After a recent non-jury trial, Monroe County Court Judge David Williamson ordered trash hauler Pocono Sanitation to pay the Monroe County Municipal Waste Management Authority $104,474 in damages and fees for dumping waste in landfills not approved by the authority.Based in Lackawanna County, Pocono Sanitation is one of three haulers sued by the Waste Management Authority for dumping in unapproved landfills. January trials were scheduled on the authority's separate lawsuits against the [...]
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الثلاثاء، 31 يناير 2017
Will your Super Bowl food spread be the MVP of the party?
The big game is upon us, and local restaurants, bars and taverns are ready to score a touchdown by providing some of their best Super Bowl dishes.Like just about every other establishment that feature finger foods and the like for the NFL’s biggest event, Chris Sarajian is hoping to lure regulars, first-timers and others to Smugglers Cove in Tannersville with his MVP-worth chicken wings and his world-class clams.To add a little extra kick for the Super Bowl, Sarajian [...]
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Employees, unions await final tallies in hospital layoffs
Lehigh Valley Hospital-Pocono surgeon Dr. Nche Zama accredited the opening of St. Luke's Monroe Campus hospital for staffing changes.
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Here’s How to Get Your Kids a Lego Batman Toy and Pokemon Cards for Free
Lego Batman. A new set of Pokemon cards. And Geoffrey the Giraffe, the Toys R Us mascot.
All these things are featured prominently in upcoming giveaways and in-store events at your local Toys R Us store.
So if you need a warm place to take the kids on a wintry weekend, here’s an option for several upcoming Saturdays.
Here’s our rundown of the freebies offered at all of the toy giant’s retail stores.
Pokemon event: Noon to 2 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 4. This Pokemon trade-and-collect event is open to kids ages 6 and up, as well as adult collectors. (You know who you are, guys.)
Participants will receive an exclusive free “Cosmog foil card” and a Pokemon TCG Sun & Moon collector’s album. This event is timed to celebrate the release date of a new Sun & Moon card set for the Pokemon Trading Card Game.
Kids can also enjoy a free Pokemon coloring activity.
It’s limited to one giveaway per customer. (Translation: NO HOARDING OF THE FREE CARDS, people.)
Lego Batman event: 1 to 3 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 11. “The Lego Batman Movie” hits theaters Friday, Feb. 10. The next day, kids ages 6 and up can score a free Lego Bat-Car at this Toys R Us event.
This is a “building event,” meaning your offspring will build this Lego kit right there in the store before they take it home.
The free Lego kit in question is “Emmet’s Bat-Car,” a small version of the Batmobile.
It’s not clear what the retail price for this Lego kit will be when it’s on sale in stores. A similar Lego kit — Emmet’s car from the first Lego Movie — is selling for $21.45 plus $4.49 shipping on Amazon, and for $21.99 plus $7.95 shipping at Walmart.com.
Also at this Feb. 11 in-store event, kiddos can participate in an Arkham Asylum Breakout Hunt. That might involve playing with the huge, $150 Arkham Asylum set from the Lego Batman Movie line of toys.
Geoffrey’s Birthday Club events: These are in-store events held from 3 to 4 p.m. the first Saturday of each month. The next three are Feb. 4, March 4 and April 1.
Geoffrey the Giraffe is the Toys R Us mascot and “spokesanimal.” (A note of trivia: He was originally called Dr. G. Raffe. Marketers changed his name, because marketers.)
If you sign your child up for Geoffrey’s Birthday Club here, your child will receive a birthday card and coupon in the mail shortly before their next birthday, along with an invitation to the next Birthday Club event at the nearest Toys R Us location.
If you present this coupon at the event, your kiddo gets a free Geoffrey plush toy and storybook.
Pro tip: Because supplies are limited and Toys R Us hands out these giveaways on a first come, first serve basis, it’s best to show up early. You definitely don’t want to breeze in late and risk disappointing little Junior if the goodies run out.
A final note: As always, bring your willpower and parenting skills to these events — because you’ll be plopping your kid down in the middle of a giant toy store.
Your Turn: Have you ever attended a children’s event at Toys R Us?
Mike Brassfield (mike@thepennyhoarder.com) is a senior writer at The Penny Hoarder. He has two kids and typically needs a really good reason to go to Toys R Us. Free stuff is a valid reason.
The post Here’s How to Get Your Kids a Lego Batman Toy and Pokemon Cards for Free appeared first on The Penny Hoarder.
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Part-Time Work Trends Hurting Retirement Plans
Part-Time Work Trends Hurting Retirement Plans
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4 Simple Strategies to Help You Create Strong Passwords You Won’t Forget
I ran out of pets.
For my passwords. I ran out of pet names. I always relied on my childhood dog’s name.
Back in the day, passwords were simple. One word. No caps. No numbers. No punctuation.
But at some point, rover turned into RoVeR29402@?!.
Then I forget that mess and have to reset it to something totally different — something I haven’t used in like three years.
I pick something else, forget, reset. It’s a vicious cycle.
And I’m not alone.
Nearly 40% of Internet Users are Considered “Password Challenged”
Pew Research Center recently released a report that found 39% of adults struggle to keep track of their passwords. Pew considers us “password challenged.”
At the same time, of those who can’t keep track of passwords, 41% are worried about their online security. And for a good reason: Nearly two-thirds of U.S. adults have been entangled in some sort of data theft or fraud, all according to Pew.
“Passwords are critical because they are still the primary method of authentication used by many people to access a variety of online accounts,” says Steve Weisman, a professor at Bentley University and author of the fraud and identity theft blog Scamicide.
These online accounts store information about your bank accounts, credit card numbers — even social security numbers. If hackers get their dirty cyber hands on this info, you’re liable for unauthorized charges and even vulnerable to identity theft.
4 Strategies to Creating — and Remembering — Strong Passwords
“Password” or “123456” is not a strong password, in case you were wondering.
“Hackers use programs that can guess millions of passwords,” Weisman says. “If you use any word as a password, it is easy for a knowledgeable hacker to guess it using these software programs.”
Therefore, generate something strong, something more than a word — and save it. (Yeah, I’m totally preaching to the choir right now.)
1. Start with a strong foundation.
Today, many accounts don’t let you create passwords that are deemed weak.
A strong password, Weisman explains, has both capital and lowercase letters, as well as symbols. And they’re not just one singular word.
2. Don’t overthink it.
So you shouldn’t rely on one word. Now what?
Weisman says a good starting point is write a sentence. He uses the example, “I don’t like passwords.” You can create a strong, memorable password with that sentence.
Here are some suggestions from Weisman:
IDon’tLikePasswords. This phrase has both capital and lowercase letters. There are also two symbols — an apostrophe and a period.
IDon’tLikePasswords!!! is even stronger, he says, with the three exclamation points.
And yet, I can still remember that. So rather than rover, perhaps consider MyDog’sNameIsRover!!!
3. Create a different password for each of your accounts.
Although it might be easier to remember one password for your million online accounts, you really need to use a different one for each.
“If your password security is compromised at one place that you go online, all of your accounts would be threatened if you use the same password,” Weisman says.
However, you don’t need 1 million pets to make this happen. Weisman offers a simpler solution.
“Adapt that base password for each of your online accounts so, for instance, your Amazon password could be, IDon’tLikePasswords!!!Ama,” he says.
Then, for Netflix, something like use IDon’tLikePasswords!!!Net.
Easy.
4. Consider how you’re saving your passwords.
As I’ve mentioned in previous posts, Weisman’s motto is, “Trust me, you can’t trust anyone.”
