Interactive escape rooms offer the ultimate adventure experience in Stroudsburg

It’s not enough for Mark Edgar to have made an escape room. The Kresgeville resident has friends from Romania who told him just how popular the room-sized puzzle experience became in Europe and Asia over years.In Romania, escape rooms are so intricate and varied that some people build them in their own house, Edgar said. The owner has to convince people to buy a ticket to his or her own living room — the puzzle has to be that good.Edgar has a better location [...]

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How You Can Make Over $100,000 by Skipping Your Morning Coffee

I won’t lie. It’s going to take some time.

But yes, you can make over $100,000 by skipping the coffee shop on your way to work every day. Oh, and you can still make your coffee at home.

Here’s how it works . . . .

Say your favorite coffee at your local drive-thru costs $3 (it might cost more). Also, let’s say that it costs $1 for your favorite coffee drink at home (it might cost less). Keeping things simple, there’s an obvious $2 difference between making your coffee at home and grabbing your favorite drink through the drive-thru.

Now, let’s say that you decide to go cold turkey, and always make your coffee at home starting today and every day over the next 40 years (because you’re awesome). I estimate that you’re going to be saving about $40 per month that you can put toward a diversified, traditional portfolio of stocks.

Assuming a 7% annual rate of return, you’re looking at over $100,000 in investments at the end of the 40 years. Boom. Skipping drive-thru was worth it.

Now here’s the thing. You probably won’t skip the drive-thru every day. You may not get a 7% return on your investments. Your coffee at home might be more expensive to make. Perhaps the price of coffee on-the-run dramatically falls (unlikely). Maybe you would prefer to put your money into a high yield savings account where your hard-earned dollars are safer. There are number of variables in this equation. Historical performance – and even reasonable assumptions – do not have a direct connection with future performance. However, it’s the best we have.

The point of this calculation is to show you how making a small change in your lifestyle dramatically raises your chances of obtaining a big pile of money in the future. It’s not completely sound science, but it’s a fun hypothetical example.

Benjamin Brandt, financial advisor and founder of RetirementStartsTodayRadio.com gives another interesting example: “What could you do with the money saved from kicking your $5 daily coffee habit? How about opening your own coffee shop? According to Franchise.org, opening a Dunkin Donuts franchise takes an initial investment of $240,000. By simply investing your $5 per day in the S&P 500, based on historic rates of return, you could open your own shop in 24 years!”

Consider the following choice of options: take a million dollars today or one penny doubled every day for 30 days. Which would you take? Ronn Yaish, wealth advisor and founder of FinancialHappyPlace.com uses this exercise to demonstrate the impact of compounding returns. The answer is that after 30 days one penny doubled every day would be worth over $10 million dollars.

Yaish explains that “even individuals that understand this ‘idea’/point don’t necessarily have an easy time translating what that means for them and their spending.” It doesn’t take too long to find small things people spend their money on everyday like coffee, cigarettes, scratch-off cards, drinks, snacks, etc., that if saved can help that person accumulate wealth.

For example, if we find someone who spends $5 on a soda and snack everyday, that $5 spending translates to $1,825 a year and over $54,000 over 30 years. If that person decided to take the $1,825 a year and place it in a suitable investment vehicle that perhaps earned 5% a year, that $5 a day can theoretically grow to over $125,000 over 30 years. Yaish says, “The next step is to help that client find all the hidden $5 in their daily living and then assist him/her to commit to a simple change of habit. If the client finds the change is not too onerous, too limiting or frustrating, the plan will stick.”

As you can see, this really isn’t just about coffee. It’s about identifying all the little expenditures in life that eat up our opportunity to invest. Once the gravity of this problem is understood, something can be done about it.

The next question is, of course, “What can be done?”

There are several important actions that one can take to help reduce expenses. Really, it comes down to one-time expenses and recurring expenses. The recurring expenses are certainly the first place to focus.

Recurring, automatic expenses, once agreed to, can go unnoticed for years and years before one day you wake up and realize that you’re spending too much money. Think about your cell phone bill for a moment. Does it keep going up and up? Perhaps it would be better to get a prepaid plan that’s predictable.

Next, be sure to think about your one-time expenses. These matter too. You might think of your trips to the coffee shop as “one-time” expenses, and in a sense, they are. It’s not as if you plan on going back day after day. Still, these expenses can happen again and again, leaving you with less money in your wallet and ultimately a weak retirement account.

Explore various ways to save money. It doesn’t hurt to consider your options, and some of them might not be as painful as forgoing your coffee before work.

The point here is that there are some small changes you can push yourself to make – even ones that aren’t as horrifying as skipping the java hut – that may result in major rewards down the road.

Will everything work out perfectly as you had planned? Probably not, and that’s okay. Just make a few small changes. Change one thing at a time. By saving a little money here and there, and properly investing it, you’ll probably do profoundly better than you otherwise would have.

But whatever you do, don’t do this alone. Find a battle buddy. Whether that person is your spouse, or a close friend, keep an accountability partner close by. This is the person who will watch to make sure you’re on the right track. Even these small changes aren’t so easy to maintain. If you want to win over the long haul, you’re going to need someone to remind you when you veer off course.

To summarize, here’s your homework: Pick something to sacrifice. It could be coffee, snacks, movies, or something else. Invest, and watch the money pile up.

 

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Use These Tricks to Get $120 in Baby Stuff for $61 This Week at Target

Baby costs add up quickly.

Throw a couple of boxes of diapers, wipes and a few other unexpected necessities into your cart, and you’ll find yourself at the checkout wondering why you wanted to become a parent in the first place.

(Don’t worry; one quick hug from your baby, and you’ll remember.)

Thankfully, Target likes to help out parents. They have a great deal on baby stuff this week.

