Smithfield Township supervisors have made their decision on the proposed site of a new cell tower near Stroudsburg-Pocono Airport.Verizon Wireless planned to put the 100-foot structure at 127 Airport Road. The company had the location cleared with the Federal Aviation Administration and Federal Communications Commission last year.On Wednesday, Township Supervisors Brian Barrett and Lee Bower voted to deny Verizon’s conditional use permit, citing a concern for public [...]
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الثلاثاء، 27 يونيو 2017
9 Simple Ways to Get Totally Free Baby Diapers
Did you know that the average newborn goes through 10 diapers a day!
And that by the time they’ve hit their third birthday, you’ll have spent more than $2,100 buying at least 8,580 diapers! Crazy!
That’s a huge expense on a family, so we’ve put together a resource to help you out….
How to Get Free Diapers
1. Free Samples
Believe it or not, there are a ton of companies that will send you free diapers just for trying out their brand. It’s not a long-term savings strategy, but you can definitely get enough samples to last you for a week or so. Every little bit helps!
Honest Company – They will send you seven of their premium diapers and 10 baby wipes (you pay for shipping).
Everyday Happy – They will send you a free trial box of their premium diapers and a package of soft, bamboo wipes.
Little Huggies – Register here for a free sample pack of diapers and wipes.
Grove Collaborative – You pay the shipping and they’ll send you a couple of trial diapers and wipes.
Simply Right – It seems to vary, but they sent us five diapers.
2. Pampers Gifts to Grow
Join the Pampers Gifts to Grow program and they’ll send you free diapers as reward for your loyalty to the Pampers’ brand.
Every time you buy a box of Pampers, look for the code inside the box and enter it into the website above. Those points can be saved up and later redeemed for diapers, baby food and toys.
[Editor’s note: As of July 2016, you can no longer redeem points for baby food or diapers. However, for the latter, you can use points to enter sweepstakes for free diapers.]
3. Diaper Bank
If things are really tough, check out the National Diaper Bank Network. The non-profit network is aimed at assisting low-income families and they’ve started local chapters all over the country.
As you probably know, food stamps and WIC do not provide diapers, so this is a wonderful alternative to those who need assistance.
4. Get Free Diapers with InboxDollars
Arguably one of the cheapest places to get diapers is at Amazon, so here’s a tip on how to get a free Amazon gift card: Join InboxDollars.
They’ll give you Amazon gift cards for answering trivia questions and questions about your shopping habits. It’s not a ton of money, but most people are able to earn about $10 a month in free Amazon gift cards.
5. Use Cloth Diapers
A lot of parents have found that using washable cloth diapers can be a great way to save on diapers.
Financial blogger Courtney Baker recently did the math and found that a family with three kids could save over $2,500 by switching to cloth diapers!
6. Become a Diaper Ambassador
If you can convince other moms to start buying their diapers online, the folks over at Diapers.com will pay you!
They have a pretty lucrative referral program where you can earn $5 in diaper credit for every mom you refer to the site. Here’s a link to their referral program.
7. Ask the Diaper Companies
Look – diapers are a big business and companies know that once you’ve started with their brand, you’re likely to continue using them until your child is potty-trained. So take advantage of this and register with the major brands below for free coupons and diapers:
8. Get Free Diapers When You Sign Up for the Target Baby Registry
The best part about this one?
You get way more than just diapers.
To help support new and expecting moms, Target’s giving away an awesome gift bag when you set up a baby registry with the store. It includes more than $60 worth of coupons and samples!
Not only will you get diapers and wipes from The Honest Company and coupons for brands like Liz Lange and Starbucks, you’ll get these other goodies, too:
- Aquaphor diaper rash cream
- Olly prenatal multivitamin
- MAM pacifier
- Lansinoh breastfeeding storage bags
- Pampers wipes
- Philips Avent natural bottle
Plus, it’s totally free to sign up for the Target Baby Registry.
9. How to Get Free Diapers: Eliminate Them Altogether?
A few months ago, one of our contributors shared her story of raising her son diaper-free. It’s a growing trend and it’s no wonder since the average family can save more than $2,100 going this route. Would you consider this?
Your Turn: Have you used any of these tips in the past to get free diapers?
Disclosure: You wouldn’t believe how much coffee The Penny Hoarder team goes through. This post contains affiliate links so we can keep the grinds stocked!
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 Easy Tips Save Energy and Money — But Most People Don’t Use Them
When I moved into my new apartment, I started a novel practice: I unplug my microwave after each use.
Now, the energy-conscious among you will probably scoff, thinking what’s the big deal?
But to others, keeping a microwave unplugged during most of the day is pretty odd. You can never glance over at the appliance to check the time when you’re in the kitchen. You have to deal with the awkwardness of plugging it in each time you want to nuke something, elongating a process that’s supposed to save you time.
But what I’m saving instead is energy — and, in turn, money.
I haven’t done a comparison to know exactly how much cash I save, but no matter how small, it’s better than nothing.
Yet, despite the fact that small energy-saving hacks can lower one’s power bill each month, people still aren’t following through.
Wasting On Energy-Suckers
Save On Energy surveyed 1,000 Americans, asking if they sealed their homes, used energy-saving light bulbs, shut down their home computers and unplugged their printers.
The majority did not apply these energy-saving methods to their day-to-day lives, passing up a potential savings of about $679.28 a year.
The individuals surveyed were most conscious of using energy-saving LED or CFL light bulbs over incandescent bulbs. That may be because the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007 phased out the sale of standard 40- to 100- watt incandescent light bulbs. When asked if they switched to energy-saving bulbs at home, half replied that they did, which shaves an estimated $180 a year from their power bill.
