in that I would actively hope my computer would start to lag a bit so I could justify buying a shiny new machine.

That all changed when I realized that older machines aren’t very hard to upgrade. I was scared to go the DIY route at first. I’m so non-handy that I ask my girlfriend to hang all the pictures. Yet, I was able to install new RAM and a solid-state hard drive on my 2010 Macbook Pro without much effort. For around 300 bucks I had something that was performing as if it was brand new.

Lesson: Don’t turn your back on DIY options to fix electronics. They’re not as scary as you think.

People Who Buy Islands

Thought I’d throw an actual person in here, just to shake things up. Cristiano Ronaldo is a superstar soccer player who recently made headlines when he bought his agent an island as a wedding present.

Ronaldo earns insane amounts of money, dates supermodels, and is arguably the most popular player in the most popular sport in the world. That doesn’t change the fact that unless you are a nation state, there’s really no need to be buying islands. I’m sure the recipient would have been thrilled with some nice cutlery off his registry.

An island is an impractical, gaudy, and irresponsible gift. No one is immune to going broke, not even the highest-paid pro athletes.

Antoine Walker was a professional basketball player who made $110 million over his 13-year career. He lost all of it due to bad investments, overspending, and a gambling problem.

I crossed paths with Walker a few years ago. We were both working out in Las Vegas, hoping to get recruited by D-League basketball teams, which play in locales like Sioux Falls, S.D., and Fort Wayne, Ind. They pay about $30,000 per year. If Antoine Walker can go from being worth millions to dreaming about playing basketball in South Dakota so he can make about as much as a Burger King fry cook, it can happen to anyone. Cristiano, please get yourself a budget.

Lesson: Buying an island as a present can be detrimental to your financial future and may not even make the recipient that much happier.

People Who Need the Most Expensive Sneakers

The new LeBron James sneakers sell for $250. Despite what Nike, Adidas, Under Armour, Michael Jordan, or your friends tell you, your sneakers will not make you good at basketball. As a lifelong basketball player who played at the college and professional level, I can attest to this firsthand.

I once had a pair of fancy, brand-name sneakers literally explode when I was making a cut. I had to try to play with my sole flopping off my shoe. Furthermore, I’ve been schooled on the court by guys who wore beat-up sneakers that looked like they should be used exclusively for yard work. That helped put things in perspective.

Lesson: Buy some basic shoes with good grip and ignore the hype.

People Who Need the Most Expensive Suits

I once had an office job that required me to wear a suit and tie every day. In preparation for this new position, I bought three suits. One was very expensive, one was slightly more affordable but still pricey, and the third was a dirt-cheap suit from an outlet factory that was having a sale.

Over the year and a half that I worked at this company, I never got a single compliment on the expensive suits. Almost every time I wore the cheap suit, I got compliments. People wanted to know the brand and where I got it. It was a conversation starter in the elevator.

• Related: The Deceptively Tiny Wardrobe

I started thinking about why, and I realized it was all about fit. While I had all the suits tailored, the cheap one clearly fit me the best. If I could do it over again, I would have saved a lot of money with this knowledge. At least I can be grateful I lost an eBay auction for a Burberry suit that would have set me back two grand.

Lesson: Fit matters infinitely more than price when trying to make a good impression.

People Who Don’t Use Clotheslines

Dryers are expensive. The one in my building is $1.50 a load. An average family of four does eight loads per week. That’s $624 a year just to dry your laundry if you rely on a coin-op machine, but even homeowners with laundry hookups pay about $150 a year in electricity to run their dryer.

Using a clothesline for three-quarters of the year can have an impact on your wallet. As I type this I am looking at yoga gear drying on my clothesline. This is mid-October in Madison, Wis., and I live in an apartment. No excuses, people! You don’t need acres of land and your own home to do stuff like this.

Lesson: Using a clothesline or dryer rack may take a little more time, but it’s worth it.

People Locked into Expensive Cellphone Plans

I recently ran the numbers on what I was paying for my Verizon iPhone 6, and it was jaw-dropping. I started searching for cheaper plans and stumbled into the beautiful new world of pay-as-you-go cellphone providers.

I’m now with Ting, and have dropped my monthly bill from $75 down to $30. I can’t leave my GPS running 24/7 anymore unless I want to run up my data bill, but that’s a small inconvenience for what will end up saving me $540 this year.

• Related: Fed Up With Verizon or AT&T? Try One of These Cheap Phone Plans Instead

Lesson: Unless you absolutely, positively cannot live without the newest subsidized smartphone, consider other options besides the main carriers.

People Who Smoke Cigarettes

At my brother’s bachelor party, we were walking from one bar to another late at night in downtown Chicago. We got lost, and asked a guy sitting outside of a liquor store for directions. He happily obliged. My brother insisted on compensating this guy for helping us out. The guy asked for a pack of cigarettes, so we went inside to buy him some.

We picked out the brand he wanted and I saw the price: 10 bucks! People can feed themselves for half a week with 10 bucks! As a nonsmoker, this astonished me. I feel ignorant for not knowing that cigarettes were that costly.

Lesson: Smoking is an expensive habit that only gets more pricey as health care costs start to add up. Do your best to cut back or quit altogether.

People Drinking Top-Shelf Liquor

I had a friend in college who would pour low-priced vodka into a Grey Goose bottle before a big party. He would then walk around the party offering people drinks of this fancy, expensive vodka. People would flip out. “This guy is so generous, giving away this free, premium vodka. It’s distilled like, 37 times! It tastes so good!” Little did they know that it was just a generic brand.

This experience taught me that a lot of people are wasting their money just to buy something with pretty packaging. It’s possible that the most experienced liquor connoisseurs can tell the difference between brands, but the rest of us can just stick to basic, low-cost options.

Lesson: If alcohol consumption is a part of your life, you probably won’t notice a difference by drinking low-cost varieties.

