Poconos rates higher in April

Unemployment in both Monroe and Pike counties were up in April, according to a report issued Tuesday by the Pennsylvania Department of Labor and Industry’s Center for Workforce Information and Analysis.Monroe County, overlapping with the East Stroudsburg Metropolitan Statistical Area’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate increased two-tenths of a percentage point to 6.1 percent in April. Those figures were higher than the state and national rates. The state's rate was [...]

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We Want Appetizers: How to Use Ibotta’s $3 Cash Back Deal at Any Restaurant

Nothing’s better than free food.

You know that feeling you get when you’re hungry, you walk through the food court at the mall and an employee hands you a yummy morsel of chicken on a toothpick? SO GOOD.

On the theme of free food, Ibotta has a yummy deal going this summer. It’s offering $3 cash back for any appetizer from any restaurant.

OK, so it’s not totally free. But if you play your cards right, it’s close to free. And it makes us want all the appetizers — all the crab cakes, all the potato skins, all the coconut shrimp.

Ibotta, by the way, is an app that gives you cash back on purchases from your favorite stores and restaurants.

To get the biggest bang for your buck from this offer, try deal stacking it with half-price appetizers.

Picture it: You stop at Applebee’s for an appetizer during half-price app happy hour. (That’s 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the bar and after 10 p.m. in the rest of the restaurant.)

Order the mozzarella sticks or the spinach-artichoke dip, which are each $7.99. Half of that is $4. A $3 rebate from Ibotta makes it $1.

Presto: $1 appetizers.

Music to Our Ears: No Other Purchase Necessary

Even if you’re not stacking this offer with some kind of half-price apps deal, this new Ibotta offer is worth noting.

Not only do you get $3 off an appetizer, but you can use it at any restaurant, and no other purchases are necessary. That’s fairly rare.

The biggest catch: The offer’s only valid in 11 states — Alabama, Hawaii, Indiana, Maine, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, New Jersey, Oklahoma, Virginia and West Virginia.

The offer ends Sept. 5.

How to Stack the Deals

Again, deal stacking is your friend here.

To be a Jedi-level Penny Hoarder, look for a good deal on appetizers, then stack Ibotta’s $3 cash back offer on top of that deal.

Beyond Applebee’s, there are a whole lot of appetizer deals out there. The casual dining industry is struggling, so chains are waging price wars for customers. That extends to appetizers.

Check out these deals:

• Buffalo Wild Wings offers $3 appetizers as happy hour specials, usually from 2 to 7 p.m. That includes mini corn dogs, garlic mushrooms and chili con queso dip. Again, that $3 price basically equals free food.

• Ruby Tuesday has $5 appetizer specials from 3 to 6 p.m. Yes, that includes the Key West coconut shrimp.

• TGI Friday’s has endless appetizers for $10 — or for $7, if you include the $3 you’ll get back from Ibotta.

• Chili’s has appetizer specials at the bar during happy hour, 10 starters are priced at $3, $4 or $5.

• Odds are good your local Bennigan’s, Bonefish Grill, Carrabba’s, Outback Steakhouse, Red Lobster or Texas Roadhouse has some kind of deal on appetizers.

The best part about these happy hour specials is you don’t even have to order a cocktail if you don’t want to. These are polite, law-abiding chain restaurants. If you don’t order a martini with your appetizer, they’re not going to throw you out the door like you’re in some Old West saloon.

(One caveat: In Virginia, the price of the appetizer must be at least $6 — twice the value of Ibotta’s $3 rebate.)

Super Easy to Use

With Ibotta, you’re earning money on something you’d be doing anyway — buying food.

Here’s how it works:

1. Sign up for Ibotta here. (You just need a name and email address to start.)

2. Browse through the cash back offers in your area, and take note the next time you go to the store — the offers change every week.

3. Ibotta’s new app is easier than ever to use. It takes half the time to earn rebates, you can save your favorite stores, and the navigation bar is better organized.

Sponsorship Disclosure: A huge thanks to Ibotta for working with us to bring you this content. It’s rare that we have the opportunity to share something so awesome and get paid for it!

Mike Brassfield (mike@thepennyhoarder.com) is a senior writer at The Penny Hoarder. He’s suddenly craving some boneless wings.

This was originally published on The Penny Hoarder, one of the largest personal finance websites. We help millions of readers worldwide earn and save money by sharing unique job opportunities, personal stories, freebies and more. In 2016, Inc. 500 ranked The Penny Hoarder as the No. 1 fastest-growing private media company in the U.S.

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This Startup is Hiring an Art Lover to Work From Home for $12-$15 per Hour

Say goodbye to being a starving artist.

We just found a way you can work for a creative and artsy company — from the comfort of your own home.

Museum Hack, a startup that runs quirky private museum tours, is hiring a customer service representative.

How to Get an Artsy Job With Museum Hack

As you can read in our interview with the founder, Museum Hack is turning the traditional museum tour on its head. It offers “highly interactive, subversive, fun, non-traditional” tours of museums in major cities such as New York, Washington, D.C. and San Francisco.

Right now, it’s hiring a remote customer service representative whose duties will include answering questions and closing sales via email and sometimes over the phone.

You must be a detail-oriented, quick learner with excellent customer service skills, “nearly perfect written English” and high flexibility.

Previous experience with web-based services (Google Docs, Gmail, Google Calendar, Slack, Xero, PandaDoc, Base CRM) is also desired; if you’re familiar with them, be sure to mention it in your cover letter.

This is a part-time position that has the possibility of becoming full time. You’ll start off working between 20 to 30 hours per week.

You must be based in the U.S. and able to work flexible hours between 8 a.m. and 6 p.m. EST, plus a few hours on weekends. Monday through Friday between 8 a.m. to 10 a.m. EST are required hours.

Not only does this sound like a fun gig with a cool and growing company, but it pays $12-$15 per hour, with occasional “performance-based rewards and incentives.”

It also sounds like you’ll have opportunities to advance your career.

“Most of our customer service representatives stay with the company for years, and move up to do really exciting things with us,” the job description states.

Want in on the action? Click here to apply.

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, one of the largest personal finance websites. We help millions of readers worldwide earn and save money by sharing unique job opportunities, personal stories, freebies and more. In 2016, Inc. 500 ranked The Penny Hoarder as the No. 1 fastest-growing private media company in the U.S.

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Stop Those Annoying Credit Card Offers With These Easy-to-Follow Steps

Tired of checking your mailbox and finding only junk mail from credit card companies?

It’s nice to know you’ve been “preapproved” for the chance to run up a couple of hundred bucks of consumer debt, but let’s be real: About 99% of those offers (unscientific estimate based on my mailbox) just end up in a landfill.

Did you know you have a right to stop those offers from landing in your box altogether? Doing so is far easier than you might expect.

