Church Tithing Challenge Offers Money-Back Guarantee

Church Tithing Challenge Offers Money-Back Guarantee

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Markets on the Rise after Brexit, But Is It Too Soon Celebrate?

Markets on the Rise after Brexit, But Is It Too Soon Celebrate?

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Must Love Cats: These 3 Cat Cafes Will Pay You Up to $13 an Hour

Cat cafe fever is real, with playful adoption-encouraging cafes popping up all around the U.S.

Not sure you want to fork over a few bucks at a time just to play with cats? Perhaps you can make money working in one of these fine feline establishments.

While jobs at cat cafes differ by location and theme, they have one thing in common: You must love cats. A “cat nanny” job in England required customer service experience, computer literacy, and a positive attitude to be considered for the $11-per-hour position.

Pretty basic skillset. Pretty awesome job. Maybe some purrrrks, too?

OK, you knew the puns were coming. You knew it. Do not roll your eyes at me.

If you’re on the lookout for a cat cafe job in your area, keep an eye on these options. As more cat cafes open, similar positions are likely to soon be available on a sunny windowsill near you.

San Francisco: KitTea

San Francisco’s first cat cafe, KitTea, pays its part-timers $13 per hour plus tips for two different positions.

Cat wranglers are on the front lines of both the feline and human experience. They care for and clean up after cats, monitor the human restrooms, observe the lounge area and welcome guests.

Wranglers must also be up to speed on adoption policies with partner organization Wonder Cat Rescue, as the ultimate goal is to help visitors make a connection that could turn into a purrmanent relationship.

Tea lounge attendants take and prepare orders for tea and snacks, bus and wash dishes, track reservations and complete retail sales.

Applicants for these jobs must be willing to work both weekdays and weekends. To apply for either position, send your resume and a brief cover letter to meow@kitteasf.com.

Minneapolis: Cafe Meow

Minneapolis anxiously awaits Cafe Meow, which is slated to open in fall 2016. The cafe, neighborhood TBD, is accepting applications for two positions.

Baristas will make and serve beverages to guests in the cafe area. They’ll also be informal tour guides for guests about to enter the cat room; when the crowds aren’t pressing in, they’ll tidy the cafe, take stock and assist the cafe manager.

Cat room hosts will check guests into the area, answer questions and sell merchandise.

They’ll also be in charge of “providing customers with bandages if necessary,” along with making sure all cat areas are tidy and mess-free. Hosts should be able to handle cranky customers and/or cranky cats with ease.

“Email us with your name, a brief statement about why you want to join our team, and attach a resume,” the soon-to-launch cafe asks. Its website offers an online form for applicants.

Washington, D.C. and Los Angeles: Crumbs & Whiskers

Crumbs & Whiskers doesn’t have specific positions listed on its site, but sends out a general call for would-be cafe hosts.

“Are you obsessed with customer service, creative problem-solving, and cats?” the jobs page asks.

Naturally, I’m the purrfect candidate.

“The ideal host is high energy, super creative, a people person, and resilient,” says Crumbs & Whiskers of its employee wishlist.

“Must be comfortable working in a fast-paced, high pressure, entrepreneurial environment. Must be able to commit 6+ months.”

Interested parties can fill in a form on the cafe’s jobs page. Crumbs & Whiskers is so popular in Washington, D.C. — it just completed its 100th adoption in just one year of operation — it’s scheduled to open a branch in Los Angeles soon.

If you’re a fan of felines but you don’t live in any of these cities, you can still work in a cat cafe — just open your own!  Here’s a guide to help you start a cat cafe in your city.

Your Turn: Have you ever considered working at a cat cafe?

Lisa Rowan is a writer, editor and podcaster living in Washington, D.C. She likes cats.

The post Must Love Cats: These 3 Cat Cafes Will Pay You Up to $13 an Hour appeared first on The Penny Hoarder.

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Cheap gas coming to an end in New Jersey?

SUSSEX, N.J. — For generations, Pennsylvania and New York residents have hopped over the state line to buy cheap gas in New Jersey.But that tradition may be coming to an end. The New Jersey Assembly passed sweeping legislation early Tuesday to approve a 23-cent hike in the gasoline tax to fund road and bridge work. The bill is expected to pass in the state Senate and will likely be [...]

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IKEA is Recalling 29 Million Dressers. Does Yours Qualify for a Refund?

IKEA furniture isn’t just for college students.

Penny Hoarders, especially, are likely to have it in their grown-up apartments, too: It’s functional, stylish and affordable.

Also because lingonberry sauce. And Swedish meatballs.

But IKEA has recalled 29 million chests and dressers, following several tragic fatal accidents involving dressers tipping over onto children.

Here’s what you need to know, for both the safety of your family and potential compensation.

What You Need to Know About the IKEA Recall

First things first: If you have an IKEA dresser (or any dresser), make sure it’s properly anchored to the wall.

If you’re an IKEA customer affected by the recall, you can order an anchoring kit free of charge — and if not, they’re less than $10 at your local hardware store.

Your family’s safety is certainly worth the small investment.

Until you get your dresser secured, stop using it and place it out of reach of young children.

Now that we’ve got safety covered, let’s hash out the rest of the details.

How to Receive Compensation for Recalled IKEA Chests or Dressers

Here’s the full list of dressers and chests affected by the recall. It also includes several models in IKEA’s popular MALM line, which are listed and pictured here.

If you have one of these models, you’re eligible for either a refund or the free anchoring kit linked above.

For cash compensation, the amount you’re entitled to depends on how old your furniture is. If your furniture was manufactured between January 2002 and June 2016, you can claim a full cash refund.

If it was manufactured prior to 2002, you’ll get a partial refund in the form of in-store credit instead.

If you decide to keep your dresser and get the free anchoring kit, you can either install it yourself or request a one-time, free in-home installation by IKEA. You’ll also be able to reorder kits as needed.

