This Wedding-Planning Strategy Could Save You Thousands

Imagine your dream wedding.

What do you see? A glowing couple, beautiful dress, joyful friends and family all around?

What about the cake, music, location, vows, officiant, invitations, dinner, party favors, photographer, videographer, DJ…?

When you start to look down the long list of wedding-planning details, it can become insanely overwhelming. And, unsurprisingly, expensive.

If you want to celebrate your marriage but abhor the prospect of wedding planning, a tiny wedding might be an attractive solution.

What is a Tiny Wedding?

There’s no hard and fast rule as to what makes a wedding “tiny.”

Planners and participants aren’t even consistent on what part of the wedding the “tiny” refers to.

It could be the budget, number of guests, venue, or something less tangible, like the effort and stress of planning.

But one thing seems to be true: A tiny wedding costs less than a traditional one.

The number of guests is often a major factor in keeping costs down. A small crowd means a smaller venue for both the ceremony and reception, less food and fewer drinks.

“Offbeat Bride” author and OffbeatBride.com founder Ariel Meadow Stallings defines a tiny wedding as “more than an elopement (where it’s just the couple, a minister and sometimes a photographer) but still under 30 people.”

Bil Malbon of Tiny Chapel Weddings caps the number at 20, which is how many people fit inside his tiny mobile wedding chapel.

Malbon’s Tiny Chapel Wedding will cost you just $160-$200 at its Richmond, Virginia, location. To bring the mobile chapel to you, the full service costs $500-$1,500, depending on your location and the length of your service.

Maggie Gaudaen runs Washington, D.C.-based Pop Wed! Co., which minimizes wedding-planning stress with packages for either 10 or 25 guests. It operates from a “minimum viable wedding” or M.V.W.

“Some of our weddings simply include our couple, us and a fun location,” she explains.

Pop Wed! ceremonies start at $2,900 and include a select venue, officiant, cake or other treats and photography — Maggie’s specialty.

“We realized we could create a new type of wedding that took the best parts of large weddings and the best parts of elopements, leaving out all the stress, and Pop! Wed Co. was born,” Gaudaen explains.

This alternative take on the tradition we hold so dear shows you can save money and still have the wedding of your dreams.

An affordable wedding or elopement doesn’t have to mean running off to the courthouse with your beloved. You can have your cake and… you know the rest.

You just have to get creative.

As Stallings points out, “For some couples, it’s about saving money — fewer people means fewer mouths to feed — but there are some folks who have lavish tiny weddings. For them, it’s prioritizing a sense of intimacy with their guests.”

“I love the weddings where the only guests are the parents of the bride and groom,” says My Tiny Wedding’s Stephanie Buechler, which plans weddings in Kentucky and Colorado.

“It’s such a testament of the importance of the moment and the values the parents have instilled in their children’s lives.”

Timber Trails for Tiny Chapel Weddings (via Facebook)

Why Have a Tiny Wedding?

The simplest reason to forgo the trappings of a traditional celebration is to save money.

“Tiny weddings can save a lot of money,” Malbon says.

“They’re a practical option for couples who are on a tight budget or who want to use the savings for the honeymoon or their first home. The point is to be married to each other, not debt.”

But the format offers benefits beyond low cost, Stallings explains.

Fewer guests means “actually having the time to connect personally with each guest,” she says.

They’re also far more flexible than a large event. Pop Wed! Co.’s “pop-up wedding” offer shows this.

“We can even plan a wedding same-day if the couple contacts us in the morning and everyone’s available!” Gaudaen says.

Of the 80 weddings the company has planned so far, her quickest turnaround has been about three days out.

“Tiny weddings can take only days or even less to plan, perfect for couples who decide to elope or need to get married quickly before a military deployment,” Malbon suggests.

A tiny wedding might also be a practical choice for you if you live far from your family, “such as those in the military,” Malbon says.

Instead of planning an expensive destination wedding, consider keeping the big day small and catching up to celebrate with your loved ones later.

Rachel Couch for Pop! Wed Co.

How to Plan a Tiny Wedding You (and Your Guests) Won’t Hate

While a tiny wedding creates a sense of intimacy with your guests, the biggest drawback experts cite is deciding who to leave out.

“There’s the potential for hurt feelings, which is why many folks opt to just elope,” Stallings says. Maybe it’s just easier to leave everyone out and enjoy the day between the two of you?

“Sometimes couples opt to simply not announce their wedding date until after the wedding,” adds Buechler.

If you don’t want to go that far, here are some tips for planning a tiny wedding you’ll love.

Pop! Wed Co.

Focus on Your Priorities

Aside from a tight budget, one of the best reasons for forgoing the traditional hoopla of a wedding is focusing only on what matters to you.

“Consider carefully what your priorities are,” Stallings says. “Nothing is required. Focus on only spending money on the aspects of the day that matter to YOU.”

Do you want to remember the dress? The ring? The cake? The flowers?

Or do you want to remember the vows, the kiss, the first dance or the conversations at the reception?

When you strip away the things that don’t matter, all the photos, stories and memories will feature the things that do.

“It’s not about what you’re wearing, it’s who you’re with,” – Bil Malbon of Tiny Chapel Weddings

Get Creative

Despite their tight budgets, tiny weddings are insanely flexible.

“Tiny weddings can free up couples to think big,” says Malbon.

“With only a few people to accommodate, couples can get creative and explore options that would be more difficult with a larger wedding.”

You can host an intimate ceremony at home, take it on the road to an exotic location or gather somewhere with sentimental meaning.

Malbon suggests more nontraditional settings, as well, “such as a museum, a golf course, a winery or even a cave.” These become possible with only a few guests.

He also points out tiny weddings are well-suited for themes. You can invite guests to dress as characters you all love or come in historical costumes.

“Sci-Fi fans can boldly go to a galaxy far, far, away!” says Malbon.

Removing the need to accommodate a lot of people and live up to an elaborate wedding-day fantasy leave you room to have a lot of fun.

Spend Money Where It Will Count

An easy-to-forget key to frugal living is to know where to splurge.

This is how you save money without giving up what matters to you.

Decide what’s important for your wedding day. When you picture the celebration, what is always there in your mind?

What is the story of your relationship you want to share with your loved ones? How do you want everyone to remember the event in future years?

Don’t skimp on the things that matter.

“Not everyone is a great photographer,” Malbon explains. “If the pictures are that important to you, spend the money on someone you know will do a great job.”

Save Money Where You Can

“Your family, friends and co-workers are great resources for helping you complete your vision for your special day,” Malbon explains.

And there are easy ways to save on what’s often a major expense: the venue.

Pop Wed! Co. helps couples save money on the wedding venue by holding several ceremonies in a venue in one day.

Tiny Chapel Weddings saves by providing, literally, a tiny space for the ceremony. It relies on your own surroundings to add some unique character.

“Public parks offer beautiful backdrops for your celebration,” Malbon says.

Need more inspiration? Read our list of 101 super smart ways to save thousands on your dream wedding.

Your Turn: Are you planning a tiny wedding celebration?

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).

The post This Wedding-Planning Strategy Could Save You Thousands appeared first on The Penny Hoarder.

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Questions About Uber, Coconut Oil, Home Equity Lines of Credit, Mold Problems and More!

What’s inside? Here are the questions answered in today’s reader mailbag, boiled down to summaries of five or fewer words. Click on the number to jump straight down to the question.
1. Damaged home and credit
2. Is Uber a fulltime job?
3. UTMA account question
4. HSA without employer
5. mySmartPay Wealth Solution
6. Insurance and mold problems
7. Home equity line of credit
8. Payments on infrequently used vehicle
9. Bucket to flush the toilet?
10. Purchasing home on leased land
11. Books about dividend income
12. Coconut oil and soap

Yesterday, we spent several hours at Ledges State Park in Boone, Iowa. We had an early picnic lunch there and spent most of the afternoon wandering the trails.

Ledges is an extremely hilly park, meaning that most of the trails are on a steep incline or decline. Most of the trails utilize stone or wooden steps that the park rangers have installed, but going there still involves climbing lots and lots and lots and lots of stairs (and descending them, too).