People Buying Brand-Name Drugs

As a former conspiracy-theory nut who once spent way too many hours reading about how Stanley Kubrick staged the moon landing, I empathize with those who don’t trust the Food and Drug Administration. Still, I don’t think the FDA is misleading us by claiming that generic drugs are as good as brand-name versions.

Studies show that brand-name and generic drugs have the same efficacy, but brand-name pharmaceuticals still make billion of dollars. It’s time we fight back against the incessant Big Pharma advertising and start to look at the alternatives.

Lesson: There will always be the foil-hat-wearing crowd screaming, “The FDA uses the water supply to exert mind control on the population!” But for those of us who are more trusting, it’s clear there is no reason not to buy the generic version of drugs when they’re an option.

Conclusion

If you’re part of the human race, chances are you have a problem with will power. It’s natural to want new things, and it’s natural to be influenced by the $200 billion advertising industry.

Do yourself a favor and make a budget to help keep you focused on what’s most important to you — every extra dollar you spend on high-end booze or a designer suit is money sucked away from the goals and passions you hold dear. Mint, You Need a Budget, Personal Capital, and other services all make it really easy. Pick one, use it, stick to it. Your future self will thank you.

Related Articles:

• The Secrets Behind Successful Budgeting
• Five Reasons Your Budget Isn’t Working
• How and Why to Use a Zero-Sum Budget

The post 10 People Who Really Need a Budget appeared first on The Simple Dollar.

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Americans Have $1 Trillion in Student Loan Debt. Here’s How to Start Repaying Yours

Do you feel a familiar dread when a certain Sallie shows up in your mailbox? Do those five-figure (or higher) balances glare up at you, seemingly impossible to comprehend, let alone pay off?

You’re not alone.

A Nation in Debt

American have one trillion dollars of student debt, according to a recent report.

Since a stack of a trillion dollar bills would reach to the moon and back not once but four times, according to Neil deGrasse Tyson, our student debt is literally astronomical.

The average borrower owes $27,000 and hasn’t turned 40 yet, and the problem is amplified by relatively low salaries of $40,000 or less. This is especially true for women, who continue to earn less than men for the same jobs. 

The good news is, you can conquer your student loans, as daunting as they seem — though it might take some time.

Honey Smith shared her “retrospectively gained wisdom” at Get Rich Slowly. Here are a few of the highlights.

The #1 Tactic: Don’t Get Into Debt

I know this may sound flippant. College is expensive, right?

Well, not always. But either way, you don’t have to go into debt.

While it’s easy to get deep into student loan debt, there are strategies you can use to make college more affordable.

For instance, why not ditch the room and board, and live at home? While it might not seem cool now, you’ll be able to afford way better digs later.

Similarly, you could consider heading to a less expensive (or free!) community college for two years and transferring to an expensive university only after you’ve earned an associate degree.

No matter what, Smith’s commenters suggest you make sure you find ways to earn money during college. Those hours serving up cappuccinos can help diminish your reliance on student loans.

Finally, keep in mind a lot of free money is available for students who look for it — both need- and merit-based scholarships, and some wildcards too. Often, the difference between big debt and no debt is just going through the trouble of looking for the cash!

If You’re Already in Debt: Strategize, Strategize, Strategize

It’s easy to pay the minimum amount required every month, but you could be struggling under those loans for over a decade.

One of the most important steps to tackling your student debt is to make it a priority, according to Smith and the commenters on her post.

When you’re taking out loans and decorating your new dorm room, you may not realize the real-world impact your debt has on your ability to save for travel, a home or starting a family.

So as soon as you start making money, you need to knuckle down and pay your student loans first — maybe even before you graduate. One blogger’s prioritization allowed him to repay his $46,500 debt in just two years.

The first step is to figure out how much you owe, which can be more confusing than you’d imagine, since lenders can sell your accounts or cut financial aid checks through a third party.

Next, choose a repayment plan that suits you. Smith explains many of the available options, from fixed and graduated repayment plans to pay-as-you-earn.

Once you’re enrolled in a repayment plan, work on lowering the principal amount first.

When you pay more than the minimum requirement — which you should — make sure the extra funds go toward the principal amount, rather than the interest. If you pay biweekly, you’ll end up making an extra payment over the course of the year without it feeling like a strain.

It pays to be on time with your payments — you might even score a reduction in your interest rate by setting up auto-pay.

Try a side hustle to make extra money or look for jobs with loan repayment benefits.

Finally, consider consolidating your loans or refinancing if your interest rate is high (5% or more) — though you should exercise caution and do your research before taking this option.

Still having trouble? Communicate with your lenders. They may offer options for loan deferral — and you’ll want to take advantage, since those who default on student loans can have their tax return or wages garnished.

Keep At It

If you’re like most recent grads, the five-figure number on your student loan statement might be more money than you’ve ever handled. Staggering numbers can seem meaningless or even unimportant, making it easy to just accept you’re going to be in debt for the rest of your life.

But if you prioritize your student debt and think about that cash in terms of real value, you can stay motivated to lower that total. Getting out of debt is the first step toward saving and growing your money for travel, a home or even early retirement.

Don’t cheat yourself out of a better life by accepting debt as inevitable. You can do it — and you should get started today.

Want to know more? Read Smith’s full guide on Get Rich Slowly.

Your Turn: What strategies have you used to beat student debt?

Jamie Cattanach is junior writer at The Penny Hoarder and a native Floridian. She’s passionate about learning, literature, chocolate and finding ways to live the good life as cost-effectively as possible.

The post Americans Have $1 Trillion in Student Loan Debt. Here’s How to Start Repaying Yours appeared first on The Penny Hoarder.

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Save 25% on Postage Stamps With These Simple Tricks

I found an awesome deal on something you might not expect — stamps.

I had no idea you could save this much money on postage stamps. I’ve learned how to buy them for only $0.37 each. That’s almost as cheap as when I was a kid!

There’s no catch. I’m talking first-class, forever stamps — and it’s super simple.

