Hitting the books

Stroudsburg School Board raceTeacher contract negotiations drove this year's school board elections in the Stroudsburg School District.On one side were incumbents Bruce Stewart, Brad Strasser, Cindy Blake and Richard Pierce on the "Friends of Stroudsburg" ticket. They sought to avoid school property tax increases by controlling employee salaries and health benefits, construction/improvement projects and other expenditures.Having staged a week-long strike [...]

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My Car Was Recalled. What Do I Do Now?

For two months, Timothy Moore couldn’t drive with a passenger in the front seat of his Toyota Yaris.

He was forced to awkwardly ask his passengers to climb into the back seat of the tiny vehicle to prevent any potential injuries due to the Takata airbag recall.

Takata has faced backlash for its dangerous products since 2013, when multiple automakers discovered that the airbags would explode and spray metal pieces within the vehicles.

Moore’s personal experience with the Takata airbag recall left him extremely frustrated during the four years he owned his Toyota Yaris.

As an editor in the automotive world, Moore discovered the airbag recall two months before Toyota ever contacted him by standard mail. He was upset by the lack of immediate resolution for the recall, as well as other various recalls on his vehicle.

Most individuals don’t do additional research after they’ve already purchased a vehicle, so how are you supposed to know if your car has a recall and what are you supposed to do about it?  

How Do I Know if My Car Has a Recall?

Automotive recalls typically stem from National Highway Traffic Safety Administration investigations that follow complaints from vehicle owners. In some cases, though, manufacturers take it into their own hands to issue recalls. Regardless of how the recall becomes official, the NHTSA requires automakers to notify vehicle owners of any open recalls via first-class mail within 60 days of the final recall decision.

In 2014, the NHTSA mandated all pieces of mail regarding recalls must have distinctive labeling to avoid being interpreted as junk mail. This includes official markings from the U.S. Department of Transportation and the NHTSA, as well as a red banner across the top with “Important Safety Recall Information” in all caps.

For those who wish to receive recall information digitally, the NHTSA created the SafeCar app for iOS and Android devices.

If you are unsure if your vehicle has an active recall, you can also manually check for one on the NHTSA website. All you’ll need is your vehicle identification number, which is usually on the lower portion of the windshield on the driver’s side of the vehicle.

Recalls Versus Technical Service Bulletins

There is only one formal type of recall, and that is a safety recall..

One of the most notorious and widespread recalls as of late is on vehicles with exploding Takata airbags. This massive recall has affected over 100 million vehicles from 19 automakers, and caused at least 17 deaths and over 180 injuries.

While not every recall is as drastic as this one, it is still incredibly important to quickly take care of a recall on your vehicle.

Technical service bulletins are sometimes mistaken for recalls, but they generally cover non-safety-related issues that affect the normal performance of a vehicle. Things like poor radio reception, rattling interior trim or ignition misfire could all fall under the TSB classification. .

Unlike recalls, manufacturers handle TSBs internally and distribute notifications to dealership technicians. Generally, manufacturers only make TSB-related repairs when they are the direct cause of an issue an owner has with a vehicle, and the repairs are generally made at no cost only if the vehicle is still under warranty.

Another key difference between a TSB and a recall is that manufacturers typically don’t send TSB notices to vehicle owners.

I Need to Rent a Vehicle. How Do I Know it’s Safe?

Until 2016, it was completely legal for a company to allow customers to rent a vehicle with unresolved recalls.

Federal law now prohibits these companies renting these unsafe vehicles, but the law only applies to companies with more than 35 cars in their fleet. If you’re concerned about renting a car with unresolved recalls, you may prefer to rent from a larger company like Enterprise or Hertz.

My Car Has a Recall. Now What?

When the NHTSA issues a recall, the automaker must remedy the problem by repairing or replacing the vehicle. In rare instances, the manufacturer may offer a refund or to repurchase the vehicle.

Your first step is to contact your local dealership to let them know your vehicle has a recall.

Set up an appointment to get the recall verified and repaired. The repair is typically free at the dealership, unless your vehicle is more than 15 years old when the recall is announced.

If the recalled component caused damage to your vehicle that you paid to repair, you may be reimbursed.

Federal law does not require the automaker to cover the costs, but having the receipts from previous services will help determine how much you are owed if the automaker does compensate you.

In January 2017, Moore finally decided to trade in his faulty Yaris for a Subaru Crosstrek. This purchase came sooner than had planned, but the recall, which he did not have remedied before trading the vehicle in, forced his hand a bit.

Morgan Pritchett has been working in the auto industry for four years and recently purchased an electric blue Toyota RAV4 named Rico.

This was originally published on The Penny Hoarder, which helps millions of readers worldwide earn and save money by sharing unique job opportunities, personal stories, freebies and more. The Inc. 5000 ranked The Penny Hoarder as the fastest-growing private media company in the U.S. in 2017.

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Is Dave Ramsey Wrong About Credit Cards?

Personal finance guru Dave Ramsey has long had a cult-like following, and it’s easy to see why. Through his website, radio show, and Financial Peace University program, he preaches an array of strategies that improve lives and help people build wealth.

Pay off your debt and avoid future debt like the plague, he says. He also suggests you pay cash for everything and save a large percentage of your income. Meanwhile, Ramsey stresses the importance of avoiding the trappings of consumerism and forging your own path.

With advice like this on the table, what’s not to like? I mean, if most people followed Ramsey’s advice, they would be a lot better off – at least in a financial sense.

Five Ways Dave Ramsey Is Wrong About Credit and Credit Cards

But, when it comes to Ramsey’s advice on credit and credit cards, that’s where things start to get wacky. Not only is some of his advice less than optimal, much of it is too simplistic and not that feasible for people living in the real world.

Avoiding debt is always good — I’m a big advocate of living a debt-free lifestyle. But never using any credit is a recipe for disaster. Here are five sayings Ramsey repeats about credit all the time — and why I think he’s wrong.

‘You don’t really need a credit score.’

If you read Ramsey’s words or listen to his radio show, you’ll notice his disdain for the FICO score is palpable. This score is not much more than an “I love debt score,” he says repeatedly. And in some ways, he’s right.

Because of the way your FICO score is determined, you can be rewarded for carrying some debt. As Ramsey notes in a blog post, 35% of your FICO credit score is determined by your payment history (late or missed payments drag it down) while another 30% is based on your credit utilization ratio, or how much of your available credit you’ve used up. That means someone with a $300 balance on a card with a $500 credit limit will fare worse than someone carrying a $2,000 balance on a card with a $10,000 limit. These factors also don’t take your savings or net worth into account – just how you handle your debts.

I get all that, but then Ramsey goes off the rails. Basically, he says that, if you follow his plan, you’ll eventually pay off all your debt. Your credit cards, your car loans, and even your mortgage will be gone. At that point, your credit score will be “indeterminable,” he says.

Ramsey says this is good news because, if you’re doing it right, you’ll never borrow money again anyway. “By this point in your life, you haven’t taken out a loan in years, you’ve saved a ton of money, and you’re paying cash for everything,” he writes on his website. “So you don’t need a credit score, anyway, since you don’t plan on using credit!”

Sorry, but no. No matter what Ramsey says, you absolutely do need a credit score. Ramsey suggests renting a home until you can pay for a home in cash or at least put down 20%, but he fails to mention you will likely need a credit score to rent an apartment. And let’s not forget that your credit score may come into play when you apply for a job or sign up for auto insurance.

