New mothers could have lost out on more than half a billion pounds worth of state pension in the three years since changes to child benefit payments were implemented, according to new research from Royal London.
It’s trivia night.
What’s the difference between pinot grigio and chardonnay? What the heck’s a hefeweizen? What’s “full-bodied” mean? Can wine really have hints of oak?
If you know a little something about alcohol, we found a job opening you can cheers to tonight.
Minibar Delivery is a mix of Uber and your favorite bar — without the nauseating ride home.
The alcohol delivery startup is genius (in my humble opinion) and drops wine, beer and/or liquor at your door in under an hour. Currently featured products include Stella Artois, Tito’s Handmade Vodka and Goose Island IPA.
The company’s growing, and it needs one to two full-time, work-from-home customer experience associates.
This person should be so well-versed in alcohol that they can confidently answer customers’ beer, wine and spirits questions. They’ll also answer and process incoming customer service requests via emails and phone calls.
Don’t worry: You won’t be thrown to the sometimes-drunken wolves.
You’ll go through a five-day, paid training period. You’ll also be encouraged to shadow a senior team leader, according to Tristan Esteibar, Minibar’s director of customer experience.
Pay starts at $15/hour, and as a full-time employee, you’re eligible for health, dental and vision benefits.
All of your work can be done from home, or you can work at Minibar’s headquarters if you live in New York City.
Other benefits are less tangible but just as valuable. You’ll be immersed in an awesome startup culture — even from home. You’ll also get to learn about the booming on-demand economy.
In addition, there are quarterly “Speaker Series” events and “Lunch and Learns.”
As a customer experience associate, you’ll need to be able to work with and communicate with customers — no matter how unruly they might be.
On a technical side, you must be familiar and comfortable with Microsoft Excel.
You should also be flexible in your work schedule. As a full-time employee, you’ll likely work 36-40 hours a week, but some hours might be in the evenings and on weekends.
Oh, and you also need to be 21 years old.
If you hit all of these hot buttons, read more about the job and apply online.
In the meantime, keep singing Iggy’s “Let’s get drunk at the minibar” line because, yeah, that’s stuck in my head, too.
For more work-from-home jobs, visit our Facebook jobs page.
Your Turn: What’s your favorite alcoholic beverage?
Carson Kohler (@CarsonKohler) is a junior writer at The Penny Hoarder. After recently completing graduate school, she focuses on saving money — and surviving the move back in with her parents. She prefers Woodchucks.
The post This Booze Delivery Startup is Hiring Work-From-Home Reps at $15/Hour appeared first on The Penny Hoarder.
Broadband providers have snuck through price hikes of up to 22% while tweaking internet tariffs as part of the regulator’s rules to make them “fairer and more transparent”.
Social media marketing sounds easy enough.
Post some content on Facebook, send out some tweets, make a few connections on LinkedIn, and sit back and watch the leads pour in.
That’s all there is to it, right?
I used to think that was the case. Of course, that was in the early days of social media. We were all trying to figure out what the heck Twitter was for, let alone how to use it. And leads? We weren’t getting anything worth talking about.
Social media has come a long way since then as have the strategies, tactics, methods, and power associated with social media.
In reality, a successful social media marketing campaign is multi-dimensional. Actually, it’s kind of complicated. Ask any social media marketer “How do you do social media marketing?” and you’re likely to get the “Um, where do I start?” look.
There are a lot of elements to address and minute details to cover. Often, the most difficult stage is the initial one, when you’re trying to gain traction and pick up momentum.
Without a proper game plan and a fundamental understanding of the underlying processes, you can easily find yourself floundering in the wide world of social media.
Don’t be discouraged if you’ve been feeling this way. That floundering feeling is common. In fact, “59.5 percent of social media marketers report that their strategy was having either neutral or negative results.”
Here is an excerpt from Duke University’s CMO Survey:
“45 percent said they haven’t been able to show social media’s impact on their company’s performance at all, and only 13.2 percent believe they have proved the impact quantitatively.”
Yikes. If that’s what a sampling of CMOs is saying, don’t stress over the fact that you’re not getting the ROI you want.
Social media marketing is tricky, but it’s still possible to succeed in it. You just need to figure out what’s broken.
If you know what’s broken, you can fix it, right?
Here are some possible reasons why your social media marketing has bombed and how to fix it.
I think there’s the misconception that whatever you post on social media will bring about results.
The thought is that even if it’s in no way related to your niche, everyone will get a kick out of what you post.
Take this post from Verizon, for example—an Instagram video of the Bronco’s logo in anticipation of the Super Bowl:
What if their core audience hates the Broncos? What if their core audience doesn’t care about sports in general or football in particular?
