MILFORD (AP) — Businesses are being asked for input before Pennsylvania lawmakers meet next week for a hearing on the 48-day manhunt to find the sniper convicted of killing a state trooper and wounding another outside their barracks.WNEP-TV (http://bit.ly/2siRqTe ) reports the Senate's Emergency Preparedness Committee will meet June 15 in Pike County, the scene of the 2014 shooting and manhunt.Thirty-four-year-old Eric Frein was convicted in April and sentenced to death [...]
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الخميس، 8 يونيو 2017
Smell What “The Rock” is Cooking? Here’s How Much It Costs to Eat Like Him
The evidence is in. It’s clear that Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson is basically a god walking among us mortals.
He’s 6-foot-4-inches tall and 270 pounds of muscle. He’s a hugely bankable Hollywood star. He’s talking about running for president. In last year’s animated film “Moana,” he even plays a god, the demigod Maui.
For starters: What would it cost to eat like The Rock? And is there an affordable way to do the Dwayne Johnson diet?
Do you smell what The Rock is cooking? We really wanted to know the answer! So we did some research. And all we can say is, Whoa.
Oh My Cod
Johnson’s dietary regimen is astounding. To eat like him, you must be prepared to consume a jaw-dropping amount of protein on a daily basis.
This guy gets up at 4 a.m. just for his first meal. He eats 10 pounds of food a day — more than 5,000 calories spread over seven meals.
(For comparison, the average man burns 1,900 to 2,500 calories a day.)
A stunning amount of this food is cod, a fish rich in protein. The rest is eggs, steak, chicken, veggies and potatoes.
The Rock consumes so much cod — more than two pounds a day, about 70 pounds a month. Cod for breakfast, brunch, lunch and dinner. All the cod in the North Sea.
Good ole’ Dwayne detailed his diet for Muscle & Fitness magazine in 2015, shortly after playing Hercules in a movie.
Here are the deets:
- Meal 1: 10 ounces cod, 2 whole eggs, 2 cups oatmeal
- Meal 2: 8 ounces cod, 12 ounces sweet potato, 1 cup veggies
- Meal 3: 8 ounces chicken, 2 cups white rice, 1 cup veggies
- Meal 4: 8 ounces cod, 2 cups rice, 1 cup veggies, 1 tablespoon fish oil
- Meal 5: 8 ounces steak, 12 ounces baked potato, spinach salad
- Meal 6: 10 ounces cod, 2 cups rice, salad
- Meal 7: 30 grams casein protein, 10-egg white omelet, 1 cup veggies (onions, peppers, mushrooms), 1 tablespoon omega-3 fish oil
What Happens When Regular Humans Try the Dwayne Johnson Diet
Let’s go ahead and stipulate that this diet is not for everyone. (Thank you, Captain Obvious.)
For one thing, The Rock is HUGE. This diet is what’s required to maintain his massive physique. And when he’s not stuffing his face with cod, he’s also powering his way through grueling workout routines.
A blogger for Complex, facing what he described as “a steady onslaught of grilled meats and steamed veggies,” couldn’t manage it for even a day. (Big problem: He hated cod.)
Another guy, a self-employed dude named Mark Webster, tried it and tracked his progress online.
“I feel fantastic,” he told FiveThirtyEight after a month.
But over that month, he spent $1,262 on food — about $42 per day, including $18 just on cod.
Can You Smell What The Rock Is Spending?
That’s the other challenge here: Most of us can’t even afford to eat like Johnson, even if we wanted to.
In any case, people who aren’t named Dwayne Johnson still dine on fish, chicken, eggs, steak, vegetables, rice and potatoes.
Whether you’re trying to eat like The Rock or just trying to eat well, here are seven ways to save money on groceries.
1. Take a Picture of Your Receipts
You can get cash back on your groceries just for photographing your receipt. Here’s how it works:
- Sign up for Ibotta. (You just need a name and email address to start.)
- 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.
- Scan the item’s barcode and submit a photo of your receipt to the app, and you’ll see the cash in your Ibotta account soon.
- Once you’ve reached at least $20 in earnings, you can request payment via Paypal or Venmo.
2. Get Farm-Fresh Meat at Way Below Retail Price
This company doesn’t do cod, but they have lots of other quality protein in stock.
Zaycon Fresh supplies meats like steak, chicken, beef, turkey, pork and shrimp in bulk at prices well below what you’ll usually find at your grocery store.
For example, we found boneless, skinless chicken breasts for $1.69 per pound — about a third of what we pay at our local supermarket!
You’ll buy it by the case, and a 40-pound case of chicken breasts costs $67.60. So you’ll want to clear space in your freezer, but it’s worth it: That’s more than $150 in savings.
The company’s founders applied their grocery industry experience and a unique model to directly supply food to consumers and cut out the middleman.
By hosting sales events at more than 1,200 locations nationwide, Zaycon Fresh is able to provide farm-fresh meats without charging specialty-store prices.
Here’s how it works:
- Register for a free account here.
- On the day of your local Zaycon sales event, bring your order confirmation to a designated location a short drive from your home, and you get your fresh, delicious, nutritious food.
3. Buy Online
Fish, veggies and more fish — The Rock eats healthy. To save on organic food, consider shopping at Thrive Market. You can buy food at up to 50% off retail price, and the stuff it tends to stock is usually healthier than what you’ll find in the store.
You can get a 30-day free trial through this link. Thrive members report saving an average $200 per year.
You probably won’t find any of The Rock’s precious cod there. But a search on Thrive’s website for “rice” turns up 143 results.
4. Use a Visa Card
Couponing doesn’t have to be extreme. If you swipe a Visa to pay for your groceries, there’s a tool that’ll automatically find and apply coupons — for free.
It’s called Trim, and you can register for the bot through Facebook messenger.
If you’ve missed a special or coupon, Trim will Facebook message you. Opt to activate the offer, and you’ll get paid for what you missed out on in the next 5-7 days with a statement credit.
If you sign up now, you’ll also get 10 coupons for $1 off any grocery purchase of $5 or more. New users are eligible for up to $30 in cash-back deals as soon as they sign up.
5. Upgrade Your Rewards Card
If you qualify, we recommend signing up for a cash-back rewards card like the Barclaycard CashForward World MasterCard.
You’ll get unlimited 1.5% cash back with each purchase, whether it’s gas or groceries.
Or cod.
Now that we know what Dwayne Johnson eats to maintain his humongous muscles, I can definitely smell what The Rock is cooking.
And let me tell you, it smells fishy. Smells an awful lot like cod.
I guarantee you that The Rock either loves cod, or he hates it.
Advertiser Disclosure: Many of the credit card offers that appear on this site are from credit card companies from which ThePennyHoarder.com receives compensation. This compensation may impact how and where products appear on this site (including, for example, the order in which they appear). We do not feature all available credit card offers or all credit card issuers.