Not only can your employer ask for a modified version of your credit score before they hire you, but auto insurance companies look at your credit profile to determine how risky you are. If you don’t have any sort of credit history left, you may not get approved for a rental or be forced to pay higher insurance rates. And these are just a few examples of the many, many times having a good credit score works to your advantage.

• Related: Five Perks of Having Good Credit

‘It’s feasible to buy a home without a credit score.’

In an ideal world, people would save up 20% of the price of their home before they purchased. They would buy only as much house as they could afford, and they would get a fixed-rate mortgage with predictable payments they could swing no matter what.

In Ramsey’s world, they may even save up the total amount for their home in cash, and then pay for their property in one fell swoop.

Without a credit score, however – and a pretty good one, at that – you will have trouble getting a mortgage. Ramsey, realizing this, suggests that you can still get a mortgage without a credit score via manual underwriting.

With manual underwriting, Ramsey says you’ll need to be able to display 12 to 24 months of bills and payment history using rent stubs, utility bills, daycare payments, insurance payments, and any other bills you have. You also generally need to save up at least a 20% down payment to get a mortgage with this strategy, he says.

Unfortunately, his strategy may only work with people with no credit score. If you have a low credit score, you probably won’t qualify for a mortgage with any lender via manual underwriting.

While it may be possible to get a mortgage via manual underwriting without a credit score, this is a much tougher hill to climb. Not only do you need to save up 20% of your home purchase, but you need to find a lender willing to jump through all those additional hoops. In a hot housing market, you could also easily lose the home you want if you don’t get preapproved.

In the real world, it may make more sense to get a low-cost, fixed-rate mortgage with a traditional lender. If you have a low credit score, you can also get an FHA loan with a low down payment, low closing costs, and easy credit qualifying.

• Related: First-Time Home Buyer? Check Out These Helpful Programs

‘You will spend more if you use credit cards.’

According to Ramsey, nobody in the world has the discipline to use credit cards like cash. “You will spend more if you use credit cards. When you pay cash, you can feel the money leaving your hand,” he writes. “This is not true with credit cards. Flipping a credit card up on a counter does nothing to you emotionally.”

Ramsey waxes poetic about the fact “there is no such thing as responsible credit use.” The thing is, he can’t possibly speak for everyone.

Studies have shown we do spend more freely with plastic than cash. But like it or not, there are plenty of people who use credit responsibly, and to their advantage. Despite the high levels of credit card debt Americans accumulate each year, millions of them use credit wisely while paying their bill on time and in full every month.

Ramsey may be right that certain personalities – and a good share of American consumers – struggle with the responsibility of credit cards. But not everyone needs to stay away from credit cards altogether.

• Related: Eight Tips to Make Credit Cards Work For You, Not Against You

‘Credit card rewards are never worth pursuing.’

Part of Ramsey’s gripe with credit cards is the idea of people pursuing rewards. You have to spend thousands of dollars to earn a meaningful amount of cash back, he says. And if your credit card charges an annual fee, then chances are good you’re paying a ton in fees to score “free travel.”

While there are definitely instances where Ramsey is right, it’s also very possible to earn rewards and use them to your advantage. If you get a no-fee, cash-back credit card, only use it for regular purchases you’d make anyway (like gas and groceries), and faithfully pay your balance in full, for example, it’s hard to argue that you’re worse off getting a free 1% to 2% back in cash rewards on those purchases.

Admittedly, an annual fee makes it somewhat harder to come out ahead. But premier travel cards that charge annual fees also tend to offer juicier rewards. So if you travel a ton, and often take advantage of the card’s benefits, it can make sense to pay an annual fee.

The bottom line: Only you can decide whether travel rewards or cash-back cards leave you better off – or if you should skip them altogether. Ramsey can’t decide whether your efforts are worth it.

• Related: When Credit Card Rewards Become Dangerous

‘Debit cards are just as safe as credit for online purchases.’

While we’ve already shown how Ramsey’s credit advice may be less than stellar, there is one situation where he is absolutely, unequivocally wrong. He says that debit cards are just as safe to use as credit online, and this is false.

From his website:

You’ve told yourself paying with a credit card online is safer, so that’s a “good enough” reason to keep the card. But did you know a debit card offers the exact same fraud protection as a credit card? There’s really no excuse not to use it. Just remember to always check your budget first, and before you make a big purchase, sleep on it. Things have a funny way of looking less tempting in the morning.

Let me be clear: Debit cards do not offer the same fraud protection as credit cards, and it’s not even close.

A very cursory look at the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) website will show that you credit is safer than debit.

Here’s what the FTC has to say about credit cards:

Under the FCBA, your liability for unauthorized use of your credit card tops out at $50. However, if you report the loss before your credit card is used, the FCBA says you are not responsible for any charges you didn’t authorize. If your credit card number is stolen, but not the card, you are not liable for unauthorized use.

Debit cards, on the other hand, come with a lot more risk. Sure, you’re not liable for any unauthorized charges if you report your debit card stolen before someone uses it. But, it’s all downhill from there.

If you report your card lost or stolen within two business days of learning of the theft, you can be on the hook for $50. If you report the loss within 60 calendar days after your statement is sent to you, you’re on the hook for up to $500 in fraudulent charges.

If you don’t report the fraud within 60 days of your statement being sent to you, you could be on the hook for all fraudulent charges, including any money the thief can drain from your bank accounts.

The Bottom Line

While Dave Ramsey’s advice on debt-free living is superb, it might be wise to take his credit advice with a grain of salt. Life without any type of credit score won’t be as easy as he likes to portray on his website and radio show, and there are plenty of instances where you do need a credit score, whether he likes it or not.

The best way to approach credit is to do it conservatively. Only use credit cards to make purchases you can afford to pay off, pay your bill in full every month, and make sure you’re not overspending just to earn rewards.

With some self-discipline and positive habits, you can use credit responsibly and to your benefit.

Holly Johnson is an award-winning personal finance writer and the author of Zero Down Your Debt. Johnson shares her obsession with frugality, budgeting, and travel at ClubThrifty.com.

Related Articles:

• 14 New Year’s Money Resolutions
• Five Ways I Disagree with Dave Ramsey
• A 12-Month Plan to Raise Your Credit Score in the New Year
• Setting Attainable and Exciting Financial Goals

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15 Things I Did This Year to Save Money

As we’re about to close the books on 2017, I thought it might be interesting to look back over the year and see what things I did differently this year in order to save money.

Some of these strategies were simply all-around wins, saving money while not negatively altering my life in any way. Some of these things turned out to be time savers as well as money savers, while others set me up for saving money down the road, and still others turned out to have additional benefits.

If you want a smart way to use these tips, consider using them to fuel your frugality list.

I started meal prepping in earnest. Meal prepping simply refers to the process of making several homemade meals in advance, freezing them until you’re ready to use them. This provides a number of benefits, but the three big ones are that you’re able to synergize a lot of the meal preparation tasks (like cooking a ton of rice or a ton of pasta at once instead of in smaller batches and assembling meals in an assembly line style), you’re able to buy ingredients in bulk, and you have homemade meals on hand for convenient cooking on busy evenings.

I started experimenting with meal prepping last year, but really dug into it in earnest early this year, when I wrote a guide to successful meal prep strategies and a step by step guide to a simple meal prep of rice and beans. I’ve done meal preps for quite a few meals since then, filling our freezer with soups and lasagnas and casseroles that can easily be cooked later on when things are busier.

