MAKE MONEY ONLINE POSTS: 11/14/15

السبت، 14 نوفمبر 2015

Sanofi proposes expansion

A proposed 100,000-square-foot flu vaccine building addition at Sanofi Pasteur will generate 100 additional employees at the corporation’s Swiftwater site, according to plans submitted to the Pocono Township Planning Commission.The plan calls for building a three-story production building near the intersection of routes 611 and 314 where 600,000 eggs per day will be processed for flu vaccine, according to township and Monroe County Planning Commission [...]

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Smart Money: Retired and living off spouse's salary not a good idea

DEAR BRUCE: I'm 37 years old and my home is paid off. I am retired now because I'm lazy and I don't want to work anymore. My wife still works a few days a week. We have minimal expenses other than gas, food and utilities.I don't have much in savings, but she earns $40,000 a year with hardly any expenses of her own. We live very well and enjoy our lives. Is this OK for an early retirement? -- D.B.DEAR D.B.: It wouldn't be for me. [...]

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Re-opened Smithfield Township medical facility treats neurological, heart issues

Comprehensive services in the medical field at one location is the growing trend and DSP Health System, opened on 230-232 Independence Road in Smithfield Township, is embracing the concept.A new medical group at the facility that re-opened in mid-May on a road that clusters varied medical treatment centers still is putting the finishing touches on its two sites with four specialized professionals in the fields of cardiology, neurology, pain management, physical therapy and [...]

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Your Money Matters: Strategic Social Security loopholes closing

In the dark of night and in the nick of time, Congress passed and President Barack Obama later signed into law the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2015, avoiding a shutdown and funding the government for two more years. Included in the budget was a senior surprise -- the elimination of two potentially lucrative Social Security claiming strategies. Social Security, once an underappreciated retirement asset, in recent years has gained new respect as an important tool in retirement [...]

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Deeds, Sunday, Nov. 15, 2015

Eldred TownshipThomas E. and Deborah T. Nye to Kai Bartlette, Lot 12, High View Estates, $234,999Hamilton TownshipOleg Gorshkov to Robert Hayes Stewart IV and Saraya Smith, Lot 20, Young Estates, $291,000Pocono TownshipJames D. Conger to Wen-Tann Partners LLC, Land, North and South Turnpike, Lackawanna Trail, $620,000Ross TownshipJayson L. and Andrea L. Esty to Dennis Barry [...]

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Check Out These 10 Stunning, Affordable Wedding Dresses

Like anything with the word “wedding” attached, it can be tough to find a cheap wedding dress. The average wedding gown in the U.S. cost about $1,357 in 2014 according to The Knot, which surveyed more than 13,000 brides and grooms across the country.

That’s a pretty steep price for something you’ll typically wear just once. So we’ve scoured the Web to find some beautiful but cheap wedding dresses that are unique, get good reviews, and are sure to make you feel absolutely gorgeous on your special day. Before I get to our top picks, here are some general tips to help you find an affordable wedding dress.

Tips for Finding Cheap Wedding Dresses

Stay open-minded

You might find your dream dress in a department store, a vintage flea market, or in some other place that you least expect. Remember that as soon as something is called a “wedding dress,” the price immediately goes up.

When you’re out and about shopping, keep your eyes peeled for gorgeous evening gowns or cocktail dresses that would make beautiful wedding dresses without the increase in price.

Remember, it’s a one-time thing

Most of the time (though not always) you will only wear your wedding dress once. Spending a few thousand dollars on something you’ll only wear for a few hours, ever, isn’t exactly the ideal cost-to-wear ratio.

Sure, it’s important and your pictures will be around forever — but your debt burden and ability to afford it are also important for your future marriage. Try not to get caught up in the hype — I know it’s easier said than done — and go into dress shopping knowing your budget.

Bring cash to a store

Cash is and always will be king. Just because there’s a specific price on the tag doesn’t mean that is the price it has to be when you take the dress out of the store.

Most store owners put high mark-ups on dresses and have a lot of wiggle room when it comes to turning a profit. You can often ask them, “What’s your best rate if I paid in cash today?” You might be surprised at how much they can take off the price.

Buy off the rack

Wedding dresses can take quite some time to order, and then you often have to get things altered to fit you just right, so why not buy off the rack and have that dress altered to suit you?

Buying off the rack can be much less expensive – and the great news is that you can carry the dress right out of the store if you love it.

Our Favorite Affordable Wedding Dresses

All the cheap wedding dresses below either come from a trusted brand or receive phenomenal customer reviews. We’ve included a variety of styles, and all of these dresses cost 50% or less of what the average bride pays for a wedding dress in America.

Option 1: Nadia Gown (J.Crew)

Cost: $650

This elegantly simple dress, called the Nadia Gown, is long, flowing, and graceful. J.Crew has had a line of wedding dresses for the past few years, and many brides love that their wedding gowns embody the preppy, upscale-casual style that J.Crew is known for.

At $650, this wedding dress won’t break the bank, and the best part is that it can be worn over and over again, especially if you cut it short after the big day.