The going rate for a forever stamp from the U.S. Postal Service is $0.49. Here’s how you can save 25%.

1. Buy Discounted Stamps on Ebay

Here’s how it works: The first step is to get familiar with Ebay.

You’ll see hundreds of auctions on eBay for unused postage stamps. Like most eBay products, they’re cheaper than the retail price.

You can buy as little as a sheet (20 stamps) or you can buy several dozen rolls (100 stamps) at a time. I recommend buying at least one roll. The larger the lot size, the bigger your discount.

For example, this roll of 100 forever stamps has a current bid of $40. That makes the rate per stamp 40 cents — or about a 20% discount.

On top of these savings, when you shop at eBay, you can enroll to earn eBay Bucks on qualifying purchases.

Once enrolled, you automatically earn a percentage of the item price back. When you earn $5 or more in a three-month period, you’ll receive an eBay Bucks Certificate you can use on the site within 30 days.

That’s free money to spend on eBay!

That’s all pretty good, but you can get your stamps even cheaper by stacking deals.

2. Shop Through a Cashback Site

Check Cashbackaholic to find the best cash back deal for eBay. They’ll vary from day to day. As of this writing, the best deal is up to 5% cashback through Ebates.

Once you find the best rebate site, search for forever stamps on eBay through that site to earn your rewards.

At 5% cashback on this $40 auction, you’ll save another $2. That brings the price per stamp down to 38 cents.

3. Use a Rewards Credit Card

This is one of my favorite deal-stacking tips. With a cash back credit card, you get money just for purchasing things you would buy anyway.

Save another 1% with your card, and you’re paying only $37.62 for 100 stamps — just 37.62 cents per stamp.

That’s almost 12 cents savings per stamp — or, the cost of a stamp in 2002.

You might not think to look for rewards and discounts on items like this, but think about the money — and hassle — you can save! How much first-class mail do you send each month?

One hundred stamps could go pretty far — you could be set up for months for less than $40.

Your Turn: How quickly do you go through stamps these days? Would you buy stamps through eBay to save time and money?

Disclosure: We appreciate you letting us include affiliate links in this post. It helps keep the beer fridge stocked in the Penny Hoarder break room.

The post Save 25% on Postage Stamps With These Simple Tricks appeared first on The Penny Hoarder.

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Motorists to pay extra as a result of ‘stealth’ insurance tax increase

Tom Wilson

car with money.jpg

Some 30 million motorists will see their premiums rise by £386 million a year, or £12.80 each, as a result of the increased Insurance Premium Tax (IPT) that comes into effect this weekend.

Some 30 million motorists will see their premiums rise by £386 million a year, or £12.80 each, as a result of the increased Insurance Premium Tax (IPT) that comes into effect this weekend.

Motorists to pay extra as a result of ‘stealth’ insurance tax increase

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Some 30 million motorists will see their premiums rise by £386 million a year, or £12.80 each, as a result of the increased Insurance Premium Tax (IPT) that comes into effect this weekend. The tax on insurance premiums is rising by more than half, from 6% to 9.5%, with the average car insurance policy costing £367. Younger drivers will be the worst affected, as the average premium for drivers aged 18-20 is £972 and the tax rise will add £34 to a premium of this size. IPT is levied on several types of insurance. The RAC, which compiled the figures, say motorists will be hit hard as car insurance accounted for a fifth of the £3 billion tax charged on insurance premiums in 2014. RAC Insurance director Mark Godfrey said: “Insurance is – rightly – mandatory for anyone getting behind the wheel. The 3.5% hike in IPT is another stealth tax like fuel duty that has unreasonably added to the already considerable contribution made to the Treasury by motorists. “With insurance premiums currently going up faster than they have in the last five years, it’s sadly going to be a double whammy of bad news for the motorist. How much tax do motorists pay? According to the RAC, motorists paid some £39.2 billion in driving-related taxes in 2014. That breaks down as follows. * Fuel duty: Charged at 57.95p a litre. The total tax take in 2014 was £26.4 billion. * VAT on fuel: Levied at 20%. Drivers pay £6.3 billion a year. * Vehicle Excise Duty: Charged based on a vehicle’s CO2 emissions. The tax bill for this was £5.9 billion in 2014. * Insurance premium tax: Raised £624 million in 2014, and is expected to cost drivers more than a billion after the rate rises to 9.5%. Who else will pay more IPT? IPT is charged on car insurance, home insurance, pet insurance and private medical insurance. A higher 20% rate is charged on travel insurance and some electrical warranties. This will not change. Some insurance policies are exempt from IPT, including life insurance, mortgage insurance and spacecraft!

read more

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What's the Cost of Following Your Conscience?

Buying from ethically and environmentally responsible companies can come at a premium.


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What Are Your Best Saving Options as You Near Retirement?

Countless retirement accounts are available, but the most important factor is saving in the first place.

Source U.S. News - Money http://ift.tt/1kdZKvA

Technology Now Lets You Speak From Beyond the Grave

Have words of wisdom you want to share with your grandchild on graduation day but aren't sure you'll live that long? Technology can help get the message through. 

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4 Frightening Financial Behaviors to Avoid

If you are committing one of these blunders, you're likely giving your financial advisor nightmares.

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5 Scary Schemes and Scams That Target Investors

With frauds like 'pump and dump,' scammers try to stay a step ahead of you.


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The Delicious Dozen: Twelve Strategies for Eating Healthy and Cheap

We have five people living in our home – two adults and three children. With that many mouths to feed, a large monthly food budget is simply a fact of life.

It’s also the most variable line in our budget. We can get that number well below $500 a month if we’re careful, eat every meal at home, and fix economical meals. On the other hand, if we eat out several times in a month and don’t make such economical meals, the food spending can blast well above $1,000 in a month.

It’s tricky to budget for that amount (we usually budget on the high end and hope for some “financial leftovers”). It’s also painful for our checking account and our wallets if we allow ourselves to go high.

