White House, Faith Leaders Team Up to Combat Predatory Lending

White House, Faith Leaders Team Up to Combat Predatory Lending

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Get a Free $10 Target Gift Card When You Buy These Household Essentials

Starting this Sunday, April 17, Target is offering a sweet reward when you buy household staples.

Get a free $10 Target gift card when you buy basics like toilet paper, garbage bags and diapers in the store next week.

The deal applies to select household brands, including Cottonelle, Scott, Viva, Kleenex, Glad, Cascade, All, Shout and Snuggle, plus diapers from Pampers, Huggies or up & up.

How to Get a $10 Target Gift Card

Here are the specifics:

You’ll get a free $10 gift card when you buy any two Pampers or Huggies super packs, or up & up giant pack of diapers for $24.99 each.

Or, get a free $10 gift card when you buy any four of the following for between $9.99 and $10.99 each:

• Select toilet paper from Cottonelle or Scott

• Viva 8-pack giant roll or Vantage paper towels

• Select All or Powercore laundry detergent

• Select Snuggle fabric softener

• 72-count Shout ColorCatcher dryer sheets

• Select Glad trash bags

• Select Kleenex tissue packs

• 36- to 60-count Cascade ActionPacs dishwashing liquid

Save 37% on Diapers

We love a chance to make an already good deal even better, so here are a few extra tricks!

As an example, let’s look at a Huggies Little Snugglers super pack. Use these deal-stacking tips to save even more money on diapers next week at Target.

1. Use a Manufacturer’s Coupon

Sign up with Huggies to get this coupon for $4 off any two packages of Little Snugglers.

2. Use a Discounted Gift Card

Purchase a Target gift card from Raise.com to stretch your money further. For example, there’s a $50 e-gift card available today for $48 (4% off).

You’ll receive it via email within a few hours, and you can transfer the gift card to your Target app, or print the gift card from your email and scan the barcode in the store.

3. Pay With a Cash-Back Credit Card

Pay for your gift card with a cash-back credit card for additional savings.

If you don’t already have a card, we recommend the Barclaycard Rewards MasterCard®, because it offers 1% cash rewards on all purchases and 2% on groceries.

That’s another $0.48 savings.

4. Get a Rebate

Scan your receipt after you shop to get more money back.

Ibotta is offering $2 back on any variety or size of Huggies diapers.

Here are your savings:

• Original price: $49.98 (2 @ $24.99)

• Discounts: $6

• Cash back: $12.48

• The Penny Hoarder Price: $31.50

With these steps, you’ll save a total of $18.48 — 37% — on diapers next week!

See the full weekly ad at Totally Target.

Your Turn: What are your favorite ways to save money on diapers?

Advertiser Disclosure: Many of the credit card offers that appear on this site are from credit card companies from which ThePennyHoarder.com receives compensation. This compensation may impact how and where products appear on this site (including, for example, the order in which they appear). We do not feature all available credit card offers or all credit card issuers.

Dana Sitar (@danasitar) is a staff writer at The Penny Hoarder. She’s written for Huffington Post, Entrepreneur.com, Writer’s Digest and more, attempting humor wherever it’s allowed (and sometimes where it’s not).

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Federal judge rules against Nextel's cell tower in Ross Township

A federal judge denied a Nextel Communications’ lawsuit to build a 130-foot cellular tower in Ross Township.At the same time, the judge granted the Ross Township Zoning Board’s s motion to uphold its decision to reject the company’s application for a special use exception permit to build the tower, according to court documents.The judge’s decision came after a protracted battle and lawsuit filed in 2014 by the company to overturn the board’s [...]

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Why I Can’t Stop Thinking About This Barber and His $1.4 Million Fortune

Anthony J. Ralys and his wife Katherine lived a simple life.

He ran a barber shop in tiny Athol, Massachusetts, for 38 years, according to The Worcester Telegram & Gazette. She worked as the office manager for an insurance company.

They lived in a small house and were “extremely frugal.”

Which is why it was such a surprise when, upon his death two years ago, Ralys bequeathed $1,428,000 to the local library.

Because his wife was an avid reader, Ralys wanted “to honor her love of the library,” reports The Telegram.

Though this story is undoubtedly aww-worthy, it’s also much more than that.

Here are two reasons I can’t stop thinking about it…

1. Anyone Can Build Wealth

First, that’s a hell of a lot of money for a small-town barber and his wife to have amassed.

“That normal hard-working people like (Mr. and Mrs.) Ralys can save that much money and then bequest it to an institution that benefits the entire community is simply amazing,” former Athol Public Library Director Debra Blanchard told The Telegram.  

Agreed.

I’ve written before about the crazy tiny amount 21-year-olds have to invest each week if they want to end up rich — and this story just proves the point.

“Most of the money was invested in municipal bonds early on in their lives and it grew to a small fortune,” reports The Telegram. The majority of it was held in a Wells Fargo investment account — something you could open today.

So, stop making excuses and start investing now. Even small amounts can grow into fortunes with enough time.

2. Is it Always Worth It?

The second point is much less straightforward… was it worth it?