I also made a number of fermented foods and stored them. Last year, as a holiday gift, I received a large fermenting crock, which made it possible to make larger batches of things like sauerkraut, pickles, and kimchi. I dove into fermented foods this year, preparing all kinds of different things in the large crock and in smaller bubble-locked jars.

My best output was a small batch of radish sauerkraut, which consisted of about 90% cabbage and 10% radish, all shredded, and soaked in a brine for a few weeks in a container with a bubble lock with weights holding the vegetables down below the brine to keep them from turning bad. This stuff was so good that it didn’t even make it to the freezer. I think I ate it on everything for the next few weeks. Considering that it required only a head of cabbage, a few radishes from the garden, and some salty water, it was extremely cheap sauerkraut, too.

Late in the year, I made a sourdough bread starter in a smaller jar. I just put a cup of flour and a half cup of water into the jar, mixed it, put a loose fitting lid on it, and let it sit for 24 hours. Then, I threw away half of the mix, added a cup of flour and a half cup of water, mixed it, and put the lid back on. I repeated this for about two weeks, during which it smelled fairly bad (think dirty socks) but after the dough became more acidic and “sour,” it began to smell like a mix of bread dough and sourdough – delicious! We used this as the basis for some mind-blowing bread this year.

I started making cold brew coffee. This was another splendidly successful food experiment this year. I received a small cold brewing coffee kit for Father’s Day and started using it in earnest.

Basically, the kit consists of a fine metal sieve that sits in a pitcher of water. You put a certain amount of coarsely ground dark roast coffee into the sieve, close it up, put it in the water, put the pitcher in the fridge, and wait about sixteen hours. Boom – you have cold brew coffee.

This eliminates the need for coffee filters and the need for an expensive coffee pot. It also uses less electricity, because the water is usually cold to start with and it doesn’t add much load to the refrigerator at all compared to the energy use of heating the water in our old coffee pot.

I actually prefer drinking the coffee cold and black. It’s very mellow, so it goes down smoothly without needing to be heated and without having to add a bunch of stuff to mask the sharpest flavors.

I switched almost entirely to a discount grocer for our food. Prior to this year, there wasn’t a truly convenient discount grocer for our shopping needs. The three closest grocery stores were ones with an amazing selection but without great prices. I would sometimes shop at a discount grocer about fifteen minutes away from home, but that was an irregular occurrence. It was just very inconvenient to do so.

Late last year, a discount grocer opened fairly close to our house, close enough that it became our routine grocer over the course of a few months. During this past year, approximately 70% of our grocery spending was at that store, and according to my quick math, that saved us a few hundred dollars.

We started preparing many meals with low cost household staples. The real genesis of this switch was our acquisition of a high quality rice cooker (a Zojirushi) at a very deep discount. Once we actually opened the box and started using it, we found it to be really simple and friendly to use, so we started using it all the time.

Over time, we found that we were eating more meals with rice in them, which is a very low cost meal, plus we were often making steel cut oats for breakfast, which makes for a low cost breakfast for our family if bought in bulk.

It’s hard to really estimate exactly how much money we saved by adding more rice and oatmeal to our diet, but it was definitely a reduction in food cost. I now often buy rice and oatmeal in bulk, which means that many meals are falling below $1 per person per meal for our family.

I expanded my library use and turned it into a weekly appointment. In the past, I visited the library irregularly.

In the past year, I’ve changed that routine dramatically. I now go to the library every third Wednesday with my children in order to pick out books for us to read for personal enjoyment and enrichment; I return the previous books each visit. This is penciled in on the calendar.

In addition, almost every Thursday, I actually work at the library. I take a notebook and a pen to the library with me, gather up piles of books, and start taking notes from the ones that seem interesting with an eye toward practical things I can try or information that might fuel future Simple Dollar articles. I find that having a straightforward brainstorming session, where the output is a bunch of article ideas and several article outlines, is a great tool.

On each of those visits, I dig deep into the free resources available at the library. On Wednesdays with my family, we hit the fiction pretty hard and often walk out with an armload of teen and YA and adult novels. We also often check out movies, and if there’s a road trip coming up, we usually snag an audiobook, too. On Thursdays, I plow through piles of magazines and nonfiction works, taking notes left and right, and I usually use the library’s free wi-fi extensively.

The free books, movies, audiobooks, and other resources have added up to substantial savings this year, primarily because we’ve made them into such a routine.

I cut down on my computer gaming hobby (almost eliminating it) and replaced it with self-improvement and reading. This year, I have cut my computer gaming spending by 92% compared to last year. I purchased exactly one computer game, which was on sale, compared to the dozen or so I purchased last year.

What changed? Two things. First, I made a commitment to play some of the less-played games that I already had. Second, I spent less time – significantly less, actually – playing computer games, replacing that time with other things that have less of a cost and actually get me moving around more.

I continued last year’s trend and used my clothing budget on a small number of very long lasting items. This year, the only clothing I purchased was a replacement pair of denim jeans and a few pairs of socks. However, in the case of the socks, I purchased Darn Tough Socks, with the intent of not having to replace any socks for many years.

As time moves forward, the goal is to have a minimal wardrobe, something akin to Project 333, but I’m not moving there radically. Instead, I’m just wearing out items as I go along and not replacing them until I need them within a smaller wardrobe. This was the case with the socks, as I finally purged a lot of old socks that were well worn and developing holes.

The end goal is to have a very small wardrobe with clothes that are well made and will last. This year was a great step in that direction.

I planned our least expensive (per day) summer vacation we’ve ever taken as a full family. This year, our summer vacation was a camping trip to Yellowstone, and more than ever our efforts in planning a low-cost trip paid off.

Some of the tactics used on this vacation include:

+ We relied on travel guides from the library for all of our trip planning.

+ We camped every single night of our trip (excepting a single emergency night when we were blocked from our campsite by a blizzard so we had to find emergency lodging).

+ We used a free National Parks pass that was acquired through the Every Kid in a Park program. This enabled entrance to several national parks and monuments.

+ We drove the entire trip in a single vehicle.

+ We packed much of our food for the trip, and what we didn’t pack was purchased from grocery stores away from the parks.

+ We chose almost entirely free activities, leveraging that park pass for all that it was worth.

Combined together, our family vacation cost around $85 per day. That includes fuel, feeding five people three meals a day, lodging, and all activities. It’s pretty difficult to have a fun family vacation on less than that.

I used our social network to get a few things we were looking for as freebies, and gave away a few things we didn’t need anymore to people who wanted them. During the year, rather than searching for items that we might have purchased, we simply asked for them on social media by asking if any of our friends happened to have such an item for sale or available to borrow for a while. In each case, a friend popped up and simply gave us the item. We acquired a bread maker and a few tools this way.

This started a mini-trend in our social circle of friends doing the same thing, and we ended up passing along some unused items from our garage. We passed along some toys for toddlers and some sporting goods.

Not only did this practice save us money and save our friends money, it gave us a convenient excuse to actually see a few friends. The items were all exchanged during a dinner party at someone’s home, which turned the exchange into a social perk, too.

We built stronger sharing relationships with our neighbors. We repeatedly shared child care tasks with the family across the street from us, who have two children roughly the same age as ours. We shared countless tools and other items with them. We made each other food when our families were ailing. We took each other’s children to countless practices and performances. Every single one of those things saved the other family time, energy, money, and headaches.

Not only that, we began to really expand that sharing to other families in the area. We took lots of children to lots of practices, and our children were ferried around by others. We gave away tons of produce and received quite a lot back, along with some canned goods.