Mike Brassfield (mike@thepennyhoarder.com) is a senior writer at The Penny Hoarder. He’ll always think of The Rock as “The People’s Champion.”
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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Honest Company Agrees to Pay $1.55 Million for Alleged Dishonest Tactics
The Honest Company believes in “clean without compromise.” At least according to its website.
But a lawsuit filed against the company suggests Honest has not been honest with its customers. The suit accuses the company of using chemical ingredients it swore never to use.
The company — made famous by its co-founder, actress Jessica Alba, and its promise to stay clear of potentially harmful chemicals that are common in mainstream household products — has reached a settlement after nearly two years of litigation.
Honest will pay $1.55 million to settle the national false advertising class-action lawsuit.
According to CNN Money, customers who bought the detergent but didn’t hold on to receipts could qualify for up to $50. But those who held on to receipts that prove they spent more could be paid more.
The Dishonest Company?
Despite agreeing to the million-dollar settlement, Honest says it has, indeed, been honest. (OK, I’m done with the “Honest” puns. Honest.)
“We vigorously deny any and all allegations alleged in the lawsuit — specifically that any of our cleaning products contain SLS,” spokeswoman Karen Richman said in a statement to CNN Money. “However, given the fact that continued litigation could be protracted and expensive, we have settled this lawsuit to limit further costs and distraction to our business.”
Despite that denial, an investigation by The Wall Street Journal based on two independent chemical analyses of the the company’s laundry detergent found that SLS (sodium lauryl sulfate) is included in its detergent.
Representatives for the company and its manufacturer told the WSJ that no SLS was added to the product and that it used sodium coco sulfate (SCS) instead. Honest says SCS is a milder alternative to SLS, which, in concentrated amounts, can cause skin irritation.
“More than a dozen scientists interviewed by the Journal said SCS, which is made from palm or coconut oil, is a mixture of various cleaning agents that includes a significant amount of SLS,” the WSJ reported.
Although Honest said the settlement is not an admission of wrongdoing, it did agree to change its formula.
The settlement still needs to be approved by a judge before you can get paid. Of course, when that happens we’ll update you about how you can claim your payout.
Desiree Stennett (@desi_stennett) is a staff writer at The Penny Hoarder. She’s doesn’t qualify for this class-action lawsuit.
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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Comey Testimony Equals Big Audience, Lost Profits for Cable and Networks
When the final numbers are counted, ratings are expected to be massive for former FBI director James Comey's televised congressional testimony. And viewers had endless choices where to view the most anticipated Congressional testimony of their lifetime.
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Wolf expected to sign landmark pension overhaul bill
Senate Bill 1 designed to reduce taxpayer liability for public school employees' pensions in Pa.
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Want to Work from Your Couch? Apply for These 6 Work-From-Home Jobs Now
Working from home isn’t for everyone, but for some, it means freedom, flexibility and an opportunity to create a healthy balance between work and, well, the rest of life.
And that’s why we here at The Penny Hoarder are always looking for great work-from-home job opportunities for you!
6 Work-From-Home Jobs That Are Open Now
Today’s batch of work-from-home job opportunities has something for everyone: part-time, full-time, awesome benefits. Read on to see if one of these jobs is right for you!
(And if you’re looking for ways to make even more money from home, check out these 32 legitimate ways to make a little extra cash.)
1. Customer Experience Associate at Storq
Storq is a clothing company that sells simple, go-to maternity wear.
The company is currently looking for a part-time customer experience associate to handle customer inquiries, troubleshoot shipping issues, offer sizing and style advice and manage returns.
You should have “a zest for proper spelling and grammar,” be an independent worker and be able to communicate with customers in a friendly, conversational tone.
Applicants should also possess or be working toward a bachelor’s degree. Bonus points if you’ve used help desk software before.
In this role, you’ll work between 15-20 hours per week, and it can be from pretty much anywhere. (Seriously — apparently even Mars is acceptable as long as you have a reliable internet connection!)
No word yet on what this position pays or what benefits a customer experience associate might enjoy, but we’ve reached out to the company and will update this post when we find out.
Here’s where you can apply for this position and learn more about Storq.
2. Community Liaison at Khan Academy
Khan Academy is an online learning resource that helps students of all ages to learn and study at their own pace.
The company is currently looking for a part-time community liaison to grow and manage the volunteer program and to ensure that the learning community has access to the resources they need.
You’ll also be in charge of improving documentation and processes, handling user reports, advocating for community users, moderating comment boards and addressing and diffusing problematic situations appropriately.
You should have one to three years of experience with online communities, excellent, adaptable written communication skills and a “strong fluency in memes, internet trends, gifs and/or dad jokes.”
Prior experience working or volunteering in an educational environment and previous participation in the Khan Academy community a plus.
To start, you’ll work about 20 hours per week, although there may be potential to work more hours if needed.
Pay and benefits aren’t included in the job listing, but we’ve reached out to the company for details and will update the post when we find out more information. You can check out a list of employee benefits on Khan Academy’s careers page.
Apply for this position and see the original job listing.
3. Customer Support Specialist at B2Gnow
B2Gnow provides governments of all sizes with comprehensive diversity management software.
The company is looking for a full-time Customer Success Specialist in or around the Phoenix, Arizona area, although remote locations will be considered.
As a Customer Support Specialist, you’ll be tasked with managing daily activities for and fostering strong relationships with assigned customers, ensuring service requests are properly addressed and identifying and recommending internal improvements, along with various other projects along the way.
You should have strong verbal and written communication skills, experience with SaaS-based platforms and prior experience working in the realm of customer success.
Applicants should possess a bachelor’s degree and have at least five years of relevant experience, along with a proficiency in Microsoft Office software.
The job requires a willingness to travel, and pays between $50,000 and $75,000. Benefits include medical, dental and vision insurance, a 401K program with company match and paid vacations and holidays.
Apply for this position and learn more about the specific requirements.
4. Customer Support Representative for Lesterland
Lesterland develops and supports WordPress plugins with a focus on organizations using Google Apps.
The company is looking for a part-time Customer Support Representative to respond to email queries, identify trends in the problems customers are facing, regularly update the FAQs section on the website and suggest and test future product iterations.
You should have some prior knowledge of WordPress and the way plugins are used, and should be polite, patient and have an above-average understanding of how the web works — basic HTML, PHP or Javascript knowledge is a plus.
The team behind Lesterland is based in the UK, but you can work from anywhere as long as you’re available during Eastern Standard Time core work hours.
As of right now, the company needs someone to devote about two hours per day to the role, although hours can increase as you learn and progress. These hours are flexible, and the company will work with you to cover any time off that you may need.
As far as pay, the listing simply notes that pay will be competitive and will depend on experience and abilities.
