April testing covered 2,500 hospitals with 30 measures New Hospital Safety Scores, which assign A, B, C, D and F letter grades to hospitals nationwide and provide the most complete picture of patient safety in the U.S. health care system, were announced today by The Leapfrog Group, a national patient safety watchdog. Pocono Medical Center [...]
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الخميس، 5 مايو 2016
This Guy’s Suing His Company for $415,000 Because He was Bored at Work
We’ve all been there.
Whether you’re endlessly folding shirts for a retail display, spinning a sign on an empty highway, or remaking a drink for someone who insists you put half a pump too much vanilla in their latte (RIP my brief career at Starbucks)… some jobs are boring.
But have you ever been so bored or frustrated at work you considered suing your boss?
That’s exactly what Parisian Frederic Desnard is doing.
His job was so boring, he’s demanding $415,000 in damages for “distress.”
How to Get Paid to Do Nothing
Desnard’s official title at Interparfum, where he was employed from 2010 to 2014, was “General Service Director” — but he claims he was given only menial tasks until his workload disappeared completely.
Desnard told CNN Money “eventually there was so little for him to do that his bosses simply told him to go home and come back when they call him. The phone call never came, he claimed.”
After a seven-month absence, Desnard was laid off — but not before suffering a “bore-out” (think burnout, but more… boring) that left him “destroyed” and in a “serious depression.”
“I was ashamed of being paid for doing nothing,” he said.
Desnard’s salary was $4,000 per month.
Bored at Work?
For many of us, getting paid (well!) to do nothing sounds like a dream come true.
Since Desnard allegedly wasn’t even required to put in office time, he could’ve easily used the free income to get a freelance business off the ground, spend time with family or travel.
But a boring job you actually have to be at isn’t quite so appealing.
Luckily, we have some suggestions to help.
If you hate having a job at all, try these suggestions to avoid full-time employment like the plague.
And if you want a job, but you’re ready to quit the one you’ve got right now, make sure to try these 10 strategies first.
Can’t take it even a second longer?
Check out our ultimate guide to quitting your job before you walk in and launch into that well-rehearsed (and oh-so-cathartic) monologue you’ve been writing.
And hey — if you do it right, you might just get a raise!
It might be even better than getting paid for doing nothing.
Your Turn: Are you bored at work?
Jamie Cattanach (@jamiecattanach) is a staff writer at The Penny Hoarder. Her creative writing has been featured in DMQ Review, Sweet: A Literary Confection and elsewhere.
The post This Guy’s Suing His Company for $415,000 Because He was Bored at Work appeared first on The Penny Hoarder.
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Sainsbury's Bank to relaunch mortgages
Sainsbury’s Bank will re-enter the mortgage market next year, the supermarket has revealed in its trading update today.
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It’s National Nurses Week! Here are 6 Freebies, Deals and Contests
Nurses, you definitely deserve appreciation.
After all, who else regularly works 12-hour shifts where duties include not being overtly grossed out by a variety of bodily fluids?
That’s why we’re pleased to share some great deals with you in honor of National Nurses Week. No number of freebies or deals could adequately show how grateful we are for your care!
National Nurses Week 2016
National Nurses Week runs from May 6 to 12. It’s a little bit odd to start it on a Friday, but nurses do work odd shifts!
When you’re finally off-call, check out the deals below. You deserve them!
1. Cinnabon
Show your healthcare ID badge at your local Cinnabon location to get a free Cinnabon Classic Roll or MiniBon anytime during the week (May 6-12).
2. EVOS
When you go with a friend to EVOS on Friday, May 6, you’ll get a free meal or salad when they purchase theirs.
3. Gypsy Florence Nightingale
Do you know a travel nurse?
Nominate them for this contest held by The Gypsy Nurse in honor of National Nurses Week and Florence Nightingale’s birthday.
The winner will receive a prize package worth up to $600, which includes free admission for two to the 2016 Traveler’s Conference in Las Vegas. Submissions will be accepted through May 10 — here are the full details.
4. Lippincott Nursing Center Ebooks and Online Courses
Over 40 ebook titles and tons of continuing education courses are free or heavily discounted this week over at the Lippincott Nursing Center.
5. Webinar
Each year, NursingWorld.org hosts a free webinar for National Nurses Week. This year’s will be held on Tuesday, May 10 at 1 p.m. E.D.T, and will focus on the importance of diversity.
Additionally, you may purchase optional CNE credits for your participation in this 60-minute live event.
6. #SafeNursesRock
You work hard every day to take good care of your patients — and your fellow nurses.
Get creative and share fun videos, photos and quotes about your “Culture of Safety” at work on Instagram and Twitter. When you use the hashtag “#SafeNursesRock,” you’ll be entered to win one of 10 National Nurses Week prize packs.
Check out the full details and rules here.