Option 2: Velvet Rope Ready Dress (ModCloth)

Cost: $90

This long, lacy dress in white from ModCloth gets rave reviews from customers who have used it as an affordable bridal gown. Ordering a wedding dress online may feel like a bit of a gamble, but ModCloth makes returns easy, and the site’s users tend to offer helpful and forthcoming feedback on how an item fit their body type (often including photos), so you can get a good sense of whether you’ll need to alter a garment or not. (This dress is on the long side, according to most reviewers.)

This is hardly the only beautiful (and cheap) bridal dress you can get from ModCloth; browse their entire collection here, from vintage-inspired gowns to plus-size wedding dresses.

Option 3: Upcycle a Family Heirloom (The Attic)

Photo: Walter

Cost: Free to $500

A vintage-inspired dress is one thing, but you can also go for the real deal. If your mother, grandmother, or someone else in your family kept their old wedding gown, consider taking it out of storage. With a few alterations, you may have found a cheap and truly vintage wedding dress that also honors your family’s history.

I got married in my mother’s wedding dress. Because she got married in the 1980s, there was a lot of illusion lace going on all over the top of it. Not only that, but the dress survived Hurricane Katrina.

We hired a seamstress to rework it, adding new lace and repairing it. It only cost a few hundred dollars to update and redesign, and I got a custom dress that was one of a kind and a family heirloom to boot.

Option 4: A Vintage 1950s Dress (Etsy)

Cost: $565

Don’t have a family heirloom to pull out of the attic? No problem: Etsy is an amazing website to snag one-of-a-kind vintage finds. This genuine 1950s wedding dress is perfect for a bride who loves that classic style or is planning a wedding with a vintage vibe.

It’s the only one for sale, but it’s hardly the only attractive and affordable wedding dress on Etsy — check out this one, or this one. Just search the entire site for wedding dresses, whether vintage or handmade, and you’ll find plenty of options under $600.

Option 5: Beaded Lace Dress (David’s Bridal)

Cost: $400

This dress comes with intricate beading intertwined with elegant, feminine lace. Sold by David’s Bridal, a well-known and affordable wedding dress brand, this dress has numerous five-star positive reviews and at the time of this writing is on sale for under $400.

Option 6: A Designer Gown Full of Ruffles (Filene’s Basement)

Cost: $501

Filene’s Basement is a legendary designer discount company. In past decades, they held an annual event in all their stores called “The Running of the Brides,” where brides-to-be would storm the store hunting for designer dresses at an extreme discount. Unfortunately, the company declared bankruptcy — but they are now back in online form.

While it doesn’t have nearly the same effect as trampling fellow brides-to-be to get the best dresses, they still provide some amazing deals online — like this beautiful Christina Wu gown on sale for half the usual retail price.

Option 7: Ivory Clara Dress (J.Crew)

Cost: $295

This dress is perfect for a simple, classy outdoor wedding. The short style is elegant without being too casual, and the price is exceptional.

Although many reviewers loved this dress, some did comment that the color was slightly different from the photo. Still, I wanted to include it since many brides loved it and shorter wedding dresses are perfect for beach and outdoor weddings.

Option 8: Betsy & Adam Illusion Lace Belted Gown (Macy’s)

Cost: $171

Macy’s has several affordable wedding dresses on sale and you can browse them online. This wedding dress is great for the modest bride who isn’t interested in showy or strapless dresses. It has beautiful illusion lace and comes in under $200.

My favorite part about this dress is the belt. I love wearing a belt even on my everyday dresses because it provides a great silhouette. This dress is no different.

Option 9: A Ruby Red Stunner (JJsHouse)

Cost: $369

Hey, who says a wedding dress has to be white? This stunning red wedding dress has a slew of positive reviews, and it’s perfect for the non-traditional bride who loves red and who wants to add a bit of flair to her wedding.

And don’t worry — if a ruby red wedding gown is a bit too bold for you, this dress comes in a few other colors, including the old standbys of white and ivory.

Option 10: Affordable Lace Luxury (JJsHouse)

Cost: $247

This dress from JJsHouse.com is gorgeous, long, and full of lace. The hourglass shape would look great on many brides, and you can check the website regularly for sales if the advertised price doesn’t match the one listed here.

The dress gets over 35 positive reviews, and, like on ModCloth, several users have uploaded photos of themselves in the dress to demonstrate how it looks in real life — making it easier for future brides to buy with confidence without trying it on first.

Other Ways to Save on Wedding Dresses

Borrow

If you borrow shoes and handbags from your best friend, why not borrow their wedding dress, too? If you loved a friend’s dress and they wouldn’t mind, ask.

Some people pay a lot of money to get their dresses preserved, but many people don’t because it’s so expensive. If you’re really on a tight budget, it doesn’t hurt to ask someone who is close to you if they have a dress you can borrow. Just remember to have it dry-cleaned and return it in pristine condition.

Thrift

Every time I go into a thrift store, there’s a wedding dress there; you can also often find them at consignment shops or online clothing resellers like ThredUp.