The FTC Doesn’t Want You to Miss Out on This Offer!

The Federal Trade Commission, which manages the process for permanently removing people from prescreened credit and insurance pitches, advises visitors to its opt-out website that they may actually want to receive some of these offers.

“Because you are pre-selected to receive the offer, you can be turned down only under limited circumstances,” the site explains. “The terms of prescreened offers also may be more favorable than those that are available to the general public. In fact, some credit card or insurance products may be available only through prescreened offers.”

I get it, FTC, you’re playing devil’s advocate. But I’m pretty sure anyone hellbent on getting into debt can find a credit card company willing to collect interest off them for the next entire rest of their lives.

If you don’t want the temptation of credit card offers and feel bad disposing of more mail than you actually bring into the house each day, opting out is the way to go.

How to Opt Out of Credit Card and Insurance Offers

You can choose to opt out of credit card offers for five years or the rest of your mortal life.

To opt out of offers for five years, visit optoutprescreen.com and select the “Electronic Opt-Out for Five Years” option. You’ll input your name, contact information, Social Security number and date of birth. In about 10 minutes – maybe less! — you’ll be all set. You can also opt out by phone at 1-888-5-OPT-OUT (1-888-567-8688).

To opt out forever, go to the same website and choose the “Permanent Opt-Out by Mail” option. Here, you’ll give the same information as above, but in the end, you’ll print and return, snail mail style, your signed permanent opt-out form.

The FTC explains that requests to stop receiving this junk mail get processed within five days, but it may take up to two months before you stop receiving mailed offers.

Opting out will prevent you from getting solicitations based on information from the major credit bureaus (without your opt-out request dinging your credit reports). However, you may still receive offers from other sources, like credit card companies you already do business with.  

Lisa Rowan is a writer and producer at The Penny Hoarder.

This was originally published on The Penny Hoarder, one of the largest personal finance websites. We help millions of readers worldwide earn and save money by sharing unique job opportunities, personal stories, freebies and more. In 2016, Inc. 500 ranked The Penny Hoarder as the No. 1 fastest-growing private media company in the U.S.

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Banks pull stocks away from records as 7-day streak ends

Investors snapped up government bonds and high-yield stocks including phone companies and utilities. As bond prices rose, yields and interest rates fell.

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Is Buying a Home With an Extra Bedroom Worth it? The Truth May Surprise You

When buying or renting a new home, it’s easy to look beyond your most immediate needs.

You may only need one or two bedrooms now, but what if your family expands? What if you host guests from out of town? What if you decide you’ll want an office, a game room or a crafting room some time in the future?

It’s always smart to think ahead, but getting a spare room based on “what ifs” can be costly in the long run, especially if that extra room doesn’t see much use.

Zillow’s recent Cost of Moving Up analysis found that homeowners nationwide spend an extra $192 each month to upgrade from a one-bedroom to a two-bedroom home and an extra $447 a month to go from a two-bedroom to a three-bedroom home. And families going from three bedrooms to four spend $614 more a month.

“While deciding whether to move is a personal choice, understanding how certain characteristics like size, location, or number of beds and baths, can impact a home’s price can be hugely important when determining if a particular home is the right fit for you and your family,” Svenja Gudell, Zillow’s chief economist, said in a press release.

Of course, costs vary between cities, but Zillow has this handy chart that breaks down the additional cost of a home with extra bedrooms (and bathrooms) in 34 metro areas.

Here are a few examples:

Chicago:

Additional cost going from one bedroom to two bedrooms: $15

Additional cost going from two bedrooms to three bedrooms: $144

Dallas:

Additional cost going from one bedroom to two bedrooms: $44

Additional cost going from two bedrooms to three bedrooms: $365

Washington, D.C.:

Additional cost going from one bedroom to two bedrooms: $101

Additional cost going from two bedrooms to three bedrooms: $429

Miami:

Additional cost going from one bedroom to two bedrooms: $269

Additional cost going from two bedrooms to three bedrooms: $599

Boston:

Additional cost going from one bedroom to two bedrooms: $368

Additional cost going from two bedrooms to three bedrooms: $512

Los Angeles:

Additional cost going from one bedroom to two bedrooms: $826

Additional cost going from two bedrooms to three bedrooms: $1,033

If your metro area isn’t included in Zillow’s chart, you can still use this interactive tool to see you how much movin’ on up will cost you each month.

But Does it Make Sense to Go for That Extra Bedroom?

An article on Apartment Therapy recommends doing a cost-benefit analysis if you’re considering a home with a spare room to accommodate visitors.

For instance, homeowners in Denver would have to have overnight guests for at least 23 nights a year for a second bedroom to make sense financially, using Zillow’s analysis. Anything less and it’d be cheaper to just put guests up in a hotel.

But those who do have a rarely used spare room don’t have to lose out. Renting out an empty room through sites like Airbnb or Homestay could make up for the expense of having the additional space — and even net a profit.

Learn how one woman made $5,000 in one year renting spare rooms through Homestay.

Of course, having additional rooms in your home is a personal choice, but weighing all the financial advantages and disadvantages can be helpful to your wallet. After all, your home is a big investment.

Nicole Dow is a staff writer at The Penny Hoarder. During her last move, she considered renting a one-bedroom to save money but determined that having two bedrooms would best serve her family.

This was originally published on The Penny Hoarder, one of the largest personal finance websites. We help millions of readers worldwide earn and save money by sharing unique job opportunities, personal stories, freebies and more. In 2016, Inc. 500 ranked The Penny Hoarder as the No. 1 fastest-growing private media company in the U.S.

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These Are Your Rights Under the Fair Credit Reporting Act

You may already know that you have the right to claim a free copy of your credit report once every 12 months. You might also know that you can dispute any errors appearing on your credit reports with the three credit reporting agencies (CRAs): Equifax, TransUnion, and Experian.

Both of these rights are conferred to you under a federal law known as the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA). Here are the various rights and protections that law grants to American consumers:

The Right to Free Credit Reports

As mentioned above, the FCRA gives you the right to a free credit report (aka file disclosure) from each of the three credit bureaus once every 12 months. To claim these free reports, simply visit AnnualCreditReport.com – you don’t need a credit card. You may also be entitled to additional free reports under any of the following circumstances:

• You are an identity theft victim who has placed a fraud alert on your credit file.
• You receive public assistance.
• You’re unemployed but plan to apply for employment within the next two months.
• Someone has taken adverse action against you (a credit denial, for example) as a result of information on your credit.

The Right to Dispute

You have the right under the FCRA to dispute information on your credit reports which you believe to be inaccurate. When a CRA receives your dispute they have 30 days (sometimes 45 days) to investigate your claim. At the end of the investigation the disputed information must be either (a) verified as accurate, (b) corrected, or (c) deleted.