To participate in the recall, contact IKEA directly at 1-866-856-4532, or email secureit@ikea.com.

To see the full terms and details of the recall, click here.

Get your furniture secured and safe, so you can stow your stuff without having to worry about it.

Your Turn: Is your IKEA dresser eligible for a full refund?

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.

The post IKEA is Recalling 29 Million Dressers. Does Yours Qualify for a Refund? appeared first on The Penny Hoarder.

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Average UK house price hits £205k but north south divide widens

Gary Adams

quiet-essex-village-street.jpg

UK house prices rose in June by 0.2%, according to the Nationwide House Price Index figures, released today (29 June). This is the same as May’s figure, giving a total annual rise of 5.1% to give an average UK house price of £204,968.

UK house prices rose in June by 0.2%, according to the Nationwide House Price Index figures, released today (29 June). This is the same as May’s figure, giving a total annual rise of 5.1% to give an average UK house price of £204,968.

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Cash In on Naptime: 14 Creative Ways to Make Money While Your Kids Sleep

Raising a family is hard work. The greatest mistake a stay-at-home parent can make is to plan on a flexible schedule and tons of free time to run a home business.

But if you’re flexible and you manage your time cleverly, you can make extra money while your kids are asleep.

“On a perfect day, my youngest naps around 9 a.m. for an hour and then they both nap for about two hours in the afternoon,” says Ami Spencer Youngs, freelance writer and mother of one- and three-year-old boys.

“Some days it doesn’t work out,” she admits, “but when it does, it’s good found time to get some emails sent, invoicing done or some other administrative stuff that might take up time later when I could be focusing on billable work.”

Not every day will yield that glorious uninterrupted work time. Some days, you’ll have to squeeze in a few minutes of work during your child’s power nap, or after you’ve put your kids to bed.

Here’s how to make money from home, whether the kids are out for a few minutes or a few hours.

You’ve been running around all day, and your brain is fried. The baby is finally asleep.

But now you’ve only got 20 minutes before the rest of the kids come home from school — and the baby wakes up again.

Here are eight ways to make money during a short nap — with minimal brain power.

1. Take Online Surveys

Earning potential: $7-$8 per hour

The pay per hour isn’t high, but the energy you’ll put into taking surveys is minimal. If you sign up for several survey sites, like PointClub or Ipsos, you could start a steady stream of revenue.

Complete 10-20 surveys in your free minutes to earn an extra $50 per month.

2. Earn Sign-Up Bonuses

Earning potential: $100-$250 per bonus

Banks and credit card companies are always looking for new customers — and are willing to reward you for being one of them.

If you’re smart with your savings and credit, why not earn money for the financial services you’d be using anyway?

Here are some of our favorite bank offers. Some of them require you to actually leave the house, but you can open several of them online.

Once you’ve earned a bank account bonus, take a look at credit card sign-up bonuses.

Follow our guide to choose the cards with the best bonuses and how to ensure you’ll be able to meet spending requirements. Apply for the credit cards online, use them for your normal purchases to earn cash or travel rewards.

3. Sell Your Junk Mail

Earning potential: $20 every six to 10 weeks

SBK Center is a market research company that will pay you for your junk mail and email.

Start by applying to be a Consumer Panelist. Then forward your junk email to SBK, and send it your junk direct mail in the self-addressed, stamped envelopes it provides.

You’ll earn points for each piece of qualifying mail you send. Once you earn 2,000 points, you’ll receive a Visa gift card. These work just like debit cards, so you can spend the money you earn nearly everywhere.

Frequent users can earn up to $20 in points every six to 10 weeks. It’s not a huge source of income. But it’s easy, and you’re getting the junk mail, anyway — why not get paid for it?

4. Become a Mail Decoy

Earning potential: $100 per month

If you want to earn more money from your junk mail, consider signing up for additional mailing lists. The Hauser Group will pay you to tell it about the mail you receive.

Run out to the mailbox while your child’s asleep, and report when you receive mail from certain mailing lists, like specific catalogs and flyers.

The company will pay you 25 cents for each piece of decoy mail you report. Consistent reporting can boost the amount of mail you receive, so you could eventually start earning about an extra $100 per month.

5. See If You’ve Got Unclaimed Money

Earning potential: Varies

This woman got a check for $50,000 when she learned of a life insurance policy her brother had forgotten about. A payout that high isn’t common, but around $1,000 is. That makes a quick online search worth it, right?

Every U.S. state has unclaimed property programs, as do Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, and Quebec, British Columbia and Alberta, Canada.

Here are some instances where you might have unclaimed money:

• Inactive bank accounts

• Contents of safe deposit boxes

• Utility security deposits

• Uncashed paychecks

• Uncashed dividend checks

• Unclaimed trust distributions

• Unclaimed refunds of mortgage insurance

• Forgotten retirement accounts

6. Browse Class-Action Settlements

Earning potential: Varies

Speaking of claiming surprise money, I recently submitted my information to claim $50 worth of free StarKist tuna from a class-action settlement. These opportunities pop up all the time, and most consumers have no idea they could qualify.

That’s because these cases often don’t make headlines. And you can’t be expected to search online for potential lawsuits for everything you purchase!

Instead, use your free minutes in the day to scan through Top Class Actions, which keeps updated listings of — you guessed it — top class-action lawsuits and settlements.

You won’t have to wade through legal jargon to understand what you’re owed. The site summarizes settlements clearly, and you can usually claim your money online pretty easily.

And don’t worry; not every settlement requires you to provide proof of purchase to claim your money. That could be tough, as they’re often for products you may have purchased more than a year ago.

7. Watch Videos

Earning potential: $20-$225

It won’t be quite like getting paid to watch Netflix, but sites like Swagbucks pay you to watch videos. Brands pay the company to get their clips in front of as many people as possible, and it passes some of those earnings on to you.

The videos cover everything from entertainment to travel, so you’re bound to find something you’ll enjoy.