Now through June 25, receive a free $25 Target gift card when you purchase $100 in baby stuff — diapers, training pants, wipes and/or formula.

To get a coupon for the free gift card, look in the Target weekly ad or text SAVE to 827438.

Follow our deal-stacking tips below, and you can save even more!

How to Get $120 in Baby Stuff for $65

Start by shopping online, so you can go through a cash-back site.

For example, today RebateCodes.com is offering 5% cash back at Target, plus a $5 bonus for new users. Shop Target.com through the portal to earn cash back on your entire purchase.

Target offers free shipping on orders $25 or more, so you can get all the baby stuff you need delivered to your door for free!

Use this summer baby shopping list as an example:

• Two giant packs of up & up diapers: originally $28.99 each

• Two tubes of Boudreaux’s Butt Paste, for these sweaty afternoons: originally $6.99 each

• Two packs of Huggies Little Swimmers — beach days! — originally $9.99 each

• Two boxes of up & up baby wipes, Fresh Cucumber scent, because that sounds refreshing: originally $14.51 each

You’ll need these coupons and Cartwheel offers handy:

• Cartwheel, 10% off giant pack of up & up diapers: Save $5.78.

• Cartwheel, 10% off Boudreaux’s Butt Paste: Save $1.38.

• Cartwheel, 10% off Huggies Little Swimmers: Save $1.98.

• Print a coupon for $5 off your order with a purchase of $30+ of up & up products

• Text SAVE to 827438 for the coupon for a $25 gift card on a $100 purchase.

• Get a free $5 gift card when you purchase two Huggies Little Swimmers (no coupon necessary).

You’ll save $14.14 at checkout, plus receive $30 cash back in Target gift cards.

Pay with your Target REDCard credit or debit card for 5% off your total purchase — another $5.34 in savings.

And when you shop through RebateCodes.com, you’ll earn another 5% — $5.07 — back, plus a $5 bonus, for a total of $10.07.

Here’s how much you’ll save:

• Total value: $120.96

• Pay at checkout: $101.48

• Cash back and gift cards: $40.07

• The Penny Hoarder Price: $61.41

That’s 49% off!

Your Turn: What are your favorite tricks for saving money on baby stuff?

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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Are You Eligible for Apple’s $400 Million Class-Action Settlement Payout?

I work in an office full of people who think Apple can do no wrong — so much so that I went head-to-head with one of my colleagues defending my choice to stick with Android.

So I’ll admit it: I broke out in an I-told-you-so grin when I heard about Apple’s recent class-action settlement.

Looks like Apple can screw up… to the tune of $450 million.

Apple’s Ebook Scandal

Back in 2012, the United States filed an antitrust lawsuit against Apple, claiming it conspired with several book publishers to to fix — and increase — the price of ebooks. (Think different… about treating your customers fairly!)

Fast forward to this past March, and Apple found itself forced to cough up $450 million to settle the case.

The best part? The bulk of that settlement money — a whopping $400 million — is to be paid out to buyers who purchased a qualifying ebook between April 1, 2010 and May 21, 2012.

And since the publishers involved include names like Penguin, HarperCollins and Macmillan, it’s likely you’ll get part of the pie if you read electronic books at all.

Are You Eligible for Apple’s Class-Action Settlement?

To find out, all you have to do is check your email.

If you’re set to receive part of the $400 million payout, Apple will let you know — and deposit your portion directly into your iBooks, Barnes & Noble, Kobo or Amazon account.

If you purchased qualifying ebooks through Sony, you’ll receive a check (psst — update your contact info here to make sure it gets to the right place!). If you bought ebooks from Google and other retailers, you were required to fill out a claim form back in 2014 to be paid.

If you think you’re eligible but haven’t seen any word from Apple, check out the full details and terms of the suit here. Amazon’s also got a Q&A, if that’s your retailer of choice.

Payouts range from $1.39 to $6.54 per book, depending on its place on the New York Times’ Bestseller list, according to AppleInsider.

Once you see that cash hit your account, don’t wait around forever to use it! Settlement credits are valid until June 24, 2017.

Goodness knows if you buy Apple products, the company’s taken a decent amount of your money… so you may as well make sure you take advantage of the turned tables while you can.

Your Turn: Did you receive a payout from Apple’s class action settlement?

Jamie Cattanach is a recovering Apple user and staff writer at The Penny Hoarder. Her writing has also been featured at Word Riot, DMQ Review, Hinchas de Poesia and elsewhere. Find @JamieCattanach on Twitter to wave hello.

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11 Methods That Will Make Your Content Marketing Campaign Go Viral

Have you ever wondered how some bloggers and online entrepreneurs manage to crank out tons and tons of useful and exciting new content on a daily basis, and others…

…well, others can’t even crank out one useful piece of content a month!

And don’t even get me started on marketing it.

There are a number of bloggers who actually can write AMAZING content, but they are clueless marketers and can’t get any of it to go viral.

If you have struggled with any of the issues mentioned above, it’s okay: you are not alone, and there is nothing wrong with you. Every writer, digital strategist, or content marketer has struggled with the same thing!

What you need to do is learn the necessary skills to not only write killer content but also market it like a pro.

That changes today.

To make this super-organized and logical, I’ve divided it into two major sections.

1. First, you have to plan and write awesome content.
2. Second, you have to market it.

You must do both, and I’ll show you exactly how to do both with step-by-step instructions.

Some people think all they have to do is write content and the world will come knocking at their doors, linking to their content, and sharing their articles.

Write an article. Hit publish. Sit back and make money, right?

Nope. It doesn’t work that way.

In order to succeed at content marketing, you have to do both: the writing and the promoting of your content.

Remember this:

1. Content never written won’t be promoted.
2. And content not promoted might as well not have been written in the first place.

No matter how awesome your content is, if you’re not marketing it, sharing it, and promoting the heck out of it, nobody will read it.

