Colombian restaurant, juice bar joining influx of Main Street eateries in Stroudsburg

Parche is set to open this weekend and Juic'd will come in April, adding to the dozens of downtown eateries.

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Calm Down. The New Starbucks Rewards Might Actually Help You Save Money

Starbucks announced a change to its loyalty rewards program this week.

And customers are furious.

Sorry, let me correct that: The cheapest customers are furious.

Thanks @Starbucks for punishing those of us who enjoy regular black coffee. #rewards #stars #customerservice

— Tim Petersen (@TPete316) February 22, 2016

Contrary to popular perception, for the majority of customers who purchase more than just black coffee, the sum benefit of the program will be unchanged — and even improved for many.

Before you take to Twitter with entitled rage, take a moment to consider the actual numbers (and a little business logic).

What’s Changed?

Come April, the new rewards program will offer loyalty members two stars per $1 spent.

Members have to earn 300 stars to achieve “Gold” level, when they’ll earn a free drink or food item for every additional 125 points earned.

The current program awards one point per transaction, regardless of the amount spent.

It takes 30 stars to achieve Gold level, plus 12 additional stars to earn the free food or drink.

The new program means everyone has to spend $62.50 to earn a freebie.

To Avoid Change, Spend $5.20 Per Visit

If you spend a little over $5 per visit, your rewards won’t change.

You’ll earn your free reward in 12 visits at $5.20 per visit.

You could hit that with a Grande Fresh Brewed Coffee ($2.10), plus a Turkey Bacon Breakfast Sandwich ($3.45).

Loyal Customers Will Earn Twice as Many Free Drinks Per Month

The new program “reflects the number one request [heard] from members: more Stars awarded based on what you buy, no matter how often you visit,” according to Starbucks.

Under the new program, the average loyal customer will earn the same rewards in fewer visits.

To see greater benefits under the new program, you have to spend at least $5.60 per visit.

The average Starbucks transaction costs $7.67, according to a study across five major cities.

The average Starbucks customer visits the store six times per month, while a loyal 20% of customers go 16 times per month, Business Insider reports.

Based on those stats, the average loyal customer will earn two free drinks per month, instead of 1.3 under the existing program.

I’ll break it down…

At one star per visit, the average loyal customer would earn 16 stars per month with the existing program.

At two stars per dollar spent, at the average transaction rate, the new program will earn that customer 245.44 stars per month.

Assume one of those monthly visits is the new monthly Double Star Day: You’d earn 260.78 stars per month, or two free items.

If You Spend Less Than $5 Per Visit

For some Starbucks customers, the benefit of the rewards program is reduced.

If you spend less than $5 per visit, you’ll have to go more often to earn the same rewards.

For example, if you order a Grande Skinny Vanilla Latte on each visit, you’ll have to stop in 15.8 times to earn your free drink — instead of 12.

If you were ordering a Grande Fresh Brewed Coffee to earn one star per visit, you’d have spent just $25.20 to earn your free drink.

You’ll now have to spend $62.50.

But you’re spending a quarter of the average Starbucks visitor.

Those customers spending four times what you do are actually more “loyal” to the brand, so they get better loyalty rewards (that’s the business logic I mentioned).

How to Benefit If You Only Buy Brewed Coffee

If you’re a regular brewed coffee drinker and you’re mad about the change, here’s a way to get more bang for your buck.

Buy Starbucks coffee at your grocery store or online, and brew it yourself.

At coffee shop standards, a one-pound bag of Starbucks coffee yields about 64 5-ounce cups — or about 21 Grande (16-ounce) cups.

This 1-pound bag of coffee for $14.95 can replace $44.10 worth of coffee in the shop — saving you $29.15.

Save Even More Money on Starbucks Coffee

In addition to earning stars for your Starbucks purchases, earn bonus stars for referring friends to the program, too.

You can also get more for your money buying discounted Starbucks gift cards online and applying the balance to your account.

Use these hacks to get more for your money at Starbucks, but note the ones that save you cash also mean you’ll earn fewer points.

Your Turn: Are you a Gold member? How will the new Starbucks rewards program affect your coffee-buying habits?

Dana Sitar (@danasitar) is a staff writer at The Penny Hoarder. She’s written for Huffington Post, Entrepreneur.com, Writer’s Digest and more.

The post Calm Down. The New Starbucks Rewards Might Actually Help You Save Money appeared first on The Penny Hoarder.

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Would You Say Yes If Your Boyfriend Proposed With a Bouquet… of Cash?

I’ve written about my feelings on engagement rings.

Pretty, and pretty worthless.

But a money bouquet? That might get my attention.

Ma Caojun, a 32-year-old Chinese man, recently proposed to his girlfriend with a bouquet comprised entirely of 100 yuan notes, worth about $1,500.

Here’s what she said…

Would You Say Yes to a Money Bouquet?

After winning an award at a work event, Ma invited his girlfriend on stage with him.

He dropped to one knee and presented her with two bouquets: one filled with red roses, and the other with money.

“From now on, all you need to worry about is staying beautiful and I will be the breadwinner and provide everything else,” he said. “Will you marry me?”

His wording (which may have been lost in translation) made me cringe a little bit, but it must’ve worked for her…

Because she said yes!

And if you think about it, there’s really no difference between proposing with an expensive diamond ring or a money bouquet.

One’s more direct than the other, but the implication is the same: I have money — money I’m willing to spend on you.

Diamond engagement rings aren’t traditional in China. But their popularity has surged in recent years: More than 50% of urban brides received one.

By bucking the trend, Ma shows you don’t have to get engaged the way other people do.

Choose an avenue that works for your relationship.

Need some ideas? Here’s my list of alternatives to engagement rings.

Your Turn: Would you say “yes” if your boyfriend proposed with a money bouquet?

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 Would You Say Yes If Your Boyfriend Proposed With a Bouquet… of Cash? appeared first on The Penny Hoarder.

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Columbian restaurant, juice bar joining influx of Main Street eateries in Stroudsburg

Parche is set to open this weekend and Juic'd will come in April, adding to the dozens of downtown eateries.

