By Holly Reisem Hanna Did you know Martha Stewart was a stockbroker in her 30s before she built her homemaking empire? Vera Wang didn’t design her first dress until she was 40. Julia Child didn’t host her own cooking show until the age of 51, and Grandma Moses didn’t even start painting until she was 76! […]
The post The Best Work-at-Home Careers for People Over 50 appeared first on The Work at Home Woman.
After years of people begging Chipotle Mexican Grill to come out with queso, the chain finally did.
Unfortunately, it wasn’t all gouda with the public — alright, I had to fit at least one pun in here — sorry! In fact, some people are downright disappointed with it.
Are you one of them?
I know Chipotle is life. I’m not going to lie: I eat it three to four times a month. It’s healthier than many other dining out options and convenient, plus there are a few hacks to get the most out of your burrito on a budget.
The chain pledged to remain a healthier option by using additive-free ingredients, which kept queso off the menu. But the public pressured the chain to add the cheesy dip to its menu.
Finally, after concocting a version of queso up to its standards, Chipotle rolled it out in all of its restaurants last week, as reported by Consumerist.
People weren’t exactly satisfied, though. Search “Chipotle queso” on Twitter, and you’ll see descriptions such as “inedible,” “disappointing” and “trash” (ouch).
Chipotle says it’ll continue to work toward perfecting its recipe.
I’ll also be honest when I say that I went last week and literally no one in line ordered the queso. I took one look at it and wouldn’t have, either. It was more orange than yellow, and the workers were constantly stirring it.
Even worse? The price.
I called my local Chipotle and got the price for queso:
2 ounces on a burrito or in a bowl: $1.25
4 ounces with chips: $2.05
6 ounces with chips: $5.25
I know that when you go out to eat, you’re paying for convenience, but that’s a pretty penny for some melted cheese.
If you’re looking to satisfy your queso needs on a budget — and you want queso that tastes much, much better than Chipotle’s — then consider making yours at home for a fraction of the cost.
Here’s our favorite recipe for queso from Serious Eats. For just under $6, this sure does blow Chipotle’s version out of the water!
The total cost for this queso recipe rings in at $5.47, but it makes six 2-ounce servings, putting the cost per serving at just 91 cents.
Note: These prices vary depending on where you live; ours are taken from our neighborhood Walmart.
Add the cheese and cornstarch to a large bowl, and toss them to combine. Transfer the mixed cheese and cornstarch to a medium saucepan, and add 1 cup of evaporated milk and the hot sauce. Cook the mixture on low heat while stirring with a whisk until the mixture is melted and thickens. For thinner cheese, add additional evaporated milk until the desired consistency is met.
Serve the queso with fries, chips, hot dogs or whatever your cheesy heart desires!
Enjoy!
Kelly Anne 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.
You’ve heard of Buy Now, Pay Later? Some American Express-Delta cardmembers have the option to Fly Now, Earn Later.
The Fly Now, Earn Later feature lets you use travel miles you haven’t yet earned, effectively giving you an advance on travel rewards. It’s available to holders of select co-branded American Express-Delta credit cards, such as the Blue Delta SkyMiles® Credit Card from American Express and the Gold Delta SkyMiles® Business Credit Card from American Express.
To see how many Fly Now, Earn Later miles you may have available, follow these steps:
Borrowing miles with Fly Now, Earn later will leave you with a balance. You’ll have a 6-month window to pay back the borrowed miles. If you still have an outstanding balance at the end of 6 months, it will cost you 2.5 cents per mile.
Luckily, you will continue to earn miles as you use your card for purchases made directly with Delta and other eligible purchases.
For example, say you’ve planned a big (and expensive) overseas trip. You’re looking for ways to cut costs, but you don’t have quite enough miles on your American Express-Delta card to qualify for a free flight. Borrowing miles with Fly Now, Earn Later can get you over the threshold.
However, be sure to apply miles to your Fly Now, Earn Later balance over the next 6 months to avoid that 2.5-cent per mile charge. Whether it’s dollars or travel miles, always pay back what you borrow.
The post American Express and Delta Offer Advances on Travel Miles appeared first on The Simple Dollar.
Early retirement is the dream, right?
It’d go something like this: “You, co-workers, thought you had to deal with me for another seven years. Psyyyyych!” Then you’d speed out of the parking lot in your RV with Fluffy riding shotgun, off to a new adventure.
OK, so you might handle the situation a bit more gracefully than that, but you get the point: Retiring early could be pretty awesome.
However, shaving off even one or two years from your retirement age might seem impossible at times. But don’t fret: We’ve got a few simple steps you can take at the end of each month to reach your early retirement goal sooner.
You’ll need to jumpstart your finances by taking care of the debt you’re already sitting on.
Unfortunately, many of us are getting hit with insane interest rates, which make the repayment process feel fruitless. (For example, this year’s average credit card interest rates hit an all-time high of nearly 16%, according to a recent survey.)
If you want to figure out a better solution, consider consolidating or refinancing your debt to slash those rates.
A solid resource is consumer financial technology platform Even Financial. It’ll allow you to shop around for different rates and even help match you to the personal loan that best benefits you. Rates start at 4.99%, and repayment plans range from 24 to 84 months.
Getting on the road to paying off those debts at a faster rate could bring retirement a little closer to reality.
Just as you can refinance your personal debt, you can refinance your stagnant student loan debt, too.
For this, consider Credible’s student loan refinancing program. Here you can compare various options from its lending partners, so you’ll be confident you’re getting the best rates.
Here’s an example: We wrote about John DePrato, who was floundering in $65,000 of student debt. Each month, he funneled $850 toward the payments. He decided to do something about it, and refinanced through Credible. Now, he pays $400 a month.
Not bad, huh? The process isn’t super difficult either.
Got a 401(k)? You’re on the right track.
Now, you just need to make sure it’s doing what you need it to. However, tapping into that account and translating the information — or lack thereof — oftentimes proves difficult.
There’s a robo-advisor for that. It’s called Blooom, and it’s an SEC-registered investment advisory firm that’ll optimize and monitor your 401(k) for you.
A few of us Penny Hoarders use the service. It gives you an initial 401(k) checkup for free, and you’ll get to know your account a little more intimately. Find out if you’re paying too many hidden fees, have the appropriate amount invested in stocks versus bonds, that kind of fun stuff.
Set your retirement age a little earlier, to your end goal, and Blooom can help you get there by investing more aggressively. (That’s what I did.)
Unfortunately, you won’t retire early by spending your whole paycheck the second you get it, unless you’ve got something magical up your sleeve.
The best way to start saving is to allot money into a separate account each time you get your paycheck. You can automate this, too, so you don’t even have to see what you’re missing.
If you’re not ready to dive into the world of IRAs or high-yield savings accounts just yet, start smaller.