What we found is that every time we took the effort to be helpful for a neighbor or a parent of one of our children or just someone in the community, we were usually paid back in spades. Not directly, of course, but in returned favors and easier relationships down the road.

We chose to keep using things. Rather than replacing several expensive items, we came up with creative ways to continue to use them.

My cell phone is now several years old, and I intend to keep using it until I literally can’t update it. I replaced the battery myself.

We didn’t replace either vehicle, even though they’re approaching 200,000 miles each on their odometers. Instead, we stuck to the maintenance schedule on each one. We’re sticking with them until our trusted mechanic tells us that there are serious problems coming down the road.

I’m using a six year old desktop computer for most of my work, and, again, I’ll continue to use it until I can no longer update it or there’s a hardware failure.

Our only television has a noticeable screen flaw. Rather than replacing it and dumping a bunch of cash on a new one, we’re simply living with it until it becomes unwatchable.

Rather than replacing something for a minor issue, we regularly chose to keep on going with what we had this year.

I cut my own hair. Rather than going to the barbershop once a month and dropping $15 or $20, I simply pulled out the clippers and followed the same pattern that the hairstylists used – very long clippers on top, short ones on the side, and an edger near the separation between the two.

I did this for almost every haircut I had in 2017 and no one noticed. I simply did it out in the yard and picked up most of the hair when I was done, depositing it straight into a garbage bag.

I saved somewhere around $150 doing this. Again, no one noticed the difference.

We cancelled most of our print magazine subscriptions. We simply started keeping an “unread” pile of magazines on our side table and if a renewal notice arrived and we saw more than one issue of that magazine on the table, we cancelled the subscription.

That simple move saw our current subscriptions drop from six to two (Consumer Reports and Smithsonian remain), although we do subscribe to a couple electronically.

We estimate that this shift saved us about $50 this year and cut down on our quantity of mail as well.

Many gift-giving occasions within our immediate family involved lots of handmade items or experience items. When our family gave gifts to each other this year, they were often of the homemade and handmade variety, with individual effort and thought going into the gifts.

Art, food, confections, and other such items were gifted amongst our family members this year, as were well-planned “days together” that involved doing things like going on a hike in a favorite state park together or going to a local free art exhibit together. We gifted each other “coupons” for shared experiences and many of them were used.

Perhaps the best gift of all was a handmade “travelogue” from our children to their mother which involved lots of pictures and thoughts as they tried to find a great birthday gift for her. The gift turned out to be individual days spent with her, largely inexpensive but carefully considered.

In other words, rather than just buying things for each other, our gifts took on a more thoughtful and homemade approach, which not only added meaning but also reduced the cost of just acquiring more “stuff.”

These tactics collectively saved us thousands of dollars over the course of the past year. Each one was a little move on its own, not something that really upset the course of our life in any meaningfully negative way, but quietly put money back into our pockets.

That’s the power of frugality. It’s not about making your life worse just to save money, but to find a genuinely better way of doing things. It’s not about going without, but about figuring out what abundance really is. That, for me, has been the real lesson of frugality this year.

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This Woman Took a Month-Long Trip to Spain for Less Than $3K — Here’s How

Apple Says Sorry for Slowing Your iPhone With $29 Replacement Battery Offer

By now you’ve probably heard that Apple has fessed up to slowing down older iPhones.

Not cool.

Why’d the company do it? To make you buy a new iPhone, right? Apparently not. The company claims older iPhone batteries were suddenly shutting down and damaging the phones. Consumers had complained about the same issue earlier in 2017. So to combat this, Apple intentionally slowed down certain processes to reduce strain on the battery.

Hmmm. OK. But that doesn’t make slowing down our phones and not telling us why any more acceptable.

Now, Apple is taking a bigger step toward fixing the problem before it ends up on the wrong end of a class-action lawsuit.

Get a Replacement iPhone Battery on the Cheap

In hopes of an amicable solution to the problem, Apple has dropped the price on replacement batteries for iPhone 6 or later models from $79 to $29.

According to Apple’s website, it was getting a barrage of complaints.

“Over the course of this fall, we began to receive feedback from some users who were seeing slower performance in certain situations. Based on our experience, we initially thought this was due to a combination of two factors: a normal, temporary performance impact when upgrading the operating system as iPhone installs new software and updates apps, and minor bugs in the initial release which have since been fixed.
We now believe that another contributor to these user experiences is the continued chemical aging of the batteries in older iPhone 6 and iPhone 6s devices, many of which are still running on their original batteries.”

The deal starts sometime in late January and will be available through the end of 2018, and your phone doesn’t need to be under warranty to get the deal. Keep an eye on Apple.com for details on the release date.

Apple will also issue a new iOS software update to help users gauge the health of their iPhone’s battery.

So in short, if you don’t have the newest possible iPhone, keep an eye out for the new iOS update coming in January, and then see if your battery is up to snuff. Keeping your phone up and running for just $29? Not a bad deal.

Tyler Omoth is a senior writer at The Penny Hoarder who loves soaking up the sun and finding creative ways to help others. Catch him on Twitter at @Tyomoth.

 

This was originally published on The Penny Hoarder, which helps millions of readers worldwide earn and save money by sharing unique job opportunities, personal stories, freebies and more. The Inc. 5000 ranked The Penny Hoarder as the fastest-growing private media company in the U.S. in 2017.

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Need to Get your Finances on Track? These 7 New Year’s Resolutions Can Help

I’m guilty of setting the bar too high.

This is why I can never keep a New Year’s resolution. Run at least four days a week? Cut desserts? Read a multitude of books?

I always fall off those wagons about three weeks into the new year, and, well, once I’m off the wagon, I’m not the type of person to hoist myself back up.

This year, though, I’m resolving to set attainable resolutions — especially when it comes to money, a very tangible, countable entity.

To get started, I polled our Facebook community group to see what you all are hoping to achieve in this glorious new year. Many of your resolutions align with mine. Very generally, the resolutions include making more money, starting a savings and investing.

I’ve outlined some concrete actions you — and I — can take to achieve these goals.

Make More Money

Your options in this arena vary far and wide, but here are some ideas you might be able to run with.

1. Get a Side Gig

The gig economy is booming, so take advantage of it.

Consider something fun and sociable, like driving for Lyft or delivering food for UberEATS.

Or if I don’t want to leave your apartment? (Which is typically the case…) There are always those survey sites. No, you won’t get rich, but you can make extra money.

2. Secure a Work-From-Home Job

Work-from-home jobs come in all shapes and sizes. You can opt for one that requires less experience or one that’s more specialized. You can get a full-time job from home or go with a part-time weekend job.

Either way, you won’t have to leave your house — major points. You can find your fit by following our Facebook jobs page or checking out these sites.

3. Take Up Freelancing

I keep telling myself I’m going to start freelance writing.

If you’re like me and keep spinning your wheels, use this guide to setting up an LLC to get started. I have taken the first step — creating a website — to establish my brand. The process isn’t easy or smooth, but it’ll be worth it.

Save Your Money

I’m really bad at this, so let’s just get started.

4. Create — and Follow — a Budget

Like creating a grocery list, I really, really, really, really hate the idea of budgeting. Really. I’ve tried to do it so many times and continue to fail. However, the new year makes me feel positive, so it’s time to try again.

Good news for me: There’s an app — or two or three — for this.