You can’t even trust services that store your passwords. He says they can be helpful, sure, but he still has concerns about them being hacked.
And don’t save them to your browser. If your phone or computer is hacked, the hacker has easy access to all of that info.
Weisman says it’s not a bad idea to just write down your passwords and store them in a secure, safe place — like a safe. They’ll be available to you at any time, but also available to your loved ones if you, frankly, fall ill or die.
Writer’s note: Please don’t use the passwords I’ve used as an example. I think you know that, but I really can’t afford to be liable for anything that happens to you or your online accounts.
Your Turn: Share your favorite strategy to creating a strong password!
Carson Kohler (@CarsonKohler) is a junior writer at The Penny Hoarder. When she finally adopts a cat, she plans to give it a password-worthy name.
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10 Career Options for Creative People Who Actually Want to Make Money
Careers in creative fields like design, writing and filmmaking are usually labors of love, not money.
Until recently.
These days you can actually earn a decent living in creative industries that used to pay a pittance.
Job search website CareerBuilder.com just released a snappy new list of 10 solid careers for creatives that’s worth checking out if you’re the imaginative type.
The top five careers based on average pay per year are:
- Producers and directors – $49K – $103K
- Film editors – $46K – $92K
- Art directors – $54K – $89K
- Technical writers – $57K – $87K
- Public relations specialist – $43K – $79K
Collectively, these five roles have accounted for nearly 48,500 new jobs since 2011.
Skills You Need for a Creative Job
Many of these jobs have a lot of skills in common, like leadership, communication and, of course, creativity.
They also require at least some college education or formal training, so don’t expect your first job to be Kanye’s new publicist or the director of the next blockbuster movie.
If you’re the creative type, the jobs on this list are definitely worth exploring. People are always going to watch movies and celebrities are always going to need a spokesperson, so there’s a lot of long-term stability associated with these 10 careers.
To get a sense of the creative job outlook in your area, check out this interactive Bureau of Labor Statistics map.
Is a Creative Job a Good Fit For You?
If you’re thinking about pursuing a career in a creative field, be aware that it’s not always a picnic.
Many of these jobs require a lot of self-motivation and self-direction. It can also be challenging to constantly come up with new and fresh ideas.
When you’ve poured your heart into a creative project, the praise you get for a job well done wraps you in a warm, fuzzy glow. On the other hand, if you bond to every project as if it were your first-born child, then criticism, no matter how tactfully delivered, can hurt.
Keep Busy While You Wait for Your Dream Job
While waiting for your big break as a creative superstar, consider using a crowdfunding platform like Patreon to make a few extra bucks with your skills.
Writers can stay sharp coming up with slogans and taglines, while talented artists should check out one of these eight jobs.
Your Turn: What creative job do you dream of landing?
Lisa McGreevy is a staff writer at The Penny Hoarder. She loves making friends with other creative types, so look her up on Twitter: @lisah.
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Watch Out, Amazon: Walmart Announces Free 2-Day Shipping on Orders Over $35
It was a valiant effort.
But after less than a year, Walmart is discontinuing its ShippingPass program.
The good news, though, is that the end of this program brings a new deal for shoppers: Walmart is now offering free two-day shipping on eligible orders over $35, no membership required.
The Rise and Fall of ShippingPass
On Jan. 31, Walmart announced ShippingPass is no longer available. The retailer said it would fully refund customers who participated in the membership program within 30 days.
ShippingPass was Walmart’s attempt to compete with Amazon’s rapidly growing market share. Compared to Amazon Prime’s $99 annual fee, ShippingPass cost only $49 a year and seemed like a good alternative.
Walmart has not said why it will no longer offer the program. Fortune points out that the wide range of services included in a $99-per-year Amazon Prime membership, such as video streaming and a cash back credit card, justify its higher price tag.
So what’s next?
The Deal on Walmart’s Free 2-Day Shipping
Walmart will mark items included in its two-day shipping deal with a green “2-Day Shipping” logo next to them.
The retailer guarantees same-day processing of orders placed before 2 p.m. and delivery within two business days.
The downside, though, is that Walmart does not ship on weekends or include weekends in its two-day window; Amazon offers weekend delivery for select products.
If you aren’t satisfied with a product you order from Walmart.com, you can return it to a Walmart store or ship it back at no cost.
For customers who frequent Walmart and want speedy shipping without a membership fee, this could be a great option.
Your Turn: What do you think of Walmart’s free two-day shipping? Let us know in the Facebook comments!
Kelly Smith is a junior writer and engagement specialist at The University of Tampa. She thinks Walmart just made an interesting move.
The post Watch Out, Amazon: Walmart Announces Free 2-Day Shipping on Orders Over $35 appeared first on The Penny Hoarder.
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One in three people say tracking spending changed their savings habits
There is a lack of savings in the UK, as some 21 million people have less than £500 put aside for emergencies, according to the UK Financial Capability Survey.
This is why Royal London and YouGov gave a sample of people smartphone budgeting apps or a pen-and-paper equivalent to track their spending habits for a three-month period in a recent research project.
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Dry January Was a Sobering Experience. Here’s What I Saved — and Learned
Well, Dry January has come and gone, and let me just say: It sucked — and that’s putting it kindly.
While I was looking forward to saving over $150 in January just by giving up booze, life had other plans.
Yes, I did give up my framboise, bubbly and beer (for the most part), but after my life got flipped upside down literally overnight, it started to become less of a light-hearted experience and more of a serious, personal challenge.
I ended up trying to stick to my guns the best that I could, but a few things got in the way.
Dry January Got Off to a Rough Start
Things were decent in the beginning. I was motivated as heck, ready to conquer the the beast of Dry January.
It was pretty easy at first, too:
I was hungover on Jan. 1 and the thought of alcohol made me want to cry.
On Jan. 2, I started my new workout routine and a new diet.
I was back at work Jan. 3 after a long weekend, so I was too tired to go out afterward.
But then Jan. 4 came around and everything took a turn for (what I thought at the time was) the very worst: I got dumped by my longtime boyfriend.
All my friends wanted to do was go out and buy me a drink at happy hour so we could talk about it.
But I couldn’t. I wanted to stick to the challenge.
So instead, I invited them over to my apartment to talk, which helped me stay on track — but it definitely wasn’t as easy as I initially thought it would be.
More Trials Along the Way
I kept it together when I went grocery shopping. I saw wine on sale, but resisted the urge to put it in my cart.
I ordered Diet Coke when I went out to lunch with friends. I went to happy hour with my co-workers and sipped water with lemon.
You know what I noticed? Knowing that you can’t have something can make you want it even more.
I groaned on Sunday mornings when I remembered I couldn’t go get mimosas at brunch — something I don’t even usually do!
I wasn’t drinking, but my wallet was still getting roped into a spending hangover thanks to some spontaneous purchases.
Although I managed to stay away from drinking after the break-up, I ended up mending my broken heart with pizza (a lot of it).
I also decided to buy some new workout clothes — definitely an unexpected splurge.
Ugh. I suck.
Accepting Defeat
Towards the middle of January, my ex moved out.
After he left, I popped a bottle of champagne that had been sitting in my fridge since the holidays (because #GirlPower).
So, yes, technically I broke Dry January that day — but I didn’t actually spend any money to do it.
I went back to being hardcore about the challenge and skipping happy hour, but at the end of the month, with less than a week left, I looked at the numbers and realized that my splurges ended up totaling nearly just as much as if I had kept drinking.
I ditched my diet and bought myself dinner — twice. That cost me $22.31.