And if you don’t want to actually pay attention, you don’t have to. This writer figured out how to make the videos run in the background — on mute.

If your kids are a little older or tend to take longer naps, you’ve got a bit more time to work with — sometimes an hour or more.

“I’ve been known to try to make these magical hours happen by putting the boys in the car after lunch and going for a drive,” says Youngs.

“If all goes well, I can park, pull out my Surface and my lap desk that I keep in the vehicle, and get an hour to 90 minutes of focused work done before anyone wakes up.”

These options are a little more involved than the ones above, but you’ll still be able to accomplish a fair amount of work during your child’s hour-long nap.

8. Fulfillment by Amazon

Earning potential: $400 to $9,000+ a month

Through Fulfillment by Amazon, you buy items you’d like to resell, then send them to Amazon — which handles the rest of the selling process, from storage to shipping to customer satisfaction.

Choose to sell anything you want (that fits Amazon’s categories), ideally something you know well. The Penny Hoarder founder Kyle Taylor sells toys, and he made $10,000 through FBA in November and December 2014.

FBA offers a great opportunity to do a little bit of work during each nap. One day, you might research buying opportunities — sales or promotions where you can buy your inventory at a discount.

The next, you might upload your items to Amazon and package them for shipping to the distribution center. Amazon has a partnership with UPS, so you might be able to ship directly from your house.

9. Find and Sell Unused Gift Cards

Earning potential: Varies; in 2014, a study estimated $750 million in gift cards went unredeemed.

The last time you received a gift card, did you spend it right away, or tuck it in your wallet for later?

Chances are, you’ve got a few gift cards lying around — so turn them into cash.

Take a few minutes to go through your wallet, purse, dresser, junk drawer or anywhere else you might have tossed a gift card. Then check sites like Raise, Gift Card Granny, CardCash or even eBay to see which one will help you sell your card for the most money.

For example, right now on Raise, one seller is asking $49.59 for a $52.68 Target gift card. So you won’t quite make back the card’s full value, but hey, you’re getting paid for something you weren’t using!

10. Sell Stock Photos

Earning potential: $1 per photo

You may have tons of untapped money-earning potential in your daily life. Pull out your camera while walking the dog, playing at the park, grocery shopping or just playing with blocks in the living room.

These are all valuable moments — and people are willing to pay for photos of them.

To get started, check out our beginner’s guide to selling stock photography. Then use naptime to edit, upload and list photos for sale on microstock sites.

You don’t even have to invest in a professional camera to get into the stock photography game! Download an app called Foap to sell photos directly from your iPhone.

11. Find Short-Term Freelance Gigs

Earning potential: $5-$50 per gig

Hammering out an online task or two each afternoon could help pay for a much-needed date night next weekend.

What you’ll do varies wildly.

For $5 or $10, you might design a simple logo for a client through Fiverr, tag photos through Mechanical Turk or promote someone’s website through Gigbucks.

When you have more time (and want to earn a bit more money), grab a proofreading assignment from Upwork, complete virtual odd jobs through TaskRabbit or scan online gigs on Craigslist.

If you’re able to wake up before your kids a few days a week, or otherwise carve out a few uninterrupted hours while they’re down for the count, you’ll probably find it easier to work on these earning opportunities than you would in short power-nap bursts.

They might not be quick money-makers, but these options can help you lay the foundation for future growth — for example, something you might want to pursue once your kids are in school.

12. Start a Freelance Business

Earning potential: limitless!

Whether you choose freelance writing or personal shopping or even calligraphy, you’re probably going to need a little more time to focus than a 20-minute nap will give you.

However, you can still start a freelance business while your kids sleep — if you’re strategic about it.

“If only my youngest is napping, I focus on short tasks like responding to emails, updating and sending out invoices, and writing notes and doing research for blog posts,” says Spencer.

But she takes advantage of the longer, quieter periods to do the bulk of her creative work.

“When I have more time and both boys are sleeping, I’ll flesh out those blog posts, work on document creation and editing for clients, and do other more focused tasks.”

Dipping your toes in the freelance waters? Try some of these in-demand virtual assistant services, like formatting blog posts in WordPress or curating content for social media.

13. Find or Create a Product to Sell

Earning potential: up to you!

Can you sew adorable Halloween costumes?

What about cute holiday ornaments and decorations?

If you prefer to work with a keyboard over a glue gun, why not create a fun Helvetica T-shirt or package your experience as an ebook or digital course? Or find a generic product to sell under your own private brand?

You’re probably not going to turn a profit in a weekend, but a few long naps or post-bedtime work nights could help you lay the foundation for your new business.

14. Start a Blog

Earning potential: up to you!

It’s definitely not a quick way to make money, but starting a blog can eventually help you earn some cash.

“As I worked to develop my blog, it began to attract advertisers,” says Cat Alford, blogger and mom of twins, told The Work at Home Woman.

“It was very slow at first, and I used to only receive one email from advertisers every month or two.”

“Now, I field emails every day, and in the last three months, I’ve made a full-time income from my website after only making pocket change for several years.”

Here’s our step-by-step guide to starting a blog, from coming up with an idea to figuring out how to make money from it.

How Will You Make Money While Your Kids Sleep?

Whether you have 10 minutes or two hours, you can earn extra money while your kids are asleep. It might not be enough to cover your mortgage payment (yet!) but every little bit helps.

Your Turn: Do you make extra money while your kids are napping or after they go to bed? Share your stories in the comments!

Disclosure: We have a serious Taco Bell addiction around here. The affiliate links in this post help us order off the dollar menu. Thanks for your support!

Heather van der Hoop is senior editor of The Penny Hoarder. When she’s not reading, you can usually find her playing along with Jeopardy! or climbing rocks, mountains and trees.

The post Cash In on Naptime: 14 Creative Ways to Make Money While Your Kids Sleep appeared first on The Penny Hoarder.