Source Business - poconorecord.com http://ift.tt/1oKa9lw

Personal Savings Calculator

Saving money is important, but not an easy habit for everyone to master. Without a solid plan to systematically save, you are more likely to spend, and not have enough money in the bank to whether an emergency, buy a car, meet retirement, or take a vacation. This guide and embedded calculator will help you understand your savings, and help you make adjustments so you can better meet your short and long term savings goals.

Why You Need To Start Saving

Surely you’ve heard all this before. But there may be a small part of you that still wonders why it’s so important to keep your hands off some of your hard-earned money. After all, what good is it if you can’t spend it?

Here are some common reasons people suddenly need money in the bank.

• You lose your job. Layoffs happen. You may be lucky enough to find a new job quickly, but what if it doesn’t pay as well as your old one? What if you keep your job, but your hours are drastically cut?
• You have a medical crisis. Unpaid medical bills are the leading cause of bankruptcy in the U.S.

• Even with health insurance coverage, co-pays and deductibles can add up faster than you can cover them.

• You have to move unexpectedly. You could be evicted, or maybe you need to move to be closer to a friend or family member in need. Maybe you get an unexpected job offer two states away. Whatever the reason, moving is expensive, especially when you have little time to plan.
• Your car breaks down. If you’re like most Americans, your car is a lifeline — it’s how you get to work, get to the grocery store, and maybe even get your kids to school. Unless you’re lucky enough to live in an area with excellent public transportation, you’ll need to pony up to fix or replace it as soon as possible.
• A close friend or family member needs help. Perhaps someone close to you needs help to face a medical problem or put a roof over their head. Or worse, someone close to you dies, and you need to pay dearly to help with funeral expenses, or travel to attend the funeral.

Savings is not all about doom and gloom, however. Even if you’re fortunate to avoid the budget-busting scenarios above, a healthy savings account can help you earn a little extra money in interest. It can help you afford things that have an impact on your quality of life, like buying a house or going back to school. And yes, it can even help you afford some of those “wants” in life — a nicer car, a well-deserved vacation — that would otherwise be too far out of reach.

Savings 101

If we’ve finally convinced you that it’s important to have some personal savings, now you’ll need to decide where to put it — other than stuffing it under your mattress or inside a spare cookie jar.

Where should I put my savings?

As we’ve mentioned before on The Simple Dollar, your personal savings should be in an account that has three main characteristics:

• Liquidity: Liquidity is just a fancy way of saying that your money needs to be readily accessible when you need it. For example, you don’t want to put all of your savings in a certificate of deposit where you’ll be penalized if you need to access it before the CD term is over.
• Low volatility: Stocks, real estate — the value of these things can vary tremendously from day to day, week to week, month to month. They aren’t the best for personal savings, because you need a “sure bet” that you won’t be losing money.
• Security: Keeping your money in a secure place is important — after all, that cash under your mattress could easily be stolen or lost in a house fire.

For all of these reasons, we think a traditional savings account is typically the best place to put your personal savings. You have ready access, the value won’t fluctuate, and you can be secure in the knowledge that your money is FDIC-insured against losses.

You have two main choices when it comes to your savings account: Your brick-and-mortar bank or credit union, or an online bank. Both are safe places for your money, but which one you choose comes down to personal preference:

• Choose a brick-and-mortar bank if… you want in-person service, and you don’t mind earning less in interest to get it. Traditional banks also offer a bigger range of services (more account types, loans, credit cards, and so on) so they can be a “one-stop shop” for your banking needs.
• Choose an online bank if… you want the highest interest rate and lowest fees, and don’t mind that you won’t be able to discuss your account with someone in person. You also may have to put up with quirks such as longer hold times or not being able to make cash deposits.

For a more complete discussion of online banking and our current recommendations, see The Best High-Interest Savings Accounts Online.

How does a savings account work?

A savings account is a bit different than your checking account, which is designed for frequent access. Your checking account is probably where your paycheck gets deposited, and it’s probably where you’re getting cash for day-to-day expenses like gas, bills, and food.

A savings account is a bit of a different animal:

• It earns interest. Few checking accounts actually let you earn interest on your money, since it’s fluctuating all the time. But with a savings account, the bank actually gets to use your cash to make loans to other customers. Interest is what the bank pays you in return. Just note that it won’t be much — even the best savings accounts only earn about 1% APY, or annual percentage yield.
• Transactions are limited. Federal rules prohibit you from making more than six certain types of withdrawals or transfers per statement period. That’s because they don’t want you treating a savings account like a checking account. Accordingly, you typically won’t have a debit card or checks that are connected to your savings account.
• Fees are lower. Banks can typically rest assured that you’re going to keep your money in a savings account for a lot longer than in a checking account, so they don’t have to charge as many fees.

The Other Piece of the Puzzle: Avoiding Debt

If you’re like many of us, you may have some debt payments that are weighing you down and making it harder for you to grow your personal savings. What should be your priority? Getting rid of the debt, or building up your savings?

Some experts contend that it makes little sense to pad your savings account at 1% APY when you may have credit-card bills or other debts at double-digit interest rates. However, others contend you should always have at least some personal savings for an emergency fund before you aggressively tackle your debt. That way, they reason, you can tap your savings and avoid using credit cards or accumulating even more debt in the event of an unexpected expense.

There’s no easy answer, but your first step is pretty simple: Do all you can to avoid adding any more unnecessary debt and giving yourself an even bigger headache.

Basic Savings Strategies

Wondering how to get started saving? Here are four general strategies that anyone can adapt into a personal plan.

Out of sight, out of mind.

It’s easy to save money when you never really have it to spend in the first place. Automatically deposit a portion of every paycheck into your savings account each pay period.

Do it before you pay bills or other expenses, no matter how essential, and get used to living within these slightly narrower means. Soon, you’ll barely notice the “missing” money — which is the whole point.

Track your money, and then set a budget.

Sounds simple enough, but it’s hard to save money if you’re not sure where you’re overspending. Keep a record of every dollar that comes in, and every dollar that goes out. If you want to keep things simple, use a pad and paper, but there are several great budgeting programs that can ease the process (we recommend several at the end of this article).