The new workout clothes totaled $131.50. Add that to the dinners, and my “unusual” spending came out to $153.81. Back in November, my alcohol and going-out bill totaled $167.78.
I ended up spending about just as much in January as I would have spent if I hadn’t given up alcohol for the month.
So, with just a few days left, I decided to raise my white flag and spend some time drinking wine with my girlfriends on a mini-vacation — and I took some time to do some hardcore reflecting on my spending.
What Dry January Taught Me About Spending
Giving up alcohol for the month taught me I’m an emotional spender, especially considering the circumstances.
Sure, I (pretty much) gave up alcohol for the month, but I replaced it with food and clothes. Not a good thing.
I wouldn’t say Dry January was for nothing, though.
It’s good I’m learning this about myself now rather than later — when it could really hold me back from paying off my student loan debt or saving for something big, like buying a house.
And, instead of going out and spending money to treat myself when I’m feeling down, I’m going to start to consider some free ways to do things that will make me (and my wallet) feel good in the long run.
Your Turn: Did you try the Dry January challenge? How did you do? Let us know in the Facebook comments!
Kelly Smith is a junior writer and engagement specialist at The Penny Hoarder and a senior at The University of Tampa. She would like to try Dry January again next year.
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Don't blame older workers for poor pay and perks, says TUC
Paying pensions to older workers is not to blame for younger workers getting a bad deal, according to a new report from trade union the TUC.
The briefing paper on intergenerational inequality claims that there is not enough evidence to suggest that the payment of older peoples’ pensions is reducing the wages and pension provision for younger colleagues.
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A Financial Cleanse?
An old dear friend of mine has an absolute fascination with the idea of “cleanses.” She’s constantly trying out juice cleanses and organic fruit cleanses and other such things, with the idea of clearing her body and mind of “toxins.”
I’ll be the first to admit that I doubt the usefulness of juice cleanses and other such strategies for improving one’s health, as the human body is already a pretty effective cleanser of almost anything we put into our bodies. The idea of purging “toxins” by drinking a bunch of fruit juice is not something I’m personally into. Having said that, there is a lot of benefit in terms of making good health choices for yourself. You can drop excess weight, which has a ton of health benefits, and you can make lots of choices to improve your heart health and so on.
The idea of “cleansing” yourself (in the form of better blood sugar numbers, lower triglycerides, lower blood pressure, and so on) by making better dietary and exercise choices and even better mental practices such as prayer and meditation is something that is backed up by medical science. So, although I’m not on board with the idea of purging “toxins,” I’m strongly on board with the idea of treating your body well by running it through its paces and ensuring you’re putting healthy things in it.
Here’s the thing, though: the idea of a “cleanse” applies really well to other areas of your life beyond your physical body. A period of de-stressing, meditation, prayer, time spent outside, and intentional relaxation can do wonders for your mental health, providing something of a “mental cleanse.” You can do the same with the contents of your closet, removing all kinds of stuff and “cleansing” your possessions.
Naturally, the same idea works with your finances. You can give your finances a “cleanse” as well, getting rid of unnecessary things and practices that are clogging things up and keeping you from reaching your goals.
Here are five cleansing practices you can put into practice right away that will improve and simplify your financial life.
Cleansing Your Wasteful Spending: Live Off of a Small Pool of Money for a Week (or a Month)
One financial trap that many people find themselves falling into is losing track of where all of their money is going. Money slips between their fingers in drips and dribbles, quarters and ones and fives and tens, and before you know it, it adds up to a lot of money. But where did it go? It’s often unclear, because many of those little drips and drops of money are completely forgotten.
It’s not that different than a diet, really. Many people who diet wonder why they’re not losing weight, but it’s because they eat little forgettable snacks throughout the day that, individually, don’t add many calories to a daily caloric intake, but over the course of a day add up to quite a lot of calories. Then, even if you’re careful at meal time, you’re still often eating plenty of calories and the weight isn’t disappearing.
It’s those little forgotten “treats” that undo your forward progress, and it’s time to cleanse them.
Here’s what you do. At the start of the week – say, on Monday morning – withdraw a certain amount of cash from the ATM. Choose an amount that won’t leave you starving, but won’t give you so much money that you won’t have to make any choices. You can do with that cash whatever you like, but it must pay for your food and for any gas beyond what you need to commute to work. If you get any “treats,” it comes out of that cash. If you want to buy anything online, you have to put that much cash back into your checking account (because you’re likely using a credit card or cash). See how far that money takes you.
A few things will happen.
One, you’ll begin to really notice all of the little ways you spend money. You might buy lunch with the swipe of a card normally, but if you do it with cash, you’ll notice the supply of cash dwindling. You might stop for a morning coffee… but then your cash supply for the week dwindles. All of those expenses become more real when you see them sucking money out of your supplies.
Two, you start to make some choices. You might decide to skip out on eating lunch out of the office today and take leftovers instead so that you’ll still have $20 to go out this weekend. You might decide to stop your coffee shop treats for the week and drink the office coffee instead because it’s really not that much of a difference. You might order water at the restaurant. You might decide to eat dinner at home on Wednesday night instead of grabbing some takeout.
Three, some of those choices will be easy and others will be hard. Maybe eating at home is easy. Maybe taking your lunch each day is hard. Maybe skipping out on your morning coffee on the way to work is easier than you thought. It’s different for everyone. Pay attention to what’s really easy to skip and what isn’t.
At the end of the week, reflect on those experiences. Which choices were easy? Stick with those choices going forward, because those are examples of ways where your spending wasn’t generating much value for you. Which choices were hard? You might want to restore some of those.
In the end, what you’ll find is that you’ve eliminated some forgettable expenses and kept the ones that matter. Repeat this cleanse every once in a while and try to stick with the results of it for smarter use of your money.
Cleansing Your Credit Cards: Cut Down and Consolidate Your Plastic
Roughly 38% of American households carry some form of credit card debt, and in those households, the average credit card debt is over $16,000, according to survey data from ValuePenguin. That’s an astounding number. Furthermore, the average credit card holder has 3.7 credit cards to his or her name.
Those statistics paint a risk-filled picture of the average American’s use of personal credit. Holding four credit cards presents an elevated risk for identity theft, as your account information is (typically) held by four different card issuers. That means four different databases (at least) within which your information can be compromised and your card number can be stolen.
It also paints a picture of debt. The average credit card interest rate hovers around 15%, so $16,000 in credit card debt generates $2,400 in interest payments annually. That’s money that simply vanishes.
$2,400 a year disappearing into the ether, along with a heightened risk of identity theft? That’s something to clean up.
First, get started by learning how to live without credit cards. Rely on using your debit card only instead of using credit for your purchases. If you can’t afford something using just your checking account, then you have to start making choices about what’s important. Cleanse your spending habits, in other words.
Second, start consolidating your credit card debt by transferring your balances with the highest interest rates to other cards. See which of your cards offer low balance transfer offers and take advantage of them. Do everything you can to reduce the interest rates on your cards. Then, take advantage of those lower interest rates to actually start paying off your balances.
Finally, close out some of your credit cards. Hold onto the oldest card, as it’s important for establishing the length of your credit history, but close out all of the others aside from the one you use the most. Stick with the one with the best bonus program for your needs and strive to reach a point where you’re paying off your card in full every month.
Cut down your credit card debt. Cut down your number of credit cards, too. Together, they’ll provide a real boon for your financial future by reducing the amount of money you lose to interest while also reducing the chances of identity theft and the potential damage that could be done by an account intrusion.