Regardless of the outcome, the CRA must inform you of the results of your dispute. This entire process is free of charge if you handle the dispute process on your own.

• Related: How to Dispute Credit Report Errors

Limits to How Long Negative Information Can Remain on Your Credit Reports

The FCRA places time limits that control how long negative information can remain on a consumer’s credit report. Though a few negative items are allowed to remain on your credit reports indefinitely (e.g., unpaid tax liens and unpaid Federal student loans), most derogatory credit entries must be purged from your credit after a period of 7 to 10 years.

• Related: Why Your Credit Score Could Get a Big Boost This July

The Right to Limit Access to Your Credit Reports

The FCRA also dictates who has “permissible purpose” to access your credit reports. Your reports cannot be legally accessed by the person you met on an internet dating site, for example, or your nosy next-door neighbor. However, permissible purpose to access credit reports can be granted in all the following circumstances.

• You can access your own credit reports as often as you like. If you have exhausted all your freebies, then you might be charged a fee (or you could search for a free online credit report provider as well).
• Your credit report can be accessed as part of a “credit related transaction.” In other words, if you apply for a loan, credit card, or new insurance policy, then a lender or insurance provider has the right to request your credit report.
• Your credit report can be accessed if a court order has been issued.
• Your credit report can be accessed for employment screening purposes. However, your written consent is required.
• If you have an account with a creditor, the FCRA also allows the account provider to access your credit reports as part of the account management process.

The Right to ‘Opt Out’ of Prescreened Offers

Have you ever checked your mail and discovered a pile of “you’re preapproved” credit card offers? If so, then there’s a good chance that at least a portion of your credit information was accessed by the company that sent you the offer.

If you no longer want companies to have access to your credit information for prospecting purposes, then you have the right under the FCRA to “opt out.” You simply need to visit OptOutPrescreen.com if you wish to exercise this right. This is also free of charge.

Related Articles:

• About to Buy a House? Put Your Credit on Lockdown
• Debunking Four Common Credit Myths
• Comparing Your Many Credit Scores

John Ulzheimer is an expert on credit reporting, credit scoring, and identity theft. He has written four books on the topic and has been interviewed and quoted thousands of times over the past 10 years. With time spent at Equifax and FICO, Ulzheimer is the only credit expert who actually comes from the credit industry. He has been an expert witness in over 230 credit related lawsuits and has been qualified to testify in both federal and state courts on the topic of consumer credit.

The post These Are Your Rights Under the Fair Credit Reporting Act appeared first on The Simple Dollar.

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How to Make Money

Eat a Chipotle Burrito Recently? You Need to Check Your Bank Account ASAP

Editor’s note: Chipotle Mexican Grill is now providing more information about this security breach. For specifics on locations affected and how to file a claim with the Federal Trade Commission, read the fast-food chain’s blog post here.

Chipotle just can’t catch a break.

Since the Mexican fast-food chain’s E. coli outbreak in 2015, the company has struggled to win positive headlines.

After Chipotle recently raised its prices by 5% at about one-fifth of its restaurants nationwide, some people were once again unhappy with the company.

You could say a dreary cloud has loomed over Chipotle for a while now, and this week’s debacle doesn’t help: On April 25, Chipotle announced that hackers breached its payment system.

Oh boy.

Hackers Breached Chipotle’s Payment System — How Are You Affected?

The Mexican fast-food chain’s quarterly earnings call started off stellar. The company announced same-store sales increased by 17.8%. It had experienced five quarters of same-store sales declines, so the news was promising.

So promising, in fact, that Chipotle Mexican Grill stock increased by as much as 6.8% after the report.

However, the call also included the announcement of the payment system hack.

Jack Hartung, Chipotle’s chief financial officer, stated that the company “detected unauthorized activity” on the network responsible for in-store processing of credit and debit card payments, according to CNBC.

Affected transactions occurred between March 24-April 18, 2017.

Why is this bad? A payment system breach puts sensitive data, such as credit card numbers, into the hands of criminals, allowing them to steal customers’ money.

Carissa Economos, a senior at The University of Tampa, told me about her concerns on Facebook.

“I’ve been there 3 times in the past week alone and now I’m kind of freaking out,” said Economos. “I’ve been checking my account and everything seems normal, but it’s crazy how such a large business can get hacked. It just goes to show that no matter how secure a network is, there’s always going to be a way in.”

Hartung said the company began an investigation immediately when it learned of the attack. A statement from Chipotle said the chain has taken steps it believes will halt unauthorized activity.

If you’ve been to Chipotle recently, it would be wise to check your bank statements. Make sure to report any unauthorized activity to your bank immediately.

Hopefully Chipotle’s grief ends soon — I hear it might start offering dessert, but I’m not trying to get my credit card hacked while enjoying it.

Your Turn: Are you worried about the Chipotle breach?

Kelly Smith is a junior writer and engagement specialist at The Penny Hoarder. Catch her on Twitter at @keywordkelly.

This was originally published on The Penny Hoarder, one of the largest personal finance websites. We help millions of readers worldwide earn and save money by sharing unique job opportunities, personal stories, freebies and more. In 2016, Inc. 500 ranked The Penny Hoarder as the No. 1 fastest-growing private media company in the U.S.

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Feeling Burned by Expensive Sunscreen? Save Money Using These 6 Easy Tips

No one wants to spend this summer huddled up in the house with cardboard over the windows to keep out the sun’s damaging rays.

We want to be outside at the beach or a park, or having a picnic. Those kinds of activities aren’t as much fun in the dark.

But you need to protect yourself because too much sun exposure causes wrinkles, sunburn and even skin cancer.

You already know to stay covered up, wear a hat and slather on the sunscreen. But did you also know sunscreen has an expiration date?

The Skin Cancer Foundation says sunscreen that’s more than 3 years old should be tossed in the trash because it no longer offers the sun protection you need.

Sunscreen is Expensive

The cheapest bottle of sunscreen I could find at my local Publix was $7.79, and that was on sale! At the neighborhood Walgreens, the least expensive brand cost $8.29.

Is sunscreen made of some rare earth mineral I’m not aware of? Perhaps its active ingredients are harvested from the north side of the tallest mountain in a rural section of central Europe?

I don’t know why it’s so expensive, but it’s worth the price to keep us safe from sun rays that want to set us ablaze.

How to Save Money on Sunscreen

Try these tips to save money and get the most out of your sunscreen.

• Sometimes a higher sun protection factor (SPF) means a higher price tag. The American Academy of Dermatology recommends an SPF of at least 30, which blocks 97% of the sun’s harmful rays. But no sunscreen will block them 100%. Save your money and don’t buy sunscreens with a super-high SPF.

• If you buy sunscreen that doesn’t have an expiration date on the label, write it directly on the bottle with a Sharpie so you know which bottle to use up first.