This doesn’t necessarily mean you have to use the exact dress you find. With many wedding dresses, the most expensive part is the lace or the tiny, detailed beading. Sometimes, older dresses have these features and simply need the basic cut to be updated to keep up with the times. You can take the fabric from a cheap thrift-store dress and have a skilled seamstress create something entirely new from it, or simply get it taken in for a more modern look.

Ask for your dress as a gift

Often your parents, sister, or grandmother will ask you what you want for your wedding. Many brides don’t know what to say, but if you’re on a really tight budget, remember you can always ask them to give you your wedding dress as a gift.

Agree to stick to a specific budget and invite the person giving you the gift to come with you to try on wedding dresses. They’ll get great joy from watching you try on your dream dress, and you’ll get a gift that you’ll cherish for a lifetime.

Don’t get caught up in the moment

When I catch an episode of “Say Yes to the Dress” on TV, I notice that so many brides get swept away in the moment. Sometimes they go way farther over budget than they meant to because they found “the one.” Conversely, many brides burst into tears because they feel so pressured to find the perfect dress but don’t really feel anything when they try them on.

Remember, you don’t need to have a movie moment when you find the right dress. Sometimes, the right dress is just the one that fits you like a glove or the one that is the most casual for your backyard wedding.

You don’t have to have some kind of magical “moment” when you try on the right dress for you. You just have to like it and feel beautiful in it. Chances are, you’ll feel beautiful in several dresses, so make sure to pick the one that fits in best with your wallet and your personality.

A Final Note

I got married five years ago, and at the time, getting my wedding dress and my invitations just right were a priority for me. I picked the venue, the food, the chairs, and just about everything else under the sun. It was a stressful time, right around the holidays, and as many brides will tell you, it all went by so, so fast.

Five years later, the dress, the clothes, the cake, and the DJ are all a distant memory. Now, our season of life has changed dramatically to taking care of our children and paying back our student loans.

I say all that to let you know that this really is a special time for you and your fiance, and you really should enjoy it. That said, as much planning as it takes to create your ideal wedding, it’s just as quickly gone when it’s over and replaced with other responsibilities (and other fun moments, too!).

For these reasons, try not to overspend on things like your wedding dress. Find one that suits you and don’t torture yourself by trying on designer gowns you can’t afford. Stay open-minded and try many different stores, and I promise you will find the dress of your dreams, and it’ll be even better because it will be the right price, too!

Related Articles:

The post Check Out These 10 Stunning, Affordable Wedding Dresses appeared first on The Simple Dollar.

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12. Scrap Wood Stocking Hanger

Image from Beyond The Picket Fence

What if someone has stockings they want to hang with care — but they don’t have a fireplace? With the help of Beyond The Picket Fence, all you need are a few materials to create a stocking hanger that solves all their woes.

Materials needed: Scrap wood, paint, hooks, stencils

Skill level: Intermediate

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Tips for Selling at a Holiday Craft Fair

Are you feeling inspired? Ready to get crafting?

Use one of the many online directories to help you find a craft fair in your area. Some popular ones include FestivalNet, Art & Craft Show Yellow Pages and Arts and Crafts Shows – USA. You can also check your local school, church and chamber of commerce for smaller events that may not be listed.

If it’s your first time selling at a craft fair, here are some tips from the pros to make it a smashing success:

Know the audience (what items would they be interested in?)
Make your booth visually inviting
Display your items at eye level
Fill your booth; if you don’t have enough items on your own, share with a friend
Create pretty labels (and include prices)
Maintain a positive and welcoming attitude
Give people space to browse
Accept credit cards (try using a tool like Square to accept payments on your smartphone)
Hand out business cards

For more tips, check out the full articles from The Etsy Blog, One Dog Woof, FaveCrafts and Stumbles & Stitches.

Your Turn: Have you ever sold your crafts before? Which of these options is your favorite?

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.

The post 12 Pinterest-Inspired Crafts to Make and Sell This Holiday Season appeared first on The Penny Hoarder.

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The Freezer and Slow Cooker Connection: How to Easily Prepare a Bunch of Slow Cooker Recipes in Advance to Save Tons of Money

Recently, I’ve made a few mentions of the fact that Sarah and I (honestly, mostly Sarah, as she has really jumped on board with this concept since spending an evening with a friend of hers doing this) have been preparing meals for the freezer with the intent of actually cooking them in the slow cooker on the day we intend to eat them.

The Basics of Freezer Slow Cooker Meals

Here’s the basic process that we’re following.

First, we identify a bunch of slow cooker recipes that meet our family’s needs as well as one additional specific requirement. The key requirement that you really need to address with freezer-to-slow-cooker meals is that they are essentially “turn it on and leave it” meals, meaning that they amount to putting a bunch of ingredients into the slow cooker, turning it on low for several hours, and then putting it on the table. For us, this usually means putting it in the slow cooker first thing in the morning, turning it on low (or setting the timer for it to turn on mid-day if needed), and just letting it cook all day long.

Recipes where you have to do a lot of additional steps in the morning don’t really cut it, nor do recipes where you have to do anything during the day. We even kind of frown on recipes that require you to do something a little while before serving. We want “dump it in and leave it” recipes for this, because these recipes are meant to make home-cooked meals as easy as possible for us.

