Finkelstein-Diaz graduates Pennsylvania College of TechnologyWilliamsport — Adam N. Finkelstein-Diaz of Stroudsburg, graduated Pennsylvania College of Technology with an Associate of Applied Science degree in emergency medical services.Two local students named to dean's list at Pennsylvania College of TechnologyWilliamsport — Local student named to the Pennsylvania College of Technology summer 2016 dean's list are [...]
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الأربعاء، 24 أغسطس 2016
Elks Lodge distributes 126 backpacks
East Stroudsburg Elks Lodge recently held the "Back to School Bash" at the Lodge distributing 125 backpacks to selected students in the East Stroudsburg School District. Each backpack was stuffed with pens, pencil case, notebooks, folders, glue, crayons, pencil sharpener, drug awareness bookmarks, red ribbons and pencils.The Deller family from left is Natalie, Bianca, Winter, Damian and Abby were excited to participate in the program.
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Forges Season-long Partnership to Aid West End Soccer League
In the spirit of community collaboration and teamwork taught through youth sports, Brodheadsville Chevrolet Inc. is supporting West End Soccer League through the Chevrolet Youth Soccer Program. This sponsorship will include both monetary and equipment donations during the 2016 youth soccer season.Chevrolet Youth Soccer is a grassroots initiative that establishes a positive relationship between local dealers and the communities they serve. Brodheadsville Chevrolet Inc. is sponsoring [...]
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Source Business - poconorecord.com http://ift.tt/2bWHmYn
Fourth annual fundraiser benefits Pocono Alliance
Pocono Alliance will host its fourth annual Give Poverty the Boot Thru the Arts fundraiser on Sept. 29 at Shawnee Inn & Golf Resort, River Road, Shawnee-on-Delaware. Enjoy a beautiful fall evening filled with art, music, and friends and walk away with a piece of artwork.Artwork for the evening will include: paintings, original prints, jewelry, sculptures, quilts, photographs and much more. Each participant will receive a number at the beginning of the evening. When their number is [...]
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Need Extra Money? These 5 Part-TIme Jobs Will Let You Work From Home
We’re always on the lookout for new work-from-home opportunities for you.
But what if work or family obligations keep you from getting a full-time job? What options do you have?
You could get a high-paying side gig, join Swagbucks, start your own business… or snag a part-time work-from-home job like one of these.
5 Part-Time, Work-From-Home Jobs Hiring Now
Ready, set, work from home!
1. User Happiness Officer for Big Health
Digital medicine startup Big Health is looking for a user happiness officer to assist customers with its Sleepio app.
Sleepio is “a digital sleep improvement program that features proven cognitive and behavioral techniques but is designed to feel more like entertainment than medicine.” In this role, you’ll answer customer questions and troubleshoot any problems that come up.
You must live in the Pacific Standard time zone or in the U.K, and be able to commit to 6-15 hours per week over three days, including at least one weekend day.
2. SEO Strategist for Black Fin
Are you an SEO rockstar? Then apply for this job at Black Fin, a marketing agency for law firms.
You’ll be responsible for creating an “actionable” strategy to improve its clients’ SEO rankings. In addition to crushing it at SEO, you need to be data-driven and have excellent communications skills.
Though the position is only 20 hours per week, the company notes it’s “looking for team players interested in long term opportunities and potential for more responsibility in the future.”
3. Content Proofreader for Maxim Group
Maxim Group, a “full-service investment banking, securities and wealth management firm,” is on the hunt for a part-time proofreader and editor.
Your main duty will be editing, but you’ll also have the chance to produce some original content.
The ideal candidate has a background in research and is able to handle multiple projects at once. A bachelor’s degree in a relevant subject is also required.
4. Facebook Ad Manager for Bounce Fitness
Calling all Facebook junkies! If you know your way around Power Editor, Bounce Fitness wants you.
The in-home personal training company is looking for a Facebook ad manager to join its team remotely.
In addition to Facebook ads, you’ll also run a blogger outreach program, write editorial content, report analytics and manage other social channels.
5. Customer Support for Tacit Progression
As a customer service representative for Tacit Progression, you’ll provide “phone and email support for an online application.”
To be eligible, you must be “consistently friendly and positive with a high level of patience” and able to work with “minimal supervision.”
You’ll work 2-6 hours per week at $15 per hour. When you work is totally up to you — you’ll just need to answer all emails and calls before the end of the business day.
Your Turn: Do any of these jobs strike your fancy?
Susan Shain, senior writer for The Penny Hoarder, is always seeking adventure on a budget. Visit her blog at susanshain.com, or say hi on Twitter @susan_shain.
The post Need Extra Money? These 5 Part-TIme Jobs Will Let You Work From Home appeared first on The Penny Hoarder.
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Shark Tank on Wheels: How Ordering an Uber Can Fund Your Business Idea
If you’ve ever spent a Friday night ogling Mark Cuban and fantasizing about standing in some version of the Shark Tank yourself, here’s your chance.
All you have to do is… order an Uber?
It sounds weird, and I’m not completely convinced it’s not — but we’re certainly intrigued.
Throughout the world, the rideshare company hosts special events dubbed UberPITCH. For one day in your city, you can request a ride to arrive with a local investor in tow.
You’ll hop in the car with the investor, pitch your business idea, get feedback, hop out and hope they call.
When Will UberPITCH Be in Your City?
To be clear, you probably won’t be taking a ride with Mr. Cuban or Mr. Wonderful, per se. The service works with investment firms in your area to give you a foot in the (car) door.