With this straightforward guide, you’ll learn the process I use to make my content go viral.

Part I: Planning and Writing Viral-Worthy Content

This is where things start—planning and writing.

Most people know this much. You have to plan an editorial calendar, get your butt in a chair, and write the articles.

That’s good as a start, but it’s not quite good enough. I have six points that will help you not just create content—but create viral content.

It starts with the early stages of content ideation and planning. Here’s what you need to know.

1. Define the objective of your content

The first and most important thing you can do before your pen ever touches paper or your fingers touch the keys is to define the objective of your content.

As the old quote goes,

“Failing to plan is planning to fail.”

If you do not have a definite goal for your content, not only will you likely write an incoherent piece, but you will also likely have difficulty marketing it in the proper channels.

As I detail in my Advanced Guide to Content Marketing, there are several goals you need to define before you start churning out content.

• Decide how you will use this content to grow your business. (Is it to generate leads, improve sales, boost your marketing, or create a community? There is no wrong answer—it’s up to you.)
• Decide on a specific goal for the content once you have determined how it will be used.
• Develop the core message that will be congruent through all your content.
• Identify your competition and analyze them.

A content marketing Excel sheet like the ones pictured below can be a huge help.

You can find samples and templates for these spreadsheets online.

Here’s one from the Content Marketing Institute. (Careful. That link will download the spreadsheet automatically.)

Econsultancy lists a variety of these free templates. Hubspot offers a few as well. I recommend you check these out before you spend hours creating and formatting your own.

A good calendar will include not just dates but the topic, the content, and the keyword focus of the article.

The level of detail is up to you. Some campaigns are pretty simple and maybe only need a date and a title. Other campaigns can be advanced and may include details such as keyword focus, persona target, author, geotargeting, product focus, seasonal push, etc.

Keep things as simple as possible, and you’re more likely to succeed.

2. Focus on the headlines

Which would you be more likely to click on?

“How to Totally Shred Pounds of Fat and Uncover Your Dream Body in Only ONE Month!”

Or

“Burn Fat with This Program!”

The answer is obvious.

No matter whether you are creating videos, articles, or podcasts, the headline is one of the most important aspects of successfully getting your content in front of your target audience.

Make your headlines juicy and enticing, and your conversion rates will skyrocket. Bottom line: your business will grow.

Make your headlines boring and generic, and the most you’ll get is maybe hundreds of views (if that).

You’ve seen the juicy and tantalizing headlines all over the web. Even something as mundane as a pipeline can seem exciting when pitched the right way.

You don’t need to be sensational to craft a great headline. Instead, you need to be hyper-focused on what your readers want and make a promise that earns their click.

In fact, you use a simple formula to make the process easier. Try this one, from Buffer.

3. Don’t B.S. your readers

In your quest to create epic content, you have to realize that your reputation online is everything. It takes hard work to maintain your reputation, and it can be destroyed in a matter of minutes. Lost reputation can take years to rebuild.

EVERYTHING you publish should be well-researched and fact-checked (or have a decent train of logical thought if the concept you are trying to explain is more philosophical in nature).

If you start creating clickbait content that makes promises you cannot deliver on, your reputation will be tarnished and will be nearly impossible to recover.

However, even if you are putting out less content than the others in your industry, your content will still outperform your competitors’ if it is grounded in hard data. Telling the truth through your content, even when it’s ugly, will earn you a sterling reputation and the trust of your customers.

4. Make your content super actionable

Have you ever noticed that I strive to offer advice you can take action on immediately?

There is a reason why.

When people read articles, especially informative articles, they don’t want theory or conjecture. They want concrete steps they can act on right away—actionable steps.

I’ve learned what my audience wants, and I try as hard as I can to deliver it.

Whether you include an “Action Step” at the end of each of your articles or simply write in a style that carries actionable information throughout an article, it’s up to you. But you have to make sure whatever you put out there, people can act on it and act fast.

The model I use for making my content actionable looks like this:

• Create value and fix pain: The headline I created for my article promises a solution to your pain and an offer of value. Heck, it’s free for you to read this article, and you get plenty of great advice, right?
• Build relationship: I’ve pulled you in. Now, I want to build a relationship with you. If you’ve been a reader for a while, or simply know about my success, you may already have a relationship with me. If not, you can check out my ugly mug on the sidebar or even email me.
• Earn trust: In my article, I’m proving the fact that you deserve my trust. How? By providing solid researched and experience-based information.
• Take action: You, the reader, can totally take action on this. In fact, based on these four bullets, you can develop your own plan of attack for an actionable content strategy.

5. Create engaging and original content

The Internet is full of crap, and if you want to succeed, you have to be the shiny diamond in the rough. One of my favorite examples of content that stands out is Craig Clemens’ article on “How to 10x Your Income Over the Next Four Years”.

Where most articles begin with something bland and generic about how you should wake up earlier, skip the Starbucks latte, and invest your pennies in some mutual fund, Craig comes out with a bang, offering the highly controversial, engaging, and original thought: the first step should be to cut out porn.

This is engaging. Why? Because most people have a visceral response to something like porn.

The content is also original because Craig is willing to say something that not many people can say.

Originality is engaging, so don’t be afraid to stick your neck out there. It’s worth it.

6. Always include videos and pictures

A picture is worth a thousand words.

So, what is a 3,000-word article with 6 photos worth to someone?

While I will leave the math to you, it is important to realize humans are visual creatures and we process images much faster than text. If you want to increase the amount of user response and the number of social media shares, adding images and videos can be one of the best ways to do this.

I try to include as many relevant images as possible in my articles.

It’s hard work finding those pictures and adding them into WordPress, but I’m willing to do it. Why? Because if this 2,000+ word article had zero images, you probably wouldn’t read it.