This is probably as good of a point as any to tell you that my family eats perhaps 99% vegetarian meals, primarily for health-related reasons. We make sure that our meals are protein rich and we’ve discussed this with our children’s pediatrician (who is most decidedly not vegetarian) before embarking on this diet.

I like to collect these kinds of recipes using Paprika. Once the recipe is in there, it’s really easy (with just a few clicks or finger swipes) to build a grocery shopping list from those recipes.

Second, we build a big shopping list for several recipes at once, using the grocery store flyer as a guide. We’ll start by looking at the grocery store flyer. We look for raw ingredients that are on sale – particularly produce, but meat is definitely something to look for if you’re doing this – and then we’ll look through our collection of good slow cooker recipes to find ones that include that ingredient. For example, if tomatoes are on sale, we’ll look for a few recipes that include diced tomatoes.

I’ll give you an example. Let’s say our local grocery store is having a sale on fresh spinach. I might then go to our recipe database and start pulling out recipes that use spinach, such as this delicious crockpot lasagna from Eating Well and this slow cooker spinach and mozzarella frittata from Skinny Ms. and these crock pot spinach and mushroom enchiladas from Crockpot Gourmet (which I would make upside down in a freezer container and then invert in the slow cooker when it came time to prepare it).

My favorite “on sale” item is mushrooms, because there are so, so many dishes you can make that really use mushrooms amazingly well.

This ends up making a giant grocery list, so one of us heads to the store to buy those items. Magically, that grocery list already lines up with the items on sale at the store – because, as you recall, we planned the recipes based on grocery store sales – and it spells out just the ingredients you need for delicious meals.

Recently, we made nine of these slow cooker meals and the receipt came in at under $100 – $96.15, to be exact. Remember, this covers nine family dinners, so that reduces the cost of each dinner to about $10.50 each. Out of that $10.50, all five members of our family get a delicious supper, plus there’s usually enough leftovers for Sarah and I to each have at least one more lunch off of the meal, and there’s usually enough left over after that to have the food again as part of a “leftover dinner,” which we have about once a week when we’re cleaning up leftovers. The cost per meal, in other words, gets down pretty close to $1 – and that’s amazing.

Next, we bring all of those ingredients home and start preparing meals. This is where the fun happens. We just go through and prepare each recipe up to the point where it says to put it in the slow cooker for several hours, so we’ll do all of the chopping and dicing and cooking of vegetables and so on up front.

One good approach is to do this with a partner. Maybe you can do it with a friend and make it into a social event. What you’ll do is simply have both of you start prepping ingredients until there are enough ingredients ready to start prepping one recipe for freezing, then one person starts assembling the recipes and getting them ready while the other person keeps chopping and preparing individual ingredients.

(Sarah is an amazingly organized person when it comes to pulling off things like this, so she often just takes on the whole project herself. I might serve as a sous chef to her. I’ve only prepared a batch of freezer meals by myself once in the last few months.)

Storing the meals can be the tricky part. One method is to simply use gallon Ziploc freezer bags. If you do this, I strongly suggest that you double-line the bags as there can occasionally be splitting or leakage problems during thawing. Another method – and the one that I prefer – is to use large freezer-safe reusable containers. A great entry-level option for this are Glad FreezerWare large containers, which hold 64 ounces of food quite well in the freezer and can be used many, many times.

All you do is just go through and add the ingredients of each meal to their own freezer container except for water. You’ll also want to include a note on any last-second things to do, like adding four cups of water to the crock pot. One method is to write it on an index card and put that index card in a resealable sandwich baggie right inside the package – in between the two layers of freezer bags if you’re using those. Another method is to simply use wide-label masking tape and write the last steps on there.

Here’s an example of a slow cooker meal stored in a Ziploc bag:

In either case, you’re also going to want to label your meal before you put it in the freezer. Again, I recommend wide-label masking tape, which you can write on easily. Indicate what it is, when you assembled and froze it, and how long it should cook on low in the slow cooker.

As you finish these, pop them in the freezer and forget about them until you need them later on!

In our experience, with a typical range of meal challenge, a single person can prepare four or five such freezer meals per hour.

So, what do you do when you’re ready to eat? One to two days before you’re going to cook that meal in your slow cooker, just pull the package out of the freezer and place it in the refrigerator to thaw. Then, on the morning that you’re ready to eat the meal, place it in the slow cooker, add whatever amount of water that you’re supposed to (remember, you wrote that on a recipe card you stuck in the package or on masking tape on the package), and turn it on low (or set the timer so that it goes on low at an appropriate time). Then, when you get home, you’ll have a delicious slow cooker meal ready to eat.

What this procedure does is it moves all of the meal prep time to a lazy weekend afternoon rather than on a busy weekday morning or weekday evening when there’s a much heavier time crunch.

This, of course, saves money in two ways. First, it makes meal prep on weekdays incredibly easy. It can be really, really tempting to just order a pizza or pick up some food for supper when evenings are tight – and with three children all in various activities, it feels like every evening is tight. Knowing that there’s a meal already sitting at home ready to eat makes it a lot easier to just skip that expensive pizza order or takeout meal. Ordering even cheap pizza or takeout food for our family adds up to $25 fast, whereas a slow cooker meal, as I estimated above, costs $8.