You can screen investors ahead of time, when Uber makes the local event announcement on its website.
Uber doesn’t have a public schedule of upcoming events, but will make an announcement before coming to your city.
As a former rider in Madison, Wisconsin, I found out about the event in an email from Uber. From 12 p.m. to 3 p.m. today, UberPITCH will be part of the city’s Forward Festival for innovators and entrepreneurs.
Heads up to University of Wisconsin entrepreneurs: If you want to take advantage of this opportunity, here are some tips for launching a startup from your dorm room.
If you’re not in Madison today, your best bet for getting the news in your town is to sign up as an Uber rider.
You can also keep an eye on the company’s newsroom updates, search #uberpitch on Twitter, or simply search “UberPITCH + your city.”
How UberPITCH Works
The service really is as simple as it sounds. All you need is a great idea — and an even greater pitch.
When UberPITCH is happening in your city, you’ll need to enter a promo code when you open the app.
For today’s event in Madison, the code is PITCHFORWARDFEST — but will change for each city.
When you request a ride, slide over to the “pitch” option where you’d normally select “uberX” or “uberXL,” etc.
If an investor is available, the app will connect you and a car will pick you up.
You’ll get a 15-minute ride — the news doesn’t mention a destination — where you can pitch for 10 minutes and get five minutes of feedback.
We recommend arming yourself with business cards and easy-to-read literature to help an investor remember you and follow up if they’re interested.
Make sure you perfect your pitch and request your ride early! The company warns, “Demand will be high and availability limited.”
We wish you and your brilliant ideas the best!
Your Turn: Would you pitch an investor in an Uber?
Dana Sitar (@danasitar) is a staff writer at The Penny Hoarder. She’s written for Huffington Post, Entrepreneur.com, Writer’s Digest and more, attempting humor wherever it’s allowed (and sometimes where it’s not).
The post Shark Tank on Wheels: How Ordering an Uber Can Fund Your Business Idea appeared first on The Penny Hoarder.
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5 Ways Your Fans Can Help Optimize Your Site for Conversions
I’ve been watching Facebook closely for a long time.
I’ve tested hundreds of ad iterations.
I’ve worked hard to build organic reach for myself and my clients.
Here’s what I’ve concluded: Facebook is awesome. But it’s also tricky.
Why? Because the algorithm is constantly shifting, forcing marketers to up their game, readjust their techniques, and reorient their strategies.
Here’s the thing. If you have a social presence for your business, Facebook has decided that your organic reach needs to shrink.
Again.
You know, of course, that this isn’t the first time the social giant tweaked its algorithm.
In June, Adam Mosseri, VP, Product Management for News Feed at Facebook, shared a post that detailed how Facebook was updating the news feed.
The core of the update is to prioritize posts that come from friends and family while reducing the onslaught of content from businesses and other publishers. Facebook wants users to see more posts from actual people, not businesses doing marketing.
The gist of the algorithm remains the same.
But the variability is increasing. Mosseri explained:
It will vary a lot by publisher mostly based on how much of their referral traffic or their reach is based on people who actually share their content directly…
If you’ve got strong engagement from your audience and they’re shouting your name from the rooftops as they share your content, or generate content around your brand, you’ll be far less impacted by the update.
But most of the businesses I work with aren’t enjoying that level of stellar engagement.
This is what it boils down to. If you want to improve your reach and engagement, you’ll need to find ways to leverage user-generated content (UGC) since that’s what friends and family will see first.
What I want to communicate is pretty simple: User-generated content is one of the most effective forms of content marketing available today.
User-generated content is the future of content marketing.
UGC will act as dynamite to your social media presence, accelerate your onsite content efforts, increase engagement, boost conversions, and build up a wall of defense against any algorithm the world throws your way.
Let’s talk about where the rubber meets the road—your fans helping your site become a conversion-generating machine.
Why you should put your money into user-generated content
There are a lot of benefits to UGC, and those benefits can be significant. And that’s primarily because you’re not limited to social media when it comes to working with customers to acquire and leverage it—though that’s where a bulk of your gains can come into play.
Consider for a moment that more than half of the adult users on Facebook have around 200 people in their immediate networks, according to Pew Research.
That social network graph looks something like this:
If the algorithm wants all those people to see content from their connections first, it’s in your best interest to get your audience producing or creating content about you.
And that’s not just for the sake of a little (or even big) boost in visibility.
Consumers fully admit they find branded information from their peers trustworthy—85% of consumers, to be exact.
That’s because the vast majority of them find that kind of content to be helpful when they make a decision about whether or not to make a purchase.
Nielsen’s study on this subject showed that 92% of consumers trust content and the opinions of their peers over any other kind of advertising.
UGC also has influence over that trust, according to data shared by Yotpo:
UGC is the best way to beat an algorithm that wants to topple and bury your promotions amid pictures of babies, beards, and breakfast platters.
But you’re not limited to Facebook in leveraging it.
With variations in engagement time across different social channels, you can see where there are opportunities to use user-generated content to drive up engagement as well as increase consumer trust.
Some brands are having a lot of success on other social channels and digital properties with UGC.
Below are a couple of examples of brands that leverage UGC using different channels.
A touch of wanderlust
National Geographic asked users to capture unforgettable people, places, and experiences that have impacted their lives from their travels around the world. The hashtag campaign (#wanderlustcontest) brought in tens of thousands of submissions branded to NatGeo.