We’re so grateful for all your hard work, nurses — hopefully these freebies and deals help you feel just a little bit of the appreciation we have for you!
Your Turn: Are you a nurse? Which of these deals will you take advantage of this week?
Jamie Cattanach (@jamiecattanach) is a staff writer at The Penny Hoarder. Her creative writing has been featured in DMQ Review, Sweet: A Literary Confection and elsewhere.
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12 Cinco de Mayo Deals to Help You Fiesta on a Budget
Happy Cinco de Mayo!
Though — contrary to common belief — today is not Mexico’s Independence Day, it’s still an excuse to celebrate.
And here at The Penny Hoarder, you know how we celebrate: with deals.
So here are 12 of the best Cinco de Mayo specials we could find… Vamos!
1. Taco Bueno
Olé! These coupons will get you a free crispy beef taco and free bean burrito, plus 50% off an order of nachos or a quesadilla.
Note: Two of these coupons are valid today, and two are for May 6-9.
2. Bahama Breeze
Get your drink on with $5 handcrafted classic margaritas at the Bahama Breeze nearest you.
3. Jamba Juice
This coupon, valid through May 8, will get you a small chili mango smoothie for just $2.99… Spicy!
4. Moe’s Southwest Grill
Happy Cinco de Moe’s!
It’s offering $5 burritos all day at select locations — and if you’re one of the first 50 customers of the day, you might even get a free T-shirt!
5. Taco Time
With this straightforward (and crunchy) deal, you can get tacos for just 69 cents all day.
6. Tijuana Flats
Grab a Tijuana burrito, chips and a drink for $5.99, or add a draft beer for just $1. Ooh, and it’s also happy hour all day.
If you get a little too happy tonight, you can recover tomorrow with $2 tacos and, once again, happy hour all day. (Hair of the dog?)
7. Sonic Drive-In
This spot may not be Mexican — but who cares when you’re getting half-price boneless wings?!
8. On the Border
Drink specials abound here, with festive drinks starting at $3 each. To get the fiesta started, many locations will also have live music!
9. Chili’s
It’s Drinko de Mayo at Chili’s: $5 Presidente margaritas and $3 Dos Equis beer.
10. Macaroni Grill
No time to party? Get an express lunch in under seven minutes and for just $5 with this coupon.
11. Caribou Coffee
With its own version of Drink-o de Mayo, this coffee shop is offering free samples of its new Salted Caramel, Mint Chocolate and Raspberry Caribou Coolers from 3 to 5 p.m. today.
12. Taco Cabana
Though you can party it up with $3 small nacho and beer or margarita combos during happy hour today, we care way more about the FREE BREAKFAST TACO you can get tomorrow morning.
Your Turn: Where will you celebrate Cinco de Mayo this year?
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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25 Flexible, Healthy Foods I Buy Constantly (Especially On Sale)
As I’ve described many times, our family’s normal meal-planning routine starts with the grocery store flyer. Each week, either Sarah or I will sit down with the flyer, look through the items on sale, and use those sale items as the basis for our meal plan.
Here’s a surprising truth, though: We gloss over the vast majority of items in the flyer. Most of the items that are on sale at the grocery store, from the boxed meals to the sweet cereals, are things that we simply don’t purchase, no matter the price.
That’s because part of our frugal values involve weighing the long-term cost to our health. The diseases and ailments brought about by unhealthy foods have a real financial cost and a real quality-of-life cost, too. It’s a cost that we want to avoid, even if those foods happen to have other appealing attributes.
Instead, we look for sales on a core list of foods that we rely on for our family meals. Those are food items that we’ll buy virtually every time that they’re on sale. We’ll often even stock up on them, filling up our pantry with extras.
Those foods really have to hit four criteria to make that list of core foods for our family.
First, they’re healthy. Fruits, vegetables, nuts, spices, and so on make up most of the list. Those items provide the backbone of all of the meals that we eat as a family.
Second, they’re reasonably priced by default and very nicely priced on sale. These aren’t high-priced ingredients. They’re straightforward staples that you can get at a reasonable price at pretty much any grocery store. When they’re on sale, they become quite a bargain.
They work in lots of different dishes. The items on this list can be mixed and re-mixed in infinite ways. You can combine almost any pair of them together to make the basis for something interesting and tasty.
I can use them in some long-term fashion. Most of these items are dried goods, which means they have a long shelf life. Even the ones that are perishable can easily be frozen and used at a later date.
A final criteria: Our family has to like those foods. There are some items, such as button mushrooms, that I won’t buy because they’re disliked by a significant number of people in our home, to the point that they won’t eat meals with those ingredients.
Let’s take a look at 25 of the items on my “always” shopping list – the items I’ll always buy if they’re on sale.