Second, by doing a bunch of these meals all at once, we can save money on bulk purchases and take really big advantage of grocery store sales. This means that each slow cooker meal actually becomes quite a bit cheaper on average than just going to the grocery store and buying the ingredients for a single slow cooker meal.

Sound awesome? It is. But what do you need to get started?

What Gear Do You Need?

Here’s what you need to make the magic happen.

A slow cooker is the key item, of course. You simply put food in it, turn it on for a few hours, and the food within slowly cooks. This is achieved by cooking the food within a thick-walled and usually removable crock, which is raised to a fairly low but constant temperature. This is the slow cooker model that we use in our home currently. It does a wonderful job and gets used multiple times a week.

A freezer with some significant free space If you’re going to make a bunch of freezer meals, you’ll need a freezer in which to store all of those meals. They’re going to take up significant space. We have an upright freezer in our garage that provides ample storage space for our needs.

Some freezer containers or freezer Ziplocs Resealable freezer bags cost a little less up front if you’re making a bunch of meals, but they’re nowhere near as versatile as freezer containers, which you can use again and again and again. If you’re in this for the long haul – or even intend to just do this three or four times – the freezer containers are the better deal. I recommend large Glad FreezerWare containers for this purpose. Of course, if you’re just giving this a trial run, the gallon freezer Ziploc bags will do the trick.

Masking tape, a marker, and (maybe) some index cards and resealable sandwich bags If you’re using the containers rather than the bags, all you need is some wide-label masking tape and a marker. That provides plenty of space to write down what you need to know. If you’re using Ziplocs, I’ve found that masking tape tends to peel off of those bags sometimes in the freezer, so I recommend writing the info down on an index card, putting it in its own resealable sandwich bag, and stuffing that inside of the outer Ziploc bag (remember, double-bagging is really recommended here).

A Real-World Example

So, what does all of this actually look like with our family? As I mentioned earlier, we recently made a big set of slow cooker meals – nine, to be exact – and all of the ingredients together cost less than $100. We didn’t even shop at our usual discount grocer, either – we actually shopped at one of the more expensive stores in our area just to be sure that we would have everything on the list on one receipt. At our discount grocer, I’m pretty sure we could have found everything and it would have fallen under $80.

Anyway, here’s what our shopping list looked like for all nine meals at once:

Miscellaneous:
25 vegetable bouillon cubes (on sale!)
2 packages extra firm tofu (on sale, too!)
1.5 cups ketchup
Soy sauce (3 tbs)
Brown sugar (3 tbs)
Lentils (1.25 c.)
1 large jar minced garlic, or 8-10 garlic cloves
1 can (13.5 oz) coconut milk
Quinoa (enough to make 3 c. cooked)
Corn meal (1.25 c.)
Salsa (3.5 c.)
2 cans (4 oz) mild green chiles
1 can chopped or sliced black olives
Olive oil
Lime juice
1 pkg canned chipotle peppers in adobo sauce
1 pkg (16 oz.) frozen cheese tortellini
Frozen corn (1.5 c.)

Cheeses:
1 bag shredded cheddar cheese
1 bag shredded Monterey jack cheese
1 pkg (8 oz) cream cheese

Cans of beans:
4 cans black beans (I would have used dried beans for this, but Sarah made the astute point that most people wouldn’t bother)
1 can chickpeas
1 can red kidney beans
1 can pinto beans

Tomatoes: (I prefer fresh when they’re in season, but it’s late fall in Iowa…)
1 can diced tomatoes
2 cans crushed tomatoes

Seasonings: (we already had most of these on hand)
Red pepper flakes
Garlic powder
Chili powder
Cumin
Dried oregano
Sugar
Salt and pepper
Cinnamon
Dried cilantro
Green curry paste

Onions: (these were on sale, so we selected several recipes with onions)
1 small yellow
1 large yellow
2 medium yellow
1 small red
4 medium Vidalia or other sweet onion
3 scallions

Other vegetables and fruits:
5 carrots
4 celery ribs
2 lbs sweet potatoes
5 red bell peppers
3 granny smith apples
5 kale leaves
1 c. baby bella mushrooms
8 oz. fresh spinach

We did have a few of these items on hand, particularly the spices, but most of this list was purchased at the store. Our final bill was, as I mentioned above, $96.16.

So, what recipes did we make? I did my best to source all of the recipes online, but some of them came from cookbooks and our own handwritten notes. Here’s what we made:

Red bean and sweet potato chili (from Fresh From the Vegetarian Slow-Cooker by Robin Robertson)
African coconut chickpea soup (from onceamonthmeals.com)
Lentil soup with kale (from Fresh From the Vegetarian Slow-Cooker by Robin Robertson)
Barbecued tofu (from vegetarian.about.com)
French onion soup (from Fresh From the Vegetarian Slow-Cooker by Robin Robertson)
Black bean soup (from moneysavingmom.com)
Stuffed peppers (from Fresh From the Vegetarian Slow-Cooker by Robin Robertson)
Slow cooker cheese tortellini (from allrecipes.com)
Enchilada-inspired polenta pie (from Fresh From the Vegetarian Slow-Cooker by Robin Robertson)

We simply took the ingredients from the shopping list, made a single batch of each of these recipes, and stuck them in the freezer. It took approximately two and a half hours.