And, of course, among those public submissions were some truly breathtaking and awe-inspiring photos people were all too happy to continue sharing.
Ignite user creativity
Nissan’s luxury car brand, Infiniti, ran a campaign promoting its Q30 model, aiming to leverage the content of its fans to help promote the vehicle. The New Heights contest had users print out a marker card that would display the vehicle in 3D when used with their mobile app.
Fans were encouraged to show off the vehicle in unexpected places by snapping pictures and sharing them with a branded hashtag via different social channels.
These two great examples of building campaigns and visibility from user-generated content had a couple of things in common:
- They both revolved around contests. While this is a good way to encourage action among your followers, it’s not always necessary to give something away in order to source user-generated content.
- These two campaigns were actively asking their fans to provide the content.
This aspect—the asking—is the most important part you need to remember.
Why? Because the majority of brands simply don’t ask. If you don’t ask for it, you won’t get it.
It’s just that simple.
So, what’s the simplest and most effective way to get UGC?
Ask your users to provide it.
If you want UGC, ask your followers to provide it
Brands don’t want to be pushy, but with UGC, you’ve got to approach it like you approach a call to action (CTA).
With a CTA, you’re telling your audience explicitly what you want them to do. It’s been proven time and again that without a clear call to action, you lose conversions.
But only about 16% of brands take the same approach with UGC, expressing to fans just what kind of content they want to see. Without that kind of direction, consumers aren’t sure what’s okay to share.
In fact, 50% of consumers want brands to tell them what they should include when creating and sharing content.
You don’t need to give away a luxury or big-ticket item when you make the ask, but you do need to ask.
Don’t sit and wait for your fans to provide you with gold.
Here are some of the best ways you can start sourcing and leveraging user-generated content for your brand and social channels.
1. Curate user-generated content with Yotpo
I’ve long felt that Yotpo is an impressive platform for sourcing reviews, engaging customers, and utilizing customer feedback to promote growth.
Now, it’s even better than ever.
Yotpo has stepped up its game with the recent launch of the Yotpo Curation tool.
This tool allows you to collect relevant Instagram photos from fans and influencers, displaying them on a single dashboard.
From there, you can tag products and handle rights management (including engagement with the original user to say thanks), inject the photos into your product pages, and even sell from your timeline.
This simplifies the tedium of trying to manually source user-generated images and lets you quickly benefit from the social proof tied to UGC.
In one survey conducted by Yotpo, 77% of consumers admitted they preferred to see consumer photos over professional shots:
That’s a clear indication of what you should have on your product pages.
Imagine the impact of having quality reviews alongside images showing off your products being used by actual customers.
It would provide a significant lift in conversions when you consider that 63% of customers are more likely to make a purchase from a site displaying user reviews. A study conducted by Reevoo showed that reviews alone, without any other UGC, lift sales by 18%.
The Yotpo tool turns your customers into brand ambassadors right on your product pages, plus you can create your own shoppable Instagram galleries or post that UGC to other social channels.
2. Build a community
When I talk about building a community, I’m referring to a gathering of people. Literal people in online gatherings.
You may view your social channels as individual and separate communities, but they’re really not. At least not without some kind of organization.
There are a lot of ways to build communities, e.g., Facebook groups, subreddits on Reddit.com, or communities built into your website.
A community you create and manage can give your fans a sense of belonging and make them feel connected to your brand. They’ll share a mix of personal content as well as content related to the brand as they engage with one another.
Through this engagement, you’ll see things like images, videos, and testimonials crop up that are ripe for the picking.
That user-generated content feeds back into the community, encouraging others to generate more of it, and it helps anchor prospective customers who were on the fence about making a purchase.
Giant Vapes is one of the largest online retailers of e-liquid for electronic cigarettes. It also operates a Facebook community, roughly 25,000 members strong. Members regularly share the products they’ve purchased, industry news, their opinions about interactions with the company, praise over shipping and deals, and more.
3. Give them customization and unique experiences
Customization provides your fans and customers with a sense of real ownership. They’ll naturally want to share with their friends and family what they’ve created, and you can play on that desire by asking them to do so.
Whether it’s a customized piece of clothing, a bag, or a vehicle, customization often leads to some great user-generated content.
And sometimes you don’t even have to ask.
Scores of people got excited about the announcement of Nintendo’s Super Mario Maker. Players create their own Mario levels to play on their own or share with the community. Fans, new and old, went crazy when it launched, and YouTube was flooded with the creations of streamers, generating a lot of visibility for the brand and the game.
This video has almost 12 million views to date.
In the same vein of creating unique experiences, Hello Games is seeing images and videos of their game No Man’s Sky showing up all over the web, including a subreddit devoted to the game (a user-created community).
No Man’s Sky features a universe boasting over 10 quintillion procedurally (randomly) generated planets, each with creatures and alien plant life different from the last. That guarantees unique content, and fans have been quick to share images and videos of their discoveries since its recent launch.
When you give your audience something they’ve never experienced before and the chance to create something unique they feel they own, they’re more likely to share that experience far and wide. That builds a lot of trust and provides a lift in conversions.
4. The UGC contest
I touched on contests above with a couple of examples, but in recommending this approach, I wanted to add one more because of the success of the campaign.
Back in 2014, Starbucks invited fans to decorate their white cups with customized art. Fans were asked to submit the images through Twitter with the #whitecupcontest hashtag for a chance to win. There were thousands of entries, and, of course, a constant stream of buzz that drove customers to their local stores.