Cleansing Your Food-Buying Habits: Adopt Once-a-Week Grocery Shopping
In our busy lives, it’s very easy to fall into a routine of eating takeout for every meal or haphazardly shopping for a few groceries at Whole Foods on your way home. Rather than putting a focus on food shopping, you instead use it to fill in the blanks in your busy life, buying restaurant items and groceries as needed rather than with any sort of coherent plan.
Here’s the thing, though: having a coherent plan will not only save you a bundle, it will also save you time over the long run, believe it or not.
Try this approach instead.
First, identify a discount grocer near you. Look for an Aldi, a Fareway, a Save-A-Lot, or a Price Rite – those are discount grocers popular in different regions of the country.
During the next day or two, figure out a few recipes that you can easily prepare at home. Choose really easy recipes, ones that are hard to mess up, like pasta and sauce, soups, or simple fajitas (basically any meats and vegetables you like wrapped in a tortilla). When you’re considering such meals, take a look at the flyer from the discount grocer you selected and see what items they have on sale for those simple recipes, and then base those meal choices around those on-sale food items. For example, you might try to make a sweet potato chili if sweet potatoes are on sale, or you might choose a particular pasta sauce if it’s on sale.
Once you’ve figured out four or five easy meals that line up well with the flyer, make a grocery list. Simply make a list of everything you need to buy to pull off all of those meals. You can store it however you like – I like to either use a pocket notebook or to simply store it in Evernote or Paprika (I use Paprika if I’m doing more complex recipes; Evernote if I’m doing really simple stuff; and my pocket notebook if my phone is out of juice or close to it). Plan to make large batches of these meals, enough so that you have leftovers.
On your way home from work one night, stop at that discount grocer and buy all of the stuff on your list. Head home, unpack all of it, and then make the easiest meal you listed. Pasta with sauce and a small salad can be done in twelve minutes, for example, and it’s about as easy as can be. Prepare enough so that you’ll have a meal or two left over, and when you’re done, put the extra meal in a storage container of some kind. Take it to work for lunch the next day.
Basically just repeat this plan four or five nights out of the week. Make a simple meal, make enough for leftovers, take the leftovers to work for lunch sometime in the next day or two.
What you’re going to find is that your food costs shrink rapidly if you follow this plan, and you’ll also find that it’s a lot easier to just go home and make a really easy supper if you know what you’re going to make and have the stuff on hand for it. You can also adopt a strategy of using a slow cooker for things like soups, as you can put most non-pasta soup ingredients in the slow cooker before you leave for work, turn it on low, and come home to soup that’s ready to eat (or to have pasta tossed in to cook for another half an hour or so).
The thing is, you’re still going to be eating good, tasty stuff. You can be pretty picky about your ingredients and still save a lot of money if you make a meal plan, use a grocery list, and use a discount grocer as your primary source for groceries. It just requires a different food routine than you’re used to.
Cleansing Your Possessions: Do a “Closet Cleanse”
Almost all of us have a closet or two that’s stacked completely full of stuff. Extra clothes, items from abandoned hobbies, papers, things that you saved from college and should really toss but are still there for sentimental reasons… it’s amazing what can wind up in a closet.
One of the best ways to clean up your life and help your finances is to purge those closets and get rid of some items. Not only will it make your living space feel a lot less congested, you can often get a nice financial return on the items you’re selling.
Again, this cleanse is a simple one, though it’ll take some time to implement all of it.
Just choose a weekend afternoon where you can put aside a few hours of free time, then pull everything out of that closet. Once you have it out, go through each individual item and decide whether or not you really need to keep this item. Will you use it again realistically in the next year or so? If it represents a memory, is it really a memory that requires saving a physical object? Are you really ever going to return to this hobby? Are you really ever going to wear this item again?
Be honest with yourself. Don’t keep stuff because you have good intentions. Only keep stuff if you’re truly and honestly going to use it going forward.
Ideally, what happens is that you put a few items back in the closet, but most of it doesn’t get returned. At that point, it’s time to sell off some stuff.
Many individual items are perhaps sold easiest on Craigslist to local buyers. Other items, such as DVD or CD or perhaps even book collections, are best sold on the Amazon Marketplace using Fulfillment by Amazon. You may find it best to donate some items as well to places like your local clothing pantry or Goodwill store. Some better clothing items might sell at a consignment shop. There’s always the option of a yard sale for all of the remaining items, too.
The goal here is to obtain some value for the items that you’re no longer keeping. I tend to view items that just sit in storage as having almost no value whatsoever, so any value that you recoup from them is not only a financial benefit to you directly, but also frees up space in your home and also makes it easier to move in the future. It’s truly a “cleansing.”
Cleansing Your Debt: Make a Debt Repayment Plan and Stick To It
Many Americans find themselves with all kinds of debt, not just credit card debt. Many people face, car loans, student loans, mortgages, personal loans, and debts of other kinds on top of their credit card debts, and those debts can add up to a real problem that restricts your financial and lifestyle choices.
If you have hundreds or even thousands of dollars a month in debt payments, your choices become restricted. You have to have a good paying job or else you’re going to quickly find yourself not only with disastrous credit and with creditors hounding you, but also in potential legal trouble as well. Some types of debts, such as many student loans, never go away, even if you file bankruptcy.
It restricts your day to day financial choices. It restricts where you can live. It restricts your career choices. It simply clogs up your life.
It’s time to clean it out.
You can start by making a simple debt repayment plan. Just make a list of all of your debts and order them by the annual interest rate, with the debt featuring the highest rate at the top of the list (it’s probably a credit card).
Take steps to consolidate some of those loans, if possible. Look into student loan consolidation that locks in your loans at a low interest rate. Look into zero interest credit card balance transfers. This might result in a reorganization of the list, and that’s perfectly fine.
Each month, make a minimum payment on all of the debts on your list, then do everything in your power to not only avoid adding to any of the debts, but make the biggest possible extra payment you can to the debt on top of the list. Make that balance drop through the floor. Hopefully, sooner rather than later, you’ll pay off that top loan! Cross it off and start hammering the loan that’s now on top of the list.
Use the other “cleansing” strategies on this list for help. Take the money you’re saving from your food buying cleanse and apply it to this debt repayment plan. Take the money you made from selling off your closet contents and use it to hammer the top debt, too.
What you’ll find, sooner rather than later, is that this cleanse rewards you in terms of lower stress and in terms of a much greater range of life and career possibilities.
Final Thoughts
I may not believe in “toxins” or food cleanses, but there is a great deal of value in stepping back, reassessing areas of your life, and making moves to improve what you take in, what you keep, and what decisions you make. Improving those areas is all about “cleansing” your life, leaving you in a better state than when you started.
Good luck!
The post A Financial Cleanse? appeared first on The Simple Dollar.
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Here’s What to Do Now if You Depend on Obamacare for Health Insurance
Making good on many campaign promises, the new crop of Congressional Republicans kicked off 2017 with their first step toward a plan to “repeal and replace Obamacare.”
GOP legislators resurfaced a bill with some ideas to replace the Affordable Care Act, which introduced health insurance exchanges and subsidies, among other efforts to expand insurance coverage in the U.S.
“Make no mistake about it,” Vice President-elect Mike Pence told reporters yesterday after a meeting with Republican lawmakers. “We’re going to keep our promise to the American people — we’re going to repeal Obamacare and replace it with solutions that lower the cost of health insurance without growing the size of government.”
While supporters are happy to see such swift action from representatives on the promises that got them elected, many Americans are worried.
What Exactly is Happening With Obamacare?
With only vague mentions of “a plan” from House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-WI), we’re uncertain what to expect.