You can use a micro-investing app like Stash to pull as little as $5 out of your account at the end of each month. Any little bit is better than none. Stash invests the money for you.
It’s a low-risk way to start building a little nest egg, and once you feel comfortable with that, you can start looking at other options.
(Hey, Stash also gives you $5 after your first deposit, so that’s cool, too!)
You might think those monthly utility bills aren’t going anywhere; you’re just stuck with them.
Wrong.
You’d be surprised by the ways you can cut back without doing much of anything.
Start with Trim, your own little virtual personal assistant. Trim will negotiate your cable and internet bills for you — so you don’t have to sit on hold for hours.
It’ll also call out any subscriptions you might not know you have and cancel them for you, if you no longer need the product or service. (i.e. Yikes, I’ve been paying for a magazine subscription that gets delivered to my old apartment.)
It’ll also help you save in other areas, like on groceries and restaurant tabs. Really, it’s a handy — and free — tool you should always keep in your pocket. (Keep your phone in your pocket. Trim lives in that.)
Your credit reports are basically the Holy Grail of your finances — and your life.
Financially, they can influence many of your big life decisions, like buying a house or a car. These decisions can become a whole lot more difficult if your credit reports have an error — or, worse, have been hacked.
This is easy to prevent, though, especially if you just check in on your credit reports (you’ve got three major ones) every so often.
One option is to use a free app like Credit Sesame. There, you’ll get a free credit report card, which you can review for signs of error, theft or fraud. It’ll even give you personalized suggestions to help you improve your credit score.
Once you’ve taken care of these monthly tasks, sit down and start outlining a budget for (early) retirement.
Nope, this won’t be perfect, and it’ll likely always be changing, but you can start simply with a retirement calculator.
Set your goal retirement age, and figure out how you’re going to get there. If you want to retire early, take that into account.
Now, keep tabs on this budget each month. It won’t be an easy process, but it’s a necessary one — and one you can fine tune as you go.
(Of course, you’ll want to budget for that RV — and Fluffy’s expenses, too.)
Carson Kohler (@CarsonKohler) is a junior writer at The Penny Hoarder. She’s got big plans for retirement… which is 40 years away. Let’s just say she likes to plan ahead.
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.
After hurricanes Harvey and Irma hit the United States only weeks apart, the worst of it is behind us.
But as repair estimates for roofs, windows and floors damaged by floods, flying debris and fallen trees start rolling in, it feels like Irma and Harvey are just getting their second winds.
If your home suffered any storm damage, you’re probably knee-deep in insurance paperwork, government assistance information and contractor estimates. You just want to figure out how to make yourself whole again without going broke.
Since about 66 million Americans say they have nothing set aside in savings for emergencies, “stressed out” is probably an understatement for the feelings of those who suffered the most damage.
There is some good news, though. Between insurance, charities and funds from the federal and local government, you’re not alone. Unfortunately, though, you may still have to cover a large portion of the cost.
According to CNN Money, the estimated cost to reverse the damage the hurricanes caused in Texas, Florida and Georgia is close to $150 billion.
AIR Worldwide, a catastrophe modeling firm, told CNN Money that private homeowners insurance will cover an estimated $25 billion to $35 billion of the bill in Florida, and another $10 billion in Texas. This insurance would cover wind damage from the storm — the source of most of the damage in Florida — but not flood damage.
The National Flood Insurance Program, which is part of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, has already paid out about $204 million, and in Texas that number could rise as high as $11 billion, CNN Money reports.
It’s too soon to estimate how much will be paid out to Florida residents, but because only 18% of Florida homeowners have flood insurance, there could be a disparity between how much is needed and how much aid will be available.
For those who didn’t have flood insurance or lost their homes to one of the hurricanes, FEMA can also help.
As of Sept. 18, FEMA has already approved more than $410 million in aid for more than 232,000 Texas residents who’ve filed disaster claims. In Florida, another $87 million has been approved for about 106,000 people.
As claims roll in by the thousands everyday, those numbers are expected to keep rising.
Another $15 billion has already been approved by the federal government for Hurricane Harvey victims, and lawmakers are working to calculate how much aid Florida and Georgia residents will need after Irma.
As you can see, help is out there for major repairs, but there is still a pretty wide gap between how much has been paid out so far and the $150 billion estimate.
Of the leftover tab, those who suffered comparably minor damage might be the ones who pay the largest percentages of their repairs out of pocket.
These will be the people who may have thousands of dollars in damage to repair, but their claims are still too small to involve their insurance companies. For example, it could cost a sizable amount to fix your fence that didn’t stand a chance against Irma. The damage might be covered under your insurance policy, but filing a claim would be fruitless if the cost to repair the damage is less than your deductible.
Unfortunately, you cannot go back in time and build an emergency fund to help you recover, but now could be the perfect time to start thinking about being prepare for future disasters.
We’ve already got a few suggestions to help you build your emergency fund now, even if you don’t have a ton of extra cash lying around.
Desiree Stennett (@desi_stennett) 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.
When you’re thinking about a career choice, two things probably matter to you most: opportunity and pay.
And what if you don’t have a bachelor’s degree? Just another hurdle to consider in the seemingly never ending hustle of the job hunt.
Well, we want to take all that hard thinking off of your mind so you can focus on finding your first — or next — career.
Last week, the U.S. Census Bureau released a treasure trove of statistics from its American Community Survey in 2016. We’ve already found some interesting tidbits, but there’s also plenty of information about hundreds of jobs and how much they pay.
We looked at the jobs that had the biggest growth in the number of U.S. workers employed and annual earnings to come up with a list of eight jobs that shined in 2016.
With growth like what you’ll see on this list, these careers are going to stick around for the long run.
We took the growth in earnings and employment and normalized the data so we could compare apples-to-apples, then ranked the 500-plus jobs outlined by the Census Bureau. Then we tossed out all the fancy ones that require a bachelor’s degree to come up with this list.
Job Growth: 19.6%
Wage Growth: 9%
So, technically, the Census Bureau classifies the job with the best mix of growth and earnings increases as “miscellaneous personal appearance workers.” Say what?
According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, this just refers to the people who shampoo our hair before we get styled and the ones who help us treat ourselves with mani-pedis. Oh, and technicians who help out during laser hair removal therapy.
To become a manicurist or pedicurist, check out your local state requirements for certification, and enroll in a cosmetology or nail technician program. The Associated Skin Care Professionals should get you started if you want to zap some follicles.
And as for shampooers? Cosmetology school is probably your best bet as well.
Job Growth: 12.4%
Wage Growth: 10.7%
Flooring specialists were in huge demand last year, likely due to the on-fire housing market. I personally have all sorts of backsplashes and flooring in the house I bought this year.
Like a lot of really great trade jobs, most companies have on-the-job training programs for people new to the business, according to the BLS.