.@Starbucks doodle on your cappuccino #WhiteCupContest http://t.co/37P0ZBZcqd http://pic.twitter.com/uQv3L3n3Rf <put up with crap coffee though?
— damoward (@damoward) September 6, 2014
I’m mentioning this contest specifically because it pulls in elements from my last point: let users customize and do something unique.
You don’t have to have a multi-million dollar budget to add customization to your product line.
Sometimes, you just need to give your customers a blank canvas and set their creativity free.
5. Use videos on product pages
Yotpo can strap a rocket onto your conversions with user-generated images, but don’t let the rocket run out of fuel.
If you can get your fans and customers generating videos of your products in use, those should be added to your product pages as well.
Explainer videos are great, but there’s nothing that sells a product faster than a video showing real, happy customers, who are 100% satisfied with their purchase.
Here are some quick stats that show how effective product videos really are:
- 90% of users admit that seeing a video about a product helps them make a purchase decision
- 36% of customers trust video ads; imagine the trust you gain from earned media
- 64% of visitors are more likely to buy a product after watching a video online
- Product videos can increase conversions by as much as 20%
Conclusion
Aside from those five tips, it goes without saying that you should absolutely be using product reviews on your website and social channels such as Facebook.
Leverage that social proof, and find creative ways to team up with your customers.
A large portion of your audience are happy to create and share content for you—they just need to know what you’re looking for.
Tell them how to help, inspire them to get creative, and watch your conversions climb steadily as your collection of UGC grows.
Are you using user-generated content right now to build trust with your audience and increase your brand’s visibility? What techniques are you using, and what’s the most successful?
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Your Vision for Retirement – and How to Save for It
Retirement means different things to different people.
To my parents, it largely means a simple day-to-day life. It means plenty of time to engage in their hobbies and interests at home. It doesn’t include any major changes in lifestyle after retirement, just a lot of additional free time. Without the expense of having to work and without the cost of some of the conveniences necessary to keep working, their life is actually far cheaper than it was before.
To my wife, it means travel. Not necessarily high cost travel, but doing things like visiting every national park in the United States or going on fairly low key international trips together. While the cost of our professional lives will drop, our life will take on additional expenses due to the travel and other things she wants to do. We’ll probably need as much or more in retirement than what we do now.
Then there’s my vision. For me, retirement simply means the financial freedom to launch whatever career I want to launch, and that means the freedom to throw my heart and soul into becoming a successful novelist. I’ll earn some income from this – and potentially a lot of income – and the expenses are pretty much nonexistent, all things considered. The amount of money needed in retirement for this path is the lowest of all of these options, because it’s pretty cheap like my parents and has a good possibility of additional income.
(For those curious, Sarah and I are planning on a hybrid of our two paths. When we’re not traveling, I plan to be writing as much as I can, so we’re meeting in the middle.)
Obviously, a person’s retirement planning changes radically depending on the kind of path they wish to follow. Let’s take a look at some of the potential routes one might follow.
Retirement as Perpetual Vacation – $$$ Needed
To an extent, this is the path that Sarah envisions for our retirement. She’d love to spend the summer on the road in an RV, going all over the United States and Canada, visiting cities and national parks and weird roadside attractions, just the two of us. Although it’s not quite as expensive as some things we might be doing, it’s certainly expensive.
Does your vision of retirement involve doing or buying a lot of expensive things? Does it involve tons of golf? Does it involve lots of travel? Does it involve no more work?
If those things sound like the retirement you’d like to have, you’re going to probably need more income than you currently have, which means you’re going to need to kick your retirement planning into overdrive.
You’re going to have to save as much as possible each year. The general rule of thumb is that if you save 10% of your income starting at age 25, you’ll be right on time with retirement at age 65. This assumes a “normal” retirement, meaning that your expenses go down a little bit mostly because you’re not commuting and buying a work wardrobe, but living your life more or less the same as before. If you’re going to elevate your lifestyle in retirement, you need to be saving more than 10% per year starting at age 25 in order to retire with this lifestyle.
You’re probably going to have to retire later rather than earlier. There are two big reasons for this. First, people often don’t start saving for retirement until after age 25, and since forty years of retirement savings growth is necessary to make these numbers work, you’re going to have to retire later if you started later. Similarly, many people do not commit to saving more than 10% of their income to retirement. If you add both of those factors together, it’s very likely that in order to have this type of retirement, you’re going to have to wait unless you’re willing to save far more than 10% per year.
Retirement as Hobby Time – $$ Needed
This is the path that my parents have taken. It’s what I like to think of as a “quiet” retirement, in that it doesn’t involve a lot of travel or flashy purchases, but it also doesn’t involve a continuation of work.
This is the perfect path for someone with low-cost hobbies or interests that they really want to dig into when they retire. My father, for example, is a voracious gardener, and my mother has a ton of hobbies that have bloomed since they both stepped away from the workforce. None of them are particularly expensive hobbies, but they’re all personally fulfilling ones.
This path will require much less money than the “expensive” retirement plan. In fact, your overall living expenses will drop as you’ll no longer need to pay for commuting or other such expenses.
You can save a modest amount each year and make it here. If you start saving around 10% of your income each year starting at age 25, you’ll have a very solid financial basis for this type of retirement when you reach 65 or even when you reach 60 or 62. You can save a little less than 10% of your income and still make it by age 65, or you can start a little later (preferably before age 32 or so) and still make it by age 65.