One recommendation is Mint, an app that keeps all of your financial information in one spot. (Think: banks, retirement and credit cards.) It’ll break down your spending by category and lets you set savings goals.

Then, to help monitor my credit card spending, I’ve started using Birch Finance. It breaks my spending down by month — and even day. It helps hold me accountable. Plus, it recommends the best credit card for rewards.

By following a budget, you can be more aware of where your money is going and where you can save.

5. Open an Untouchable Savings Account

If you haven’t already, consider doing this.

Many of you with financial resolutions noted wanting to save money — whether it’s to start an emergency fund, to pay off bills or debt or to travel.

A savings account is a simple way to start. You can even automate your savings — dropping a certain amount in each week, month or with each paycheck.

Pro tip: Be sure to keep an eye out for sign-up bonuses.

Invest Your Money

Once you’ve got a little extra income and have a savings started, consider investing.

6. Open a Retirement Account

Thanks to The Penny Hoarder, I have my first 401(k). I’ve also optimized it courtesy of the robo-advisor Blooom.

However, I know there’s more I can do to secure my future.

I consulted one of my favorite articles: a comparison of different ways to plan for retirement.

I’d like to set up a Roth IRA, which sounds super scary, but after an explanation it’s not. Basically, it’s a traditional IRA, but you pay taxes on the money as you earn it — versus when you take it out.

Bankrate has this awesome calculator that lets you determine the best route for you.

7. Use An App To Start Micro-Investing

This is an easy-peasy way to start investing.

Many folks in our community group mentioned their favorite apps, which include Clink, Motif and Stash.

One member, Susan, says she uses Stash and has invested nearly $250. She sets it on auto-deposit, so she doesn’t even miss the money.

In my opinion, automation is a great way to achieve a New Year’s resolution.

In all, my hope is that these concrete resolutions will help me get my booty in gear. Really, doing something like opening a retirement account isn’t that hard. It’s just a matter of digging in and doing it.

Carson Kohler (@CarsonKohler) is a junior writer at The Penny Hoarder.

This was originally published on The Penny Hoarder, which helps millions of readers worldwide earn and save money by sharing unique job opportunities, personal stories, freebies and more. The Inc. 5000 ranked The Penny Hoarder as the fastest-growing private media company in the U.S. in 2017.

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On a Budget This New Year’s Eve? Throw a Rockin’ Party on the Cheap

New Year’s Eve seems like such a perfect opportunity to go out on the town. The only problem? Everyone else has the same idea.

So, thanks to the law of supply and demand, most bars and clubs charge a premium to count down the last minutes of the year within their walls. When you add it all up, cover charge + fancy dress + expensive drinks + taxi rides = one heck of an expensive night.

Add to that an inability to move (due to the throng of bodies) and long waits to get a drink, and you may discover going out isn’t worth the hype.

After several years battling the New Year’s Eve bar scene, that’s the conclusion I’ve come to. This year, I’ve decided to throw my own New Year’s Eve party, which, between my friends and me, is going to save us hundreds of dollars.

6 Steps To Save Money By Throwing a New Year’s Eve Party

Here are six steps you can take to throw the perfect New Year’s Eve party — on a budget!

1. Send Festive Evites

First things first: the guest list. You could make a plain ol’ Facebook event, but why not class it up with an evite?

Paperless Post has gorgeous designs, or use Evite so your friends can leave messages as they RSVP.

2. Decorate With Handmade Crafts

There’s only one requirement for New Year’s Eve decorations — lots of sparkle — which means it’s super easy to decorate on a budget.

The best part? You can use all of your leftover Christmas decorations: Keep your lights up, hang varying lengths of curled ribbons from the ceiling and cut out circles of wrapping paper to attach to the walls as giant confetti.

If you really want to get crafty, here are some shiny ideas:

• Countdown number corks from Pizzazzerie
• Golden-wrapped numbers from Ruffled
• Bowtie pasta garland from The Gold Jellybean
• Plus 51 more ideas from Buzzfeed

3. Create the Perfect Playlist

Music is absolutely essential for creating the perfect party mood. So, please, make sure you have something louder than your phone to play it with!

As for the tunes themselves, there are several options. With Spotify, you can either create your own playlist or rock one of their pre-created mood mixes.

On Pandora, you can listen to everything from top 40 to Frank Sinatra. Google Play is another good choice.

4. Serve Champagne Punch and Dessert

Your party isn’t going to get hopping until 8 or 9 p.m., so ask your guests to eat dinner at home. That way, you don’t have to worry about buying and preparing food — and if your couple friends want to enjoy a romantic dinner beforehand, they can.

What you do need to provide is champagne, and lots of it.

The best way to do this is by buying a bunch of cheap champagne and making punch. Not only is it delicious, but it will make the booze (and therefore, your guests) last longer. Try this orange, cranberry, and basil punch from Cook the Story, or this strawberry punch from Allrecipes.

Because you’re providing the drinks, ask your guests to each bring a dessert to share. That will keep your costs down, as well as allow everyone to sample a variety of tasty treats.

If you can’t resist making one yourself, here are a few festive ideas:

• Almost-midnight clock cookie bites from The Decorated Cookie
• Champagne cupcakes from A Little Claireification
• Lemon raspberry cheesecake bites from Shugary Sweets
• Pink champagne cake pops from Keep It Sweet Desserts

5. Hand Out Fun Favors

Favors are definitely not required, so skip these if your budget is really tight. If you have the time and money, however, favors give your party a bit of extra oomph (which can put it in the running for the best party of the year!).

Here are a few ideas you can make cheaply and easily:

• Personalized glitter champagne glasses from Something Turquoise
• Paper plate shakers from The Centsible Life
• DIY confetti poppers from Weddingbells
• Decorated Tic-Tac boxes (for the midnight kiss!) from Infarrantly Creative

6. Plan Some Group Activities

Between the champagne, desserts and music, your party might have enough going on — but if it needs a boost of energy, try some engaging group activities.

Here are three ideas that will make your guests laugh (and bond):

• Create a photobooth. Gather silly props from around the house, paint a NYE-themed backdrop onto a sheet or big piece of paper, buy a disposable camera — and voila! Not only will you have a blast, you’ll have funny photos to remember your night.

• Print out these New Year’s Eve playing cards from Real Simple. Ask your friends to fill out the cards with their resolutions for the new year, and then guess who wrote what.

• Download the group game app Heads Up, which will provide hours of fun for just 99 cents on iPhone and free on Android. (You may have seen it on The Ellen Show.)

Follow these steps, and you’re sure to have the best NYE party on the block — for a fraction of what it would cost to hit the bars. We can’t think of a better way to ring in the new year!

Susan Shain is always seeking adventure on a budget. Visit her blog at susanshain.com, or say hi on Twitter @susan_shain.

This was originally published on The Penny Hoarder, which helps millions of readers worldwide earn and save money by sharing unique job opportunities, personal stories, freebies and more. The Inc. 5000 ranked The Penny Hoarder as the fastest-growing private media company in the U.S. in 2017.

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We Crunched the Numbers to Find the 10 Best Bargain Travel Options for 2018

Face it: 2017 has been a bit of a drag.

We got hit by three major hurricanes, we can barely afford rent anywhere in the U.S. and to put a cherry on top of this poop emoji of a year, our co-workers gave us crummy gifts during the annual office exchange.

We could all use a vacation. And even though Americans are terrible at saving money and are also pretty bad at taking vacations in general, this is the year where you should spring for that trip away to get some much needed rest and relaxation.

But where to?