My ‘Always’ Shopping List
Beans (including lentils) are something that I buy at the grocery store practically every week. I typically buy bags of dry beans and cook them myself because it’s far cheaper per pound and the beans end up much more flavorful.
Beans can be used in countless recipes: soups, stews, burritos, tacos, enchiladas, and even mashed up to form patties for things like black bean burgers. We always have tons of dried beans on hand simply due to their versatility in so many recipes.
Rice is another “backbone” staple for many meals that has many of the same benefits as beans: you can store it dry and cook it when it’s convenient, it’s often very cheap per pound, and making it yourself makes it very flavorful.
I use rice as part of countless stir fry meals and within burritos, as well as a seasoned side dish for countless things that I make. Seasoned rice is such a common side dish in our family that it’s almost a running joke.
Quinoa is a grain-line fruit (it’s actually called a “pseudocereal”) that can be prepared in many of the same dishes that rice fits into, along with some other uses. It’s a very rich source of protein, fiber, and nutrients.
I’ve used quinoa as part of stir fry meals, for example, but I also use it in things like salads and even as part of the black bean burgers that I often make. It works in both sweet (fruit-based) and savory salads.
Popcorn is perhaps my favorite snack food in the world. I tend to buy it in large quantities and keep it around for popping at home. We have a popcorn popper, but sometimes I’ll just put some seeds in a brown paper bag with a bit of oil and pop it in the microwave – just turn it on high and wait until the kernels stop popping.
Popcorn is great because you can eat it plain or flavor it however you want. If you want a savory snack, it’s perfect for that – just sprinkle some salt or some garlic powder or some black pepper on it. If you want something sweet, toss it with a bit of sugar and cinnamon.
Unsweetened and unsalted nuts are another snack that I like quite a bit. They’re packed with fiber and protein, which makes for a really healthy snack. Plus, they serve a nice role in quite a few salads and other things (like cookies).
I prefer to buy them unsweetened and unsalted so that I can do that myself. It’s easy to just throw some nuts in a container, add just a bit of oil, shake them around, then add whatever seasonings you might want – sweet things for a sweet snack and savory things for a savory snack.
Apples, oranges, and bananas fill the same exact need for our family: They make a quick, healthy, and ultra-convenient snack for anyone who needs one. Having apples and bananas always available (and not having other unhealthy snacks around) makes it easy for everyone in our family to eat a little healthier while enjoying something tasty.
Not only that, both apples and bananas have lots of other uses, from salads to apple crisps and banana bread. We also often freeze them for uses in baked goods and smoothies later on.
Sweet potatoes are another staple of our diet around here. Sweet potatoes are pretty much just as flexible as ordinary potatoes, but substantially better for you.
Again, as with many of the other items on this list, sweet potatoes have the advantage of being able to work in sweet dishes – baked, with brown sugar, for example – or in savory dishes – sliced into fries and dipped into curry mayonnaise… mmmm.
Dates can be bought in bulk at a very inexpensive price at most grocery stores, and when there’s a sale on them, I buy them by the truckload. They last a long time, add a special little punch of sweetness to anything that needs it, and are pretty healthy to boot.
I absolutely love putting dates in my oatmeal for breakfast, tossing some into any cookies I make, mixing them into breads, using them in fruit salads… like everything else on this list, they work in so many situations.
Speaking of oats, our family buys both steel cut oats and rolled oats all the time, often in the biggest containers we can find. Oats are a very healthy grain and, as with many items on this list, they can work in both sweet and savory contexts.
Obviously, they make for a great breakfast centerpiece. Just cook ‘em up with whatever you want to add (like apples, dates, bananas… all from this list) and you’re good to go with some amazing oatmeal. They also work very well in cookies. On the savory side, rolled oats work well as a “filler” in dishes as different as meatloaf and black bean balls.
Cabbage is a vegetable that I seem to always be able to find for a pittance, and I almost always pick some up if it’s on sale. Not only are there a lot of uses for it fresh, almost all of the best uses work just fine if you freeze the cabbage or the finished product, too.
My favorite use for cabbage is to ferment it and turn it into sauerkraut or kimchi. I would actually eat sauerkraut with every single meal, I so love the stuff. I often freeze the sauerkraut, too. You can also use cabbage in salads and soups and many other things to boot.
Sunflower seeds aren’t things you would eat as a main course for any meal, but having said that, they mix in with all kinds of things to provide a real nutritious boost. Their price per ounce is perhaps a bit high, but when I find them on sale, I’m all over them.
I’ll sprinkle them on salads, mix them into breads, or even eat them as a straight-up snack with a bit of salt and black pepper sprinkled in with them.
Carrots are another vegetable that can be prepared in a sweet way and in a savory way, depending on what you need. Carrots are a nutritional powerhouse and can be had for cheap if you keep your eyes open.