Six of the biggest flooring organizations created the Advanced Certifications for Tile Installers, a program that offers certification in seven areas of tile installation. Jump on this bandwagon while the housing market continues to thrive.
Job Growth: 15.2%
Wage Growth: 5.9%
It’s a dirty job, but someone’s got to do it. And if you don’t mind creepy-crawlies, becoming a pest control worker could be right up your alley… or attic.
You won’t need anything more than a high school diploma and a strong urge to bring rats, cockroaches and termites to justice. You’ll likely start as a technician and receive three months of on-the-job training, the BLS says.
And with the rise of Integrated Pest Management, the profession is getting greener. That means you’ll get to try out all sorts of alternative pest-fighting techniques, like mosquito-eating fish.
Job Growth: 6.8%
Wage Growth: 6.9%
There’s nothing better than a job in which you get to help people. And what better help is there than a cold, stiff drink and life advice?
The pay is obviously not the best, but bartenders are in huge demand right now. Maybe it’s all the hurricanes and political news.
This an easy enough job to snag — you’ll just need some on-the-job training.
Job Growth: 5.3%
Wage Growth: 7.7%
Another career that’s exploded thanks to the housing department is that of building or construction inspectors. Also, you get to be the first line of defense for homeowners years before a natural disaster like a hurricane comes along.
It doesn’t require a degree, but you’ll need experience in some of the construction trades to become a building inspector. Try some of these awesome infrastructure jobs if you’d like to go that route.
Some community colleges offer courses on construction inspection, according to the BLS, so be sure to check out your local institution.
Job Growth: 3.8%
Wage Growth: 8.4%
So you consider yourself a real Dick Tracy after you were able to implicate your wife in the case of the missing car keys. You might consider a career as a private detective.
These snoops work for attorneys, individuals and companies offering surveillance, background checks and even deep-diving public record searches. The best part: You’ll probably get to work for yourself.
You may need a two-year degree in criminal justice to jump right in, but some learn on the job over the course of several years, the BLS notes.
And if humans aren’t really your thing, you can always become a pet detective.
Job Growth: 13.8%
Wage Growth: 1.8%
If you need any evidence that you can make bank driving people around, look no further than this couple who made $1,500 a week driving for Lyft.
Even though the pay hasn’t really spiked across the board, there’s tons of demand for taxi drivers and chauffeurs right now, especially with the rise of Uber and Lyft.
As a taxi or limo driver you’ll need a driver’s license along with a special certification. Here’s how to sign up with Uber or Lyft.
Job Growth: 8.2%
Earnings Growth: 4.1%
Plumbers, pipefitters and steamfitters repair, maintain and, at the outset of probably every construction project in the U.S., install pipes that carry water or sewage, gas or other essential utilities.
An apprenticeship is the best way to get on track for this job.
The United Association, a union of plumbers, pipefitters, welders and service technicians, has resources on its apprenticeship program.
If a nationwide opportunity for one of these jobs happens to pop up, you can be sure to find it on The Penny Hoarder Jobs page on Facebook.
Alex Mahadevan is a data journalist at The Penny Hoarder. He can’t stop laughing imagining the hilarious ways to combine some of these careers. Try it.
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.
Believe it or not, the 2018 PyeongChang Winter Olympics are a mere five months away. Opening ceremonies will be held on February 9th, and the games conclude on February 25th. If you’re one of the hundreds of thousands considering a trip to the Olympiad next year, it’s best to start doing your research now, including how to finance your trip.
Here are a few key questions to ask while you’re still in the early stages of planning.
The Olympics are made up of multiple events – opening and closing ceremonies, preliminaries, medal games, etc. – so you’ll have to pick and choose what you want to attend, even before tickets go on sale. You can find a full schedule of events here.
In the U.S. (as well as the EU and Canada), there’s only one authorized seller for PyeongChang 2018: Cosport.com. Tickets will be sold per event, and the cost will differ according to amount and type of seat desired. Cosport.com also offers ticket packages that cover multiple events so fans can follow a specific competition or team.
For example, premium seats at the opening ceremony in PyeongChang Olympic Stadium cost a little over $15,000, while mid-range seating at a qualification event can cost under $100, sometimes even under $50.
Technically, tickets don’t go on sale worldwide until February 9th – the day the games begin. But, beginning January 18th, Cosport.com will open an ‘Expression of Interest’ (EOI) period. During this time, buyers list the events they want to attend, as well as number of seats and price tier.
Traditionally, the host country has preference when it comes to ticket choice. (Tickets went live for South Koreans this past February.) Those who submit an EOI will receive their tickets by December 2017, a full three months before tickets go officially live around the world.
If you’re looking to attend any major events, like a gold medal hockey match or snowboard final, be sure to fill out your EOI, ASAP.
South Korea is one of the world’s foremost cashless economies. Only about 20% of all payments made throughout the nation are made with cash, and the country’s leading bank – The Bank of Korea – expects to go fully cashless by 2020. Of course, exceptions will be made for travelers within the Olympic grounds, and you can always track the conversion rate of the U.S. dollar to the South Korean won.
The simplest answer is to use an existing Visa card or sign up for a new one. Visa is the only credit card issuer accepted at the Olympics, and it’s one of the most widely-accepted credit card providers in South Korea.
If you want to prepare for the Olympics and you don’t have a Visa card in your portfolio yet, we recommend signing up for either the Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card or the new United℠ TravelBank Card. Both cards come with $0 in foreign transaction fees and can help you save a solid chunk on airfare.
Plus, you could earn a sizeable signup bonus. If you spend $4,000 on purchases within 3 months of Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card ownership, you’ll earn 50,000 in bonus points. If you redeem those points for travel through Chase Ultimate Rewards®, you’ll earn an additional 25% in value – that’s about $625. Points also transfer at a 1:1 value to participating airlines and hotels.
United Airlines is already a participating partner within the Chase Sapphire program, but if you travel often and you prefer to fly with United, check out the United℠ TravelBank Card. You’ll earn $150 in TravelBank cash after you spend $1,000 within your first three months of account ownership. There’s no annual fee, and TravelBank cash never expires. (Note: If airline choice isn’t a deciding factor, the Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card offers a higher rewards rate and more flexibility when it comes to non-United purchases.)
It’s possible to combine both cards: With the Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card’s 1:1 transfer rate, you might be able to turn 50,000 points into TravelBank cash. But be wary of Chase’s 30-day rule – you cannot apply for more than two Chase cards within any 30 day period.
The post Planning Ahead for the 2018 Olympics appeared first on The Simple Dollar.
Households with an unused parking space, driveway or garage should check if they could make money from it.
Research from parking rental website YourParkingSpace.co.uk has found that the average household earns over £1,000 a year from renting out its driveway - equivalent to 133 hours of work on the national living wage of £7.50 per hour for those aged 25 and over.
Of course, where you live will have an impact on how much you could earn. Houses with empty driveways that are close to train stations, town centres, shopping centres or sports and music venues are likely to be more in demand.