Because of the huge impact that food can have on our budget, we make a concerted effort to find ways to spend less on food. Not only do we try out lots of tactics, we also have a wide array of principles that have really clicked and have stuck with us over the years.

This article is a mix of some of the best tried-and-true practices that we’ve been using for many years, as well as some new strategies we’ve been using recently with great results. All of them are useful strategies for keeping healthy food on your plate without having to break the bank or invest hours and hours of time.

Strategy #1 – Plan Meals in Advance for the Week Using Produce from the Grocery Store Flyer

I’ve written about this strategy many times, but that’s because it works. It is the backbone of how we save money on food. It boils down to a six step strategy for managing our family’s food spending:

Step 1: Get a Flyer
Step 2: Find Sales on Fresh Ingredients
Step 3: Do Some Recipe Research
Step 4: Create a Week-Long Meal Plan
Step 5: Make a Shopping List from the Meal Plan
Step 6: Go Grocery Shopping – And Stick to Your List

We go through this routine on a weekly basis, with Sarah and I often collaborating on the first five steps and one of us handling the final step alone.

Strategy #2 – Use a Slow Cooker as Often as Possible

Our slow cooker is probably the most used item in our kitchen. We use it about three times a week on average.

For those unfamiliar, a slow cooker is a device that essentially cooks your food very slowly throughout the day. You can put uncooked food in there in the morning and when you’re done with your day, there’s a full meal in there just waiting to be eaten.

Many, many meals can be prepared in a slow cooker by simply putting some ingredients in there in the morning, turning the slow cooker on low, and then simply leaving for the day. We have dozens of great slow cooker recipes that we love, from lasagna to stews and from whole roasts with vegetables to soups.

How does this save money? On a busy evening, it’s often much easier to simply get some takeout or have food delivered or to just eat at a restaurant. The reason is time – with a tight schedule, there’s often not enough time for someone to prepare a meal and have it on the table when everyone can eat.

A slow cooker solves that problem. You don’t have any prep time in the evening, you can put the food on the table whenever it works for you, and you can even serve it two or three times if that works for everyone’s schedule.

For a family of four or five, I’d recommend a six quart manual slow cooker, as it’s a great size both for meals and for bulk cooking tasks (like cooking beans all day or making stock).

Strategy #3 – Make Slow Cooker Meals in Advance By Assembling Them in Gallon Ziploc Freezer Bags

Lately, Sarah has been on a kick preparing slow cooker meals in advance so that they can be grabbed out of the freezer, allowed to thaw in the fridge for 24 to 48 hours, and then dumped into a slow cooker in the morning so that supper is ready that evening. She spent an evening with some friends making a bunch of these meals and they’ve all been quite good and very, very easy.

Pretty much any soup, stew, or simple non-layered casserole works reasonably well for this. We’ve made a great chickpea-based Indian-inspired meal, a vegetarian bean-based “Sloppy Joe” mix, a taco salad, and several other things – and we eat vegetarian. For non-vegetarians, the possibilities are endless – here are twelve great options to start with.

A few recommendations, though. First, put the meals in quart and gallon Ziploc bags and double layer the bags. If you use only a single layer for these, you can occasionally have a mess. Second, be sure to label the outer bag clearly, with a date, so that you know what it is when examining your freezer contents. Third, these always work best when you thaw them in the fridge for 24 to 48 hours, so pull them out a day or two before you’ll use them. You don’t need to have the meals fully thawed before you add them to the slow cooker, but they should be mostly thawed.

Strategy #4 – Eat a Greater Portion of Fruits and Vegetables in Your Diet

If you pay attention in your grocery store, you’ll notice that many fresh fruits and vegetables are quite cheap. Bananas are always incredibly inexpensive, for example, and many vegetables are really cheap when they’re in season. The prices you can get on fresh produce just blow away the prices you can get on meats or many prepackaged food items, as long as you pay a little attention to them.

There are several simple ways to put more fruits and vegetables in your diet without radically overhauling things.

My favorite is to simply have some fruits available for easy snacking whenever I want them. We’ll bring home some grapes and wash and put them in a bowl in the fridge so that they can easily be grabbed when I’m hungry. We’ll leave apples and bananas and other fruits out on the table for easy access, too.

Another strategy is to toss some vegetables right in with whatever you’re cooking. If you’re grilling, wrap some vegetables in foil and toss them on the grill. If you’re baking or frying meat, add some vegetables right into the pot or pan and cook them. Then, when it’s time to eat, add these savory vegetables right to your plate along with the meat.

Not only will an increase in your fruits and vegetables help you with eating a little healthier, it will also help you save some money on your food spending.

Strategy #5 – Maintain a Favorite Recipes Database – There Are Many Easy Ways to Do It

Whenever Sarah and I find a recipe that we like, we save it for the future, as many people do. The problem is dealing with a big set of recipes. Once you reach a certain threshold of recipes that you love, it becomes hard to manage them.

Our solution was to move to a recipe database. We use Paprika because it’s well-integrated with a grocery list tool, but there are many tools that work well for this. Pretty much any word processing program will work, as will Evernote (which is what we used before Paprika).

So, how exactly does something like Paprika save us money? Remember our meal planning routine, from the first strategy above? One of the first things we do when we identify some on-sale fresh produce from the grocery flyer is to search our recipe database for that ingredient. What meals do we enjoy that utilize this ingredient that’s on sale? A quick Paprika search shows us.

We don’t just keep recipes that we love in there. When we see an interesting one from a cookbook or a website, we add that to Paprika too. We distinguish between new ones and “classics” by adding a “star rating” (usually 5 stars) to classics. If a new recipe turns out to be good, it gets a star rating; if it’s not good, it gets deleted.

Strategy #6 – Prepare Simple Staples on Sunday for Easy Breakfasts Throughout the Week

Last Sunday, I hard boiled a dozen eggs, shelled four of them, and put all of them in the fridge for later. On Monday, I needed a quick breakfast, so I grabbed two hardboiled eggs, put a dash of pepper on each of them, and gobbled them down.