Learn more about this position and find instructions on how to apply.
5. Customer Success Representative at CrowdOx
CrowdOx is a pledge management software that allows KickStarter and Indiegogo project creators to create and send surveys to increase funding and verify backer orders.
The company is looking for a Customer Success Representative to answer incoming calls, emails and chats, onboard new customers, monitor customer accounts and contribute well-written articles to the company’s help center.
You should have a native-level fluency in English, excellent (and cheerful and fun) written and verbal communication skills, two or more years of experience in a customer service position and the ability to use and teach others how to use various online tools such as Google Drive and DropBox.
You’ll set your own schedule and work from virtually anywhere, and are encouraged to take time off when needed. No word on what this position pays, but we’ve reached out to the company and will update this post when we hear back.
Learn more about this position and to apply.
6. Customer Success Representative at Justworks
Justworks offers small businesses an online platform for company benefits, compliance and payroll.
As a Customer Success Representative at Justworks, you’ll communicate with customers via phone, email and chat, support updates to your teammates’ tickets and work on projects to improve support content.
This is an overnight shift (based on Eastern Standard Time), so you should be a night owl. This is a full-time position, and you’ll work three or four nights per week. After a brief training period , you’ll be able to work from home.
You should have a bachelor’s degree, proven customer support skills, strong written and verbal communication and the ability learn new and complicated products and help break them down into simpler terms. You should also be a creative problem solver and have experience working remotely.
No word yet on what this position pays, but according to the website, employees enjoy some pretty awesome benefits, including medical, dental and vision insurance, wellness program offerings, leadership training and an employee referral program.
Find out more about this position and how to apply.
Grace Schweizer is a junior writer 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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Think You May Have Been Scammed? Here’s What You Should Do Right Now
No one wants to fall victim to a scam, but it happens a lot. A whole lot.
It’s tough to know exactly how many people have been scammed because some people don’t want to file a report and own up to being stung. But the Federal Trade Commission says 26 million people were fraud victims in 2011.
With the proliferation of scams since then, it’s conceivable that the total number of victims is much, much higher.
5 Steps to Take If You’re a Scam Victim
Getting scammed is lousy, but if you are, it’s important to act swiftly to limit the damage criminals can inflict.
Here’s a step-by-step guide for what to do if you’ve been scammed.
1. Don’t Be Embarrassed
Unless you’re walking around with your credit card number and all your passwords taped to your forehead, you have nothing to be ashamed about if you get scammed.
With so many victims each year, the odds are high that you (and I) will be one too.
Just look at this bonkers list of scams involving:
- Tech support
- Work from home jobs
- Mystery shopping
- Medicare
- College scholarships
- Tax data
- Seniors
- Telemarketing
- Identity and imposter theft
- Immigration
- Email phishing
- Credit repair
- Weddings
I mean, really. Is there anything out there that can’t be turned into a scam? I guess maybe kite flying or goldfish breeding.
Anyway, my point is there is no reason to be embarrassed if you get caught up in a scam. If it makes you feel any better, it even happens to journalists who cover cybersecurity for a living.
If you get scammed, take a deep breath and get to work on fixing the situation.
2. Lock Down Your Bank Accounts and Credit Cards
Contact all the financial institutions associated with your bank accounts and credit cards. Just call the number on the back of your card or a recent monthly statement, let them know what happened and they’ll walk you through how to secure your account.
The sooner you make the calls, the sooner your money and credit will be protected.
As a bonus, if bogus charges show up on your account later it’s easier to get the issue resolved because you’ve already alerted the company you’re the victim of a scam.
3. Contact the Three Major Credit Bureaus
Next, get ahold of the three major credit bureaus to let them know what happened.
Ask to have a fraud alert placed on your account. A fraud alert makes it more difficult for thieves to open new accounts in your name or increase your credit lines on existing accounts because creditors will be required to verify your identity before taking any action.
Fraud alerts are free and last 90 days or seven years, depending on which type of alert you choose.
To reach the three nationwide credit bureaus, just visit their website or give one of them a call.
- TransUnion: 1-800-680-7289
- Experian: 1-888-397-3742
- Equifax: 1-888-766-0008
Fortunately, when you place an alert on one credit report that bureau is obligated to notify the other two agencies, so that will save you some time.
4. Change Your Passwords
If you were scammed online, be sure to change your passwords right away. This seems obvious, but it’s an easy step to overlook when you’re in the middle of a slight panic.
Make sure the new passwords you create are strong and not easily cracked. Here are a few strategies to get you started.
5. Report the Crime
It’s important to report the scam to the proper authorities. Though it may be difficult to catch the thieves, reporting the crime helps agencies that fight fraud understand what scammers say and do to catch their victims.
In addition to filing a report with your local police department, you should also report the crime to state regulators, the FBI and other federal agencies.
According to the Official Guide to Government Information and Services (OGGIS), “While federal agencies are rarely able to act on behalf of individuals, they use complaints to record patterns of abuse which allow an agency to take action against a company or industry,”
Use this database to find the Consumer Protection Office in your state. The OGGIS also has a comprehensive list of which federal agencies to contact based on the nature of the scam.
The FTC recommends victims of international scams or fraudulent activity that originates outside of the U.S. file a complaint with econsumer.gov.
“The site is run by the International Consumer Protection and Enforcement Network (ICPEN), and is a partnership of 34 consumer protection agencies around the world,” says the FTC. Use it to “get consumer information and file complaints in English, French, German, Japanese, Korean, Polish, Spanish and Turkish.”
If you need additional guidance on what organizations you should contact after you’ve been scammed, reach out to the Federal Trade Commission by phone at 1-877-382-4357. To file a complaint with the FTC, use the agency’s online assistant.
Lisa McGreevy is a staff writer at The Penny Hoarder. She was a victim of an internet scam several years ago so she feels your pain if it’s happened to you too.
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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Consigned Your Clothes at 2nd Time Around? You May Never See Your Cash
Consignment store 2nd Time Around announced recently that it would close its entire chain, and thousands of consignors could be left in the lurch.
“Because of a convergence of market forces hitting all brick and mortar stores – including increased competition from online retailers combined with skyrocketing rents – we have made the difficult decision to close our stores,” says an FAQ page explaining the closure.
Retail chains and independent businesses have struggled to maintain their physical presence in the current internet shopping environment.
The FAQ notes 2nd Time Around will continue to sell items prior to widespread closeout sales in June; items sold during the going-out-of-business sale will be paid to consignors before June 15.
What Does This Mean for Consignors with 2nd Time Around?
The store plans to pay consignors for items sold after May 1, but it’s unclear whether people will ever be paid for clothing and accessories that the chain’s locations sold prior to May.
Racked and the Boston Globe share stories about customers who say they are owed hundreds of dollars from previous items sold, and in some cases can’t get their remaining merchandise back from their local store.