Unplugging a printer when it wasn’t in use was the least popular among the energy-saving methods. Over 85% of survey respondents said they kept their printers plugged in — and missed out on an estimated $131 annually in the process.
More Ways To Save Energy
Save On Energy offers additional recommendations for saving on your power bill, including washing clothes in cold water, unplugging gaming consoles and disconnecting the DVR.
For more energy-saving tips, check out these posts:
- Can Occupancy Sensors Really Help You Save Money?
- 8 Energy Saving Tips That Will Save You Lots of Money Each Year
- How One YouTube Star Lowered His Electric Bill by 40%
- 23 Creative Ways to Slash Your Utility Bills
- Here’s How to Save Money on Solar Panels for Your Home
- How To Lower Your Electric Bill by $1,500 a Year in 3 Easy Steps
Save the planet and save your budget at the same time.
Nicole Dow is a staff 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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Got a 24/7 Hangry Teen? Here’s How to Keep Them Fed Without Going Broke
Your mindless indulgences are costing your parents a lot of money. Especially during the summer.
That trip to the fridge you do at 3 a.m. while watching “Orange is the New Black” reruns? It’s gotta stop.
Your eating habits will cost your parents an average of $51,790 while you’re between the moody ages of 13 and 19.
You heard me. You are racking up some ginormous grocery bills, and you aren’t exactly being nice about it in the process.
This is you:
Stop it.
Teens are Hungry, and Summer Makes it Worse
After surveying over 2,000 parents with kids between 13 and 19, food and drink company Farm Rich found that teens are hungry — and even worse, they’re hangry.
One-third of parents surveyed described their teen as a “bottomless pit,” and 75% of parents admit they have no idea how their kid manages to eat as much as they do.
(My theory? Boredom. I was 15 once.)
The cost of keeping up with these bottomless pits? The survey reports it costs $142 per week to feed one teenager.
You read that right: one tenager.
That cost skyrockets during summer, too — snacking increases by 50% when school is out.
Although parents are making valiant efforts to keep up with their hungry teens, it sometimes isn’t enough.
According to the survey, 57% of parents admit that their kid is quick to grumble about the food selection at home. Parents also claim their kids say “there’s NOTHING to eat in the house” three times a week.
Someone get these kids a Snickers, will ya?
How to Save on Your Bottomless Pit’s Grocery Bill
Farm Rich Director of Marketing Shannon Gilreath says keeping teenagers fed and happy puts serious strains on parents.
“Feeding teenagers can sometimes be a mental and financial challenge, particularly in summertime when kids are around the house more,” says Gilreath, “It’s no wonder parents can feel frustrated, with tensions rising at times, so stocking up on their kids’ favorite foods is just one way to help.”
If you’re a parent struggling to keep your teen fed and happy this summer, there are a few ways to help ease the strain on your grocery bills.
Here are a few tips:
- Ever shop at Trader Joe’s? You might want to consider making the switch — I realized I could save $600 a year shopping there.
- Re-evaluate your shopping strategy. Avoid these six expensive mistakes people make while grocery shopping.
- Make a few changes. The Penny Hoarder CEO Kyle Taylor made a few adjustments to his grocery shopping and now saves $200 per month — here’s how.
- If you’re a teen, get a summer job and stop draining your parent’s wallets. Here are 100 fun and lucrative summer jobs for teens. If you’re going to eat this much, maybe consider helping your pay for it. Just sayin’. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
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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Who Pays for the First Date? Turns Out No One Really Knows Anymore
Remember that one time I wrote about how millennials hate dinner dates?
Well, now there’s more information that further solidifies the fact that first dates are absolute dumpster fires and should be avoided all together.
Have you ever been sitting at a dinner table across from the rando you matched with on Tinder, feeling your palms sweat as the server places the bill right in the MIDDLE of the table?
Do you do “the reach”? You know, that sneaky move where you pretend like you’re going to grab your wallet, but you’re actually hoping your date insists on footing the bill?
Sometimes the reach works, but according to a recent article in The Wall Street Journal, it’s not as reliable as it once was.
We’re Going on More Dates, and It’s Getting Expensive
In traditional etiquette, a man is responsible for paying the bill on a date. Surprise, surprise. It’s no longer 1822, and traditions are no longer the norm.
The Wall Street Journal reports that easy accessibility to dates is starting to blur the lines when it comes to who pays — and it’s making stuff incredibly awkward in the process.
According to the article, online dating has changed the dynamics of the dating field.
Now that it’s easier to get a first date, more people are going on them, and it’s burning some big holes in their wallets. The article gives examples of dates in New York City or San Francisco that total up to $130. Someone who goes on three dates a week could spend more than $20,000 a year.
The high costs are putting pressure on men and women alike when it comes to paying for dates.
According to the article, women are now reluctant to do “the reach” because they may actually split the bill or cover it in its entirety in the end.
I’m not saying it’s terrible that a woman would ever responsible for paying for a date. If a gal wants to foot the bill, by all means, she should do it.
The real point I’m making here is about the people who don’t initiate the date. Are the ones who are asked on a date still somewhat responsible for paying the bill?
This is where it gets weird.
The article quotes Jaclyn Suchta, a woman who was asked out on a date on her 18th birthday. As she and her date got to the ticket counter, “her date looked at her blankly for several uncomfortable moments, until she ponied up cash for both tickets, plus popcorn and sodas.”
Umm………..what???
Another young woman, Alex Paull, went out on a Tinder date and didn’t do the reach because her date invited her and picked the place.
The result? She got home from the date with a $20 Venmo request for her share of the bill.
No, she didn’t pay it.
Why are We So Confused?
Theories are mixed as to why no one knows who should be responsible for paying for a date these days.