The Sunday before that, I mostly cooked some steel cut oats, spiced them with brown sugar, cinnamon, and apples, then stored a big batch of it in the fridge. In the mornings, I put a couple of big spoonfuls of the steel cut oats in a bowl and finished the cooking in the microwave.

Both situations saved us money. In the first situation, hardboiled eggs make for a very inexpensive and tasty breakfast, but I don’t have time for it most mornings. Because the eggs are already hardboiled, though, I do have time for it, which means that my cost for breakfast each morning is lowered.

In the second one, I was able to very quickly get steel-cut oatmeal on the table for breakfast during the week. My kids love oatmeal and they recognize that the steel cut stuff is far better, but it’s hard to make for breakfast. This method lets me make a delicious and hearty breakfast for them even during the busy mornings.

Again, time is a huge factor here. By doing the preparation on Sunday, when I have spare time in the afternoon, we’re able to enjoy inexpensive meals for at least the first three days of the week for two of our meals during the day without much time investment during the workweek.

Strategy #7 – Never Enter a Grocery Store without a Grocery List

Obviously, when you’re following that meal planning structure from strategy #1, it’s easy to have a grocery list to follow, but sometimes you find yourself in an unexpected situation and you need to stop at the grocery store during the week or when traveling.

Even then, you’re going to save money – and, believe it or not, save time – by writing a grocery list before you go in the door. Spend a few minutes thinking through exactly what you need to buy there, jot it down on a piece of scratch paper, and use that as your grocery list.

Having a grocery list in your hand means that your focus is entirely on finding the items on that list. You’re not wandering and staring at the shelves and wondering if you should be putting that stuff in your cart. That question rarely crosses your mind when you’re shopping with a list. You simply don’t add nearly as many unplanned items to your cart, which directly saves you money.

Strategy #8 – Establish Strong Cooking Habits So That Cooking and Cleanup Are Easy

One of the biggest drawbacks against cooking at home is that it takes so much time, but the big reason for that impression is that people rarely approach home cooking with organization and strong skills.

I’ll give you an example. One of the most effective ways to make food preparation and cleanup as easy as possible is to prepare and measure all ingredients before you start cooking. Measure and put all of the ingredients you need into cups and bowls. Chop all of the vegetables and cut up all of the meat before you do anything else. Have your dishwasher completely empty before you start so you can just put everything straight into the dishwasher. That way, you’re dealing with a number of very small messes that just take a second or two to clean up along the way instead of a complete kitchen disaster at the end. (This is very similar to a common restaurant technique called mise en place.)

Another advantage to doing things this way is that you can focus on the food as it is cooking instead of running from task to task while your eggs are burning on the stovetop. This creates far better results, which means that you have positive feedback from cooking at home and it also means that everything gets easier and easier and less intimidating.

You may also want to peek at Strategy #11 for a great parallel strategy.

Strategy #9 – Label and Date Your Leftovers and Keep Them Front and Center in the Fridge

Leftovers are incredibly valuable. If you save them instead of throwing them away, and then consume those leftovers, you’re essentially getting a free meal. Do that often enough and you’re going to see a real dent in your food budget.

The problem is that it’s easy to forget leftovers in the fridge. They get pushed to the back and quickly forgotten, only discovered a month later when they’ve gained sentience and you have to battle them over to the trash can.

The solution is to put a big fat label right on those leftovers – I use masking tape and a Sharpie which sit close to the fridge – and keep them right in the front of the fridge so you can’t miss ‘em. Jot down what’s in the container and when you put it in there.

When I open the fridge looking for something for lunch, I am far more likely to notice a clearly labeled container right in the front (and grab it for a cheap lunch) than one shoved in the back, opaque and labelless.

Strategy #10 – Learn How to Cook Dried Beans Instead of Using Canned Beans

It takes several cans of beans to add up to the amount of beans you get from a single bag of dried beans. At my local grocery store, that bag of dried beans costs about the same amount as one can. If you eat beans very often, as I do, going for the dried beans can save some real money.

The trick, of course, is cooking them in a convenient way, and for that I rely on strategy #2 – I use the ol’ slow cooker. I just put in a pound of beans at the start of the day, add plenty of water (usually most of a finger depth over the top of the beans), and let it simmer on low all day long. At the end of the day, most of the water is gone, the beans are far bigger, and they’re deliciously soft! Often, I’ll add some salt and pepper along with some chopped onion or chopped bell pepper or a spoonful of minced garlic to the boil to add a bit of flavor to the beans. Anyway, I strain off the remaining liquid and save those beans in a container in the fridge to use in recipes over the next few days.

The humble bean is so versatile. You can find countless uses for it. It works in soups and stews. It works over pasta, mixed with diced tomatoes. It works mixed with eggs. It works with countless variations on tacos, burritos, and so on. I’ll even eat them happily as a side dish.

It’s easy, too, if you have cooked beans already in a container in the fridge. Just make sure you eat them in a few days!

Strategy #11 – Do Most of Your Meal Prep Work the Night Before

What do you do if you want to cook an interesting dinner one night? You’re thinking about trying it, but the time pinch looks really tight. You can pull it off if you chop and dice really quickly – maybe while something’s cooking on the stovetop?

That’s usually a mistake. I can’t count the number of meals I’ve ruined that way. Because of that, I was afraid to actually try complex meals on a weeknight for a long while until I figured out a nice trick.

I just chop all of the vegetables and measure most of the ingredients in advance the night before.

The chopped vegetables and meats go in the fridge. The other ingredients go in small containers on the counter, labeled clearly if I’m worried about confusing them. I’ll often put all of the dry ingredients that go in at the same time in the same container, to make it easier.