Anyway, according to Fitbit numbers, we climbed somewhere on the order of 200 “flights” of stairs yesterday and my legs can definitely feel it this morning. I exercised some muscles that I haven’t exercised in many months – or at least not as much as I did yesterday.

It’s a good feeling, though. The sense of mild to moderate soreness that one gets after some significant exercise is something that I used to dread, but I’ve come to actually quite enjoy the feeling. While it is sore, there’s this positive feeling underneath it that makes it feel good, as though I achieved something and as though my body is becoming stronger and healthier.

While I am the farthest thing in the world from an exercise addict, I can certainly understand at times how this feeling can become addictive.

Q1: Damaged home and credit

If my home was damaged beyond repair by flood and I bail on my mortgage, will they report this to my credit?
– Michael

If you bail on your mortgage for whatever reason, the holder of your mortgage will certainly report it to your credit.

The reality is that the flood damage that your home received was a risk that was part of the package when you bought the house. It’s something that you could have purchased insurance against, but chose not to for whatever reason. None of that changes the arrangement you made with the lender to purchase the house.

Since you’ve devalued your home, if you were to bail on the mortgage, not only would it be on your credit report, it’s very likely that the lending institution will come after you legally. If a home is in good shape, the bank usually puts legal action as a low priority (though they always have grounds to come after homeowners who bail on their mortgage, even after foreclosure), but if the home is damaged, there’s a lot of value there that they need to recoup. There’s a very good chance that you’ll see legal action from the lender seeking the value you’ve cost them.

Q2: Is Uber a fulltime job?

I wanted to know if a person can think of Uber as a full time job?
– Danica

You absolutely can. However, the reality with Uber is that once you account for Uber’s cut and the wear and tear on your car, you’re not going to be making a very high hourly wage.

The advantage of Uber is that you can set your own hours and you can sometimes take advantage of synergy to make some cash on drives you’d be making normally. The disadvantage of Uber is that it adds wear and tear to your car and after Uber’s cut, the money isn’t very good.

Another thing to consider is that you’re an independent contractor if you do this, which means that Uber isn’t going to pay for your medical insurance, your dental, your vision, or your payroll taxes. There’s also no paid time off.

It can be a full time job, but it’s a full time job with a few benefits and a lot of drawbacks. I see it as a good fit for someone who is in between jobs and needs cash to make ends meet and some flexibility around their interviews and efforts to find a new job.

Q3: UTMA account question

Looking for some advice on UTMA accounts. We are paying off debt, so my husband and I aren’t investing right now (except in employer plans for the match). My parents set up 529s for our 3 kids, so my in laws want us to invest the money they give for the kids into a non-educational account. We aren’t sure where to do that – they had previously invested the money with Prudential but I’ve been unhappy with the fees and performance so we’d like to move it. Any recommendations?
– Claire

For those unaware, a UTMA is short for Universal Transfer to Minors Account, which is a tool that people can use to save money for their children. In general, these accounts mostly make sense for fairly wealthy families who are going to be paying for college out of pocket and don’t worry about the financial aid process.

Why, you ask? The big reason is that assets in a UTMA are considered owned by the child, so when they apply for financial aid, assets in the UTMA count strongly against the child. Colleges expect that any money in the UTMA is going to be used for college. A 529, on the other hand, is considered a parental (or grandparental) asset, so it doesn’t weigh nearly as heavily against the child in applying for financial aid.

So why use a UTMA at all? It has the advantage of not having tax penalties levied against it for non-educational use. If a child comes of age and wants to use the money to backpack across Europe for a year, then there are no additional tax penalties involved.

My constant recommendation for investments is to use Vanguard, which offers a UTMA. I have most of our investments with Vanguard and I believe deeply in their financial philosophies. Their customer service and communication have always been top notch and their investment options have very low fees.

Q4: HSA without employer

My company has a high-deductible health insurance plan, which I am enrolled in, so I meet that requirement for HSA eligibility. However, my company does not offer a HSA. Am I able to open one anyway? If so, how and where?

As an aside, you are doing a great job; since about 2006 I’ve been following your posts in particular with interest. I also became debt free in August 2011 after I sold my vintage biplane and paid off my house. I am, like you and your family, headed for FI shortly! No one would ever guess that I am also a millionaire and am soon to be a multi-millionaire! I’ll have another vintage biplane then, and a private airport and custom house. It takes dedication, patience, and persistence to achieve not only debt free status, but also to remain in the accumulation phase (while living a rewarding and fun life) prior to FI.
– Stanley

Individuals can open an HSA if they wish. The only disadvantage of doing so is that there’s no employee contributions; the reason many people use the HSA at work is that their employer contributes to the fund.

If you want to read the fine print, IRS Publication 969 spells out all of the details.

As with the previous answer, I’m going to recommend Vanguard, which is what we use for most of our investments. Vanguard offers a HSA service and has great investment options and customer service.

Q5: mySmartPay Wealth Solution

Do you know anything about the mySmartPay Wealth Solution? Is it a scam?
– Rick

From what I can tell about it, mySmartPay Wealth Solution seems to be the latest version of what is called a money merge account. Such accounts aren’t scams, but they are pretty expensive for what you get out of them.

From my earlier article on this subject: “A ‘money merge account’ is a special home equity line of credit placed on your home. Every time you receive a paycheck, the whole thing goes straight towards first paying off any balance in your money merge account, then the entire remainder of your check goes towards paying the interest, then the principal of your home loan. Let’s say you had a mortgage with $1,500 payments and you set up a money merge account. Each month, you received $3,500 in paychecks, but only spent $1,200 (and sometimes less). That means that automatically $2,300 (and sometimes more) goes towards that mortgage each month – an extra $800 towards principal every single month. This means a 30 year mortgage would be paid off in 13 years and two months.”

This particular instance of a money market account essentially allows you to consolidate other debts into the plan using what amounts to a home equity loan.

On paper, it’s a good idea, but what sets off warning flags for me is that there’s no discussion of interest rates or fees on any of these things.

There’s also the big general problem with money merge accounts: it’s much like having a bottomless checking account. Every dollar you take out effectively adds to your home equity loan, but they allow you to take out lots of dollars and then charge you interest on that.

If you don’t have a lot of self control when it comes to personal money management, this account isn’t really going to help you at all because anything you gain from this system will be eaten up by the fees and by your own poor spending choices. If you do have a lot of self control, then you can probably set up an equivalent system on your own without paying them for the service.

Q6: Insurance and mold problems

My ac broke down late last summer and the house was hot! The ac vents began dripping from the temperature change and subsequently i began to notice mold began growing on the registers and in the ducts nearby. I dont know how extensive the problem is and Im wondering if insurance will cover this?
– Gary

Standard homeowner insurance policies generally does not cover mold damage or mold cleanup. They’ll usually cover things like burst pipes and sewer backups, but mold is rarely covered when it is the result of something like an appliance breakdown, which is what happened here.

If you’ve visually noticed mold in your ducts, you probably have a pretty serious problem in there that needs to be addressed before you have any health problems as a result of the mold. The last thing you need are black mold spores coming out of your vents when you run the air conditioning.

Thankfully, this isn’t usually too bad of a problem to clean up. You can usually hire someone to inspect your duct work and remove all of the mold in there for about $500. That money will come out of pocket, of course, but it’s probably below your deductible anyway.

Q7: Home equity line of credit

I have an equity line account. what happens when I finish paying my mortgage. Can I keep adding to it to build more credit? is the same interest rate applied to the credit as the debit?
– Carrie

You would want to talk to your bank about this. Likely, this is considered to be a separate loan than your mortgage, so that account wouldn’t have to close when your mortgage is paid off, but you’ll want to check with them to make sure.

In general, it’s probably not worth continuing to use that line of credit just to help your credit score. A much better approach is to use a rewards credit card and pay off the balance in full each month, as that will actually generate additional benefits for you along the way while also keeping your credit score up.