The donation is undoubtedly a beautiful memorial to his wife, and a selfless gesture to their community.

But.

Living frugally, though admirable, is hard. So it makes me sad to think they dedicated their whole lives to frugality — without ever reaping the benefits.

It’s one thing to leave your family with a fortune, so they never have to worry about money again. The couple had no children, but did leave $79,000 each to their niece and nephew.

And it’s another to donate your fortune to charity when you’ve already got everything you need.

But living super frugally your whole life, just to give it away?

Call me selfish, but I don’t get it. I live frugally so I can spend money on things I love — mostly travel.

To be clear: I didn’t know the Ralyses, and I’m not judging them. It just got me thinking: Can you be too frugal? Is saving money always worth it?

At what point should you start enjoying the fruits of your hard work?

I strongly believe everyone should spend — or save — money according to their priorities.

Perhaps Ralys and his wife derived satisfaction from saving.

Some people do. The hopeless romantic in me hopes they had all they needed in each other.

Still.

“The couple often talked about taking a vacation, but always seemed to put it off at the last minute,” reports The Boston Globe.

And I can’t help but wish they hadn’t.

Your Turn: What do you think? Can you be too frugal?

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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26 of the Absolute Best Internet Freebies We’ve Ever Found

Everybody loves free stuff.

But not all free stuff is worth loving.

We’re always finding freebies — from email newsletter perks to free stuff on your birthday — but we decided it was time to round up the best of the best.

From coconut oil to diapers, here are 26 of our favorite freebies from all over the web.

1. Hot Cocoa Kit

Is there anything better than cuddling up with a nice cup of hot cocoa on a cold winter’s day?

Coffee by Bree gives you a free hot cocoa kit — complete with marshmallows! — in exchange for your email address.

2. All-Natural Diapers

All babies do is sleep, eat and… yeah.

If you’re a parent, you could definitely use some free diapers from The Honest Company.

You can also feel good knowing you’re wrapping your baby up in sustainably harvested, plant-based materials — without fragrances, lotions or latex.

3. Godiva Chocolate

Free Godiva chocolate — what could be better?

Oh, maybe the fact this offer isn’t a one-time deal. Once you sign up, you get free chocolate every month at participating locations.

4. Coconut Oil

Holy coconuts!

This free coconut oil from Thrive Market is worth $25.

It does cost $1.95 in shipping, but we’d say it’s well worth it — since you’ll also get 15% off your first order from Thrive’s online market of organic yummies.

5. Magazines

Love the luxury of reading a good magazine, but hate paying for them?

Us, too. Luckily we know four proven ways to get free magazines.

6. Baby Stuff

Is your family growing?

Then create a Target baby registry to get over $50 in free baby stuff!

Even better, when your due date is eight weeks away, you’ll get a 15% discount on any items remaining on your registry.

7. Pantene Shampoo

Sign up for Pantene’s email list to receive free shampoo and other haircare samples.

We can’t promise your hair will become model-shiny, but we bet it’ll smell good!

8. DVD Rental

Want to cuddle up with a new release tonight?

Redbox gives you a free DVD rental when you download its mobile app.

9. Sephora Beauty Products

Oooh, Sephora.

Become a “Beauty Insider,” and you’ll have your choice of a free beauty kit from Fresh or Marc Jacobs on your birthday.

10. Cat Food

Why should humans have all the fun?

Treat your feline to some free cat food from Fancy Feast.

White Chicken Primavera Paté — sounds fancy indeed!

11. Rosemary, Lemon & Garlic Salt

Spice up your cooking with this free salt blend from the aptly named Gourmet Salt Blends.

Rosemary, lemon and garlic? Talk about delicious flavors!

12. Laundry Detergent

Most freebies are tiny.

But Generation Good generously gives a full-size sample of its natural laundry detergent when you sign up for its online community.

13. Green Mountain Coffee

Yum!

Green Mountain Coffee is delicious. Click here to easily get some free coffee for your Keurig machine.

14. Pet Stickers

You can’t put a price on safety — but these free pet stickers from the ASPCA won’t cost you a dime.

If there’s an emergency, these window decals alert firefighters or other emergency workers you have pets inside.

15. Vitamins

You know you should take vitamins, but never do.

If you think it’d be easier if they came in mint-form, give these free vitamints from Centrum a try!

16. Pen

Ever feel like you can’t find a pen when you need one?

We certainly do. Restock your supply with a free pen from Bradley Pens, and start jotting down all your brilliant ideas.  

17. Cinnamon Tea

Mmm, how good does a steamy cup of cinnamon tea sound right now?

Karma Kisses will send you some of its free organic tea — just add hot water.

18. Purse-Sized First Aid Kit

You can never be too prepared, especially if you’ve got little ones running around.

Order your free purse-sized first aid kit from Hi-Desert Medical Center so you’ll be ready for any scrapes or scratches, should they occur (they will).

19. L’Oréal Hair Products

Though it’s unclear exactly what free hair products you get with this offer from L’Oréal, it’s free.

What do you have to lose?

20. Freezer Labels

Freezer cooking is a great way to eat healthy and save time and money.

