The Roost in Bushkill is for sale, Realtor Sandy Soesman of Reality Executives has verified.The landmark deli and market on Route 209 near Bushkill Falls Road opened in April.Realty Executives Exceptional Realtors of Milford listed the business for $1.375 million. The sale includes the 10,642-square-foot building, all equipment, furniture and inventory.Once home to Turn’s General Store, the historic building dates back to the 1800s. The [...]
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الخميس، 8 ديسمبر 2016
Safety matters
Jamie Riley's 11-year-old son has a Nintendo DS, a Kindle Fire, an iPad, a laptop, a Wii, a PlayStation and an iPod. His 8-year-old sister has a Kindle and uses her mom's iPad to watch Disney shows. Both kids love their technology, but especially for the 11-year-old, it defines his life. With that comes an entirely new set of parenting responsibilities: For Riley and millions of other families, the challenges are many, and growing. How do they keep their kids safe and smart while [...]
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Philadelphia to ban employers from asking salary history
PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Philadelphia will soon ban employers from asking job applicants for their salary history.Supporters say such questions perpetuate pay discrimination against women and minorities.Councilman Bill Greenlee, a Democrat who sponsored the legislation, tells The Philadelphia Inquirer "it's about fairness."He says employers should base the salary offer on what the job is worth and what experience the applicant brings.A spokesman says Mayor Jim [...]
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Kids party center coming to downtown Stroudsburg
Local building owner John Iacono's Wonderland Ice Cream and Family Fun Center will somewhat resemble a Chuck E. Cheese's.
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50 Holiday Gifts Under $10 Your Friends Will Actually Want
It’s the most wonderful time of the year — and for many people, the most expensive.
But holiday shopping doesn’t have to fill you with dread. Try your hand at some DIY gifts or try a creative IOU: Last year, I gave family members Christmas cards promising one free baked good of their choice at any time, since I have a reputation as the family baker.
Even if you’re not crafty, you can find tons of great gifts on the cheap. Here are 50 great holiday gifts for $10 or less.
Around the House
These great gifts will please everyone on your list — not just the homebodies!
1. Novelty Tea Infusers: $1.29-$2.29
Got a Beatles-loving tea enthusiast on your list? This silicone Yellow Submarine tea infuser is dishwasher-safe and super cute.
Or try this adorable Mr. Tea infuser, who looks like he’s enjoying a hot soak in your cup, for $1.29.
2. Caffeine Mug: $7.99
If you have a nerdy caffeine junkie in your life, this mug is sure to keep her energized and entertained.
Plus, you can find lots of other cute mugs for less than $10, and they’re always useful to have around. Some even transform once their contents warm up!
3. Cat Coffee Cup Cozy: $7.99
Or, if your cat-loving friends already have their own travel mugs, consider this cute hand-crocheted cozy. They could even use it at coffee shops and help save paper sleeves.
4. Kitty Wine Stopper: $9.06
Maybe the cat lady in your life is more of a wino than a java junkie. This adorable wine stopper will keep bottles fresh between glasses.
Oh, and don’t forget —
5. Kitty Wine Glass Markers: $9
— so your friend won’t lose her glass when she hosts parties!
6. Cheese Knives: $9.95 each
The only thing I love more than wine and chocolate is cheese.
Just one of these knives takes a plate of cheese from an appetizer to a display worthy of any get-together.
7. Water Bottle Friendly Ice Cube Trays: $9.15
I love carrying around a reusable water bottle — it’s green and it encourages me to drink more water. But traditional ice cubes won’t fit through the neck of the bottle, and sometimes my water gets tepid.
These ice cube trays solve that problem! And you get a set of two flexible and dishwasher-safe silicone trays for this price, so you can even keep one for yourself if you want. Don’t worry, we won’t tell.
8. Novelty Ice Cube Molds: $4:34-$9.99
OK, I’m a total geek, I know. But it turns out you can find pretty affordable novelty ice molds — and I, for one, would be thrilled to have my drink cooled off by miniature brains ($4.34) or dinosaurs ($6.48).
What about Han Solo trapped in carbonite ($9.99)? Yes, please.
You can also find gummy bears ($8.99), smiley faces ($7.77), the Titanic and icebergs ($8.80) or skulls ($9.99) — perfect for Halloween parties!
9. Bonsai Tree Seeds: $4.99
Who knew these were so cheap?
If you know a green thumb who’s interested in making a new hobby of an ancient tradition, these bonsai seeds might be perfect — although the substrate and container are not included.
10. Cute Succulent Plant Displays: $7
It doesn’t take a green thumb to throw a plant into a pot.
With this set of containers and the succulents you can buy at Trader Joe’s or Home Depot for $2 to $3 apiece, you’ll spend about $7 per recipient of each adorable final display.
11. Handmade Soaps or Bath Bombs: $4.75-$9
Receiving soap as a gift is far from insulting when the products look good enough to eat!
There are tons of options on Etsy (look how pretty this one is!) or at your local craft fair, but higher-traffic brick-and-mortar stores offer quality products at only slightly higher prices.
12. FingerPrint Bookmark: $7.00
Do you know a bookworm who frequently loses his place? No more with this stretchy, silicone bookmark, which will point at the exact line where he leaves off.
13. Scarf Hanger: $8.05
I know I struggle with storage tactics for my plethora of scarves, which have ended up just bunched up into a storage box.
This hanger displays and organizes scarves in your closet, so they’re easily accessible and wrinkle-free.
14. Recipe Rock: $9.45
Got a friend who frequently uses recipe print-outs in the kitchen? This magnetic recipe stand will help keep ‘em clean when his hands are covered in flour.
It’s small enough for any space and could even be used in an office or classroom for other documents.
15. Starry Night Light Projector: $6.23
What kid — or adult, for that matter — wouldn’t want to make their bedroom into a planetarium? Coolest nightlight ever.
16. Sputnik Bud Vase: $9.99
Look how pretty this is! Look how simultaneously nerdy it is! This vase is quick to become a keepsake for anyone on your list.
17. Hanging Glass Candle Holder: $4.95
These hanging candle holders are elegant and timeless. And at prices this low, you could check quite a few people off your list.
18. Elsa Glass Tea Light Holder: $7.95
Or, you could mix and match with these tabletop tea light holders. Give your recipient the gift of new light (yep, pun intended) and a transformed living or dining room.
19. Fancy Candles: $8
Or, you could get the candle itself.
A beautiful scented candle can brighten any space. If you’re shopping for 50 or more people, you could even check out listings for wedding favors and get a really nice gift quite cheaply (like $5 apiece).
You can find lots of other scents — check out these candy-scented candles for $4.99!
20. Small Ceramic Dish: $9
To wrangle stray jewelry or set down a spent tea bag, these little dishes work for anyone on your list, and won’t cost you much at all.
21. Personal Photos: 20 cents
There’s just something about a tangible photo that the digital file lacks. You can get prints of your best memories online at vendors like Mpix for cents on the dollar; or you can check out what Target and Walmart have to offer.
You don’t have to buy a frame — you could string up your photos with wooden clothespins for a cheap, but romantic, option. Many vendors also sell canvas prints or other configurations of your photos at good prices.