Once you have a good idea where your money is going, set a budget. One particularly effective method is called a zero-sum budget, where every dollar has a concrete job — whether that’s to pay necessary expenses or boost your savings. For a detailed look at the process, check out How and Why to Use a Zero-Sum Budget.

Set savings goals that are achievable.

We would all love to retire by 40 or be a millionaire within the next five years, but setting too lofty a goal may simply lead to discouragement. Remember — the bigger the goal, the longer it will take to achieve.

On the flip side, a short-term goal like saving for a down payment on a car might be doable relatively quickly.

One great way to find out how long — and how much — you’ll need? Crunch the numbers using our savings calculator in the next section.

Use different strategies for different goals.

For short-term goals such as padding your emergency fund, an easily accessible high-yield savings account probably makes the most sense. For an intermediate goal, such as a down payment on a house, a long-term certificate of deposit with a better interest rate might make more sense.

Long-term savings, including your all-important retirement fund, mean you can take a little more risk with your money in pursuit of bigger gains. Whether you use your employer’s 401(k), open an IRA, or invest in stocks and securities outside of a retirement account, this money will be harder to access and subject to the ups and downs of the market, so you shouldn’t plan on needing it for at least 10 years.

Using our Personal Savings Calculator

With The Simple Dollar’s personal savings calculator, you can set a savings goal — no matter how modest or lofty — and adjust your timeline, contributions, and other factors to see whether it’s achievable.

To use our calculator, start by clicking on the number above “savings goal.” Type in your own goal, whether you want to save $5,000 for an emergency fund or $500,000 for retirement. After that, put in how many years you have to work toward your goal, the amount you expect to put away each month, and the expected rate of return you’ll get on your money. (Remember, in a typical savings account, this won’t be much — maybe 1.0% APY at best. In a retirement account, you might expect annual gains of 5% to 8%.) You can also adjust the expected inflation rate, or leave it at its 2% default if you’re unsure.

After crunching the numbers, we’ll tell you whether your goal is realistic. If so, you’ll also see whether you’re going to overshoot it, and by how much. On the flipside, if you’re going to fall short, we’ll tell you by how much. Scroll back up to play with your goal, timeframe, contribution, and expected return to form a better plan.

Simple Savings Tips for Everyone

Saving money doesn’t have to be painful. There are dozens of small tweaks you can make in just about every area of your life to keep a little more money in your pocket. You may be surprised at how much you can set aside with simple penny-pinching measures.

General Savings Strategies

Shop with a list: Whether you’re grocery shopping or heading to a big-box store, know what you need in advance to avoid making impulse buys.

Sell your stuff: Got furniture, clothes, or other items you don’t need? Turn them into cash via consignment, Craigslist, eBay, Facebook resale groups, or an old-fashioned yard sale.

Boost your credit score: When you have good credit, it will cost you less to borrow money, whether that’s via a credit card, car loan, or mortgage. You’ll pay less in interest every month, leaving more of your cash in the bank.

Haggle: Everything is negotiable — you just need to have the courage to ask for a lower price. That goes for the obvious (cars, real estate) and the not-so-obvious, too (furniture, health care costs, even your phone or cable bill).

Find a side hustle: Make a little extra money by turning a passion into a part-time gig. Love to stay fit? Teach a couple of aerobics classes. Passionate about art? Show your work at a local show to see whether you can attract buyers.

Saving Money on Entertainment

Cut cable: Try an on-demand service like Netflix, catch shows for free on networks’ websites, or try scaling back to what’s available over the air for free.

Use your library: Your tax dollars already pay for it, and if you have your eye on a title they don’t have, you can often request they purchase it or borrow it from another library in the same network.

Go to dollar cinemas: If you still want a theater experience but are willing to wait a few months to see a film, you can catch a movie for just a few bucks at a second-run theater. Try to resist the budget-busting snacks, though.

Scout out free and discount days at local attractions: Museums, zoos, and other venues often offer reduced or free admission certain days of the month.

Cancel your subscriptions: If you’re like most of us, you flip through a newspaper or magazine in minutes. Go online to search for similar content — depending on the publication, it may even be free.

Save on Health Costs

Don’t skip the doctor or dentist: Get your regular checkups to help catch health or dental problems before they snowball into something bigger requiring costly treatment. A routine cleaning costs far less than a root canal.

Always see if there’s a generic version of your prescription: Generics are substantially cheaper, especially if you’re paying out of pocket.

Take advantage of wellness programs: Many employers have some sort of wellness program where you can save on insurance or receive other incentives if you participate.

Skip the gym: You can use bodyweight exercises or inexpensive dumbbells for an effective at-home strength program. Need some cardio? It’s always free to go for a jog, and YouTube offers a number of free routines to get your heartrate up.

Drink tap water: Keeping your body hydrated also helps you avoid pricey, sugary drinks such as soda and juice. If you need water to go, fill up a reusuable Nalgene bottle.

Save Money on Food

Cook more: Takeout and convenience foods cost a pretty penny compared to a simple homecooked meal.

Plan meals according to sales: For instance, save hamburger night for when ground beef is cheap instead of buying it regardless of the price.

Buy generic brands: Often, store brands and name brands are nearly identical products — you just pay more for the name brand’s fancy marketing and packaging.

Don’t skip breakfast: Opt for some cereal or a scrambled egg, and eating breakfast can be quite cheap. It also keeps you from being tempted by pricier convenience foods the rest of the day.

Brown bag it: Eating out most days at work is an expensive habit. Every time you bring your own lunch, it’s like giving yourself a $10 raise.

Save Money on Clothes

Try a capsule wardrobe: A capsule wardrobe relies on a few timeless, well-chosen pieces that can be mixed and matched together to create an endless number of options. Add pizzazz with accessories.

Check out the thrift or consignment stores: With a little effort, you can find very gently used clothing that will last just as long as an item you purchased new.

Consider splurging on items that will see frequent wear: If you know you’ll spend all fall and winter in a pair of boots, paying a little more for a quality pair makes more sense than having to buy new ones halfway through the season.

Avoid dry-clean only garments: Dry cleaning is expensive, not to mention one more errand to deal with on evenings or weekends. Look for professional pieces that can be cleaned at home, perhaps using the delicate cycle and skipping the dryer in favor of air-drying.