• Make sure you’re using sunscreen correctly so you get the best results and aren’t wasting your efforts (or lotion!) by getting a sunburn anyway. Always apply sunscreen at least 30 minutes before you go out in the sun so it has time to absorb. Keep rubbing it on every two hours.  

• We usually think of groceries when it comes to buying in bulk, but membership stores like Sam’s Club and Costco usually sell packs of sunscreen that contain multiple bottles at a lower cost than comparable individual products.

• Sign up for services that pay you to shop to recoup some of the money you spend on sunscreen.

• If you have a flexible spending account, sunscreen is considered a reimbursable expense. Thanks to shopping websites like FSAStore.com and Amazon, you can even have it delivered right to your door.

Whether you’re going to the beach, camping or an amusement park, or just gardening in the backyard, don’t forget your sun protection. I know it’s sticky, goopy and a real pain to put on, but future you will thank you for it.

Disclosure: A toast to savings! Thanks for allowing us to place affiliate links in this post.

Lisa McGreevy is a staff writer at The Penny Hoarder. She practically bathes in sunscreen since she lives in Florida, which seems to be the sunburn capital of the world.

This was originally published on The Penny Hoarder, one of the largest personal finance websites. We help millions of readers worldwide earn and save money by sharing unique job opportunities, personal stories, freebies and more. In 2016, Inc. 500 ranked The Penny Hoarder as the No. 1 fastest-growing private media company in the U.S.

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OPENING BELL: US stocks start lower as energy companies, banks skid

Technology companies and consumer-focused companies continue to climb and Amazon.com surpasses $1,000 a share for the first time.

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10 Strategies for Standing Out During the Hiring Process

At any given time, there are millions of Americans out there seeking employment with some level of seriousness. Many of them are in your field, and some of them are likely applying for the same job.

Most of those people follow the same exact pattern over and over again for their job search. They make a half-decent resume and cover letter, send the exact same document to many different organizations, and then wonder why they rarely get calls back. Then they repeat. And repeat. And repeat.

On the other end of that picture is a hiring manager at an organization, someone whose job it is to figure out who to interview and who to hire for a specific position. That person gets dozens if not hundreds of these kinds of applications and resumes every week. They’re all pretty similar – some are more polished than others, but nothing exceptionally stands out from the pile.

Somehow, a few of those resumes get selected for interviews. People show up. They answer questions. They go home. The hiring manager has to pick from among those few or else hire a few more.

So, how does that hiring manager make that choice? Who goes to the top of that pile of resumes? Who gets the interview? Who gets the job from that interview?

It’s the applicants that stand out in a positive way at each step in the chain.

I’ve been through this process on both ends of the equation. I’ve applied for very competitive jobs and actually secured a couple of them. At the same time, I’ve served on hiring committees for very competitive jobs and watched the sausage get made. There are quite a few tricks that really stood out to me on both sides of the coin that really made the difference. Here are the ten best among those strategies.

Strategy #1: Strongly prioritize applying to organizations where you have a connection.

One of the easiest ways to get your application to the top of the stack is to have someone within that organization with a good reputation that can vouch for you. Trust me – if a person with a good track record sticks their head into a hiring manager’s office and puts in a good word for you, your application is going to zoom right to the top of that stack. It’s not a guarantee of an interview, but it’s a huge positive attribute.

Thus, one great strategy for getting a great job is to simply start by focusing strongly on organizations where you already know someone.

Of course, this starts by having a pile of strong professional relationships, which is something you should start building and maintaining immediately. You do this by being active professionally with your peers on social media, attending professional meetings, and engaging people in your profession inside and outside of your workplace as often as you meaningfully can. Having said that, a dozen good strong positive relationships are worth a thousand very flimsy ones, so prioritize building good relationships over collecting tenuous ones.

If you do know someone at an organization with an opening, talk to that person and ask them to take some time to put in a good word for you. If your relationship with that person is positive and you’ve helped that person in the past, it’s very likely that they’ll help you out, and a quick email or quick conversation with the hiring manager will help push that application of yours right to the top.

Strategy #2: Craft your materials to specifically target the job and company.

The vast majority of resumes and cover letters that a company receives are pretty generic. They’re obviously created and designed to be able to be sent out almost thoughtlessly by the applicant, as though making one good ready-made resume and cover letter is all that’s needed.

The thing is, each position is different. Each company is different. When your cover letter and resume reflect what’s unique about that position and company, it looks a lot better than an ordinary resume.

Before you send a resume and cover letter to an organization, stop and take some time to do your homework on the position itself and the company you’re applying to. Ask yourself what exactly that organization is really looking for in terms of the skills and characteristics you have to offer and then customize your cover letter and resume to focus on those things.

This strategy takes a lot of work, but it really pays off. You have to spend some time really researching the company and the position itself to really get a bead on what that company is all about and what they’re really looking for, but a cover letter and resume crafted to maximize that is going to hit a home run.

Strategy #3: Focus your cover letter on a challenge the company is facing and how you can solve it.

To expand upon the previous strategy, one powerful step you can take is to turn your cover letter into a pitch to solve a specific problem the company is facing. Again, this takes a great deal of work and some careful thinking, but it can really pay off.

Rather than just looking at the skills you have and merely listing them out, instead look at what the company actually needs here. What are they hiring you to do? What need does the company really have to even offer this position?

Write your cover letter from that perspective. The company has a problem of some kind or else they wouldn’t have this position open. What is that challenge they’re facing? What do you have to offer that will answer that challenge?

Remember, the organization doesn’t really care that much about you personally. What the organization cares about is solving this problem that they have, and they want to put the best person possible into that position so that the problem can be solved. They want to move forward on their mission, whether it’s providing some kind of service or solving some kind of large problem or simply making as much money as possible.

Ask not what the organization can do for you, but what you can do for the organization.

Strategy #4: Build an online portfolio of your best work

Your resume is going to usually include mentions of the work that you’ve done, but by the nature of a resume, it can’t really include that material. You can’t include art or lesson plans or code or interfaces or certifications in a resume.

What you can do, however, is create a website for yourself that houses all of those things. It can show off code you’ve written or designs you’ve created. It can list your certifications and the self-education you’ve completed (with links to your Coursera profile, for example).

Your online portfolio can basically be an expansion of your resume, including examples of your work that just do not really fit into the dimensions of a typical resume.

Make such a portfolio. I recommend using a service like Squarespace, which makes it pretty easy to set up this kind of online portfolio for yourself. Fill it with examples of your work and your efforts to become a better professional.

Include a link to this material in your cover letter and resume so that hiring managers can take a look at that material when deciding whether to interview you or not. Often, the presence of a solid online portfolio can be a difference maker.

Strategy #5: Call the hiring manager before the interview.

Shortly after the application deadline, take the time to call the organization and see if you can talk to the hiring manager. Many job applications provide some method for contacting the organization, so don’t hesitate to take advantage of it.