The company’s closure FAQ also reminds consignors that they leave their merchandise at 2nd Time Around locations at their own risk, and the company is not responsible for “loss by theft, damages, negligence or other cause.”
A representative on the store-closure customer service line at 877-251-1455 told us the chain cannot commit to paying for sales made prior to May 1, but offered to take an email address for contacting with further information should it be released. The customer service line is available Monday through Friday between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m. CDT.
2nd Time Around’s main phone number was busy throughout the day Thursday. The company, which rebranded from Second Time Around in 2015, is concentrated along the East Coast.
If you’re feeling burned by this sudden closure, it may be time to investigate the online flea market options that have popped up over the past few years.
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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Nine Simple Lifestyle Changes to Ease the Challenge of Getting Rid of a Car
For the first few years of my post-college professional life, I didn’t own a car. I lived in a small apartment on the edge of town with very reasonable rent. That apartment featured a bus stop about a quarter of a block away and a grocery store about half a mile away. The only reason I had to ever own a car was to travel to visit family, so when the relatively rare situations came around where I needed to visit family, I simply asked around for a ride. A couple of times, I rented a car.
Looking back, that seems like such a simple and joyful time in my life, filled with some nice freedoms that I simply don’t have these days. Today, I have a wife and three children and a house and much greater demands on my time. The idea of living without a car today seems impossible.
Or is it?
The truth is that right now we have two cars at home. My wife uses one for commuting. I use the other one about once or twice a week, mostly to run household errands or to go to a different place to work (I typically work from home).
When I let go of my preconception that we need a car for some reason, I realize that it’s mostly just a matter of convincing myself that a want – the ability to be “free” to drive somewhere during weekdays – is actually a need. It’s not a need at all. In fact, we could sell that car, pocket the money, save on many things… it quickly becomes tempting once you actually look at a situation and recognize that living with one fewer car in your household really is possible.
Here’s the stark truth: If you’re looking at a single big move that can really help your financial situation, one of the best ones you can make is to reduce the number of cars owned by your household. In that one step, you eliminate fuel costs, maintenance costs, insurance costs, registration costs, and replacement costs, and you likely also put an immediate burst of money in your pocket from the sale of the car. That amounts to thousands of dollars per year.
Of course, getting rid of a car comes with some real challenges. You simply don’t have the freedom to get around that you had when you did own that car. You have to figure out some new lifestyle patterns to adapt to having one less car easily available. It’s easy to convince yourself in that situation that your car is a “need.” But is it really?
Now is the time to consider whether that car really is a “need.” Could you have an enjoyable life without it? How can you make such a radical transition work in your life?
Most of the solutions that people immediately envision when it comes to a change like this are complicated and challenging, but there are actually a lot of relatively simple changes you can make when reducing your car count. Here are nine such lifestyle changes.
Change #1: Sell your car when you move – and be smart about the location of your new residence.
One of the best times to eliminate a car from your life is when you’re moving and making a fresh start of things. You can choose a location that minimizes the impact of not having a car so that the change has much less impact on your life.
Some things to look for when moving that can really make downgrading your car count much easier include having a mass transit stop very close to your residence, having a grocery store close to your residence, having a library close to your residence, and having your work either near your residence or near a mass transit stop. Living in close proximity to friends and family is also helpful if you can pull it off. When you can access work, food, and entertainment on foot from your apartment or home, your options without a car get much simpler.
In particular, I encourage people without a car to try to find a place to live near a library. There are almost always mass transit stops near libraries, for starters, but beyond that, libraries are invaluable resources, providing books and DVDs and audiobooks to borrow for free, as well as social and community events almost every day of the week. A library near your house can be an incredibly valuable life resource.
Having such services easily available often does come at a premium, but when you start calculating the additional costs of keeping a car as well as the time needed to commute when you live far from your workplace, it often becomes very clear that not having a car really isn’t that big of a disadvantage.
Change #2: Get maximum value from mass transit.
Mass transit – buses, subways, and trains – can provide almost all the transportation you need to get around a city, provided you live near a spot at which you can get into that network. If you can ride a bus to a train station or subway station and then ride that system to a place that’s close to your work, then you have a very easy transportation system that you can just ride each day, giving you time to read or do other tasks while riding.
If you’re in a situation where you’ll use mass transit each day for your commute and for other purposes as well – visiting friends, shopping, and so forth – then buying a long-term mass transit pass is going to be a good bargain for you in almost every metro area. Most metro areas offer passes that cover use of all buses, trains, and subways for a certain price.
For example, a pass for city transport in San Francisco – one of the most expensive areas in the country – is only $73 for an entire month of unlimited use, as of this writing, and $91 if you add in BART service which takes you to other parts of the Bay Area (which includes Alameda, Contra Costa, San Francisco, and San Mateo counties). For comparison, a DART pass for the Des Moines area costs $48 per month and covers the full Des Moines metro pretty well. Those prices are far lower than the cost of owning and operating a car.
Once you have such a pass, it’s well worth your time to get to know the schedule, especially regarding routes to and from your house to frequent destinations like your place of employment, nearby stores, and the homes of friends and family.
Change #3: Get your exercise on a bicycle equipped with a bag, pannier, or rack.
A bicycle is a low-cost way to gain significant freedom in terms of how you move about the city. Many cities have bicycle lanes on roadways and other features that make it quite easy to get around on your bike.
To really maximize the value of using a bicycle, it’s well worth your time to get your bicycle equipped with a basket or rack that’s permanently affixed or a bag that attaches easily to your bike and can be carried as well (panniers are bags that attach near the rear wheel of the bike). Such attachments make it easy to do things like go to the grocery store for a few items or go to the library using your bicycle, as you can easily carry quite a few items in a bag or a basket.
Like anything in life, riding a bicycle effectively in a city or town takes some practice, but once you’re used to it, it not only provides a ton of freedom, it also improves your fitness and gets you moving around. You can run to the grocery store on your bike almost as fast as you can in a car, except that you’re also getting a moderate workout on the trip and you’re spending a lot less.
Change #4: Get additional exercise from walking/rucking.
As appealing as a bicycle might be, I personally enjoy simply walking to nearby destinations (within a mile or so, or a couple of miles if I’m hitting multiple places). I like seeing what’s happening in my neighborhood, listening to a podcast or an audiobook as I walk, or just thinking about life. I like to walk at a healthy pace so that there’s some moderate health benefits, too.
In fact, one of my favorite ways to exercise is rucking, which simply means walking or hiking or jogging with a backpack that has some weight in it. I actually have a weight that I sometimes put in my backpack just for extra weight (along with the normal items I carry) when I’m walking and thus extra calorie burning benefit.