Look for bargains out of season: You may not get first pick, but you can save some serious cash by snapping up a sweater in early spring or a bathing suit in the fall.

Save Money on Housing

Consider downsizing: Paying a bigger mortgage — and paying to heat, cool, and maintain extra square footage — doesn’t make sense unless you actually need the space.

Become a landlord: If you have an extra room or a basement apartment, consider bringing in a tenant who will pay rent and bring in money each and every month, or renting out the space on Airbnb.

Refinance your mortgage: If you bought your house when interest rates were higher, a refi can save you a substantial amount every month.

Investigate lower-cost areas: If you’re paying an arm and a leg to live in a pricey city, investigate nearby suburbs or exurbs that can save you a mint in rent. If the commute would become unmanageable, see whether you can save in another neighborhood.

Examine your property taxes: Sometimes the auditors get it wrong. If you think your home has been overassessed, contact county officials and ask how to challenge it.

Save Money on Transportation

Don’t skimp on routine maintenance: Avoid costly car problems with simple upkeep: Check tire pressure regularly, remember those oil changes, and follow your car manufacturer’s recommended maintenance schedule.

Carpool: Got a coworker who lives close by? Take turns driving each week. You’ll save on gas and your car also won’t see as much wear and tear.

Save on gas: Many grocery stores let you earn fuel points that make gas cheaper when you make day-to-day purchases. Take your savings beyond food: If you know you need to make a big purchase at a certain store, see whether you can buy a gift card at the grocery and earn fuel points, too.

Buy used: New cars lose their value so quickly that buying a well-maintained used car is almost always a smarter financial bet.

Cool your lead foot: Speeding and other aggressive driving habits rapidly cut down on your car’s fuel economy, forcing you to fill up more often.

Save on Utilities and Energy Costs

Use cold water to wash clothes: Modern-day washers clean clothing just as effectively using cold water. You’ll save energy (and money) by skipping the hot-water cycle.

Get a programmable thermostat: If you’re always forgetting to turn the heat down before you hit the sack, get a thermostat that can do it for you — and make things toasty again right before you wake.

Switch to LEDs: You’ll pay a bit more for LED lights upfront, but they outlast incandescent and CFL bulbs by so long, and use so much less energy, that you’ll save lots of money in the long run.

Don’t ignore your ceiling fans in the winter: Just switch them to rotate in the opposite direction (usually clockwise) to more evenly distribute heat throughout the room.

Draw the shades in the summer: All that sunlight heats up your room and forces your air conditioner to work even harder. If you’re leaving the room, draw the shades to keep things cooler.

Best Savings and Budgeting Software

It’s easier to save when you know exactly where your money is going. Fortunately, there are some great apps and programs that can help you keep track of every dollar. Here are some of the best.

Mint.com

Mint.com is one of the most popular personal finance tools around. With more than 15 million users, it’s one of the top choices for any tech-savvy saver, whether you use it via its website or a smartphone app. Oh, and did we mention it’s free?

On Mint, you can analyze your spending patterns, set up a budget, set up custom alerts, pay bills, track your investments, and even track your net worth. Note that you will be recommended sponsored services, which is how Mint makes most of its money.

CountAbout

CountAbout aims to fill in some of Mint’s shortcomings. For instance, it offers a running register, which Mint does not. And if you’re a Quicken or Mint user, you can import your data right into CountAbout, which you can access via its website or smartphone app.

With CountAbout, you can track your expenses and construct a budget and customize your spending and saving categories. The service isn’t free: For $9.99 a year, you get a basic account; for $29.99, a premium account adds automatic downloading of bank deposits and withdrawals, credit card transactions, and other information.

You Need A Budget

Called YNAB by its devoted fans, You Need a Budget is laser-focused on teaching its users better money management. You can focus on certain goals, including getting out of debt or saving for the future. There are even free webinars on a range of financial topics.

YNAB lets you schedule repeating transactions, generate spending reports, see your net worth, and more. Your information will sync automatically whether you’re accessing it on your smartphone, tablet, or computer. It isn’t cheap at $60, but it’s a one-time purchase.

Personal Capital

As you graduate from beefing up your personal savings to thinking about long-term investments, Personal Capital can help you with both. And a nice bonus is that it’s free, though you’ll have to pay if you want personal investment advising (how much depends on your account balance). You can access Personal Capital via its website or app.

With Personal Capital, you can track your net worth, see whether you’re paying too much in investment fees, and improve your portfolio in hopes of getting a better return. But you can also do traditional budget- and savings-focused tasks, such as tracking cash flow and bills.

The post Personal Savings Calculator appeared first on The Simple Dollar.

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Get the March edition of Moneywise out now

Helen Knapman

For top tips on making your family rich, such as kick-starting investments, fine-tuning pensions and getting better deals on petrol, credit cards and holidays, pick up the latest copy of Moneywise magazine.

For top tips on making your family rich, such as kick-starting investments, fine-tuning pensions and getting better deals on petrol, credit cards and holidays, pick up the latest copy of Moneywise magazine.

Our March issue goes on sale today in WH Smith stores, costing £3.95.

read more

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If You’re a Woman, You’ll Be Furious 20% of HR Managers Admit to This

Do you think women should earn the same pay as men?

If you’re vigorously nodding your head yes (and I dearly hope you are), then you’ll be dismayed to hear about recent data from CareerBuilder.

Together with Harris Poll, the careers website surveyed more than 3,200 workers and 220 human resource managers across the nation in various industries about the salaries of men and women.

And the results are pretty scary…

The Shocking Thing 20% of HR Managers Admit

Of the workers surveyed, men were nearly three times as likely to report earning $100,000 or more, whereas women were twice as likely to report earning less than $35,000.

It’s 2016, people! Shouldn’t we be past this point already?

Even worse, 20% of human resource managers admitted “women do not make the same wages as their male counterparts at their organizations.”

Wow. That means women earn less for the same job at the same company.

And keep in mind 20% admitted to it — other HR managers may have been too ashamed to ‘fess up.

I don’t know about you, but that makes me mad.

If you want to help narrow the wage gap, here are a few tips:

• Talk openly about money with your partner and peers. Get a ballpark estimate of their incomes, and the strategies they used to get there.