If you do go shopping for frames, though, you can find cheap ones in a variety of sizes. I love stalking pricey vendors like Pier 1 for picture frame sales — I’ve seen cute frames like this one for as much as 60% off!
22. Just Crunch Anti-Soggy Cereal Bowl: $6.99
Nothing ruins your Raisin Bran like a slightly-too-long milk bath. Get the breakfast lover in your life this bowl to keep her crunching all the way through the Saturday morning news — or cartoons.
On a similar note:
23. French Fry Dipping Cone: $4.99
Dishwasher safe and not just for fries, this is a convenient and attractive way to serve finger foods and dip.
Less mess on the cheap! What’s not to love?
24. Flexible Pot Clips: $8.99
For your aspiring-chef friend who’s still a little messy in the kitchen. Help him get organized and stop splattering chili on your countertops with this convenient gadget.
25. Magnetic Spot Scrubber: $9.99
If your friends have hard-to-clean glassware like carafes or decanters, this gift might be a godsend.
The scrubber goes inside the vessel and you scrub by dragging the magnetic component along the outside of the glass. Pretty cool, huh? Plus, it won’t scratch your stuff.
Edibles
The way to a friend’s heart is through the stomach. Here are some awesome edible gifts to consider this holiday season!
26. Beer Marshmallows: $7.95
Um, yum? You can get a box of 16 for under $10.
If beer isn’t your style, you can choose from Bourbon, Chai or Pumpkin Pie among other flavors, which change seasonally.
27. Good Chocolate: $5 or less
If you know me, you know this had to show up on my list.
This listing on Amazon is $16 for six bars, which means you’d spend about $3 on each lucky recipient. But you can head to your local grocery store and stalk the candy aisle for lots of options under $5.
If you want to get really fancy, some single-origin, small-batch chocolate bars can cost up to $10 or even more — but are well worth the price to the true chocolate snob on your list (hint, hint)!
28. Good Tea: $8.99
When it comes to the coffee or tea debate, I’m firmly on the side of java — but this cinnamon spice black tea has enough caffeine to keep even a diehard like me going, and it tastes great even without sweetener.
Shop around; there are tons of flavors available. Plus, lots of tea bags come in pretty, reusable tins that serve as decorative organization — all for under $10.
29. Really (Really) Good Honey: $5.99
Once upon a time, I didn’t even like honey. Then, I discovered Stubbees, which specializes in raw, creamed, flavored honeys. Pioneered by a 20-year-old beekeeper in the Jacksonville, Florida, area (and sold in local coffee shops while I lived there), this honey isn’t just delicious: its supports a really cool, small business and a young entrepreneur.
The cinnamon flavor is the best, but they have tons of flavors to choose from, and new seasonal flavors like pumpkin spice and vanilla bean, too.
30. Pizza Garden: $9.99
Help the pizza fanatic in your life save cash by growing her own Italian herbs and tomatoes. The kit comes with seeds and substrate for oregano, basil, roma tomatoes and bell peppers — a fun, kid-friendly project that could cut costs in the kitchen!
Pizza (somehow) not your style? There are lots of other grow-your-own kits for under $10 — how about growing your own coffee?
You could also go to your local nursery and buy a custom sampling of seeds based on your recipient’s tastes.
31. Gourmet Barbecue Sauces: $5.97-$7.95
There’s nothing like good barbecue sauce to put the finishing touch on a backyard grilling session.
This selection from Crate and Barrel was developed by champion Chicago pitmaster Charlie McKenna, and comes in three flavors.
32. Cookie or Brownie Mix in a Jar: $3
You don’t have to be super-crafty to DIY a great gift! Mason jars usually come in packages of 12 for a little over a dollar apiece — or, check out your local thrift store to find ‘em for as low as a quarter.
Then, scour the web for tons of creative recipe ideas. In most cases, the ingredients for a single jar shouldn’t cost you more than a dollar, especially if you’re planning on making quite a few and buy your sugar and flour in bulk.
Write an instruction card for your recipient and decorate the jar with ribbon. You just gave someone a cheap, useful and beautiful gift!
For Friends at Work or Secret Santa
You might not know some folks on your list that well; maybe you only see them around the office. Here are some non-Starbucks-gift-card gift options.
33. Dine Ink Office Pen Utensils – $8.26
Help your colleague who’s always having lunch in her cubicle make multiple uses of her writing utensils. Multitasking is the way of the future in corporate America, after all!
34. Daily Mood Desktop Flipbook – $7.90
For the social media junkie in the office whose Facebook feed is full of updates — whether she’s tired, cranky or ecstatic.
This flipbook is a cute cubicle addition with 47 moods to choose from, complete with snarky definitions and translation into Pig Latin.
35. The Seven-Year Pen: $7.95
Work with someone who takes a ton of notes? This unassuming, eco-friendly pen can write five and a half feet per day for seven years! That’s a lot of on-hold scribbling for just over a buck a year.
36. Mini Tabletop Zen Garden: $7.99
Got a coworker who could use a mini vacation? Help her relax and focus with this thrifty desktop zen garden.
37. Cute Food-Themed Erasers: $6.99
Come on, these are pretty adorable, right? A quick, cheap, safe bet for any secret Santa recipient — even if you only ever say hi around the Keurig.
Wearables and Accessories
Buying for a fashionista this year? Here are some options.
38. Infinity Scarf: $8.99+
These sheer scarves are fashionable and versatile, and come in enough colors to get your loved ones a couple.
Plus, your friend will have a use for the scarf hanger listed above!
39. Funky Fingerless Gloves: $3.72
Even though I live in Florida, I suffer terribly from cold hands during our brief winters. These fingerless gloves are stylish and still let you use your touch screen.
40. Tiny Golden Heart Earrings: $9 (on sale for $7.65)
These studs are unassuming, but adorable — they’d go with anything.
You can also find tiny flowers ($3.75) or even unicorn earrings ($5.99, on sale from $9.99) for the pierced person on your shopping list.
41. Wildflower Crown Knitting Pattern: $3.50
If you’re crafty, you could make a friend this everlasting flower crown (cute!) for $3.50 plus the cost of yarn. If you know a crafty person, you could give her the pattern itself as a gift!
42. T-Shirts: $6
Since there are so many options, you’re sure to find something for anyone on your list. Even those hard-to-buy-for folks who seem to have everything need T-shirts!
Threadless has lots of funky designs and often has sales, taking their tees under $10.
Geekery and Other Useful Stuff
From on-the-go light to blank pages to carry in your pocket, these gifts will make any geek on your list grin.
43. Credit Card Lightbulb: $3.99
Ever get home late at night and can’t get your key in the door? Or maybe you’re out at a bar and someone loses an earring back?
No more scrambling to keep your cellphone screen active. Flip open your wallet and save the day!
44. Cell Phone Propper-Upper: $4.95
Have a techy friend getting carpal tunnel from holding her phone so much?
This little gadget holds up your Android or iPhone so you can scroll through the screen with ease. Since it has suction cups, you can even attach it to your windshield to use your GPS!
Want a more stylish option? Try the Pumped Up smartphone stand for $3.84, or the tongue-in-cheek Banana Stand for $7. And at a price like that, Arrested Development fans will be pleased to learn there’s always money in the banana stand, after all!