For example, Moneywise looked at one parking rental website and found one owner charging £625 per month for 24 hour access to a secure parking space in Aldgate, central London, while another was charging £50 per month for weekday use of their parking space near Kettering train station in the Midlands.
Before signing up to rent your drive, first consider the implications if you don’t own the parking space or drive – for example, if you live in rented accommodation.
Four major companies we spoke to - JustPark, ParkLet, Parkonmydrive, and Yourparkingspace - don’t check if you rent or own the space. But they all recommend tenants confirm with the landlord or check their tenancy agreement before deciding whether to let an unused parking space.
Another factor to consider is that some websites will facilitate and hold payments, which means it’s safest to withdraw or request your earnings as soon as possible to protect yourself from the worst happening – which would be the company going bust and taking your profits with it.
It is also important to check with your home insurer as to whether it would cover any of the potential pitfalls to renting out your space. A spokesperson from the British Insurance Brokers’ Association comments: “It would be wise to let your home insurer know that you are operating a business from you home and explain exactly what you are providing and how often so that it can decide whether this increases the insurance risk.
“Not only might it consider that there is an increased risk of damage to or theft from your property it might also think that the liability risk (the risk of injury or property damage to someone else arising as a result of being on your property) might increase.
“It may be more appropriate to make sure you have a separate public liability policy and an insurance broker would be able to offer advice on this type of cover.”
To help you on your driveway renting journey, Moneywise examines five major providers.
Fees: Vary depending on how much you decide to let your space for, there’s no minimum or maximum charge.
Let period: At owner’s discretion.
Paid: You need to liaise with the customers on how to pay and when. Gumtree has no in-built payment facility.
Gumtree is the most basic way of providing parking space rental. You can list your space on the classifieds site for a fee that varies depending on how much you plan on charging, and how visible you want your advert to be.
Fees: 3% of booking price.
Let period: Hourly, daily, weekly, monthly.
Paid: Weekly, monthly, quarterly via the website (more on this below).
JustPark has been operating for 11 years and was originally known as “ParkAtMyHouse”. It says it has over 200,000 spaces for rent on its website and that it’s served more than 1 million UK drivers.
Earnings accrue in your account on the site and can be withdrawn at any time, although automatic withdrawal can only be set to weekly, monthly or quarterly.
JustPark also charges drivers between 25%-35% on top of the fee set by the space owner. For bookings longer than two months the company charges drivers 20% on the first month then 3% on all subsequent months.
Fees: 20% (+VAT) of monthly rental fee.
Let period: Monthly.
Paid: Monthly via the website.
ParkLet has been providing a parking rental service since 2004. It has over 20,000 spaces listed nationally.
Renters are issued with a clearly visible permit so that when parking in your space, it is clear who they are.
According to their website, the company is in the process of developing an hourly, daily, and weekly rental service alongside the monthly one already in place.
Fees: £15 annually.
Let period: Half daily, daily.
Paid: Cash on arrival, cheque in the post, PayPal.
Parkonmydrive is a much more basic service, but it is cheap. It costs £15 per year to list your parking space but this is taken from your first booking so there is nothing up-front to pay.
You arrange directly with the driver for them to pay either in cash, by cheque in the post (which must be cleared before the rental date) or by PayPal. A Parkonmydrive spokesperson comments: “We differ from the other parking providers in that all members manage and collect payment directly for their own bookings, we just send the requests over to them to either accept or reject. Mostmembers collect cash on arrival, however we do have a new system in place for owners to accept their payments at time of booking through their PayPal accounts, as some prefer payment up-front.”
The website also offers a free owner/parker contract to give added protection to both parties.
Fees: 20% applied on top of the price you set – meaning you don’t pay a fee.
Let period: Hourly or monthly.
Paid: Monthly via the website or PayPal.
YourParkingSpace boasts 250,000 monthly users in more than 50 cities in the UK. The company launched in 2006 and underwent a significant re-launch in 2014.
Payments are made at the end of each month by bank transfer or PayPal.
Harrison Woods, managing director at YourParkingSpace, comments: “Our recent research revealed that householders in almost 30 towns and cities across the UK earned on average more than £1,000 a year by listing their empty driveway on YourParkingSpace.co.uk.”
Sue Manderlin works in retail for a clothes store and has been renting out her own parking space close to Chelmsford town centre in Essex for a year through YourParkingSpace. She earns £80 a month from it. Her space is pictured below.
The 26-year-old first found out about the service when she needed to find parking herself for a football match. She says: “I first heard about YourParkingSpace when I needed parking to see England play France at Wembley in 2015. I continued to use it a few times before realising that I could rent my own space. I only wish I had realised sooner that I could have made money as well as spent money!
“I actually got my first rental within a week of advertising my space. YourParkingSpace was very helpful and it advised me to go for a lower price to attract some bookings, which worked, then I increased the price to £5 per day, and then a couple of months later, I got a phone call from someone at YourParkingSpace offering me a long-term customer meaning I’m guaranteed my £80 per month!
“The extra money I make helps pay my rent - without this extra income I’d inevitably have to move to a shared flat.”
Each website works slightly differently. However, there are a few key things you can do to make sure you start renting out your free space, and earning some extra income:
We quiz financial experts to reveal the biggest mistakes they’ve made with their personal finances over the years – and the lessons they’ve learnt.
Have you ever missed a credit card payment? Bought shares you thought would soar, which ended up sinking without trace? Staked a hefty sum on a sure-fire winner at the races, only to see it limp in far behind the rest of the field?
If you have answered yes to any of these, then rest assured you’re not alone. Even the gurus that make their living in this world have made errors.
We quizzed leading fund managers, independent financial advisers and other industry observers on the biggest money mistakes they have made in their personal or professional lives, and asked them what they learnt from the experience.
Juliet Schooling Latter, director, FundCalibre
When Juliet sold her flat in 2008 she thought it was great timing. Prices were falling and she earned interest on the proceeds while renting and waiting to buy a bargain property.
Her friend took the opposite approach, buying a house he could barely afford at the top of the market.
Over the next eight years, the base rate fell to 0.25% and property prices rose by 20%.
“He was on a low base rate plus a ‘next to nothing mortgage’ and has seen his mortgage payments fall in the past decade,” she adds. “This has meant he could save more to pay off the mortgage.”
Juliet only bought a property again two days before the Brexit vote. “That’s why I stick to researching funds. Timing the property market is not my forte!” she adds.
Lesson: Don’t try to time the property market.
Andy Gadd, head of research, Lighthouse Group
Andy regrets a mistake he made 20 years ago. He had his own flat in Croydon at the time and decided to move back to his home city of Bristol.
“I had the choice of selling the flat or renting it out – and decided to sell,” he recalls. “I wish I had kept that flat as a buy to let.”
Lesson: Plan for the long term.