Part II: Marketing

Now, your article is written. You’re ready to level up to marketing.

I use the word marketing, but you can also think of it as promotion. You’re leveraging tactics to get your content in front of your audience.

Here’s exactly how to do it.

7. Get an awesome quote from an industry leader

We all know the power of social proof. This power is doubled when you can get it from an industry leader.

If you have created some epic content and already have built a solid platform to share it on (though this can work even if you are a total beginner), reaching out to an industry leader for their thoughts on your work is a great way to improve your content marketing through social proof and get your name associated with A+ players.

The process for reaching out to them is pretty straightforward as well.

Send them an email or message, and boom. Instant credibility.

8. Reach out to people you see sharing similar content

If you ever see people who are constantly sharing content related to your niche and who are your Facebook friends, reach out to them and ask for a friendly share.

More often than not, if your content is good, people will be more than happy to do this, and it will likely win you a regular “share buddy” you can go to whenever you create some pretty exceptional content (which, if you remember points 3-5, should be pretty much always).

Besides, a lot of social media people and content creators are always looking for high-value stuff to share. You’re doing them a favor by letting them know about your content!

9. Turn your content into a video or podcast to broaden its scope

Some people prefer to learn through watching or listening, and some through reading. If you limit your content to the written word, you are massively short-selling yourself and your audience. You are cutting out a whole portion of your audience who might love your work but might not prefer its format.

The same is true if you are a YouTuber, reading this guide. Get on Fiverr, and pay someone to transcribe notes from your informational videos so that people with different learning styles can also have access to that information.

10. Email the sources you quote in your articles

If you are writing articles that require you to cite lots of sources, you have yet another great way to improve your content marketing!

Contact the most cited sources with the article, letting them know how important their work was to you, and ask if they would be willing to share it along their various channels of influence.

Say please, ask nicely, and you’re likely to get a positive response.

Again, this can be a great way to boost your credibility and get your content out there!

11. Create content worth marketing

Sure, this point may seem a little redundant, but it is worth repeating.

If your content sucks, why are you even trying to market it? What you are creating needs to offer value to the world, and even if it isn’t 100% original, it should offer insights and present the information in a way that the audience isn’t used to seeing.

You need to create great content before you can be great at marketing it.

Conclusion

Content marketing can be overwhelming.

There are so many different channels to market your content on that you may feel you can’t even choose which one(s) to pursue.

But relax, content marketing shouldn’t be this scary.

What’s most important is to create good content and do what you can to share it. Once you have mastered the basics, you can worry about the hard stuff.

Until then, enjoy and start creating outstanding content today.

In your experience, what kind of content goes viral? What did you do to make it happen? Let me know about your viral content experiences! I always love a good success story.

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Applying the Craftsman Approach to Tool Selection to Make Smarter Purchases

Recently, I had the pleasure of reading the wonderful book Deep Work by Cal Newport. In the book, he defines what he calls the craftsman approach to tool selection:

The Craftsman Approach to Tool Selection: Identify the core factors that determine success and happiness in your professional and personal life. Adopt a tool only if its positive impacts on these factors substantially outweigh its negative impacts.

What’s the alternative?

The Any-Benefit Approach to [...] Tool Selection: You’re justified in using a [...] tool if you can identify any possible benefit to its use, or anything you might possibly miss out on if you don’t use it.

Newport specifically uses these two strategies to discuss using social media tools, like Twitter and Facebook, and his argument is that for some people, it’s beneficial to not use Twitter and Facebook. He does this by laying out the benefits (keeping in touch with people that really aren’t a part of your immediate life, etc.) of social media next to the drawbacks (they suck away a lot of time and attention, etc.).

The problem is that many people only look at the benefits of something new, not the drawbacks. They look at Facebook, for instance, and see only the ability to keep tabs on people they went to high school with. That’s a benefit, so they join and start using the tool. They don’t see the drawbacks of using Facebook – it eats up time, it exposes you to lots of ads, it’s a source of distraction, it provides false images of what the lives of others are like, etc. With the any-benefit approach to tool selection, there is no process of weighing the pros and the cons of something; instead, if there’s a pro, the tool gets used.

When I see these rules, however, I see an immediate echo of how people spend their money.

For many Americans, the “any-benefit approach” is how they approach most of their spending. (Remember, 76% of Americans live paycheck to paycheck, which includes a lot of households with six figure incomes.) If an item has a benefit, particularly a short-term benefit, they buy it without considering the drawbacks. The only limitation that they put on this buying is the actual dollar constraint of their budget, not any sort of discriminating “craftsman” approach to spending.

For example, let’s consider that 45% of Americans are saving nothing for retirement and another significant percentage are only “saving” because it’s a bonus as a part of their salary. The pros of saving for retirement are numerous, but they’re all long term benefits. Those benefits come counterbalanced with two cons – one, it reduces the size of your paycheck and two, it doesn’t give you any short-term benefit.

On the other hand, consider that the average American family spends $2,625 a year eating at restaurants and $2,482 per year on entertainment. Those are two things with pretty clear short term benefits but almost zero long term benefits and a lot of cons – it’s money spent that could be spent on something else, plus those things have almost no lasting long term positive impact on one’s life.

Given these examples, I’d like to propose two alternate versions of Newport’s rules about tool selection.

First:

The “any-benefit” approach to spending money is the idea that money should be spent exclusively based on the short term benefits of a purchase, with only a small consideration of the long term benefits and without any real consideration to the drawbacks. The only real negatives constraint applied in the “any-benefit” approach is the absolute limitation of income.

On the other hand:

The “craftsman” approach to spending money is the idea that money should be spent only if the overall positive factors, both short-term and long-term, outweigh the drawbacks, and this is paired with the constant realization that simply spending money is itself a significant drawback.