You can actually retire early (or retire on time if you have a shorter timeline) if you save aggressively. If you’re at age 25 and you start saving, say, 15% per year, you’ll be able to retire with this lifestyle around age 50 or 55. Similarly, if you wait until age 35 or 40 and start saving 15% of your income each year, you’ll be able to retire at a typical retirement age with this lifestyle.
Retirement as Second Career – $ Needed
This is the path I want to follow. I want to be working until I am actually incapable of it, though I eventually want to move more and more toward working purely on projects of my own interest, such as my long-planned sci-fi series of novels. I’ve got a lot of ideas of things I’d enjoy doing once I stop writing for The Simple Dollar (should that become less interesting to me down the road), but none of them really involve just digging into hobbies.
The reality of this path isn’t too different than a quiet retirement described in the previous section, except that there’s a strong chance of earning significant income during this “retirement.” Thus, you really don’t have to save as much and you can actually get started even earlier.
You can save a fairly small amount each year and “retire” at a normal age with this approach. If this type of retirement sounds appealing at age 25, you can get away with it by saving a fairly small amount each year – 7% or 8%. However, I’d encourage you to save at least 10% for the simple reason that your life may change between now and then and, even if it doesn’t, saving a little more means “retiring” early.
You can save even a modest amount and retire a little early, or save a lot and retire very early. This is the path that I’m on. I didn’t really start planning in earnest for this until I was in my early thirties, but once I figured out what I wanted to do, I started socking away a large percentage each year. I hope to be doing this full time when my last child leaves the nest, which is when I’m approaching age fifty. If you start saving 15% or more of your income with the intent of diving into an unknown career when you “retire,” you can make it in just a decade or two.
Final Thoughts
Many financial articles and books talk about this “ready-made” retirement plan and give you a hard and fast number that you should be saving each month. The problem with that approach is that it removes the “personal” from the equation. It doesn’t take into account how different “retirement” might look for different people.
My vision of “retirement” looks a lot different than my parents’ vision, and that looks different than my wife’s parents’ vision, and that looks a lot different than my wife’s vision. We all have different ideas of what we want retirement to look like, so it makes a lot of sense that our retirement savings plans are going to be quite different from one another.
When you start thinking about your own retirement, don’t start with just dollars and cents. Instead, start thinking about the destination and how quickly you want to get there. The faster you want to get there, the more you want to save; the more expensive the destination, the more you want to save.
The path is up to you.
The post Your Vision for Retirement – and How to Save for It appeared first on The Simple Dollar.
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Halifax slashes rate on Help to Buy Isa – again
Halifax, one of two providers previously offering market leading Help to Buy Isa rates has slashed the interest it’ll pay new customers from 2.5% to 2%.
This is the second time Halifax has cut the rate on its Help to Buy Isa since the account was launched with a headline-grabbing 4% rate in December 2015.
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13 Deals You Should Never Pass Up at Trader Joe’s — and 9 You Should
Trader Joe’s is a standout among American supermarkets.
From its hand-painted signs to its friendly customer service, it’s a pleasure to shop at. So much so that it’s got a non-authorized, unaffiliated, apparently-legal-enough-to-stay-in-business Canadian spinoff. Even Wegmans can’t boast that kind of brand loyalty.
And the pleasant atmosphere isn’t the only reason shoppers love Trader Joe’s so much.
Trader Joe’s boasts the best (read: lowest) prices in the business, according to Consumer Reports. Better yet, it’s a nationwide chain, so there’s probably one in your area.
But as with any bargain shop, some deals are better than others.
How We Found the Best Deals
We wanted to find out which items were knock-it-out-of-the-park deals and which were only so-so — or worse.
So we grabbed our reusable grocery bags and checked out our local TJ’s, as well as a Walmart and our main regional grocery store, Publix, to see how prices stacked up on a variety of products.
And some of our findings might surprise you.
A quick note: Grocery prices are geographically dependent and subject to constant change.
After all, the oranges in my Floridian store only had to travel a few miles, which might not be true in, say, Kansas. Plus, farming isn’t an exact science — one year’s yield might not be the same as the next!
But while your mileage may vary, pricing trends are still helpful, especially when it comes to stable, shelved items like cereal or coconut oil.
So without further ado, here’s what we discovered about the best and worst deals at Trader Joe’s.
What to Buy at Trader Joe’s
Here are the items you’ll likely find cheaper at Trader Joe’s every single time.
1. Cheese
I. Love. Cheese.
If you do, too, you’re definitely going to want to check out TJ’s cheese case.
From espresso-rubbed Bellavitano to triple-creme Brie, Trader Joe’s boasts lots of options. The store also frequently cuts its cheese wheels small enough that you can get a wedge for less than $5 — a nigh impossibility at my local Publix.
And gourmet cheese does not exist at Walmart, at least at my local store. Looking beyond cheddar pays off, I promise!
Even better, Trader Joe’s stocks both pricier imports and cheeses made here in the states, so you can try pretty much any exotic, creamy variety you desire on the cheap.
2. Cereal
Trader Joe’s has great deals on cereal — so long as you’re not a stickler for the big-box brands advertised during Saturday morning cartoons.
You can get a big box of “Joe’s O’s” for just $1.99, with regular-sized boxes of tons of other varieties starting in the mid-$2 range and going up to about $4.30.
Most regular-sized boxes at my local Publix started around $4, so I’d consider TJ’s a win. That said, if you’re serious about cereal, you could save more by buying generics in bulk at a vendor like Walmart or a warehouse club store.