The best way to find a good rewards card is to look at the retailers you use most often and choose a Mastercard or Visa that offers rewards for doing business there.

Q8: Payments on infrequently used vehicle

I have a 2 year old truck. I owe 31000 on it. But I drive it maybe twice a week. Would I be better off trading it in for a used vehicle or just refinancing? My payments are 650 but I pay 700 a month for something that I don’t use.
– John

Assuming that you’re not using this truck for anything critical that couldn’t be served with an older truck, you’re definitely going to be better off trading it than keeping it. Making payments on a loan for a vehicle you use twice a week for non-critical things is a really bad financial mistake.

It’s not just the payments, either. Your insurance is going to be higher on this new truck. On top of that, in many states, your vehicle registration is going to be higher, too.

The real question, however, is whether you can actually get the $31,000 out of this truck or not. It sounds like this is a pretty new truck without many miles on it, but it also means you can’t quite sell it as a new truck, either. In order to make this work, you’re going to have to recoup the costs of the truck.

My suggestion is to try to sell it for enough so that you can recoup the cost and pay off your loan, but that might not be possible at first. Keep at it and keep dropping the price until you can divest yourself of this truck and move to a lower priced one.

Q9: Bucket to flush the toilet?

My boyfriends grandparents think using a bucket to flush the toilet is saving them money. We think its not but actually costing them money. Along with damaging the plumbing. I can not find anything online besides how to flush of you dont have running water… your help is appreciated.
– Diana

I don’t know for sure, but I’m almost dead sure that this is actually wasting water rather than conserving it.

The typical modern toilet uses somewhere between 1 and 1.6 gallons per flush. Depending on the size of their bucket, they’re likely using a comparable amount of water, if not more, to flush the toilet.

Even if it turns out that they’re using less water, they can simply fill up a two liter bottle of water and put it in the tank behind their toilet to reduce the water flow. Doing that will reduce the amount of water used each time the toilet flushes because there will be less water in the tank.

The bucket solution is probably wasteful and is definitely inefficient.

Q10: Purchasing home on leased land

Here’s a question for you: I recently learned about affordable housing through the concept of purchasing a home on leased land. You would purchase at 20-60% below market price, and then get a formulated amount of the appreciation (25% in one city) in addition to the sale price of the home, and any additionals or value added to the home. This is all done with a 99 year renewable lease. The homes must be sold back either to the organization or to another qualified low income family. My current view (assuming this is not a scam or terrible idea) is that if we are going to rent anyway, we don’t gain any money. Our rent almost the exact same as our mortgage would be (including taxes, ground lease, etc). If we rented for 5-10 years, we wouldn’t have any money in the end. If we purchased through this organization/ company, we would have a little bit in the end. What do you think? We are in a 1 bedroom apt. now with a child, and a house would be a 3 bedroom. (the one in my area is: cpahousing.org, but I know many states do this. I just want to know what the catch is, or if this is truly a good decent organization!
– Ellen

There are several hurdles here, even with this plan.

For starters, you’re going to want to know the exact terms of the lease. While it may be a 99 year lease, it likely has some function built in for the land owner to change the amount on the lease over time. If there are not tight restrictions on that, I would run away from this deal, because having a house on land that someone else owns gives them quite a bit of power in this situation.

Another problem is that many lenders are hesitant to lend money in these situations because they end up in a legal mess if you walk away from that mortgage. They then own a mortgage on a house sitting on land that someone else owns, which is not a good situation for them.

In the end, the reality is that plans like this can work out for you, but they are full of potential problems. Unless you have every single corner case worked out, there are going to be avenues where you’re left with nothing at the end of this. I would have a lawyer review everything before I signed anything at all for a plan like this, because although I don’t have the documents in front of me, I see a lot of warning lights.

Q11: Books about dividend income

I recently read your “10 Things You Need to do Before You Start Investing” article and I am excited to see that I’m already doing most of them including cutting the repayment of my debt down to 9 months from 17 years!.

The one I’m farthest behind on is learning about investing. I’m all set in my retirement accounts (my income prevents me from a Roth IRA and my 401k is about 99% maxed out) and I’d like to start understanding my options better so when I’m debt free I’ll be able to make smart decisions with a lot of extra money each month.

Can you recommend some good books that take the next steps beyond Bogleheads which I’ve already read? I’m most interested in learning about how to turn investing, and its dividends, into a healthy, second income.
– Maxwell

Investment books are a really tricky thing to recommend, for several reasons. First, many investment books are very much written to hype whatever the hot investment is for the moment. Those books hype this new investment to the moon, but then that information is worthless when the bubble pops. The obvious example of this is the hundreds of investment books written in the mid-2000s that lauded investing in the real estate market, and when that bubble popped, those books became kindling.

Another problem is that books written about specific strategies are often written by people who stand to make money from people following those strategies. Books about stock investing are written by stock brokers. Books about real estate investing are written by real estate brokers. They have a vested interest in making one particular investment strategy sound amazing – and lo and behold, it’s the same investment strategy that they’ll make big money from! Often these books make unbelievable claims, like “How to Double Your Income Every Five Years.” Give me a break.

There are very few investment books that don’t fall into one of those two categories, which is why I’ve stopped reviewing personal finance books on a very regular basis on The Simple Dollar.

If I had to recommend a book for you that’s “beyond Bogleheads,” I’d probably suggest Stocks for the Long Run by Jeremy Siegel. I think it’s geared toward what you’re looking for, though I still prefer an index fund driven investment strategy.

Q12: Coconut oil and soap

I was looking for a recipe for home made soap and came across your website. Very interesting recipe you have and I can’t wait to try. However, I need your help in tweaking the recipe a little bit… if you would be so kind to help. We are vegetarians and are not comfortable with lard.hence hoping to substitute lard with something else. Your recipe said both coconut oil and lard have similar properties but the volume is different. I wonder why. I would be very grateful to you if you could help me with this.
– Neal

Several years ago, Sarah and I wrote an article for The Simple Dollar on homemade soap making. In it, we used lard as an ingredient.

When you’re making soap, you need lots of fats, because it’s the reaction of fat and lye that creates soap. However, different fats have different properties that you want in the soap. The big reason for using lard is that it creates a hard soap that won’t turn into mush in the shower.

Other oils – olive oil, coconut oil, etc. – contribute different features to the end product. Some improve the lather. Others improve the softness on the skin. Some improve the actual cleaning qualities. It all depends on what you want.

So, here’s the problem when you exclude lard: you end up with some very, very soft bars of soap.

Now, what can you do about that?

One solution is to use palm oil. Palm oil does create a hard soap, but it’s fairly expensive and it’s usually gathered under less than ethical conditions.

Another solution is to simply make liquid soap. You can make a very runny soap without using any lard, but you’ll have to use a liquid soap dispenser.

A third solution is to simply age the bars for a long time, and by a long time I mean years. Your bars will have to age at least a year or two or so to become hard enough to withstand sitting in the shower between repeated showerings without turning to mush.

This is probably the best single article I’ve found on making soap from coconut oil. However, I find that her recipe really undersells how long you should let the soap age. If you use the soap with her recipe and the aging she suggests, it will be very mushy if you leave the bar in the shower between showers, especially after the first shower or two once you get down into the core of the soap bar which won’t be as aged. For it to be hard, you should let the individual bars age for much longer.

Got any questions? The best way to ask is to follow me on Facebook and ask questions directly there. I’ll attempt to answer them in a future mailbag (which, by way of full disclosure, may also get re-posted on other websites that pick up my blog). However, I do receive many, many questions per week, so I may not necessarily be able to answer yours.

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6 Ways to Get Signups for Your Product That Hasn’t Launched

Everyone has the dream of a “big launch.”

You release your product and get a nice surge of customers within the first few days and weeks.

But most product creators have a different experience. On the day of a launch, they hear…

…crickets.

The worst thing you can do for your business is focus solely on the product until you launch.

The sort of explosive launches you see other businesses are getting didn’t happen overnight.

Instead, they were the result of a high degree of preparation.