I’m not saying whether Verizon was right or wrong in choosing to post a Bronco’s image. (To their credit, they also posted a similar image of the opposing team’s logo.)
The point is this: Only post social media content that connects with your target audience.
Some brands get themselves in trouble when they post a hodgepodge of content with much of it being irrelevant to their core audience.
But at the heart of any successful marketing campaign, and especially social media, is a clear understanding of who your target audience is.
You need to zoom in on a specific segment of the population and create your campaign while catering to their needs and interests. No one else matters.
While it’s fine to explore different content ideas, it’s important to keep your sights on your core audience and center your campaign around them.
Here’s an example of GrubHub killing it with a food-centric tweet that’s laser-focused on their demographic:
Red Bull knows their target audience too, and they know that a tweet like this is bound to get traction among their action-sports audience.
Ride your bike to work this week. #mondaymotivation @juliendupont http://pic.twitter.com/HykPxggBbR
— Red Bull (@redbull) October 10, 2016
I get it. You want to get the ball rolling, get those leads coming in, and boost your sales volume.
Right out of the gate, you’re thinking promote, promote, promote! If I just keep pushing my product/service down my followers’ throats, they’ll acquiesce and buy. It’s a numbers game!
But this is a terrible approach to have on social media, especially in the long run.
This approach will turn off your existing followers and make it nearly impossible to establish any type of sustainable following.
Of course, you’ll want to promote your brand. But you need to do it with tact. You don’t want to be overly aggressive and salesy about it.
In its slideshow, Rallyverse talks about “the golden ratio for social media,” which is 30/60/10.
This means that 30 percent of what you post should be your own original content, 60 percent should be curated from relevant, external sources, and only 10 percent should be promotional.
While I think there’s a little wiggle room with these numbers, this is a great ratio to aim for.
Tim Ferriss has plenty of his own content to promote, but look at what else he does:
He doesn’t mind promoting others even when it’s a link to a book selling on Amazon.
Curating, sharing, re-tweeting, and promoting content other than your own allows you to promote your brand and generate quality leads without being annoying about it.
Social media marketing is a marathon—not a sprint.
If you expect to see legitimate results, you’ve got to keep your foot on the gas pedal and not let up.
Another mistake I see brands making is getting hot and heavy at the beginning, when they post content like mad for a few weeks or months, only to start losing steam shortly after.
They take their foot off the gas pedal and start posting sporadically. They may even go MIA for several weeks and not check their accounts, let alone post any new content!
In order for your brand to stick, you’ll need to find at least some level of consistency with your social media marketing.
You need to keep at it.
I know it can be disheartening when you put so much time and effort during the initial stages and it seems like no one’s responding.
But you need to see the big picture and keep your eyes on the prize. If you’re persistent and consistent, the odds should eventually swing in your favor.
One often overlooked aspect of social media marketing is the time of posting.
We’ve all heard “post at the right times!” But are we truly practicing it?
Just like vehicular traffic varies depending on the time of day, social media usage waxes and wanes too.
But the good news is it’s predictable.
Here are the best times to post on Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn:
On the other hand, there are times when social media usage dwindles:
If you haven’t considered timing as a factor, it’s something you’ll definitely want to be aware of.
I also understand you may not be able to schedule your life around posting at optimal times.
That’s why I recommend using a tool such as HootSuite or Buffer, where you can schedule your posts in advance.
I often use Buffer’s Optimal Timing Tool:
This tool takes all the guesswork out of optimizing posting times. Instead of me trying to figure out when my global audience is most likely to interact with my social media posting, the tool figures it out for me.
When I ran the tool just a minute ago, it gave me these results:
The half life of a tweet—the time it takes to generate more than half of its engagement—is only 15 minutes.
Think about that. The difference between my tweeting at 4:00 a.m. versus 10:23 a.m. is the difference of thousands of engagement points.
Time it right, and you’ll succeed.
No one wants to follow a brand that comes off as distant and aloof.
They want to follow a brand that’s real and that interacts with them. They want to know their voices are being heard.
I’ll be the first to admit that social media marketing can be incredibly time-consuming, especially once you start getting a high volume of comments.
But your campaign is at best going to hit a plateau if you’re not consistently engaging with your audience.
At worst, your overall following will decline along with your leads and conversions.
If you don’t have the time to respond to comments and participate in digital discussions, I recommend delegating these tasks to other team members or even hiring an outside party to manage your campaign for you.
Did you know that Internet users have an average of 5.54 social media accounts?
If you’re only active on one or two networks, you’re missing out.
I’m not saying you have to spread yourself thin and have accounts on 10 different networks, but you definitely don’t want to put all your eggs in one basket.