But without proper labeling, those containers can quickly become confusing. These free freezer labels might just be the answer.   

21. Spray Deodorant

Have you ever tried spray deodorant?

After watching a promo video, you can request free dry spray antiperspirant from Unilever.

22. Omega-3 Oils

Whether you like fish or not, it’s widely accepted omega-3 fatty acids are good for you.

Grab some free omega-3 oils from Nordic Naturals by scrolling to the bottom of the page and clicking on the tiny “Free Sample” button in the lower right-hand corner.

23. Prenatal Drink Mix

Expecting?

Try this free prenatal drink mix, which also comes with a $5 coupon for your next purchase.

24. Brazilian Smooth Haircare

We don’t know if this free Brazilian smooth haircare kit from Garnier Fructis will make our hair look anything like Gisele’s — but it’s a risk we’re willing to take!

25. Water Bottle

Water isn’t only the healthiest drink, it’s also the most free.

Grab a no-cost way to carry it around by requesting a free water bottle from Texas Health Resources.

26. Butterfly Garden Starter Kit

We may or may not have saved the best for last.

You can get a free butterfly garden starter kit from the National Wildlife Federation.

All you have to do is upload a photo of yourself doing the American Sign Language sign for butterfly.  

Phew. That’s a lot of freebies. Guess it’s time to stop reading — and start clicking!

Your Turn: Did we miss any of your favorite freebies? Which ones?  

Disclosure: Our friends stopped inviting us over because we were always digging for loose change between their couch cushions. We use affiliate links instead so we still get invited to a few parties.

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 26 of the Absolute Best Internet Freebies We’ve Ever Found appeared first on The Penny Hoarder.

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Here’s What You Won’t Hear About Those $50K/Year Teaching Jobs in Hawaii

When you hear the word “paradise,” what image comes to mind?

For many of us, white sand, surf and palm trees figure prominently… especially if it has to be a real place.

(Let’s be honest: I’d probably take Willy Wonka’s chocolate factory over a gorgeous beach any day.)

In fact, you may even have a specific word — perhaps even a specific state’s name — for your paradise.

That state is Hawaii.

Teaching Jobs in Hawaii: Your Ticket to Paradise?

You might be surprised to learn Hawaii is experiencing a severe teacher shortage.

After all, who doesn’t want to live there — especially with an academic calendar allowing for a whole summer of beach lounging?

But Hawaii’s Department of Education reports over 1,600 vacancies, which they’re working hard to fill — even traveling to the mainland to recruit in major cities like Los Angeles, Portland, Chicago and New York.

If you’re a teacher in need of a change of scenery, it might not be a bad gig to consider.

Elementary school teachers in Hawaii can expect to earn $50,000 on average — and $35,000 right out of college.

They’re in bad enough need to include extra financial incentives in some cases. For instance, Special Education teachers are eligible for a $3,000 bonus per year they work at “hard-to-staff” schools, or $10,000 over three years if they meet certain qualifications.

Not bad, right?

But even though the figure seems livable, don’t forget: There’s a reason for the shortage in the first place.

Living in Hawaii Isn’t Always a Luau

Despite the state’s beauty, it has “one of the highest teacher turnover rates in the nation,” says Hawaii State Teachers Association president Corey Rosenlee.

And it’s even more true when you take mainland recruits into account: 40% of new hires leave within five years, according to the DOE.

It might be because Hawaii’s a pretty long haul from the friends and family those teachers leave back on the mainland — but it probably also has something to do with Hawaii’s excessive cost of living.

Because the state is so remote, it’s got an inflated cost of day-to-day necessities — especially food. After all, there’s not a whole lot in the way of “local” when you live on a volcanic rock in the middle of the ocean.

Hawaiians can expect to pay $7 for two pounds of apples, or almost $5 for a dozen eggs, according to self-reported price data from Expatistan — about double the price they’d pay in the Midwest.

Plus, many of the positions aren’t based in the glamorous, “big” Hawaiian cities you’ve heard of — they’re in the state’s rural areas.

And even though those areas may be less appealing, they’re not immune to Hawaii’s high cost of living. Space is at a premium everywhere on an island.

Maybe paradise isn’t quite as fantastic as we thought.

Want to Move Far Away?

If you’re still looking to take a shot at moving to a far-off place, you might actually want to consider Europe.

We know of a few people who actually saved money (and paid off debt!) by moving their families abroad.

Want to stay in the States?

If you’re more of a snowbird than a beach bunny, there are plenty of incentives to live in Alaska. The state charges no income tax, and they’ll pay you just to live there.

You certainly won’t have to worry about looking good in a bathing suit or applying enough SPF. But how to fend off bears, on the other hand…

Your Turn: Would you take a teaching job in Hawaii? Or would you rather take your chances in Alaska’s frozen tundra?

Jamie Cattanach is a staff writer at The Penny Hoarder. She also writes creative nonfiction and poetry, some of which has been featured in DMQ Review, Sweet: A Literary Confection and elsewhere. You can follow along at http://ift.tt/1RiB7sH.

The post Here’s What You Won’t Hear About Those $50K/Year Teaching Jobs in Hawaii appeared first on The Penny Hoarder.