45. Cable Management System: $9.95
Wires, wires everywhere. How many of us suffer from this problem?
This cable management system is sleek and would help streamline anyone’s workspace.
46. Harry Potter Deathly Hallows Keychain: $2.39
For the die-hard Harry Potter fan on your list, you can’t go wrong for under $3.
47. Novelty USB Flash Drive: $6.50
Everyone needs portable storage these days, and there are some really cute flash drives available.
Even better: Fill it with fun personal stuff, like date photos or favorite songs. It’s the 21st century mix tape!
48. Clear Soft-Flex iPhone 6 Case: $9.99
You don’t have to spend (another) fortune to protect your investment — although you certainly can.
Lots of folks will be getting new tech over the holidays, so help keep their expensive new gadgets safe. I especially love this case since it’s transparent — you can still see the beautiful design, which is part of your phone’s high price tag to begin with!
49. High-Quality Pocket Notebooks: $9.95
Maybe I’m a little biased since I’m a writer and all, but you can never go wrong with pocket notebooks.
These are beautiful and come in lots of different styles — dot matrix, graph or lined paper. And you get three for less than $10!
50. Gift Cards: $10 or less
A $10 gift card to Starbucks or Panera can actually get you a decent amount of stuff, and you might even be able to get it for less than $10!
So get shopping, penny hoarders — you can still save lots while you do!
Your Turn: What gifts under $10 would you like to give or receive?
Disclosure: Some of the links in this post are affiliate links. We would have shared them with you anyway, but a true “penny hoarder” would be a fool not to take the company’s money.
Jamie Cattanach is junior writer at The Penny Hoarder and a native Floridian. She’d gladly unwrap anything on this list, but especially the chocolate. Seriously, if you could send chocolate, that would be great.
The post 50 Holiday Gifts Under $10 Your Friends Will Actually Want appeared first on The Penny Hoarder.
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Buy One Papa John’s Pizza and Get a Second One Free When You Do This
What’s better than a pizza? Two pizzas, obviously.
This BOGO deal is easy to get, and it tastes pretty good.
Buy any Papa John’s pizza online with Visa Checkout, and you’ll get a second pizza for free.
After you place your order, you’ll receive one email confirming it, and a within a day, you’ll get a second with a promo code for a free large one-topping pie.
Your free pizza code is good for 30 days, although you may need to pay a delivery fee if you get your order carried to your door, and you can’t stack your freebie with any other deals.
How to Get Your Free Pizza Promo Code
The weirdest rule with this deal? You can’t order double toppings on your pizza, which means no extra cheese allowed. (What is this tyranny?!)
You can earn one promo code per day and also redeem one per day, which means if you’re really into Papa John’s, you can BOGO your way to a happy belly for quite some time.
There’s no expiration date listed on this deal, so I recommend thinking long and hard about what you plan to eat this weekend.
Your Turn: Do you use Visa Checkout? Will you snag this Papa John’s BOGO deal?
Lisa Rowan is a writer and producer at The Penny Hoarder, covering mostly pizza-related topics.
The post Buy One Papa John’s Pizza and Get a Second One Free When You Do This appeared first on The Penny Hoarder.
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31 Days to Financial Independence (Day 17): Integrating Cost-Cutting Measures Into Your Life
“31 Days to Financial Independence” is an ongoing series that appears every Thursday on The Simple Dollar. You might want to start this series from the beginning!
Last time, we finished up our deep look at the average American family budget, going through each category and examining how one could trim the cost of typical expenses in that category. Here’s the “average American family budget” that we’re looking at, along with links back to the earlier entries on those specific areas:
Housing – $10,080
Transportation – $9,004
Taxes – $7,432
Utilities – $7,068
Food – $6,602
Insurance (including things like pensions) – $5,528
Debt Payments – $5,252
Healthcare – $3,631
Entertainment – $2,564
Cash Contributions – $1,834
Apparel and Services – $1,604
Education – $1,138
Vices – $775
Miscellaneous – $664
Personal Care – $608
TOTAL – $63,784
While this cruise through the average American budget produced a ton of specific money-saving tips, what it doesn’t cover is how to really use those hundreds of tips in any sort of meaningful and coherent way. Obviously, you can use a specific tip and it will reduce your spending a little, but how does that little change impact your finances in any meaningful way.
Today, we’re going to talk about how exactly to use many of those frugal tips – there are literally hundreds in the links above – to enact meaningful long-term financial change in your life.
The valuable part of this type of financial change is that virtually anyone who isn’t already pinching every single penny can do this. It doesn’t require a high-salary career or something like that as many other pieces of financial advice require.
Let’s dig in.
Exercise #18 – Turning Frugality Tips Into Real Financial Change
This exercise isn’t something you can do in a single day; instead, it’s something that you’ll have to spread across a month or two in order to really see the benefits of how it works. It involves what I like to call “practical frugality” – making frugal choices, seeing how they add up, and then using that net benefit for something financially positive.
Step One – Try Lots of Frugality Tactics
This is where it all starts. It begins with actually trying money-saving strategies in your day to day life.
At the top of this article are links to a ton of different tips that I’ve shared over the last few weeks, sorted by category. Although it’s not a “be-all-end-all” guide to frugality, almost everyone should be able to find dozens of tips and strategies from that article that could theoretically apply to their life.
Try them all. Give every single one that could remotely apply to your life a sincere try. Even if the tip seems strange or a little outside of your comfort zone, give it a shot. There are going to be quite a few that fall into that “little bit outside of your comfort zone” area, and that’s okay. Human beings are creatures of habit, and many of those tips tweak a habit that we’ve established in our lives.
Make a conscious effort each day to try out at least one new frugality tactic and to try to repeat a tactic or two that worked from a previous day. It can be anything – buying store brand items at the store, installing a weather strip, replacing a normal light bulb with an LED bulb, making supper at home instead of getting takeout or eating out. As I said earlier, if you’re out of ideas, hit the links at the start of this article. You’ll find literally hundreds of ideas.
Step Two – Estimate and Record How Much Each One Saves You
Whenever you do something frugal take note of it, and when you have a free minute estimate how much that frugal tactic is actually saving you. Pull out that grocery receipt and estimate how much you saved by buying store brands. Figure out the energy savings of an LED bulb over the course of its life. Calculate the savings from making a crock pot of chili at home rather than eating out.
You don’t have to be perfect here – a rough estimate is good enough. Just try to get a rough sense on how much you saved thanks to that frugal move and how much it will save you going forward in terms of permanent changes like weatherstripping.
My recommendation is to try to figure out how much it will save you over the course of a month. If it’s a one-off change, just focus on how much that one action saved you. If it’s a permanent change, like installing weatherstripping, try to estimate on the low end how much it will save you per month going forward.
I keep track of these things myself using Evernote, as I like to keep tabs on my money-saving efforts (in part for articles like these, but also in part because I simply want to know what works). I take pictures and little text notes of the things that I do, and then about once a week I spend time figuring out what these things actually saved me (and whether they’re worth writing about on The Simple Dollar). Honestly, this is a routine I would continue even without writing, simply because I find it useful to know whether something is really worthwhile or not so that I know if I should try to change my routines and make them better.