That way, when dinnertime comes the next day, I just pull the vegetables (and meats) out of the fridge and open up the containers that were on the counter and I’m ready to go. I can focus solely on the cooking, which means that it will take far less time that evening and I’m less likely to mess it up and it’s going to be far cheaper than ordering takeout or delivery.

Strategy #12 – Buy Reusable Containers and Pack Individual Meals on the Weekends

On Saturdays or Sundays, we usually make one huge meal that we know we’ll all like. Maybe we’ll make a vat of chili one week or our barley vegetable soup another week. Perhaps we’ll make a giant pan of lasagna or even two of them. You get the idea.

When we serve this meal, we also serve many more servings right into some reusable containers, which we immediately label and pop in the fridge for lunches during the first half of the week.

I like to use these Gladware containers for this purpose, as they ride perfectly from the fridge to the microwave to the dishwasher and back around and they’re really easy to label with masking tape and a marker.

Then, on weekdays, we just grab one of those containers out of the fridge and we’re ready for lunch. It makes for cheap lunches that are absolutely delicious.

Final Thoughts

Food budgets are one of the easiest things to completely overspend on because of the convenience of so many foods, especially when we’re busy. However, with a bit of thoughtful planning, you can cut back drastically on the needed time while still enjoying many, many inexpensive and delicious homemade meals. No more exploding food budgets!

Good luck!

The post The Delicious Dozen: Twelve Strategies for Eating Healthy and Cheap appeared first on The Simple Dollar.

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Not Just for Cuddling: Pet Stocks Can Warm Your Wallet

Pet health care is a booming business that continues to outperform most Wall Street stocks.

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21 Fun Ways to Enjoy Your Pumpkin After Halloween

Picking out a potential jack-o’-lantern or two from the pumpkin patch, farmers market or grocery store is a time-honored tradition.

But if you’re going to spend money on these Halloween decorations, you’ll want to make the most of your investment.

Once the fun of carving your Halloween pumpkin is over, try one of these options to repurpose it.

Whether it becomes a tasty snack or a creative project, your pumpkin can bring you a little more joy after Halloween — and help you save some cash going into the holiday season.

Eat Your Pumpkin

Let’s not beat around the bush: eating your pumpkin is probably the most enjoyable way to reuse it. We found recipes for every part of your pumpkin — even those stringy guts.

While carving pumpkins aren’t quite as flavorful as other varieties (such as sugar or pie pumpkins), they’ll still work for any of these dishes.

1. Make Pumpkin Puree

While it doesn’t sound particularly appetizing, pumpkin puree is one of my favorite things to make with leftover pumpkins.

It’s incredibly versatile: You’ll be able to turn your puree into pumpkin muffins, breads and soups down the road — even that Thanksgiving pumpkin pie. Pumpkin puree is the basis of most of the delicious dishes on this list.

Creating the puree is simple; you can boil, bake or steam your pumpkin, according to Good Housekeeping. If you used a real candle in your jack o’ lantern, make sure to cut off and discard any burned sections or leftover wax.

The puree freezes well for future use; I like to use zip-closure freezer bags, filled and partially flattened for easy stacking.

2. Make Your Own Pumpkin Spice Latte

Photo credit: Betsy Officer

Tempted by the versions on offer at seemingly every coffee shop? Instead of dropping $5 on a drink that doesn’t actually contain any pumpkin, make your own.

Inspired by a fall weekend in a town without a coffee shop, Betsy Officer created her own PSL.

“Not only is this recipe delicious and super easy, but it also is 100% natural and can be made with organic ingredients. Plus, I can now drink pumpkin spice lattes as early/or late into the season as I like!”

She shared two variations of the recipe with us: a latte made with espresso, and a café au lait made with standard drip-brewed coffee.

Ingredients: Milk (2% recommended), coffee, pumpkin pie spice mixture (or mix your own cinnamon, ginger and nutmeg blend), maple syrup, pumpkin, vanilla extract. Optional: cinnamon sticks and maple pumpkin butter as garnish

1) Measure and pour milk into saucepan on your stove (latte: one espresso shot will need 3/4 cup milk; café au lait: will need approximately ½ cup milk for a 2:1 coffee/milk ratio)

2) Add in 1/4 teaspoon of pumpkin pie spice, 1 teaspoon vanilla extract, 1 teaspoon organic maple syrup and 1 teaspoon pumpkin puree. Stir well.

3) Heat the mixture on medium/hot heat, stirring occasionally.

4) Meanwhile, brew coffee or espresso. For drip coffee, Betsy recommends using a pumpkin spice blend such as Dunkin Donuts or Trader Joe’s Pumpkin Spice coffee.

5) Remove milk from stovetop once it is hot (Betsy waits until it’s just about to boil) and use a milk frother to froth it. The mixture should double in size and create a nice foam. If you don’t have a frother, you can find one online for under $20 (Betsy uses this one) or simply use your blender.

6) Once milk is frothed, combine in a mug with espresso or coffee. Garnish with pumpkin pie spice. Optional: add a cinnamon stick, or drizzle with a bit of maple pumpkin butter.

3. Enjoy a Pumpkin Cocktail or Pumpkin Beer

For those looking for something a little stronger than a latte, these seasonal drinks are just the ticket. You’ll need a few additional ingredients — and brewing equipment if you’re making beer — but these pumpkin drinks will spice up any post-Halloween party.

Enjoy planning ahead? Bottle your pumpkin beer or preserve your pumpkin now, then break the drinks out with your Thanksgiving dinner. (Like this idea? Click to tweet it.)

4. Have Pumpkin Lasagna

Need a dinner idea for November 1? Try this yummy vegetarian lasagna. Taste of Home calls it a “comforting fall dish” — who doesn’t love those?

5. Make Pumpkin Butter

This seasonal treat is delicious on toast, in smoothies or on oatmeal. You can make it all year if you freeze extra pumpkin puree!

Check out this simple recipe on Oh She Glows (bonus for healthy eaters: it’s vegan).