The bill making headlines now is “unlikely to become the main vehicle in the House to repeal Obamacare,” according to CNN. No one seems to know exactly how “repeal and replace” will look.
It leaves us in limbo, with many people wondering: Are we about to lose our health insurance?
Unfortunately, all public answers to that question are, for now, only speculation.
What to Do if You Rely on Obamacare for Health Insurance
If you’re one of about 20 million people who’ve gained health insurance since 2010 directly because of the Affordable Care Act, don’t panic.
Few people know what’s actually going to happen as Republicans move forward with their plan, so don’t let guesses get you down.
If you don’t like sitting on your hands waiting to learn your fate, here are two pragmatic steps you can take now to prepare yourself (a bit) from whatever “repeal and replace” might mean.
1. Enroll (or renew) in the health insurance marketplace before Jan. 31.
If you don’t have health insurance through an employer, Medicare, Medicaid or another source, enroll through the health insurance marketplace before Jan. 31.
You can enroll:
- Online at healthcare.gov
- By Phone: 1-800-318-2596 (TTY: 1-855-889-4325)
- In person, with help from groups in your community.
- By mail, with this paper application (Follow these instructions.).
If you had coverage in 2016 through the health care marketplace and didn’t make any changes, you were probably automatically enrolled in the same plan for 2017 — so you should be covered.
You can check your enrollment status through your account at Healthcare.gov or by calling the number above.
Even if you were automatically enrolled, you may want to check your plan to make sure you have the best coverage available. You can update it through the marketplace before Jan. 31.
Sign up to make sure you have the best coverage you can get now, so you know you’re covered as long as possible. This will save you from scrambling for coverage or care after the full plan is unveiled.
2. Make an appointment with your doctor.
We don’t know that you’ll be stuck with a gap in health care coverage between “repeal” and “replace.” But if a gap would have serious ramifications on your health, plan ahead.
“People should sign up and continue to be covered as long as the Republicans let them,” Tim Jost, a health care law expert at Washington and Lee University told MONEY. “People should think about if there’s anything I can get now, that might not last past repeal.”
That could mean getting in your annual physical now, scheduling a procedure you’ve been putting off, filling prescriptions or switching to a birth control method that will outlast the incoming administration.
Resources to Reduce Your Health Care Costs
In the meantime, resourceful Penny Hoarders can always search for alternative ways to afford health care.
Visit a doctor online! Use telehealth to meet with a Board-certified medical professional online at a fraction of the cost of a clinical visit.
For your mental health, here are nine ways to get free or cheap therapy when you don’t have health insurance.
If you’re engaged in a Christian church and are relatively healthy, consider joining Medi-Share or another health-care sharing ministry.
For medication, check out these six ways to save money filling your prescriptions.
And, with or without health insurance, follow these 10 tips to save money on your medical bills.
Your Turn: Will your family be affected if Congress decides to repeal Obamacare?
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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Need a Vacation? 10 Creative Ways to Save for Your Next Big Trip
Vacations are supposed to be relaxing, but it’s hard to unwind when you’re constantly stressing about how you’re going to pay for it all.
With summer nearly upon us and road trips, cruises and much-needed getaways in the works, now is the time to start saving up for that vacation you’ve been dreaming of all winter. With a little creativity, you can bulk up your bank account and be ready to hit the road or beach in style, without going into debt to do it.
Here are 10 strategies to save for your next vacation.
1. Open a Dedicated Vacation Bank Account
One easy way to save for a special trip is to open a dedicated vacation savings account. You can set up automatic payments into the account, and, with a little restraint, leave that money there until it’s time for your trip. If you choose an interest-bearing account, your money might even grow while you’re looking forward to your trip. Here’s one great example:
There are a bunch of great online banks, but one of my favorites is Chase because they’re offering Penny Hoarder readers a $350 bonus when you open a new checking account.
You can open a savings account at your local bank, but my suggestion is to go with an online bank. You’ll be less likely to withdraw the money.
Once you’re on your way, a vacation account is also an easy way to track how much you’ve spent on your vacation.
2. Cut Back on Your Monthly Food Budget
Now, to fill that vacation account…
For many households — especially those with little ones or teenagers running around — food can be a huge monthly expense. Shave a little off the top and in no time, you’ll notice you’ve got some extra cash to put toward your getaway.
Save money by buying in bulk, by shopping at farmers markets or by joining a CSA. You could even do what this family did and slash your grocery bill in half by shopping for organic foods. Start a garden in your backyard, or save on produce by regrowing vegetables at home. Earn rebates on your groceries by taking pictures of the receipts with apps like Checkout51 and Ibotta.
Or simply look for a few items you don’t really need, like pop and treats, and keep them out of your grocery cart while you’re saving for your vacation. Wouldn’t that ice cream taste even better if you were eating it on the beach?
3. Use Your Car to Make a Little Cash on the Side
Why not use your car for a little extra income? Some communities will pay you to carpool to work, and you could make additional money as an Uber or Lyft driver. You could also make $3,000 a year by renting out your car.
If you’re flying to your destination and want to park at the airport for free, let FlightCar rent out your car to other travelers while you’re gone, and you could have a check waiting for you when you return.
You could also consider ditching your car completely, like this family did, and save $11,500.
4. Pick Up a Side Job
Sure, you may need to work a little harder now, but think about all that relaxing fun you’ll be having on your stress-free vacation that’s already paid for.
Look for ways to earn extra money outside your regular job, whether they’re more traditional (babysitting, serving) or a bit less orthodox. Clean headstones, alter clothing, stand in line… the sky is the limit for odd, side jobs that help bring you one step closer to affording your dream getaway.
Consider short-term work opportunities related to the season. Around the winter holidays, many retail employers look for seasonal workers to cope with extra demand. During the spring and summer, look for businesses that need extra support, like farms or pools looking for workers and lifeguards. In the fall, try offering leaf-raking services or picking apples in an orchard.
Working these side jobs may mean sacrificing your weekends for a while, but it will help make your vacation possible.
5. Save on Housing
Move a little extra money to your vacation account each month by cutting back on your housing expenses. Get rid of your costly mortgage insurance, downsize your home or even make a few small home improvements to save on your utility bills.
You could even earn some money from your home by renting out rooms in your house or offering short-term rentals to fellow travelers through sites like Airbnb.
And make sure to save on housing during your vacation, too, by using Airbnb or one of these other cheap accommodation options.
6. Sell Your Stuff
If you’re into vacations, you know that life is about experiences, not stuff. Especially when your stuff can put cold, hard cash in your pocket.
This mom made $600 selling her stuff in Facebook garage sale groups — and you can, too. Try selling used stuffed animals or thrift-shop finds on eBay. Check your attic, too; a fortune could be there waiting for you.
7. Make Your Credit Card Work for You
Consider using a credit card that accumulates airline miles for all of your regular expenditures throughout the year. Come vacation time, you could be flying for free.
You can also earn tons of frequent flier miles without signing up for a credit card by shopping online, eating out, taking surveys and other methods.
Another option is to earn credit-card sign-up bonuses. Writer Steve Gillman made more than $1,000 from these bonuses last year — that’s a lot of money to put toward your next road trip!
8. Spend Less on Your Workout
Want to get in shape for the itsy bitsy bikini or new swim trunks you bought for that trip to the beach? Think of how much better your wallet will look if you could work out without forking over loads of cash.
Consider saving money on the cost of a gym membership with these free or cheap workouts, or by following fitness-focused YouTube channels. You could even get paid to work out by teaching yoga or leading fitness boot camps.