My entire approach to personal finance centers around a “craftsman” approach to spending money. Almost every personal finance decision I make flows from the idea that every purchase I make has some set of benefits and drawbacks, that long term benefits are just as real as short term ones, and that the act of spending the money is a drawback in the form of lost opportunities and money taken away from other goals.

Let’s say I’m at the grocery store. An “any-benefit” approach at the grocery store involves wandering down the aisles and grabbing anything and everything that might fit into making meals for the coming few days because, well, those items do offer some benefit in terms of making meals. A “craftsman” approach to spending money there revolves around seeking out how to get the most value out of your dollar for the things you need to and want to buy. That involves making a grocery list before you even go so you know what you actually need to get, so you can easily ignore the unnecessary things. That involves comparing items on the shelves, considering store brands for many things, and buying in bulk to get the lowest cost per unit price.

Let’s say I’m considering kitchen knives. An “any-benefit” approach simply seeks out the best individual knife or the best set of knives that can be afforded at the moment, usually based on sticker price. A “craftsman” approach does some homework up front, not only into what knives are actually necessary in a kitchen, but also into what brands are good and what brands offer the most bang for the buck, and then that person shops around for the lowest prices on the “bang for the buck” knives. An “any-benefit” buyer comes home with a block of knives bought at a store for full sticker price and never uses 75% of them; a “craftsman” buyer buys perhaps two or three knives of a specific brand and model, purchases them on sale, and uses them all of the time.

Let’s say I’m considering a board game. An “any-benefit” approach means that if I see a game that I’m interested in playing, I buy it. After all, I’ll have the benefit of playing and enjoying that game. A “craftsman” approach asks a lot of additional questions. Does a friend own this game? How much would I actually play it? Are there other games on my game shelf yearning to be played? Is this game really similar to a game I already have? Could I use the money better elsewhere? Given that this game would eat yet another slice of my time to play board games, am I okay with it eating up the time that could have went to another game? The thing to remember is that I’m not buying a game, I’m just buying the difference in quality between this game and the game I would otherwise be playing.

Let’s say I’m considering buying some gourmet cheese. An “any-benefit” approach just buys the cheese that seems to be the most delicious option for the situation. A “craftsman” approach will step back, look at the price, and ask themselves if there isn’t a good cost-effective solution here that can get most of the benefit of this expensive $40 a pound cheese for a much lower price. Do I even need the cheese at all? That’s almost always the first question I’d ask myself when staring at that kind of sticker price.

You can go through example after example after example like this, where you compare an “any-benefit” mindset to buying things (just buy it!) to a “craftsman” approach to buying things (ask lots of questions first!).

Naturally, the “craftsman” approach is going to result in you having more cost-effective items in your life and more money left over for other life goals, but it also requires more time. My approach to solving the time problem is simple: I try to answer the “craftsman” questions up front and then just repeat the conclusion when making repeated buys. In other words, I virtually never go into a store to buy something without some up-front research and planning. For repeated purchases, when I’ve made a decision about a particular item, I usually just repeat the results of that decision over and over, buying the same thing time and time again.

Does a “craftsman” approach take away from spontaneity? Perhaps. However, I think that a healthy budget creates some space for at least a little bit of uninhibited spending. For me, I still take a “craftsman” approach to those purchases because it has become a natural state for me, but I don’t tend to sweat the negatives of spending the money nearly as much when the money comes from that “free spending” part of the budget.

Consider adopting more of a “craftsman” approach to your dollars and less of an “any-benefit” approach. You’ll find over time that you have all of the stuff that you need with a lot less expense, and that means you’ll have money left over for the big things in life that you might think you don’t have room for, like saving for retirement.

Good luck!

The post Applying the Craftsman Approach to Tool Selection to Make Smarter Purchases appeared first on The Simple Dollar.

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Discover Will Give You a Free FICO Score — No Strings Attached

Hey, you. Yeah, you.

Do you know your FICO score?

Because you need to.

Your credit doesn’t just affect how much you’ll pay for a car or the interest rate on your mortgage. A bad score can seep into all aspects of your life, wreaking havoc when you least expect it.

Bad credit might cause you to miss out on a great rental property or require you to put down a hefty deposit next time you want to open a new utility line.

Heck, it could even put a damper on your love life if your savvy sweetie doesn’t want to say “I do” to your score.

Now that Discover is offering a free FICO scorecard — even for non-cardholders — you have absolutely no excuse not to know this super important number.

What’s Your FICO Score?

Here’s the thing: You don’t just have one credit score.

“You have hundreds, and they change constantly,” explains NerdWallet staff writer Bev O’Shea.

That’s because multiple credit bureaus track your activity. Each evaluates your history with a slightly different algorithm and might have differing amounts of data in the first place — not every lender will report your actions to every bureau.

So figuring out your credit score — and therefore your credit-worthiness — can be confusing at best. You could see dozens of points’ difference depending on where you get your report.

But luckily, there’s a fairly foolproof solution: knowing your FICO 8 score.

This is the score almost every lender in the U.S. references when deciding how much, if any, credit they’re willing to extend your way.

Although some free credit reports will include this specific score, it’s more common to find derivative scores from lesser-known bureaus.

You could be faithfully tracking your credit report with a free app… and still not have a handle on what your credit history looks like to the majority of lenders.

That’s why Discover is offering everyone — not just Discover customers — the opportunity to get a free FICO scorecard.

“We think that everyone should be informed about their credit so that they can avoid surprises. We want you to check your Credit Scorecard without worry which is why we offer it for free,” reads the site.

Pretty sweet, right? Plus, it doesn’t even ding your score when it checks.

Get Your Free Credit Report

If you’re ready to get informed about your creditworthiness, here’s what to do.