When you have a large group of people interested in your product before it’s even created, you have an instant validation of your idea. 

Not only that, but you’ll also be able to get many of your first customers from that group. And if you’re smart, you’ll get feedback from them to improve the first version of your product.

The first step in all of this is getting signups. Ideally, you want to create an email list that people interested in your product can join.

The tricky part is convincing people to sign up before you even have a product ready. And that’s exactly what this article is about.

I’m going to break down 6 different ways you can get early signups from people who are very likely to become customers when your product is ready.

Instead of struggling from the start, you will be able to get a nice burst of sales and some invaluable early feedback that will allow you to move your business forward rapidly. 

1. It’s never too early for content

If you’ve ever visited any of my blogs, you know how much I love content marketing. It’s been an effective tool to grow multiple businesses to 7 figures in revenue.

Whether you have a product or just a product idea, you need attention from potential customers.

Creating really valuable content is one of the best ways to get that attention.

Once you have that attention, you can redirect it to your product idea within your content or try to get readers onto an email list (recommended).

When you have a targeted email list of potential customers, keep sending them great content until you launch. Throughout this time, you can send periodic emails to inform them about all the ways the product might help them and keep them updated on its progress.

There is no rule in content marketing that says you need to have a finished product in order to begin. In fact, it’s better to start early so you can start building trust and relationships with your subscribers.

You have two options for content: I want to keep it simple here. If you’re launching a product, you don’t have all day to churn out content. Instead, you want to focus on creating a small batch of incredibly high quality content.

If you have a budget for advertising, I recommend starting with a lead magnet (option 1).

The idea is to send traffic (usually from advertising) to a landing page, where you offer your lead magnet.

You offer an incredible guide, tutorial, or e-book in exchange for your visitors’ email addresses.

Assuming you have a good landing page and offer, you can get a conversion rate from 20% to 50% in most cases (depends on your ad targeting as well).

In most niches, this one simple tactic can help you build an email list of hundreds or thousands of people before you even launch.

The other option (option 2) is to create “epic” content to post on your site’s blog. Then, collect emails using tactics such as content upgrades.

This will take more of your time but save you money on advertising, and it can also lead to long term organic search traffic, which can be incredibly valuable.

The one key to content success here: The main area where marketers mess up with content and lead magnets in general is targeting the wrong types of people in your niche.

Pretend I’m preparing to launch a custom t-shirt printing company.

My general niche would be people who buy clothes—obviously, a broad one.

Next, I create an amazing guide to sizing and buying a new suit. It gets hundreds of email signups, and I’m thrilled.

Then, when my service is ready, I email those subscribers to tell them about it. Guess what they say?

I’m interested in formal wear, like suits—not t-shirts.

And while you still might get a few sales, you’ve largely wasted your time because you targeted the wrong audience.

If you’re going to create content, create some that you know your likely customers will like. Otherwise, you’ll be promoting your product to the wrong people.

Explode that list with this viral tool: Bryan Harris recently released a simple tool called SmartBribe that works amazingly well when used with a lead magnet.

Here’s how it works:

1. You offer the lead magnet as usual and collect the email address.
2. The plugin then allows you to offer a second lead magnet on the next page (usually a thank-you page).
3. In order to get that second lead magnet, the visitor needs to share your first lead magnet with their friends through email or social media (the plugin handles all that stuff).

It forms a viral loop, and you can grow your subscribers very quickly. In Bryan’s soft launch, he was able to get a bonus 250 signups from an initial 125 signups (turning 1 subscriber into 3).

2. Create a “coming soon” page

Typically, a business puts a call to action to buy a service on the homepage.

Since you don’t have a product to offer, you can’t do this.

That’s where the “coming soon” landing page comes in.

It’s essentially just a landing page, but it’s tailored specifically to quickly get the interest of visitors and entice them to sign up for an email list to get updates about the product.

The main things you’ll want to include are:

• A clear headline (clever might be nice but not necessary) – focus on the main benefit your product will deliver. This should be the first thing that draws the attention of visitors.
• A few sub points - quickly mention other benefits or how the product will work.
• A clear call to action - Make sure visitors understand they are signing up to hear about your product. Make it large or colorful so that it can’t be missed.

Optionally, you can add a countdown to the page if you know when you’ll be launching. This can help improve conversion rates if the launch is coming relatively soon:

Just like the other times I’ve mentioned email lists, make sure you’re staying in contact with your subscribers. Send them fun updates and any content you create.

Tools for a great “coming soon” page: Since these pages are relatively simple, there are many tools that can help you create them in just minutes (although coming up with the text might take longer).

One popular tool is Kickoff Labs. Once you choose from over 20 different “coming soon” themes, just replace the sample text with your own.

This is a great look, but it costs a few dollars.

Another option is to use Unbounce.

Unbounce is a general landing page creator (and one of the best), and they have a good variety of “coming soon” page templates you can customize:

If you’re going to be creating other landing pages, it’s worth investing in Unbounce. But if all you want is a “coming soon” page, pick a cheaper specialized option.

Finally, I’ll give you one last option – Lander.

Again, there are a variety of “coming soon” templates, and you can try them with a 14-day free trial:

At the end of the day, none of these tools do anything particularly special other than make an attractive “coming soon” page. If you’d like to make one yourself, go ahead.

3. Create an incentive

A lead magnet may be an incentive, but an incentive isn’t always a lead magnet.

Here, I’m suggesting creating an incentive where you give free (or reduced) products to people who refer others who become early signups.

The great thing about this tactic is that it works with most products.

For example, a person completing an early signup for Harry’s (a business that sells shaving accessories) would see this thank-you screen:

Simply put, the more people someone got to sign up (with a referrer code), the more free stuff they got.

Obviously, the first prizes that are easier to get to are pretty cheap, and you work up to more expensive prizes that only a few people will be able to get.

The one thing you need to do is prepare against fake accounts. You can learn about the specifics of that in this complete write-up of the Harry’s launch.

4. Guest posts are just as effective

I’ve written many times about using guest posts to drive traffic to your website:

• Guest-Posting on Steroids: A 4-Step Blueprint That the Top Guest Posters Use
• The Advanced Guide to Link Building – Guest Posting
• 7 Lessons Learned from Publishing 300 Guest Posts

You can learn how to get great opportunities and how to create great guest posts from those articles.

The only reason I’m bringing up guest posts here is that they can still be effective—even if your product hasn’t launched.

Many marketers assume you should use guest posts only after you launch.

However, when someone clicks that link at the end of a guest post, it usually means they were blown away by your post and want more from you.

In most cases, they’ll sign up for anything you offer. If you have a “coming soon” page up or a lead magnet landing page, send them to that, and collect their email addresses.

5. A quick way to get an extra hundred subscribers…

This is an extremely simple way to get extra signups that just about everyone should use.

How many emails do you send on a regular basis? Probably at least a few dozen a week, if not more.

You can take advantage of this by adding a line about your product/website into your email signature.

Here’s an example of one. It’s the email signature Stuart from Gleam used:

He was able to get over 100 extra signups for Gleam using this tactic and over 250 for his next project.

Adding a line summarizing your product to the bottom of your email to get an extra 100+ signups is well worth it.

6. Offer beta access

Most products will need to go through a few versions before they are ready to be sold publicly. You want to make sure your product is ready, or you might make a bad lasting impression.

These initial versions are typically called alpha and beta versions (at least in the software world).

It turns out there are quite a few people who are interested in testing new products before they become mainstream.

By showing your product to these communities, you can get some initial signups.

You won’t get thousands, or even hundreds, but you’ll get enough to make it worthwhile and get some great early feedback.

Here are some sites you may want to post your product to:

• Reddit alpha and beta subreddit
• Product Hunt – although you’ll need to get someone to post it for you (see this guide for more)
• Betalist
• Erli Bird
• Show Hacker News (mainly for tech products)

Granted, these sites are most useful for software-related products, but if you think your product is a fit, give some of these a try.

If you get popular on a site like Product Hunt, it can send you thousands of visitors.