If you can’t bear to leave the gym, look for deals on discounted memberships and classes through your employer or sites like Groupon.
9. Find Deals on Outdoor Equipment
If your vacation involves costly items like skis, snowboards, kayaks, tents and more, you could be wasting money on gear. Consider buying used rental equipment, shopping at company “garage sales” and hunting in thrift stores to cut down on the cost of equipment for your adventures.
Also consider buying and reselling gear at your destination. Who knows, you may even come home with a little money in your pocket.
10. Get Paid to Take Your Vacation
Consider making your vacation work for you, instead of the other way around.
Some companies — like this one that will pay two lucky winners $20,000 to explore Canada, or this one that gave away a $1 million vacation — look for intrepid adventurers for various projects.
Get paid to lead whitewater rafting trips or work in a national park. At the very least, check out these ways to make money on vacation.
Saving up for a big trip isn’t easy, but these strategies should help you save a little bit faster and have your trip already paid for before you leave home.
Stretch your vacation savings a little further by finding deep discounts on trips using websites such as LivingSocial and Groupon.
Your Turn: How do you pay for your vacations?
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.
Sarah Kuta is an education reporter in Boulder, Colo., with a penchant for weekend thrifting, furniture refurbishment and good deals. Find her on Twitter: @sarahkuta.
The post Need a Vacation? 10 Creative Ways to Save for Your Next Big Trip appeared first on The Penny Hoarder.
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This SAHM of 4 Reveals Her Exact Budget for Living Richly on $36,000 a Year
Here at The Penny Hoarder, we do our best to both inform and inspire our readers.
But oftentimes, it’s you who inspire us.
Such is the case with Melissa Palmer, a Penny Hoarder reader who left this comment on one of our Facebook posts:
We raise three kids (with a fourth on the way) on my husband’s $36,000 a year salary. We sacrifice a lot, but yet we never feel poor. And all the things we ‘sacrifice,’ we don’t actually care about… We feel so very, very rich and blessed. We are not lucky. We CHOSE this. And I believe most families can as well, but choose not to.
Intrigued and impressed, we had to know more. So we asked her to share her story.
Melissa’s situation won’t apply to everyone. She and her husband, for example, made a smart real estate investment early on, and pay less rent by living on his parents’ property, which isn’t possible for everyone.
But no matter who you are, we’re confident her budgeting tips and frugal outlook will help and inspire you.
Take it away, Melissa!
Thanks so much for chatting with us. To start, can you walk us through your financial history up until now?
Several years ago in Tucson, we bought a house off Auction.com for $53,000. It was an absolute miracle.
The house was completely livable, and with our two incomes at the time (we made about $50,000, which now I can’t believe we made that much!), we got through the mortgage, flipped the house and sold it three years later for $134,000.
We got a big fat check for a little over $68,000, so we paid off our $25,000 in student debt and moved to Spokane with our two kids, into a 1,200 square-foot apartment on Cole’s parents’ property (where we currently live).
We’ve been in this apartment for almost two years, and last August, we used another chunk of change from the house flip to purchase five acres nearby for $25,000. We’re in the process of preparing the land and purchasing a new 1,800 square-foot manufactured home to put on it.
Great. Can you break down your budget in detail?
Cole works full time as a delivery driver and chimney sweep. Our income is about $2,800 per month (full time at $18 per hour, plus time-and-a-half overtime pay).
Here are our monthly expenses:
Car insurance: $137 (for two cars)
Gas: $150
Rent: $500
Cell phones: Under $30 with Republic Wireless (as low as $26, depending on how much data we use)
Groceries: $480 (includes household items like dog food, diapers, soap, etc)
Restaurants: $60 (date night)
Additional food: $60 (snacks, coffees, takeout pizza)
Church tithes: $280
Extra giving: $50
Everything else: $500
Savings: $550
(Author’s note: Since Melissa’s husband doesn’t receive benefits at his job, their family qualifies for state health insurance.)
Anything else we should know about your budget? How will things change when you move?
With our tax return, we tithe 10%, pay our life insurance for the year (about $500) and save the rest.
Once we have our own house and property, our mortgage will be about $120,000, which means our payment will be about $800-$900 each month. We’ll then also use our tax return to pay our power bill for the year (we’ll have well [water] and septic, so no monthly bills there).
We won’t be able to save very much then — besides our tax return — but we’re OK with that. Even after moving to our property, we’ll keep $7,000 in savings as an emergency fund.
How do you track your spending? How has it made a difference?
I record every single purchase; every penny is accounted for. I just use an Excel spreadsheet and keep receipts for the month.
[Author’s note: You can also use Google Sheets like this family, or a free budgeting app like Mint.]
Every day, I take 30 seconds and type in what we spent that day. Super easy, and eye-opening at the end of the month to see what we spent money on.
Each month, I make a new tab in the spreadsheet to keep track of that month’s expenses. Highlighted numbers are debit/credit transactions, and white numbers are cash (so I can reconcile it at the end of the month).
To the right, the numbers under “Checking” and “Cash” are the starting balances for that month, and at the end of the month, I’ll put the ending balances after reconciling underneath them. I keep receipts — so that at the end of the month, if numbers don’t match up, I can go back and see what I missed.
Then I put these numbers into our “big picture” finances tab, which looks like this:
The actual amounts spent on groceries, gas, etc, are put in at the end of the month to see how we did and what our savings are for that month. I then gray out that column and move on to the next month! If I scroll to the left, you’d see all the previous months.
I started this in January 2015, and it has made a huge difference for us, allowing us to see exactly what we are spending our money on.
And when you need to RECORD and be held ACCOUNTABLE for each penny spent, we’ve found you spend it more carefully.
Can you share some of your budgeting tips and strategies?
We rarely buy things we don’t need, and I buy almost everything secondhand, from clothes to toys and home decor, etc.
I also sell stuff on Craigslist and look for restaurant coupons before date nights.
Get Cash Back
I use our cash-back credit card for almost all purchases.
I never keep a balance on it — I just use it for the cash back. I pay it off immediately after spending the money.
Use Savings Catcher
I do almost all of my grocery and household shopping (except produce, [which is] cheaper at Winco) at Walmart, so I use the Savings Catcher app.
All you have to do is scan the code at the bottom of each receipt — and if the app finds out there are cheaper deals at other stores for things you purchased, it gives you the difference (which you can get as a Walmart gift card).
Download Media Insiders
I have Media Insiders on my phone and PC, which just runs in the background and logs which TV shows and movies I watch.
Again, it’s not much, but this one earns about $50 every three months. It’s just a “set it and forget it” thing, and every few months I’ll pull out enough for a nice little date night for Cole and me.
Cook at Home
I think this is one of the biggest savings. I find if I do at least a weekly menu, based on what produce was on sale, it’s less stressful and I don’t waste as much.
We buy our meat from GoDirect Foods, which has super cheap and high-quality meats.
Start a Side Business
I also have a VERY small side business at home where I make bow ties for little baby boys. I give more away as gifts than I actually sell, but it’s still fun for me.
Those are awesome tips! How do you maintain such a frugal perspective?
One summer when we lived in Tucson, Cole worked for $10 an hour splitting firewood… outside in the 110-degree summer heat. It was absolutely dreadful work for him.
When I would pass a Starbucks and want to stop and get a latte, I’d think, “That’s half an hour of Cole splitting firewood outside.”
Since then, I’ll consider “unnecessary” purchases through either the lens of how much work Cole is doing for that item, or how it compares to a “necessity” item like milk (this item costs two gallons of milk — is it worth it?).