When you get the hiring manager on the phone, simply ask about the status of choosing interviewees for that position. Make it clear that you’re very interested in the position and that you think you’re a great fit. This is a great time to look at your notes about the company and the position and hit a few of the high points in the conversation that explains why you, specifically, are a great fit for solving that organization’s specific problem.

Don’t overdo it. The hiring manager is busy, so keep the conversation short. Just make it clear in a very brief way – less than a minute – that you’re very interested in the position, that you think you’re a great fit for it, and that you’re wanting to know what the next step is.

Often, if you do this in the day or two following the close of an application period, you’re going to hit that hiring manager very close to the time in which he or she is sifting through those applications. A quick phone call like this sticks your name in their mind and can often cause them to pull your application to the top of the stack. Again, don’t overdo it – keep the call really brief and really positive. You just want to do enough to get your name in the hiring manager’s mind in a positive way, not an annoyed way.

Now, let’s move onto great strategies for when you do get that interview!

Strategy #6: Prepare for the interview by asking questions.

The hiring manager calls you and sets up an interview. Great! Your foot is in the door! Now what? Yes, there are the obvious steps of showing up punctually (even early) and dressing well and being well groomed and so on, but those are expected basics. The question is, how do you stand out?

The first thing you can do is practice the interview. Go through lots and lots of questions that you might be potentially asked and practice how you’ll answer them. The goal of this is not to memorize a bunch of stock answers to recite, but to be so comfortable with the things you might be asked that you can craft a genuine good answer on the fly.

If the organization is a large one, there may be some advice online for the kinds of questions that you might be asked, so tap that first. If it’s not large, look online for questions that are typically asked during interviews for positions like yours. The internet is loaded with these kinds of questions, and those resources are being used by the people who succeed at interviews.

Practice those questions. Get your partner or a close friend to come over and “interview” you by asking those questions (and variations on them). Have them take notes on how you did, intentionally looking for ways to make your answers better. Remember, this kind of activity is meant as an improvement activity and you need criticism to know what to work on and improve.

Don’t allow this practice to make you nervous. Recognize that when you do improve, you’re just making it more likely that you get the job. Treat it as a confidence builder. You’re just increasing the likelihood that you’re going to get this job.

Strategy #7: Optimize your mind and body before the interview.

All of the grooming and proper dressing techniques apply here, but you should really go beyond that. Do everything you can to ensure that you’re in the best possible mind and body when you walk in that door.

Some suggestions from my own life that I follow when I have to be primed for a key moment:

I get some exercise the day before. The day before a big presentation or something like that, I get a ton of vigorous exercise. I don’t do anything that’s going to leave me really sore, but I definitely get a workout of some kind. If you’re not much of an exerciser, just take a nice brisk fairly long walk. The reason for this is that it primes your body and mind for a great night of sleep.

Eat a healthy dinner the night before. Don’t eat something unhealthy and heavy in your gut. Eat something that’s enjoyable, but pretty healthy, and don’t eat until you’re stuffed. Don’t down a bunch of junk food in the evening, either. Again, the goal is to feel as good as possible the following day.

Get a great night of sleep. Go to bed early so that you can likely sleep until you naturally awaken without an alarm. A good night of sleep the night before a big event is one of the best things you can possibly do for yourself.

Eat a healthy breakfast with both protein and carbs. My usual go-to “power breakfast” is two hard boiled eggs, a little oatmeal, and a piece of fruit (like a banana or an orange). Nothing beats it for making me feel good all morning long.

Get a little bit of intense exercise. Don’t do a full workout, but do something to really get your blood pumping just before you take a shower. I usually go on a really brisk walk and then do a bunch of squats and planks and other body weight exercises.

Do the normal pre-interview stuff: shower, dress well, groom yourself, show up early. This is all obvious stuff, but it’s still important.

Listen to something mentally engaging but on a different topic on your way to the interview. Listen to a podcast or an audiobook that will get your brain moving, but choose a topic that’s actually different than your interview. You want your brain to be bopping along, but you don’t want to get yourself all keyed up before the interview. Think about other things, but think.

That’s my routine before any big event and it works really well for me. I feel like my mind and body is ready to go.

Strategy #8: Ask thoughtful questions about the company during the interview.

One of the best things you can do for your case during an interview is ask questions. That might seem crazy at first, but it serves a bunch of purposes all at once.

First, it reinforces the idea that you’re intellectually curious and are an active gatherer of information. That’s becoming more and more and more important for almost every workplace. Employers want intellectually curious information gatherers because those people tend to prepare well and solve problems on their own.

Second, it helps you learn more about the organization and whether you actually want to work there. Is this a place you really want to work? Is this a place where you’ll fit in well? What are the quirks of the organization’s culture? By asking questions about the organization and the people that work there, you’re satisfying those internal questions.

Finally, the answers to those questions might give you strong clues about what to mention going forward. One of the best things that a person can do during an interview in my experience is to take something they just learned about an organization and integrate it well into their own answers about why they’re a good fit for the organization. That, to me, is almost always a sign of a top candidate. It exhibits almost everything an organization looks for in a candidate.

Remember, you’re learning about them as much as they’re learning about you.

Strategy #9: Take notes during the interview, especially names of people you have significant interaction with.

Don’t do this in an ostentatious or detailed way. One great thing to do is to just take a small pocket notebook with you and then use it to just jot down names and other really key pieces of information as you go. Gather business cards and slip them inside the pocket notebook along the way.

My favorite strategy is to collect business cards throughout the meeting, then when I have a moment or two of downtime, I jot down a specific thing or two to follow up on on the back of that person’s card. If no card is available, I’ll just jot down their name and a follow-up avenue or two.

Similarly, jot down anything that you’re asked about that you’re not perfectly familiar with. Not being familiar with everything is perfectly okay. The real question is how you handle unfamiliarity. If you handle it with curiosity and grace, and you do this by not getting upset and writing down the thing you’re unfamiliar with, then that’s a good sign.

You should also record anything important that you want to remember about this interview going forward, including immediate thoughts about the company and position. Obviously, don’t record anything that shouldn’t be disclosed. They may ask you to share what you’ve written and don’t hesitate to do so.

Strategy #10: Follow up with an email and a handwritten note.

Here’s a secret: When you walk out of an interview, you’re not done with the interview. Over the next few days, you have your real chance to close out the interview.

The first thing you should do, within a day or so of returning home, is to send a handwritten thank you note to anyone you interacted with in a significant way during the interview. You should have written down their names during your note-taking process, as alluded to above.

Send individual notes. Thank that person for the opportunity to interview. Then, if you’ve noted something to follow up on, do it in a general fashion. For example, if they’re facing an upcoming challenge, wish them well on that challenge. If you don’t have anything like that, state something that you really took away from interacting with them that reflects on that person positively, like how you appreciated their explanation of the intellectual challenge of the job.