Danny Cox Chartered financial planner, Hargreaves Lansdown
Danny bought his first home in the 1980s – before he worked in financial services – and didn’t shop around for his mortgage deal.
“I ended up with an expensive and inflexible endowment mortgage with a niche lender,” he recalls. “When I moved six years later, the endowment was worth nothing, the house was only worth what I paid for it, and I’d made no progress on the property ladder.”
A repayment mortgage would have been a better option.
Lesson: Do your research and shop around for the best deal.
Peter Sleep, senior investment manager, Seven Investment Management
“My biggest financial mistake was not buying a house in Manchester in the early 1990s, when I used to live there,” he says. “I put in an offer on a nice, small house that was on the market for less than £30,000, but let the offer drop when someone else bid higher.”
He ended up buying nothing, but missed out on rising property prices.
Lesson: Be careful not to miss out on opportunities.
Martin Bamford, managing director, Informed Choice
Martin believes he paid the price for getting married too young.
“The cost of the subsequent divorce, combined with very different attitudes towards money management during the marriage itself, set me back several years in terms of achieving financial freedom,” he says.
It was a different story when he got married for the second time.
“I’ve learnt from those mistakes and have made sure I’m on the same page as my second wife,” he explains. “We share similar attitudes towards spending and saving, and both work towards shared financial goals.”
Lesson: Share the same financial goals as your partner.
Ana Cuddeford, investment director, M&G Investments
Ana prided herself on being good with money after having had a Saturday job from the age of 14, but that all changed when she went to university.
“I hadn’t counted on how tempting it was to keep spending on plastic,” she said. “I paid off the minimum each month but didn’t appreciate the impact of compound interest on the balance.”
It got to the point where she was avoiding opening credit card statements.
“I had to use my student grant to pay off the debt and then work two jobs one summer to have any money to get me through the following term,” she recalls.
Lesson: Don’t let credit card debts spiral.
James de Bunsen Multi-asset fund manager, Janus Henderson Investors
James was left counting the cost from bank charges in his youth.
“I dread to think how much I have paid in fees,” he recalls. “There was an obscene amount of overdraft charges caused by me living beyond my means.”
As well as some financial prudency in those early years, some of the costs could have been avoided by better debt management.
“I suspect I could have mitigated them by using a credit card and paying it off every month rather than having a current account overdraft and paying punitive fees,” he says.
His advice is to read the small print. “It’s boring but if you don’t, then that’s a lot of beer money being paid to bankers when you’re a student,” he adds.
Lesson: Watch out for overdraft charges.
Victoria McNulty Paraplanner and financial planner, Informed Choice
Victoria learnt the valuable lesson of not procrastinating when she was in her first job after university.
“I was eligible to join the company pension scheme after six months, but it took me another year to fill in the paperwork,” she recalls. “I missed out on ‘free money’, and I should have known better!”
It’s something she now bears in mind. “When I start work at a new company, I always join the pension scheme as soon as I am eligible and encourage others to do the same.”
Lesson: Join your company pension scheme right away.
Georgi Bennett Financial adviser, Skerritts Chartered Financial Planners
Georgi had spent a relaxing time on holiday, but paid the price when her credit card bill landed on the doormat the following month.
“I was careful with my holiday budget, but didn’t realise the charges that the bank added every time I withdrew cash,” she says. “I was using my card like I would in the UK for small purchases.”
She racked up bank fees of £100 in just one weekend! “I’ve since got a credit card that doesn’t charge fees overseas,” she adds.
Lesson: Get the right credit card for overseas spending.
Brian Dennehy Managing director, Dennehy, Weller & Co
“I wish I’d taken all the advice I’ve given to clients over the past 30 years as although I haven’t done badly it could have been so much better,” he says. “The best examples were not investing as much as I’d have liked in corporate bonds from 2009, which generated extraordinary gains for two to three years, and in Japan from 2011.”
Lesson: Make a plan and follow it through.
Alex Davies, chief executive, WealthClub
Alex Davies found out the hard way that investing in friends’ business ventures can be fraught with danger. Not only is there the temptation to overlook the usual analysis, you also run the risk of the friendship going sour if the project fails.
“I lost £20,000 and learnt it’s much better to invest through professional firms as you make a purely business decision,” he says. “Unless your friend is a genius, my advice is to go through conventional channels.”
Lesson: Never invest without the proper due diligence.
Gavin Haynes, managing director, Whitechurch Securities
Gavin knows the dangers of following the herd in investing after buying into a technology fund in the dot.com boom – only for it to plummet when the bubble burst.
“The belief that many individuals cannot be wrong may result in investors making wrong decisions,” he says. “However, the herd is not always correct.
“Since then, I’ve invested with a contrarian stance,” he says. “Investors should be cautious about following consensus and aware that universally favoured investments may not be the best!”
Lesson: Don’t follow the herd.
Adrian Lowcock, investment director, Architas
Adrian believes embracing compounding – the snowball effect when you receive interest, not only on your original investments, but also on any interest, dividends and capital gains that have accumulated – would have bolstered his finances.
“One of my biggest regrets is not getting on board with this powerful financial tool earlier as the real benefits from compounding come down the line and the longer you have, the bigger its impact,” he says.
He adds that even starting a few years earlier would have made a difference. “It is hard to see in the early years as any benefits can be hidden by rises and more importantly falls in the markets,” he points out.
Lesson: Consider the benefits of compound investing.
Darius McDermott, managing director, Chelsea Financial Services
“I bought a single stock in 1998 and within six working days it had gone up 85%,” he recalls.
But instead of taking the profit, he stayed invested in the company. “The broker convinced me to stay invested and that it would triple,” he says. “It went bust and I lost the lot.”
Lesson: Don’t be greedy.
Graham Spooner, investment research analyst, The Share Centre
By contrast, Graham made a large profit from one of his share picks, but holding on to the stock would have given him a six-figure return!
“I bought about £500 of (online retailer) ASOS in early 2004 when it was about 8p per share and sold the holding a few months later when they hit 24p,” he recalls. “I was absolutely delighted as I’d made a massive percentage in just a few months.
“Had I kept them for 10 to 15 years my holding would have been worth over £100,000,” he admits. However, , I was very happy to have locked in such a massive gain over a short period.”
Lesson: Consider investing for the longer term.
David Coombs, head of multi-asset investment, Rathbone Unit Trust Management
David resisted the lure of technology stocks as the dot.com boom gathered pace in the late 1990s, but decided his analysis must be flawed. “I capitulated and bought some as I felt I was missing something,” he recalls. “Of course, the following year the bubble burst.
“It didn’t wipe me out because I was quite late to the party and didn’t have much exposure, but the stocks I bought right at the end got absolutely hammered,” he says. He realised you can be right – even when there’s noise to the contrary.