Head over to Discover and enter your personal information. Make sure you have your social security number handy. (Speaking of numbers you should know…)

You’ll be prompted to answer some security questions to verify your identity — multiple-choice questions about streets you’ve lived on, your current employer and the terms of any standing loans you may have.

That’s it — you’ll have instant access to your FICO score, as well as a brief summary of your credit history including important factors like revolving utilization, missed payments and inquiries.

If your score surprises you in a bad way, you can order your free annual report to see exactly what’s up and figure out your next step.

Hopefully, it’s just that your revolving balance is too high — here are 11 ways to pay down those credit cards quickly.

But even if it’s something more catastrophic, take heart. You have the power to fix your credit!

Here’s how I got my score back after I was the victim of identity theft.

This guy found a cool tool to help him raise his score almost 200 points in just six months — and save $1,000 while he’s at it.

And once you have your credit back under control, don’t shred those cards: Just make sure to pay them down in full every month.

That way, you can still take advantage of rewards like cash back and miles, without paying even a cent of interest.

What can I say? It pays to be well-informed.

Your Turn: Do you know your FICO score?

Jamie Cattanach is a staff writer at The Penny Hoarder. Her writing has also been featured at Word Riot, DMQ Review, Hinchas de Poesia and elsewhere. Find @JamieCattanach on Twitter to wave hello.

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This Woman Makes $20 an Hour by Going Grocery Shopping

If you like grocery shopping, you’re in luck.

If not, I understand. Who likes navigating squeaky shopping carts through crowded aisles and not being able to find the darn jelly?

But what if you got paid to grocery shop?

Destiny Frith does.

The 22-year-old Nashville resident is a shopper for on-demand grocery-delivery service Shipt, which means she buys groceries and delivers them to customers.

And, yes, “shopper” is part of her official job title.

When she first moved to Nashville, one of Frith’s Facebook friends posted about the job and the money she was making. Frith decided it would be an easy way to earn money while adjusting to her new city.

Although she’s since found a more permanent job as a full-time barista, she still works as a Shipt shopper eight to 10 hours a week to help pay off her credit card debt.

“It’s not anything too crazy, but $2,000 has been my max, and it added up pretty quickly after moving out of state,” Frith says. “Shipt is really helping [me] put a dent in that debt.”

Working for Shipt

When Frith finds time in her schedule, she sets her availability by hour between 8 a.m. and 10 p.m. The app sends her order requests, which she can then accept or deny.

Once she accepts an order, she receives the grocery list, an estimated shopping time and a recommended store based on the customer’s location. Shipt typically pairs with Publix, though ultimately it depends on the market area.

Frith pulls on her snazzy green T-shirt emblazoned with a spaceship. She received one for free when she first signed up, then two more when she hit 30 shops as a way of easing the pain of doing laundry. Wearing the shirt isn’t required, but it’s highly encouraged.

After she fills her cart at Publix, she heads to the checkout line and pays with the provided company card. She takes a photo of the receipt and uploads it, then takes off to make the delivery.

How Much Do Shoppers Make?

Shipt advertises its shoppers will make $15-25 per hour, which has been Frith’s experience.

She says she makes about $20 per shopping trip, which takes about an hour to accomplish.

With each order, Frith earns $5 plus 7.5% of the order total. Most orders are more than $35 because that’s when the customer receives free delivery.

The customer also has an option to tip after the delivery. The option automatically pops up on the app after the delivery, which Shipt hopes makes customers feel obligated to tip the shoppers. Frith says generous tippers make up for the more frugal ones.

Right now, Frith works eight to 10 hours a week with a goal of earning $200 to pay down her credit card debt of $2,000. She says that when she was really “hustling,” she worked closer to 30-40 hours a week and once earned nearly $700.

And as a Shipt shopper, Frith gets a free membership ($99/year or $14/month), which means if she gets too tired of shopping for other people, she can let someone else do it for her.

Of course, Shipt’s shoppers still have to pay for their own groceries, but this way they can watch Netflix while waiting for a tub of ice cream to be delivered to their front door.

Challenges of the Job

The biggest downside of the job is gas money. Shipt doesn’t reimburse shoppers for milage or the car’s wear and tear, so you’ll want to weigh your options.

Also, Frith only sees the price of an order before choosing to accept or reject it — she doesn’t know what will be on the customer’s list. One of her fellow shoppers once had to pick up 24 cases of water!

She can’t peruse the list to see if it includes quirky, unrecognizable or tough-to-find items. She says pasta is always a tough one, with its various brands, shapes, sizes and colors, and once, she had to find cat milk.

“That’s milk… for cats… in the cat aisle,” she says. (Now you know.)

If the item just isn’t available, Frith can communicate directly with customers using the app to see if another brand or substitute item will work.

And delivery isn’t always the jam session in the car that Shipt advertises. Sometimes, Frith has to drive 40 minutes to make a delivery. Other times, she has to face the weather.

This past winter, Frith took advantage of a break in a snowstorm and accepted an order. When she dropped off the groceries, her Subaru CrossTrek couldn’t make it up the customer’s icy driveway.

He actually hiked down, took the driver’s seat (that’s trust!) and maneuvered her car around. Though the customer wound up having to carry the cargo a good distance, he still tipped Frith for her efforts.

Pro Tips From a Shipt Shopper

Frith has experimented to determine if bigger or smaller orders rake in more money.

She’s found that bigger orders bring in more profit, but they take more time to fill.

Plus, she’s noticed bigger orders often earn her a $5-$10 tip, about the same amount she gets on smaller orders. In that case, she might choose to fill a few smaller orders in the same time it takes her to complete a big one — earning more tips.

But she suggests that once new shoppers get the hang of it, they should try taking on more than one order at a time.

Frith says she’s conquered three orders at once. She fills the cart with the largest order and stocks two baskets on the bottom of the cart with smaller orders. She just has to make sure to keep the bags divided in her trunk.

In short?