Step Three – Discard the Ones That Don’t Work; Keep All of the Ones That Do
The reality is that some tactics you try won’t work very well, while others will make a ton of sense for you.
Some tactics simply won’t save much money at all for you compared to the effort. You have to spend significant time doing something you don’t enjoy and you’re barely saving anything at all, so it’s not worth it.
Other tactics have outcomes that you simply don’t want. You buy a store brand, for example, and you find that the specific item you bought isn’t good (though you should make absolutely sure that it’s the product and not your sense of brand loyalty at work). In those cases, the new way of doing things has a real drawback that you’re not going to repeat.
Discard those things! Don’t do them again!
The thing to always remember about a big list of frugal ideas is that everyone’s life is a little different. Different people have different preferences about, well, everything in life. What you’re going to find when you start experimenting with frugal strategies is that some of them are going to fit right into your life perfectly and other ones aren’t going to fit well at all – and that’s okay. Remember that the set of strategies that works well for you is going to be different than the set that works well for someone else.
Also, remember that just because a tip feels a little unnatural at first doesn’t mean it’s not a positive move for you. It’s very likely that you’re going to feel like you’re giving up something important to make some of these tips happen, but keep in mind that it’s often much more about losing a routine than it is about the actual thing that you’re changing. I find that a lot of frugal changes initially seem like a bigger change than they actually turn out to be; I do it a few times and it quickly begins to feel like the new way is the norm, even if it felt odd at first.
Step Four – Total Your Frugal Savings Over the Course of a Month
After you do this for a month or so, sit down and calculate how much you’ve saved over the course of a month. In particular, focus on the changes that you’re pretty confident will stick throughout your life, but you should also add up all of the other changes that were one-time things.
Going forward from here, the amount you saved from the changes that will stick – the ones that are permanent changes and the ones that fit in your life – is an amount of money you can use going forward to elicit financial changes. You can use that money to build an emergency fund or to save for retirement or do whatever it is that your financial goals are centered around.
At the start of this series, we spent some real time focused on figuring out direction and meaning in your life, giving you a sense of what you want to be working for. This is the start of that. This is the seed money you now have each and every month to work toward that goal.
Step Five – Use That Amount for Financially Positive Moves
So, what are you going to do with that money?
The first thing that you should do with it is to build up an emergency fund. This is a small chunk of money that you keep in a savings account to help you deal with life’s emergencies. I usually recommend that a starter emergency fund be around $1,000 and to build it up to a couple of months of living expenses later on when you’ve taken care of a few other things.
Once you have that $1,000 emergency fund, you should be using this monthly frugality savings to tackle your remaining high interest debts. Earlier in the series, we took a long, hard look at your debt situation and took a few quick measures to stop the worst of the financial bleeding. Now, you have some steady money with which to address the remaining high interest debts. In other words, your extra money from being more frugal can be directly put toward an extra debt payment to get rid of debts much faster.
Step Six – Automate Those Moves
One final problem: when you have extra money sitting in your checking account, it can become very tempting to just spend it. You’ll glance at your account balance, think that you have plenty of money for whatever impulse buy you have at the moment, and then go spend it.
A much better approach is to take that money out of sight and out of mind. Once you have a monthly total of how much you’re consistently saving due to frugal moves, set up a weekly automatic transfer from your checking account to your savings account for a quarter of that amount. So, if you’ve found ways to spend $100 a month less without any real life changes, set up a transfer of $25 a week from your checking to your savings. You may even consider opening an account at a completely different bank just to keep this money out of sight and out of mind, as many online savings accounts make this kind of thing very easy.
If you’re building an emergency fund, that’s all you have to do. Don’t touch it until there’s an emergency. If you have other goals, go into that account every once in a while, transfer that money back to your checking, and then immediately use that amount for something financially positive. Pay off a credit card! Have a down payment for a car so you can get a better loan – or, even better, pay for that car out of pocket so you don’t even have a car payment!
The point is to start eroding some of the long term expenses in your life. If you manage to use this to pay off a credit card bill, see how much that credit card bill was in a typical month and add that to your automatic transfer (a quarter of that bill per week). If you manage to pay off a car loan, add a quarter of that monthly bill to your weekly automatic transfer.
What’s going to happen before long is that your weekly transfer is going to get nice and fat. You’re going to be putting aside enough money to easily buy your next car without a car loan, which means no new bill and no interest that you have to pay. Instead, you’re earning interest from your savings account. When an emergency happens, it’s not panic mode time; you have money in that savings account to cover whatever happens.
Why Does This Work?
The entire purpose of all of this is to take all of those little savings from frugal moves, like the $5 per month you save on your energy bill from LED light bulbs and the $5 you save each month from installing weatherstripping and the $10 you save each month from switching to store brand laundry detergent, and scoop all of those little bits into one big pile.
It’s like sweeping the floor – you might notice one or two little things out on the floor, but when you start sweeping, you collect all of those little things and lots of other little things that you didn’t even notice at all and suddenly it becomes this surprisingly big pile.
Those little bits on their own seem tiny and unimportant, but when you’re doing a lot of them all at once, they start to really add up. One thing that will save you $5 a month seems tiny, but if you’re doing twenty such things, it’s $100 a month. If you’re consciously keeping track of those savings and then doing something smart with that money, it’s going to start making a big difference in your life surprisingly fast.
More than anything, the power of frugality begins to appear when you buy less stuff on credit and more stuff out of pocket. Let’s say, for example, that you need to make a $1,000 purchase but you don’t have the money on hand. Ordinarily, you might put that expense on a credit card and then make minimum payments to pay it off, but if you did that on a typical credit card with a 19.9% interest rate and 4% minimum payments, you would end up paying $555.93 in interest. On the other hand, let’s say you were able to save up to that $1,000 over the course of several months. Not only would you be able to pay that out of pocket, thus saving you the $555.93 in interest, you would have also earned some interest over the time that money was in your savings account. That’s a swing of $600 in your favor just by being a little more financially responsible.
If you start looking at those kinds of swings on every one of your debts, you start to get the picture: freedom from debt, particularly high interest debt, is how you get ahead, and you can start to free yourself from that grip by taking lots of little frugal actions, sweeping them together into a pile, and then using that pile to hammer down that debt.
Debt repayment isn’t the only useful thing you can do, either. This “swept together frugality” money can be used for retirement savings, for child education savings, and, more importantly, for “personal goal” savings.
It’s those “personal goals” that often have the greatest impact because you can look at your current life when you’re in the process of saving for and working for those personal goals that can give you the motivation you need to keep going. You can see that your life really is headed for that big dream.
Next time, we’re going to start taking a look at increasing the “earning” side of the “spend less than you earn” equation.
The post 31 Days to Financial Independence (Day 17): Integrating Cost-Cutting Measures Into Your Life appeared first on The Simple Dollar.
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New Jersey Will No Longer Chase Down Your Student Loans If You Die
What happens to your student loan debt if you die?
It’s a terrible thought, but for many families dealing with the loss of a loved one, it’s an unavoidable consideration.
While federal loans are automatically canceled, other student loans are often fair game for collections — even after the borrower has died.
But in New Jersey, families of the departed now have a reprieve. A new law requires the state’s loan agency to forgive student loans when borrowers die or are permanently disabled.