One theory is that women don’t want to come off as “gold diggers,” so they don’t do the reach.
On the other end of the spectrum, though, is a theory that the differences in gender equality should be taken into consideration when deciding who should pay.
Tinesha Zandamela, a self-proclaimed feminist, told The Wall Street Journal, “There’s a huge gender pay gap. The least a guy can do is pay for a date that he initiates.” Some men think if they do pay for a date, they’ll fall into stereotypes. To “embrace what they consider to be a more progressive view on gender roles,” they let the woman pay the bill.
When it comes down to it, there’s one thing about all of this that just doesn’t add up for me.
One of the most talked about characteristics of millennials these days is how open they are when it comes to talking about finances.
Sure, maybe you don’t want to talk credit scores and 401(k) balances with your rando Tinder date, but if talking money isn’t taboo for millennials these days, why bother beating around the bush about it?
Maybe we should be a little more transparent with each other before we order the lobster.
Just sayin’.
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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These Free and Low-Cost Resources are for Anyone Affected by Alzheimer’s
June is Alzheimer’s and Brain Awareness Month.
Alzheimer’s disease is a form of dementia, which is a more general term for a decline in mental capacity severe enough to to interfere with a person’s everyday life. It’s a progressive disease that gradually worsens over several years, and while there are treatments available to delay and lessen symptoms for a time, there is currently no cure.
The emotional, physical and mental effects of Alzheimer’s, along with other diseases that affect memory and brain function, are difficult for everyone involved. Add in the financial implications of long-term care, medication, therapies and appointments, and the financial strain can make an already overwhelming diagnosis that much more devastating.
Free and Low-Cost Resources for Alzheimer’s Awareness Month
Thankfully, several organizations offer free and low-cost resources to people affected by Alzheimer’s or another form of dementia.
We’ve compiled some resources that will help you find free and low-cost resources for both patients and caregivers.
Free Screenings
The Alzheimer’s Foundation of America provides free, confidential memory screenings administered by qualified professionals across the U.S. You can find a testing site near you that offers free memory screenings.
If you’re not sure if you should be screened, these questions may help you decide. You can also download and take this free Self-Administered Gerocognitive Exam (SAGE), but you should take your completed form to a qualified healthcare professional for a follow-up.
Resources for Individuals Who Have Been Diagnosed with Alzheimer’s Disease
If you’ve recently been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s, the Alzheimer’s Association’s website is a good place to go for initial resources. There, you’ll find links to a lot of helpful articles and videos, including everything from a “What to Expect” section to a free “Taking Action” workbook.
Here, you’ll find resources including a free telephone helpline, links to local and online support groups and free online education courses.
You can also search for free and low-cost services in your community.
Resources for Caregivers
Here you’ll find information and free, online educational materials to help you better understand your role as a caregiver. You can also search for local and online support groups and message boards so you can connect with people who have faced with similar circumstances.
You’ll also find resources that explain different care options, and can connect you to them, because no one person should have to face the entirety of the caregiving experience alone. There’s also an eldercare locator that can help you find programs in your area.
At the National Institute on Aging, you’ll find resources for relieving stress and anxiety, as well as information on coping with the emotional changes and the modified grieving processes that go along with a dementia diagnosis.
Financial Help
If you’re in need of financial help to allay some of the mounting costs of long-term care, Paying for Senior Care has resources for understanding, planning for and lowering long-term care costs. The site covers everything from home modifications to veterans’ benefits.
The Caregiver Center breaks down several financial aid options available to you, including government assistance programs and retirement benefits. This website offers information on Medicare and Medicaid, along with info on the limitations and benefits of different types of insurance and health care coverage.
This free, downloadable educational program provides information on legal and financial planning for those who are in the early stages of the disease.
Finally, this website will help you find your local Area Agency on Aging. AAAs receive federal funding under the Older American Act with supplementation through state and local revenues. Each AAA provides a collection of services including insurance counseling, transportation assistance, caregiver support and information and referrals.
The Alzheimer’s Association is working to inspire action in an effort to find a cure — but for those already affected by this disease in any way, now is the time to seek out emotional, mental, physical and financial support.
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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Don’t give away too much money…
Tempted to pass on assets to your children to dodge care costs and inheritance tax? Find out why one top financial planner is warning you to err on the side of caution.
We know that the state will ask us to pay more for the care we may need in later life. Given the record of backtracking, we may find the inheritance tax (IHT) rules end up changing in the coming years. Some people, anxious not to erode an inheritance they have long wanted to pass to their children, will be tempted to start passing money on early. But I think you give your money away at your peril.
The best gift you can give your children is not to be a burden to them towards the end of your life when their resources may be stretched and meeting your needs could require enormous sacrifice.
I am a financial planner and I have a number of clients in the ‘sandwich generation’, who are trying to help their children on to the housing ladder and at the same time supporting elderly parents in care.
Cost of care
We want to be in our homes as long as possible and most of us will need some support for that. If we need to move into a residential care home, it might cost £5,000 a month. Typically, that might be for four years on average, unless the problem is dementia – when it could be longer.
Medical advances mean more of us are surviving illnesses that would have once killed us, so we are living long enough to suffer from the cruelty of dementia. You can survive it for many years. The costs of the specialist care this requires can add significantly to the bills. I have a client with dementia who is paying £10,000 a month to be looked after in a care home in south-west London.
It makes it very difficult to know how much financial provision you might need in later life.
What can you do if you want to pass on an inheritance?
First, what you can’t do – you can’t give the money away with strings attached. To avoid IHT – and quite possibly falling foul of any new regulations around care funding that might be introduced – any gift must be “without reservation”.