I love making a mean carrot cake with fresh carrots or cooking them in brown sugar for a side dish, but they’re also a powerful addition to any savory soup or stew that you might be making. They can also be grated and added to all kinds of salads, even sweet ones.
Spinach is easily my favorite leafy vegetable, but I’ll usually buy any leafy green that’s on sale and use them all in much the same way. That’s because leafy greens are super healthy and also super flexible.
You can put leafy greens on sandwiches, make salads out of them, bake them in casseroles, cook them as a side dish, “wilt” them with hot oil or fats… there are so many things you can do with whatever greens you happen to have available to you.
Honey is a delicious addition to many, many sweet dishes – and even some savory ones. If I can get a container of honey on sale, I’m buying it.
You can put honey into almost anything that needs a hint of sweetness, from cookies to iced tea and from oatmeal to pizza dough. It works in everything. Not only that, it can be used to heighten many savory dishes as well, such as baked ham.
Black peppercorns are something that we keep in abundance around our house. We like to buy them whole and then grind them ourselves.
Whole black peppercorns are a great thing to put in soups and stews for flavoring. I usually throw a big handful into any sort of stock that I make as well. Grinding up the peppercorns, however, provides a wonderful topping and flavor addition to almost any savory dish you can think of.
Garlic cloves are a fundamental part of so many different savory dishes that I can’t possibly count. There’s nothing that says “something delicious is cooking” than the smell of fresh garlic sizzling in a pan.
I use garlic cloves in practically everything, from tomato sauces to soups and from breads to salads. Garlic makes practically everything delicious!
Tomatoes, whether fresh (if they’re in season) or canned, form the backbone of countless healthy sauces and casseroles and salads. I even love to eat them sliced, with just a hint of black pepper and salt.
What can you use tomatoes for? I love using diced tomatoes to make a thick pasta sauce or to form the basis for salsa. I use tomatoes for toppings on tacos and burgers. I use tomatoes in chili as well as other soups and stews. I use them for countless delicious things!
Fresh herbs are great when you can find them for the right price; if not, dry herbs will do. During the right seasons, you can find fresh herbs for shockingly low prices and in those situations, I’ll buy a lot, use them when fresh, and dry what’s left.
Fresh (or dry, if I must) herbs go into almost every savory dish that I make. If it’s the centerpiece of an evening meal, chances are that I put some herbs in it of some kind. Basil, oregano, rosemary, thyme, sage, tarragon… they’re all wonderful things.
Eggs are sometimes maligned for their health benefits, but it entirely depends on how you prepare them. A hard-boiled egg, for instance, is a reasonably healthy and nutritious item. Not only that, eggs can be quite inexpensive, especially when you pick them up on sale.
I love eating an egg or two for breakfast, but they have other uses, too. They serve as a pretty good binder for all kinds of dishes and casseroles and even in things like black bean burgers. They’re also quite tasty as a snack if you hard-boil them.
Bell peppers are a flavorful component of all kinds of dishes around our home. As with some of the items on this list, the price of bell peppers varies widely, particularly with the season, but when I can find them cheaply, I buy a lot. I’ll even sometimes dice them along with onions and save containers of that in the freezer if I can’t use them all.
What can bell peppers go into? What can’t they go into! I put bell peppers in things as different as chili and scrambled eggs, into enchiladas and on baked potatoes, in tacos and in vegetable soups. It adds a wonderful flavor to everything – plus, they smell tremendous when you cook them with some diced onions and a bit of garlic. That aroma is pretty close to heaven.
Hot peppers, on the other hand, have a bit more limited use around our home as not everyone is on board with heat in their food. I use them in many of the same contexts as bell peppers, but the quantity I use is much smaller.
If I have extra hot peppers, I’ll often make some hot pepper sauce, taking the hottest peppers and cooking them down along with some tomato sauce and a few other ingredients (garlic, onions) until everything is a thick paste. Delicious!
Speaking of onions, these root vegetables are another staple of many, many dishes at our home. I consider the sauteed onion to be a flavor miracle, as there’s almost nothing better for jazzing up practically any savory dish than a well-cooked onion.
It’s so easy, too. Just put a bit of oil into a pan over medium-high heat, wait until the oil is shimmering, then toss in some diced onions and maybe a bit of minced garlic cloves and diced bell pepper. Cook them, stirring frequently, until the onions are just starting to brown and are at least somewhat translucent. Take the vegetables out of the pan, then splash a bit of white wine into the pan to remove anything that’s stuck to the bottom. Pour the white wine in with the vegetables. That mix of white wine, onions, peppers, and garlic is absolute magic and works in countless savory dishes.
Flaxseed might be the most surprising item on this list, but they’re incredibly healthy and they mix quietly into all kinds of dishes. They can be tricky to find at a great price, but twice in the last six months I’ve found discounted flaxseed and brought home quite a lot of it.