• When you’re interviewing for a new position, or up for a review in your current one, do your research. Sites like Glassdoor and Payscale help you see what people in similar positions earn.

• Once armed with information and numbers, it’s time for the most important step: Negotiate. The worst thing your employer can say is “no.” And if they don’t pay you what you’re worth, it may be time to look for a new job.

Instead of just getting angry about the wage gap, let’s do our best to reduce it.

It’s clear employers aren’t going to magically offer women more money…

So if we want it, we have to ask for it.

Your Turn: Do these numbers make you mad?

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

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The Basic Toolbox Everyone Needs to Handle Simple DIY Tasks at Home

The Basic Toolbox Everyone Needs to Handle Simple DIY Tasks at Home

When we first moved into our house, the only tool I owned was a Leatherman Wave multitool that I kept in my pocket. Honestly, it took care of everything that I needed around our apartment. If there were any real repair tasks to be done, I simply called up Mark – our landlord – and he took care of it.

It didn’t take long for us to see the usefulness of having some tools around the house. Within a month of moving into our home, I found myself constantly wanting to fix little things around the house. We discovered that one of the faucets was really leaky, for example. We wanted to hang some pictures. We wanted to install some shelving. Our toilet ran into some difficulties.

Of course, we could have called for help on these situations. It’s easy to find a handyman or an electrician or a plumber who will come to your house, charge you an arm and a leg, and fix the problem for you.

But if you do that, not only are you shelling out a lot of cash, you’re operating on their timeline. You have to wait around for them to show up, wait around while they fix the problem, and then pay their exorbitant bill. Most of the time, the wait for repairpeople is far longer than simply tackling the tasks yourself.

So, we decided to start tackling these tasks ourselves, and slowly, over time, we began to accumulate tools as we tackled these projects.

Since then, Sarah and I worked on countless little home improvement projects. Sarah and I have repaired countless hinges, hung countless pictures, installed shelves, fixed toilets, installed faucets, and many other things.

At first, we were very prone to simply buying every tool that was called for in the instructions for a task. After all, we learned most of our home maintenance and repair and DIY skills from books and from Youtube.

It wasn’t long before we realized that most tasks kept calling for the same things over and over again. Hammers. Screwdrivers. Drills. Tape measures. Levels. Wrenches.

After almost a decade as a homeowner, I now have a very firm grasp on what tools I actually use on a regular basis and which ones I rarely use and should borrow instead of buying.

Here’s our guide to a great toolbox for new homeowners who want to do basic home repairs and minor home improvement projects.

The Two Basic Rules

Our tool selection follows two basic rules.

Rule #1: Only buy a tool if you need it for the project you’re working on and you can legitimately see future uses for this tool. Otherwise, borrow the tool from a friend or neighbor if at all possible. The list presented here consists of tools that we have used for many different projects over the years. We also own a lot of tools that we only used once or twice – those aren’t listed.

Rule #2: Buy cheap versions of tools and use that until you can clearly understand and need any benefits that come from more expensive tools. Get the cheapest version of the item you can find. For most of these tools, the cheap version works perfectly well for most uses, plus it’s not a major issue if you inevitably misplace a screwdriver and need to get another one. Even now, after ten years of home improvement projects of all sizes, I rarely splurge for the expensive version of an item unless I know precisely what advantages it has over the entry level one in terms of actually using it.

The Dirty Dozen

Here are twelve items that I would encourage every homeowner to have in their home. You are going to find countless uses for these items. In fact, if there are any items you’re going to consider owning in duplicate, it should be the items on this list.

Vise grips, otherwise known as locking pliers, are a set of otherwise ordinary pliers that can be locked into a particular position. This can make them extremely useful in some situations, such as when you’re trying to remove a rusty bolt or when you need a small clamp to hold something in place as you’re working on it. I’ve used vise grips to remove license plates, to serve as a temporary sink faucet, to hold items in place as I’ve cut them, and many other uses.

WD-40 is simply amazing at helping to loosen up tight or rusty bolts or “unfreeze” a bicycle chain or a tight hinge. I keep a can of this in my toolbox at all times, as I find myself often reaching for it when something is tight or rusty and needs to be removed.

A multitool, like a Leatherman Wave, is all that I needed for very small DIY tasks when I lived in an apartment, and I still often grab one these days for little things like opening a single screw or a quick use of a file or something. These tools individually aren’t great, but such a device has a lot of tools in one compact place, making it very convenient.

A roll of duct tape comes in handy for situations where you need to hold something in place temporarily or seal a very minor air leak. It isn’t meant for a permanent fix, but it is incredibly good at providing temporary fixes for all kinds of things, reducing something that’s incredibly urgent to something that you can figure out and solve in due time.

A 16 ounce claw hammer is perfect for hammering and removing nails of all sizes. This is an intermediate-sized claw hammer, which means that it works well for a wide variety of situations. The claw on the hammer has other uses as well, such as removing the lid from a paint can.

A tape measure is a vital tool for measuring dimensions of rooms for designing layouts, figuring out shelving, determining the size of a piece of furniture, and so on. I’m constantly using a tape measure for all kinds of measurements around the house.

Five screwdrivers are needed for different-sized screws. If you have the wrong size of screwdriver, you run the risk of stripping a screw, making it much harder to ever remove it or even finish screwing it in. I recommend three Phillips head screwdrivers – a small, a medium, and a large – along with two regular head screwdrivers. I am not a big fan of screwdrivers with replaceable heads, for various reasons, but they work well for some.

A pocket screwdriver set enables you to take on tiny screws, such as the ones found in eyeglasses or on the battery packs of many electronic devices (particularly children’s toys). They’re also useful for taking things apart to figure out if they can be repaired or salvaged.

If you have these twelve tools, you’ll be ready to tackle many, many little tasks around the house.

The Next Step

The “dirty dozen” covers the twelve tools I use most often around the house. I use those items at least monthly and often weekly or even more often than that.

Still, that list doesn’t cover the tools that I find useful to have on hand. The tools listed here are items that I don’t use quite as often as the “dirty dozen,” but they see more than enough annual use to have made their purchase well worth it.