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How to Get Extra Organic Search Traffic with Google’s “Related Questions”

Most SEOs go after the most competitive traffic from Google.

Years ago, that’s all there was, but Google has created many new features—many of which can be used to get extra search traffic.

The best part about these features is that most SEOs never even try to take advantage of them.

If you’re smart, you’ll want to take advantage of them.

I want to single out one of these features in particular—the one that’s relatively new:

Related Questions. 

You might have seen these when searching for various terms. They appear as small boxes within the search results themselves (usually around the 4-5th spot).

When a searcher clicks one of the questions, it expands to show a brief potential answer as well as a link that the searcher can click for more information:

These links will get high click-through rates.

For the rest of this post, I’ll further explain how related links work and then show you how you can increase the chances of your site showing up in these searches.

Why you should care about “related questions”: It’s a neat feature, but is it worth spending time and effort trying to show up in related questions?

The fact I’m writing this article means I think the answer is yes.

While it’s a fairly new feature, it’s grown incredibly fast.

Moz started tracking “related questions” in early 2015 when they were first rolled out. They showed up on just over 1% of queries.

But since then, there have been massive spikes in the number of queries with related questions, and that upward trend could continue:

At the end of 2015, related questions were showing up for just over 8% of all queries that Moz tracks (that’s a very significant portion).

When do “related questions” show up?

The tough part is finding out which searches related questions actually show up for.

From the name, related questions, you might think that they would show up only for searches that are phrased as questions.

In fact, it’s the opposite.

Related questions rarely show up in the search results of queries that are specific (like other questions).

Instead, they show up often when the search query is a broad term.

For example, if you search for “US food pyramid,” you’ll probably see this:

From Google’s perspective, the searcher is looking for general information when they enter a broad term.

In order to help them find a more specific path to learn about, Google provides common questions (and answers) with the “related questions” box.

Take a few minutes to search for a few general terms in your niche, and see if you can get the “related questions” box to come up.

Even if you can’t find many, that doesn’t mean that Google doesn’t use “related questions” in your niche. Unfortunately, there’s just no easy way to find them at the moment.

That being said, you can still implement things that should let you take advantage of this extra traffic source, so keep reading on.

Where related questions and answers come from

It’s time for us to do a little investigating.

Let’s say someone searches for “gyro sauce.”

They’ll see a “related questions” panel like this one:

Let’s expand one of the answers and take a closer look at the answer and link:

It’s clearly a relevant answer to that question (a tzatziki sauce recipe).

It makes sense that Google pulls this answer from the data it has for the related question query: “How do you make tzatziki sauce?”

In fact, that Allrecipes article does rank #1 for that query.

So, that’s it, right?

Not quite. In fact, many of the answers that Google links to are not in the #1 spot for their own query.

However, almost all are on the front page.

Take the query “search engine optimization backlinks” as an example. There are a few related questions within the results:

When we click on Search for: What is a backlink?, that webopedia page shows up as the 4th result.

Clearly, you don’t need to rank #1 for a related query to still get chosen to be featured in a related question. However, ranking high will help.

How to get your answer to show up in related questions

There hasn’t been very much in-depth analysis done on “related questions.”

That being said, it’s clear from just looking at enough of these related questions that there are a few main factors that lead to answers being selected:

• Authority for the related question query - Just as we have seen above, if you rank better for the results of the question, you have a better chance to appear in the “related questions” section.
• Schema (rich text markup) - “Related questions” are part of Google’s knowledge graph, which we know uses schema to understand content better. It’s not necessary to be chosen as an answer source, but it’s probably not a coincidence that most answer pages use schema.
• Clarity and relevance of content - For Google to provide an answer to a question like “what is a backlink?”, you need something like “a backlink is…” as a heading (or even just as bolded text) somewhere on the page. For example, the answer to that gyro sauce question was taken from a section called “directions”:

So, where does that leave us?

You get page authority mostly from the backlinks to your page and site. Start with my advanced guide to link building if you need help.

I also won’t go into the clarity of your content much because it’s pretty self-explanatory. Have clear headlines, and emphasize the important parts of your content naturally.

You don’t need to force in certain keywords, just maintain a simple and clear format. If you’re writing naturally, you’ll do this automatically.

The most interesting factor for you here should be the schema markup because a lot of the sites that rank ahead of you on these related questions won’t use it. It’s an extra opportunity to increase your traffic from these related questions.

Understanding schema

If you’re already familiar with schema, you can skip this section. But you still might want to read it for a quick refresher.

Schema refers to a specific type of rich text markup, which is essentially an HTML code that doesn’t show up to readers.

The markup was designed to help content creators explain their content better.

It’s not very widely used, which is probably why it is not a ranking factor. However, Google definitely draws upon it for features such as rich snippets and for understanding pages better in general:

Those pictures, ratings, reviews, etc., can all improve your click-through rates, which could improve your search rankings indirectly.

But we’re not concerned with that here. Instead, we want to use schema to help Google understand our content better so that it is used for “related questions.”