Wait a day or two after sending those notes, then follow up by email. Again, thank the person for taking the time to interview you. This is the time to really follow up on everything that was mentioned in the interview that you noted. Show that you actually followed up and self-educated on a topic that someone raised during your interview that you didn’t know. Touch base with that person on the things you noted for follow-up. Set it up so that they’re motivated to email you back, so that you can exchange a few emails with that person. Be very positive and thankful here.

Don’t go any further than that. Don’t be pushy. Don’t stalk them. Don’t friend them on Facebook. You might follow them on Twitter, but do so only if there is mutual professional interest and you might want to genuinely add that person to your professional network.

These steps reinforce your name in a very, very positive way in the days leading up to that person helping decide whether you’re the right person for the job. Some non-pushy positive interactions in the days between the interview and the hiring decision is going to help.

Final Thoughts

One final point that’s extremely important here – even if these steps don’t net you the job, they’re still incredibly worthwhile. Why? By doing these things, you’ve put your name in a positive place in the minds of the people who are doing the hiring. You’ve basically turned a lot of those people into positive professional contacts, and when another opportunity comes around, the value of those contacts is going to immediately elevate you.

I speak from experience here. I was once involved with a hiring process where there were two very good candidates. One of them was just absolutely perfect for the position and she got that job, but another candidate who wasn’t nearly as perfect for that position wowed us by going through most of these steps. He made every possible effort to show that he really wanted to work for us, and we remembered it. Guess what? That guy was hired for a very similar position (that I believe was newly created) within just a few months. The person in charge of hiring actually reached out to this candidate to apply for the second position, just because of the impression he made with the first one.

Remember, you’re selling yourself. Selling yourself isn’t easy for a lot of people – myself included – but when you take the time and effort to actually do it, it really makes you stand out from the crowd, and standing out from the crowd in a positive way is how people get the jobs they want.

Good luck!

Related Articles: 

• Almost Half of Job Applicants Don’t Follow Basic Instructions, Say HR Pros
• Seven Core Pieces of Career Advice I Wish I Knew Starting Out
• How to Save a Job Interview That’s Going Downhill Fast

The post 10 Strategies for Standing Out During the Hiring Process appeared first on The Simple Dollar.

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Why Fancy Whole-Grain Bread is Good for Your Waistline AND Your Wallet

Want to Pay Off Debt? 45 Honest Ways to Make Extra Money Online

Not all of us want to be Uber drivers. Nor are we all excited about the idea of trading our plasma for cash, walking dogs around the city all day, or selling our poop.

But if you’re a stay-at-home mom, student or even full-time employee who could use a little extra cash, you’re probably looking for ways to make some money on the side.

And who wouldn’t want to pad that bank account from the comfort of your own couch?

We know you’re looking for opportunities to make money from home, which is why we’ve put together this list.

In fact, these online jobs can be done from anywhere in the world. All you need is a Wi-Fi connection.  

Here are 45 ways to make money online.

1. Make an Investment, Then Set It and Forget It

We’re kind of obsessed with Stash around here (and not just because it gives you $5).

We love that anyone can use Stash to start investing.

You don’t have to have an MBA or even make it all the way through “The Big Short” to understand how to invest with this app.

You just choose from a set of simple portfolios reflecting your beliefs, interests and goals, and it does the rest.

To get the $5 bonus:

1. Click this link and enter your email here. 
2. Download the Stash app on your smartphone, and set up your account with the same email address. Within two business days, you’ll see the bonus added to your account.

2. Get Paid to Search the Internet

Would you change your default search engine if it meant you could earn gift cards to spend at your favorite stores?

Sign up for InboxDollars to make an extra $5 to $10 each month in gift cards to retailers like Starbucks and Amazon.

Pro Tip: Set your default homepage to SendEarnings, so you’ll never forget to use them for searches. Earning cash will feel like second nature before you know it!

3. Weigh In on Presidential Politics

What do you think of President Donald Trump? Are you going to vote in the 2020 Election?

The Ipsos Panel wants to know! Ipsos is one of the largest presidential polling companies and it’s looking for registered voters to share their opinions on all kinds of topics.

You’ll earn points for each survey you complete, depending on the number of questions, and you can redeem them for Visa prepaid cards, Amazon gift cards, Starbucks cards or cash through PayPal.

Not bad for just giving your opinion!

4. Sell Your Dusty Old Electronics, CDs and DVDs

Have a bunch of movies or CDs collecting dust on a shelf? Decluttr will pay you for them!

Decluttr buys your old CDs, DVDs, Blu-rays and video games, plus hardware like cell phones, tablets, game consoles and iPods.

One user, Gil Flores, sold about 100 DVDs and 75 CDs and made $275 — an average of $1.57 each.

Just download the app and start scanning the barcodes on your media to get immediate quotes. It’s completely free to use, there are no listing or seller fees, payment is super fast and there is even free shipping.

Plus, enter PENNY10 at checkout to get an extra 10% for your trade-ins!

5. Let an App Track Your Phone Use

Download the free app Smart Panel and and in return, you’ll get paid up to $75 per year.

It’s run by Verto Analytics, a trusted analytics firm that collects anonymous statistics from your phone.

The company wants to know how long you’re spending on Facebook each week, what YouTube videos you like, and how often you check your email.

Once you’ve qualified and downloaded the app, it’ll give you $5. If you keep it installed for at least two weeks, you’ll earn another $10. And then for every month that you keep the Smart App installed, you’ll get another $5. In total, you can earn up to $75 for the first year!

You can redeem your rewards via Paypal or an Amazon.com gift card.

Want to earn another $50/year? If you’re between the ages of 18-24 or 45-65, the Nielsen company will also pay you to keep their app on your cell phone

6. Proofread Documents

If you’ve got a keen eye for grammar and formatting, freelance proofreading could be your next great gig — one that pays about $17 an hour.

The average rate per page for proofreading is 35 cents, so your earnings depend on how efficiently you work. It’s not a great moneymaker for procrastinators!

Curious about learning how to become a proofreader? Sign up for this free seven-day mini-course on ProofreadAnywhere.com!

7. Get Paid to Watch Videos

If you’ve ever fallen down a YouTube rabbit hole, this is a money-making activity for you.

Every time you watch a video in your Swagbucks account, you’ll earn cash. You can pick a video category to watch, like home, travel or entertainment.

Set it and forget it — let those videos play in another tab or on your second screen while you work!

8. Look at Ads on Your Smartphone

Don’t mind seeing advertisements every time you pick up your phone? Install Slidejoy on your Android phone and you can earn a few extra bucks every month — up to $60 per year!

This app is only available to U.S.-based Android users. When it’s time to get paid, you can choose to receive cash or gift cards to retailers like CVS, Target, Sephora and more.