“Every instinct told me it was wrong and, since then, I’ve been incredibly suspicious of hype and trends in the market,” he says.
Lesson: Trust your instincts – and be suspicious of trends.
Giles Parkinson, manager, Aviva Investors Global Equity Endurance fund
Giles regrets subscribing to the ‘peak oil thesis’ a decade ago, in which models predicted maximum production levels would be hit and prices continue to rise.
“It looked correct for a while as oil marched from $60 to $150 a barrel,” he says.
However, the situation changed. “Yes, the resource is finite, but I overlooked the unlocking of new sources of supply from applying fracking technology to shale,” he admits.
The situation proved to be the same this time round.
“The old commodity adage of ‘high prices cure high prices’ is as true as it ever was, and the oil price today is $45.”
Lesson: Be wary of new theories.
Patrick Connolly, certified financial planner, Chase de Vere
When Patrick started in the investment industry, he thought he could make better short-term gains by picking individual shares and watching them rise in value.
“This approach didn’t quite go to plan,” he recalls. “I invested in some shares and was then checking their prices about every 15 minutes to see if they had gone up in value. I would be disappointed when they hadn’t risen and even more so if they fell.”
He realised investing wasn’t a “get rich quick scheme”. “I switched from picking individual shares to selecting investment funds,” he explains.
“This provided diversification to spread risks.”
Lesson: Be aware that stock picking can be dangerous.
Rob Griffin writes for The Independent, Sunday Telegraph and Daily Express
What’s inside? Here are the questions answered in today’s reader mailbag, boiled down to summaries of five or fewer words. Click on the number to jump straight down to the question.
1. Pyrex blowing up in oven
2. Glass versus plastic in freezer
3. Simplest cold brew coffee
4. Valuing old comic books
5. Wikipedia trustworthiness
6. Tax gain and loss harvesting
7. Philosophical books about self-improvement
8. Minimalism and frugality
9. Organizing cupboards
10. Cutting hair without a mess
11. Old debt question
12. Learning chess along with child
There aren’t as many questions as usual because, well, most of the questions this week have been on one topic, so I’m going to collectively answer a lot of them at once in this introduction.
In the last few days, I’ve received a ton of emails and questions about the Equifax data leak. I personally have been hesitant to write about it yet because, in the aftermath of situations like this, there’s a lot of misinformation and confusion floating around. Other writers for The Simple Dollar have done pretty reasonable jobs of addressing the Equifax leak in other articles, trying to get out in front of the story.
So, let’s start with what exactly happened. On September 8, Equifax – one of the three major credit reporting bureaus in the United States – announced that a “cybercrime identity theft event” occurred starting in mid-May and continuing until July 29, when Equifax first became aware of it.
Equifax is not sure exactly how many people were impacted by this data breach because they frankly do not know what files were examined or how they were used or exactly how deep the intrusion went. They do know that, at minimum, the cybercriminals had access to data on somewhere around 143 million US consumers as well as data on some number of British and Canadian residents. That data included first and last names, Social Security numbers, birth dates, addresses, and some driver’s license numbers, as well as additional information on a smaller set of people.
Their initial disclosure was incredibly flawed. They did not say exactly what information was compromised and why it took so long to disclose the breach publicly. Even worse, the websites that Equifax set up in response to the breach for the public to use had a number of problems. The chief problem is that their hack checking website did not actually function and, furthermore, the site’s terms of service was extremely vague and included legally unclear language that may exclude people using the hack checking website from any class action lawsuits against Equifax.
Those later developments are a prime example of why it is difficult to report and recommend quick action on personal finance issues. As the week after the breach went by, the initial recommendations for consumers from Equifax were shown to be heavily flawed, though those flaws were not immediately apparent.
So, this leaves us with a question. What exactly should a consumer do right now?
I can’t tell you that, but what I can tell you is what I have done.
First of all, I am assuming that my data has been compromised. I don’t need to check any website or enter my personal information into any form to make this assumption. Even if my data was not compromised, the following steps still make sense.
Second, I’m completely ignore anyone who comes to me with any sort of phone call or email related to this data breach. Ignore the email. Ignore the phone call. If you’re concerned, still, delete the email and hang up on the phone call, then look up the website of the relevant business on your own and contact them yourself. Do not give any information to anyone who contacted you first, period.
Third, I’m watching my accounts for anything suspicious. I’m checking my active credit card accounts daily to see if any unwanted transactions pop up. I’ll probably slow this down in the coming days, but for now, I’m watching closely.
Fourth, I’ve set up fraud alerts with the three major reporting agencies. This requires creditors to verify your identity before they can get a copy of your credit report.
You can do this through an automated phone system with each of the three credit reporting agencies. Here are links to the websites of each agency so you can find the number yourself, as you should only trust the number you get directly from them. (I would be considered a middleman here, so you shouldn’t trust me or any other commentator or news reporter with anything – get your info directly from the source.) Here are the links: Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion. At each one, get the phone number needed to create a fraud alert, call that number, and get it set up.
Things I am not doing are panicking, making rash decisions, closing accounts, freezing my credit, using any third party credit monitoring services, or anything like that. That may change (especially with regard to freezing my credit) if I start seeing fraud alerts or compromised credit card accounts. I also have not used any tools provided by Equifax aside from their fraud alert system, especially given that they are apparently including questionable things in their terms of service, as noted above.
Most importantly, I am being cautious but not taking rash action. This is still an ongoing event and throughout the last week things changed significantly as more details came out. Equifax changed their own story multiple times during the week, and security analysts discovered things as well. Your best bet, for now, is to play it safe, watch your accounts carefully, and not make any rash moves.
This advice might differ from some of the other articles you may have read on The Simple Dollar in the last week, where other writers gave their recommendations based on the information available at that time. This is my recommendation, based on what I know at this time. A week from now, things may have changed yet again. That’s why I’m choosing to play things cool for now, watch my accounts, watch for fraud, and then take action only if there’s a direct problem.
A final note: this entire situation is an extremely clear signal that something significant has to change in terms of how we identify people in the information age. We are using modes of identification that worked all right in the pre-internet area but are simply not up to snuff in today’s world. I’m not a security or identity expert, but I have seen enough to know that the systems we have in place today aren’t up to snuff, and I hope that Congress will involve cybersecurity and identity experts in coming up with a smart solution to this quickly.
If there are major changes to all of this in the future, I will address this again. For now, let’s go on to some questions on different topics… I intentionally chose a higher proportion of lighthearted and perhaps offbeat questions for the mailbag this week as a counterbalance to the doom and gloom of the Equifax news.
I have heard a few stories lately about Pyrex dishes blowing up in ovens. Can that really happen? Is Pyrex safe?
– Julie
Like anything, Pyrex dishes are sometimes made with flaws in them, and those flaws can cause the dishes to crack and break, especially in the first few uses. Such things are pretty rare, though.