Why New Jersey Changed Its Loan-Discharge Policy
The new law puts New Jersey in its place after it went bonkers running its student loan program.
The state agency “aggressively sought repayment of loans with already onerous terms, even after some of the recipients had died,” ProPublica explained in an update to a summer 2016 investigation it conducted with the New York Times.
State agencies used to serve as middlemen between federal financial aid and borrowers, until the government essentially eliminated that role in 2010. Some states retained their own programs, while others won contracts to manage federal student loan accounts for their residents.
New Jersey, which has the largest state-based student loan program in the country, prevented the cancellation of student debt for death or disability, according to ProPublica and The New York Times.
The state also charged high interest rates, did not cap borrowing amounts and did not offer flexible payment programs, like those based on income levels. And if you didn’t pay, the state could swoop in to garnish your wages or grab your state tax refund.
While Governor Chris Christie did not respond to the ProPublica/NYT investigation, the New Jersey state house fast-tracked a bill from January 2016 that proposed forgiving state student loans in the event of death or disability. Christie signed S-743 into law on Monday, Dec. 5.
What This Change Means for Student Loan Borrowers in NJ
The new law is a victory for students and families in New Jersey, who had previously been advised by the state to purchase life insurance to cover student loan debt in the event of a tragedy, according to ProPublica.
“How anyone could ask a mother — who just lost her son — to pay for his student loans is incomprehensible,” Sen. Paul Sarlo (D-Bergen) chairman of the Senate budget and appropriations committee, told NJ.com.
“Student loan payments should stop at death, and with this law in place, they will.”
Meanwhile, private loan forgiveness after death or permanent disability is at the whims of each company — just one more reason to research your financial aid options thoroughly before signing on the dotted line.
Your Turn: Have you ever managed someone’s debt after they passed away? Were you surprised at the responses you received?
Lisa Rowan is a writer and producer at The Penny Hoarder.
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I Was a Paper Towel Addict: Here’s How I’m Kicking My Expensive Habit
I go through a pack a week — easily.
I unconsciously grab for them. If they’re not around, I panic. It’s an addiction, really.
They’re paper towels. Yes, I sound dramatic (I kind of am), but my paper towel addiction is real — and super wasteful.
It gets pricy, too.
I prefer the 2-pack Bounty “HUGE” rolls: $5.09 at Target. When I lived by myself, I usually bought two packs a month. (I never bought in bulk because I walked to the grocery store.)
Let me tell you all the ways I use these suckers.
After washing my hands, I dry with one. After rinsing my fruits and veggies, I use a layer of paper towels for drip-drying. After spilling milk, I swipe up the mess with a wad.
If it’s a rare occasion that I hand-wash dishes, I use several paper towels to dry. If I’m sitting down to eat… you guessed it.
I know. Permission to cringe.
But I was sparked with inspiration when a Penny Hoarder wrote in our community group:
Kelly’s simple comment resulted in a flood (one you can’t clean up with paper towels) of tips and advice to purge the product.
I decided to take a few suggestions and try it out on my own.
Finding Adequate Paper Towel Replacements
Before I dive into this mess, I offer a quick aside: Right now, I’m living with my parents, who didn’t want anything to do with my experiment.
So do note that, as I struggled throughout the challenge, two rolls of paper towels continuously taunted me from our kitchen countertops. Two.
I’ll walk you through all the moments I was tempted — and how I coped. And I really do hope some of y’all can relate so I don’t feel so crazy…
Preparation For My Paper Towel Purge
I brainstormed all the ways I use paper towels. I made a list and shared it with my co-workers for advice and alternatives. I also consulted comments on our Facebook community page.
Here are some alternatives:
- Hand washing: Hand towels. Our senior editor, Heather van der Hoop, distinguishes between hand towels and dish towels. Hand towels are thicker, better for drying hands.
- Napkin replacements: Community member Linda Brooks had some great advice. She said you can get 100% cotton bandanas for $1 at Walmart. Our director of media relations, Lizabeth Cole, says she buys super cute, washable napkins from Target or Homegoods. Dana Sitar, our staff writer, stocks up on fast food napkins when she gets too many.
- Rinsing fruits/veggies: I received more great advice from van der Hoop, who’s been amused by my addiction:“I don’t dry them… just shake ’em off — this is enough if you’re going to chop them to cook or add to a salad. Or use a salad spinner for greens. Or if you *really* need to dry them, use a dish towel.” Another staffer suggested simply leaving whatever it is in the colander to dry.
- Drying dishes: Sitar said she just uses a dish rack or drying pad and puts her dishes away later.
- Cleaning up surface messes: I received a ton of advice on this one. Another van der Hoop suggestion: Use rags: “You can make different types and thicknesses from old pillowcases, towels and T-shirts. Buy ’em at the thrift store for like 25 cents or use your own old stuff.” Our senior writer, Susan Shain, helped me ease into this process by suggesting reusable rags. “Now I use thicker, washable cleaning towels from the dollar store,” she said. I found some multi-purpose wipes. For the tougher stuff? Community member Jasmine A. Gonzalez said she uses paper bags to get grease off pans. (Think: bacon)
- Messes from animals: My family has a 25-year-old pet bird. We used to always use old newspapers, but we don’t get those anymore. Cole suggested a big ream of kraft paper from an office supply store. Looks like I could get 40 pounds of it at Staples for $24.99.Sitar made another good suggestion: junk mail.
- When the messes get too bad… Like what if there’s a bug or the cat throws up? Sitar still insisted rags or old T-shirts are OK. She said if they get too gross to wash, toss ’em.
So with my paper towel tips, I stopped by Salvation Army and Dollar General to pick up supplies. I had no luck in Salvation Army, but I picked up a variety of dish cloths and those reusable, washable cloths Shain suggested at Dollar General. My subtotal was $5.
Other community members had great recommendations about where to snag affordable alternatives, including shopping for linen tablecloths from discount fabric stores (cut and hem the edges) and asking members of your local Freecycle for cloth napkins.
No, I’m not completely deprived — I have dishtowels at home. But I wanted to do this independently.
My Day-By-Day, Task-By-Task Experience of Purging Paper Towels
With my purchases complete, I was ready for the experiment to begin…
Or so I thought I was. I put it off for a few weeks but finally decided to give it a go. Actually doing things shed a whole lot of light on my addiction, everyday tasks and solutions.
Take a look at my findings.
Day 1: A struggle, to say the least
It was a Monday, and I’d just returned from a weekend trip. I decided to start my experiment on a whim, which gave me less time to talk myself out of it.
Task 1: Make coffee.
I slugged over to the coffeemaker at 6:45 a.m. I hadn’t expected to run into a “situation” so quickly, but I realized I typically tear off one paper towel each morning as I prep my coffee.
I guess I do it to keep the counter clean. It’s just a nice place to set down my mixing spoon and wipe the counter clean after.
Because I wasn’t fully prepped or awake, I panicked a little. I looked around and grabbed the spoon rest from the oven. I put my sticky, coffee-laden mixing spoon on it. That is its purpose, after all.
And it worked out well. I use this strategy now, and it simply takes a quick rinse to clean it up!