9. Join Focus Groups

If you have a webcam, you’re probably eligible for focus groups that host online research panels. Focus groups vary in size and type, but most of them provide some sort of compensation — a check in the mail, a PayPal deposit or even a gift card.

We know you’re not going to get rich joining focus groups, but I’ve been able to pocket an extra $10-$20 a month this way, and that adds up.

Our of our favorite groups is Opinion Outpost (it’s rated A+ with the Better Business Bureau).

10. Sign Up for a New Bank Account

You’ll need to make sure you’ll actually use a new bank account before signing up online. But a few minutes and smart spending could net you a bonus of $50 to $250, depending on the bank.

For example, right now Chase is offering $150 when you open a new bank account and make a direct deposit within the first 60 days. Check out this post for more details.

11. Serve as a Mock Juror

Fascinated by courtroom drama, but hate wasting the day in jury duty for a measly $4 payout?

Serve as an online mock juror to help lawyers prepare for real cases. You can earn $10 to $60 for about an hour of your time.

Instead of hearing arguments from both sides of the case, you review evidence, like documents, videos and photos, at your computer.

12. Test Websites

Sign up to help companies determine how customers use their websites.

With UserTesting, you’ll make about $10 for spending 20 minutes evaluating websites or testing apps.

The best part? You’ll be paid via PayPal within seven days.

13. Jump on the Class-Action Bandwagon

If you use a product that’s involved in a class-action lawsuit, a little online legwork could get you a cash payout.

The rules of each settlement are different, but in most cases you’ll have to provide proof of purchase or product use, like a serial number or a receipt.

Once you fill out your online claim form, you may have to wait a few weeks or months before receiving your payment.

Psst — we regularly post new class-action settlement information, so check in often to make sure you’re not missing a chance to get paid!

14. Find Your Missing Money

Search online to find unclaimed money from retirement accounts you’ve forgotten, old security deposits and more.

Check the National Association of Unclaimed Property Administrators website to find out how to search in your home state.

This strategy can only help you find your own misplaced money. If you keep good track of your cash already, you may not find anything.

15. Answer TV Trivia

Download the Perk Pop Quiz app and pick from one of the many trivia categories — The 90’s & The 2000s, Music & Movie Quotes and Famous Slogans are just a few.

The more correct answers you rack up, the more points you get. You can redeem those points for gift cards to Amazon, Starbucks, Nike, GameStop, Target and other stores.

You’re not going to get rich doing this, but it’s a fun way to make an extra $15 to $20 a month for the shows you already enjoy watching.

16. Re-Sell Domain Names

Love predicting the next big hashtag, catchphrase or business name? Scoop up domain names for cheap, and re-sell them to the highest bidder on sites like Flippa.

You can also make money by buying and selling active websites, instead of domain names.

If a blogger doesn’t want to update their site anymore, but is still making money from advertisers, it could be worth spending a few pennies to take over that property.

Remember, .com URLS are still cooler than .nets and .orgs!

17. Create YouTube Videos

If you can pull in an audience, YouTube advertising can help pay your bills. Whether it’s humor, pets or toy reviews, you can probably monetize your favorite hobby.

It may take time to build that audience that turns views into dollars. The average revenue per 1,000 YouTube views is just over $6. But with enough videos for fans to scroll through, those views can add up over time.

18. Write Letters to Legislators

If you’re a good writer or editor, you can make $12 to $15 an hour writing letters to members of Congress. You’ll be able to learn more about the issues available before committing to writing a letter, so if you want to stick with your own political views, it’s easy to pick and choose.

Before you apply, make sure you have the required computer equipment. For example, I can’t do this job because the software the companies use doesn’t work on Macs.

19. Work as a Transcriptionist

Are you a good listener — and a good typist? You can make $15 to $25 an hour as a transcriptionist.

You’ll need experience in the medical or legal fields to get those transcription assignments, but plenty of researchers, reporters and Average Joes are willing to pay for someone to type up their recordings.

You get paid per audio hour, so this is another task that’s perfect for people with great focus. If an hour-long recording takes you four hours to transcribe, you still only get paid for one hour. Listen closely!

Here’s a free 7-day course to get you started.

20. Sell Your Gift Cards

Received a gift card to a retailer you’ll never visit? Sell your gift cards online and get cash in return.

EBay auctions won’t net you much of the gift card’s original value — especially once you deduct the seller fees — but sites like Raise can help you earn 80-90% of the amount on the card.

Be sure to “shop” around before choosing where to turn in your gift cards!

21. Sell Your Books Online

Everyone has about a dozen books too many, right?

Use Bookscouter to see which buyback company will pay the most for yours.

Make sure the books you want to sell are in good condition before shipping them off to a reseller. Try buying and selling college textbooks (the giant, 101-level books that everyone needs and hates spending $100 bucks for) to maximize your profit.

22. Tutor Chess Players

Love to play chess? Tutor other chess players online to make $35 to $50 per hour.

Tutoring sites like WyzAnt can take a big cut (40% until you hit 20 hours of tutoring!), but you’ll get practice (and get paid) without leaving the house.

Even if you’re a lower-rated player, you can charge $20 per hour to work with beginners.

23. Rent Your Clothing

You can make money online renting clothing through sites like Loanables or Style Lend.

If you’ve got lots of special-occasion or high-end clothes, you could practically be running your own Rent the Runway from your closet!

Make sure to read the fine print on rental sites. Some don’t charge any fees to the buyers and sellers, but some charge a rental commission of 3% to 5% per order. You’ll need to price your wares accordingly to account for any commission handed over to the company!

24. Sell Your Clothes and Accessories

Not using that expensive handbag you received as a gift from a terrible ex-boyfriend? Know you’ll never wear that prom dress again? Sell it!

When you’re ready to send your items to their next homes, use an online consignment store like Cash in My Bag or a Facebook garage sale group. And don’t underestimate those Facebook groups.

If you price your used items fairly — probably half off the retail price, if your stuff’s in great condition — you will probably see interested buyers (and extra cash in your pocket!).

25. Sell Your Coupons

What can you do with the extra coupons you won’t use from your newspaper each week? Sell them on eBay.

You’ll have to pay seller fees, but you might be surprised at how much a single coupon can net you — some bring in $300! People are dedicated to getting 10% off at Sears or Target with the right coupon.

Are you dedicated enough to spot a sales opportunity when you see it next to the funny pages?

26. Get Grocery Rebates

Once you get home from the grocery store, use an app like Ibotta or Checkout51 to get rebates on the products you’ve already picked up (and used coupons to help pay for, right?).

These apps make it super easy to earn your rebates.

For example, with Ibotta, you simply choose your rebates and scan your receipt after you leave the store. Ibotta puts cash into your online account within 48 hours!