“It’s probably all pretty close no matter what you do,” she says. “I don’t have any real strategy other than moving fast in the stores and doing my best to memorize where items are.”

How To Apply to Work for Shipt

Shipt is currently recruiting shoppers in Alabama, Arizona, Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, Ohio, South Carolina, Tennessee and Texas. More locations could be coming soon as the service expands.

You must be 18 years old, have reliable transportation (and a current driver’s license, of course), pass the background check and be able to lift at least 25 pounds — for those cases of water.

Also required? “Knowledge of produce section.”

If you meet these requirements and think you’d like to be a Shipt shopper, submit your application online. After you apply, Shipt will interview you remotely through an app.

Once you’re accepted, you can start shopping.

And no matter what you do, always, always check for broken eggs.

Your Turn: What’s the most bizarre item you’ve found in the grocery store, and where did you find it?

Carson Kohler (@CarsonKohler) is a junior writer at The Penny Hoarder. After recently completing graduate school, she focuses on saving money — and surviving the move back in with her parents.

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Nine Ways to Find an Affordable Hotel

With summer travel season upon us, many of us are busy dreaming of our next chance to get away. And whether you crave a mountain landscape, a sunny beach and a cold drink, the bright lights of the big city, or an epic hiking trip through the wilderness, you’ll likely need a hotel or some type of overnight accommodation. But summer prices are often through the roof, which makes shopping around more important than ever.

Nine Ways to Save Money on Hotels This Summer

To help you build a trip you can actually afford, we rounded up some of the hottest tips for hotel savings for the summer season. When it comes to hotels, remember that it always pays to shop around. Keep reading to learn some of the best (and easiest) ways to save on your summer hotel plans.

Shop around on travel discount sites.

Comparing prices is a smart move for almost anything you buy, from car insurance to groceries. But that’s especially true when you’re spending big money for several nights at a hotel or resort.

Travel search websites like Priceline offer some of the best travel deals in the business, even letting you “bid a price” on hotels and rental cars at certain destinations worldwide. Plus, there are many more discount sites to peruse – including Expedia, Travelocity, Hotels.com, and Kayak – and it often pays to compare prices on each one.

If you want more options, you can also check out goSeek.com or the app Hotel Tonight. While goSeek promises to alert you when the price for your hotel or resort hits rock bottom, Hotel Tonight offers last-minute deals on hotels for… you guessed it, tonight (or within the week). If you don’t mind flying by the seat of your pants —  perhaps with a free-and-easy-to-cancel backup reservation in hand — booking last minute can be a great way to save.

Also check out Cyber Summer Travel, a website that features the best summer travel deals starting on June 20th, 2016. This year’s flash sale pricing includes deals such as:

• Casa Palopó, Lake Atitlan, Guatemala: 35% off, starting at $100/night
• Renaissance Tuscany Il Ciocco Resort & Spa, Italy: 35% savings, with rates starting at $170 per night
• NYAH, Key West, Florida: Rates starting at $99/night
• Westin Playa Bonita, Panama: 40% off, starting at $108/night
• Jupiter Beach Resort & Spa, Jupiter, Florida: 50% off best available rates

Book directly with your hotel or resort.

Some of the largest hotel chains have rolled out special programs and pricing for customers who book directly, such as InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG), which in addition to its namesake also includes Holiday Inn, Crowne Plaza, and other large hotel brands. By booking directly with IHG’s “Your Rate” program, you can get a lower rate than any other rate offered online.

The same can be said for Marriott resorts, which now offers special “members-only rates” for consumers who book through the Marriott website or mobile app.

If you plan to stay at one of the big hotel chains, it’s still wise to shop around on all the travel sites to find the best deal. But before you book, check with the resort chain’s main website for the most up-to-date deals and pricing. While it isn’t always the case, booking directly can often be cheaper, and might even come with additional perks like free breakfast or a room upgrade.

If you’re affiliated with the military or belong to AAA, you may also get an additional discount — up to 10% to 15% off — when you book directly with the hotel. Certain hotels may offer deals for students or seniors as well. Regardless, it never hurts to check if any discounts are available — all they can say is no, right?

• Related: For Hotel Rooms, Call the Local Branch and Negotiate

Try a smart travel app.

Several apps aim to connect travelers with anything from last minute hotel deals to hidden discounts. You can use the Last-Minute Travel Deals app, for example, to book and save on everything from hotels and flights to car rentals, vacation homes, activities, and transfers all over the world.

Then, there’s InvisibleHand – a free browser add-on and money saving tool that helps consumers find the lowest prices on hotels, flights, rental cars, and more. Once you have the extension installed in your browser, you simply Google the hotel or resort you’re considering as you normally would. If a better deal can be found, a pop-up will reveal itself on your page or device to let you know.

Join a hotel loyalty program.

You don’t have to be a frequent business traveler to take advantage of hotel loyalty program perks. “Another surefire but surprisingly overlooked method is for everyday vacationers to join a company’s loyalty program to gain access to exclusive rates and accrue benefits that become increasingly generous over time,” says Arianne Valentino, director of sales and marketing at Hilton Aruba Caribbean Resort & Casino.

At Hilton resorts in particular, rewards can take you far – whether you pay with cash or points. The upcoming Hilton World Sale offers Hilton HHonors members great value with up to 25% off at more than 4,660 participating hotels worldwide. Plus, Hilton members will earn double Hilton HHonors points for all paid stays from May 1 through Aug. 31, 2016. With these promotions, you can save on hotel stays now and earn some free nights later, too.

If you don’t like the big hotel chains, you can also join Stash Hotel Rewards, a loyalty program designed specifically for independent and small, family-run hotels. While not advertised as frequently, Stash allows travelers to earn and redeem points at over 170 independently-owned hotels across the United States.