Implementing schema to get shown in “related questions”

The reasons why most websites don’t implement schema is because it does take some extra work, but mainly because it’s scary.

If you’ve never used it before and you go to the Schema site, you’ll be overwhelmed.

I don’t want that to happen to you, so let me break things down and simplify them. I promise it’s not that bad.

If you go to the Schema.org library, you’ll see that there are hundreds of different properties that you could apply:

Now, do me a favor: ignore them. Why?

Because 99% of them will never be useful to you, especially not for the purpose we have in this post.

There are, however, three important schema tags you do need to understand.

1. “itemscope”: This is a top level tag. You can put it inside any HTML tag to tell search crawlers that everything inside that HTML division (or span, body, etc.) refers to one specific topic.

You do not have to specify a value.

Here’s an example:

The arrow points to the “itemscope” tag. That tells Google that everything within that div tag (in the rectangle) is related.

2. “itemtype”: One level down is the “itemtype” tag. For this one, you do have to specify a value.

When you add this tag to an HTML element, it tells the crawler that everything in that tag is one specific type of content.

Because of this, it’s often paired with the “itemscope” tag.

There are tons of different types in the Schema.org library:

Again, I don’t want you to worry about them because for our purpose, we are focusing on getting our written content included in Google’s “related questions.”

The types we care about are:

• WebPage
• Article
• BlogPosting

You can see in the following picture that an “itemtype” of “WebPage” was applied to the body tag:

3. “itemprop”: This is the last tag that you’ll need to understand and use.

The first two basically marked broad things about your content, but the “itemprop” tag lets you get a lot more specific.

Go ahead, and click one of those “itemtype” links I just gave you above in the bullet points.

You’ll get a list of different properties (guess what “prop” in “itemprop” stands for?):

You can include as many or as few of them as you’d like. Just include enough to accurately describe your content.

Before we get into specific properties you’ll want to use in this situation, let’s take a look at the “itemprop” tag in action:

Just like the other tags, you can add it do any HTML element. You simply include the property name in quotation marks.

There is one other variation you might see:

You can add “meta” tags that have no other purpose than to describe your content.

In the case above, these meta tags each describe one aspect of the content in the div (that is marked with the “itemscope” markup).

Both the width and the height of the image are specified as 800 (pixels), and even the URL is explicitly labelled.

This is what I mean when I say that you can get as detailed as you want to.

Now, let’s get back to those three types of content that we’ll be using here. Each of them has many properties, but again, we won’t need most of them.

Instead, we’ll focus on a select few.

For “webpage”:

• mainContentOfPage – Put this tag right around the actual body of your content.
• about - This is a general tag that describes your content. You’ll need to describe your content in a few words (do it in a “content” tag in the same HTML element).
• description – describes a particular section of content. Using the “content” tag again, you could say something like “lists the ingredients of tzatziki.”

For “article” or “blogposting”:

• articleBody - Put in the tag that wraps around the text of your content.
• about - This is a general tag that describes your content. You’ll need to describe your content in a few words (do it in a “content” tag in the same HTML element)
• description – describes a particular section of content. Using the “content” tag again, you could say something like “lists the ingredients of tzatziki.”

Does it matter which one you should use? In my opinion, not really.

You can see that they are all almost identical. As long as you’re using them when possible, you’ll do fine.

Do you need to use schema for every piece of content? You don’t have to always use schema.

Here, we’re focusing on content that answers a few questions and that might get referenced by Google.

If your post doesn’t really answer many common questions, you don’t have to include markup (although it’s still a good idea).

Conclusion

SEO today is a lot tougher than it used to be.

But there are some opportunities to get extra search traffic that are much easier to implement than your typical SEO.

The related questions that show up in search results are one of those opportunities.

If you want your content to show up in those questions, implement the tactics we went over in this post, and you’ll have a good chance at achieving that. Focus on your typical on-page and off-page SEO, and start implementing the specific schema markup, as I showed you above, in your content.

If you have any questions about Google’s “related questions” feature, leave me a comment below, and I’ll do my best to answer them.

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19 Companies Just Pledged to Look Past Criminal Records When Hiring

We’ve all likely seen the box on a job application.

The question goes something like, “Have you ever been convicted of a crime?”

Most of us skim over this question with ease, checking “No” without a second thought.

But for some, this box invokes panic. It can mean the difference between landing a job or not. Providing for their family or not. Starting fresh, moving forward and breaking a generations-old cycle of crime and poverty in their community… or not.

Around 70 million Americans have some sort of arrest or conviction record — almost one in three of us of working age.

You probably know at least one.

Or you are one.

Should that detail outshine everything else on your job application?

Employment discrimination against someone with a criminal record or history of incarceration has been illegal in the U.S. since the Civil Rights Act was passed in 1964.

Still, millions of people face an inherent, if unintentional, bias when they’re looking for a job because of what this one box represents to employers.

For decades, lawmakers and activists have been taking steps to reduce the barriers to finding employment faced by people with a record.

Launched through the White House this week, the Fair Chance Business Pledge symbolizes a commitment to breaking down those barriers.