An actual toolbox is the first thing that’s well worth picking up. There are infinite varieties of toolboxes. Honestly, the toolbox I purchased was of the yard sale variety, where someone was selling what seemed to be a practically new empty toolbox at a very low price. I recommend going simple with this one, and not overly large, either. You want one that’s big enough to keep the essentials in, but not so big that it’s cumbersome to carry around.

Additional screwdrivers are a great addition to a tool collection. As I mentioned above, having the right sized screwdriver is absolutely vital to avoid stripping screws, so having several different sizes of screwdrivers is never a bad option. In fact, I suggest getting an inexpensive screwdriver set that offers lots of different-sized regular and Phillips-head screwdrivers.

Additional pliers beyond that first pair of vise grips is another good idea. Pliers are very useful at bending small pieces of metal, loosening and tightening bolts, twisting wire, gripping round things (like a skinny pipe), and countless other little purposes. I find them to be great for leverage, enabling me to hold things in place when I don’t want them to move or to enable me to apply additional force in a tight spot. I’d suggest getting a pair of regular pliers as well as a pair of needlenose pliers.

A 10 ounce claw hammer is a really handy supplement to the larger 16 ounce claw hammer mentioned above. I use the smaller claw hammer for small tasks – hanging small framed pictures, removing tiny nails, and so on.

A crescent wrench is simply an adjustable wrench that’s perfect for latching on to tight bolts of various sizes. You simply adjust the wrench to the size you need, minimizing the need for a full set of wrenches. Rather than carrying around a bunch of wrenches of various sizes, I usually just carry around a medium-sized crescent wrench and use it for all kinds of jobs.

A level enables you to very easily check that items that you’re installing in your home are level. I’ve used levels to make sure that picture frames are even, that shelves are truly horizontal, that refrigerators are properly adjusted, and many other little tasks over the years. A medium-sized one works well for most jobs, though I also have a very short one, too.

An Allen wrench set is absolutely vital for certain types of screws and nuts which have an Allen head on them. These often come in furniture or shelving kits. However, I’ve opened many different kits only to find that there was no wrench in the box. Also, having a set with a variety of sizes enables you to not worry about keeping the wrench that comes with the kit; you can just use your own wrench set for future modifications as needed.

A stud finder is really useful when hanging stuff in your home. Whenever you hang wall-mounted shelving, heavier pictures, shelf anchors, or other things, you’re going to want to install these into the sturdy boards behind the drywall, and that’s what a stud finder does. I find that I can’t really rely on the “tapping” technique to accurately find the studs, regardless of how careful I am.

A flashlight is something that I try to keep in almost every room in the house, but I keep a small bright LED flashlight in my toolbox. There are many situations where I am working in an area that isn’t particularly well-lit and a flashlight is vital in those situations.

A drill is absolutely vital for significant tasks like installing shelves, putting together furniture, installing hinges, and so on. I prefer corded drills, as cordless drills tend to run out of batteries in the middle of tasks and often don’t generate enough power to finish the job.

A hacksaw and/or a crosscut saw can be avery useful addition to your toolset. A crosscut saw is preferred for cutting through wood, while a hacksaw is best for cutting through metal. I generally find more use for a crosscut saw in the things I work on around the house, as I’m most often dealing with pieces of wood rather than pieces of metal.

A pipe wrench can be absolutely vital when working on repairing a faucet or a toilet or replacing a pipe. A pipe wrench is designed to help you loosen or tighten a pipe, as the head is designed to grab ahold of a pipe fitting perfectly.

Wood glue will help you make small repairs to wooden objects, such as picture frames, shelves, and so on. It’s perfect for all kinds of small woodworking projects. I’m not an extensive woodworker by any means, but I find regular use for wood glue.

A mechanical pencil is absolutely perfect for making marks on the wall or on a piece of wood as you’re working on a project. I keep one in my toolbox so I’ll always have one on hand when I need it.

This actually covers the content of my regular toolbox and the tools hanging from our garage pegboard that I use with any regularity. We have a variety of other tools in our garage that are rarely used – honestly, I should have tried to borrow them first or find another solution.

Tool Kits

If you’re just getting started, you’ll probably find that many of the above items can be bought together in one package by buying a tool kit from Amazon or a hardware store. There are usually a pretty good bargain compared to buying tools individually, especially for someone just getting started with doing it yourself.

Often, the tools in an introductory tool kit are on the lower end of the quality spectrum, but as I mentioned above, this is perfectly in line with my two rules of buying tools.

It’s important to remember that no kit is going to line up perfectly with this list. Different tool manufacturers select different tools for their tool kits for various reasons. What you’re looking for is a tool kit that largely matches up with this list.

Which one should you get? Honestly, get the one that’s on sale. Watch your department store and hardware store flyers for tool kits that are on sale and pick up one that matches the items you find on this list. That’s the perfect tool set for you – very economically priced with a variety of items in it.

You can also look for tool sets at garage sales and yard sales. I sometimes see tool sets and toolboxes at garage sales for very reasonable prices, often due to a homeowner getting rid of redundant tools.

The Bottomless Pit of Tool Spending

One major challenge when it comes to tools and smaller DIY projects is that buying tools can sometimes be a bottomless pit of spending. You’ll realize pretty quickly that there is a perfect tool for every job, but for many of those jobs the tool in question only has that single use and it’s often expensive.

Now, if you do that one job over and over again, that tool is probably worthwhile, but most homeowners aren’t doing specialty tasks several times a day. Homeowners do a wide variety of relatively simple and straightforward tasks, tasks that require a fairly small array of tools (most of which are listed above).

So, if you find yourself in a situation where you do need a specialty tool, don’t just run to the hardware store and buy one. Instead, put out a call on social media and among your friends for that item. See if anyone already has one and can lend one to you. And, of course, be open to lending out your own tools as well.

Using your social network to keep your spending at bay on irregular use items like tools is a powerful way to save money. I’m absolutely in favor of people having their own basic tools, like the ones listed here, but check your social network for other tools that you may need.

Final Thoughts

I find myself using the tools on this list far more than I would have ever expected back in the day when I lived in an apartment. Back then, my pocket Leatherman took care of all of the minor needs that I had. It took care of lots of minor tasks – hanging paintings in drywall and so forth.