A healthy-sized backpack can hold several library books or DVDs and several odds and ends from a grocery store with ease, plus you don’t have to worry about securing a bicycle when you go to the store. You can just go in, go shopping, buy your stuff, put it in your bag, and head out.
I often choose to walk to nearby destinations even when I have a car just because the experience is pleasant. I’ll walk to the grocery store or the library with my backpack on if I’m just buying a few things or grabbing a book or two or returning an item. It’s convenient, pleasant, and free.
Change #5: Shop with friends and share resources.
The first three lifestyle shifts work well for a single person who typically doesn’t carry a large quantity of items to and from their homes, but what do you do if you want to go on a big shopping trip? That’s when you utilize friendships in a way that’s mutually beneficial.
To illustrate this, I’ll give you an example from a friend of mine named Kenny. Kenny lives in an apartment by himself, but he still wants to take advantage of some bulk buying on things like toilet paper and soap and rice (which he seems to eat with every meal). He doesn’t own a car, so what does he do? He talked to a friend and bought a Costco membership for them to share. Once every few weeks, Kenny’s friend picks him up in his SUV and the two ride together to Costco. They use Kenny’s membership to buy items for each of their households, then Kenny’s friend drives Kenny home and helps him unload. The friend gets to use Costco for free; Kenny gets to bring home bulk buys without owning a car. They both win.
Look for these types of synergies with your friends and family. You don’t want to simply rely on someone to drive you places without giving something in return, so perhaps you could purchase a Costco or Sam’s Club membership and share it with people in exchange for a ride (and bringing home any items you buy). Maybe you can go out with friends and occasionally buy drinks or something to repay them for driving you each time. Look for ways to give value to people in exchange for rides and you’ll find someone who’s quite happy to give you an occasional ride when you need it.
Change #6: Consider carpooling, too!
If you continue to think through the strategy described above where you share rides with friends, you’ll inevitably hit upon the idea of carpooling. Carpooling – in which you consistently go to a particular destination with someone who lives near you – can be a big time and money saver for everyone involved, particularly if the destination involves a location that isn’t easily accessed via mass transit.
For example, when I was in college, I carpooled regularly to my hometown with another student who had a car on campus. It added almost no extra effort for him – he would just drop me off at my house as he drove past it and pick me up as he was departing for school – but it enabled me to not need a car at school. I would split the cost of gas with him as well.
If there’s a remote destination outside of the realm of mass transit that you go to regularly – say, a home town or your workplace or some other frequent destination – see if there isn’t an opportunity for carpooling to that destination in your life. Look for ride sharing programs in your area; many universities operate such programs. If you live near relatives, you should definitely talk to them about carpooling to family events.
Change #7: Rent a car for longer trips.
Sometimes, there are events in your life that require you to drive beyond the bounds of where your regular options can take you, or you find yourself stranded at inopportune times. Those are the moments where renting a ride is the best option.
Renting a car is a perfect solution for a road trip. It’s pretty inexpensive to rent a car for a few days for driving to a wedding a few hours away or some other similar event. Rent the car, go to your destination, then drive back and return the car later on. It might be a little expensive, but since you’re doing this rarely, it’s not too bad. You can cut down on the cost by sharing a rental with a friend or family member (or two… or three).
If you’re just stuck in the city without access to mass transit (maybe you stayed out too late), just rent a ride from a taxi or Uber or Lyft. These services will provide someone to drive you to your destination for a reasonable price.
In both cases, you’re simply renting your ride to fill in a gap where your feet, your bicycle, or mass transit can’t help you with your situation. These solutions aren’t free by any means, but since it’s an infrequent solution, it’s pretty reasonable.
Change #8: Get an ‘everyday carry’ bag and stock it appropriately.
With all of these options, you’re going to be out and about without the convenience of being able to keep items temporarily in your car. That’s why it makes sense to get into the habit of carrying some kind of bag with you most of the time when you leave the house. That bag can contain items that you may need on a normal day out and about.
For me, this kind of “everyday carry” bag usually includes toiletries (a toothbrush, a bit of toothpaste, deodorant, etc.), a backup shirt, a water bottle, a snack of some kind (usually several), some notebooks and pens, and a book to read as a bare minimum. I usually have my laptop in there as well, unless I know I won’t need it and am worried about security in any significant additional way.
These items often keep me from making incidental purchases when out and about, so it actually saves money. It’s also convenient to always have a bag on hand so that you can easily collect and carry small items as you go, wherever you might be. I basically don’t leave the house without my “everyday carry” bag.
Change #9: Canvas your nearby area thoroughly for entertainment and social options.
Many people view the loss of a car as a loss of freedom of choice. They think of all of the things they might want to do that are now less convenient because of the lack of a car.
One way to combat that sentiment is to spend some time thoroughly canvassing all of the things that are available to you within a mile or two of your house. What public services are available? Libraries? Civic organizations? What stores are near you? What cultural centers or gathering points are near? What parks and recreation services and locations are nearby?
Spend the time to do a thorough canvassing of your neck of the woods. Explore every block and avenue to see what’s there and investigate anything and everything that seems interesting. Use tools like your community’s website and Meetup.com to see what kinds of interesting things are going on nearby.
You may end up discovering things you had no idea about. Even in my relatively rural small-town area, this strategy unveiled a number of services and activities and programs that I didn’t know about until I actively looked for them. In an area with a diversity of residential, commercial, and government facilities, there are all kinds of things happening. Find them and you’ll be glad you did.
Final Thoughts
Whenever most people think about getting rid of a car, they think immediately about the disadvantages and what they’ll lose in the process. What’s often overlooked is that many of the disadvantages can easily be mitigated with some little lifestyle tweaks – and some of those changes can uncover significant life advantages, too. You’ll be spending substantially less money, for starters, and you’ll have the opportunity to discover and truly enjoy some of the opportunities near you that you may have overlooked in the past.
If you’re on the fence about getting rid of a car, give these lifestyle tweaks some serious thought and see for yourself whether some of them may make sense in your life. If you find that at least a few of them are quite workable for you, then it may just be that selling off a car isn’t the big loss that you initially thought and that the savings and other benefits may end up being a surprising net benefit for you.
Good luck!
Related Articles:
- The Dead Minivan Experiment: How We’re Trying to Become a One-Car Family
- Walking, Biking, Driving, and Cost Effectiveness
- The Best Used Cars for Simply Getting Around
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Why Amazon Just Made Prime Cheaper for Anyone Who Gets EBT Benefits
Amazon announced yesterday that it will offer discounted Prime service for people who receive government assistance.
People who access their benefits with an electronic benefit transfer card can register for a monthly membership that costs $5.99 per month, instead of the typical $10.99 per month or $99 per year.
The discounted membership includes free two-hour delivery with Prime Now, Amazon Family’s discount on diaper subscriptions and Amazon’s full library of streaming movies, TV shows and music.