Like most things in life, it’s all about balance.
I would say that a good number to shoot for would be three or four networks.
This should be manageable and allow you to reach a large portion of your demographic without it overwhelming you.
“Vanity metrics” (friends, followers, “likes”) are the most common metrics marketers use to measure the business impact of social media.
But just 14% of marketers tie vanity metrics to sales levels.
I get it. Seeing your follower count grow and grow and getting a lot of likes on Facebook feels great.
On the surface, it appears that your campaign is heading in the right direction. But are these vanity metrics actually leading to results? Do they tell the whole story?
I know from personal experience just how shallow these types of metrics can be. And if you’re not careful, you can get lulled into a false sense of security when in reality your social media marketing is tanking.
What’s the solution? Make sure you’re taking a deeper look into your metrics to see what’s really happening.
At the bare minimum, I recommend using a basic platform such as Google Analytics to get a decent vantage point of trends and patterns.
You can use their “Social” feature to learn things like:
This will allow you to see the big picture.
Q: What’s worse than fixating on vanity metrics?
A: Not using any metrics.
How can you tell what’s working and what’s not if you’re not using any concrete data?
What’s crazy is the ridiculously high number of CFOs and CMOs that go with their gut instead of relying on legitimate data.
In fact, “a survey found that 46 percent of CFOs admitted to making important decisions based on instinct.”
Wow. That’s a lot of decision-making that’s based on very little!
Don’t get me wrong, you don’t want to “slavishly obey data” even when it goes against common sense.
But you’ll definitely want to utilize metrics in some capacity when making key decisions about the direction of your social media marketing.
If you’re not sure which tools to use, check out this list from Keyhole. It highlights 25 different social media analytics tools and should point you in the right direction.
Not to be pessimistic, but there’s a lot that can go wrong with social media marketing. And it’s important you understand some common mistakes many marketers make along the way.
By knowing what to avoid, you can recalibrate your campaign to ensure its success.
If your social media marketing has gotten off course, you can steer things back on track and achieve the results you’ve always been hoping for.
Can you think of any other specific reasons why social media marketers fail?
As many articles for The Simple Dollar do, this one started out as a reader mailbag question whose answer grew longer and longer and longer and eventually warranted its own post. Here’s Mike’s question.
I’m really into your idea of cutting the unimportant things so that I have plenty for the important things. Good stuff. So I am trying to apply it to coffee. Morning coffee, two or three cups, is a requirement. It’s not going away. I love the flavor and thrive on the caffeine. However I am not subscribed to the idea of buying it from a coffee shop or anything else. I’ve been tinkering. Looking for ideas for making morning coffee cheap so I can experiment with them so that I trim my morning coffee down to what is important to me and stop spending money on the parts that are unimportant. Such a good idea dude!
I like Mike.
I started off by listing out some of the tips that Sarah and I use to cut the cost of coffee. Sarah is a morning coffee junkie, just like Mike. I actually like a cup of cold coffee in the afternoon some days with just a little milk in it – real simple. I simply started listing things we do that, much like Mike describes here, retains what we really value about our coffee while cutting out things we don’t value.
So, here’s our repertoire of little strategies for minimizing cost / maximizing value from a cup of coffee. As always with a list like this, you should pick and choose the elements that work for you. Mike actually describes it well: your goal should be to eliminate elements from your coffee that you don’t find important so that you’re not paying for them while saving the elements that you do find important so that you’re actually getting personal value from every cent you spend.
Here goes.
Don’t go to coffee shops. Coffee shops not only charge you a lot for a cup of coffee that’s really only slightly better than what you get at home, they also often upsell you on things that you didn’t even plan to buy, like a muffin or a bagel or a newspaper or something else. It might be a “fun” environment, but it actually becomes a lot more meaningful if you go there occasionally rather than daily, because daily visits to something you consider “fun” tend to drain away that fun and make it ordinary.
Avoid Keurig cups and similar mechanisms like the plague. They’re convenient, sure, but they’re very expensive for what you get. The cost of a single cup of coffee at home is multiples of what it costs from another mechanism, such as an ordinary drip coffee pot or other options (which I’ll mention below). You’re also stuck with a useless device if they stop making pods to your liking.
If you do use a Keurig, get a reusable “K-cup” and fill it yourself. Keurig makes an “official” reusable K-Cup and there are some imitators out there, too. The item’s simple – you just open it up, add a bit of your own coffee to it, close it up, and then it works like a normal K-Cup. You just clean it afterwards. With one of those things, you can maintain the convenience of a Keurig machine without the high expense per K-Cup.