Having said that, such issues are not as rare as they used to be. Pyrex has tinkered with their formulation a lot in the last twenty years or so, and so not all Pyrex stuff is made the same. In general, the changes have been to make Pyrex less brittle at room temperature so it would be more likely to survive being dropped to the floor from counter height, but those changes also make it a bit more likely to crack during heat changes.
In general, if a Pyrex dish survives its first few uses, it’s fine. Don’t bake with it above about 450 F, either, although I’m not sure what the purpose would be if you did that.
I have a question about freezing food. I often freeze food in 1 – 2 cup canning jars so I can put soups or stews directly into my lunch bag from the freezer. I was wondering what your thoughts are on freezing meals in glass vs freezer bags. Do you have a preference?
– Brenda
They both work perfectly well for freezing food, as long as the glass is tempered and you leave a little bit of space at the top for food to expand (or else you’re begging for the glass to crack or break due to food expansion when freezing).
By default, I prefer containers that are reusable so that, rather than buying new ones, I can just wash it when I’m done and use it again. Not only is that more environmentally sound, it’s also far less expensive to just toss a container in the dishwasher and clean it off rather than buying a new one.
We personally have a bunch of plastic soup containers like these that we use for storing soups. They go from the freezer to the fridge to the microwave to the dishwasher and back without any problems at all and last for a lot of uses. As long as we leave an inch gap or so along the top, the lid stays on in the freezer. We label them with masking tape. For us, this is probably the best “bang for the buck” option.
What’s the simplest way to try cold brew coffee? Seems like a cheaper (better?) way to make coffee.
– Jim
The cheapest way I know of is to take a coffee filter and a piece of string, put half a cup of coffee grounds in the middle of the filter, tie it tightly shut to make a “tea bag” of sorts, and drop that into a pitcher with 32 ounces of water (a quart). Put that pitcher in your fridge overnight (between 18 and 24 hours total) and you’ll have cold brew coffee.
Over the long term, you really don’t need much more than that, though having some kind of reusable filter makes this much better. I have a metal reusable filter that I wash in the dishwasher after each use. That way, I’m not having to re-buy coffee filters or string.
Give it a try with a coffee filter and a bit of food-safe string or twine. You’ll find that different coffee beans result in different flavors. I find cold brew coffee to be really mellow and enjoyable in general, though there are some beans that still result in fairly bitter coffee.
I found a box of old comic books that I think my dad and uncle used to read when they were kids. They’re all from the 60s. I am not really sure how to price them other than doing eBay searches which is taking a long time. Is it safe to take them to a comic book dealer? Won’t I just get ripped off?
– Stephen
While there are a few scammer types in the comic book hobby, most people running comic book stores are in the business because, frankly, they love comic books. While it’s unrealistic for you to expect a shop to give you as much as they might resell them for, most comic shops will definitely appraise your collection for you for a small fee, usually identifying particular issues with significant individual value.
If you’re looking for a shop, I’d honestly ask around your local social network and see if there are any recommendations, either in favor of or against specific local shops. Just drop a message on Facebook and see what responses you get.
The largest comic shop in our area provides this service. They’ll appraise collections, pull out individual issues with significant value and bag them for you, and tell you what their value is according to standard comic prices, which you can use for any appraisal needs.
However, it’s worth noting that even if a comic book is “worth” a certain amount, you have to find a buyer willing to pay that amount. You may be able to do so on eBay, or you may not. You’re probably going to find that selling them online results in a lower return than their “value” and some hassle, too. Likely, the comic book shop will offer to buy them from you at a price that’s still somewhat less than what you would get on eBay, but without the hassle.
If I were you, I’d probably try to sell a few of the most valuable issues myself and sell everything else to the comic book shop.
Why do you link to Wikipedia? It is not trustworthy. Anyone can edit it.
– Jason
First of all, I do not trust Wikipedia as the final answer for anything. What I do trust it for is a solid tool for introducing myself to a topic to the point where I understand it well enough to figure out what I should read next for further understanding. It provides background and basic knowledge, and for that, I trust it quite a bit.
As for the “anyone can edit it,” Wikipedia’s advantage is that there are lots of editors out there who have a deep passion for specific topics and they watch the pages related to those topics like a hawk. If someone makes a poor or incorrect edit, that edit is rolled back almost immediately, and if that person does it multiple times, they wind up getting banned.
The only places where Wikipedia gets kind of shaky is when you get into more obscure pages, typically ones with short entries on very niche topics. In general, if an entry is long with lots of citations, I trust in the way I described above – it’s a great starting point for knowledge and provides pointers on where to go next when you have a basic understanding. If an entry is short with few citations, I don’t trust it very much and try to look for other sources.
I am reading an investment book where they talk about tax gain harvesting and tax loss harvesting. Can you explain to me what these are? The book does not explain them and every web page I find is deep in investorspeak.
– Claire
Tax loss harvesting is easy to explain. It simply means that you sell some investments at a loss so that your income for a year is reduced, meaning you pay less taxes that year. Let’s say, for example, that you bought $10,000 in stocks two years ago, but now they’re worth $8,000. That’s considered a $2,000 loss, so selling that investment will reduce your taxable income by $2,000. In general, you can reduce your income by up to $3,000 each year by selling an investment at a loss, and you can also use it to counteract gains that come from selling other investments (for example, you might gain $4,000 from selling one investment but lose $7,000 from selling another). Often, people will sell a bad investment at the same time as a good investment to save on taxes.
Tax gain harvesting is a strategy to use if you’re in a very low tax bracket – the 15% tax bracket or lower. Let’s say you find yourself in that bracket for a year. When your tax bracket is that low, you pay no taxes on long term capital gains, so you might want to sell some investments that year, pay nothing on the gains, and then rebuy those same investments.
So, let’s say you’re single. The top of the 15% tax bracket in 2017 is $75,300. Let’s also say that you’re going to earn only $45,300 in 2017. That means if you have an investment with long term gains of $30,000 (say, you bought stocks for $100,000 and now they’re worth $130,000), now is the time to sell it, because you will pay no taxes on those gains. You can then re-buy that investment, investing $130,000 in it, and that will be the basis (the starting point) for that investment from now on.
Both are just games to play to save a little bit of money on taxes on your investments.
Like a lot of self-improvement websites, you’ve recommended books about and by stoics a lot of times. I’ve read Meditations by Marcus Aurelius and Letters by Seneca. I am looking for more, particularly stuff that covers other philosophies of self-improvement. What other recommendations do you have, especially stuff that’s public domain?
– David
I’ll point you to three things.
First, I’ll point to Walden, and On the Duty of Civil Disobedience by Henry David Thoreau. This is a pairing of two fairly short books, the first of which discusses Thoreau’s years spent living in a self-built cabin on Walden Pond, largely alone, and the second, which looks at the need for civil disobedience in a healthy and open society.