When you become a homeowner, though, many of the tasks left to the landlord now become yours. You also have free reign to make permanent changes to your home by adding shelves, repainting, replacing fixtures, and so on.

Even if you think you’ll never do these things, the truth is that you’ll probably end up doing them far more than you expect. I certainly did. I found myself taking on projects that I would have never believed several years ago. I’ve hung shelves. I’ve repaired – and even replaced – toilets. I’ve replaced sink faucets. I’ve drained hot water heaters. I’ve repaired drywall. The list goes on and on and on and on.

The truth is that almost all of these tasks were handled by the items on the list above. The few that required more tools could have (and should have) been borrowed from friends, though I ended up buying additional tools here and there that now largely gather dust.

If you start with “the dirty dozen” and then slowly add to this list over time, you’ll find that it’s not really all that expensive, either. A good tool set – bought on sale or from a yard sale – will help you acquire most of these tools very quickly.

Then you’ll be well on your way to handling all kinds of minor home improvement projects all by yourself without any need to call an expensive specialist in. You’ll also be able to do these things on your own time and on your own terms instead of waiting around for a slot in that specialist’s schedule to take care of your issues.

The post The Basic Toolbox Everyone Needs to Handle Simple DIY Tasks at Home appeared first on The Simple Dollar.

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11 Simple, Effective Ways to Stop Wasting Time, So You Can Make More Money

What would you do with an extra five to 15 hours each week?

You could get a second job, start a small business or focus more on your investments.

If you made a weekly $150 from your efforts, you’d generate an extra $7,800 per year!

You might also spend an hour or two each week looking for and implementing ways to cut your expenses.

A cheaper car or home insurance, as well as installing energy-efficient devices in your home, could save you hundreds of dollars each year. Smart grocery shopping alone could save you more than $1,000 per year.

Time is money.

And if you spend a little less time on daily activities, you can free up several hours each week — and use that free time to develop new income sources or work on ways to spend less.

Here are some of the surest ways to free up time for making smart financial moves.

1. Reduce Your TV and Video Time

The U.S. average for time spent watching video (television and online content) is five hours and 31 minutes per day!

If you reduce your video consumption to three hours each day, you’ll free up almost 18 hours per week! That’s enough time for a second job.

2. Sleep Less

Reading recent sleep research convinced me I was sleeping too much, so I cut my time in bed by almost two hours each night.

Apart from the health benefits, I found sleeping less lets you make more money.

If you sleep nine hours each night (like I was), you could free up 14 hours per week by sleeping two fewer hours.

The National Sleep Foundation suggests as little as six hours of sleep may be OK for some people.

Maybe stay up an hour longer each night researching ways to make and save money, then get up an hour early to implement what you’ve learned.

3. Reduce Your Commute

The average U.S. work commute is 26 minutes — one-way. A 52-minute round-trip adds up to 4.3 hours per work five-day work week.

Maybe you can’t immediately reduce your commute. But keep it in mind when you move, and get a place close to work. Cutting your commute in half could open a couple hours per week to spend making or saving money.

The other alternative is to convince your boss to let you work from home.

“23 percent of employed persons did some or all of their work at home,” the BLS reports.

Even if you can only work from home two or three days a week, the 30-second commute from bed to desk could save you a couple hours.

4. Reduce Your Gaming Time

Do you play games on your tablet or smartphone?

The average mobile gamer plays two hours per day, according to The NPD Group.

Cut the time in half and you can still get your fun fix, plus free up seven hours per week for more lucrative financial games.

5. Limit Your Email Time

Polled U.S. workers spend more than six hours daily dealing with emails (both personal and work-related), The Huffington Post reports.

“More than 90% of the workers admitted they checked personal emails at work and 87% looked at business emails outside of working hours,” the article says.

Statistics for time spent on email outside of work are harder to come by, but chances are good you can cut back and save some time for more important goals.

6. Avoid Your Phone

We spend an average of 90 minutes per day on our phones, according to MobileStatistics.com.

That includes time spent gaming and web browsing, but there’s probably still a way to knock 30 minutes off this figure, saving you another 3.5 hours per week.

For example, if you need to tell someone something, text the necessary information instead of risking a long conversation.

Or do what I do: Make and return calls just prior to entering a no-service area, so you have a good reason to cut them short.

My daily phone usage is under 10 minutes.

7. Avoid Facebook

U.S. Facebook users spend an average 40 minutes per day on the site. Who can resist cute kitten videos?

But is Facebook really that important?

Reduce Facebook time by 20 minutes per day and you’ll free up more than two hours per week.

8. Run More Efficient Errands

We spend 45 minutes shopping each day, and more than five hours per week, Retale.com reports.

Some creative procrastination can help. Let necessary shopping and other errands pile up until you can complete them all on an efficient route.

You could spend an hour less running around town if you get everything done in one trip.

9. Make Quicker Meals

The average time spent on household chores is one hour and 47 minutes per day, including meal prep time.

Unless you really love to cook, why spend so much time doing it?

Have healthy convenient snacks available instead, or learn to cook quick healthy meals.

10. Delegate

You can delegate other household chores to save time.

Put the kids to work, or pay someone to mow the lawn.

But do the math. If you can make more money with the free time than the delegated tasks cost, go for it.

For example, maybe you can have someone thoroughly clean the house once for $100. During that time, you rearrange your bank accounts to make or save an extra $200. Or, you make calls to find cheaper auto and home insurance.

11. Simplify Your Life

Everything you own or commit to takes time.

Even knickknacks on a shelf need to be dusted, and a big yard means hours of yard work.

The fewer things you have — the simpler your life — the more time you’ll have for making and saving money.

So free up a few hours each week, and check out our list of 103 ways to make money at home.

Soon you may have made and saved enough extra cash to take a trip around the world, make a down payment on a house, help a friend or pursue other personal goals.

Your Turn: How many hours can you free up to use for making and saving money?

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 11 Simple, Effective Ways to Stop Wasting Time, So You Can Make More Money appeared first on The Penny Hoarder.