Thankfully, travel website Hipmunk has put together a guide with a list of the average airfares to cities across the U.S. And the 10 cheapest destinations are actually pretty cool.

We took it one step further and factored in the average rate for an Airbnb using Airdna and the difference in local costs using regional price parities from the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis to reshuffle those top 10 into the most affordable cities you should consider for a vacation in 2018.

Oh yeah, and we also found a couple of cheap things for you and the family to do in each one.

These 10 Cities Might Be Your Cheapest Travel Options in 2018

Just a disclaimer, these may not necessarily be the cheapest places for you to visit in 2018 depending on where you live. But on average, according to Hipmunk, you will get the best rate on roundtrip airfare to these cities.

1. Atlanta, Georgia

Average airfare: $290.62

Airbnb: $134

Local prices rank: 1

Hotlanta is likely on the list due to its airport status as a major hub for connecting flights, but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t also see it as a solid vacation destination.

For $8, take the family on a glass elevator 72 stories to the Sun Dial Restaurant, and check out a birds-eye view of Atlanta. Don’t worry, they won’t force you to stay for a fancy meal.

Or you could get nostalgic and take in an $8 flick at the Starlight Drive-In Theatre. Celebrate the Civil Rights Movement by visiting Martin Luther King Jr.’s birthplace, and spend the day in Centennial Olympic Park for free.

2. Oakland, California

Average airfare: $251

Airbnb: $123

Local prices rank: 10

You might just think of Raiders fans when you think of Oakland, but there’s plenty of culture in this Bay Area city.

Get half-price admission — plus some awesome food truck options — at the Oakland Museum of California on Friday nights. That’s just $7.50. You can also catch a flick at the historic Grand Lake Theatre for $11, which isn’t too bad in this day and age. You’ll even get a free Wurlitzer organ show.

And you’re so, so close to San Francisco. It’s less than $10 for a roundtrip ticket on the Bay Area Regional Transit line to get to the Mission District.  There you can spend half a day just checking out the murals, enjoying the culture and chowing down on authentic Mexican food. Get the salsa verde.

3. Dallas, Texas

Average airfare: $315.24

Airbnb: $125

Local prices rank: 4

Everything may be bigger in Texas, but it’s definitely not the most expensive state to take a vacation.

Head to the heart of Dallas in 2018, and feed your inner conspiracy theorist with a visit to Dealey Plaza and the infamous grassy knoll, near which President John F. Kennedy was assassinated. It’s $16 to get into the museum in the former book depository, but that price may be well worth it following the recent massive dump of documents related to the event.

Wear the kiddos out at the Children’s Aquarium at Fair Park which is $8 for adults and $6 for kids. For couples, spend $10 to check out the Dallas Museum of Art then get a cheap but delicious hot dog at Angry Dog.

4. Orlando, Florida

Average airfare: $282.98

Airbnb: $161

Local prices rank: 2 (If you stay out of the dang theme park stores.)

There’s something freeing about visiting a city monopolized by theme parks and not actually visiting one. You should try it.

But you can still come close to one with Downtown Disney without forking over $75 or more. It does cost money to park, but spend $20 at any of the shops and parking is free. The same goes for Universal Studios’ CityWalk. I once spent three hours just wandering this district and taking in random shows while my wife was at a conference. I managed not to spend a dime.

But there are also tons of things to do in Orlando’s real downtown. Orange Blossom Brewing Co., for example, is a must for beer snobs.

5. Chicago, Illinois

Average airfare: $292.99

Airbnb: $139

Local prices rank: 6

One of the biggest cities on this list, Chicago has such a large footprint that it’s hard to specifically pinpoint cheap things to do here. But we’ll do our best.

The 606 is an “urban oasis” that was once a railroad track. Now it’s an awesome, artistic recreational trail that will provide hours of entertainment — in the warmer months, of course.

Check out the lions at the Lincoln Park Zoo for free, then wander around the Navy Pier and Millenium Park. The Chicago Cultural Center always has free events, and you can get into the National Museum of Mexican Art for free as well.

6. Tampa, Florida

Average airfare: $337.49

Airbnb: $116

Local prices rank: 5

Just over the bridge from The Penny Hoarder HQ, Tampa is a fun city my wife and I venture to from time to time. It definitely makes a solid vacation choice.

Since it’s basically summer year round here, you can enjoy any outdoor activity whenever you visit. It may be a half-hour drive, but no visit to the Tampa Bay area is complete without a trip to the beach.

For a fun afternoon, try out the local bike-share program, Coast, and ride along the Tampa Riverwalk. Then head to Ybor City, where you can tour the historic town and grab a cheap, but authentic, Cuban sandwich.

7. Las Vegas, Nevada

Average airfare: $288.67

Airbnb: $164

Local prices rank: 3

Get here for cheap, then just put a few hundred bucks on red and you’re good to go. OK, we’re just kidding.

But seriously, there are things to do in Las Vegas besides throw away your hard-earned cash, even if the casinos themselves can be attractions. The Adventuredome in Circus Circus and the Bellagio Conservatory & Botanical Garden are worth a jaunt.

Visit the Ethel M Chocolates factory for a Willy Wonka-esque tour — minus the Oompa Loompas. And work off those bonbons with a hike along the Calico Tanks trail in Red Rock Canyon.

8. Fort Lauderdale, Florida

Average airfare: $283

Airbnb: $160

Local prices rank: 8

This city is way more than a smaller Miami, and there’s just as much to do here.

While the nightlife is great, the real gems of this city are outdoors. If you’re feeling particularly ambitious, and courageous, count the alligators as you bike all 15 miles of Shark Valley National Park. Or, for the less strenuous outdoor experience, explore the tropical hammocks of the Hugh Taylor Birch State Park on foot.

Then take a break and watch an Oscar-nominated movie at the historic Gateway Theatre. Get a glimpse of the good life by checking out the million-dollar yachts and homes on the city’s hop-on-hop-off water taxi.

9. Denver, Colorado

Average airfare: $279.99

Airbnb: $167

Local prices rank: 7

You don’t have to spend big to enjoy the Mile-High City.

For thrifty beer-drinkers, take the light rail to Golden, Colorado, and take a free tour of the Coors Brewing Co. It comes with free beer! And Denver is another beautiful city to enjoy a bike-share program for $9 a day. Make sure to see the lower downtown district.

Check out prehistoric history at Dinosaur Ridge for $8. A 25-minute drive will lead you to the awesome Red Rocks Park & Amphitheatre.

10. Los Angeles, California

Average airfare: $329.06

Airbnb: $145

Local prices rank: 9

My brother lives in Los Angeles, so I’ve personally visited this city on a budget a few times. It’s expensive, but there are fun, cheap things to do.

You could spend an entire day for free in Griffith Park. Check out the Griffith Observatory, then challenge yourself to the one-hour hike to the Hollywood sign. You get exercise and get to re-enact one of the best scenes in movie history at the observatory.

Then you can drive an hour to Santa Monica or Venice to check out those famous California beaches.

You’ll notice that most of the destinations see the biggest savings in January and February. So get booking.

Alex Mahadevan is a data journalist at The Penny Hoarder. He’s been saving for months to afford a trip to Iceland. But Chicago is looking pretty good…

This was originally published on The Penny Hoarder, which helps millions of readers worldwide earn and save money by sharing unique job opportunities, personal stories, freebies and more. The Inc. 5000 ranked The Penny Hoarder as the fastest-growing private media company in the U.S. in 2017.