For each meal, we just pulled it out about a day and a half early and allowed it to thaw in the refrigerator. For most of them, they just went directly in the slow cooker the morning we intended to eat it and was piping hot and ready to eat for dinner that evening when everyone got home.

Um… Meat?

As I mentioned earlier in the article, our family eats almost all vegetarian meals for health reasons, but it’s pretty easy to follow this kind of plan with recipes that utilize meat. In fact, I’d argue that it’s even easier, as there are countless slow cooker recipes that use pork, beef, venison, chicken, turkey, and even seafood.

All you need to do is start digging through slow cooker recipes – I love browsing through the slow cooker section at AllRecipes – and find ones that look tasty to you and save them. I also love looking at Slow Cooker Revolution from America’s Test Kitchen, too. I really recommend using Paprika for this process, as it makes it really easy to save and search through the ones you’ve found. My only recommendation is to try to focus on ones that involve minimal work in the evenings, like soups and stews and roasts.

Once you’ve got a healthy collection of slow cooker recipes – fifty or so is a good number – and you’ve got the basic gear mentioned above, just head to your grocery store flyer and look at what ingredients are on sale. Then, search through your recipes for ones that match up with the on-sale ingredients and use those as your backbone. Make a grocery list and you’re off to the races!

Final Thoughts

This entire process takes perhaps three or four hours on a Saturday or Sunday afternoon, from simply looking at the grocery flyer to choosing recipes and building a shopping list to actually shopping for those items to actually preparing all of the slow cooker meals and freezing them. It’s a pretty inexpensive process, too, considering how many complete meals you produce.

Once you’ve put in that initial session and made a big pile of meals, then it becomes easy – really easy. It’s just a matter of thawing out a meal, putting it in the slow cooker one morning, and coming home to a delicious supper for the whole family.

I hope you’ll give it a shot!

The post The Freezer and Slow Cooker Connection: How to Easily Prepare a Bunch of Slow Cooker Recipes in Advance to Save Tons of Money appeared first on The Simple Dollar.

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Uber Drive and Deliver Pizzas On the Way to Work: 15 Awesome Side Jobs

If you need extra income, you’ve probably considered getting another job. So what should you look for? What are the best second jobs?

If income is the most important consideration, you need good hourly pay, because your time is limited. But maybe you want fun work, or a job that can lead to future opportunities. Or, perhaps you need something that lets you stay at home.

To make this list more useful, I’ve arranged the jobs into five categories. Of course, some jobs can fit into more than one. You might get lucky and find a job that pays well and also is interesting. In any case, start with the category that’s most relevant for you.

Second Jobs That are Easy to Get

The easiest jobs to find usually pay the least. On the other hand, they might be close to home and fit your schedule. Plus, you might have that extra income sooner by avoiding a long search for a better job.

Here are some good prospects for getting hired this week.

1. Day Labor

As explained in my post on temporary jobs, day labor companies provide some of the worst jobs with the lowest pay. That’s the bad news.

The good news is they’re usually hiring and you can get paid daily. Also, it’s easy to work around your full-time job because you basically show up when you want to work.

2. Fast Food Worker

The turnover rate for restaurant workers is high and climbing, which means positions are opening up all the time. These are not great jobs, but you can probably get one quickly.

3. Pizza Delivery Driver

Delivering pizza is definitely a step up from fast food work — you can make decent tips depending on the shifts you work.

If your regular job is on weekdays, work on weekend nights. That’s when you’ll make the most in tips.

Second Jobs That Pay Well

You only have so much time, and you’re stretching it pretty thin once you take on another job. So, make as much per hour as possible.

Part-time work isn’t known for high pay, but there are some side jobs earn well above minimum wage.

4. Restaurant Waiter

How much you make waiting tables depends on several factors, as explained in my post on how to find jobs with the best tips. Apply first at busy, expensive places. Do that, get hired to cover weekend shifts and you might easily top $20 per hour.

5. Bartender

You’ll probably need experience to bartend at restaurants and venues where you can really rake in the tips. But, there are proven ways to increase your tip income, even if you have to start at a small bar that isn’t too busy.

6. Rideshare Driver

Buzzfeed looked at 11 random Uber drivers and found they made anywhere from $10.71 to $31.44 per hour after expenses. You could make close to that higher figure once you learn a few ways to make more money driving for Uber .

Second Jobs That are Fun or Interesting

To supplement our income a couple years ago, I took a side job as a tram driver for a retirement community. It was more interesting than you think, thanks to the alligators, birds and other wildlife along the tram routes.

Here are some other potentially fun or interesting second jobs.