You might think you can give money to your children without any formal agreement and that they will look after you anyway, but that may not be possible. They may need the money to pay for a home, in which case the cash is likely to be locked in bricks and mortar, and not available for you. In the event of a divorce – unless you have put in pre- or post-nuptial agreements – you may see half the gift disappearing with an ex-husband or former wife.
Trusts can be a helpful way of ensuring the right person gets to receive the money – and keep it – but they need to be drawn up carefully, so you need to use an experienced solicitor. There is a risk that if you are considered to have divested yourself of money to avoid care costs that the arrangement will be challenged.
If you are a couple and are determined to leave money to your children, consider taking out a life insurance policy that only pays out on the second death and is written in trust for the children. This should be outside your estate for IHT purposes and is also helpful in avoiding probate delay.
If you want to give money during your lifetime, the most common way is by lump sum through a potentially exempt transfer (PET). For major gifts to be exempt from IHT, you have to survive seven years after making the gift. If you die before that time, a taper potentially applies – so if you die within three years, the recipients may have to pay the full 40% IHT back. Between three and four years it would be 32%, and so on down to 8% if you die six to seven years after making the gift.
This is a clean way to gift substantial sums, but it can encourage many people to give away too much too soon.
Passing money on gradually
There is another way to give without having to think seven or more years ahead. An underused facility is “gifts out of normal expenditure”. Document how much of your annual income you spend year to year. You can give the surplus away without the PET rules applying as long as you are able to maintain your usual standard of living. So as you tick off another healthy year, you might feel able to pass on another chunk. The key is accurately recording the information. Normal gifts such as Christmas and birthday presents are included within this allowance too.
In addition to gifts out of normal expenditure, each individual has an “annual exemption” of £3,000 (therefore £6,000 for a couple) worth of gifts they can make each tax year without these gifts being added to the value of an estate. This can be carried back one year if you haven’t fully used the previous year’s exemption.
It is also possible to give away wedding gifts of up to £1,000 per person, or a greater £2,500 for a grandchild or great-grandchild and £5,000 for a child.
Also exempt from IHT are payments to help with another person’s living costs, such as an elderly relative or a child under 18.
Finally, it is possible to give any amount of gifts of up to £250 per person during a tax year as long as another exemption has not already been used on the recipient.
When the rules change…
Of course, all this information applies now and as I have indicated some of the rules are likely to change. Even if you normally like to manage your own financial affairs, this is one area where it is worth taking advice. The key point to make is that you shouldn’t let the tax tail wag the dog. Don’t jeopardise your financial independence.
Budgeting a substantial sum for care and then giving money away gradually as you can, using a combination of the techniques above, should hopefully help you achieve the balance between being able to look after your own needs and being generous to the following generations.
Charles Calkin is a financial planner at James Hambro
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How to Shop Around Online: A Basic Guide
Tammy writes in:
How does a person “shop around online”? I understand that you can buy things on Amazon and other web sites. Do you just go to different sites and look at prices and see what is cheapest? What about online rip off sites? How do you shop around online for things like car insurance?
Tammy is asking a bundle of things here but they all come down to one core question: how exactly does a person “shop around” online? It’s a skill that many people have learned over the last decade or so, such that it’s often assumed that people just know how to do this, but I actually couldn’t find an article online that discussed, step by step, how to actually shop around.
For some of you, this article is going to definitely fall into the category of “personal finance 101.” Here’s the thing to remember: everyone needs a “101” article sometimes on a particular area. In just the last week, I’ve read incredibly “newbie friendly” articles and watched videos on a few basic things that probably seem comical to most people; I’m glad that such “101” articles exist even if I don’t happen to need them and I just move on to other articles if I don’t need the ideas in those basic.
So, let’s start off with the very basics. The idea of “shopping around online” simply means that you go to a number of online retailers – or to the websites of stores in your area – and find the price on a particular good you’re looking for. Then, you use that information to make the best buying decision. That doesn’t always mean going for the absolute lowest price, mind you.
There are a number of different variations on this, depending on what kind of shopping you’re doing and how you intend to use that information. So, let’s start with some basic examples.
Shopping Around Online for Basic Supplies
These are items that people typically pick up in local stores, but more and more people are gradually moving to the internet to buy such items. These are items that you’d typically find in a “super” department store – one that combines a grocery store with the typical goods you’d find in a department store like Target or Wal-Mart.
Typically, this process starts with the customer having some specific item in mind. Maybe you’re going to the store to buy socks, or maybe you need a new blender, or perhaps you need some resealable containers. I’m going to assume you already have a sense of the brand that you intend to buy, perhaps because it’s something you’ve already bought before or because you’re following a recommendation from Consumer Reports.
You have this fairly standard type of item and you know what you want. How do you shop around online for it?
The best approach is to simply visit a handful of well-regarded online stores, as well as the websites of department and discount stores in your area. For example, if I’m shopping around for a blender or for resealable containers, I would probably check out Target.com, Walmart.com, Amazon.com, SamsClub.com, and Costco.com. These are the websites of brick-and-mortar retailers near me, along with Amazon, which provides a great general price check for most items.
If your item is in a bit of a specific niche, you might want to look at some online specialty shops related to that item. For example, if you’re looking at office supplies, you’d probably want to check Staples.com and OfficeDepot.com. If you’re looking at electronics, you may want to look at BestBuy.com or NewEgg.com. For clothing, Macys.com might be worth a look. For hardware items, you may want to check out HomeDepot.com or Lowes.com.
In short, for starters, you should simply look at the websites of whatever retailers you might visit in the course of buying the item, along with Amazon. That simple step alone allows you to check out most of the retailers in your area.