Conclusion

The fact that you’re trying to promote your product before launching it is a great sign.

If you want to get early customers and start growing quickly, it’s a necessity.

I’ve shown you 6 different ways to get early signups, but you do not need to use them all. Pick a few to focus on, and spend your time and budget wisely.

If you’ve done a product launch and know of ways to get early signups that I didn’t mention, please share them in a comment below.

Source Quick Sprout http://ift.tt/21OBVe0

Don’t Miss Free Cone Day at Häagen-Dazs! Here’s the Scoop…

Does it feel like summer yet? This deal might help it feel like it, no matter where you live.

Häagen-Dazs is celebrating its annual Free Cone Day on Tuesday, May 10.

Take the whole family to your local U.S. Häagen-Dazs shop for a free kiddie size ice cream in a cup, sugar cone or cake cone.

Maybe if you’re lucky, your server will let you get my favorite order: a sugar cone, upside-down in a cup. Because who wants to wait through all that ice cream to get to the crunchy cone?

You’ll get one scoop per guest, and you have to be in line between 4-8 p.m.

Not a Fan of Free Ice Cream?

We’re not convinced you exist, but just in case…

Want to skip the line? Pay for your ice cream!

Any guests who want to purchase items will be able to bypass the line of people waiting for free scoops. So don’t dismay if you’re more worried about getting your Tuesday afternoon sundae in a timely fashion than saving a couple of bucks.

As for the rest of you, we’ll see you in line!

Your Turn: What’s your favorite ice cream flavor?

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).

The post Don’t Miss Free Cone Day at Häagen-Dazs! Here’s the Scoop… appeared first on The Penny Hoarder.

source The Penny Hoarder http://ift.tt/24GE2G8

Now Can We Please Fix the GOP Nomination Process

Now Can We Please Fix the GOP Nomination Process

Source CBN.com - CBN News http://ift.tt/1Zx14Z0

How to Save Money : 75 Super Easy and Practical Money Saving Tips

We’re all looking for new ideas on how to save money and keep a few extra greenbacks in our wallets.

But for many of us who have too much month at the end of our money, it can seem impossible to do more with the money we’re already making.

The truth is, there are always ways to save money, particularly if you’re willing to invest a little time.

I am sure there are more extensive and exotic ideas, but here are 75 easy ways you can save money and eliminate the waste from you budget.

But first, here’s a bonus money-making tip! Did you know you can make money just by using a different search engine? InboxDollars makes it easy. Plus, you can earn cash for all kinds of other online activities like taking surveys, playing online games, and more. Get a $5 bonus for signing up and click here to learn more!

75 Easy Ways to Save money

Instead of giving you a giant list of 1-75 I broke this up into sections to give you money savings ideas in different categories.  The categories are:

• Food
• Transportation
• Housing
• Healthcare

Financial Ways to Save Money

1. Cashback Rewards Cards – If you’re looking for an easy and painless way to save money on everyday expenses, look to your credit card for help. That’s right – with the right rewards card, you can save money on everything from your regular bills to your household expenses.

To get these savings, you’ll need a rewards card that offers a percentage of cash back for every dollar you spend. While we highlight some of the best offers in our post on the best cash back credit card offers, here are a few cards that offer the most bang for your buck.

Chase Freedom® Card – With the Chase Freedom® Card, you’ll earn 5% back in categories that rotate every quarter, plus 1% back for every dollar you spend year-round. Best of all, you get a $150 signup bonus after you spend just $500 on your card within 90 days. Since there is no annual fee, you can plan on keeping this card forever. Read here to learn more about the Chase Freedom® Card.

Chase Freedom Unlimited – The Chase Freedom Unlimited card is similar to the traditional Freedom card in the fact that it never charges an annual fee. However, it offers a flat 1.5% back on all purchases instead of extra points in rotating categories. In addition, you’ll earn a $150 signup bonus after you spend just $500 on your card within 90 days. With 1.5% cash back on everything and a free $150 bonus, this card is hard to beat. Read here to learn more about the Chase Freedom Unlimited.

2. Switch Bank Accounts. If you are being charged feed on your checking account or getting almost zero interest from your savings then it may be time to switch banks.  You can get more than 10 times the interest using a high interest online savings account and there are plenty of free online checking accounts with no deposit.  With either of these options you will save money over the bricks and mortar options.

3. Negotiate New Rates on Your Credit Cards. Credit card companies are always trying to jack up your interest.  They may do it for missing a payment or for lack of usage.  Whatever the reason you can save a lot by calling them and asking them to lower your interest rate.  If they will not budget then consider getting a new credit card with 0% interest for balance transfers.  This will take your rate down to zero for up to 18 months and save you a ton in interest payments.

Food Money Saving Tips

According to a recent Gallup Poll, the average American family spends $151 per week on food, including restaurant eating. That adds up to a cool $7852 per year. Here are 20 ways you can keep more of that money in your pocket:

1. Make meal plans. One of the biggest food budget busters is when you have no answer to the question “What’s for dinner?” Rather than get in the habit of ordering pizza or going out for fast food when you’re stumped by the dinner question—which is infinitely more expensive than cooking at home—get used to planning out your meals for the week or month. Not only will this save you money on take out, but it will also put you in a good place to actually use all the food you buy at the grocery:

2. Make a grocery list and stick to it. Once you know what you plan to make for dinner each night of the week or month, make a grocery list based on your meal plans, and only buy what is on your grocery list! Meal planning ninjas can get to the point where they buy certain ingredients on sale to be used in multiple meals, but even just starting with meal plans and a list for the week will save you money. Having a specific list of items to buy can even combat the grocery mistake of shopping while hungry. It doesn’t matter how tempting the apricots jarred in honey may sound, if it’s not on the list, it’s easy to say no.

3. Cherry pick the grocery deals. As you get better at meal-planning and list-making habit, you can start using your local grocery chains’ loss leaders for bigger savings. Each week, grocery stores publish their sales—and some of those advertised prices are so low that the store would be losing money if all the customers were to only buy the sale items. Making your meal plan with the grocery circular in hand will allow you to figure out what meals will be cheapest for you to make that week, based on each chain’s loss leaders. Then, buy only those loss leaders at each grocery store, and get the rest of your ingredients at whatever supermarket generally offers the best prices. This turns grocery shopping into a much longer affair—it takes several hours to pore through the circulars, make your plans, and then go shopping at several different stores—but the savings are certainly worth the time.

4. Buy generic. With the exception of a few notable items (Pop-Tarts come to mind), most generic products are almost identical to their brand name counterparts. Do you buy Cheerios just because you always have? Try the Generic Os and see if they’re not exactly the same, for a fraction of the price.

5. Pay attention to unit costs. The one caveat about buying generic is that sometimes it actually is cheaper to buy the name brand. This is why you have to keep an eye on the unit cost of anything you buy at the grocery. The generic cans of soup selling 3 for $5 sound like a great deal, but the Campbell’s soup selling for $1.50 each is actually cheaper. Most grocery stores offer a unit price listing, so that you can compare apples to apples (so to speak), but some do not. Get in the habit of carrying a calculator with you to the grocery store (or using the calculator function on your cell phone) to figure out what product gives you the biggest bang for your buck.

6. Buy in bulk, but be careful. This is a money saving tip that could potentially bite you in the butt. It is much cheaper to buy most items in bulk, from crackers to cereal to toothpaste to shampoo. However, some individuals (including yours truly) cannot handle the temptation of having a 144 count package of cookies in the house, and end up overspending on food that’s eaten far too quickly. So only purchase in bulk if it is something you know you can handle storing in your house before use. In my case, that means I buy cleaning and personal care items in bulk, and I buy a week’s (or at most a month’s) worth of food at a time.

7. Pay attention to expiration dates. I once bought a gallon of milk that soured before I got it home. We may have grand illusions about returning to the store and demanding a replacement or a refund, but I know that I never made it back to the store. It’s much easier to just keep a close eye on expiration dates as you put the items in your cart. Similarly, double check that the carton of eggs you’re choosing is free of cracked eggs, and that the cans you want are not dented, and everything in a jar is well sealed.