19 Companies Pledge Fair Hiring Practices

On Monday, 19 major U.S. companies convened at the White House to become the first to sign the pledge to overhaul their hiring practices with regard to people with records of conviction.

Anyone can sign the pledge on behalf of their company, telling the world:

We are committed to providing individuals with criminal records, including formerly incarcerated individuals, a fair chance to participate in the American economy.

The FCBP goes on to recommend “fair chance hiring practices,” including delaying inquiries into criminal history until late in the hiring process.

In particular, organizations like the National Employment Law Project and the Obama administration have expressed support for the campaign to “Ban the Box,” which would remove the criminal history question from job applications.

Making a record of conviction one of the last things a potential employer learns about an applicant — instead of one of the first — helps ensure the applicant is considered fairly and not rejected solely on the basis of their history.

Monday’s founding pledge-signers included:

• American Airlines

• The Coca-Cola Company

• Facebook

• Google

• The Hershey Company

• The Johns Hopkins Hospital and Health System

• PepsiCo

• Prudential

• Starbucks

• Uber

• Under Armour

• Unilever

• Xerox

With leading companies across various industries and political leaders across parties showing their commitment to fair hiring practices, we expect to see growing support for legislation enforcing these policies.

Fair Chance Laws in the United States

With laws passed this decade, over half the U.S. population now live in jurisdictions with some kind of employment protection for people with criminal records.

As of this writing, 21 states have passed laws delaying inquiries into criminal history until later in the hiring process.

Fourteen of those regulations apply only to public employment, while seven enforce the same requirements for both public and private employers.

Fair chance laws are written state by state, so the language of each is slightly different.

But each law generally falls into one of three categories, based on when in the hiring process an employer is allowed to ask about criminal history.

Here’s a quick overview of existing state laws:

1. “Ban the Box” from Job Applications

Eight states have laws removing any questions about criminal history from initial job applications:

• Wisconsin: Applies to state employment

• Virginia: Applies to state employment

• Oklahoma: Applies to state employment

• Ohio: Applies to all public employment, including state, city and county

• Missouri: Applies to all public employment, including state, city and county

• Massachusetts: Applies to all public and private employment

• Georgia: Applies to state employment

• California: Applies to all public employment, including state, city and county

2. Consider an Applicant’s Other Qualifications First

Three states have laws prohibiting an employer from inquiring into criminal history until they deem the applicant otherwise qualified:

• Vermont: Applies to state employment

• Nebraska: Applies to all public employment, including state, city and county

• Connecticut: Applies to state employment

3. Wait Until After the Job Interview

Eleven states have laws prohibiting an employer from inquiring into criminal history — often including a background check — until the applicant has been interviewed or offered the job:

• Oregon: Applies to all public and private employment

• Rhode Island: Applies to all public and private employment (Employer can ask about criminal history during the first interview.)

• New Mexico: Applies to all public employment, including state, city and county (Applicant must be “deemed a finalist.”)

• New Jersey: Applies to all public and private employment

• Minnesota: Applies to all public and private employment

• Maryland: Applies to state employment

• Illinois: Applies to all public and private employment

• Hawaii: Applies to all public and private employment

• Delaware: Applies to all public employment, including state, city and county

• Colorado: Applies to state employment

Hawaii’s fair chance law was the first one passed, in 1998, and it’s one of the strongest. It prohibits employers from inquiring about conviction history until after they offer an applicant the job.

New York doesn’t have a law in place, but Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced last September his administration would fully implement recommendations made by an anti-discrimination council regarding housing and employment.

New York’s policies apply to state employment and include the promise that applicants won’t be required to discuss or disclose convictions until after an interview.

Additionally, at least 100 cities in states with or without statewide policies have implemented their own fair chance policies.

Your Turn: Has your state enacted fair chance hiring practice legislation?

Dana Sitar (@danasitar) is a staff writer at The Penny Hoarder. She’s written for Huffington Post, Entrepreneur.com, Writer’s Digest and more, attempting humor wherever it’s allowed (and sometimes where it’s not).

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Using What’s Already in Your Pantry to Make Amazing “Free” Meals

Whenever I open our pantry door, I’m almost assaulted by the quantity of goods that I find in there. I see jars of pasta sauce, containers of beans and rice, boxes of pasta, herbs and sauces of all kinds.

The items in our pantry were built up over many months of buying items on sale, picking up bulk purchases of items we know we’ll eventually use, and meals that were planned but went unmade for one reason or another. Those items get pushed to the back by newer items in the next meal plan and, over a period of months, begin to fill up our pantry.

That’s a shame, too. There are many great meal ideas sitting in here, but things are often forgotten in the back of the pantry. Even worse, if those items sit in there too long, they become old and even potentially unusable. We don’t want those things to go to waste – there’s nothing worse than throwing away food that’s perfectly good and could have been used.

At the same time, if we actually use all of those foods, we’re going to dramatically cut our food bill for the next several weeks because the items in the pantry form the backbone of a lot of meals.

(The same exact philosophy exists with our deep freezer. Items will sometimes get shuffled to the back, and there’s great value in finding a use for them before they succumb to freezer burn.)