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You Just Published a Blog Post. Here Are the 14 Things You Need to Do Next.

You’ve just poured your heart and soul into creating an epic blog post your audience is sure to love.

You’ve clicked the “Publish” button…Now what?

It may be tempting to leave it at that and move on to the next project. You’ve got more blogs to write, more topics to cover, and more content to produce, right?

Hold on a minute.

Publishing a blog post and quickly moving on to the next one is a waste of your efforts. Doing so will minimize the impact of your content and its true potential.

If you want to increase the exposure and circulation of your blog content, implement the following 14 tactics I’ve found to be insanely effective. 

1. Reread the final product

Should be an obvious one…but I need to mention it.

I like to think I’m pretty thorough with proofreading and diligent about catching spelling/grammar mistakes.

But no matter how meticulous I am, I occasionally find some errors after publishing.

Sometimes, it’s not even spelling/grammar but formatting or some other issue that slips past me.

You should be using spellcheck, obviously, or even a service such as Grammarly. However, nothing substitutes the proofreading services of a trained professional.

Most pros have a process they follow when proofreading a document.

If proofreading is not your strong suit, here’s what you can do:

• Hire a proofreader from Upwork or Fiverr.
• Ask someone on your team to proofread it for you.
• Once you write an article, wait a day or two before you proofread it. You’re more likely to catch mistakes with fresh eyes.
• Proofread it a second time.
• And a third.
• And maybe even a fourth.

You may wish to hire a copy editor instead of a proofreader.

What’s a copy editor? A copy editor pays more attention to the copy itself, not just grammatical details.

Wikipedia defines copy editor in this way:

Copy editing (also copy-editing or copyediting, sometimes abbreviated ce) is the process of taking raw material to improve the formatting, style, and accuracy of text.

A good copy editor can not only correct your typos and grammar but also improve the style, approach, tone, and accuracy of your content.

It doesn’t matter how much promotion you do (below). If your article is full of errors, you’ll lose credibility.

2. Insert a link to new content on old posts

Internal linking kills two birds with one stone.

First, it encourages readers to explore your site further. Second, it’s helpful for building site architecture and can give you some much needed SEO juice.

I always try to find previously published content that’s relevant to each new blog post and create a link that points to it.

Why does this even matter?

Internal linking helps you to:

• improve your site’s structure
• strengthen the overall authority of your site’s internal pages
• increase the likelihood of inbound link potential to the new article
• begin to build the link profile of the new article
• establish the validity of the new article.

Adding a link to your new article from old posts is easy:

1. Open an old article you’ve published.
2. Find a relevant spot in the article to create a text link.
3. Add the link to the new page.

It only makes sense to do this easy task. Why? Because links matter.

According to Moz, 99.2% of the top 50 results on Google have at least one link to the website from some external site.

But it’s not just sitewide links that make a difference. The page itself should have links too. Moz’s research shows a high degree of correlation between a top-ranked page and a page-specific link.

Interlinking pages within your website aren’t considered external links, but they do improve your site’s structure and optimization.

Besides, there’s the freshness factor to consider. When a page acquires new links, it instantly signals relevance to the algorithm, improving its potential in the SERPs.

Adding links should be a top priority shortly after publication.

3. Add a question to spark discussion

Many times, my audience just needs a little coaxing to chime in and get the conversation going.

That’s why I like to add an open-ended question at the end of each post.

This not only encourages my readers to think deeply about a topic but also increases their engagement significantly.

I don’t actually expect people to answer the questions I ask. I do it to spark thinking and conversation.

And thankfully, it works. You guys do share your thoughts with me and other readers!

4. Post on Facebook

Duh, right?

But there’s a deeper strategy involved.

When I post an article on Facebook, I like to add a quick sentence or two that captures the essence of a post and explains how others will benefit from reading it. Usually, it’s pulled directly from the article itself.

And the image? It’s a must-have.

Facebook posts with photos get more links, shares, and comments. It’s a fact.

You can combine different techniques to get even more social sizzle from your Facebook post—a photo with your article, plus a question and the link to the article.

If you promote your article with that kind of power, you’re bound to make an impact.

Notice how a successful page such as Business Insider promotes its articles with a variety of techniques: images, a brief comment, and the link to the article.

5. Post on Twitter

You’re obviously limited in terms of writing a description with 140 characters.

But I try to write a short, snazzy caption to pique the interest of my followers.

Chris Brogan does this too. The guy’s a Twitter master, and he knows how to get people to click on his articles when he promotes them.

Also be sure to include a hashtag or two, but don’t overdo it to the point of looking like a jabroni.

A couple of hashtags is all you need to double the amount of engagement on your promoted article!

6. Post on LinkedIn

LinkedIn is great for highly professional posts and those that are relevant to my industry.

If you’re posting on LinkedIn, you’ll improve your LinkedIn engagement.

LinkedIn users are among the most plugged in and tuned in to your message.

Use your best judgment in terms of the type of content you decide to post on LinkedIn, but by all means, use it!

7. Post on Reddit

You might regard Reddit as the Internet’s home for hipsters and geeks, and you might be right.

But it can also be a traffic gold mine.

Why? Reddit has millions of pageviews, and its active user base is committed to engagement.

With Facebook and Twitter, you might have casual users, but there’s something about Reddit’s audience that makes them absolutely addicted to the site!

Reddit users interact on the site using what’s called karma. If that doesn’t mean anything to you, think likes on Facebook, except not really.

Basically, the idea is this: if your post gets lots of karma, more people will see it.

Reddit users don’t hesitate to share their opinions—good or bad—on articles that get shared.

If your content is subpar, you’ll get scoffed at. If it’s good, you can be confident that your new post will get referenced, linked to, and viewed by a lot of people.

8. Share on news aggregators

Sites such as Alltop serve as resources where readers can find a vast amount of content on the topics that interest them.

Bloggers can often share their content on these types of sites, which can ultimately lead to an influx of quality traffic.