“We designed this membership option for customers receiving government assistance to make our everyday selection and savings more accessible, including the many conveniences and entertainment benefits of Prime,” Greg Greeley, vice president of Amazon Prime, said in a statement.
This membership is only available on a monthly basis and can be canceled at any time.
How to Get an Amazon Prime Membership Discount if You Receive Government Assistance
To sign up, you must provide a valid EBT number. Your EBT funds can’t be used to pay for your membership; your EBT number only qualifies you for the discount.
You can quality every 12 months for up to four years. “Amazon will add other ways to qualify in the future for customers participating in government assistance programs that do not utilize EBT,” an Amazon press release noted.
Household sharing is not available with this type of Prime account, so any smart plans to share your discounted account are, unfortunately, foiled.
As usual, you can kick off your Prime membership with a free 30-day trial.
Why is Amazon Being So Nice?
The move has widely been viewed as a power play against Walmart, where 1 in 5 customers pay with food stamps, according to the The New York Times.
While 90% of Americans live fewer than 15 minutes away from a Walmart store by car, Amazon’s program eliminates the need for transportation to get to the store.
Benefit recipients who have difficulty securing transportation or finding time to shop for their household needs might find it’s worth spending the $6 per month to have everything delivered to their doorstep.
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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Why Women Should Embrace Their Breadwinning Status (and Stop Complaining About It)
A few weeks ago, I was sucked into a rabbit hole of the worst kind – an article (and comments section) that piqued my interest in the most consuming way possible. A post about Conflicted Millennial Women Breadwinners offered a glimpse into the minds of younger women who earn more than their husbands or boyfriends, and seemingly hate it.
The author, Ashley Ford, a breadwinner herself, polled more than 130 other female breadwinners to find out how they coped with out-earning their partners. The consensus: They disliked earning more than their husbands and boyfriends. Asked how they would feel if they were the breadwinner forever, the female respondents used words like ‘tired,’ ‘exhausted,’ and ‘resentful.’
Some of the women claimed to be stressed out and overwhelmed, while also feeling pressured to stay in jobs they didn’t enjoy. Others lamented their breadwinner status could prevent them from pursuing careers they really love.
But, for some of the women, being the breadwinner was okay – at least for now. Ford herself reached the conclusion that she was fine with out-earning her partner as long as she “loved her work.”
She then went on to explore male and female roles within the home, including the fact that today’s women still do more than their share of “invisible labor” – a.k.a. household chores. Yet, at the same time, the piece shared studies that claimed women find men who do chores less attractive. Another study she cited claimed that men who earn less are more likely to cheat. Who knew?
But the final conclusion was probably the most telling. According to the author, “The general consensus of this group seems to be that the theory of being the partner who earns more is appealing to millennial women. They want their partners to feel happy and free and like they shouldn’t be expected to support the entire family unit simply based on their gender, but reality throws everyone for a loop.”
In other words, they like the idea of being the breadwinner, but not the in-the-trenches work, career sacrifices, or household discord it can sometimes involve.
Further, being a female breadwinner is a financial burden in a way that doesn’t apply to men. “Being the breadwinner, or sole earner, raises the stakes for these respondents internally, in the same way it does for men externally,” Ford writes. “For many men, having a wife who doesn’t work isn’t just a financial burden, but a social status symbol,” she writes.
After I read the piece, I felt both confused and angry. Why on Earth do we have a separate set of rules for men and women when we are supposedly (and rightfully) equal?
And, what about the gender wage gap? With women earning 83 cents for every dollar a man earns, shouldn’t we be celebrating the fact that some women are killing it? Perhaps the wage gap isn’t solved, but isn’t this a start? Women have spent millennia fighting for equality, the last hundred years or so spent on securing equal pay for equal work. Now we’re writing articles about women who struggle with earning too much? Gag me.
And, last I checked, wasn’t it taboo to date or marry a man for money anyway? By dating a man who earns less, aren’t they following their hearts? Isn’t that in itself the ultimate freedom worth celebrating?
Lastly, what about the men? I’m willing to bet millions of men have worked in jobs they hated and felt, weary, stressed, and quite possibly resentful. Where’s the article on that?
I had so many questions, most of which remain unanswered. But, I digress. After reading the piece and the comments, I reached the conclusion that the underlying issue these women face isn’t who earns the money – it’s that younger couples may see marriage differently than I do. Because, when you’re committed to sharing everything (not just money, but responsibilities, too), the way these people keep score is just plain weird.
How I Became a Generation X Breadwinner
The piece may have been about millennial breadwinners, but I’m not so far off. I’m 37 years old this year, which plants me in the tail end of Generation X. And yes, I earn more than my husband. And no, I do not care, nor do I care if you care.
And unlike some of the men in the article and the comments of the piece in question, my husband isn’t butt-hurt that I earn more, either. I would even go so far as to say he’s pretty darn happy about it.
Still, the disparity of our incomes is a fairly new thing in our marriage. When my husband and I first joined forces, I worked in childcare for meager pay. Within a few years, I was able to graduate to administrative work that garnered a bigger paycheck. However, enduring a pair of pregnancies, two maternity breaks, and two kids in daycare pretty much erased my income for a few years.
Did my husband complain? Never. He went to work every day with bells on despite the fact he worked 50 to 60 hours a week at times and was constantly called out at night. As a mortician, he often worked weekends, holidays, and late evenings while I stayed home with the kids.
Looking back, I’m 100% sure my husband was not “living his dream” or “pursuing his passions” as he prepared the dead for burial and dealt with grieving families. He loved the work, but the hours and the constant pressure took a toll on all of us.
- Related: How to Escape a Job You Hate
Within a few years, I decided to dive into writing and start my own website alongside my husband. At first, I created content part-time while forging ahead in my full-time job. My husband worked on our blog while I wrote. That often meant working 40+ hours at work and another 20 at home. Was it easy? Not at all. Would I do it again? In a heartbeat, I would. I wanted something better than what I had before, so I went for it.
Do you know who eventually let me leave my steady and decent-paying job to pursue my passion?
My husband. I always had his unwavering support, and he always had my back.
Fortunately, we succeeded at building something sustainable and, a few years after that, my husband was finally able to quit his mortician job to work at home with me.
These days, I create content for top publications, own my own money-making website (with my husband), and have my own course for freelance writers.
And, you know what? I regularly earn 400% more than my husband does. And it’s totally cool with both of us.
How I ‘Cope’ With Being a Female Breadwinner
It’s funny what happens when you share your money. For us, sharing means we don’t have to care who earns how much. When my husband used to get bonuses at work, I always celebrated as if they were mine. “What should we do with your Christmas bonus?” I would ask him. And we would sit together and dream and plot something fun, like a vacation or weekend trip with the kids.