27. Sell Your Tweets

Love hanging out on Twitter? Here’s how to make money online doing it.

Your devoted following could mean extra cash. Marketing companies that work with major brands can pay $25 per tweet or more for you to promote a product, though you’ll probably need to have a pretty big audience for this to work.

Sites like PaidPerTweet allow you to set your own price, which means companies come to you when there’s a good fit available. But the more you participate, the more you can charge to send promoted tweets.

28. Sell Your Crafts

Do friends always ask you to knit them a hat or hand-letter their invitations?

Take your crafty side to Etsy and sell your services or finished products. Etsy takes a 3.5% cut of every sale, but the platform is super easy to use.

You’ll need a digital camera or a recent smartphone to photograph your wares. Great photos and plenty of detail shots are crucial for convincing shoppers to put down their hard-earned cash for a carefully made craft.

29. Create an Online Course

Have a skill to share? Teaching through Udemy or Skillshare could bring in big bucks.

Higher education might be super expensive, but many people will pay $50 or $100 (at least!) to learn something new from an expert.

You’ll have to invest your time planning your curriculum and recording the videos that will accompany your course. But a high-quality presentation will seem all the more valuable to your potential students.

30. Sign Up for Mechanical Turk

This program from Amazon pays real people to do tasks computers can’t do, like choosing the best photo from a set or taking a survey.

The downside: Some tasks pay very little for your time.

Here’s a smart workaround: Use Reddit threads to find the tasks that pay the most and/or require the least work so you can make the most money in the least time.

With some careful searching and task-choosing, you could earn an extra $100 a week — or more!   

31. Sell Your Snapshots

Upload your smartphone photos to Foap and let people buy a license to use them.

You get $5 every time one of your photos sells. Your photo can even sell more than once, so that $5 for a beautiful landscape shot could turn into $20, $50, or $100 if enough people want to buy it.

Unfortunately, your Instagram feed is ineligible. So snap a picture before you upload it to Instagram, and send the unedited and uncropped version to Foap.

32. Perform Quick Tasks on Fiverr

Don’t mind doing the small tasks that other people hate?

Offer your services on Fiverr for $5 per gig. Check our post on Fiverr to brainstorm services you can offer, from the practical to the fun and bizarre!

Just make sure it’s worth your time to perform tasks for $5 apiece. Anything that takes more than 15 minutes probably isn’t worth the effort.

33. Enter Naming Contests

Sign up for sites that host contests to name new companies or websites. You can earn $100 — but only if your suggestion is the winner.

Luckily, there are a bunch of naming sites out there. And once you’re a member, you can enter any of the thousands of contests to your heart’s content.

If you’re creative enough, you could bring in winnings from several contests each year.

34. Sell Junk You Find on the Curb

If you’re always spotting half-decent used furniture or other household items tossed out on trash night, grab them to sell on Letgo.

You can sell just about anything on this intuitive app.

You’ll need space to store your finds — and time to scour the streets — before you’ll start to profit. Don’t forget the time you might spend cleaning or repairing an item so you can get top dollar for it when it’s time to sell.

You’ll never look at the trash out on the curb the same way again!

35. Write and Sell an Ebook

Are you an expert with advice to share? Create an ebook and make money each time it sells for years to come!

Make sure to set aside time to write an ebook people will be willing to pay for, though; you’re probably not going to knock this one out in an afternoon.

If you have a blog or have written extensively about a topic, see whether you could compile those past articles into a book At the very least, those posts can give you a foundation for your book, and a great head-start on your word count goals.

36. Resell Concert Tickets

Think you know which games and shows are going to sell out?

Buy a few tickets, and flip them once the box office is out. On sites like StubHub, you’re not a scalper — you’re a reseller! StubHub guarantees ticket authenticity for the buyer, which weeds out a lot of the seedy guys selling fakes.

StubHub takes a 15% commission on every sale, so price your tickets accordingly.

37. Sell Private-Label Products on Amazon

Have the initiative to create labels and packaging? Turn a generic product into a private-label item that could make you thousands on Amazon.

But this isn’t a quick moneymaker: You’ll need to do plenty of research and find a supplier before you start slapping on labels and actually making money. One TPH contributor made more than $1,000 a month, even after paying for Amazon to fulfill his orders.

How’s that for passive income?

38. Get Paid to Open Emails and Complete Tasks

You’re going to check some emails anyway, so why not turn it into a paid habit?

Hear me out.

IRazoo is a site that pays you for doing a number of tasks, like watching videos, taking surveys — even opening emails.

You’ve got mail!

39. Clean Up Search Engines

The web is so full of information, search engines like Google need real humans to help keep it tidy. The work can be tedious, but pays about $12 per hour.

Companies offering this kind of work typically pay once a month, so it’s not a way to make quick cash.

But if you have time on your hands — maybe between jobs or seasonal gigs — you can put in some serious hours whenever the mood strikes.

40. Find Virtual Odd Jobs on TaskRabbit

TaskRabbit helps you connect with regular people who need help getting things done — everything from picking up dry cleaning to calling customer service and tolerating the hold music.

Keep an eye out for virtual tasks, which are mostly centered around personal assistance, administrative work or research help.

Last year, TaskRabbit established a pricing floor of $14 for its Taskers. You can rest assured that you won’t be getting paid pennies to solve someone’s Excel woes.

41. Start a Patreon

Have a cool new project, but can’t figure out how to finance it? Ask people to fund your new book, album or podcast by subscribing to support you on Patreon.

Participants pledge to your Patreon each month. So even if you only have a few proud supporters, their support is recurring — indefinitely!

42. Make Money with Old Newspapers and Magazines

Wondering what to do with that stash of daily papers you found in the attic?

You’d be surprised by what people will pay for a news item or magazine advertisement that means something special to them.

List them on eBay to earn a few bucks per page! Make sure to have your buyers pay for shipping, so you make the most per newspaper page sold.

43. Create and Sell Paper Crafts

Those DIY instructions look easy, but plenty of people just can’t turn a pile of paper into the beautiful craft they envisioned.

Sell your paper crafts on Etsy or eBay for baby showers, weddings, birthday parties and more.

Be sure to check Craigslist, eBay and those Facebook yard sale groups to snag supplies at a big discount.

44. Write Slogans

Can you write stellar slogans quicker than Don Draper? Enter your ideas on slogan contest websites.

If your slogan for a company or product beats the competition, you could get $50 — or a few hundred dollars — for some contests.

If you’re feeling particularly heartfelt, search around for opportunities to enter submissions for greeting card sayings.

45. Write for Your Favorite Blogs

Blogging isn’t all about pajamas and basement living — it’s a big business. You can earn $50, $100, or more by contributing to one of your favorite blogs.

These are just our favorite ways to make money online. The internet’s constantly cooking up new money-making opportunities, so keep your eyes open!

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.

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