I’m not saying we never splurge on unnecessary items, but shifting your perspective to look at the time and energy required to purchase the item, or what other items you could purchase instead, helps you realize what you really need.
You said you “never feel poor.” How do you enrich your life on a limited budget?
Really, I think it comes down to simply living within your means. Analyzing what your family actually NEEDS versus WANTS, and shifting your perspective accordingly.
If I felt like I needed a huge 2,000 square-foot home, then I’d always feel discontent in a smaller home. I think realizing how much you really have causes you to be grateful and content.
Also, I’ve found the more generous you are, the more God blesses you.
Even if you consider yourself to have a “little” or to be “in need,” you still have more than enough to give to those who are in greater need. Even small gestures — like picking up a cup of coffee for a mom you know is having a hard day — go a long way, and make life so much fuller.
Our life is very rich, and very full.
We make quality family time a priority, and we almost always have family dinners together (at our dining table, not in front of the TV).
Cole and I make time for each other with date nights (exchanging babysitting with other couples with kids), as well as time in the evening together after the kids are in bed.
Really, I think living a simpler life (with fewer expectations of what life “owes” you, or what you need to have to enjoy life) leads to a more joy-filled and enriched life.
What would you say to someone who wants to stay home, but doesn’t think they can do so financially?
Honestly, I would ask, “Are you willing to change your lifestyle to stay home?” If so, then you probably can.
If your current lifestyle doesn’t work financially for you to stay home, then downsize.
Sell the house and buy a cheaper house. Sell the cars and buy cheaper cars. Cut out monthly bills where possible. Don’t spend money you don’t have. Sell stuff (you probably have a lot of stuff you don’t use or need anyways).
If drastic measures need to be taken — like you live in a super expensive city and would need to move either to the outskirts, or quite a bit further — if you’re really serious, then do it.
Trust me, it’s worth it. What you gain far outweighs what you “sacrifice.”
What’s one misconception of stay-at-home parents you’d like to clear up?
That it’s by “luck” or “chance” or because “your husband must make a lot of money” that I GET to stay home. Not at all true.
It’s a huge decision every parenting couple (because obviously single parents aren’t in the same boat) makes.
Whichever way they choose — to live off one income or two — they’re indeed CHOOSING it. It’s not a decision they’re forced into, one way or another.
Are you happy with your decision to stay home? Do you have any regrets?
I wouldn’t change anything. I can’t imagine I’ll look back at the end of my life and wish I would’ve been at work instead of raising our children.
I really don’t feel like we’ve sacrificed anything — at least not anything we really cared about.
The only “plus” to not staying at home would be more money, and I’m not convinced at all that more money equals more happiness.
We don’t feel like we’re simply “surviving”; we really do feel so very rich and blessed with our life.
Your Turn: Do you want to stay home with your kids? What’s your favorite tip Melissa shared?
Susan Shain, senior writer for The Penny Hoarder, is always seeking adventure on a budget. Visit her blog at susanshain.com, or say hi on Twitter @susan_shain.
The post This SAHM of 4 Reveals Her Exact Budget for Living Richly on $36,000 a Year appeared first on The Penny Hoarder.
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Don't miss today's self-assessment online tax return deadline
If you’re filing your tax return online, you have until the end of today (31 January) to get everything sorted or face severe fines.
Those who need to submit a tax return for the 2015/16 tax year are generally the self-employed and anybody who earns extra income on the side that isn’t paid through a company pay as you earn (PAYE) scheme.
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Savings update: rates continue to edge up
Some savings rates are edging up from their historically low levels.
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Energy providers to trial schemes to help households get a better deal
Energy suppliers will be forced by the regulator to take part in trials, which will start this summer, to find out the best ways of helping disengaged customers to get a better deal.
Ofgem says these trials will examine issues including:
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Condo vs. House: Before You Buy, You Must Read This
Condo vs. house: There are many reasons people choose one over the other — but which is right for you?
My wife, Ana, and I have owned and lived in seven houses and two condos in 15 years, and there were pros and cons at each.
A few years ago, we owned a condo in Naples, Florida. But I felt uneasy about the high dues, so we bought a house in North Port, Florida.
I hated all the yard work and maintenance. By the time I mowed the far side of the lawn, the grass had already grown longer where I started. So we bought a duplex in Florence, Colorado, and lived in one side for eight months, but that’s another story.
A few months ago, we arrived in Tucson, Arizona, where we bought a condo. It’s small, but it’s the best home we’ve had.
But back to the question: Should you buy a condo or a house?
I think most people should buy a house, even though I prefer a condo for now — but it really depends on your lifestyle and goals. To help you determine which is best for you, here are some of the benefits and drawbacks of each, along with some of our experiences.
Why You Should Buy a Condo
These are a few of the reasons people choose condos over houses.
Condos Cost Less
We paid $55,000 for our condo here in Tucson, and it came with new carpet, tile and paint. We did add a washer, refrigerator and some patio work for another $2,000 or so, and we paid a few hundred dollars in closing costs. But there’s no way we could have bought a comparable house for that price.
Recent pricing data from the National Association of Realtors shows a median sales price of $240,900 for single-family homes in the U.S. versus $225,100 for condos. But that includes a lot of luxury condos and masks the much bigger differences you’ll find in some communities. For example, the median house price in Tucson is $193,300 versus $118,800 for condos.
Here are few randomly chosen cities from around the country, with the median house price followed by the median condo price:
- Madison, Wisconsin: $254,700 vs. $173,800
- Reno, Nevada: $314,400 vs. $169,500
- Tampa, Florida: $205,000 vs. $134,900
- Colorado Springs, Colorado: $264,700 vs. $172,400
- Atlanta, Georgia: $191,500 vs. $168,800
- Syracuse, New York: $137,000 vs. $117,100
Of course, part of that difference can be attributed to the smaller size of many condos. That’s not necessarily a bad thing, though.
Condos Can Have Lower Monthly Expenses
The $390 monthly dues for our condo in Florida made it almost as expensive as a house, but if you shop wisely, you will find lower living costs in a condo. Now, our homeowners association dues are $145 per month and include water, sewer and garbage, as well as exterior maintenance and insurance. The insurance you do have to buy covers only from the interior walls inward (including contents), so it’s much cheaper than a typical homeowner policy.
In our last single-family house, water, sewer and garbage collection cost $105 monthly. The average cost of homeowner insurance in Arizona is about $58 per month, and we pay just $20 monthly, a savings of $38. Clearly, our total housing costs are pretty low, despite paying dues, and that’s before we even consider the lack of expenses for exterior maintenance or yard care.
In fact, our overall cost of living is lower here than it was in any of our houses.
We pay cash for our homes at this point in our lives, but if you finance your home, the biggest ongoing savings with a condo may be in your borrowing costs. When (if) you pay significantly less than you would have for a house, the mortgage payment on your condo will obviously be much lower.
Condos are Easier to Take Care of
We opted for a one-bedroom condo, and we love how quickly we can vacuum and clean the place. We would rather spend our time reading, writing or walking downtown than cleaning and maintaining a home.
It isn’t just the size that makes it easier, though. With a condo, you don’t ever paint or maintain the exterior. Management does that. There is no lawn to mow, no mailbox to replace and no shingles to repair. You just take care of the inside. Home maintenance is simply easier in a condo.
Amenities are Included
You may not be able to afford a house with a pool and hot tub, and who wants to clean and care for them anyhow? But with many condos, you get these and/or other amenities (exercise room, playground for the kids, tennis court) without additional cost or work. We’ve been in the hot tub and pool more than 20 times since we moved here a few months ago, and I’ll be using the basketball courts later today.