• Related: Best Hotel Rewards Programs

Book through a cash-back portal.

While you may have heard about cash-back portals that reward users for making purchases online, most people don’t realize that some websites offer cash back for booking a hotel. BeFrugal.com, for example, offers an average of 7% cash back on hotel bookings made through the site. Signing up is free, and you don’t have to complete your reservation through Be Frugal, either. All you have to do is click through the portal before you book directly with a hotel to earn cash back.

While the options change all the time, Be Frugal’s current offerings include 7.3% cash back at Hotels.com, 8.3% cash back at Choice Hotels, and 6% cash back on hotel reservations made through Booking.com. If you’re going to book a hotel anyway, this is truly “free money” for the taking.

Book a travel package that includes more than your hotel.

If your trip is more than a place to lay your head at night and you plan to book a few things to do and see in the area anyway, consider a hotel package booked directly through a hotel instead of piecing your trip together a la carte.

For example, the JW Marriott Indianapolis offers packages for every type of traveler, from families to the weekly business traveler. Their “Lights, Legends, and Lions Package” starts at just $139 per night and includes deluxe overnight accommodations, two adult tickets to the IMAX Theater, Indianapolis Zoo, NCAA Hall of Fame, and White River Gardens, and includes breakfast for two each morning.

The best way to find “package deals” is directly on a hotel or resort’s website. Once you decide where you want to go and when, conduct a simple search and look for packages that might meet your needs.

Consider an all-inclusive resort.

All-inclusive resorts offer much more than a place to stay for one low rate; they also offer food, drinks (even alcohol), and entertainment in your basic room fare.

Oasis Hotels & Resorts is an all-inclusive resort chain best known for its incredible entertainment offerings. Their largest resort, the Grand Oasis Cancun, features nightly shows with elaborate costumes, professional contortionists, and dancers in the lobby. Plus, they offer round-the-clock food and drink, access to one of the world’s most beautiful beaches, and a fun atmosphere that keeps people of all ages entertained.

Any all-inclusive resort you choose should make budgeting a whole lot easier. With all of your food and entertainment included in your room rate, you can truly enjoy your vacation without any surprise expenses or “gotchas.”

Choose flexible dates, and plan ahead.

Even during the busy summer travel season, you can often score an off-peak discount by traveling outside of weekends and sometime during the week instead. “Surprise your family with a mid-week getaway, or start your stay on a Sunday,” suggests Susie Storey, director of communications for Great Wolf Lodge.

It can also pay to plan ahead, she says. If you want to save on a trip any time of the year, checking prices early so you can strike when the iron is hot is almost always a good idea. “Spontaneous travel always sounds adventurous and fun, but it can be more expensive,” says Storey.

Sign up for a hotel or rewards credit card.

Rewards credit cards offer a slew of benefits for frequent travelers, plus “points” you can redeem for free hotel stays, free flights, and more. By signing up for a hotel credit card and meeting a minimum spending requirement, you can often earn enough points for several free nights at your favorite hotel.

Our post on the best hotel credit cards highlights some of the top options out there, but you shouldn’t limit yourself quite yet. The most flexible travel credit cards can also be insanely fruitful when it comes to earning free hotel stays. Just remember to shop around for the best card and signup bonus to really maximize the number of points you’ll earn.

• Related: Best Travel Credit Cards

The Bottom Line

Whether you want to explore a big city or relax on a beach all day, your travel options are only limited by your budget and your imagination. As always, it helps to shop around for destinations and deals that make sense with your budget and travel style.

And heck, you might even find that you don’t want a hotel at all. In some cases, a renting a vacation condo through VRBO or Airbnb can work out to be cheaper, especially if you’re traveling with family members or a group of friends.

Don’t be afraid to put in some initial research as you plan your trip. With some digging and an eye for a deal, you could be enjoying the vacation of your dreams in no time. And whatever you choose, if you got a good deal and scored a vacation you’re happy about, then you did everything right.

Do you have any cheap travel plans this summer? What is your favorite way to save no hotel stays?

Related Articles: 

• Five Strategies to Use Marriott Hotel Points for a Cheap Vacation
• Hotel Rewards Cards for People Who Hate Hotels
• The Best Hotel Credit Cards for 2016

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Suffer from Rheumatoid Arthritis? Here’s a Simple Way to Make Up to $625

Rheumatoid Arthritis is a widely feared chronic disease — and with good reason.

The most common type of autoimmune arthritis, the pain you endure is triggered by your own faulty immune system.

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Detection, treatment and outlooks have greatly improved in recent years. But anyone living with the debilitating disease knows there’s a long way to go.

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You wake from restless sleep each morning, unsure whether you’ll be in good enough shape to attack your to-do list.

It’s a neverending pain in the neck… or, more literally, in the hands, wrists and fingers.

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You Can Help Advance Arthritis Research

Local research studies may be an option and they offer payment/compensation up to $625 (learn more here). These studies help doctors discover better ways to treat — and hopefully eliminate — arthritis.

Plus, you could receive study medication and study-related care at no cost to you.

The study is open to men and women ages 18 or older who have been diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis, currently experiencing swollen and tender joints. You also must be currently taking medication to treat RA symptoms and otherwise healthy.

Click here and submit your information to check your eligibility for this clinical trial. If you qualify, you’ll be able to pick from a list of research facilities in your area.

And if you change your mind, there’s no obligation to participate.

Your Turn: Do you live with or know someone who lives with RA?

Disclosure: This post includes affiliate links. We’re letting you know because it’s what Honest Abe would do. After all, he is on our favorite coin.

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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How to Make $18-$35 an Hour Running Errands

By Kimi Clark If you like being on the go, maybe you should consider the possibility of earning money by running errands for other people. Whether you’d like to go into business for yourself or use one of the helpful online services out there, being able to make money while helping others is a great […]

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