Now that I’m earning more, we do the same thing. When we have a particularly good month, my husband literally radiates with happiness and pride. Who cares which one of us earned which share of the money? Because everything is “ours,” we both get to win.
And no, I don’t feel resentful. I feel proud – proud I am doing my part to take care of my family, and proud my earnings made it possible for my husband to leave a very difficult job. He still works his butt off like he always has, but he now does it from home without all the hassle and stress. I am so glad I was able to support him in ways I never dreamed of, just like he was there for me when I needed him to be. And it’s all possible because we share everything, including every cent we earn.
Sharing our finances makes everything easier, but it’s not all we do to make our household fair and equitable. We both work full-time, but we’re still equally responsible for the kids, the dishes, and the laundry.
We don’t split each chore evenly, however. Instead, we split up responsibilities based on our strengths. For example, I cook dinner while my husband helps the kids with their homework. Once we’re done eating together, we clean up together. I never take out the trash or the dog, but I do all the grocery shopping. My husband fixes everything that breaks and I make sure the kids have everything they need for school. Together, we make the whole thing work.
You know what else helps? We hired a housekeeper to deep clean our home every four weeks. Instead of bickering over who cleans the bathrooms and mops the floors, we pay someone $120 to do a bang-up job once per month. In between, we both sweep, mop, and wipe down counters as needed. For us, splurges like hiring a housekeeper are an essential part of maintaining a happy marriage.
But, the biggest thing that’s helped our marriage is the fact we are committed to being life partners. More than anything else, we know we are in this together. Sharing kids, a house, and our money is a lot easier when you’re someone’s teammate instead of their adversary. We don’t keep score because we absolutely refuse to. I am not my husband’s critic; I am his cheerleader and his #1 fan. And he is mine.
How to Embrace Your Role as a Female Breadwinner
If you’re a female breadwinner who’s resentful about your higher salary, step one to saving your marriage is getting over yourself. Yes, I went there. Please, for the love of God, realize how privileged you are to be a woman (or a human, even) with the capacity and talent to bring in a big paycheck. You’ve made it, and you should be proud!
Second, take an introspective look at your relationship and why you might be feeling resentful. Perhaps the problem isn’t the fact you earn more, but instead, how you view your situation.
Consider the possibility of sharing everything – including your money. Sit down and dream together; come up with life goals you can work toward as a team. Instead of “keeping score,” ask yourself how you can both utilize your talents to become the best “us” you can be. Celebrate one another and your collective achievements, monetary or otherwise. Remember, it’s easier to celebrate each other’s “wins” when you see your partner’s successes as your own.
And if your partner isn’t doing their share of the household work and childcare, call them out. It’s perfectly okay to earn less, but it’s not okay for one spouse to do all the cooking and cleaning and child-rearing. Also consider hiring a bi-weekly or monthly housekeeper. Even if you’re frugal, you may find it’s well worth it to pay someone to deep clean every few weeks. For us, it has been nothing short of life-changing.
Lastly, stop feeling resentful and replace those negative feelings with pride. You are smart, accomplished, and capable of earning enough to support yourself and your family. You have choices in life that millions of women around the world could only dream of – including the option to be with someone only because you love them.
For heaven’s sake, stop complaining and start owning your success.
Holly Johnson is an award-winning personal finance writer and the author of Zero Down Your Debt. Johnson shares her obsession with frugality, budgeting, and travel at ClubThrifty.com.
Related Articles:
- Guide to Financial Independence for Women
- How Women Can Close the Retirement Savings Gap
- How Our Financial Goals Have Changed After 10 Years of Marriage
Are you a female breadwinner? If so, how do you feel about it?
The post Why Women Should Embrace Their Breadwinning Status (and Stop Complaining About It) appeared first on The Simple Dollar.
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4 Inexpensive Ways to Eat Comfort Foods Without Blowing Your Low-Carb Diet
Whether you’re trying to manage diabetes, lose a few pounds or simply take on low-carb living as a lifestyle choice, missing out on some of your favorite comfort foods can be a bummer.
I mean, sure, bacon is great and all… but pizza, though. Not to mention mashed potatoes. Or macaroni and cheese.
What was I saying?
You Can Make Low-Carb Comfort Foods Without Going Bankrupt
Fortunately, you can recreate many of your favorite carb-laden comfort foods to fit low-carb diet plans.
And, as someone who’s been eating this way for several years, I can tell you from experience that many of these recipes are pretty freaking solid. I mean, cauliflower will never actually replace potatoes or bread, but add enough cheese to anything and you’re gonna walk away happy. I promise.
But when you start pricing out the fancy-pants ingredients you see in those scrumptious-looking recipes for low-carb cakes, cookies and pizza doughs, you might feel a secondary wave of despair.
Almond flour costs how much? What the heck is erythritol? And where are you supposed to find xanthan gum?
But you don’t have to go broke trying to recreate your favorite comfort foods for your low-carb diet — or go bananas trying to figure out what aisle monk fruit powder is on.
Here, I’ll show you.
How to Save Money on Low-Carb Recipe Ingredients
A quick note on pricing before we dig into the good stuff: I pulled all the prices in this post from the my local grocery stores and Walmart, with the exception of shredded cheese (which, as you’ll notice, makes an appearance in a whole heap of carb-replacement recipes).
Cheese, if you don’t go about it the right way, can be really expensive. I’ve seen a 1-pound bag of shredded mozzarella for well over $5 at Publix, and even the cheaper $3.50-per-pound price at Walmart isn’t great. And no matter where you get it, certain cheeses, like Parmesan, are always expensive.
But you can buy shredded mozzarella and cheddar from Sam’s Club and other warehouse stores for about $12 per 5-pound bag, or 15 cents per ounce — and if you want to make these sorts of recipes often, you really should.
Cheese is part of what gives low-carb crusts and breads their texture, so you need lots of it. The cost will add up quickly if you’re not careful!
1. Low-Carb Pizza (Yes, It Exists!)
So, listen. I’m not going to pretend that low-carb pizza is less expensive than regular pizza, because it isn’t.
That’s because pizza is crazy cheap, even before companies start going bonkers and giving it away for free. You can get a whole frozen pizza for less than $6 or score a deal for takeout ‘za for less than $10.
If you’re assembling your pie at home, it’s even cheaper: Walmart offers Betty Crocker pizza crust mix at just $1 per pouch, and all you have to add is water; even fresh-made pizza doughs from fancy grocers are usually less than $3 apiece. Obviously, that’s before the cost of toppings — but I find it hard to imagine a homemade pizza with more than $10 worth of goodies on top.
But hear this: Low-carb pizza is possible, and it’s really not that much more expensive.
It’s also pretty simple to make, considering it’s a gosh-darn miracle.