When you go to each site, all you need to do is look up the item and see what the price is, but you don’t want to necessarily buy immediately. If you’re already checking out one retailer, it’s usually worthwhile to check out several before you make any decisions. I typically check out at least four or five different sites for every purchase over ten or fifteen dollars.
There are tools that do some of this work for you and allow you to search a bunch of sites at once for prices. PriceGrabber.com seems to be the best option amongst these, though Google Shopping also seems to work pretty well. These tend to pull in prices from a bunch of different retailers at once, though the exact retailers tends to vary a lot from item to item. I do use these, but I usually check the “big” retailers myself because they’re sometimes missing from these “price aggregators.”
Another thing I look for is each retailer’s price matching policy. You often have to dig around for these policies, and some sites and retailers don’t have price matching at all. The easiest way to find their policy is to simply use Google and search for RETAILER price matching where RETAILER is obviously the retailer of your choice. So, you might search for Walmart price matching, which will quickly take you to Walmart.com’s price matching policy. This works pretty well for almost every online retailer.
One more tip: I don’t always go with the lowest price. There are some advantages to actually buying items at a brick-and-mortar retailer. For one, you can visually inspect the item before you buy it so that you don’t wind up with a beat-up item delivered to your house, which does happen if you order from an online retailer to have it shipped to you. For another, returning items in-store is usually easier than returning by mail. Yet another advantage is time – when you’re searching the site of a retailer, you can often check to see if the item is in stock at a local store and then go pick it up immediately, sometimes with the item already being held for you at customer service. With online shipping, you have to wait for a while.
On the other hand, you’ll often find that online prices are lower than those in the store, so if you can get free or extremely cheap shipping, the total price you pay online may be less, and that’s a better option if you don’t need it immediately.
My usual strategy is to find the best price online and then try to match it in-store with a store that has a great price-matching policy. Of course, this is only true if the specific item I want is available at a nearby store, which does cut down on the selection a bit – while a Super Target may carry a lot of things, they don’t carry everything.
Doesn’t this take time? It sure does, but once you have all of these sites bookmarked and know what the price matching policy is at many of them, you can usually find the best price on the item you want from a reputable retailer in just a minute or two. I usually save enough on items above $10 to make the process worth it, especially on items I don’t need immediately.
What about local retailers with minimal online presence? Honestly, I usually check them first. For example, there’s a nice little hardware store about a mile from my house that I visit first when I have a hardware need, and unless the item registers in my head as being overly expensive, I’ll just buy the item locally. If I do feel the need to price check, I’ll do it on my phone while shopping in the store, with anything close in price going in favor of the local retailer. Local independent retailers add a lot of value to the shopping experience, especially since many of the people working there tend to actually care about the products being sold and are glad to help. The service of many local stores is worth a small premium to me, as is the sense that a healthy portion of the money I spend there stays local.
Shopping Around Online for Hobby Supplies or Niche Supplies
Things get a bit more challenging when you move onto physical items that aren’t typically find at big box retailers. When you’re looking for specific niche items or you need specific hobby supplies, part of the challenge comes from finding retailers that specialize in those niches.
So, your first step is to find trusted retailers that operate within your niche. You can start with Amazon here, as they tend to offer quite a few supplies in a lot of different niches and hobbies, but you need more than that to actually “shop around online.”
My preferred method of doing this is to find online communities devoted to a particular hobby or niche and look for the trusted retailers in that community.
For example, I have a passing interest in good pens, so outside of Amazon, some of the trusted retailers include Jet Pens, Goulet Pens, and Van Ness Pens (these are ones I’ve happily used in the past, which is why I chose them out of a longer list of ones I could have mentioned). I found these retailers by looking for online pen, pencil, and stationery communities and finding out what their recommended retailers were.
Another example, also drawn from my hobbies, comes from my interest in board games. I can quickly identify retailers like Coolstuffinc, Funagain Games, and Miniature Market that do a great job of directly serving the tabletop gaming community simply by poking around board gaming communities online.
As with the more mainstream retailers in the previous section, I bookmark all of these in my web browser, but in this instance I put all of those bookmarks in a single bookmark folder. Here, I might mark the folder as “pen retailers” or “board game retailers” and include links to the above ones and a few more. That way, I can open all of their pages quickly and search for the specific item I’m looking for.
That way, when I do decide to buy, say, some new ink cartridges for a pen when it’s running low or a new board game I might be interested in, I can quickly check a bunch of trusted retailers for the best price on those cartridges or that game.
What about loyalty programs? Many retailers in niche markets (like stationery and pens, for instance) tend to offer pretty strong loyalty programs. As opposed to more mainstream retailers, after all, they’re chasing after a smaller number of customers and loyalty tends to be even more valuable. I find that many niche retailers have very strong loyalty programs, which you do need to incorporate into your calculations when shopping around online. Thus, it makes sense to bring up loyalty programs here.
In general, when I realize that I’m going to be buying regularly within a niche, I tend to fixate on one retailer after trying a few, then consider purchases from that retailer to have a bit of an additional discount that isn’t reflected in the compared prices. Thus, if prices are close at all, I favor a particular retailer with a good loyalty program that I have experience with. This is similar to my logic of buying local from above.
In other words, loyalty programs do count for a bit and should nudge you toward a particular retailer when it’s close, and you’re typically better off just maximizing a single loyalty program.
Shopping Around Online for Services
What about when you’re shopping around for services, like insurance or banking? What’s different when you’re shopping around for those things?
Perhaps even more than with the niche retailers, “shopping around” for services like these centers around identifying the actual places to compare. For insurance, for example, identifying a number of insurance companies to compare and get quotes from is perhaps the most important step in the process.