Step 1: ☕️ I go for a #PaperTowel then panic and got the spoon rest from the stove to rest my, well, mixing spoon. #NoPaperTowelsThisWeek http://pic.twitter.com/03GOzsBdyY
— Carson Kohler (@CarsonKohler) October 24, 2016
Task 2: Wash coffee travel mug. Before I even headed off to work, I ran into another dilemma and actually used a paper towel — without thinking. I washed out an old travel mug and tore one off to wipe it dry. Flustered, I placed the crumbled paper towel on top of the rack and dashed off to work. Mom wasn’t happy when she found it later.
Shoot. Am running late to work. Making ☕️to go and grabbed a paper towel to dry a cup after washing it. Threw it back. #NoPaperTowelsWeek http://pic.twitter.com/GDEVe3Zxrn — Carson Kohler (@CarsonKohler) October 24, 2016
Note to self: If I want to dry something immediately, reach for a dish towel.
Task 3: Eat lunch at work.
I was at work, and this salad was calling my name.
I headed to the kitchen to fill up my water bottle and reached for a paper towel for any inevitable messes — nope.
I didn’t know how to handle this, so I just ate lunch without my security blanket (or towel, in this case). No messes, thank goodness.
Any tips? I suppose I could stash a handkerchief in my bag each day.
Task 4: Make it through dinner.
Dinner went about the same. Because I didn’t have any food in the fridge, I grabbed a Publix sub and resisted any paper product temptations. I’d resolved to start using cloth napkins — I just hadn’t gotten that far in my journey yet.
Day 2: Seeing a change
Already I felt myself breaking through the habit. I woke up and resorted to my trusty spoon holder for my coffee mixer.
I also washed a dish (gasp!) and used a cloth towel to dry.
I ate lunch out (served with a cloth napkin, by the way) and didn’t encounter the issue again until dinnertime.
Task 1: Tackling dinner.
Mom made beef stew that night, and I couldn’t say no.
I helped my mom out by putting Pillsbury biscuits in the oven (big task, I know). I sprayed down the baking sheet beforehand, careful not to overdo it because I always used to spread out the excess oil with a paper towel.
In the process, my fingers got greasy. It felt more natural reaching for the dish cloth at that point.
Task 2: Prepped lunches.
Up until this point, I was pretty lazy with my meals (you know how it is when you’ve been out of town). However, I’d stopped by the store and grabbed supplies to build salads for a week of lunches.
I had chicken that needed to be baked and strawberries in need of rinsing. I only see hurdles.
Before I started, I laid out my dish cloths from Dollar General and assigned them a task: I’d use the red one for spills and foodstuff, the patterned one for my hands and the waffle one for the unexpected. (This was inspired by a tip from community member April Campbell.)
I found this helpful. I got the chicken in the oven without a hitch — surprisingly.
I managed to prep CHICKEN without one paper towel. This is something I always overused PTs on (think: #salmonella) ? #NoPaperTowelsThisWeek http://pic.twitter.com/lj53lkvo10
— Carson Kohler (@CarsonKohler) October 26, 2016
I turned to the strawberries I’d already rinsed. They sat in the colander, but I was ready to cut them up. (I’m all about saving time in the mornings.) I end up dabbing the extra water off with a towel. It felt way weird. There has to be another solution. Help? Before the end of it all, I accidentally rip one off the roll, but I decide to stick that in the bottom of my container before putting the berries in to help soak up moisture.
Confession: Watching ? & accidentally used 2 PTs while rinsing and cutting ?so I layered my container with 1 (habit) #NoPaperTowelsThisWeek http://pic.twitter.com/JjHWACaW3c — Carson Kohler (@CarsonKohler) October 26, 2016
Next I washed off a cutting board and sliced and diced ’em on there. (Usually, I use a paper towel.) I used another cutting board for the chicken.
Whew, I finished with only one mishap. I tossed my towels in the washing machine and got to bed.
Day 3: Feeling less anxious
I got on with my third day without as much thought — made my coffee, prepped lunch. Good to go.
When I got home, I opted for my dish towels a few more times. I emptied the dishwasher, dabbing off extra water with a towel. I made a PB&J for dinner — without paper towels. I made it to bed — without paper towels.
I decided at this point it’s possible to do these things. However, I found a hole in my research. The material of the towel or dishcloth is key.
The Conclusions of My Paper Towel-Purging Experiment
Senior editor van der Hoop caught me paper towel-handed in the office kitchen the other day as I helped clean up a cooking video shoot.
So I haven’t stuck with this total purge, but I have made a few changes.
The most inspirational community member comment, for me, was that one from April Campbell. She said she uses a set of tea towels and uses the patterns to determine the use. This is what I did when prepping that salad.
And the final piece of advice I’ve adopted that meshes best with my lifestyle? If I do need a paper towel, I do what community member Debra Whittaker said: Cut ’em in half (or rip them, for the impatient, imprecise types like me).
Nearly a month since taking on this challenge, I’m still using paper towels — but not nearly as many. I find myself reaching for the dish towel each time I wash up for dinner or dry a dish.
So, yeah, I haven’t totally purged yet, but I’m steadily making progress!
Your Turn: There are so many questions I want to ask. What are your favorite paper towel alternatives? Where’s the best place to shop for them and save? What’s the best material? Help.
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. If you haven’t noticed yet, she has really, really strange habits.
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Medicaid Patients, You Might Be Getting Overcharged. Here’s How to Find Out
If you receive Medicare or Medicaid benefits, your doctors could be billing you improperly.
Worse yet, once your doctor bills you, if you don’t pay, those bills could go to collections and get reported to credit bureaus — which would affect your credit score.
“Doctors are improperly billing people on Medicare for deductibles, co-payments and other costs from which they are supposed to be exempt,” reports the New York Times.
The Obama administration has been working to crack down on improper billing. Federal officials have warned doctors that they could be subject to fines or be dropped from Medicare altogether if they don’t comply with Medicare regulations.
Why Are You Being Billed Improperly?
Why would health care providers send you bills if you don’t owe the money?
Sometimes, improper billing is due to unsavory practices — an attempt to get extra money out of patients. But more often, experts say, it’s just ignorance and failure to comply with proper procedure.
So we did some digging to find out what you can do when you receive a medical bill to ensure you’re not being overcharged.
First, the rules are different depending on whether you’re covered under Medicare, for people 65 or older, or under Medicaid, for people of all ages with limited resources.
If Medicare covers you or a family member, coverage isn’t absolute. You may be responsible for some costs, but you should still scrutinize any bill from your provider.
If Medicaid covers you (and/or your family), any bill you receive from a provider should be a red flag, according to Pat Palmer, CEO of Medical Billing Advocates of America.
“Most of the time,” Palmer told The Penny Hoarder, “it is a charge that should not have been billed to either Medicaid or the patient.”
Palmer’s organization works with consumers to advocate for true and accurate charges on medical bills and helps negotiate a fair and reasonable price for services.
Marija Ringwelski, COO of medical bill auditing service Remedy, told TPH the Medicaid-related claims her company handles usually stem from an administrative error or a coverage issue the patient wasn’t aware of.
The details get pretty complicated, but let’s take a look at these three scenarios: coverage issues, administrative errors, as well as one example of unsavory practices.
1. Medicaid Doesn’t Cover the Service Provided
You might run into a coverage issue if Medicaid has dropped your doctor or doesn’t cover the service you receive.