Take, for example, this recipe for low-carb pizza crust from Cooky’s Creations, which weighs in at just 7 grams of net carbs for the entire thing (before toppings, of course). Even with its inclusion of expensive almond flour, it’s pretty affordable:
- 12 ounces shredded cheese: $1.80
- 1 egg: 25 cents
- 1 ounce cream cheese: 28 cents
- 6 ounces almond meal: $3.72 (Yikes, right? That’s less than a cup!)
So we’re looking at a $6.08 pizza crust, plus the cost of your favorite fixings — maybe a $12 or $13 pie. Not bad, right?
You can also forgo the recipes that call for fancy nut flours and instead use cauliflower as your main carb replacement, and things get even more reasonable.
Layla Atik of Gimme Delicious offers this thin-crust, food-processor pizza dough recipe. Cauliflower is a little bit more carb-heavy than nut flour, but it has far fewer calories — all told, this “dough” has 17 net grams of carbs. Here’s the price breakdown (not including the marinara and cheese on top):
- 1 head cauliflower: $2.50
- 4 ounces shredded Parmesan: $3 (See? Crazy.)
- 4 ounces shredded mozzarella: 60 cents
- 1 egg: 25 cents
- Salt and spices: 12 cents
That comes out to $6.47 for a crust, and that’s mostly because of the expensive Parmesan cheese. If you replace it with 4 ounces of shredded mozzarella, the total cheese cost comes down to $1.20, or just $4.07 for the whole recipe.
Not terrible, when we’re talking about totally circumventing one of the main drawbacks of low-carb living. (And while we’re on the topic of cauliflower, you can also use it to recreate “mashed potatoes” for shepherd’s pie or even tater tots, or “bread” for your favorite grilled cheese.)
You can also try a “deconstructed” pizza or a pizza casserole, like this one from Kalyn’s Kitchen. Since it’s based on sausage, you’ll spend a little bit extra on meat, but you won’t have to worry about creating a fancy fake crust.
Plus, your only carbs will come from the veggies and tomatoes you choose to put in it and any trace amounts that might show up in processed meats. In Kalyn’s recipe, that comes out to about 20 net grams carbs total, which is just 3 grams carbs per serving. Here’s the breakdown:
- 1 can diced tomatoes: 98 cents
- 19 ounces Italian sausage: $3.50 for non-turkey
- 4 teaspoons olive oil: 16 cents
- 8 ounces fresh mushrooms: $1.74 (and totally optional)
- 12 ounces mozzarella cheese: $3
- 15 slices pepperoni: $1.67
- Salt, pepper and oregano: 5 cents
The total cost comes to $11.10, which is a bit less than an assembled low-carb pizza. This recipe makes six servings.
2. Crazy-Easy Low-Carb Nachos
Remember what we were talking about with all the crazy ingredients?
People have gone to some serious effort to recreate their favorite chips. For example, this recipe for low-carb chili Doritos looks pretty tasty, but it calls for three ingredients you’re unlikely to have in your pantry.
Fortunately, there’s a much simpler solution.
When I’m craving tortilla chips, I just cut and fry a pre-made low-carb flour tortilla. At the bulk price, these tortillas cost just 50 cents each, and each has only 5 net grams of carbohydrates. For comparison, there are about 17 grams of carbs in a serving of corn tortilla chips!
Simply cut a tortilla into triangles and fry them on your stovetop in a tablespoon or so of coconut oil. There you have it — a serving of delicious, warm low-carb tortilla chips ready for your favorite dip or topping.
Best of all, it couldn’t be cheaper:
- 1 low-carb tortilla: 50 cents
- 1 tablespoon coconut oil: 13 cents
Total cost: 63 cents, plus toppings — and I defy you to find sour cream and salsa that will set you back more than a buck.
Then, load ‘em up with your favorite cheeses, sour cream or low-carb chili.
Or, you know, just dip them in salsa. (I’m always too impatient for much more than that.)
3. Low-Carb Taco Shells
The good news is that almost every part of a taco is already naturally low in carbohydrates. The bad news is that the taco shell is not. What to do?
You guessed it: Cheese is the answer.
- 8 ounces shredded cheese: $2.20
- 1/2 teaspoon cumin (optional): 1 cent
Total cost: $1.21 (about 30 cents per taco shell) at the bulk price for cheddar, which is a good option for mexican flavor profiles.
Of course, the crunchy shells from Old El Paso run closer to 12 cents per shell at Target, but they also have 6 grams of carbs each. And they’re not made entirely of cheese, so there’s that.
Plus, these rich cheese “tortillas” are likely to satisfy you well before you’ve accidentally packed away upward of five tacos without thinking about it, which may save you money after all.
Also, again — they are literally. Made. Of. Cheese.
4. Low-Carb Pasta — That Isn’t Spiralized Vegetables
This one’s big. So many people tell me they could never live without pasta, even if their continued noodle consumption meant they’d surely fall over dead tomorrow.
And pasta can be a pretty tricky carbohydrate to imitate. After all, the only ingredient is dough, and that’s the ingredient you can’t have. (And as much as I love you, spiralized zucchini, you’re not pasta. And what I have with pasta is something special.)
But since Sarah at The Primitive Palate came up with this ingenious recipe for low-carb gnocchi, you don’t even have to sacrifice that.
No, they’re not noodles, but who doesn’t prefer gnocchi anyway?
- 16 ounces shredded mozzarella: $2.40
- 3 egg yolks: 75 cents (actually a bit less since you’re ditching the whites)
- 1 teaspoon granulated garlic: 1 cent
That brings the total cost of this zero-carb recipe to $3.16… which is only 66 cents more than you’d pay for a pre-made package of the normal stuff at Walmart.
Plus, it’s fresh and, according to Sarah, crazy-easy to make. No brainer, right?
The Key to Saving on a Low-Carb Diet? Simple, Fresh Cooking
No matter what diet or lifestyle you follow, one of the best ways to save money on your grocery bill is to stick with simple, fresh recipes with as few ingredients as possible.
If something calls for a spice or sauce you’ve never heard of before, you’ll likely use it once and let it languish in the back of your pantry forever. Not only does that contribute to our national food waste problem, but it can also be a drain on your funds.
Of course, trying new recipes is a fun way to keep mealtime interesting. It can also help you eat healthier more often.
So our best advice? Don’t be afraid to improvise.
If a recipe calls for an expensive ingredient you know you’ll never touch again, don’t feel obligated to run out and buy it.
Experimenting in the kitchen is one of the best ways to get better at cooking — and after all, most of these “carby” comfort-food recipes wouldn’t exist without some chef’s curiosity and inventive drive.
So get creative — no matter what your diet and budget require.
Jamie Cattanach (@jamiecattanach) is a freelance writer whose work has been featured at Ms. Magazine, BUST, Roads & Kingdoms, The Write Life, Nashville Review, Word Riot and elsewhere.
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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