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This New Rule Will Give Low-Income Families More Housing Options Next Year

Low-income families in 23 metro areas across the country will have better chances at finding housing in more affluent neighborhoods in the new year, thanks to a recent federal court ruling.

According to the Washington Post, a federal judge recently overturned the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s decision to delay implementing an Obama-era rule that would expand housing choices for families receiving Section 8 vouchers.

Currently, when most families receive Section 8 housing vouchers, the amount of money they get is based on rental prices averaged across an entire metro area. The subsidies typically aren’t enough for low-income families to afford to live in middle-class neighborhoods.

This leaves many families who rely on public housing assistance to live in “deeply segregated, high-poverty communities,” the Washington Post reported.

In Obama’s last weeks in office, HUD decided that, instead of basing housing vouchers on rental prices for an entire metro area, it would go by average rental prices in individual neighborhoods.

Essentially, a Section 8 recipient who wanted to move into a rental home in a pricier neighborhood would be granted a bigger government subsidy than a Section 8 recipient moving into a home in a less expensive neighborhood.

However, under Trump’s administration, HUD wanted to hold off on implementing this new ruling for about two years to provide more “time to fully understand its effects.”

But last week, a federal judge declared the delay was unnecessary and ordered the department to put the rule in place by Jan. 1.

This will give families with Section 8 housing vouchers more choices to find housing, including in more affluent neighborhoods where there are better job opportunities, lower crime rates and higher-rated schools.

Check out the Washington Post article for more information, including the list of 23 metro areas where the new rule will go into effect.

Nicole Dow is a staff writer at The Penny Hoarder.

This was originally published on The Penny Hoarder, which helps millions of readers worldwide earn and save money by sharing unique job opportunities, personal stories, freebies and more. The Inc. 5000 ranked The Penny Hoarder as the fastest-growing private media company in the U.S. in 2017.

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Bloomin’ Onion or Coconut Shrimp? Outback Bowl to Decide Which Will Be Free

On New Year’s Day, the top college football team from the Big Ten Conference squares off against the top team in the Southeastern Conference for the Outback Bowl. This year, it’s the Michigan Wolverines vs. the South Carolina Gamecocks — and everybody should care.

Why? Because the winner determines which free appetizer you can get at Outback Steakhouse on Jan. 2.

There’s a lot on the line here, folks.

Outback Bowl Winner Determines Free Outback Steakhouse Appetizer

It’s an annual event at Outback Steakhouse: To honor its namesake bowl game, the restaurant chain offers up a free appetizer on Jan. 2. Just which appetizer is determined by the game itself.

It’s not just Michigan vs. South Carolina; it’s the Bloomin’ Onion vs. coconut shrimp.

If Michigan wins, you can get a free Bloomin’ Onion on Jan. 2 with any purchase. If the Gamecocks come out on top, the offer is valid for coconut shrimp instead.

If you’ve never had a Bloomin’ Onion, you’re missing one of the most iconic 1,950-calorie appetizers out there. SB Nation football writer Ryan Nanni likes them so much, he campaigned for nearly a year on Twitter to win the job of being the Bloomin’ Onion mascot for the game this year. Gotta love a man with a dream.

There’s no real hitch to this deal. You can watch the game at your local Outback if you want, but the deal doesn’t take effect until Jan. 2. Just make any purchase and you’ll get to enjoy your free appetizer, whichever one it is.

Bloomin’ Onion or coconut shrimp? Which is your winner?

Tyler Omoth is a senior writer at The Penny Hoarder who loves soaking up the sun and finding creative ways to help others. He’s rooting for Michigan because he comes from the land of the Big Ten and thinks coconut is just plain yucky. Catch him on Twitter at @Tyomoth.

This was originally published on The Penny Hoarder, which helps millions of readers worldwide earn and save money by sharing unique job opportunities, personal stories, freebies and more. The Inc. 5000 ranked The Penny Hoarder as the fastest-growing private media company in the U.S. in 2017.

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Amazon Digital Day Is the Perfect Excuse for Binge-Watching (Today Only!)

It’s a digital world.

We stream our movies. We binge-watch entire seasons of our favorite TV shows. Our music and even many of our books come to use through the magic of the digital world.

And that’s great, especially since no one wants to go outside right now.

What’s even better is that today (and today only!) Amazon is having a mega-sale on all things digital.

Check Out These Digital Day Deals on Amazon

Thanks to Amazon’s annual Digital Day sale, there are sweet discounts and even free items available for the taking. What are some of the best deals? Check these out.

Video

Full seasons of cool TV shows like “Mad Men” or “Orange Is the New Black” are available for just $4.99. Sure, you can also find them on Netflix, but some things are so good you just want to own them.

Or, if you’re into movies, blockbusters like “Wonder Woman” and “War for the Planet of the Apes” are at least 50% off their regular prices.

Games

If you’ve been waiting to load up on some new video games, Digital Day has them. “NBA 2K18” is 33% off, and “Civilization VI” is 50% off the regular price. Be sure to check for the right format because PC games seem to be the most heavily discounted.

Stuff for Under $1

Amazon even has a page dedicated to digital deals under $1. You can sign up for Amazon music and get three months for just 99 cents. The dollar deals include graphic novels, books and a lot of games that are geared toward kids.

If you’ve been thinking about trying out Amazon’s audiobook service, Audible, now’s your chance. Thanks to Digital Day, you can get three free books when you sign up for your free trial instead of just one.

There are too many deals out there to list here, but if you’re into streaming, looking for new programs or ready to tackle a different game, it’s worth a look. The deals are legit, and in most of the country it’s too flippin’ cold to go outside anyway. Load up!

Tyler Omoth is a senior writer at The Penny Hoarder who loves soaking up the sun and finding creative ways to help others. Catch him on Twitter at @Tyomoth.

This was originally published on The Penny Hoarder, which helps millions of readers worldwide earn and save money by sharing unique job opportunities, personal stories, freebies and more. The Inc. 5000 ranked The Penny Hoarder as the fastest-growing private media company in the U.S. in 2017.

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How to Take and Edit Photos Without Hiring a Professional

No matter what type of business you have, you need to be using high quality images as a promotional tool.

You can distribute these pictures across all your marketing channels.

Share them on social media profiles such as Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.

Add photos to your website to make it look more professional.

You can even send images to subscribers on your email marketing lists to make your messages more visually appealing.

Incorporate photos into your blog posts to break up the content and make it easier for people to read.

I like to use visuals in my blogs to illustrate what I’m talking about.

High quality images can add credibility to your website.

While there’s nothing wrong with using images you find online, nothing speaks to the customer like original photographs.

Taking your own photos means they are unique. Someone won’t be able to say,

“Oh, I’ve seen this picture somewhere else before.”

Ultimately, putting the perfect picture in the right place can help you generate more traffic and leads, which was identified as the top challenge for marketers in 2017.

Here’s the problem, however. Professional photographers are not cheap.

Your company has enough expenses to worry about, so you shouldn’t be paying for a service you can do yourself.

The other problem I see is original images often look terrible.

That’s no good either. You don’t want any low quality images to be associated with your brand.

It looks unprofessional and will result in a negative perception by your current and prospective customers.

If you fall into one of the above categories, I can help.

I’ll show you the right tools to take and edit photos without spending much or needing to hire a pro.

Get the right equipment

You don’t need to spend thousands of dollars on camera equipment.

But you shouldn’t be taking pictures on one of those cheap disposable cameras either.