This is a situation we face every several months to a year or so, and here’s our strategy for dealing with an overstuffed pantry. This strategy takes some time – usually a few hours on a weekend afternoon – but it saves us a lot of time on grocery store visits for the next month and cuts our grocery bills dramatically. Here’s how we handle it.

First, we pull everything edible out of the pantry and cupboards. We just empty all of it out, covering our kitchen counters and dining room table with jars and boxes and other containers. It looks like a giant mess, to tell the truth. We try to roughly organize things as we’re unpacking – we’ll put all of the beans in one place, all of the sauces in another place, and so on – but it’s not exactly perfect, especially since many things are hard to perfectly categorize.

As we’re pulling all of this stuff out, we make sure everything we pull out is still edible and discard the things that are past date and unusable. We usually do this routine frequently enough that very few things have truly gone bad in our pantry or our cupboards, but occasionally we find an item or two that’s far past the date on the container.

It’s worth noting here that different containers have different meanings when it comes to the date on the package. Many packages use a “sell by:” or “best if used by:” date, which means that you can still use the item after that date without any problems. It just might be lacking in freshness. On the other hand, true expiration dates should be paid attention to. For the most part, nonperishable goods of the kind you keep in your pantry use “sell by” dates, which means you rarely have to throw anything out, but it’s always worth making sure what kind of date is on the package.

Once we have everything out on the counters and tables (and floors…), we go from ingredient to ingredient, planning meals around them, until we’ve found a use for virtually everything. This is usually done physically, as we actually pick up items and group them together into sensible meals as much as we can. We’ll often do this with an internet device nearby so we can look up recipes as we’re doing this. For dry bulk items, like a five pound bag of beans, we’ll often take the amount required out of the bulk bag, put it in a smaller container, and sit it with the ingredients for the recipe. I’ll usually put a piece of masking tape on one of the containers indicating what the planned meal is.

With this meal planning, our goal is to minimize purchases of items outside of the produce aisle to complete these meals. Fresh vegetables and other things are fine, but additional nonperishable foods are avoided as much as possible. So, for example, I have no problem buying fresh vegetables for a stir fry meal, but I don’t want to buy another packaged item to complete a different meal if we can sensibly avoid it.

As we’re doing this, we assemble several weeks of meal plans, taking note of what additional items need to be purchased to complete the meals. What this ends up looking like is that we have several sheets of paper with a week’s worth of meals on each one. Alongside those meal plans is a grocery list of the handful of additional fresh items we’d need to complete those meals. Those meal plans become our actual meal plans each week.

Once we have those meal plans, we take one additional step to make sure this all works quite easily for us. We put the items back very carefully so that the items needed for each meal are grouped and can easily be found. Grocery bags with little masking tape labels around the handles make this very easy – we write the name of the meal on the that masking tape label so we can find the items for the meal really easily. Meals that will be made sooner rather than later are kept near the front, so we put away meals from the final meal plan first, then follow it with meals from more and more and more recent plans so that the meals for the next week are sitting at the very front of the pantry. That way, as we move through the meal plans, the meals for those plans are always right at the front of the pantry for easy access.

After all of this, we’re really set for the next several weeks.

We have meal plans already in place for the next month or two. All we have to do is copy them to the whiteboard (or even just tape them up there, which is actually more convenient).

The meal plan sheets already have the grocery lists we need for the additional items for those meals, so there’s no grocery list construction. All we have to do is add last minute items to the list (things like coffee or milk or toilet paper).

Those grocery lists usually end up being really short, so the actual time spent creating a grocery list goes down to almost nothing (we just add the perishables and toiletries) and the time in the grocery store is drastically reduced, too.

Doing this trims a typical grocery list for our family from about 40 items to about 10 items. If you assume that the items have the same average value, that means we’re trimming 75% off of our grocery store bill for several weeks. That’s a tremendous savings, no matter how you slice it.

In addition, over the long haul, the time invested in this kind of pantry cleaning is pretty close to a wash, because you end up regaining so much time from substantially shorter grocery store visits.

Eventually, however, our pantry is bare, so we return to our traditional methods of meal planning – looking at the store flyer once a week, building a meal plan from that flyer, making a grocery list from that plan, and heading to the store. Eventually, the pantry builds back up again.

This begs the question: why do this cycle at all? Why wouldn’t we just use everything in our pantry before buying more? The big reason is that we usually save quite a bit on sales and bulk purchases along the way, so as long as we eventually use the stuff, our average cost per meal is pretty low over the long term. We also find that our meal plans for the week are sometimes interrupted and planned meals can slip through the cracks, especially if I handle the meal planning one week and Sarah handles it the next week. All of these factors cause items to accumulate in the pantry.

If you find yourself in a situation like us, where your cupboards and/or pantry are full of If you have a full pantry or full cupboards, give this strategy a shot. Empty everything out, build some meals from the things you find, make some long term meal plans, then put everything back in an organized system sorted by meal so you can easily find the items for the meal you want. The end result of all of this will be some very low grocery bills for a while, an actual use for many of the items floating around in your pantry, and, eventually, a pantry with a lot of free space in it. The best part? You end up recouping the time investment of the initial work because your subsequent grocery store visits are much shorter.