For example, Ringwelski explained, “The patient has seen the doctor for many years, and all of a sudden they don’t cover Medicaid anymore, and they don’t notify (the patient), and the entire bill goes to the patient.”
When Remedy works with patients in this kind of case, Ringwelski says, “We renegotiate the bill. … We see sometimes they’ll completely write off the entire balance because they feel bad.”
In other cases, a provider will discount the bill, most commonly down to the reduced rate Medicaid would have paid (more on that later).
However, Palmer explained those charges may not be your responsibility at all. Her organization has successfully advocated for several cases when a patient wasn’t made aware that services weren’t covered, and had the charge removed.
That’s because a healthcare provider is required to tell you when Medicaid doesn’t cover a service and confirm that you agree to pay the charges — before providing a service.
When a patient receives a bill for a service they thought was covered, “the majority of the time we get those charges removed from the bill,” Palmer said.
According to Palmer, as a Medicaid patient, you should only be responsible for the cost of a service if it’s cosmetic. Even then, a provider must give you something in writing that explains Medicaid will not cover your service.
If you’re not able to get charges removed from your bill, Ringwelski shared some tips for negotiating the price down:
Do it in writing, not over the phone.
“We found that if it’s in writing, it shows a good faith gesture that you have the intention to pay the discount amount,” she explained.
Your provider may be reluctant to negotiate verbally, afraid that even if they agree to a discounted price, you may still never pay the bill.
“(Have) something in writing that states you have the intention of paying,” Ringwelski said. This tends to be more convincing and successful than a phone call.
Ask about payment plans.
Usually, “If you can’t afford to pay your bill, even if it’s discounted, (the provider) will offer 0% interest payment plans,” but many patients don’t know that’s an option, Ringwelski suggested.
Because your provider might not make it known, “you just have to ask for it,” she said.
Look into financial aid.
“Hospitals do not advertise that they have financial aid charity programs…” Ringwelski said. “They’ll just send you a huge bill if you’re uninsured.”
Several factors could make you eligible for financial aid. They’ll vary by location and provider, but often if you’re unemployed, on Medicaid or uninsured, it’s worth applying. You can get an application from your provider’s billing department.
2. Your Doctor Has Made an Administrative Error
You may receive a bill you don’t owe simply because of an administrative error by your provider’s billing department. For example, they filed a claim too late or didn’t include all the required information or documentation from your visit.
In that case, Ringwelski explained, you shouldn’t be responsible for the bill, so you can file an appeal with Medicaid to clear the error.
Filing an appeal, she explained, is “essentially, writing a letter that states what the problem is.”
Unfortunately, it can take nearly two months for Medicaid to adjust your bill.
“In the meantime,” Ringwelski warned, “the provider can continue billing the patient for the entire balance, but we request (the provider) put a hold on the account.”
She recommends that step for patients, whether you file an appeal yourself or work with an advocate. Ask your provider’s billing department to stop the billing cycle for about two months, so you have time to file the appeal without your bills running overdue.
3. Unsavory Practices (Balance Billing)
The other major issue with Medicare/Medicaid billing — the one provoking the Obama administration’s ire — is called “balance billing.”
Palmer explained this is when providers, unwittingly or not, bill patients for the difference between the reduced rate Medicare or Medicaid pays and the provider’s “retail” price for services.
For example, if a service retails for $200, that’s the price an uninsured patient will pay. For patients under Medicare, the price of that service might be capped at $100, meaning the provider should write off $100.
If Medicare covers $80 of the remaining balance, you would be responsible for $20. However, your doctor might improperly bill you for $120, to collect the full retail price of their service.
They’re not allowed to do that.
“Medicare providers who violate these billing prohibitions are violating their Medicare provider agreement and may be subject to sanctions,” the Obama administration said in a bulletin for doctors, according to the New York Times.
“Balance billing is rampant here in Florida,” David A. Runkle, an AIDS advocate and Medicare beneficiary from Fort Lauderdale, told the New York Times.
Though Runkle’s services are covered by his Medicare benefits, he still receives dozens of bills from medical providers. “I send them back a copy of the law,” he said, “but they keep sending me more bills because they do not understand the law.”
Palmer explained “the law” pretty plainly to TPH: “Pay what Medicare says is your responsibility, not what the provider bills you for.”
The explanation of benefits you receive from Medicare after your provider has submitted a claim notes your responsibility. It will explain what Medicare covers, what the provider writes off and what you owe.
In the example above, your provider would send a claim to Medicare for $200, Medicare would pay the provider $80 and you’d receive an explanation of benefits from Medicare stating you’re responsible for paying $20 to your provider.
If you receive a bill from your provider before receiving an explanation of benefits, you should question the bill.
“The provider cannot bill the patient until after they have submitted to Medicare and received a response,” Palmer explained.
She said her organization has gotten refunds for patients who received and paid a bill from their provider before Medicare responded.
In that case, the provider has essentially double-billed and received payment twice: once from Medicare and once from the patient. They might not refund the patient without a request.
Protect Your Credit
Remember: If you do receive a bill, whether you were supposed to or not, your provider may still send it to collections if unpaid.
Communicate with your provider’s billing department as soon as possible to let them know you’re looking into it, not just ignoring it. This will help you prevent the unpaid bill from becoming a scar on your credit history.
Ringwelski added one more important note for anyone faced with medical bills that are tough to pay.
“Different hospital systems have different policies in how they report your debt to credit bureaus and collection agencies,” she said.
Some healthcare providers have strict policies against reporting your debt to credit bureaus.
They may still send your unpaid bill to collections, but if they don’t report it, it won’t harm your credit.
If you ask, “the billing department will be honest in telling you if they report to collection agencies and, if they do, (whether) they report to credit bureaus,” Ringwelski said.
To keep your debt down, you want to pay all your bills as you can. But if you find yourself faced with a stack of medical bills from several providers and have to choose which to pay first, knowing which ones report to credit bureaus can help you prioritize.
Your Turn: Have you been improperly billed for health care services that Medicare or Medicaid should have covered?
Dana Sitar (@danasitar) is a staff writer at The Penny Hoarder. She’s written for Huffington Post, Entrepreneur.com, Writer’s Digest and more, attempting humor wherever it’s allowed (and sometimes where it’s not).
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Almost Half of Job Applicants Don’t Follow Basic Directions, Say HR Pros
Were you one of those kids who always followed directions on classroom activities? If so, you probably had an advantage when you started your career, because standing out from the pack may be as simple as paying attention to the details as you submit your job application.
While there’s little hard data on the subject, it appears a startling number of job seekers don’t follow basic directions when applying for a job: The human resource professionals I spoke with estimated that about half of all candidates are guilty of leaving out critical information on their applications.
Whether it’s forgetting to include an attachment or requested references, or accidentally leaving a section blank, a haphazard application can have real consequences for your candidacy; depending on the circumstances and the strength of your resume, it could even get you knocked out of contention.
How Many Job Applicants Don’t Follow Directions?
“I think the answer is higher than half, but I think people who are serious about the job are far more likely to follow the application directions,” says an anonymous human resources professional at an executive search firm in New England. “I’d say 65% to 70% of serious candidates follow the instructions, but overall maybe 45%.”