I mix flaxseed into breads, breakfast cereals, salads, cookies, and even into things like black bean burgers. It fits quietly into almost anything, never overpowering with flavor but adding just a bit of crunch and a lot of nutrition.
Final Thoughts
The items on this list are things that constantly find their way into my shopping cart. They form the backbone of most of the meals that my family regularly eats, so I’m sure to use them. Furthermore, these items tend to show up as complements in other recipes that I find, usually because there’s something more unusual in the grocery flyer.
Many of these items are dry items, meaning that they can last and last in our pantry. Some are fresh, but the fresh ones can easily be frozen or dried for later use; I often take old bell peppers and dice them up with onions, for example, and keep those in small containers in the freezer for the next time a recipe calls for them.
Because I know of so many uses for those items and I also know that they fit so well into things that my family likes, I almost always buy them when I see them on sale. That kind of familiarity also breeds a sense of deep understanding of the prices of those items, so I can quickly figure out how good the sale is based on recent prices in the area.
Of course, sometimes we don’t pay for these things at all. Many of these items are found in our vegetable garden. It’s a great time of the year when those items come in fresh from the garden, bearing no additional cost for us. Many of them are used immediately; when the abundance grows too great, we trade them and freeze them, too.
In short, these are the inexpensive things that make up the backbone of our family diet. They’re all healthy. They’re all tasty. They’re all very flexible. Thus, they’re all things that find their way into my cart and onto my dinner table.
Related:
- 10 Surprisingly Simple Strategies for Saving Money on Food
- Six Simple Changes to Your Grocery Routine That Can Save You a Lot of Money
- 15 Simple Money-Saving Strategies for Storing and Preparing Food at Home
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European grocer eyes Stroud Township
Lidl is a chain with more than 10,000 grocery stores in 26 countries.
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Eight Ways to Make the Most of a Farmers Market
My passion for farmers markets is part of my identity.
I mean that literally: I used to fill out online dating profiles that asked me to list “five things I couldn’t live without,” and I would inevitably write: Basketball, books, farmers markets, family... and then I would be stuck. I’d spend an hour trying to think of something witty for the fifth one before giving up and putting “phone” just like every other unoriginal person. (If you’re a girl, “4th of July” is an appropriate fifth thing. Why do women give so much love to Independence Day on their online profiles? Is it code for something?)
Point is, farmer’s markets are important to me, and I know my way around them. Here are my tips for making the most of them this summer:
1. Make Friends with the Vendors
Not only does this make the whole experience more enjoyable, but it can also save you a significant amount of money. There was a guy in Los Angeles who sold vegan cookies, and I really hit it off with him. I didn’t even buy all that much from him, but whenever I walked by we’d do a head nod, give a fist bump, or have a short conversation.
This built a nice rapport between us, and it paid off when I decided to make a bulk purchase to send some cookies to my little sister to celebrate her going off to college. Cookie Man hooked it up big time, throwing in tons of free goodies once he knew they were going to my sister, whom he also knew.
I’m sure that trumped whatever Hallmark card and Reese’s candy my Mom sent. (Sorry, Mom. Happy Mother’s Day!)
2. Don’t Get Upsold
A true farmers market vendor-friend is great. They always want you to be happy and will never push something on you unless they’re absolutely convinced you’ll love it.
But, if you’re not a pita chip fan, don’t let someone talk you into it just because the flour for this chip was milled by a single old man in the woods whose family has been perfecting this recipe for 10,000 years. No matter how high-quality the chip is, if you don’t like the idea of chips to begin with, you probably won’t like it.
I’ve made this mistake with cheesecake before. Never again. No matter the quality of the ingredients, I always find it to be like fungus-flavored wet paper towel. Cheese and cake should come far apart from each other and in separate meals. Bring on the hate comments, I’m ready!
3. Go When You’re Full
People always seem to remember this rule for supermarkets, but no one mentions it when it comes to farmers markets. I think it should be a core tenet of all food shopping.
I’m even more prone to impulse buys at a farmers market than at a grocery store, because a real person is there pushing stuff on me. It’s an issue.
Having eaten beforehand allows you a little more control over your actions. You can stick to your list, still be friendly with vendors, and stay within your budget.
4. Use Vendor Punch Cards
Buy 10, get one free deals aren’t just for coffee and burritos, you know. At the market I used to go to in LA, it took me a while to realize one of the best vegetable vendors in the joint offered a punch card for frequent visitors.
At first, I would sample veggies from many different vendors, so whenever they offered me a loyalty card, I would just say no to speed up the sale. But after a few months I realized I was favoring a particular stand, so I asked about their rewards program. I was happily given a punch card, which ended up saving me hundreds of dollars over the course of the year.
5. Find the Sweet Spot, Timing-Wise
This might depend on the particular market, but I think showing up about 30 to 45 minutes before closing is perfect. The vendors are anxious to get rid of their stuff at a discount, but they aren’t going anywhere anytime soon. And even at a big market, 45 minutes is enough time to do a lap and see all there is to offer.