Good luck!

The post Using What’s Already in Your Pantry to Make Amazing “Free” Meals appeared first on The Simple Dollar.

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Bank of England base rate kept at 0.5% amid 'Brexit' uncertainty

Helen Knapman

the-bank-of-england.jpg

The Bank of England’s Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) has unanimously voted to keep the Bank’s base rate at 0.5%, amid economic uncertainty surrounding the forthcoming referendum on the UK’s membership of the European Union.

The Bank of England’s Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) has unanimously voted to keep the Bank’s base rate at 0.5%, amid economic uncertainty surrounding the forthcoming referendum on the UK’s membership of the European Union.

Base rate has now stood unchanged at 0.5% for a whopping 85 months in a row - it first fell from 1% in March 2009.

read more

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She Had to Go to Class, So She Found a Way to Make $6K at the Same Time

It’s no secret: College is expensive. And I’m not just talking about tuition.

If you don’t have a meal plan (and even if you do), there are groceries to buy, laundry quarters to scrounge up and basic necessities that always seem to run out each month.

Unless you go to a school with free tuition that also hands out a monthly allowance, you’d probably benefit from a little extra money.

In college, I was always on the lookout for ways to make more money that didn’t interfere with my jam-packed class schedule and extracurriculars. The pickings were slim, at best: I sold plasma, took a job as a late-night bartender and spent many weekends babysitting.

Maybe I donated too much plasma or spent one too many nights behind the bar until 3 a.m., but the schedule left me feeling run down, and my grades were beginning to suffer.

Yes, I was making decent money — but at what cost?

There had to be a more flexible way to put some spending money in my pocket that fit into my 12-credit-hour schedule, right?

As luck would have it, there was.

Taking Notes for Cash

When a classmate needed to run home for a family emergency, I offered to share my notes with her when she got back.

And you know what? Not only was she super appreciative, she found my study guides so helpful, she suggested I sign up to be a note taker for the school.  

Until then, I didn’t even know such a job existed.

But it did, and it was the perfect way to earn extra money for doing something I would do anyway: Go to class, pay attention and take notes.

The school’s Disability Resource Center paid students per credit hour to take notes and upload them once a week for students who couldn’t make it to class or needed extra help.

I earned about $300 a semester as a school note taker. Although it wasn’t a ton of cash, it was a great way to afford necessities without interfering with my academics.

Plus, when you’re a college student living on a tight budget, you start learning all sorts of ways to stretch your money.

The gig opened my eyes to the possibility of being a professional note taker.

A quick check of my school’s honor code — which addressed important issues like plagiarism and cheating — provided the information I needed to ethically and responsibly operate my on-campus note selling business.

I started selling weekly lecture notes ($5), chapter outlines ($5) and study guides ($10) on campus.

Strategically placed flyers on lecture hall bulletin boards and a little social media marketing helped me make several sales each week.

While I sold a couple of outlines and study guides during the semester, my sales always jumped the week leading up to a big exam.

In a 16-week semester, not counting exam week, I earned about $800 — an extra $50 a week, on average, between notetaking for the school and personal sales.

During my seven semesters as a note taker, I earned a grand total of $6,000!

How to Become a Professional Note Taker

Stop by your school’s resource office to see if Disability Services or a similar department has a program where you can sign up as a note taker.

On average, you can expect to earn $25-$50 per credit hour for each class you’re approved for taking notes.

To take your business further, consider using an online note taking marketplace to sell guides and outlines to a much larger audience:

• Luvo

• Course Hero

• Nexus Notes

• Note Utopia

• OneClass

While each site operates a bit differently, the premise is the same: Go to class, take amazing notes, upload them and sit back and wait for sales to roll in.

Some sites, like Luvo, take a percentage of your earnings. Others, like OneClass, pay a flat weekly rate.

What Makes a Good Note Taker?

Whether you decide to be an official note taker through your school, sell notes on your own or use one of the popular marketplaces, there are a few best practices you should keep in mind.

Keep it Original

Only sell original work you created.

Never offer copies of homework, professor-created presentations or other course handouts for sale — ever.

Go to Class

You’re not going to make any money if you don’t to class and take notes.

This is especially true if you’re working for your school — you’ll only get paid for the weeks you actually upload notes.

Stay Organized

Some of the best notes condense complex information into snippets using keywords and short sentences.

Keep it simple and neat.

Be Yourself

Write in your own style.

Don’t attempt to jot down everything the lecturer says, verbatim. Your peers will appreciate outlines and guides from a student’s perspective — like they were actually in class.

Being a paid note taker not only provided extra money, it helped me improve my GPA. When you become a professional note taker, you’ll find your own study habits improve, as well as your grades.

So, if you’re looking for a flexible way to make extra income in college and also become a better student, sign up to be a note taker and get paid to pay attention in class.

Your Turn: How did you make extra money in college?

Blogger at Work from Home Happiness, freelance writer and gig economy enthusiast, Ashlee Anderson enjoys helping others think outside the cubicle and find happiness in working on their own terms.

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