Second, look at Essays by Ralph Waldo Emerson. This is an essay collection covering a number of different topics. One of the essays, Self-Reliance, is one of the most impactful things I’ve ever read and I discussed it a while back in three parts.
Third, check out On the Nature of Things by Titus Lucretius Carus. It’s actually an epic poem in six parts, but it presents an absolutely beautiful view of the world and our place in it.
Dig through those and you’ll find much for your mind to process.
I’ve been thinking a lot about minimalism lately and I have come to the conclusion that it’s actually pretty different than frugality. They overlap sometimes, but there are some ideas that make a lot of frugal sense but don’t make minimalist sense, like buying in bulk. Buying 20 tubes of toothpaste for seven cents each probably will save you money over the long haul but you do have to store all of that stuff which means that you need more space and have more to deal with when you move. I am finding more and more that I fall on the “minimalist” side of things where I would rather have few possessions and a small living space and am willing to pay more for some things to have that. Thoughts?
– Alex
I think that minimalism and frugality are like siblings, children of a well-considered life. They’re both expressions of the idea that we have a certain amount of resources in our life and that it makes a great deal of sense to use them effectively, but the actual practices differ.
As you point out, things like buying in bulk definitely are on the “frugal” side of the equation. I tend to look at frugality as being focused on trying to maximize “bang for the buck” in terms of addressing more immediate and persistent needs. You need toothpaste now, you’re going to need more in three months, what’s the most cost-effective way to address both?
On the other hand, I look at minimalism as a broader life philosophy, one that borrows some ideas from its frugal sibling but rejects others. A frugal person and a minimalist person are likely to both want a highly reliable kitchen knife, for example. Where they’ll differ is in the relative value of bulk – a frugal person is likely to have a large pantry, whereas a minimalist person probably has one cupboard total.
I’m definitely more in the frugal camp, but part of that, I think, is due to the constraints of my life. I have a family, a wife and three children. Minimalism really requires buy-in from everyone – I find frugality to be a more flexible philosophy, one that requires less life change from the people around you to practice it. I occasionally wonder what kind of life I would have if I were single, and I really think I might be super-minimalist. I would only have to worry about me, after all. Like I said, I think minimalism is a broader life philosophy, and thus requires more full-force buy-in than frugality does. Frugality is more of a tactic, though it’s one that you can definitely hold very close to your heart.
How do you organize food in your cupboards to make sure you don’t re-buy ingredients you don’t use every day? This happens to me a lot. I will use turmeric in a recipe and then forget about it and buy a new container three months later when I already have some. Now I have like five containers of turmeric, which seems like a waste.
– Amy
Well, for small containers like turmeric, we have a large wall-mounted spice rack that keeps virtually every spice we use. We buy them in fairly large bottles and just keep them in that rack. It works really well for most things.
For bigger items, it’s trickier, and it gets much harder much faster once your cupboards start getting full. You just can’t find stuff in there!
After a recent pantry purge, my new philosophy is that if you’re finding it difficult to see or find things in your pantry, then you need to “coast” for a while and use up what you have on hand so that things are manageable again. Just buy fresh ingredients as needed to supplement what’s in your cupboards for a week or two until things are manageable again.
How do you cut hair without making a mess? I tried doing it in the kitchen and then again in the bathroom and both times I wound up with hair everywhere. I’m still finding hair in the bathroom!
– Kevin
I cut my own hair sometimes. I often have someone else do it if I’m going to a special event, but most of the time, I’m fine with my own cutting. I just use clippers, with a #4 attachment on the top, a #2 attachment on the sides, a #3 attachment around where the top and the sides meet to even it out, and then the straight clipper on my neck and around my ears and such.
Here’s my trick with the extra hair: I do it outside, in the yard. I prop up a hand mirror and use it to see what I’m doing, then I just clip away with an extension cord. A bit of hair does get on my clothes, but I shake off thoroughly before going back inside which gets rid of 99% of it. The rest just goes through the washer, as it’s just little short pieces. The hair just stays in the grass, where it breaks down over time.
This has worked for me for many years. I’ve done it off and on since college this exact same way.
Have you mentioned old debt? I have some debt, phone debt from old carrier went to collections too soon. I intended to pay it off, now not sure if I should. College loans still not paid, while I am taking free classes online. Tollway charges, thought I paid, unable to locate receipts. Shall toll of $1.50 now $20 fine per toll. Apx $300
– Brenda
It sounds like you have a number of unpaid debts.
Here’s the reality: a lot of those debts are going to end up having a negative impact on your credit rating. That means you’re going to experience higher interest rates on the loans and credit cards that you get and you may also be declined. You may also find that you have higher insurance rates as well.
Paying them off generally helps, as it moves a debt from “unpaid” to “paid but late” (I’m simplifying a little here), but you’re going to have a very late debt on your credit report regardless.
Some debts left unpaid may result in legal action, depending on whether the lender decides that the amount you owe is worth following up on. Small debts often just expire; debts a bit larger are often sold to collections (as you’ve experienced) and they’ll harass you; large debts might see legal action.
So, should you pay them back? In terms of honesty and integrity, absolutely. In terms of what’s going to be the best option for your financial situation, it depends on a number of things – how late the debts are, what kind of debts they are, how big they are, whether you can afford to repay them. In general, I recommend repaying debts unless they are close to or have crossed the statute of limitations line (seven years, typically), at which point the business you owe money to has likely written off the debt anyway.
Do you know of any free tools for two people who know the basics of chess but want to get better? I have started playing every day with my son after school and we both want to get better. There is a chess club for older kids at his school and he wants to be in it next year but not be lost.
– Andrea
There are a lot of ways to do this. Honestly, what I would do if I were in your shoes and trying to get better at chess for free is I would head to your library and pick up a chess book or two, one that starts off at a level that you completely understand and then goes beyond that level, into openings and other elements of chess study.
Take that book home and learn a page of it, then use what you got off of that page with your son. Play part of a game where you introduce that new idea to your son, then maybe start over and encourage your son to try out that idea over a full game.
When I was in late middle school, I went through a chess phase where I got lists of the moves of some of the great games and then moved through them a move at a time on a board in front of me and read the commentary. I received a book with commentary on a bunch of great games for Christmas one year. That was probably the period in my life where I was best at chess. This might also work for you guys.
If your son is interested, he may want to dig into those books on his own.
Playing a lot of chess is good, but if you want to get better, it does require some reading and some deliberate practice thinking about the game. The more reading and study and deliberate practice you do, the better you get. Keep playing those afternoon games, but find ways to incorporate a little bit of study into it.
Good luck!
Got any questions? The best way to ask is to follow me on Facebook and ask questions directly there. I’ll attempt to answer them in a future mailbag (which, by way of full disclosure, may also get re-posted on other websites that pick up my blog). However, I do receive many, many questions per week, so I may not necessarily be able to answer yours.
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