Check out this guide from Techlicious on the best news aggregator sites.

9. Tap into other relevant networks

Whether it’s Pinterest, Tumblr, Instagram, Snapchat, or even Google+ and its uncoolness, share your content on whatever other site(s) you think might be beneficial to you.

The Internet is full of backwater forums, highly-engaged Facebook groups, and other pockets of interactive communities.

Seek out your tribe, build an audience, and provide this network with value through your content.

10. Send to email subscribers

If you’ve got a sizable list of loyal subscribers, you can circulate your content with relative ease.

Just make sure you’re not doing it to the point of being annoying.

I send out a daily email to my subscribers, and it’s the perfect frequency for my engagement, audience, and goals.

11. Ask a key contact to share it

I would never recommend being the irritating guy who’s always hitting someone up for a favor.

But I would recommend occasionally asking a key contact if they wouldn’t mind sharing a new post with their audience.

Just make sure that it’s relevant to their niche/industry and adds value to their audience.

In fact, that’s the most important thing—adding value.

Value works both ways. You should be trying to provide value to the influencer too. Before you hurry to email all the influencers in your address book, please read this post. It will give you some helpful tips on how to do it.

12. Respond to comments

Let’s be honest. Getting readers to comment on your content isn’t easy—especially at first, when you’re just getting the ball rolling.

Although I usually get quite a few comments on Quick Sprout and NeilPatel.com, it didn’t just happen overnight.

It took a lot of hard work, persistence, and, of course, responding to comments.

Back in the day, my blog posts were pretty lame. But even then, I tried to respond to comments.

Being engaged and responsive is essential for building relationships, creating social proof, and ensuring future engagement.

Even though it can get a little time-consuming if you receive dozens or hundreds of comments, it’s well worth it to respond to each one individually in a timely manner.

13. Comment on other blogs

If you’re relatively new to the game and are still trying to establish an audience, this is perfect for building rapport and trust.

Some may think of this tactic as old school, but it definitely gets results.

Why? Because you’re providing value to other people. It’s not just about scammy link building.

It’s about engaging with real people.

Just be sure you’re leaving valuable comments on relevant blogs.

14. Comment on a commenter’s blog

One strategy I would highly recommend to fairly new bloggers is to take a bit of extra time to reach out to the people who are commenting on your blog.

For example, I suggest identifying a few consistent commenters contributing to the conversation and stopping by their blogs.

From there, I like to find a relevant post that ties into my content and leave a thoughtful comment.

I know this can be a bit time-consuming, but it can really boost your reputation and likability—both of which are integral to your content marketing longevity.

Conclusion

According to Hubspot, “B2B marketers that use blogs receive 67 percent more leads than those that do not.”

You already know that blogging is a best practice. You do it. But then what?

Then you share it.

A blog that simply churns out content is not going to get the kind of traffic, interaction, and action that it needs to. It’s essentially worthless unless you actually do the work of sharing it.

When you go the extra mile and follow these strategies, you can cast a wider net and circulate your content to the deepest recesses of the Internet.

These methods are the secret sauce you need to gain more leads and a loyal following of people who’ll stay hungry for future content. The great thing about intensive sharing is that doing so often attracts prospects who are most likely to convert on your content.

If you’re in the “publish and leave it” habit, it’s time to change. Use these simple, straightforward, and easy methods, and your content will begin to take off.

Do you have any specific steps you take after publishing a blog post to ensure maximum visibility?

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Treating Your Financial Goals as a Part Time Job

Many, many people across the world use a second job to support themselves and their families. They need to do this in order to make ends meet, but they do it so that they can keep food on the table and maybe get a little bit ahead in the world.

Yet many people who are lucky enough to earn enough money to make ends meet for themselves never stretch themselves beyond their first job. They have big financial goals, but then in their day to day lives choose to live a paycheck-to-paycheck lifestyle where they’re never getting ahead financially but keep the bills paid. Yet, after a while, people in this group often wonder why they’re not getting ahead. “I earn $xxx,xxx dollars a year so how come I am still broke?”

The answer to that question is simple: they don’t address financial success with any seriousness. They don’t handle it like a person in a tough financial spot handles a second job.

In fact, the “second job” model is actually a very good model for personal finance success. A person who devotes ten or fifteen hours a week toward turning their financial ship around is going to find themselves rapidly heading in a better direction before very long.

So, if you’re stuck in a rut, here’s a simple financial challenge for you: for the next few months, treat your financial goals like they are a part time job. Give ten or fifteen hours a week over to those goals.

It doesn’t matter what your specific goal is. Maybe your goal is debt repayment. Maybe it’s financial independence. Maybe it’s retirement savings. Maybe it’s saving for a down payment for your home. Whatever your goal is, treating it as a part time job, at least for a while, will press you toward that goal.

Believe it or not, this is something I’ve done for years and years and years. I spend a couple hours each day finding ways to cut our spending, learning about investments, starting side gigs, taking classes – anything and everything that can reduce our spending or increase our income. Of course, a lot of that effort eventually translates into articles for The Simple Dollar, but it’s a practice I followed before The Simple Dollar was a twinkle in my eye and it’s a practice I’ll follow long after I’m done here.

Here’s how to do it.

First, block off a couple hours a day to work on this. I’m not kidding. Treat it like a job. Schedule it into your calendar, two hours a day or five hours a day on the weekends… whatever works best for you. Those hours are sacrosanct, just like a real job. In every way, you treat those hours like a real job until you’re in a much better place with your financial goals.

Personally, I like to do this in the evening, just after the kids are in bed. I’ll spend a couple of hours taking a class or making a meal plan or reading a personal finance book or something else along those lines. The basics of our personal finances are secure, so what I’m looking at almost exclusively are ways to improve our income or to decrease our spending, and believe it or not, I’m still finding lots of ways to do that.