3. Bananas…
… if you don’t eat a ton of them.
The bananas at Trader Joe’s are sold by the piece (19 cents per banana, when I checked) rather than by the pound, as at most other grocery stores.
So if you’re like me and only want one or two bananas in a given week, you might save a lot just buying what you want, rather than watching a whole bunch go brown before your eyes.
(Psst — if this happens to you frequently, check out our post on how to store produce to keep it fresher longer. You’ll never guess the secret to keeping bananas yellow and firm!)
4. Eggs
Here’s the thing.
The eggs at Trader Joe’s are dirt cheap — cheaper than Walmart’s, even.
But Trader Joe’s doesn’t carry any ethical eggs, despite the appearance of “cage-free” or “vegetarian-raised” on the label.
(Confused about the differences? Check out our guide to what all those egg terms actually mean.)
We recommend you find a vendor that sells pasture-raised eggs.
But if you’re already planning on buying cheap, conventional eggs, TJ’s is the place to do it.
5. Frozen Pizza and Prepared Foods
5second / Getty Images
Trader Joe’s is well-known for its creative options in the frozen, prepared foods aisle.
From the simple and delicious (mac and cheese bites) to the full-on gourmet-to-go (burrata, prosciutto and arugula flatbread) there’s stuff you definitely want to eat in the Trader Joe’s freezer — and it’s all pretty darn well-priced.
Prices start around $2-$5 depending on the item, and most packages are large enough to enough to feed a family of four — or, you know, you by yourself on the couch during a movie marathon.
I will say this: The frozen goods at Trader Joe’s are less about the all-in-one, prepared, single-serve meals we used to call TV dinners (think Lean Cuisine) and more about a dish to prepare as needed or all at once to incorporate into a family meal.
So if you want a Hungry Man dinner, look elsewhere.
As far as frozen pizzas are concerned, I think Trader Joe’s offers great value. Its pies start around $4 and could easily feed a family with a tossed salad on the side — and I didn’t see DiGiorno going for less than $5, even at Walmart.
Plus, as with the rest of its prepared foods, TJ’s has lots of organic and vegetarian options.
However, none of the pies were gigantic. So if you’re looking to feed a teenager sleepover, maybe head to Walmart — heaven knows you’ll need to pick up a flat of paper towels, anyway.
6. Olive Oil
OK, first things first: If you regularly buy olive oil from anything but a specialty store, you’re probably not getting a pure product.
I’ve heard it said that when Americans finally taste real olive oil for the first time, they’re shocked, because the mix of oils we’ve come to accept as the real deal are so thoroughly outshone.
But if you cook with this flavorful (if fake) fat as much as I do, maybe do your wallet a favor and buy it from TJ’s from here on out.
I saw a 33.8-ounce bottle of imported olive oil for just $5.99 — while $8 for 16 ounces was on the cheaper side of Publix’s non-U.S. options. And although its import status doesn’t guarantee a genuine, quality product, it’s probably better than the giant bottle you can get for $4.99 at Walmart.
7. Nuts
Nuts are an awesome deal at Trader Joe’s. I saw a pound of almonds for just $6.99 — as opposed to the almost $10 I’d pay at Publix.
Plus, TJ’s dresses them up in a variety of roasts and flavors — from wasabi to cinnamon to good old salt — so you’re sure to find a palatable way to incorporate this heart-healthy snack into your diet.
8. Dried Fruit
Ah, nature’s candy.
Dried fruit is full of sugar, but it’s still backed by all the vitamins and nutrients other treats (i.e., Snickers) are missing.
Although I found 12-ounce packages of common fruits for $4.29 at Publix, the smaller, 8-ounce packages at Trader Joe’s were just $2.69, which is actually a couple of cents cheaper per ounce.
Plus, they had so many options, as opposed to the small shelf of raisins, craisins and occasional cherries at the other stores.
At TJ’s, you can choose from options like dried mango, several different types of figs or cleverly-flattened banana — can you say peanut butter sandwiches? Yum.
9. Tortillas
4kodiak / Getty Images
So, tortillas at my local Walmart were priced at $1.88 for eight.
Trader Joe’s sells 12 for $1.49… and they look handmade, instead of the generic stuff on Walmart’s shelves. If tortillas make a regular cameo on your shopping list, I’d suggest grabbing them at TJ’s!
10. Ice Cream
e-anjei / Getty Images
As with cereal, Trader Joe’s ice cream selection won’t include household names — the store sticks to its proprietary stuff, as well as some other organic and specialty brands.
But while there’s no Ben & Jerry’s, you can grab a quart of one of its many tempting flavors for $4.49.
Prices are usually over $5 for that amount in grocery stores. Heck, you can spend more than $4 on just a pint, depending on the brand.
Plus, Trader Joe’s carries mochi. It’s not cheap, but if you’ve never heard of it, do yourself a favor and try it.
11. Flowers
Image Source / Getty Images
If brightening your space with some floral friends is important to you, Trader Joe’s is a great place to grab ‘em. The store’s got good-sized orchids for $12.99 (even smaller ones were $15 at Publix), and bouquets from $3.99-$9.99.
I’ve seen succulents and other seasonal specials even lower, and they don’t die instantly. While you might do better at a farmers market or florist, TJ’s knocks other grocery-store bunches out of the water.
(Please keep your flowers in water if you want them to live.)