Sure, the stuff will have been picked through, but I’ve never been dissatisfied with the quality of stuff bought later in the day. That’s part of the joy of the farmers market – it’s the freshest, most natural stuff in your area! Ninety-five percent of the produce is going to be delicious, and 95% of the food will still be available even if you do your shopping in the last 30 minutes of operational hours.
It’s kind of like going to the airport to catch a domestic flight. You don’t want to get there too early, so you’re forced to sit around and burn through all your reading material before the flight even takes off. And you don’t want to cut it so close that you have to beg your way to the front of the security line and then run through the terminal like you’re the hero of a bad rom-com trying to stop a plane from taking off.
Arriving near the end means the crowds have died down, the crying babies have gone home, and the vendors are ready to offer things on the cheap.
6. Don’t Be a Slave to the ‘Certified Organic’ Label
It costs money to become certified organic. The official USDA estimate for a farm or business to get the USDA organic label is $750, but different sources vary and it can sometimes be a lot more. Farms on a lean budget, or those that just don’t want to deal with the hassle, simply won’t do bother with the certification process.
These growers are still likely to have excellent, nutrient-rich produce. Organic is as much of a branding buzzword as it is a sign of quality. Farms that aren’t certified organic might have saved money in foregoing certification costs that they can pass on to the consumer.
Look at the pictures of the farm on display. Talk to the people and get a sense of their spirit and love of the soil. Taste the samples. Heck, you can even visit a lot of these farms if you want. If you get a good vibe, then their food is probably just as healthy as the next booth over, whether they are technically organic or not.
7. Bring Cash (But Not Too Much)
Many vendors accept credit cards, but it’s quicker and easier for everyone involved to use cash. My problem for awhile was that no matter how much cash I would show up with, I would spend all of it. I did better once I decided that I was bringing $60, and if I spent it, that was it.
If you’re a farmers market addict like myself, you have to treat it like a Las Vegas casino. I’m like that friend in Vegas who pulls you aside and says, “I’m giving you my ATM card, and no matter what I say, you do not give it back to me.” After an hour at the blackjack table, he inevitably begs for his card back.
That was me at a farmers market, but my vices were date rolls, persimmons, and any other exotic, overpriced delicacy I could find. If you go in with a plan, and a set amount of cash, you’re more likely to stick to your budget and not get carried away.
8. Appreciate the Non-Monetary Benefits
One thing about the farmers market I appreciate is that it seems to encourage an atmosphere of freedom and looseness, especially among parents. Adults who wouldn’t dream of letting their kids walk down the block to visit a friend without watching them like a hawk the whole way tend to ease up a little at the farmers market. You don’t see many kid-leashes or stern talking-to’s. Everyone always seems to be enjoying themselves, safe in the knowledge that they’re among friendly members of their community.
Sure, sometimes this results in a newly empowered three-year-old grinning at you as he shoves his entire filthy hand into the free-sample bin, but I’ll accept that inconvenience.
Another great perk is that people always want to share recipes. There is something inherently more pleasing about learning techniques in this fashion over using a book. I think we humans are hard-wired to appreciate an oral passing-down of traditions and techniques, and what better way to learn than from the guy who’s been perfecting his sourdough recipe for 50 years?
Summing Up
If you want to meet great people, enjoy high-quality, affordable food, and get some fresh air, farmers markets are the place to be. Follow these tips to make the most of a nice afternoon while supporting local businesses at the same time. Sure, Whole Foods is delicious, but it’s still a mega-corporation. And I bet no one there has ever given you free box of cookies.
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How Will Your Kids Pay for College? Here’s How to Talk About It Now
The high cost of college and the burden of student loan debt are well-known issues in our national dialogue.
Still, going to college seems like an inevitable next step for most current K-12 students.
The cost of college isn’t a deterrent for most teens, according to a recent survey by Junior Achievement.
Of the 13- to 17-year-olds surveyed, almost nine in 10 (89%) say they plan to attend college. An annual T. Rowe Price study of younger kids, ages 8-14, puts that number at about eight in 10 — slightly lower, but still a large majority.
These expectations are surprisingly close to actual results.
By age 26, 88% of high school graduates have enrolled in college, according to a 10-year study by the Center for Public Education.
Why Kids Don’t Go to College
Why do the rest decide not to attend college?
Two-thirds of non–college-goers come from low-income homes, so it’s unsurprising finances played some role in the majority of reasons for not attending college.
About a quarter (23%) said flat out they couldn’t afford it.
Sixteen percent said they’d rather work and make money. Another 16% said they had to support their family.
Another sixteen percent of students said they didn’t go to college because they already had a good job. Less frequent answers included some related to finances, as well, including pregnancy, child care and marriage.