She adds that she doesn’t count cover letters that consist of, “I’d like to be considered for X position and my resume is attached,” as following instructions. (Good tip for job seekers: To get called in for an interview, you’ll have to obey the spirit of the directions, and not just squeak by on a technicality.)
Other HR folks says that job level seems to correlate with a willingness to follow directions – no surprise to anyone who’s ever spent the early part of their career spamming entry-level job openings.
“As a former recruiter and staffing firm executive, I can tell you that the higher level the job is, the fewer issues you’ll have with people who don’t follow directions,” says Andrea Clement, director of communications at the Medicus Firm, a national healthcare recruiting firm. “That’s for multiple reasons, but partially because you don’t have as high volume of applicants for higher level positions.”
Clement says that while they don’t have exact figures on how many applicants follow directions, their director of employee engagement, Megan Williams, tells her that it’s at least 40%. Williams adds that this number could actually be lower than average because the company often hires through employee referral.
What Happens to Incomplete Applications?
“Most of the time, if the directions aren’t followed, they won’t be considered for the job, unless there just happens to be something really stellar or compelling about the candidate’s resume that would cause the hiring manager to overlook the fact that the candidate didn’t follow the directions for job application,” says Clement.
If the employer uses an applicant tracking system — that’s software that sorts resumes and allows HR professionals to search them by keyword — failing to fill out a required box could get an applicant’s resume booted from the process before a human ever lays eyes on it.
How Robots Can Ruin Your Job Search
And then, there’s the fact that robots aren’t as smart as humans when it comes to understanding context.
“Sometimes it’s not even [applicants] causing the error,” says an anonymous associate professor who teaches human resources in healthcare in the southeastern U.S. “For example, our local health department uses a computer screener: If you don’t check yes to certain buttons, it doesn’t submit your resume.”
For example, she says, an epidemiologist job might require a master’s degree, but prefer a doctorate. The system would take users through a series of questions:
- Do you have a PhD?
- Do you have a master’s degree?
- Do you have a bachelor’s degree?
- Do you have an associate degree?
If the applicant checked PhD, but didn’t also check master’s degree, the system might hold the resume – even though the candidate is fully qualified. That’s especially problematic if the candidate in question skipped getting a master’s degree and went straight through to the PhD. In that case, the applicant is being honest and thorough – they’re just not speaking the same language as the computer.
Bottom line: A human might be inclined to forgive an incomplete application, but a computer will not. To make sure your resume gets in front of a human, you’ll have to be as thorough as possible… and hope the applicant tracking system sees things your way, too.
Related Articles:
- Job Keywords: Should Your Resume Be Four Pages Long?
- Five Reasons You’re Not Getting Calls From Hiring Managers
- How Bad Credit Can Cost You Your Dream Job
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Energy prices frozen for winter – but you could save hundreds more by switching
Three of the Big Six energy suppliers have mirrored the cold weather by freezing energy bills for some of their customers this winter.
But even if your bills are frozen, you should check to see if you could save more money by switching.
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Housing crisis fuels workers’ poverty
One in eight workers in the UK is now living in poverty as a result of the high cost of renting, new research has revealed.
The Joseph Rowntree Foundation has published a report Monitoring Poverty and Social Exclusion 2016, which says that 7.4 million people, including 2.6 million children, live in poverty despite being in a working family.
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Estate agents predict ‘no property Armageddon’ in 2017
House price inflation will remain low and the number of transactions will remain steady in the year ahead, the National Association of Estate Agents (NAEA) has predicted.
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DirecTV Now: Cord Cutter’s Dream or a Wolf in Sheep’s Clothing?
By Chris Brantner
With the addition of DirecTV Now, the satellite TV company’s new entry into streaming television, there’s yet another cord-cutting option on the market, making it easier to cut cable TV and save some much needed money. But can DirecTV Now actually save you money in the long run? Or is this just another way for Big Cable to trick you into handing over your hard-earned money?
First let’s take a look at the positives:
- For a limited time, you can get the $60, 120-channel DirecTV Now package at an introductory price of $35 a month. If you sign up for the introductory price, you’ll pay the $35 a month as long as you remain a member.
- If you sign up and pre-pay for three months, you’ll get a free Apple TV (4th generation).
- And, despite the FCC stepping in, for now, if you’re an AT&T mobile customer, you can watch as much DirecTV Now as you want without it counting toward your data allowance.
- You can get HBO as a $5 add-on.
It all sounds great, right? Especially with the average cable price sitting at $100 per month.
But is it worth it in the long run? Well, that depends. If you sign up for the introductory price, you’ll pay the $35 a month as long as you remain a member, which sounds like a pretty good deal. But if you don’t get in while the getting’s good, the 120+ channel package will be $60, and there will be a smaller, $35 package available.
On top of that, there’s a decent possibility that the AT&T-owned service will follow the path of traditional cable and raise prices as it feels necessary. During the launch event, Brad Bentley, executive vice president of marketing, mentioned the potential for a price hike, saying, “These packages will be subject to price increases down the line.”
That doesn’t bode well for a service that’s already being accused of seeming a bit too much like the cable TV we all love to hate.
And it doesn’t sound like the mantra of Dish Network-owned Sling TV, which is sticking with its $20 price point for its basic package, and offering multiple add-on bundles for other channels.
Speaking of that $20 Sling TV price point, that’s still the cheapest skinny bundle of cable channels you’ll find anywhere — meaning you can save $15 per month if you opt for that service over DirecTV Now, even at the cut-rate introductory price.
However, you’re going to get significantly fewer channels, and you’ll only be able to stream shows on one device at a time with the basic Sling TV package. For multi-device streaming, you need to step up to the $25/month Sling Blue package — which still is $10 less than DirecTV Now’s introductory offer.
While there are a few channels available on DirecTV Now that Sling TV and PlayStation Vue don’t offer, for the most part, the packages are fairly similar. The one difference seems to be with DirecTV Now’s $70 package, which has a whopping eight different Starz channels included in the bundle. Of course, at $70 a month, it’s fair to say that you should have just kept cable instead.
So is DirecTV Now the right choice for someone looking to drop cable and save a bit of money? Or are you better off going with a cheaper service like Sling TV? There’s not a clear answer, but here’s how you can decide for yourself.
- Determine how many people need to watch the service at once in your home.
- Decide which channels you can’t live without.
- Compare your needs to the different services (here are good overviews of DirecTV Now and Sling TV to get you started).
Oh, and one other thing to consider: DirecTV Now is not currently available on Roku devices. So if you’re a Roku user, you might need to wait before you try out DirecTV Now, which means you might miss the introductory deal. Decisions, decisions.
Related Articles:
- How to Cut the Cable (or Satellite) TV Cord and Save Money Each Month
- How to Watch Football This Season Without Paying for Cable
- Cutting the Cord? How to Find Cheap High-Speed Internet That Can Handle Streaming
Chris Brantner is founder of CutCableToday, where he helps people cut the cord and find the programming they want. Follow him on Twitter (@CutCableToday) for more cord-cutting tips.
The post DirecTV Now: Cord Cutter’s Dream or a Wolf in Sheep’s Clothing? appeared first on The Simple Dollar.
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