Second, if you happen to earn any income during this time, don’t spend it; use it to further your financial goals. If you start a side gig that earns some income, put that income straight toward debt repayment. If you manage to get a raise at work because of classes you took during that time, keep your lifestyle exactly the same and put all of that raise toward retirement.

Don’t ever let that money enter your normal budget or else you’re quite likely to find an ineffective way to spend that money. You’ll find that the dollars simply vanish out from between your fingers.

Finally, know exactly what goals you’re working toward. For many people, eliminating some debts is a very laudable goal. For others, the goal might be bumping up retirement savings or maybe saving for some specific goal like a down payment.

Knowing what your goal is not only helps you keep focus when you’re working at this “part time job,” but it also helps you select tasks that might be sensible to take on.

What kind of tasks, you might ask? Here’s a list of items you might want to devote your time to if you treat your financial improvement as a part time job.

Work at an actual part time job. This is probably the most obvious option on here. You could literally get a part-time job for ten to twenty hours per week and convert your spare time directly into cash.

Naturally, you’ll want to channel all of the income from this secondary job into your financial goals. That paycheck goes straight to debt repayment or into retirement savings or into a down payment fund, whatever you need.

Sell off your excess stuff. Just go through your closets and shelves and look for items that you haven’t used in a while (say, in the past year) and likely won’t use in the near future (say, the next six months). If you’re not using an item, there’s no real reason to keep it as it just sits on your shelf and slowly loses value.

Many items can easily be sold on Craigslist or eBay, or perhaps you could host a yard sale or garage sale to clear out some of the stuff.

When you do earn a return on all of this stuff, invest that money directly into paying off debt or saving for your future goals or else funding some of the other projects on this list.

Earn a degree or certification. This is exactly how my wife is using her “part time job” right now – she’s working toward her masters degree, taking one class at a time in the evenings. Whatever your career happens to be, there are likely degrees and/or certifications you can earn that will increase your employability or enhance your value in your current career path. Maybe you can add certification for a particular database system or a higher degree in your field or a certification to teach a particular class.

Whatever you choose to do, you’re essentially taking on a part time job to improve your long term income. As with the other examples, if you are able to secure higher wages thanks to this additional training, don’t use it to inflate your personal spending. Take that additional income and channel it directly into debt repayment or your savings goals.

Start a low-capital side gig. This is what I did when I launched The Simple Dollar, wrote a book manuscript, or tried one of my many other side gigs over the years. These side gigs didn’t require much startup capital – they just require you to invest your time and energy into something that might yield income in the future.

So spend your time writing that book or making that Youtube channel or whatever it is you can do to earn some money in your spare hours at home. Set aside time each day to work on it, to build it into something that’s good and entertaining and valuable, so that people will want whatever it is that you’re making. Then channel those proceeds into your savings and plans for the future.

Learn about personal finance from books or blogs. Perhaps you feel lost in the world of investing or you don’t know how to set up a CD ladder. There are things about finances that just don’t click with you.

You can devote your spare time to understanding those things. Just hit the library and check out books on those topics, or spend time reading about them online (just be sure to evaluate the sources and make sure you’re reading articles written by people who don’t have ulterior motives). Knowledge is power, and the more knowledge you have about your financial moves, the stronger your moves will become.

Participate in career networking. Another option you can use to fill your spare time is to engage in activities that help you connect with other people in your field, increasing your chances of getting hired in the future or moving on to a better-paying position while, often, building useful professional skills.

Get involved with a professional’s group in your area or join a civic or professional development organization. Get to know people. Get involved in projects and even in leading those projects. Doing so will open doors for you that you can’t even imagine.

In the end, if you treat building your financial and professional future as a part time job, you’re going to build up opportunities and drastically improve your financial state as long as you stick with it. Most people don’t devote time toward building their long-term future; those that do tend to find a great deal of success.

The choice, as always, is up to you.

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The Absolutely Outrageous Cost of Getting Married at Disney World

For some people, Disney is everything.

So for them, getting married at Disney World is like winning the lottery.

And you’ll basically need to do that, too, if you want to get married there — because it costs a TON.

I always imagined Disney weddings were expensive, but I didn’t know just how pricy they’d be. Then Carlye Wisel infiltrated the world of Disney brides (DisBrides) and wrote about the costs for Racked, and they blew my mind.

Keep reading to see the ludicrous prices for yourself.

How Much Does a Disney Wedding Cost?

Disney weddings are a big business.

So big, in fact, Disney has an entire branch devoted entirely to them.  

“Disney Fairy Tale Weddings & Honeymoons aids in facilitating the 5,000 Disney nuptials that occur each year at Walt Disney World in Florida, Disneyland in California, Disney’s Aulani resort in Hawaii, and aboard Disney Cruise Line ships, as well as ceremonies and celebrations at international Disney parks,” Wisel writes.

There are three types of Disney weddings:

• Memories, which allow four guests

• Escapes, which allow to 18 guests

• Wishes, “a custom event with many possibilities and a flexible guest count,” according to Disney’s wedding website

A Wishes wedding in Florida has “a minimum food and beverage expenditure starting at $125 per person, minimum ceremony fee of $3,500 and minimum enhancement fee of $5,000.”

The $125 per person rate is for “brunch”– a wedding that starts at 7:30 a.m. If you want to get married at dinnertime, it’ll cost you $175 per person.

And those “enhancement minimums”? They “may include but are not limited to floral, photography, videography, transportation, venue fees and entertainment.”

Oh, right. And the venue isn’t included in the ceremony fee.

So let’s break down a typical Disney wedding budget:

• Ceremony fee: $3,500

• Wedding pavilion with organist: $4,000+

• 50 dinner guests at $175 each: $8,750

• Plus 23% service charge and 6.5% sales tax: $2,581

• Charter bus transportation (required for five hours): $551

• Minimal flowers: $948

• DJ (four hours): $1,650

• Photographer (four hours): $2,995

That means — not counting the dress or rings — you’re looking at nearly $25,000 for the bare minimum required by most couples.