Only 5% said they didn’t attend college because they didn’t need to or couldn’t get in.
But few students anticipate these financial issues.
When asked how the conversation about student loan debt affects their plans, only 4% of teenagers said it makes them less likely to go to college. Instead, 60% say they’ll figure out a way to pay for college without taking out student loans.
While higher education feels like a certainty for younger generations, what’s uncertain is just how they’ll pay for it.
How Will the Next Generation Pay for College?
Four in 10 teens who plan to attend college say they expect scholarships and grants to cover most of their costs.
Only 1 in 10 anticipate taking out student loans — a pretty stark difference from the number of current college students who receive student loans.
Recent data show more than half of college students take out student loans, according to the National Center for Education Statistics.
Are today’s teens being too optimistic? Or does their response mark a change in our awareness of the burden of student loan debt?
Time will tell.
It could be their parents are doing a better job of saving for college than ours did. Or maybe they have more creative ways to cover costs.
It could be a simple matter of youthful ignorance (ahh, remember those days?).
Teens may have the best of intentions — 17% even say they plan to have a job to pay for college — but maybe lack the perspective of the high cost.
What Kids Say vs. What Parents Say
If kids and teens are too optimistic about paying for college, it could be because they over-estimate how much their parents are going to cover.
There’s a major disconnect between how kids and their parents view paying for college.
In 2015, 48% of teens told Junior Achievement they expected their parents would help pay for college. Only 16% of parents said they planned to pay.
It’s similar with younger kids, too.
Nearly a quarter of kids in the T. Rowe Price survey expect their parents to pay for all of their college costs.
Of those, 1 in 5 have parents who expect them to contribute, but the kids are apparently clueless about this expectation.
Why the disconnect?
I’m not a parent, but out of sympathy I’ll venture a guess: Paying for college is just too complicated to think about, let alone to clearly explain to your kids.
Talk to Your Kids About the Cost of College
Teaching kids anything about money is tough.
Talking to them about college piles major career and life choices on top of unpleasant financial issues.
Where do you even begin?
My parents didn’t go to college, nor did most of the parents of my high school peers.
Our teachers and counselors went to college at a time when tuition was much lower and highly subsidized. For their parents, college was reserved for the wealthy elite.
They knew to push us to attend college, but couldn’t offer proper guidance about how to responsibly pay for it. And now, our generation is buried in unprecedented debt.
We don’t want it to be worse for the next generation.
So how do you help your kids?
Start by including college in your list of what to teach kids about money.
In addition to talking to them about whether and where they’ll go, as well as what they’ll study, talk about the cost and options for covering it.
As your kids think about and prepare for college, discuss these topics with them:
Will you or anyone in the family help pay for college?
This is a basic place to start.
Make sure your kids know whether to expect money from you for college, so they plan accordingly.
How much will they have to cover themselves?
If you’re paying, how much do you plan to cover? Is it a set amount, a percentage, or is it contingent on other factors?
How can they start saving money for college now?
Do you need to help them start a savings account or set savings goals? Where will their money come from, and how will it grow?
Where can they find scholarships, and how do they apply?
One mom helped her son win $100,000 in college scholarships. Read her tips!
We also have tons of resources to help you find scholarships. Here’s a list of 100 college scholarships and another 100 bizarre scholarships that might surprise you.
What are student loans, how do they work and should they get them?
Long before they fill out a FAFSA, help your kids understand student loan debt in simple terms (you may have to study a little yourself…).
Explain what it actually means to take out student loans. Help them understand the commitment they’re making and think about how they plan to pay it back.
How Will Your Kids Pay for College?
The question of how to pay for college has plagued us for decades.
Just as college becomes more necessary, paying for it becomes more of a burden on students and their families.
Constant political and social changes only seem to complicate the issue more.
The cost, funding and relevance of higher education shifts with every generation, leaving parents of young children to only guess what to expect for their kids’ future.
Will your kids be covered by college scholarships?
Will they be buried in debt after graduation?
Will they be able to pay up front with savings?
Will they work during college to pay their own tuition?
Or, who knows? Maybe by the time they’re out of high school college will be free — or not even necessary at all.
Your Turn: Are you saving for your kids’ college fund? Do you talk to your kids about paying for college?
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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Rents rise by more than 5% across the UK
The average rent in the UK is now £764 a month – up by 5.1% since April 2015, according to the latest data.
The HomeLet Rental Index also found that rents in London are 7.7% higher than a year ago – at £1,543 a month.
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11 Thrifty, Mouth-Watering Ways to Enjoy Leftover Chicken
Sure, we’d all love to be the kind of home cook who can whip up a perfectly roasted chicken with an hour’s notice.
But let’s be real: Most nights, it’s just not going to happen.