12. Coffee
Henrik Weis / Getty Images
Full disclosure: If you’re just looking for something warm, brown and caffeinated, you can definitely get cheaper coffee at Walmart.
But if quality and source matters to you, Trader Joe’s can’t be beat. Where else can you get 13 ounces of a scrumptious, single-origin bean for less than $10?
If you’re new to the wide world of coffee for coffee’s sake (as opposed to “I otherwise cannot keep my eyes open before 10 a.m”’s sake), check out TJ’s coffee character field guide. With its prices, you can afford to experiment and find out what you actually like.
13. Wine
I’ll come clean: The main reason I suggested writing this post was to have yet another opportunity to gush about the quality and price of Trader Joe’s wine selection.
And no, I’m not talking about Two-Buck Chuck. Sorry, that stuff kind of sucks.
But if you’re willing to spend $10 instead of $2, you can find a prime example of almost any varietal or region you’re looking for. And if that means nothing to you, no worries: Just grabbing blindly in the $8-$10 range at TJ’s probably won’t steer you too far wrong.
To get you started, here’s a favorite red and favorite white of mine to try out — both were just $7.99 at TJ’s.
What to Skip at Trader Joe’s
Although it might make more sense to pick up whatever you need at the same store, the following items aren’t exactly killer deals at Trader Joe’s — so consider buying them elsewhere.
1. Peanut Butter and Other Nut Butters
BarnabyChambers / Getty Images
Although Trader Joe’s selection of nut butters might be impressive, you can probably get a brand-name product at a similar or lower price at Walmart.
And if you’re used to sweeter peanut butters, you might be disappointed by TJ’s health-geared products, which contain little but the nuts themselves — and which therefore might be too grainy or muddy-tasting for your liking.
2. Coconut Oil
Ekaterina Minaeva / Getty Images
For $5.99, you can get 29 ounces of coconut oil at Publix… but only 16 ounces at Trader Joe’s.
Yes, the latter is organic, but since the science around organics is shaky at best (and since rampant greenwashing means the label might have less to do with the food itself than with how much money the producer has to spend on fancy certifications), this one’s a no-brainer for me.
3. Frozen Fruit
BravissimoS/ Getty Images
Prices at Trader Joe’s were good, but nothing jaw-dropping.
It carried a 1-pound bag of frozen cherries for $3.69, which was on par with Walmart, where you could buy a bigger size for less per ounce — not an option at TJ’s.
4. Produce
Noel Hendrickson / Getty Images
While some of the produce at Trader Joe’s is well priced, some is definitely not. For instance, the avocados that were $1 apiece at my local Publix were $1.69 at TJ’s when I checked.
And hit-or-miss pricing isn’t the only issue.
If buying local produce is important to you, Trader Joe’s doesn’t fit the bill. Unless you live in California, the origin of almost every piece of fruit I saw in the store.
However, the price-per-piece model is unique among stores I frequent, and may save you some money if you’re eating alone and can only handle a little bit of produce at a time (see bananas, above).
5. Meat
luoman / Getty Images
Unfortunately, meat at Trader Joe’s just isn’t a great deal. Not only is it just as expensive, if not more than what you’ll find at other stores, it’s most likely not as fresh. You’ll notice there’s no butcher in the store, so all of it has to be shipped in and likely frozen.
Even when it comes to pre-cooked, prepared meats, TJ’s falls flat. The store’s ready-to-serve chicken breast was 44 cents per ounce, whereas Walmart’s was 37 cents and Publix’s was, shockingly, just 33 cents (although it was part of a BOGO sale).
If you want to feed your family meat and still save serious cash on groceries, you might want to try a wholesaler — or one of these other clever tactics.
6. Prepackaged Salads
I’m not talking about bagged lettuce, which falls into the “exception” category as far as TJ’s produce is concerned. The washed-and-ready leaves are often a dollar or more cheaper than what I find at Publix. And considering I have a salad almost every day, that’s a huge win in my book.
But the prepackaged lunch salads with everything included? You probably want to steer clear of those.
Although they might seem like a deal between $3 and $4 a pop, they’re much smaller than similar items you can get from your regional grocer or even Walmart.
Worse still, they’re not necessarily that healthy. If you use all the dressing, most of them have more than 500 calories — a buzzkill when you’re talking about such a tiny amount of food.
7. Milk
Maximkostenko / Getty Images
As with coconut oil, if you’re already buying organic milk, Trader Joe’s might have a workable option for you.
But there isn’t any conventional milk, and it’s hard to find a carton smaller than a full gallon, which is a lot of milk. Prices started at $3.99, more than a dollar higher than what you’d find at Walmart.
8. Soap
Malyeuski Dzmitry / Getty Images
I hate to say this because I really love some of the scents Trader Joe’s soaps come in, like clean laundry and rosemary.
But it only carries its proprietary brand, which means you’ll pay $3.99 or more for a regular-size bottle of hand soap, or $2.99 for 25 ounces of dish soap.
It won’t break the bank, but there are definitely better options in bigger sizes if you go somewhere like Walmart — especially if you aren’t concerned with the words “natural” or “organic” appearing on the label.
9. Paper Products/Miscellaneous Home Goods
MoreISO / Getty Images
Since you’re a Penny Hoarder, I’m assuming you already buy most of your paper home goods in bulk.
Unfortunately, that’s not possible at Trader Joe’s. Toilet paper only comes in one package size, which holds six normal-sized rolls priced at $3.99. Again, it’s not expensive — but you can do a lot better if you buy a bigger package elsewhere.