For this, I generally turn to trusted independent reviewers such as Consumer Reports and Morningstar in order to compare service providers. For specific services where I’m comparing numbers, I turn to comparative online listings, like The Simple Dollar’s own best bank listings.
The goal with such a listing isn’t to just have that reviewer tell me which service to use, but to figure out a handful that are generally considered to offer quality products. For example, I might deduce from The Simple Dollar’s comparisons and a few other tools that Ally and Discover Bank are really good options that are consistently near the top of comparative reviews. Never, ever wholly trust one source’s viewpoint – get a bunch of options by looking at a bunch of viewpoints and collecting the ones that are near the top in all of those viewpoints.
Once you have those options, again, go through and check into the offerings of each service provider, one at a time. Get a quote from each one and compare those quotes, then go for the one that offers the best service for the buck. If you get similar offers, trust the comparative reviews, but you’re generally in good shape choosing the best priced service from among that handful of top service providers.
This process takes a bit longer than the others, but you’re generally doing this only once in a great while for each type of service that you use. Once you start using a service, you’re likely to stick with it until there’s a compelling reason to leave that service, at which point finding and comparing service providers should be done again from scratch.
Final Thoughts
Shopping around online is something that should simply be a part of everyone’s buying habits these days. The availability of the internet makes it easy to quickly compare prices amongst many stores and find the best bargain on the items you’re buying. Even if you choose not to shop at a certain store, knowing what prices they’re offering and taking advantage of such things as price matching can save you money elsewhere.
Right now, it’s worth your while to identify and bookmark some good general retailers for many of your everyday purchases – things you might buy at Target or Walmart – as well as some specific retailers for any niche areas that you might shop. This is a great first step you can take immediately to prepare yourself for convenient online comparison shopping.
Good luck!
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Why Spend Big on a Vacation When You Can Post Fake Pics Instead?
Looking for a way to ignite envy among your friends?
Can’t bring yourself to talk openly about money in your social circle?
Concerned that your social media followers might suspect you don’t spend all 24 hours of each and every day crushing it?
This one easy trick can create the illusion that everything is just fine.
Lying!
Debunking the Creative Liberty You Took on Social Media
A new survey by financial planning company LearnVest found that more than one-third of men admit to posting fake vacation photos to social media.
Ladies, I see you too. Twenty-six percent of women have tried the same nonsense.
All these unscrupulous women and men are likely millennials, for LearnVest reports that 56% of America’s snake people have pulled this move.
Please put away your surprised face. Millennials were born into terrible financial circumstances and will never have the promise of comfort their parents claimed.
So instead of living modestly and finding the little things to bring us joy, here we are. Lying about vacations.
Chilling by the pool at the La Quinta in the far suburb of some beachy locale, posting photos so filtered someone might mistake them for the Hyatt.
Or you do a quick Google for a picture of a dish you’d like to eat someday, when you’re in a higher tax bracket, and slap it on the ’Gram.
No one will ever know, right?
A Better Way to Get Those Vacation Snaps
I mean, you could actually save up for the vacation you really want.
I’m not saying you’ll be able to hit the all-inclusive resort tomorrow, but if you plan ahead (perhaps way ahead) for your next trip, you’ll be able to enjoy yourself without nickel and diming yourself into a vending machine meal.
The average debt after a vacation? More than $1,100, according to another LearnVest survey. So think about saving before you vacation.
Then I’ll let you post as many photos of your feet in the sand as you want, as long as you’re actually there.
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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This Woman Has Made $1 Million Using Fiverr. Here’s How She Did It
It’s called a side gig for a reason.
Maybe a big expense is coming up, or perhaps your 9-to-5 salary just isn’t cutting it, so you pick up a little work to earn some extra cash on the side.
But when’s the last time your means of supplemental income earned you over $1 million?
In 2011, Charmaine Pocek and her husband Sasa were saving up to adopt a child. Pocek was working as a corporate recruiter at the time and had 15 years of experience under her belt.
She decided to turn to Fiverr — a freelance services marketplace — to make some extra money writing resumes.
Nearly six years later, she’s made about $1.2 million through the site, setting records as the first U.S. — and the first female — Fiverr seller to break $1 million in earnings.
Not bad for something that was intended to be a side gig.
How She Did It
Pocek said she never would have guessed she’d end up making seven figures off the Fiverr platform. Like many Fiverr freelancers, she started off marketing her services at just $5 a pop.
“I really enjoyed it,” she said. “But it was still a lot of work for what you get back.”
These days, she charges anywhere from about $30 to $800 to write resumes and cover letters and optimize clients’ LinkedIn profiles. She said that makes up about 95% of her work on Fiverr.
“I also do career consulting and interview preparation and things like that, but that is extremely time consuming, so I’ve kind of had to tailor that down and just really focus on the writing,” Pocek said.
When prospective clients visit her Fiverr profile, they can choose to contact her for a custom order, which Pocek said has helped her business a lot.
“Whether you’re in sales or writing or customer service or engineering or computer programming… every resume is different,” Pocek said. “So it’s hard to put a set price on everything. It’s almost impossible. [Now I] can look at their resume… and really give them a customized quote.”
How Her Success with Fiverr Has Impacted Her Life
In addition to not expecting to net such profits from her freelance work, Pocek also didn’t think it’d be more than a side gig.
But in 2014, she left her full-time job.
Pocek said she took about three or four months to think things over before ending her corporate recruiting work and focusing solely on freelancing through Fiverr.
To this day, she’s still adjusting to not being around other people in an office environment, but she says she doesn’t miss the Houston commute.
One important trade-off?
“What I get in return is getting to see my daughter smile,” Pocek said.