Disney Weddings Come With Extras… and Extra Costs

But what if you want any fun stuff? I mean, come on, it’s a Disney wedding.

Here’s how much some of those extras would set you back:

• Arrival in Cinderella’s coach (complete with miniature white ponies and costumed footmen): $2,950

• Appearance of two characters for 30 minutes: $1,650

• “Memories Video Package”: $4,550+

• Live band: $7,000+

You can check the a-la-carte offerings on this site, but note: “Prices do not include any applicable tax, gratuity or additional fees.”

And if you want to wear your gown in the Magic Kingdom during operating hours — rather than before opening or after closing like other brides — you’ll have to shell out a minimum of $75,000 for the wedding, according to Wizel’s investigation.

For the DisBrides community, though, these extravagances are worth being wed in the happiest place on earth.

“From now on, every vacation that we take to Walt Disney World will allow us to relive the happiest times of our lives, while also making more beautiful memories,” one Disney groom told Wizel.

“It will forever be the magical place that I married the love of my life.”

And really, that’s a beautiful thing. Some would even say priceless.  

Your Turn: Do you dream of getting married in Disney World?

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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6 Surprising Ways Peapod and Instacart Might Actually Help You Save Money

For a Penny Hoarder, grocery delivery service is a luxury — and not just because someone else does heavy lifting of going to the store and hauling in the bags.

Like most luxuries, grocery delivery services like Peapod, Instacart and Shipt come at a cost.

You have to pay for delivery, and sometimes the cost of the groceries themselves doesn’t match what’s in the store.

But as it turns out, if you’re prone to impulse shopping or underestimating the total of your pile of goods, indulging in a grocery delivery service might actually save you money.

Yeah, we were surprised too. Isn’t it great when the easy way actually is better?

6 Ways Online Grocery Shopping Can Actually Help You Save Money

Many of these tips come from reddit user ladyorchid, who wrote a wonderful post about how she saves money with Peapod.

But as it turns out, lots of shoppers agree grocery delivery services can be a frugal option.

Still don’t believe us? Here are six examples.

1. You’ll Save on Impulse Buys

It’s a lot harder to let yourself get away with buying an extra something you don’t need when you’re shopping online.

Clicking somehow feels so much more intentional than throwing the ice cream blindly into the mess of goods you’re carting around.

Plus, since many of these grocery delivery services keep a list of your favorite/repeat buys, it’s easy to buy just what you need instead of what you want — it’s already programmed in!

2. You Can See How Much You’re Spending Before It’s Too Late

I don’t know about you, but I have definitely had unpleasant surprises at the checkout counter. It’s so easy to accidentally round down instead of up as you’re keeping that running estimate in your head.

And once you’re up there, it can be embarrassing to ask to put things back.

But when you use an online grocery delivery service, you’ll see your shopping cart’s total, updated in real time as you add more items.

So you’ll know exactly when you’re approaching the cap on your grocery budget… and be better able to stick to it.

Plus, if you go over your total, you’ll probably be more likely to take junk food out of your cart than the stuff you really need — a win for your wallet and your waistline.

3. You Have More Time to Plan Meals

Many of these services offer on-demand grocery shipping within a few hours.

But you might save yourself extra shipping fees if you set up your order ahead of time — and also save money by tailoring that order as time goes on.

Maybe you realize by Tuesday that you don’t need another gallon of milk — and so you take it off your order to be delivered on Thursday.

Not only will the extra time afforded by grocery delivery help you save food waste, it’ll also give you more control over your meal planning.

If you make your order ahead of time and see your grocery budget approaching critical mass, you can swap out one of your recipes — and its pricy ingredients — for a cheaper option. It’s a lot easier to delete something from your cart than to run around the supermarket putting things back.

4. Some Items are Actually Cheaper

SuddenlyFrugal’s Leah Ingram says meat cost significantly less through Peapod than when she bought it at the store herself.

Plus…

5. You Can Sort by Unit Price to Make Sure You Get the Best Deals

It’s a lot easier than whipping out your phone to calculate the price per ounce in the store aisle, or crouching down to check the bottom row, avoiding the retailer’s sneaky marketing. They put the highest-priced options right at eye level!

6. You Can Still Take Advantage of Deals

Are you a deal-stacking rock star? Use your strategies here, too.

Most grocery-delivery services are compatible with manufacturer coupons and receipt rebates through Ibotta.

Peapod even doubles coupons up to $9.99 — just check its FAQ!

Plus, sometimes the platforms themselves have sales, and most offer an introductory discount of a certain percentage or dollar amount off your first order.

Even with the delivery fees, these savings might mitigate the difference and keep your grocery budget even lower, especially if you struggle with impulse buys.

And don’t forget you use gas or spend public transit fare money every time you go shopping (unless you walk or bike) — and also that your time is money, especially if you work for yourself.

So go ahead and put your feet up. In this case, luxury is actually the smarter money move.

Your Turn: Do you use a grocery delivery service?

Jamie Cattanach (@jamiecattanach) is a staff writer at The Penny Hoarder. Her creative writing has been featured in DMQ Review, Sweet: A Literary Confection and elsewhere.

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Can a Cold Shower Boost Your Health and Productivity?

You know that feeling after you finish a really hard workout? When your blood is flowing, your skin is glowing, and you feel like you can take on the world? Imagine having that feeling every morning, without even having to work out.

If you’re thinking that’s too good to be true, well, you’re partly right. Because in order to experience that endorphin euphoria sans exercise, you’ll have to immerse yourself in a freezing-cold shower or bath for a few minutes every day.

I’m always on the hunt for productivity hacks, so I was intrigued when I heard about the potential benefits of taking cold showers on one of my favorite podcasts. Proponents of “cold therapy” say that cold showers are a free way boost your immune system, energy, and productivity.