8. Speed up your grocery shopping. If you try to squeeze in your shopping between other appointments, then you’re more likely simply get the items on your list and go, rather than meander through the store and get tempted by unnecessary items.

9. Sign up for the free loyalty cards. Grocery stores offer loyalty cards that make you eligible for additional savings. If you’ve skipped the loyalty card in the past because you don’t want extra cards in your wallet (or on your keychain), now you have no excuse. Smartphone apps like Key Ring now make it possible for you to always carry your loyalty cards without having to keep track of yet another card.

10. Bring your own grocery bags. Not only is this better for the environment, but many stores will also offer you a small discount for every reusable bag you use. The discount may not be much—generally about 5¢ per bag—but even 50¢ saved with each trip to the grocery can add up. After all, you’d be thrilled to save 50¢ on any one item on your list.

11. Have a bi-monthly “clean out the pantry” week. We all have random cans and packages in our pantries, freezers, and fridges. Often, we end up throwing that food out later because we’ve forgotten about it until after it expired. Make sure you use up the food you’ve already purchased by planning a no-shopping week once every couple of months. That week, your mission will be to eat up all the food you already have without adding to the stockpile. This is a great time to practice some culinary creativity.

12. Brown bag your lunch. It’s easy to make a little extra food at dinner, and package up the leftovers for your next day’s lunch. Not only does it take care of those pesky leftovers that can sometimes just stay in the fridge until they become a science experiment, it’s also much cheaper than buying lunch every day.

Even if you do not have leftovers from dinner, it’s relatively simple to put together a decent lunch for much cheaper than fast food: grab a hard boiled egg, an apple or a banana, a cheese stick, and a granola bar, and you’ve covered every food group for a lot less than it costs to buy lunch.

13. Learn to use up leftovers. When you are doing your meal planning, add some of the great fridge-clearing recipes for making sure you use up everything. For example, quiche is a delicious (and easy) meal that can handle any meat and veggie odds and ends you want to put in it. Stews and casseroles are also good ways to use up the tail end of Tuesday’s green beans and Thursday’s ham.

14. Plan for “I don’t feel like cooking” nights. There is a definite time and place for convenience foods. On those days when you would rather go back to work than face the kitchen, you can have some frozen meals already set aside that you can just heat and eat. To be ready for those inevitable nights, just make a double batch of any kinds of meals that freeze well—lasagna, tuna noodle casserole, chicken and rice casserole, and the like—and freeze the one you don’t eat that night. If you do this every time you cook a freezable meal, you’ll soon have plenty of convenient options on harried nights, and you’ll have saved money on each casserole, to boot.

15. Get a slow cooker. One of the easiest ways to make inexpensive and filling meals is with a crock pot. You can find these appliances for as little as $10-$15 on sale, and there are countless slow cooker recipes online. You can put the ingredients together in the morning before work, set it to simmer, and come home to find dinner done at the end of the day.

16. Become a vegetarian (some of the time). Meat is often the most expensive part of any particular meal. Even the most dedicated carnivore can find some favorite vegetarian recipes, and switching to at least one meatless dish a week can really help to bring down your grocery bill.

17. Drink water. Every nutritionist seems to agree that drinking calories in the form of soda or juice is a terrible idea for our waistlines—and apparently diet options aren’t that much better. Rather than spend money on your beverages, why not develop a taste for water? If you’re used to sweet drinks, you can wean yourself off the stuff by mixing water and your favorite beverage, slowly changing the ratio until it’s just water.

18. Eat in season and locally. You may know that watermelon is going to cost a mint in February, but most of us are so used to all produce being available year-round that we’ve forgotten what is in season when. Reacquaint yourself with the growing season. The cheapest way to buy produce is to only get what is naturally growing in your area. That doesn’t mean you have to start shopping at farmers’ markets (which can sometimes be more expensive just for the quaintness factor)—it just means that you use the produce that is abundant in your area.

19. Dine out intelligently. When you do decide to enjoy a restaurant meal, you can still save money. Order an appetizer as your main course. They are generally more than large enough to fill you up, and will be much cheaper than the entrees. Another option is to split an entrée. Even if the restaurant charges you for splitting (as some do), this will still be a cheaper option than both of you getting your own meal.

20. Eat less. There are very few Americans who couldn’t stand to take in fewer calories. If you’re already thinking about trying to drop a few pounds, you could also save yourself some money at the same time. Rather than spending money on diet programs or foods, why not just reduce your portions? Use the recommended portion sizes to determine the size of your meals, and you’ll save money.

Transportation Money Saving Tips

The average sedan-owning American who drives about 15,000 miles per year will spend $8,946 in one year to own and operate that sedan, according to AAA. Here are some ways to make that cost a little more manageable:

1. Maintain your car. One of the most important aspects of inexpensive car ownership is proper maintenance. This includes everything from keeping your tires properly inflated in order to help maximize your mileage, to getting your oil changed and your engine tuned up at the required intervals. This will keep your car from “surprising” you with a preventable problem.

2. Improve your gas mileage. Many articles will recommend that you buy a gas sipper instead of a guzzler. However, that ignores the fact that it can be difficult to put together the money to buy a new (to you) car when the gas guzzler you have is perfectly serviceable. So, find ways to maximize the mileage you can get. This includes doing things like keeping extraneous items out of the car (as the extra weight makes the engine have to work harder), planning out the most efficient route around town for your errands, cleaning your car’s air filter, and driving the speed limit, as most engines operate most efficiently between 40 and 60 miles per hour.

3. Shop around online for gas. Have you ever noticed that gas stations within a few blocks of each other can have 10¢-20¢ differences in price? Rather than just stop for gas at whatever station’s convenient, use websites like gasbuddy.com to find the cheapest fuel around.

4. Don’t wait until you’re running on fumes to gas up. Beggars can’t be choosers, and riding on E will mean you have to accept whatever gas price you run into. Plan your fill-ups enough in advance that you can choose which gas station to go to—whether because of their good prices or your rewards card.

5. Car pool. Sharing a ride can not only break up the tedium of your commute, but it can also help to cut your gas costs in half. Even if you don’t know anyone who lives and works in the same places as you, you can find a fellow commuter through sites like www.erideshare.com and http://ift.tt/1WkxqIS.

6. Public transportation isn’t just for New Yorkers. Not only will taking the bus or subway lower your gas consumption and reduce the wear-and-tear on your car, but it can also potentially lower your insurance premium, as you’ll be using the car less often.

7. Shop around for the best auto insurance rate. It’s easy to simply renew your insurance each year without deciding if you are really getting the best rate. Websites like www.insweb.com can compare rates from many different insurers and can help you save as much as hundreds each year.

The same actually goes for life insurance.  You can get a full out life insurance plan or a burial life insurance policy that only covers your final expenses.  Psst…  The burial plan is usually much cheaper.  If you are young and in good health then you will want to check with all the top life insurance carriers to see your best rates.  You can do this at BestLifeRates.org to get top quality life insurance quotes.

If you are older or are in poor health then get your quotes fron InsureNow365.com.  They specialize in finding affordable rates for people who may have a harder time getting affordable life insurance.

8. If your car is worth less than $2000, drop collision and comprehensive coverage. One benefit to driving a jalopy is that you no longer need to have these types of coverage. It will cost you more to pay for collision and comprehensive coverage than you’d receive if you needed to make a claim.

9. Increase your deductible. Raising your deductible from $250 to $1000 can save you as much as 15% on your premiums. Wait to take this step until you have a comfortable emergency fund, however, because it wouldn’t be good for your wallet to have to make a claim and have no way to pay the deductible.

10. Check for multi-policy discounts. If you have your car insurance with one carrier and your home or renter’s insurance with another, look to see if either will offer discounts for putting all of your policies under one umbrella.