The extra income Pocek brought in through Fiverr helped her and her husband adopt their daughter Karen, who is now 3.
“We were able to sign up with an [adoption] agency that we really trusted and wanted to use,” she said. “After we had the money, we signed up and were matched really, really quickly afterwards… Adoption just changed our lives.”
Pocek’s freelance career allows her to work from home and have the flexibility to plan her own schedule.
“I do so much with my daughter’s daycare,” she said. “And we love to travel. Another thing about Fiverr is you can go on a cruise and you can still work. You can still get your couple hours in there a day, working when you’re in the middle of the ocean. It’s allowed us to really have freedom to travel.”
Pocek’s Million-Dollar Advice to Fiverr Sellers
Pocek advises anyone who’s interested in freelancing via Fiverr to just go on and put themselves out there.
“Just start,” she said. “Don’t hesitate. Just go ahead and list your gig… There’s no risk, whatsoever, in listing anything. There’s no capital, no overhead and no risk.”
Pocek said it’s important to highlight your relevant qualifications and credentials on your Fiverr profile and to stay in communication with clients after taking on a job.
“I do hard work and… value every customer,” she said.
Every now and then, she gets notes from clients after she helped with their resume and they’ve landed an interview.
“Those things make me keep doing [this work] and keep wanting to do it,” Pocek said.
Nicole Dow is a staff 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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When Using Other Loans to Pay Off Student Debt Is a Good Idea
Most college students barely stop to think about the impact student loan debt may have on them in their future. After all, they’re looking for a solution to finance their education, now. The substantial debt they’re racking up to cover tuition and fees is another problem for another day.
It isn’t until sometime after graduation, when those loan payments start becoming due, that many consumers begin to think about how to handle their outstanding student loan debt.
If you find yourself currently wondering about the best way to approach your student loan debt, you might want to take a moment to consider using a personal loan or even a home equity line or home equity loan.
These options, of course, are not necessarily right for everyone, and you should certainly consider all the pros and cons before pulling the trigger. Yet there are several big benefits to paying off student loan debt with some other form of credit.
Benefit No. 1: Conversion to Dischargeable Debt
One of the biggest issues many borrowers face when it comes to student loans is the fact that the debt is typically not statutorily dischargeable in a bankruptcy. This fact holds true even if you never actually graduated or obtained a degree.
A consumer may rely on bankruptcy to help alleviate the financial pressure of just about any other type of credit obligation, but bankruptcy relief from a student loan is unavailable except under very special circumstances. Using other loans, however, to pay off your student loans removes this potential obstacle.
Of course, you should never take out a new loan with the intent of later including it in a bankruptcy. That’s called fraud. Yet it can certainly give you peace of mind to know that all your debt could potentially be included in bankruptcy if the need were ever to arise. For most consumers, bankruptcy is the last resort, but it can be comforting to know that you have the option nonetheless.
Benefit No. 2: Credit Reporting Limitations
Another problem when it comes to student loans is that when they’re in default and unpaid, they don’t have a credit reporting expiration date. An unpaid student loan in default can haunt your credit history forever.
In fact, the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA), the law that governs credit reporting time limits, does not even address federal student loans at all. Those accounts are governed instead by the Higher Education Act — which says unpaid defaulted student loan debt is permitted to remain on your credit reports forever.
When you pay off your student loan debt with another type of loan, the new debt will be subject to credit reporting limitations. If a personal loan or any type of home equity account goes into default, the FCRA will require that negative debt to be removed from your credit reports within seven years. It’s not a great silver lining, but it’s better than a stick in the eye.
Benefit No. 3: No Potential Loss of Government Benefits
You could face some harsh consequences if your student loans ever go into default. Not only is student loan debt typically ineligible for inclusion in a bankruptcy, and not only can unpaid, derogatory student loan accounts remain on your credit reports forever, but you could also lose various government benefits due to defaulted federal student loan debts as well.
If you default on your student loans, the government can exercise extreme measures to collect your debt. Your wages could be garnished. Tax refunds (both federal and state) can be withheld and applied toward your outstanding debt.
In fact, a portion of your Social Security payments could be garnished – even if that’s your sole source of income and the garnishment causes severe financial hardship. As Benjamin Franklin said, “But in this world, nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes.” And, perhaps, the government’s ability to collect your student loan payments.
Point being, unless you’re the rare borrower who qualifies for student loan forgiveness, you’re going to pay them, or you’re going to die with them.
Related Articles:
- Federal Student Loan Forgiveness: Four Ways to Wipe Out Your Debt
- What Are My Student Loan Repayment Options?
- When Does it Make Sense to Refinance or Consolidate Your Student Loans?
- Should You Use a Personal Loan to Pay Off Credit Card Debt?
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 When Using Other Loans to Pay Off Student Debt Is a Good Idea appeared first on The Simple Dollar.
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Nine savings accounts to beat 2.9% inflation
Savers are facing a new battle as the UK’s rate of inflation continues to be higher than the interest rate offered by almost all savings accounts.
The Consumer Prices Index (CPI) rate of inflation reached 2.9% in the year to May, the Office for National Statistics announced. This means that no available-to-all savings accounts currently pay a level of interest that beats or matches the rate of inflation.
There are fears that inflation could rise even further, so there could be further struggles for savers ahead.
How can I make my cash beat inflation?
There are a small number of regular savings accounts which pay more than inflation – but all require you to have a current account with the provider.
Consumers with a First Direct current account, HSBC Advance or Premier account, M&S Bank current account, Nationwide Flex account or Santander 123 account can access linked regular savings accounts offering 5% interest.