7. River Rafting Guide

Oregon’s River Riders says their guides are mostly “ordinary people who work a weekday job and go out on the weekends to play and get paid for it.” They train you over six weekends and you make $50 to $80 per trip plus tips. Plus, you can do two trips daily.

8. Camp Counselor

If you’re a teacher or work a job that gives you the summer off, being a camp counselor can be a fun gig. GreatCampJobs.com is a good place to find open positions.

9. Trail Builder

If you like the outdoors and don’t mind hard work, this is another good summer job. You’ll work in National Parks and other beautiful settings. The Professional Trail Builders Association lists current openings.

Second Jobs That Could Lead to Future Opportunities

Sometimes a second job can help you develop new skills or experiment with new ways of making a living that could lead to anything.

With that in mind, here are some of the best second jobs for potential future opportunities.

10. Freelance Writer

Writing for websites and blogs as a freelancer can provide decent side income. And, if you decide you like the work and do it well, writing might one day replace your primary income.

See our guide to finding freelance writing gigs, and follow Nicole Dieker’s regular freelance income reports for inspiration.

11. Continuing Education Teacher

Community education programs offer non-credit classes on everything from fly-fishing to business accounting. You may even be able to teach your favorite subject without a degree.

Our local program pays $45 per two-hour class, and teachers find it’s a good way to promote books or businesses, and to develop speaking skills.

12. Business Owner

Okay, this isn’t technically a second job, but a part-time business has more future potential than just about any “real” job out there. If you look at all the businesses you can start for less than $100, you’ll see many of them can be done on weekends or with minimal time invested (at least in the beginning).

Second Jobs That Let You Stay Home

A 10-second commute is nice, and staying at home also means no travel costs. In fact, you might want to convince your boss to let you work at home.

Here are a few second jobs you can do without leaving your house or apartment.

13. Transcriptionist

You can make up to $25 per hour working at home as a transcriptionist. Medical and legal transcription positions normally require experience, but general transcription work is sometimes available for beginners. Flexible hours and part-time work are common and normal, so you can work this around your current job.

14. Customer Service Agent

Some legitimate companies that hire home workers to deal with customer calls and emails also offer part-time positions with flexible hours. Perfect for a second job.

15. Search Engine Evaluator

I made $13.50 per hour working as a search engine evaluator. Staring at your computer for hours rating search results is tedious work, but you choose when to work. You’ll be an independent contractor, so there aren’t any benefits and you’ll have to pay your own taxes on what you earn.

Finally, if staying in the house is the most important goal, check out my list of 103 ways to make money at home. There are some jobs on the list, along with businesses, investments and more.

Your Turn: What’s the best second job you’ve had?

Steve Gillman is the author of “101 Weird Ways to Make Money” and creator of EveryWayToMakeMoney.com. He’s been a repo-man, walking stick carver, search engine evaluator, house flipper, tram driver, process server, mock juror and roulette croupier, but of more than 100 ways he has made money, writing is his favorite (so far).

The post Uber Drive and Deliver Pizzas On the Way to Work: 15 Awesome Side Jobs appeared first on The Penny Hoarder.

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Reader Question: Should We Use a Roth IRA to Pay for Our Kids College?

Roth IRA’s are for retirement, right? Generally speaking, yes.

But because of their general flexibility, they’ve also come to be an increasingly important way to pay for college.

A recent GF¢ reader question prompted me to write this article explaining the ins and outs of using a Roth IRA to pay for college.

Here was the question….

“Jeff, we have an 8 and a 6 year-old and are a little behind in saving for their college education. But the kicker is we’re also a little behind in saving for our own retirement. We know how much you love the Roth IRA so we’re very interested in starting one. A friend of ours had mentioned we could also use the Roth IRA to pay for college? Curious to know your thoughts. Love the blog!!”

Roth IRA college savings

Okay, let’s see if we answer the readers question on using a Roth IRA to pay for college. But a first a quick primer on my favorite retirement too, the Roth IRA…

The Basics on Roth IRA’s

Roth IRAs are like traditional IRAs, with a couple of twists. One is that the contributions that you make to the plan are not tax-deductible when made. Another is that funds can be withdrawn from the plan tax-free, as long as you’re at least 59 1/2 years old, and have participated in a Roth plan for at least five years.

Like a traditional IRA, for both 2015 and 2016, the most you can contribute to a Roth IRA is $5,500, or $6,500 if you are 50 or older.

There are income limits in order to be able to participate in the plan. The Roth IRA income limitation for married taxpayers filing a joint return is $183,000 for 2015, and $184,000 for 2016. For all others (other than married filing separate) it’s $116,000 for 2015, and $117,000 for 2016.

There’s no tax deduction on the contributions, but that is more than offset by the fact that withdrawals can be taken on a tax-free basis. That’s the biggest advantage of the plan.

Since a Roth IRA is first and foremost a retirement plan, why should you even consider it for funding a college education?

The Benefits of Using a Roth IRA to Pay for College

Even though the Roth IRA was never intended to fund a college education, it has gradually developed into an important secondary purpose. And there are a lot of smart reasons why this is happening.