11. Use a Rewards Credit Card. If your monthly gasoline expenses feel like they are out of control, you can use a cash back credit card to get a as much as 5% back when you fill up at the pump.  For business travelers, you should check out the best credit cards for airline miles. Not only will you rack up miles with your regular purchases, you will get double and triple miles for booking your travel through your card.

Save Money on Your Housing

The Bureau of Labor Statistics annually compiles the cost of consumer expenditures. According to their most recent report, the average American family spends $16,803 per year on housing. Our homes are clearly the biggest chunk of our expenditures, and there is plenty of places where we can spend less on our housing and utilities budgets. Here are 26 tips for reducing your housing costs:

1. Live small. One of the biggest things we can do to tame the cost of housing is to live in a home that actually fits our needs. A family of four does not need 5000 square feet. When choosing your home, remember that a smaller house will cost less to heat and cool, will be easier to clean and maintain, and will add to the sense of family togetherness (whether you like it or not).

Even if you are already living in a Tara-like mansion and have no intention of moving, you can still minimize. Take a page from old-fashioned climate management and close off some of your house that you don’t need to use—just like Scarlett O’Hara would have done. You can focus your utilities on the parts of your house that you’re actually using, and lower your utility bills to a more manageable level.

2. Insulate. Most houses have drafty areas, and not all of them can be blamed on ghosts. Insulating your home can be as involved as blowing cellulose insulation into hollow walls or as simple as rolling out a few more of those Pink Panther spools in the attic.

3. Find air leaks. This is the biggest energy suck in houses, particularly ones that have seen a few presidents go by. The low-tech way to find air leaks is to use your hand or something like an incense stick to see which way the wind is blowing. The high tech method is to call for a blower door test, which will scientifically pinpoint your biggest problems. Generally, your solution will include weather stripping and covering windows with plastic.

4. Get an energy audit. Many utility companies offer free energy audits to their customers to help them conserve energy. The audit will tell you exactly where your energy leaks are, so that you can focus your improvements on the places that will have the highest return.

5. Make like your dad and turn off all lights. There was a reason why the old man stalked through every room of the house, turning off lights and muttering about not being made of money. Leaving lights burning wastes energy and money.

6. Install CFL or LED bulbs. While compact fluorescents do not quite have the longevity that we were promised, they still beat incandescent light bulbs by a mile. They also use a fraction of the electricity that incandescent bulbs needs, and thereby cut your energy bill.  You can also pay a little more and get the LED bulbs.  The LED bulbs are more energy efficient than the CFLs and will last as long as 20 years.

7. Install a programmable thermostat. Dad’s other endearing habit was having a cow whenever anyone touched the thermostat. He set it at a thrifty 64 in February for a reason, dadgummit, and you can just put on a sweater. Now you can make like dear old Pop and keep your home’s temperature within your financial means, without actually having to touch the thermostat.

The programmer will allow you to keep the temperature low (or high, if we’re talking about the summer) during the day, when no one is home, and bring the temperature to a more comfortable setting when everyone gets home.

8. Unplug energy vampires. Keeping your television, computer, stereo, blender, microwave, toaster, coffee maker, and other non-essential appliances plugged in at all times means that they are drawing energy from the wall without using it. Plug these items into a power strip and you can easily turn everything off with a single button.

9. Maintain your appliances. Dust can build up in vents on refrigerators and dryers. Not only does this mean those appliances will need more energy to run, but the dust build up is a potential fire hazard. Regularly checking your appliances can keep your home safe and your bills low.

10. Rent out unused space in your home. Whether you have a mother-in-law suite that is going unused, or half of your garage is completely empty, there is likely someone who is willing to pay you for the privilege of using your empty space.

11. Install a low-flow showerhead. This quick weekend project will make your shower more efficient, and you won’t feel a difference in your water pressure. Low-flow showerheads can save up to a gallon a minute (typical showerheads use about 2.5 gallons per minute). This can add up to huge yearly saving of money on water usage.

12. Downgrade your cable, phone, and internet. For most families, these three services equal big bucks every month. Monitor your use over a month or two, and decide what you actually need and what you could cut. Do you really watch any premium channels? Is the landline doing anything other than collecting dust? How fast do you need the internet to be if you’re only checking Facebook and email? It truly pays to shop around and find a cheaper cell phone service.

13. Replace single pane windows. According to the U.S. Department of Energy, windows can account for between 10% and 25% of a home’s heating costs by letting heat out. Replacing poorly performing windows will eventually pay for itself, although the initial outlay for new windows may be prohibitive. The Department of Energy has several suggestions for improving window performance without replacing them:

14. Use shades judiciously. Tight-fitting, insulating window shades can help to reduce drafts in the winter if other weatherizing measures haven’t fixed the problem. In the winter, closing your curtains and shades at night can help to keep drafts out, while opening them during the day can help sun-warm the house. In the summer, close south- and west-facing window shades during the day to keep the sun from over-warming the house.

15. Install storm windows. These insulating windows can reduce heat loss through windows by 25% to 50%.

16. Boil water in the microwave, rather than on the stovetop. Using your nuker to boil water can use up to 60% less energy. If you do need to boil a pot on the stove, make sure you always place the top on the pot—it keeps you from wasting energy on heat loss.

17. Keep your freezer full. Your freezer works much more efficiently if it is full. The cold items help to keep each other cold, and the freezer doesn’t have to work as hard. You can use bags of ice to help keep the freezer at capacity if you don’t quite have the food to fill it, but just make sure you leave about 1 inch on each side of the interior for better air exchange.

18. Install a low-flow toilet. If you don’t have a low-flow model, installing one can save you a great deal in water usage. Even if you can’t afford a new toilet, you can reduce the amount of water you use per flush by placing a plastic bottle full of water and weighted with pebbles in your water tank.

19. Line dry your clothes. Your clothes dryer is a utility hog. It takes a great deal of electricity to heat up your clothes to dry them. According to EnergyMiser 101, it costs $16.98 per month to run your dryer, which makes it the most expensive appliance to run in your house—even more expensive than your refrigerator. In addition to that, clothes that dry on a clothes line tend to last longer than those that go through a dryer, so line drying will also reduce your clothing expenses.

20. Use your dishwasher. This is one area where the new-fangled gadget actually saves you money and energy (not to mention time), over the old-fashioned way. Just be sure to fill up the dishwasher, since the appliance uses the same amount of water, whether it’s full or half-empty.

21. But turn off the dishwasher’s heat dry function. This is energy that doesn’t need to be used—just allow the dishes to air dry for 20 to 30 minutes before you put them away.

22. Fix leaky faucets. This is an easy DIY project that will save you hundreds of gallons of water a year.

23. If it’s yellow let it mellow. I think this one is kind of gross so I opted for the low flow toilets instead.

24. Change your HVAC filter once a month. This will keep your system working at peak efficiency.

25. Lower your water heater’s temperature. 13% of your home’s energy goes to heating water, so setting your water heater to 120° will reduce your energy expenditure—and lessen the risk of scalds.

26. Wash your laundry in cold water. Unless you are laundering cloth diapers, there is very little need for you to wash your duds in hot water. Turn the dial to cold, and you’ll see your clothes last longer and your energy bill lowered.

Healthcare Tips for Saving Money

It can be expensive to stay healthy. MainStreet.com recently reported that the average American family spends $962 per year for out-of-pocket health expenses on top of the $4,129 they spend for health insurance premiums. And these numbers do not include other health costs like gym memberships. Clearly, there needs to be a way to lower the bite of health care:

1. Stay healthy. This sounds like a no brainer, but many chronic conditions can be prevented or lessened by eating right and exercising. There’s something to that old adage about an apple a day. The exercise-and-nutrition-industrial complex would have you believe that you have to spend money to stay healthy, but nothing could be further from the truth:

2. Get in the habit of walking. All you need for this ideal exercise is a pair of shoes. Walk to go on errands instead of jumping in the car, or start a walking club with some friends to explore the local neighborhoods.

3. Bike to work. This is a double-whammy of helping you stay fit while also decreasing your commuting costs.

4. Garden. This exercise will not only keep you shape, it will also help lower your grocery bill. And anything you can grow in your back yard is going to be a nutritional powerhouse—especially compared to pre-packaged processed food.