Lloyds Bank’s Club Lloyds account holders can also access a 3% regular saver with their bank. However, these accounts have limits to the amount holders can pay in each month.
| REGULAR SAVER PROVIDER | INTEREST RATE | SAVINGS LIMITS (PER MONTH) |
|---|---|---|
| Nationwide | 5% | £1 - £500 |
| First Direct | 5% | £25 - £300 |
| HSBC | 5% | £25 - £250 |
| M&S Bank | 5% | £25 - £250 |
| Santander | 5% | £1 – £200 |
| Lloyds Bank | 3% | £25 - £400 |
Current accounts could be a better bet for your savings – especially if you want easy access. The Nationwide FlexDirect account pays 5% interest on balances up to £2,500 for the first year, but this drops to 1% thereafter.
Tesco Bank offers 3% on balances up to £3,000 while TSB also pays 3% interest on its Classic Plus current account, but only on balances up to £1,500. Remember that you have to meet certain requirements, such as minimum pay-ins, to get these accounts.
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Butter Nut Waste $3 on Natural Peanut Butter. Try These Recipes Instead
Think making your own peanut butter at home is the domain of the super-crunchy, old-school San Francisco Bay type?
(Related: Do people use the term “crunchy” to describe those folks anymore?)
Well, maybe it is. But there’s a good argument — or three — that you should take a page from their vegan-leather-bound notebooks and give homemade peanut butter a try, even if you’re skeptical.
If you eat this delicious, already-cheap, plant-based protein source on the regular, making your own peanut butter at home could save you a surprising amount of money.
Plus, you can customize your ingredients to create fun, inventive flavors. You can decide the exact level of chunkiness or lack thereof. And it’s easy, to boot: All you need is a food processor and about 10 minutes.
Sounding less hippy-dippy yet? Thought so. Read on to learn how — and why — to give homemade peanut butter a spin.
Here’s Why You Should Make Your Own Peanut Butter at Home
Before we dig into the financials, one more thing: If you’re particular about the ingredients you put into your body (or your children’s), you have yet another reason to go the homemade route.
Even if you religiously buy the most natural-looking, minimalistically marketed peanut butter, there’s a decent chance you’re ingesting some processed ingredients.
While brands must adhere to certain standards and restrictions to call their products “organic,” a “natural” label means next to nothing in the eyes of the law.
If you want to prove it to yourself, take a leisurely stroll down your local grocer’s PB aisle, and pick up a few “natural” jars. You’ll find everything from plain-old peanuts, salt and oil goodness to sticky paste with hydrogenated oils listed right there in the ingredients list.
Ugh. Whatever happened to clarity in advertising?
Not to mention the fact that grocery stores offer these “natural” products at crazy-inflated prices that start at well over $3 per pound — even when the butter itself is indistinguishable from what you find in the $1.19-per-pound bargain jar at Walmart. That goes double for organic peanut butters, which I’ve seen sell for up to $8 per jar.
Seriously. Seriously?
I don’t think so.
You can make your own delicious, actually natural peanut butter at home for as little as $1.21 per pound.
How to Make Your Own Homemade Peanut Butter
Shelled, blanched, and sometimes even pre-roasted peanuts are available in bulk for as little as $1.20 per pound, or $2.40 per pound if you don’t want to deal with truly gigantic packages.
That means a basic homemade peanut butter recipe, which calls for nothing more than peanuts, salt, and an optional drizzle of peanut oil and honey, works out to under $2.50 per pound no matter how you slice it. This saves you at least a buck — and up to $3 or more, off the fancy “natural” peanut butter at the store.
Here’s the price breakdown for The Kitchn’s recipe (before the add-in flavor options — we’ll get to that in a second):
- 2 cups peanuts: $1.20
- 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt: 1 cent
- 1 to 2 tablespoons peanut oil (optional): 4 to 9 cents
- 1 to 2 tablespoons honey (optional): 8 to 15 cents
Total cost: $1.21 to $1.45, using the cheapest bulk-bought peanuts
If you’re devoted to organic peanuts, you’re looking at a price more along the lines of $5 per pound. Still, your peanut butter would be about $2 less than the fancy-shmancy $8 organic jar!
But considering peanuts aren’t even in the top 50 “dirtiest” types of produce, you might consider moving to conventional in this case.
And all you need to do to transform those nuts into nut butter is let them sit in your food processor or blender for a while. Really, every other ingredient and addition is 100% optional.
But let’s consider those options.
Create Flavored Peanut Butter With Chocolate, Cinnamon and More
You might be familiar with Monkey Butter, a well-known peanut butter brand that comes in inventive and scrumptious flavors like “White Chocolate Wonderful,” “Dark Chocolate Dreams,” and even a savory “Everything” flavor. Yum, right?
These delicious nut butters come at a price, though, costing as much as $6 per 16-ounce jar.
But armed with your trusty bulk peanuts and blender, that’s no problem. Based on our peanut butter recipe above, a dark chocolate peanut butter cost only an extra 40 cents, which accounts for the 2 tablespoons of unsweetened cocoa powder. Total cost: $1.85.
Cinnamon raisin swirl? Two teaspoons of cinnamon: 10 cents. Two ounces of raisins: 35 cents.
One pound of cinnamon-sweet peanut butter bliss: Priceless… but $1.90, actually.
You can even make your very own homemade white chocolate peanut butter. Check out this recipe by Lynn at Fresh April Flours, which makes half a pound of decadent dessert dip:
- 8 ounces peanuts: 60 cents
- 1/4 teaspoon salt: 1 cent
- 1/2 cup white chocolate chips: 90 cents
Total cost: $1.51 ($3.02 if you scale up to make a whole pound)
Looks like those everything-homemade hippie types have some good ideas, after all.
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. Her writing focuses on food, wine, travel and frugality.
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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