Use a French press instead of a drip coffee maker. A French press is a pitcher with a mesh plunger on it that you can use, along with ground coffee and hot water, to make some pretty good coffee. You just add some hot water and some coffee grounds, let them brew together for a bit, then insert the “press” and push it down onto the coffee grounds, essentially straining the solid grounds out of the liquid coffee. After that, it’s basically just like a normal pitcher.
Using this device basically eliminates all non-reusable items from the coffee making process. No disposable filters or K-Cups or anything like that. It’s one of the cheapest ways to have a hot and fresh cup of coffee in the morning (and it can be endlessly tweaked, too, if you’re into that kind of thing).
Make a bunch of coffee at once and store it in a closed container in the fridge, heating it up when you need a cup. This is actually what I do (in conjunction with the next tip). I usually just have a big sealed container of coffee in the fridge at all times and then pour a cup of it when I want one, heating it up if I want it warm. This is way more convenient than anything else in the moment of wanting a cup of coffee, plus it allows me to use up all of the extra ground coffee rather than letting unused ground coffee go to waste by growing stale.
Cold brew your coffee. This one requires no equipment other than a jar and a fine mesh strainer (and a coffee grinder if you grind your own beans). You can get all of that stuff at the store for a couple of dollars. It also creates a low acidity coffee that can last in the fridge for weeks and, honestly, it’s my favorite way to make it because of the flavor.
All you do is add two tablespoons of coffee to a jar for every cup of water that you add. So, for example, if you put six cups of water in a jar, you would put in 12 tablespoons of ground coffee. If you’re grinding it yourself, make it coarse.
Then, just cover the jar and stick it in the fridge for at least 24 hours. I find that if you take it out too early, it’s weak, but if you leave it in for days and days and days it becomes kind of bitter and really really really strong. 24-48 hours is the magic period for me for a strong cup of coffee without overwhelming bitterness.
At that point take out your fine mesh strainer and strain out the beans. I just pour it from one jar to another with the strainer in the middle. I usually strain it two or three times just to get as much as I can out of the liquid. Then, I pop the liquid coffee back into the fridge in a sealed jar again (and compost those coffee grounds).
This is hands-down my favorite way to have coffee. I like it cold to begin with. It’s also got a flavor that I like, which I assume is the relatively low acidity of it, and it lasts for a long time without tasting stale. You can easily heat it if you’d like, too, and there’s no extra equipment involved other than the sieve.
Buy beans in bulk and grind them yourself. Here’s the reasoning: whole beans stay fresher for much longer than ground coffee. Beans last quite a long time, especially in a closed container. Thus, you can buy a bulk purchase of beans – say five pounds – and get a discounted price on those beans. Then, you simply store the beans in your cupboard and grind some of the beans as needed.
Re-grind cheap ground coffee. This is a tip I learned from an old friend and it surprisingly works. Many people think cheap ground coffee is mediocre, but one really effective way to make it much stronger and more flavorful is to simply grind it again. Use your own coffee grinder on the finest setting and grind Folgers or Maxwell House grounds into a powder.
See, what’s happened with those large-scale ground brands is that they’ve sat there on the shelf for quite a while, allowing the surface of those grounds to oxidize and lose some flavor. However, with the cheaper brands, the grounds are coarse enough that there’s still potent and delicious coffee inside. Grinding Folgers into a powder releases that flavor, making very good coffee from the least expensive brands.
Freeze leftover coffee in ice cube trays. If you have some leftover coffee that you’re considering dumping, consider instead filling an ice cube tray with it and freezing it. Later on, you can use those cubes as the basis of a really good iced coffee, using coffee cubes instead of normal ice cubes to make the drink cool. That way, when those cubes melt, they’re going to be adding coffee to the drink instead of watering it down. You can also use those cubes creatively or even take a few cubes into a coffee cup and microwave it to melt the cubes for an emergency cup of coffee in the future.
These are just some of the ideas that you can use to reduce the cost of a cup of coffee in your life. As always, try lots of tips, stick with the ones that work for you, and focus on eliminating the unimportant so that you have space for the important.
Good luck!
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The post Strategies for Minimizing the Cost of a Morning Coffee appeared first on The Simple Dollar.
I’m officially crazy.
I don’t mean 19-wacky-ways-to-make-a-buck crazy (although I’m that kind, too).
I mean clinically, diagnosably crazy.
I have bipolar disorder, major depressive disorder and anxiety. And for the past five years, I’ve also run my own successful business as a freelance blogger.
And I’m not alone. Nearly half of the entrepreneurs studied by researchers from several prominent California universities reported living with at least one mental health condition. A third of them live with two or more.