5. Quit your bad habits. No one would claim that it is easy to quit smoking, drinking, using drugs, or overeating, but these habits are costing you more than just the price of your vice. Quitting destructive habits will improve your health, lower your insurance premiums, and raise your bottom line.

6. Don’t let your doctor be a stranger. Even healthy individuals need to see their doctors regularly. Making sure that you get your regular physicals will help to catch any potential health problems before they become crises.

7. Ask questions. Being your own advocate is an important part of medicine. So, when your doctor recommends a procedure or a medication, ask questions about it. Find out why the doctor believes its necessary, and whether there are alternatives. Blindly following what your doctor recommends might be costly, and possibly unnecessary.

8. Go generic. It might seem as though generic drugs are somehow inferior to their name brand counterparts, but that simply is not true. The generic version has to meet the exact same standards as the original, and you can get it for a fraction of the cost.

9. Ask about discounts and samples for medication. If you are not able to get a generic version of your medication, you still might be able to save money. Ask your doctor to write you a prescription for three months’ worth of a regular medication, which generally means you will only have to pay one co-pay instead of three. Alternatively, many doctors will try to help out their patients by giving them samples of expensive meds. Ask your doctor if there are samples available that you can use to help make your overall medication costs lower.

10. Try home remedies. Honey really can soothe a cough, and ginger really does work wonders for nausea. Often, home remedies will work as well as (or even better) than their over-the-counter cousins, for much less. The next time you’re feeling ill, try a home remedy before heading to the pharmacy.

11. Understand your coverage. Before making any appointments with doctors, make sure you spend time on your insurer’s website to know exactly what your insurance covers and what you will need to pay out-of-pocket. It can be a major hit to your wallet if you don’t find out that your insurance doesn’t cover new glasses until after you have already ordered a new pair.

12. Shop around. Believe it or not, you can check the rates for various procedures at hospitals just like you can check insurance rates. If your doctor has recommended a procedure, find out the current procedural terminology (CPT) code for that procedure. This is the standard billing code that will be the same across the industry. With that code in hand, you can contact the billing department to find out the cost of the procedure, although this could take some persistence. If you find another hospital charges less for the procedure, ask your original hospital if it will match the price.

13. Ask about a prompt-pay discount. Again, if you have to pay out-of-pocket for all or part of a procedure, you may be able to negotiate a lower price by offering to pay quickly. Hospitals don’t want to chase patients for money, even though they often have to. Prompt payment is definitely worth something to hospitals and can result in a 10% to 40% discount.

14. Have your hospital bill itemized. Because of the number of people involved in any one patient’s care—nurses, doctors, specialists, etc—the rate of errors on hospital bills is relatively high. Anytime you have to pay for a hospital stay, request an itemized bill and ask questions about any items you do not understand. And be sure to dispute any errors.

15. Enroll in a Healthcare Flexible Spending Account. These can seem like more trouble than they’re worth, but they are an invaluable tool for keeping your healthcare expenses low. Flexible Spending Accounts allow you to put aside pre-tax dollars into an account for healthcare costs—but any money you haven’t used by the end of the year is forfeited. Until you get the hang of estimating how much money to set aside, use an FSA calculator to determine how much to put away.

The Bottom Line

Many times, we end up paying more than we need to because of apathy and habit. If we change our outlook to see everything as an opportunity to save money, it can revolutionize our budgets—without adding a single extra dollar.

Special thanks to Emily Guy Birken for assistance in researching and help writing this post.

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How 2 Goats Helped This Stay-at-Home Mom Start a Thriving Home Business

Dawn Mathews had always wanted to milk a goat.

One day, she finally got her chance. Though she thought it was “the coolest thing in the world,” she had no idea it would change her life forever.

It was 2009, at the peak of the recession. Mathews’ husband had recently lost his full-time job, and her family of four was “making ends meet” on his part-time gigs.

“We were really afraid,” she says. “We didn’t want to lose our house.”

Keep reading to learn the story of a family, their goats and the home business they grew out of a disaster.

The Mathews Family Goes Goat-Wild

After milking the goat, Mathews “couldn’t stop thinking about it.”

The cost of cow’s milk had risen to $4 a gallon, and with 9- and 7-year-old sons at home, she thought a goat might be the solution.

She told her husband she wanted to get a goat so they could drink its milk and also make cheese.

The only problem? They lived in a subdivision in Granite Falls, North Carolina, on half an acre.

But Mathews knew what she wanted — and forged forward, undeterred by their limited yard space.

She told her friend she wanted to buy one of his goats, and they struck up a unique deal: a month of tae-kwon-do lessons from her husband (one of his odd jobs) as payment.

Soon, they welcomed Buttercup to the family — but goats are herd animals, and she needed a companion.

So Mathews turned to Craigslist and found a great price on a saanen goat: $125. Today, they usually cost $300 to $350, Mathews says.

Buttercup’s new friend Athena quickly became the main milker, giving the family a gallon of milk a day.

Turning a Disaster into a Business

Two weeks after getting Athena, disaster struck: The goats got into the laurel bushes.

Laurels are toxic to goats, and the treatment renders their milk undrinkable for two weeks.

Mathews had to keep milking the goats, and lamented over the wastefulness of it all… Until a friend suggested she make soap.

“I made a batch, and the rest was history,” she says. “People absolutely went crazy over it.”

Emboldened by her success, she invested in her newfound business, spending $250 on soap-making supplies like lard, fragrance oils and lye.

“I was really afraid to do it,” she explains. “We were at a point in our lives where we didn’t have a lot of income coming in, so that money was huge.”

A few months later, she got a booth at a holiday fair and earned more than $1,000.

“At that point, I got really excited,” she says. “I realized it could be a way for our family to get out of debt and pay student loans and vehicle expenses.”

How She Brings Home the Bacon With Goats

That was the beginning of The Thankful Goat.

Mathews continued to sell at festivals and farmers markets, and eventually expanded her line to include lotions, chapsticks, sugar scrubs and other products.

“I started researching other things and tried my hand at making them,” she says. “I decided I wouldn’t make anything you could buy better in the store. It was either going to be the best thing you could get, or I wouldn’t sell it.”

By her third year in business, Mathews was working about 20 hours per week — and grossing $15,000 a year.

She declined to share current sales figures, but she’s still only working part time.

As for overhead, she spends about $100-$150 a month for the goats’ feed, supplies and medical care. Other expenses include soap-making supplies, marketing and web maintenance.  

Her now-teenage sons help with the family business, too; Isaac’s in charge of milking, while Dorian assists with sales. As payment, they get to sell the year’s baby goats and keep the profits.

“It’s been not really just an entrepreneurial journey for us, but for the whole family,” Mathews explains.

She also gets farm help from volunteers with the WWOOF (World Wide Opportunities on Organic Farms) program.

In exchange for four to six hours of work per day, Mathews provides her WWOOFers with room and board. (Disclaimer: I WWOOFed on Mathews’ farm — she’s a great host and cook!)

“I couldn’t have done it by myself,” she says. “The WWOOF program has been an enormous part of building the business, and also building friendships that are just incredible.”

“Never in my wildest dreams would I have imagined we’d host almost 100 kids in four years.”

Eternally Thankful for the Goats

Not only has The Thankful Goat changed her family’s lifestyle and finances, it’s also changed Mathews herself.

“I think it’s given me a lot of patience,” she says. “I’m OK getting out in ankle-deep mud and shoveling poop because I love my goats.”

“I’m OK standing in the kitchen and making product, because I know it’s going to put food on my family’s table,” she adds.

“It doesn’t really matter what I have to do — I’d much rather be doing that and doing it from home and working for myself than for anybody else,” Mathews explains. “It’s just a really awesome life.”

This year, Mathews and her family moved to a 13.5-acre farm. They have nine goats, a llama and dreams of starting an agritourism operation.

And it all started with a single goat.

Your Turn: Would you open a business like this?

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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