When life gets hectic, rotisserie chicken can be a lifesaver. A store-bought bird will run you less than $10, and you can transform the cooked meat into countless quick, healthy, (mostly) homemade dinners.
From pesto polenta bowls to enchilada hand pies, these 11 chicken recipes help you stretch your leftovers — and if you do wind up roasting your own bird, they’ll work just as well.
1. Pesto Chicken Polenta Bowls with Burst Tomatoes
Photo credit: Turnip the Oven
Instant polenta is a great pantry staple for home cooks short on time — and cash.
In this recipe, top bowls of cheesy polenta with shredded rotisserie chicken, spinach and basil pesto, as well as oven-roasted cherry tomatoes.
2. Gluten-Free Chicken Tetrazzini
Photo credit: Healthy Nibbles & Bits
This rich, cheesy chicken tetrazzini is… incredibly healthy?
It’s true! Tofu fettuccini replaces traditional pasta, and the filling is loaded with kale, leftover shredded chicken breast and only a modest amount of mozzarella.
3. Chicken Alfredo Stuffed Peppers
Photo credit: Kitchen Gidget
The secret to these five-ingredient stuffed peppers? Store-bought Alfredo sauce and leftover cooked chicken.
Just toss them together with orzo and cheese and bake to gooey perfection. The dish comes together in a mere 30 minutes, making this a perfect weeknight dinner.
4. Green Chile Chicken Enchilada Hand Pies
Photo credit: Kitchen Gidget
Everyone adores enchiladas, but they are a labor of love — all that frying, dipping, rolling and saucing.
This simple recipe bundles a simplified green chile chicken enchilada filling into neat little hand pies.
5. Leftover Chicken Burrito Bowls
Photo credit: Honey and Birch
In this genius recipe, marinate leftover cooked chicken in a mixture of lime juice, fresh cilantro and store-bought salsa.
Then pile it into a veggie-loaded burrito bowl and top it with two-ingredient avocado cream.
6. Honey Chipotle Barbecue Chicken Salad
Photo credit: Mommyhood’s Diary
This chicken salad is anything but basic.
Chipotle barbecue sauce, sour cream, veggies and cheese pack tons of spicy flavor. Load it into a pita and add sliced avocado for an extra boost of healthy fats.
7. Creamy Chicken Ramen Casserole
Photo credit: The Charming Detroiter
If you’re eating on a budget, ramen is practically its own food group.
In this recipe, combine the noodles (minus the sodium-loaded flavor packets) with chopped cooked chicken, veggies and cheese, and bake the results into a hearty, one-dish meal casserole.
8. Pesto Chicken and Veggie-Stuffed Spaghetti Squash
Photo credit: Peas and Crayons
This is not only a one-bowl meal, the bowl itself is edible.
Mind: blown.
Leftover cooked chicken and store-bought pesto make this recipe a breeze, and you can also roast the spaghetti squash a few days ahead to get a jump start on a weeknight dinner.
9. Thai Chicken Zucchini Noodle Salad with Sesame Vinaigrette
Photo credit: Joyful Healthy Eats
Spiralizer? $30. Stuffing yourself with “pasta” and never feeling guilty about it again? Priceless.
This light, refreshing salad is served over raw zucchini noodles instead of ho-hum lettuce. The bold, spicy flavors (think chili paste, fresh cilantro and sesame oil) are perfect for warm weather.
10. Chicken Ranch Tacos
Photo credit: Dinner at the Zoo
Think of this dish as a chef salad — taco-ified.
Take cooked cubed chicken, crumbled bacon, tomatoes, lettuce and cheese, drizzle it with creamy ranch dressing and stuff it inside a warm flour tortilla.
Trust us, your kids will eat it.
11. Chicken Fried Rice
Photo credit: Omnivore’s Cookbook
This healthy, homemade fried rice is a great way to clean out your fridge without cleaning out your wallet.
Stir-fry leftover chicken and rice with whatever fresh veggies are languishing in your vegetable drawer, eggs and plenty of green onions.
Just drizzle with soy sauce and dig in.
Your Turn: Do you know any good recipes to add to this list?
Lucy Baker blogs about vegetables (and occasionally desserts) at Turnip the Oven.
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Six Tips for an Organized Home Office
By Christy Schutz As I sit down to write this week’s post, I’m looking around and noticing that my office is a hot mess. Really. Papers everywhere, supplies scattered about, piles of work and things to follow up on placed haphazardly about, with my keyboard and mouse peeking out from all the madness. Suffice it to say, it […]
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Petrol prices rise for second consecutive month
Motorists were hit by a second month of petrol price rises in April, according to the latest RAC Fuel Watch data.
The average price of both petrol and diesel increased by more than 2p a litre in April, taking unleaded prices to 108.27p per litre, up from 105.64p. Diesel prices rose to 108p per litre from 105.41p.
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