It’s not that surprising, when you think about it — as the study points out, “several mission-critical entrepreneurial propensities and traits” like creativity, innovation and risk-taking “are also clinical features of bipolarity, depression, ADHD” and other mental health conditions.
When you have a mental illness, working for yourself can be a great career choice. It offers a level of flexibility, balance and stress management a traditional 9-to-5 simply can’t.
But it also presents its own set of challenges that anyone — especially someone dealing with a mental illness — needs to take into account.
Here are seven tips I’ve learned over the years to make it easier.
There are a bazillion (non-scientific estimate) ways to be a successful entrepreneur, but what works best is what works best for you, and you’re the only person who can determine that.
Don’t let the infinite freedom and flexibility of being your boss derail you into chaos. Instead, use it to your advantage to craft a schedule that works with your natural strengths and weaknesses to create your best work, and best life, possible.
I’m a huge proponent of practicing what’s known as “energy management” rather than time management. Your body has its own natural rhythms — times when your energy, concentration and creativity are at their peak and times when they’re not.
I’ve come to learn I get my best writing done in the mornings, so I know I need to ignore my desire to hit the snooze button and sit down at my computer with my first cup of coffee to write until lunchtime.
After lunch, I focus on less creatively taxing tasks like research, editing and invoicing.
Get to know when you’re at your best and arrange your schedule accordingly. Not only will you get the biggest bang for your efforts, but routine and structure are proven ways to help manage mental health conditions.
Maximize your work-from-home productivity by using tools and apps to manage your project deadlines, personal calendar and to-do lists. They’ll help you get more done during the times when you’re “on” and stay on track and on task when you’re feeling “off.”
Most importantly, they’ll decrease your overall level of stress, a huge trigger for many mental illnesses.
Plan ahead by parsing out projects into daily to-dos, and allow plenty of cushion time in the event of a “down” period or a reaction to a change in medication.
This strategy will enable you to meet your deadlines in spite of bad days, and it will also give you some breathing room and reduce stress (which helps minimize the potential for bad days).
Burnout is a very real danger for anyone working for themselves, but when you have a mental illness, you need to be extra careful to avoid it.
Take care of your physical self by seeing your doctor and/or counselor regularly, taking your meds as prescribed, and following the basic tenets of eating healthy, getting enough sleep and exercising regularly.
Take care of your mental and emotional self by allowing plenty of breaks to refresh, recharge and re-inspire yourself.
Walk the dog. Take a nap. Medidate. Make time for a hobby (I personally recommend adult coloring books, which are every bit as fun as they sound).
I know the whole work-life balance thing is easier said than done when your business is your baby, but your business is only as healthy as you are, so consider self-care a “work necessity” if that’s what you need to do to ensure you stick to it.
Being your own boss isn’t all sunshine and rainbows. Be aware of the pitfalls of working from home and know how to combat them.
For me, this meant implementing rules like:
Working for yourself can be an isolating experience. Stay connected with the world around you and boost spirits by maintaining relationships that build you up, make you happy and keep your perspective in check.
Join a support group for your condition, either in your area or online. Reach out to other entrepreneurs in your field and create a mastermind group to trade tips and empathize over your daily struggles via Skype or Google Hangout. Join an online forum if face-to-face chats freak you out.
And don’t forget these friends and family circles with whom you can stop thinking about your illness and work and just have fun. Sometimes, a girls’ night out or a coffee date with your bestie can do more for your mental health than anything else.
I’m not ashamed of my illness, but I also realize that stigma is real, and one of the luxuries of working for yourself is that you don’t have to justify your absences in detail to an iron-fisted HR department or nosy co-workers.
If you’re doing things right, the occasional bad day or even bad week shouldn’t sidetrack you too much. And if it does — if you find yourself having to skip out on a scheduled video chat or request a rare extension on a deadline — you are under no obligation to cite anything more than “health issues” or “personal issues.”
If you’re normally on top of your game, a good client or partner will forgive an occasional blip, because everyone has the occasional extenuating circumstances, whether it’s a sick child or a flooded basement.
In the end, the only thing that matters to your clients and business partners — and the only thing they have a right to expect — is that you deliver the results you promised them.
Your Turn: Do you work for yourself while living with a mental illness? What tips would you add to this list?
Kelly Gurnett is a freelance blogger, writer and editor who runs the blog Cordelia Calls It Quits, where she documents her attempts to rid her life of the things that don’t matter and focus more on the things that do. Follow her on Twitter @CordeliaCallsIt.
The post I Run a Successful Freelance Business… and I Also Have a Mental Illness appeared first on The Penny Hoarder.