6. Snack on Roasted Seeds

They’re a classic snack for a reason: A handful of roasted pumpkin seeds is a delicious way to get iron, magnesium, zinc, potassium and a healthy dose of fiber.

Roasting them is incredibly simple. Oh She Glows has a good recipe, but play with toppings to find one that works for you: salt and pepper, chili powder, or cinnamon are all good options.

7. Make Vegetable Stock with the Guts

While the flesh and seeds are often popular foods, the stringy insides of pumpkins usually go straight to the trash (or compost). No more! Try adding them to other veggie bits (carrot tops, onion ends) to make a flavorful stock.

Wondering whether this will actually save you money? Trent Hamm shared the economics of making veggie stock at The Simple Dollar.

8. Bake Pumpkin Gut Bread

Source: Diana Johnson at Eating Richly

If you’re looking for something a little heartier than soup, try this recipe from Diana Johnson of Eating Richly. She calculates that making two loaves costs about $2.

9. Cook Pumpkin Risotto

Another way to put those guts to use: try this delicious pumpkin risotto, which Gothamist Editor Nell Casey adapted from the New York Times.

10. Make Pumpkin Pickles

If you’re pickle-obsessed like me, you’ll want to try these babies. For a sweeter pickle to go with desserts or cheese platters, try this pickled sugar pumpkin recipe. Looking for something with a little more kick? Try these South Indian pumpkin pickles.

11. Dry Pumpkin Skin into Chips

Don’t worry, we didn’t forget the skin of the pumpkin. Use a dehydrator or your oven to dry the skin into crispy chips for snacks or garnishes, recommends Gina Harney of Fitnessista.

Decorate With Pumpkins

Halloween might be over, but it’s still fall and pumpkins make great additions to your home, garden and holiday decorations.

12. Use Pumpkins as Serving Bowls

Source: Sanam Lamborn at My Persian Kitchen

File this idea under “brilliant” — why not save on decorations (and dishwashing) by using pumpkins as serving bowls for soup or cider?

Here’s an easy way to make a pumpkin bowl, from Sanam Lamborn of My Persian Kitchen.

13. Turn a Pumpkin into a Planter

Keep the fall festivities going by using your pumpkin as a planter for a small potted plant. The planter will last for several weeks, and then you can plant it directly in your garden to decompose.

14. Create a Pumpkin Birdfeeder

Feeling artsy? Feed your neighborhood birds with Martha Stewart’s pumpkin birdfeeder. For an even simpler feeding, try this method from Instructables.

15. Save Them to Decorate Your Thanksgiving Table

No need to spend extra money on table decorations — plan to keep a pumpkin or two, and you’ll be all set. Use Pinterest for ideas and inspiration.

Your pumpkins will make it to Thanksgiving, as long as you choose wisely. An uncarved, healthy pumpkin “can last 8 to 12 weeks,” Cornell University horticulturalist Steve Reiners told NPR.

16. Make Pumpkin Snowmen

Why not try this cute, crafty way to reuse some of your Halloween decorations? You’ll get an early start on your winter decorating — or if you’re feeling entrepreneurial, you could even try selling your creations.

Get Creative

If you don’t want to cook or decorate with your leftover pumpkin, what else can you do? Try one of these fun ideas.

17. Relax With a Pumpkin Face Mask

Out late at a Halloween party? Recharge your skin with pumpkin’s good-for-you vitamins A, C and E. You’ll only need to add honey and milk, according to this simple recipe from Beautylish.

Add this to the list of fun ways to save money on beauty products!

18. Build a Pumpkin Catapult

If you’d rather throw your pumpkin than eat it or decorate with it, try building a pumpkin catapult or trebuchet like these middle-school students from New Jersey. (Just make sure you have enough space for this physics lesson.)

19. Release Your Inner Artist With Pumpkin Painting

This is a great chance for kids to have fun creating art with pumpkins, especially if they’re a little young for carving tools.

The best part? All you need is some butcher or craft paper, a few paper plates and washable paint. Joyce at Childhood Beckons explains the details.

20. Save the Seeds

Not a fan of eating the seeds? Instead, hold onto them to plant in your garden next spring. Growing your own pumpkins will save you money — and let you enjoy even more homemade treats next year.

21. Compost Your Pumpkin

At the very least, your leftover pumpkin can help you grow an incredible garden next year. Cut it into smaller pieces and toss it in the compost pile, then mix it into your soil next spring.

Your Turn: What’s your favorite way to use your pumpkin after Halloween?

This post originally ran after Halloween 2014, but we thought we’d bring it back to help you reuse your pumpkin this year!

Heather van der Hoop is senior editor of The Penny Hoarder. When she’s not reading or writing, you can usually find her climbing rocks, mountains and trees. She tweets occasionally: @heathervdh.

The post 21 Fun Ways to Enjoy Your Pumpkin After Halloween appeared first on The Penny Hoarder.

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Frugal Ideas for Leftover Halloween Candy

You don't have to toss the sugary treats that are left. 

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Buying a Home? 5 Things to Know About the New Mortgage Documents

The mortgage application process just became simpler.

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MPs to investigate state pension fiasco

Rachel Lacey

Westminster at dusk.jpg

A group of MPs has launched an enquiry into the state pension reforms, following concerns that the government has failed to adequately communicate what benefits retirees will receive when the new state pension is introduced in April 2016.

A group of MPs has launched an enquiry into the state pension reforms, following concerns that the government has failed to adequately communicate what benefits retirees will receive when the new state pension is introduced in April 2016.