The same is true of other home goods, like paper towels and cat food, which is a shockingly outpriced $5.49 for three pounds.
Also: Where are the trash bags?! It’s nice to pretend you can always be sustainable, but sometimes you have to throw some stuff away.
Love Shopping at Trader Joe’s?
Although some deals are better than others, Trader Joe’s is a great bargain grocery store, and if you go the easy route and just buy all your groceries there, you’ll still probably end up saving money.
But in the end, the best store for you depends on your priorities.
For me, Trader Joe’s is almost perfect.
It’s partly because I live alone and profit from the per-piece produce pricing.
Plus, wine and cheese are basically my favorite non-people things on the planet. Since I’d happily eat a wine-paired cheese board for every meal in my life and be perfectly happy (if a little unhealthy), it’s like TJ’s was made for me: cheap nuts, dried fruit, cheese and wine! Done and done.
To figure out your best grocery store, the best course of action is to perform your very own grocery store comparison. Then you’ll know where to find the best prices for the items you actually buy.
Here’s a printable chart to help you get started — a quick, no-nonsense way to make sure you’re paying as little as possible for groceries.
We’ve got tons of other resources to help you save on groceries, too.
Check out our guide on how to start couponing — TJ’s does accept manufacturer coupons, although the company doesn’t have many of its own!
And while I haven’t seen Trader Joe’s show up on Ibotta yet, make sure you’re using the app when you shop at other stores. I mean, it’s free money just for taking a picture of your receipt.
And no matter what you do and where you shop, know where your money’s going. Just keeping track of how much you spend on food could be eye-opening — even life-changing.
Here’s our guide to starting a budget — and how to set financial goals once you do.
Because I don’t know about you, but a good deal of my financial goals revolve around food.
Your Turn: What are your favorite deals at Trader Joe’s?
Jamie Cattanach is a Trader Joe’s enthusiast 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.
The post 13 Deals You Should Never Pass Up at Trader Joe’s — and 9 You Should appeared first on The Penny Hoarder.
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Up to 11,000 gas customers hit by energy billing blunders
Up to 11,000 households have been wrongly billed for their gas, Energy UK has revealed.
Customers who’ve overpaid will be contacted by their provider and refunded with interest by the end of October. In some cases, an ex-gratia compensation payment will also be made to reflect the inconvenience caused.
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Don't let career breaks dent your state pension
Despite the introduction of a new state pension in April this year, there is still widespread confusion about National Insurance Contributions (NICs) and their impact on the amount of pension people are eligible to claim, according to new research from Aegon.
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Paying This Much More Each Month Could Save You $1K on Your Student Loans
If your student loan debt is gargantuan, you might feel like you’re on a Sisyphean treadmill of bills — paying and paying and never getting closer to a $0 balance.
Throwing in an extra $25 a month would probably be futile… or would it?
A recent NerdWallet post about paying extra on your student loans inspired me to do the math.
Yes, that’s how much I love you: I did math. Well, sort of; the Student Loan Hero calculator did it for me.
Specifically, I wanted to know how much money you could save by paying $25, $50 or $100 extra on your student loans each month.
Here’s what I discovered — plus, what to think about before you start paying extra.
Should You Pay Extra on Your Student Loans?
Let’s say you have $28,950 in loans, the average amount held by a 2014 graduate of a public or nonprofit college.
And let’s say your interest rate is 6%, since it’s the average of the rates between 2010 and 2014.
Assuming those numbers, you’re paying $322 per month on your loan — or $38,568 over 10 years (including $9,618 in interest).
Here’s what would happen if you paid…
An Extra $25 per Month
You’d pay off your loan in 9.1 years and save $1,010 in interest.
An Extra $50 per Month
You’d pay off your loan in 8.3 years and save $1,808 in interest.
An Extra $100 per Month
You’d pay off your loan in 7.1 years and save $3,024 in interest.
Wow.
With just an extra $25 per month, you could pay off your loan a year early — and save more than a grand in interest.
But, this comes with one big BUT…
When NOT to Pay Extra on Your Student Loans
Don’t pay extra on your student loans if you have high-interest debt or aren’t yet saving for retirement.
Your number one priority should be clearing out high-interest debt like credit cards, followed by saving for retirement.
Although it’s undeniably tempting to wipe all of your debt clean, pause when it comes to paying extra on student loans, which have a relatively low interest rate.
The power of compound interest means your money will better serve you in a retirement fund — and the earlier you start, the better.
“A $1,000 contribution made at age 25 would typically be worth $20,000 or more at retirement age, while the same contribution would be worth about $10,000 when made at age 35,” MONEY explains.
In other words? Retirement returns “tend to dwarf the value of prepaying student loan debt, especially for recent graduates.”
A CNN financial planner agrees: “Millennials are going to be so much more dependent on their own savings for retirement. We don’t want to see young people shortchange themselves trying to pay off student loan debt sooner than it needs to be.”
In past research, I discovered that — if you start at age 21 — you only need to save $25 per week to retire with enough money.
So, resist the temptation to pay off your loans early. Instead, start saving for your future.
Need some extra dough to get started? Here are some ideas:
Your Turn: Do you pay extra on your student loans?
Susan Shain, senior writer for The Penny Hoarder, is always seeking adventure on a budget. Visit her blog at susanshain.com, or say hi on Twitter @susan_shain.
The post Paying This Much More Each Month Could Save You $1K on Your Student Loans appeared first on The Penny Hoarder.
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