I’ve been spending a lot of time watching HGTV and reading Apartment Therapy, and the internet is onto me.
All the banner ads I see are for handmade, midcentury style sofas. Or mattresses that come in the mail, shoved into a long box like a jelly roll.
And holy moly, so many “modern and chic” home decor items I desperately want, but honestly have no use for.
Plus, since I’m a woman who uses a wire kitchen storage rack as a bedroom bookshelf, I really need to bring down my homemaking ability expectations — and my budget.
If you, too, are blinded by the put-together homes you see on TV and decor blogs, stop panicking.
Here’s what you really need to get busy adulting… and how to get it on a budget.
Do not pass go, do not collect $200 until you have a mattress that hasn’t been hanging around your parents’ house for 20 years.
If you’re going to spend a third of your life in bed, it’s crucial it be comfortable, supportive and clean.
Mattresses are notoriously expensive, so don’t get stressed if you’re tight on cash. Read up on the various types of mattresses you can catch your zzz’s on before you go shopping.
Remember: If a pushy salesperson makes you uncomfortable, you can always leave and try another day.
My tip for finding a mattress in your budget, if your budget is “the cheapest one I can find”: Visit a major mattress chain’s store and ask if you can roll around on the options in their “discount section” for a while.
Every mattress shop has a special section for the cheap(er) mattresses. Just ask where it is. A good salesperson won’t bat an eye.
It’s time to prove you can take care of a living thing other than yourself.
Grab a resilient houseplant like a snake plant or jade for a few bucks at your local garden shop. You can actually order plants on Amazon, too.
Choose an attractive pot or DIY your own — just spray paint a coffee can a cheery color.
No matter how haphazardly decorated, nothing makes a home look pulled together in a flash quite like a flourishing houseplant.
The extra oxygen won’t hurt you, either.
When I moved into my first studio apartment, I noticed my cheap bookshelf starting to lean.
As the back cardboard panel slowly pulled away from the particle-board frame, I started to worry the whole thing might collapse and crush me, probably in the middle of the night when no one would know they should come find me under the splintered shelves.
Since my budget for a bookshelf was zero dollars, this was my solution: half a roll of Hello Kitty-print duct tape. Hello Kitty saved the day and held on for a few months until I figured out an alternative.
Don’t go out and buy a new bookshelf, though.
You can find hundreds of good, assembled bookshelves on Craigslist. It doesn’t need to be the prettiest bookshelf in the world. It just needs to be sturdy and clean.
No wheels for a Craigslist pickup? Ask the seller if they’ll deliver. The extra $20 may be worth the convenience.
Have you ever noticed how easy it is to sit down on a futon and how hard it is to get back up again?
Not so much with sofas. Sofas are made for sitting, instead of sitting and sleeping.
But sofas get expensive quickly, especially if you want one that doesn’t look like you graduated from Ikea Academy.
If you’re afraid of any creepy-crawlies that might come home from Craigslist, try your local antique or vintage furniture shop.
You can also keep an eye on used furniture stores that sell gently used items from offices or hotels.
Eating pizza off a frisbee was funny during your dorm-room days.
But now you’re a grown-up — and you need some plates.
Your best option is to go for a generic style, so if a few break along the way, you can easily replace them.
Don’t be fooled by the expensive place settings you saw on your friend’s wedding registry. You don’t need to spend a lot.
Instead, head to the thrift store, where complete or nearly complete sets of bowls and plates are often taped together.
I’m talking about luggage with four working wheels.
There’s no reason you should be getting on the Megabus to go visit your friends in New York for the weekend with luggage that doesn’t zip right, won’t roll properly or looks like you dropped it in a pile of snow and left it there until spring.
Granted, these options are better than showing up with a big blue Ikea bag filled with your worldly belongings… or are they?
Don’t sweat this one. Don’t try to buy one online, either.
Suitcases are all different — sort of like snowflakes — and are best selected in person. Head to TJ Maxx, Marshalls, HomeGoods or a similar store and spend some time rolling around whatever you can find in your price range.
And remember, when you’re not using your suitcase for travel, it’s perfect for storage.
Think off-season clothes, spare linens or holiday gifts you bought on sale in April — this way, you won’t want forget where you stashed them.
We all had the floor lamp for college with five bulbs you could move every which way.
If you were lucky, mom and dad sprung for the one with different-colored plastic shades. Because if there’s one thing that sets your personal style apart, it’s multicolored lampshades, right?
Stop using that lamp.
Donate it to the next generation of students and pick out something that suits your adult style. Bonus points if it generally goes with your couch, but I’m not going to be too picky here.
Head to Craigslist or local yard sales to tick this one off your list.