Here are a few:

Roth IRAs grow faster than taxable accounts. Investment income accumulates on a tax-deferred basis in a Roth IRA. That means that the investment earnings grow much more quickly in a Roth then they will in a taxable account, such as brokerage account or mutual fund.

Roth IRAs are self-directed accounts. This means that you can invest your account anywhere you like, and in any investments that you prefer.

You can withdraw money any time.This of course is a mixed bag. Your contributions can be withdrawn at any time without being subject to tax, since there was no tax deduction taken when they were made. The distributions will be pro-rated between your contributions and investment earnings. That means that at least some of the distribution will be taxable if the money is withdrawn prior to your turning 59 1/2, and being invested in the plan for at least five years.

No restrictions on how the money is spent. Dedicated college savings plans, like 529 plans, restrict distributions to educational purposes only. There are no such restrictions on distributions from a Roth IRA. You could use the money to pay for college – or you could use it for retirement – it’s your choice.

No tax penalty for education related withdrawals. If you withdraw the money before reaching age 59 1/2, you’ll generally have to pay a 10% penalty tax. However, the penalty tax is waived if the funds are used for education.

So far, so good.

The Downsides of Using a Roth IRA to Pay for College

In the interest of balance, I should also disclose that using a Roth IRA to pay for college is not without a few drawbacks.

The distributions will be partially taxable if taken early. There’s good news and bad news here – let’s start with the good news. Since there is no tax deduction for making contributions into a Roth IRA, the portion that is withdrawn that represents the contributions will not be subject to income tax.

Also, the 10% penalty tax for early withdrawals can be waived if the money used to fund college education. And if you are at least age 59 1/2, and have been participating your plan for at least five years, the entire distribution – including investment earnings on your contributions – can be withdrawn tax-free. The downside is if you are not 59 1/2, and/or have not been participating in the plan for at least five years, in which case the earnings will be fully taxable, even if the 10% penalty is waived.

Roth distributions can inflate your income. Speaking of distributions, the amount of the withdrawal will be added to your regular income, and must be reported on your FAFSA application. That will increase your income, and could hurt your ability to obtain financial aid and other benefits.

You may not be eligible to start a Roth IRA. Not everyone is eligible to participate in a Roth IRA, as I noted with the income limitations described earlier in this post. Even if you are eligible right now, if you start a Roth IRA for the purpose of funding your children’s education when they are very young, it’s entirely possible that you will exceed the income threshold at some point in the future, at which point you’ll be forced to stop the contributions.

Low contribution limits. As noted at the beginning of this post, your contributions are limited to $5,500 or $6,500 per year. That will probably be inadequate if you’re trying to fund college for multiple children, and especially if there are only a few years left before college begins.

You may be compromising your own retirement. The primary purpose of a Roth IRA is of course retirement, not college funding. If your Roth IRA is a major component of your retirement plan, you may want to seriously consider whether you want to divert money into education, and away from retirement. There are, after all, other ways to finance a college education.

Speaking of which –

Using a 529 Plan Instead

529 plans are specifically designed to fund college education, and they are generally more effective for that purpose than Roth IRA’s. 529 plans are actually state-sponsored and state specific, so there will be some limits on how and where you can hold the accounts.

A 529 plan functions much like a retirement plan, and very close to the Roth IRA. Just as is the case with a Roth, the contributions you make to the plan are not tax-deductible, however the money in the account earns tax-free investment income for federal income tax purposes.

Funds that are later withdrawn for qualified higher education expenses can be taken without being subject income tax. If however funds are withdrawn and used for purposes other than qualified higher education expenses, the distribution will be subject to both federal income tax and the 10% penalty tax. Both the tax and the penalty apply only to investment income in the account, and not to your actual contributions.

One of the biggest advantages of a 529 plan compared to a Roth IRA is that there are no income restrictions limiting your participation in the program.

And the contributions are also a lot more generous. Currently, you can contribute up to $14,000 per year, per taxpayer, per beneficiary. That means that you and your spouse can contribute up to $28,000 to a 529 plan established for each of you children.

You can actually contribute more than this, however $14,000 is the threshold that triggers the federal gift tax. If you plan to exceed the threshold, you’ll need to consult with your tax advisor as to the best way to proceed, as well as the specific returns that will need to be filed.

So Should You Use a Roth IRA to Pay for College?

In a perfect world, you have a 529 plan set up for each of your children, that would represent the foundation of your education planning. But if you can’t afford to do that, and you still want to make at least loose plans to fund their education in advance, a Roth IRA is an excellent way to go.

If you are in a position to do so, having both a 529 – as the base plan – supplemented by a Roth IRA, is solid financial planning. The Roth IRA can be set up primarily for retirement, but still be available as a secondary source of college education funding, should it be necessary.

If you do elect to use the Roth IRA for college savings, please don’t make the mistake of saving more for your kids and not enough for your retirement.

Whatever you choose to do, make sure you discuss all of the details and ramifications with your tax advisor. Since everyone’s financial lives and tax situations are different, you need to know if either or both plans will be a good fit for your family.

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Everyday danger in the supermarket aisles

WE USE them every day but this supermarket essential can cause serious injury or worse. And excitable kids are the most at risk.

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