You Get a Better Location
My wife and I walked downtown for happy hour yesterday and took the bus home. Within walking distance, we have numerous parks, three grocery stores, our bank, 20 restaurants, a hardware store, shoe store, discount clothing store and much more. We never could have afforded a house so close to so much, which is perhaps the biggest reason we love our new home.
If location is important to you, and you find you can’t afford a house in your favorite neighborhood, check out the condos for sale.
Why You Shouldn’t Buy a Condo
Here are some reasons people hesitate about buying a condo when they consider the question of condo vs. house.
There Are More Rules and Restrictions
Our condo in Florida came with plenty of nitpicky rules. You couldn’t back your car into your parking spot or leave a pool towel out to dry on a chair on the patio. Our rules here seem more reasonable, although I think we were supposed to get approval before putting potted flowers in our fenced-in patio.
Know what the rules are before you buy a condo to avoid surprises. For example, we found that many condo complexes in Florida didn’t allow pickup trucks and had restrictive pet policies. You don’t want to move in and then discover you have to immediately sell your vehicle and put the dog on a diet so he conforms to the maximum weight allowed.
You Have Less Storage Space
With a small condo (ours is just 675 square feet), you have to organize your stuff more efficiently or just get rid of much of it (we did both). And if you think you’ll just add storage, read the rules first. Our HOA rules allow an outdoor shed of just 25 square feet.
You Don’t Have a Yard
I can’t imagine this as anything but a benefit, but some readers may love that big, green field of sweaty weekend work, and you won’t get it with a condo.
You Have Less Privacy
You’ll be much closer to your neighbors. In our Florida condo, Ana was particularly bothered by the torso-level window in the shower right next to where everyone walks between the buildings. The sound of high heels clicking on the tile floor above us was also annoying.
Our partial solution here in Tucson was to buy an end unit in a one-story complex. We share only one fairly soundproof wall with a neighbor, and the fenced patio has privacy screening.
You might pay a higher price for an end unit, but in our opinion, it’s worth a couple thousand dollars more for the added privacy. You might enjoy that privacy for years to come, and you’ll probably recoup the cost when you sell. The condos with the most privacy might also be farther from the pool, mailbox and parking, so you’ll get more exercise.
You Have to Pay Association Fees
We’ve seen condos with HOA dues as high as $750 per month. Fortunately, that’s not the norm, but even when dues are low, you need to look at the HOA budget and other financial documents. Big deficits and/or a lack of reserves suggest that dues could increase soon.
Don’t convince yourself that higher dues are worth it because of amenities, unless you’ll actually use them.
Calculate the value of the amenities based on your lifestyle. The hot tub and pool here are worth at least $25 per month to us, since we spent that much going to pools and hot springs before we bought this place. But most residents here never use these facilities, so the value to them is zero.
You May Have Special Assessments
Sometimes the dues the association collects are not sufficient for the necessary maintenance and other costs the association faces. In that case, the HOA may have to implement a special assessment, which can be an unpleasant surprise.
For example, a neighbor where we now live tells us there was an assessment of $150 last year to cover unexpected pool repairs. When we had the condo in Florida, the need to catch up on roof repairs led to a $600 special assessment for each owner.
Once the decision is made, there generally isn’t anything you can do but pay (usually, you’ll have a couple months before the deadline). This is why it’s important to look at the condo documents before you buy. Ideally, you want to see sufficient reserves to deal with unexpected problems — but even if these don’t exist, you’ll know to be prepared in case of a surprise.
Mortgage Rates May Be Higher
A condo mortgage may have an add-on charge of 0.75% of the loan amount. It’s usually rolled into the loan, effectively increasing your interest rate. However, there are several important things to consider here.
First, the extra charge is only added if you borrow more than 75% of the condo’s value. You may have planned on a down payment of 20% for a house to avoid mortgage insurance, so if you decide on a cheaper condo instead, you can probably afford a down payment of 25% to avoid the extra charge.
More importantly, if you’re borrowing substantially less for the condo than you would for the house, your payment is likely to be lower even if you pay the extra 0.75% for the condo loan, so don’t sweat it.
Finally, you can avoid the extra charge, even with a low down payment, by getting a Veterans Affairs or Federal Housing Administration loan. The only catch here is that the condo development must meet certain guidelines.
Why You Should Buy a House
For some people, a house is simply part of their American dream. Here are some other reasons people choose houses over condos.
Houses Have More Space
According to census statistics, the median size of new houses is 2,467 square feet, while for new condos, it’s 1,408 square feet. Bigger means more space for your stuff and the people living there. I wouldn’t want to cram a large family into a condo.
You Get to Have a Yard
You rarely get a personal yard with a condo, which is one reason some people prefer houses. While a yard does mean a lot of work, there is room to play and space for the dog to run, plus it helps with the next advantage.
You Have More Privacy
You’ll almost always have more privacy with a house versus a condo. You don’t share any walls with your neighbors, but also that yard puts even more distance between you. You can create even more privacy, too, thanks to the next advantage.
You Have More Control
Although a house might come with neighborhood association rules, in general, you have more control. You can add on to your home, put up a fence, own the vehicles you like and so on.
When you live in a condo, association rules affect every decision regarding the home. For example, the corner of the roof on our Florida condo was sagging and rotted, but 14 roof repairs were in line ahead of it, so it was going to be left that way for years. Had it been a house, we would have fixed it right away, but in this case, it wasn’t our decision to make.
Other potential freedoms that come with a house include being able to run a small business at home and rent out rooms, which is how I paid off my first mortgage.
If we ever own a house again, one big reason will be to have greater personal control over our home space and lifestyle.
Why You Shouldn’t Buy a House
Finally, here are some reasons you might want to avoid buying a house.
Houses Cost More Than Condos
NAR pricing data shows that houses cost more than condos just about everywhere. Sure, that’s partially due to size differences, but even if you want to go smaller, you may not have many options with houses. We couldn’t have found a decent 675-square-foot house (the size of our condo) around here, and if we did, it still would have cost more than the $55,000 we paid for our condo.
Houses Have Higher Initial Expenses
When you pay a higher price for a house, you also face higher one-time expenses like mortgage points and closing costs.
It also costs more to set up the household. For example, when we moved from our condo to a house in Florida, I had to buy a lawn mower, weed whacker, shovel, rake, branch cutter, ladder and many other tools that I never needed in our condo.
Houses Have Higher Regular Expenses
When you buy a bigger house instead of a condo and pay more for it, just about all of your ongoing expenses will be higher. That includes:
- Mortgage payment (a bigger loan = bigger payments)
- Insurance (higher value = higher insurance premiums)
- Taxes (higher value = bigger property tax bill)
- Maintenance (more things to maintain = higher costs)
- Heat (more space = higher cost to heat)
- Electricity (more room = more lights and devices = bigger bills)
- Water (more things to water = bigger water bills)
Houses are Much More Work
OK, I get it. Some people just love mowing the lawn, painting the garage and cleaning that black gunk out of the gutters. I don’t.
And if there is one thing our experiences have made clear, it is that houses are so much more work than condos. I would rather be doing work I get paid for — or just soaking in that hot tub.
Your Turn: Condo vs. house: Which do you prefer? Let us know in the comments below.
Steve Gillman is the author of “101 Weird Ways to Make Money” and creator of EveryWayToMakeMoney.com. He’s been a repo-man, walking stick carver, search engine evaluator, house flipper, tram driver, process server, mock juror, and roulette croupier, but of more than 100 ways he has made money, writing is his favorite (so far).
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