Your Turn: What purchases made your home feel more adult? Which were you confident in skipping?
Disclosure: What would Abe do? Probably pat us on the back for placing affiliate links in this post. Thanks for helping us fill The Penny Hoarder’s beer fridge!
Lisa Rowan is a writer, editor and podcaster living in Washington, D.C. She’s still working on acquiring a nice bookshelf.
The post 7 Items That Make You Feel Like a Real Adult… and How to Buy Them for Cheap appeared first on The Penny Hoarder.
The Brexit vote will lead to two years of very low house price growth, new research has revealed.
Residential researchers at Savills estate agency have predicted that economic uncertainty over the vote to leave the European Union has triggered two years of very low house price growth, which will be static in 2017 and go up by just 2% in 2018.
Sainsbury’s shoppers can double the value of their Nectar points if they cash them in now, as the supermarket launches its annual double redemption scheme.
Like any ’90s kid, I learned to type with AIM.
After school, I’d sign into AOL Instant Messenger, update my buddy profile with the latest inside joke and chat with my crush — whom I’d likely ignored at school all day.
My fingers became speedy on the keyboard as I kept up with the hottest gossip along the way.
I also used Mavis Beacon, a typing program, in my middle school technology class. She was awesome. (Remember the iguana game?) I even asked Santa to give me the CD program for Christmas. He did. I was thrilled.
But what if you didn’t have trusty AIM or Mavis?
We all love those work-from-home jobs, and there are so many of them I come across that require you to type a certain number of words per minute (WPM).
Here’s where you can start learning (and not pecking) — for free.
I found some free typing lessons on these sites that’ll help *key* in your talents.
And don’t worry: I tried them all because I’m still obsessed with typing.
I weeded out all of the glitchy ones, as well as ones that require a download.
This site looks slightly spammy, but it’s really not.
Start by taking a typing test, which involves typing random words. You can see how you fare before diving into the advanced typing test or even joining a typing competition and battling others around the world.
If you get tired of not actually typing real sentences, you can input a body of text and work with that. Maybe there aren’t Mavis Beacon iguanas, but it’s to-the-point and will help level up your skills.
This resource is great for kids — and might even entertain you. (The games include some purr-fect puns.)
The first level starts from key one: You’ll learn the home row and where your fingers ought to be placed. A funky goat guides you.
Get more advanced, and meet a Parisian cat and play “games.” They’re admittedly not a blast, but will help you improve your skill level.
If you miss a key, it’ll show you where your finger should be placed, so you don’t need to glance down at your keyboard.
I’m only mentioning this site for non-English speakers or someone who’s learning another language.
If you speak — or are trying to speak — French, German, Italian, Portuguese or Spanish, use this to test out your typing skills (accent-marked letters included).
Other than that, move on.
OK, I said no glitches. This site has a few, but it makes it up with its typing games (Typing Adventure recommended) and typing tests.
My favorite part?
You can be tested with actual, applicable content with the BBC News option. You can select your desired section (technology, sports, entertainment, health, business or science news). Then, you’ll see how quickly and accurately you can type it up — while maybe even learning something.
You can also test yourself against targets. For example, maybe you need to type at least 35 WPM to be eligible for a job you’ve been wanting. This will hold you accountable.
If you want to get back to the basics, there also are plenty of tutorials and lessons.
Creatively titled typing.com, this program packs a lot — and I’m in love with it.
You can start from square (or key) one and work with specific keys, i.e. “j” and “f.” A small keyboard appears below your typing prompt, and the fingers that should be doing the typing are highlighted in blue.
If you choose “practice,” you can pinpoint your strengths and weaknesses. For example, I need to work on numbers, so I can choose to practice on the 10-key numeric pad.
Once you feel comfortable, dive into the timed tests, which grade you on speed and accuracy.
My favorite part? THE GAMES! However, you’ll have to watch a brief ad (the reason you can access all of this for free, after all) before getting into one.
I like the Keyboard Ninja game. It mimics fruit ninja (remember how popular that was a few years ago?!) You type the letters that hover above the fruit while avoiding the bombs. Note: You can mute the odd tribal music, too.
Create an account to log all of your progress.
After conquering all of the prior tutorials, you might be up for this challenge. It’s seriously tricky, but it’s fun.
Instead of learning to type some random letters or boring paragraphs, you’ll listen to a song (think: “Call Me Maybe” or “Sexy and I Know It”) and type its lyrics.
And no, the songs don’t slow down. They’re fast, which makes it tricky, but if you’re able to finish a line (don’t feel bad if you don’t), then you’ll get a “Rad!”
Overall, it’s pretty entertaining — at least a different vibe from those other sites.