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Experts predict another watershed Budget for pensions

Rachel Lacey

tiny-uk-purse.jpg

Pension savers are being warned to prepare for another ‘watershed’ moment in the forthcoming Budget, with major changes to the rules that dictate how we save for retirement on the cards.

Pension savers are being warned to prepare for another ‘watershed’ moment in the forthcoming Budget, with major changes to the rules that dictate how we save for retirement on the cards.

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This Guy Made $30,000 Last Year Selling Stuff From Flea Markets

Rob Stephenson calls himself the Flea Market Flipper.

While it might not be the most glamourous side business, he earned $30,000 last year working 10-15 hours a week.

Lately, an average month might fetch $3,500, and his best month topped $10,000 in profit.

Stephenson’s a real estate inspector by day, but you can find him at the Orlando, Florida, flea market every weekend, hunting for the next profitable “flip.”

He’s also a regular at the local thrift stores, which supply a steady stream of inventory.

Stephenson does most of his deals within 10 miles of home, but he occasionally finds himself driving up to two hours for a profitable item he found online.

Want to give it a shot for yourself? Here’s how to get started with “flea market flipping.”

How to Find Resellable Products

To get started, the first thing you need is something to sell.

To source his inventory, Stephenson has a few favorite spots — in addition to the local weekend flea market.

Among them are classifieds sites and apps like Craigslist, OfferUp and Let Go.

While Craigslist is very competitive because of its popularity, Stephenson explains there can still be some great finds if you act quickly.

So what does he look for?

“I look for odd items,” he says. “I look for weird stuff.”

Stephenson once bought a prosthetic leg for $30. He sold it on eBay the next day for $1,000.

One man’s trash is another man’s treasure, right?

That’s the basis of this business model: finding unique or undervalued products and reselling them for a profit.

He suggests searching Google for regular or seasonal markets in your area, as well as the newer online marketplaces.

On OfferUp, he found a high-end exercise bike used in physical therapy offices.

He discovered these bikes in new condition often sold for $6,000 to $7,000, and offered $200 for it — slightly less than what the seller was asking. The seller agreed, and Stephenson sold it for $2,800.

Finds like these are rare, but paint the picture of what’s possible if you’re constantly on the lookout for potential deals. The more unique or specialized an item is, the greater the profit potential.

For instance, the market for used iPhones is pretty well-established and efficient — all sales will gravitate toward the average price.

With “odd items,” Stephenson says, there are more inefficiencies and profit opportunities. The goal is to quickly sell items, but he admits sometimes they sit in his garage and collect dust for months.

“I would just rather keep the item until it sells for what I am looking for,” he explains. “This year I sold a Gagglia Cappucino machine that I had sitting in our guest room closet for over a year, but it made me $1,000 after I dusted it off.”

What to Consider Before You Buy Anything

Aside from looking for “odd” items, Stephenson tries to find as much information about a product as he can.

Since there usually aren’t any barcodes to scan, it generally means checking a brand name and model number, if applicable.

You can try asking the seller for some background on the item, he says, but often they won’t know any more than you.

Especially at flea markets,

“They’re probably re-selling the item too, from a storage auction or estate sale or something like that,” Stephenson explains.

If it seems like this business relies on taking advantage of people or ripping them off, he adds, the sellers are also probably selling the item for a profit, and wouldn’t agree to a deal if it wasn’t in their best interest.

Armed with whatever information he can glean from the seller and from the item itself, Rob does some basic research on the free eBay app to see similar items’ selling prices.

“I generally won’t buy anything I can’t sell for more than $100, and a typical purchase is anywhere from $10 to $40,” he explains. “My wife is starting in this business selling baby items, and she won’t buy anything for more than $3.”

Flea market flipping can be pretty affordable to get started with, and it’s a business with very little overhead. If you can turn $40 into $100 every weekend, you’re multiplying your money much faster than in a savings account or mutual fund.

When it comes to fixing broken items, Stephenson says, “I am always looking for items that don’t need any repair, but the majority of rehab work I do myself. I utilize the power of YouTube to figure out how to fix some things.”

He says the tools he uses most often are a multimeter to test electronics, a tape measure for dimensions and the Magic Eraser for cleaning up marks.

“Honestly, the most important tool I use in buying and selling is probably my smartphone,” Stephenson says.

Making Money With Your Inventory: Selling on eBay and Everywhere Else

Of course, buying random items and storing them in your garage isn’t the point.

You only get paid when your item sells.

Stephenson uses Craigslist, OfferUp, Let Go and eBay to sell his inventory, but says selling on eBay is his favorite.

“With eBay, you can reach a nationwide or worldwide audience of buyers,” he explains.

When crafting his listings, he’ll set the price at or around the projected value of the item he found during his research.

He avoids auction listings in favor of “Buy it Now” listings.

“If I can get 7-10 people watching the item on eBay, I know I have it priced right and it will usually sell,” Stephenson says.

If the item hasn’t sold after 30 days, he lowers the price and repeats the process.

Will You Try Flipping?

Stephenson’s advice for people getting started in this business is be consistent and invest the time each week in product sourcing.

“If you’re not out there finding deals, you’re not making money,” he says.

Your Turn: Will you try flea market flipping? Have you ever bought and sold an item from Craigslist or another marketplace?

Nick Loper helps people earn money outside of their day job. He’s an author, online entrepreneur, and lifelong student in the game of business. His latest role is as Chief Side Hustler at SideHustleNation.com, a growing community and resource for aspiring and part-time entrepreneurs.

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World Book Day – free £1 book token for schoolchildren countrywide

Gary Adams

World-book-day.png

As the weather warms up and outdoors doesn’t seem like quite the freezing wasteland that it has been for what feels like far too long, it may be tempting to ditch your trusty book-and-onesie combo and do something active.

As the weather warms up and outdoors doesn’t seem like quite the freezing wasteland that it has been for what feels like far too long, it may be tempting to ditch your trusty book-and-onesie combo and do something active.

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Promote Your Business – Throw a Party or Event

By Cathi Nelson Finding unique and creative ways to promote your business can be tedious and unfruitful if you only rely on traditional marketing efforts. YES, you can tell your family friends about what you do on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter. You likely have marketing materials such as business cards, flyers or brochures as well […]

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