MPs to investigate state pension fiasco

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A group of MPs has launched an enquiry into the state pension reforms, following concerns that the government has failed to adequately communicate what benefits retirees will receive when the new state pension is introduced in April 2016. In a statement the DWP Select Committee said: “Concerns are raised especially for people who are close to retirement now and may have done most or all of their retirement planning and saving under the ‘old’ system.” The new ‘single-tier’ pension will pay a flat rate of around £155 a week to everyone with 35 years National Insurance Contributions. Those with less than 10 years contributions will not get any state pension while those with between 10 and 34 years will receive a proportional sum. It will replace the current basic state pension and the additional pension (state second pension or S2P), which enables lower earners as well as carers and those on certain benefits to top up their retirement income. Critically, everyone has their own entitlement, so for the first time you will no longer be able to rely on contributions made by your spouse and there will be no special treatment for those who have been widowed or are divorced. Andrew Tully, pensions technical director at Retirement Advantage, said certain groups would benefit from the new system. “Generally women will be winners, even though they may have had a broken work history, this will be reflected in the new single rate system,” he explained. “The self-employed should also be winners as they couldn’t previously get the state second pension, now they will get the [higher] flat rate.” However some people will inevitably lose out under the new system. The committee added: “While many people are expected to be better off, people with for example less than 10 years of National Insurance contributions will no longer receive any State Pension, and people will no longer be able to count on a percentage of their spouse’s pension after their death.” Tom McPhail, head of retirement policy at Hargreaves Lansdown was baffled as to why the government has failed to make people aware of the changes. “The state pension reforms will ultimately lead to a simpler, more equal system and no one disputes that the transition from the current system to the new one will involve complex adjustments. What is incomprehensible though is that until recently the DWP seems not to have made any meaningful plans to communicate these changes to the people who are actually affected by them.”

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Inside Target’s new makeover

IT’S Target’s attempt at trying to lure shoppers back. The retail chain is opening new stores with T-shirt printing stations, cafes and more.

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How to Stop Wasting Money on Groupons You’re Never Going to Use

If you’re like me, you’ve probably made some terrible decisions involving online deal sites like Groupon and LivingSocial.

There was the time I bought a voucher for two dozen cupcakes, which I cashed in the day before it expired with no party in sight. Twenty-four cupcakes is a lot for two people.

I’ve traipsed to the far outer reaches of my city because I forgot to check where exactly that new restaurant was located. I also received an awful haircut from a salon attached to a bar.

But worst of all are the deals I never redeemed.

I’m still thinking about that bikram yoga deal that seemed like such a good idea in my over-air-conditioned cubicle. Somehow, once the feeling had returned to my fingertips and I realized how terrible it sounded to spend an hour doing stretches with sweaty strangers, I just couldn’t bring myself to cash it in.

So I’m turning over a new leaf. Much as I love a bargain, if I buy the voucher and never use it, it’s no longer a good deal. It’s a waste of money.

From now on, before I hit the purchase button, I’m asking myself these questions to decide if the deal is a bargain or a bust.

Is This Actually a Good Price?

Just because there’s a discount, it doesn’t mean your purchase is actually worth the cost of the voucher.

Do some digging. If the offer is for a $150 overnight stay in Atlantic City, what is the typical cost of a full-price room in a comparable hotel?

And while $20 for $40 worth of food seems like a steal, it’s less exciting when you look at the menu and discover a ridiculous markup that will inflate your check in no time.

I’m especially wary of the merchandise deals. While the sticker price is sometimes tempting, it’s tough to get a feel for the item’s quality. And don’t forget to check out the shipping costs and return policies.

Would I Buy This If it Wasn’t on Sale?

If the answer is yes, then it’s a no-brainer. If I would go for it without the deal, then I may as well save a couple of bucks.

A no to this question isn’t necessarily a deal-breaker, either, since I use these deals to access items that wouldn’t normally be within my price range.

I probably wouldn’t go for a Swedish massage if it wasn’t on sale, but I use this question to gauge my level of interest in the deal.

Will I Use This in the Next Month?

If I’m excited enough about the deal that I’m going to run out and use it in the next four weeks, it might be worth grabbing.

When my favorite Indian restaurant popped up on LivingSocial, I bought the voucher and used it the next week.

However, if I could see myself putting off this activity and having to use the voucher at the last minute (or, even worse, not at all), then I should skip this one.  

Is This an Aspirational Purchase?

Some of the deals I end up buying are not things I’m realistically going to do.

I’ve started asking myself if I’m thinking about buying this because I want to be the kind of person who would use it. Psychology 101, friends. Cheap online vouchers enable us to deceive ourselves about who we really are (and which deals we will really redeem).

Do I really want to tour that historical mansion an hour away? Or do I just want to be cultured and sophisticated enough that this would be something I’d do? (Spoiler: It’s the second one).

Am I really the kind of person who gets chemical peels? (No, I’m really not.)

Why Is This Deal Being Offered?

There are plenty of reasons for a business to offer an online voucher.

Sometimes a new business does it to drum up interest and get people in the door. Other times, the deal has restrictions that help an establishment bring in customers at off-peak hours or during slow season.

However, once in a while you’ll come across a business that turns to online deal sites because there’s a good reason it isn’t getting traditional customers.

Restaurants and hotels with low online ratings often show up on these sites. That salon that gave me the bad haircut? It wasn’t even on Yelp.

A quick Google search for the business will show you if that tapas bar is rocking a one-star rating because of a streak of bad shellfish or if that gym is full of creeps. If that’s the case, steer clear!

Your Turn: What is your criteria for buying online vouchers? More importantly, what’s the worst online deal you’ve purchased?

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!

Lyndsee Simpson is a writer and editor living in Washington, D.C. She currently has an unused hot-air balloon ride she needs to cash in.

The post How to Stop Wasting Money on Groupons You’re Never Going to Use appeared first on The Penny Hoarder.

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Home Business Success: Increase Your Income by Taking on Home-Based Jobs

By Angie Nelson In the last few years, the number of people who earn their primary income by taking on home-based jobs has been steadily increasing. Some decide to start their own business from home so they can cut back on travel expenses, while others choose to take on home-based jobs so they can spend […]

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Why Woolies is failing in the supermarket wars

A FAILED marketing campaign, a convoluted rewards system and the rise of low-cost player Aldi have led to shoppers turning their backs on the grocery giant.

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