Improving any one of those metrics, much less all of them at once, would obviously help with one’s overall life satisfaction. But, is anything really worth swapping out a nice hot shower for two minutes of teeth-chattering, shivering torture?

I decided to find out for myself by taking an ice-cold shower every day for 30 days. Here’s how it went.

Days 1-10: The Worst of It

Continuing the exercise analogy, beginning this routine was the hardest part. Except, this was worse than exercise, because most exercise regimens aren’t instantly terrifying.

You generally ease into a workout. Waking up and stepping right under a stream of ice-cold water is like opening the door to your bathroom and finding a CrossFit coach who starts screaming at you and forces you to do thousands of burpees.

The only way I could get myself to step under the frigid water after just waking up was to count down from five to one, close my eyes, and go for it.

It’s hard to recount the experience of the first 10 seconds of my initial cold shower, because all my senses were overwhelmed. All brain activity ceased and was replaced with one all-encompassing thought: “SO COLD. SO, SO COLD.”

The next 20 seconds were even worse, because I was actually cognizant of what was happening. “I did this to myself. I am an insane person. What am I doing?”

Surprisingly, after about 30 seconds my body started to calm down. I could think like a rational person again. I no longer wanted to jump out of the shower at all costs, or scream at the top of my lungs. I could even grab a bar of soap without fear that my shivers would send it flying out of my hand. But don’t get me wrong: I was still cold and miserable.

For those first 10 days, I would set my phone alarm to go off after two minutes of shower time. Hearing that buzzer evoked the same feelings I used to get when I heard the recess bell during a boring lesson in grade school. Sweet, sweet freedom had arrived at last.

I would hop out of the shower, towel off, and take a look at myself in the mirror. My eyes were bulging. My chest and cheeks were flushed like I’d just run a mile. And you know that foggy feeling in your head you sometimes have for the first 10 to 20 minutes after waking up? That was gone. Blasted out of existence, like sooty siding exposed to a power washer.

I felt alert and energized. The feeling would generally last for 30 to 45 minutes, at which point I would come back down to reality, ready for my morning coffee.

It was during these first 10 days that I did a deep dive into the research behind cold thermogenesis. There’s a lot to take in, but the upshot was this: Cold exposure can potentially help you boost your endorphin levels, build up the right kind of fat, lose weight,  help combat depression, and even reduce the size of tumors.

Basically, cold exposure is like P-90x, meditation, and Adderall all rolled into one. I was sold on cold.

Days 11-20: Slowly Getting Better

Right around the two-week mark of waking up and soldiering into the freezing water, something strange happened. I actually began to enjoy it. In the same way you know a workout is going to suck but you do it anyway, you can realize you’re going to be miserable for 90 to 120 seconds and still look forward to the end result.

I started to enjoy looking at my eyes in the mirror before I got in the shower. They usually looked tired, sunken, and a little glassy. Then, I would look at them again post-shower. They were wider than if I’d seen a ghost after chugging two espressos.

It was during this period that I really started to notice some psychological benefits. I felt more ready to take on challenges during the day. After all, what could possibly phase me, having already dealt with something brutally uncomfortable so early in the day?

I should insert the caveat that I live in California, and I did this challenge during the summer. If I was trying to do this during a Midwestern winter, I imagine it would be considerably harder to motivate myself to get into a cold shower. Or maybe I could just walk to my car with my shirt off and achieve the same effect, with the added benefit of freaking out my neighbors. (Someone please try this and report back on your results.)

Days 21-30: When the Absurd Becomes the Routine

By the final stretch of my 30-day challenge, I no longer had to motivate myself with pump-up music and psychological tricks to get under the cold water each morning. I just did it, understanding that the benefits outweighed the discomfort.

This is when I really felt the parallels between what I was doing with the showers and how I thought about money. Once you get in the habit of saving, budgeting, and cutting out unnecessary spending, those initially painful tasks get much easier. They stop becoming painstaking chores and instead become routine. Sure, you might still want that Apple Watch when the ad pops up, but you can appreciate that the joys of making progress toward your financial goals are inherently more satisfying than one expensive little gadget.

This is also when I started experimenting with showers at different times of the day. I found them to be just as useful in the afternoon as they were in the morning. A 2 p.m. ice-cold shower is like a cup of coffee without the jitters, expense, and possible sleep disturbances.

Feeling groggy after lunch? Instead of hoovering another latte, try hopping into cold water for a couple of minutes. Got a late-night obligation, but worn out from a long day? Try a cold blast before heading out, and see how much more alert you are.

Summing Up

I feel like a 30-day cold shower challenge is worthwhile for anyone who tends to drag a bit in the morning. You might even find yourself saving money on your coffee habit, as you’ll need less caffeine once you start your day off with an endorphin rush.

As for me, I’ve continued my cold-shower regimen, even past my 30-day goal — and I have no plans on stopping anytime soon.

Related Articles:

• The Potato Hack: Can Eating More Potatoes Help You Save Money and Lose Weight?
• Hacking Six Normal Life Routines to Save Time and Money
• The Secret of the Launchpad

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Should you invest in gold during stock market turmoil?

Moira O'Neill

treasure-chest-with-gold.jpg

When the markets opened on Friday after the EU Referendum Leave result was announced, the FTSE 100 index of the largest companies listed on the London Stock Exchange plunged more than 8% at one point before recovering some ground to close 3.2% lower.

When the markets opened on Friday after the EU Referendum Leave result was announced, the FTSE 100 index of the largest companies listed on the London Stock Exchange plunged more than 8% at one point before recovering some ground to close 3.2% lower. This was a huge fall for one day.

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Why Sheryl Sandberg Keeps Getting More Awesome

By Melissa Davidson Facebook CEO Sheryl Sandberg’s most recent college graduation commencement speech is just one more example of why she is a successful businesswoman: She’s human. In her UC Berkeley address on May 14, Sandberg didn’t talk about great leaders or how women need to ‘own’ their success. She’s already said all of that. […]

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