Find a middle ground.

A sufficient camera might just be in your pocket right now.

Currently, 77% of adults in the United States own a smartphone.

As a business owner or marketing expert, you probably have a smartphone.

The cameras on the majority devices are fairly decent.

If you’re in the market for a new phone, it makes sense to get one with a great camera.

There are tons of online review websites, such as Tom’s Guide, that give you detailed information about various devices depending on what you’re looking for.

Here are some of the best devices in 2017 for different categories reviewed by their experts:

• Best overall smartphone camera – iPhone X
• Best features on a camera – Galaxy Note 8
• Best camera for landscape photos – LG G6
• Best camera for selfies and low-light images – Samsung Galaxy S8
• Smartest phone camera – Pixel 2 XL
• Best smartphone camera for videos – LG V30

These are good places to start looking.

But do some research on your own before making your purchase.

You may even own one of these devices already.

If you’d rather use a camera than a cell phone to take pictures, that’s fine too.

Here’s a comparison of some cameras ideal for beginner photographers:

As you can see, the prices range from about $400 to $800, which is reasonable.

Professional photographers may be charging you more than that for a day’s work.

Brush up on some basic photography skills

Now that you’ve got a proper camera to take pictures with, you need to master some simple photography concepts.

Learn how to use the various tools and picture modes on your device.

For example, let’s say you’re using an iPhone to take pictures.

You’ll notice an option called “HDR Mode.”

HDR stands for high dynamic range. Here’s how you turn it on:

When should you use it? For every picture?

The HDR mode works best for outdoor photographs and landscapes.

That’s because both of these usually have some bright as well as dark areas. Without the HDR mode, some details can get lost between the light and dark contrasts.

But it takes your camera longer to process HDR photos.

If you’re trying to take images in a rapid succession or photograph a moving object, you’ll want to keep the HDR mode off.

You also need to consider where you plan to take photos.

Conditions—whether inside, outdoors, in the sun, or in the dark—will dictate how you take them.

For example, it’s tough to capture an image if the sun is directly behind the subject.

Unless you have a professional camera, the picture will come out either super bright or too dark, depending on what you’re focusing on.

You also need to learn when it’s appropriate to use the flash on your camera.

The composition is important as well.

You need to understand how the subject should appear in your photo.

One of the most common photography concepts of composition is the rule of thirds:

Imagine your camera frame is broken up into nine sections of equal sizes.

Some cameras have these horizontal and vertical guides to help with your composition.

You want to position your subject where those lines meet.

The example above has the subject positioned in the left third of the screen.

But let’s say you’re taking a picture of a landscape instead of a person or object.

In this case, you’ll want to align the horizon with the upper or lower third of the frame as opposed to the left or the right, like in this example:

As you can see, this makes for a much more appealing picture.

Another basic photography tip is natural framing.

Let’s say you’re taking a picture of a building that has pillars or columns.

It makes more sense to position your subject between two pillars as opposed to in front of one.

Here’s an example of a bridge creating a natural frame:

If you see the opportunity to capture a natural frame when you’re taking pictures, use it.

In the above example, pretend that the top of the image was cut off. It wouldn’t look as natural. But including the entire frame makes it appear more professional.

Something else you need to consider when you’re taking pictures is what you’re focusing on.

If you are photographing a person or specific subject, it’s imperative they are in focus.

Sometimes it’s a cool effect to have part of your photo in focus but the background blurry.

Photographs that have symmetry and patterns are visually appealing and professional-looking as well.

Check out this photo of the Taj Mahal:

All the elements are symmetrical, and the building is still positioned in the top third of the picture, so it follows all the rules.

There are tons of other photography rules you can follow to make sure you’re taking great pictures, but following these is a good to place to start.

You can do some more research about photography basics or even take a class. Both of these options are considerably less expensive than hiring a professional.

Plus, it’s always beneficial to learn a new skill applicable to your business.

Use Canva

Once you’ve taken the pictures, you’ll need to edit them to minimize any imperfections, making them look as professional as possible.

Canva is an image editing tool. It’s one of the best options you’ll find online.

You can edit pictures directly on their website or download a mobile version of their software for your iPhone or iPad.

I like to use Canva because it’s super diverse.

You’re able to access many different features all in one place.

Canva has multiple templates for your images, depending on where you want to distribute them.

For example, do you promote your company with paid advertisements on social media or other mediums such as Google AdWords?

Canva ensures your image is sized appropriately depending on the type of advertisement you’re running.

If you attempt to do this on your own, the image could be distorted, blurry, or even illegible. So it’s best to use professional editing software for this.

One of the best parts of Canva is it’s free.

You may encounter a couple of features that cost a few bucks to access, but you can do all your basic edits without having to pay for anything.

For those of you who want access to everything on the Canva platform, I’d recommend upgrading to their Canva for Work package.

It’s only $12.95 per month, and you can save over 20% if you pay for the full year upfront.

You can try it free for 30 days to see if it’s worth it.

Again, this is way more cost effective than hiring a professional photographer to edit your pictures.

Try PicMonkey

PicMonkey is another one of my favorite editing tools.

It’s really easy to use, and uploading your photos is a breeze.

They also have a mobile app in the Apple App Store and Google Play Store, so it’s perfect for both Apple and Android users.

If you’re taking pictures on your smartphone, it’s easy to edit them directly from your device without having to upload them to a computer.

PicMonkey has great photography tutorials.

They cover some of the basic concepts I discussed earlier and teach you how to use different functions of their software.

But overall, I think it’s pretty easy to use.

These are the top features of PicMonkey:

• editing tools
• touch ups
• collages
• designs

It’s pretty much everything you could need to edit the photos you took on your own.

The collage tool is perfect for showcasing different products or features on your website.

You can create one simple image with a combination of the photos you took.

Here’s an example of a really cool collage on the Square website:

You can create something similar for your business with PicMonkey.

Create infographics with Piktochart

Sometimes you don’t need to take a photograph to have an original image on your website.

Build an infographic.

It’s a great way to increase engagement on your website or blog.

In fact, people are 30 times more likely to read an infographic as opposed to plain text.

Infographics can also increase traffic to your website by 12%.

Visual content gets liked and shared on social media three times more than other types of content.

The Piktochart website has all the tools you need to create customized infographics.

You can even use your own pictures as background images.

Find other ways to incorporate those original photos into your infographic so you’re not forced to use those cartoonish designs if that’s not your style.

They have a free membership for basic features.

You can also upgrade to a $15 per month or $29 per month plan with extra features.

But try the free version first to make sure you’re happy with it.

Conclusion

Unique photos can give your website, blog, emails, and social media pages the final touches that appeal to your customers.

You don’t need to hire a professional photographer to take and edit your photos.

That’s a waste of money.

You can do all of this on your own without spending much at all. It’s easy.

Just make sure you have the right equipment.

Get a smartphone that has a great camera. Or you can start off with an actual camera designed for amateur photographers.

Next, familiarize yourself with some basic concepts of photography.

Refer back to the points I outlined earlier as a guide for composition:

• rule of thirds
• natural frames
• symmetry
• focus

Once you’ve taken pictures, you can use editing tools on your computer, smartphone, or tablet to touch them up and make them look more professional.

Use tools such as Canva, PicMonkey, or Piktochart to get started.

Follow these tips, and you’ll be snapping and editing photos like a pro in no time.

What are some other tools you use to edit your photos like a professional?

Source Quick Sprout http://ift.tt/2Cj4vRu