Feeling confident yet? Find some open work-from-home jobs on our Facebook jobs page.
Your Turn: Does your job revolve around typing?
Carson Kohler (@CarsonKohler) is a junior writer at The Penny Hoarder. After recently completing graduate school, she focuses on saving money — and surviving the move back in with her parents.
The post Quit Pecking: 6 Free Online Typing Tools to Improve Your Words Per Minute appeared first on The Penny Hoarder.
Take heed the bias you’re about to read.
However, I can’t help it: I love “The Real Housewives.”
The Bravo TV franchise is 100% my guilty pleasure — but I’m not guilty.
I’ve been hooked since high school, when I transitioned from the (more) innocent reality shows like “Survivor” and “Big Brother” to Bravo’s hair-pulling, table-flipping, expensive-sunglasses-wearing “Real Housewives.”
After nearly 10 years of binge watching, I’m still addicted.
When I accepted my job with The Penny Hoarder earlier this year, I came to terms with the fact that I’d probably never write about the Housewives.
After all, this site helps readers make and save money. The Housewives, on the other hand — well, they march in their Louis Vuitton heels to a much different (and even more expensive) beat.
Or so I thought.
^ Spoiler alert.
Back in August, I perused Twitter while watching the latest episode of “The Real Housewives of Orange County” (season 11, the “Woo Hoo Weekend” episode).
Up popped Housewife Meghan King Edmonds interacting with her fans. Earlier that day, she’d tweeted for advice about where to find long vintage necklaces.
OK — let’s back up real quick.
One of the main storylines this season on “The Real Housewives of Orange County” is Edmond’s IVF treatments and eventual pregnancy (baby Meghan coming to you soon!). She explains in the tweet she’s decorating her baby’s nursery:
I need lots of long vintage necklaces for the nursery – cheap! Any suggestions!
— Meghan King Edmonds (@MeghanKEdmonds) August 29, 2016
She received a response from Leah, who suggested looking at a thrift store for Mardi Gras beads — though Leah assumes Meghan’s idea of cheap is “world’s away” from hers. Wrong. Meghan shoots back:
No way. I live for Goodwill! https://t.co/GBDyNEyOjs — Meghan King Edmonds (@MeghanKEdmonds) August 30, 2016
A *Real Housewife* lives for Goodwill?!
Feeling intrigued, yet super wary, I investigated.
I ended up getting in contact with Edmonds via tweet messages and email.
To preserve the glory that is Edmonds, I kept her answers raw and unedited (except for clarity). OK, I’m totally being dramatic here… kind of.)
Taking a deep breath, trying not to fan out…
Whenever I have time to go on a treasure hunt! About once a month
Lately I’ve been obsessed with sports shorts for my stepdaughter because they are SO expensive to buy new and she just ruins them or grows out of them anyway.
I also love finding great books. My most recent good book find was “Freakonomics.” I find coffee table books, as well.
And I love going after a holiday to stock up for the next year. A couple years ago, I stocked up on porcelain dolls throughout the year and then I made a huge scary Halloween installation in my house!
No, I didn’t. This would’ve taken a long time to amass. I ended up buying spools of beads from party suppliers and cutting them to my desired length.
No, but Shannon [Beador] shops at consignment stores and we are always comparing our finds!
DIY is key and so much more meaningful. I love what I can do with $100 at IKEA — details are key here.
I also love Etsy. I’ve been able to get original art (I’m on an original portrait kick) for an incredible price. Recently, I’ve gotten custom curtains, bedding, clothing, my Halloween costume, artwork, and my baby book on Etsy!
It’s a rush! I love setting a budget and then using that same budget to dip into other parts of my house because I’ve saved so much.
Wine (when I’m not pregnant) and Bond New York perfume.
Used all the way!
Craigslist (under a man’s name of course and always in a public location), Goodwill, consignment. And remember all of the above options are usually open to negotiation!
(I also donate A LOT to Goodwill, thousands of dollars worth per year. I love that organization.)
Your Turn: Who’s your favorite housewife?
Carson Kohler (@CarsonKohler) is a junior writer at The Penny Hoarder. After recently completing graduate school, she focuses on saving money — and surviving the move back in with her parents.
The post Bravoholics: We Interviewed One of “The Real Housewives” About Saving Money appeared first on The Penny Hoarder.
Half (50%) of Moneywise.co.uk users say they’re happy to be given gift cards at Christmas, despite their pitfalls.
Our latest poll reveals that 26% like gift cards as they enjoy the freedom to pick something out for themselves, while 24% say they’re happy to receive them as it saves them from being given unwanted gifts.
(Click the image below to enlarge)
