MAKE MONEY ONLINE POSTS: 10/19/17

الخميس، 19 أكتوبر 2017

Double Your Checkers and Rally’s Wings for Free. But What Sauce to Choose?

Sometimes you just want some chicken wings.

Right?

And sometimes you want them at midnight. Oh, and you really just want to have someone hand them to you through your car window.

Checkers to the rescue! Not only can you get your wing fix at Checkers and Rally’s, but right now they’re sweetening the pot with a boneless chicken wings BOGO deal.

Get Your Chicken Wings BOGO Coupon

Jump in the driver’s seat and race to your nearest Checkers or Rally’s because there are wings with your name on them. But, get your coupon first! Checkers and Rally’s have released a coupon for buy one, get one free five-piece chicken wings.

The coupon expires on Oct. 22, so you have now through the weekend to use it.

Nice.

Now, what you have to consider — very carefully, I might add — is what kind of sauce do you want to coat your wings? It may just be a tell-all about who you really are.

Your options include:

Stingin’ Honey Garlic – Because you’re sweet at heart but fear there may be vampires at your office.

Medium Buffalo – For the person who wants to be really out there. Well, pretty far out there. OK, just sort of out there, but not really.

Honey BBQ – Spicy just isn’t your thing, and that’s okay. You probably wash it down with a milkshake, and that’s OK. Maybe.

Asian Kick – You like your wings to be like Jackie Chan. Approachable, full of personality and not afraid to kick you in the face.

Garlic Parmesan – You’re an introvert who prefers to sit alone in the office. Get some gum, dude. Seriously.

Angry Buffalo – You’re the classic one-upper. “You eat buffalo wings? I only eat angry buffalo wings!” Your tongue hates you. But if that’s your thing, go for it.

Whatever your flavor, get your coupon and head to the nearest Checkers or Rally’s for 10 boneless chicken wings for the price of five. You can share with a friend, or better yet, just share a picture of yourself eating all the wings. Friends love that.

Tyler Omoth is a senior writer at The Penny Hoarder who loves soaking up the sun and finding creative ways to help others. His go-to wings sauce is always garlic parmesan and he keeps Listerine strips in his pocket at all times. Catch him on Twitter at @Tyomoth.

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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Garbage Day Could Be Payday! 3 Ways to Turn Your Trash Into Cash

Do you know how much garbage you produce each week?

Better question: Are you prepared to see it firsthand, getting up close and personal by lying amid a week’s worth of your trash?

Amazingly, some people were.

Photographer Gregg Segal captured the results in his startling series “7 Days of Garbage.” You can take a look at what a typical week of trash looks like for different households in this article on Slate.

We see two morals in this pungent story:

Americans produce a scary amount of trash.

Some of that trash could be put to better use — making us cold, hard cash.

We took a closer look at these unpleasant but powerful photos to identify three ways these people could be turning their trash into cash — and you could be, too.

1. How to Make Money Recycling

Instead of tossing items that aren’t biodegradable, find recycling centers that’ll pay you for them.

Bottles and Cans

Depending on your state’s return laws, you can save cans and return them to your local grocery store or recycling center for profit.

Wine Bottles and Corks

They’re actually hot material for DIY projects, and artists and crafters will pay for them on eBay. Just wash off your wine corks, list them and make money!

Metal Bits and Pieces

You don’t have to have a big item like a beat-up car to make money selling scrap metal. Everything from old door locks to copper wiring can fetch a decent price if you collect enough of it.

Other Miscellaneous Recyclable Material

Get paid to have your city haul away your recyclables! Recyclebank works with waste haulers in many communities to track how much recycling they collect from your curb. You earn points for each haul, which you can cash in for rewards like magazine subscriptions and shopping discounts.

If you prefer to give back, Terracycle will send you a prepaid box to mail your recycling in. Every box you send in earns you points that you can redeem for charitable gifts or donations to the nonprofit or school of your choice.

2. Reuse Waste to Earn and Save Money

Before you stick scraps in the trash, get creative to see how they can save you money!

Unused Fruit

Not sure you’ll be able to eat all that fruit before it goes bad? Make it into jam or preserves to sell at your local farmers market.

Soggy Coffee Grounds

Used coffee grounds actually make great compost, as two business students found out and leveraged into their Back to the Roots urban mushroom-growing kits.

Food Scraps

Create a compost heap in your yard, and use it to fertilize a kitchen garden to reduce your grocery bills.

Random Fabric Scraps and Other Non-Recyclables

Get crafty! You can make everything from purses to picture frames with a little artistic creativity and sell them on sites like Etsy.

These women in Turkey built a whole business out of turning used packaging like candy wrappers and canned-food labels into clutches and handbags.

3. Sell Your Trash for Profit

One man’s trash… you know the saying. Here are a few old items you could sell instead of throwing away.

Food Packaging

Cut out those Boxtops for Education, and sell them on eBay. You may not have any use for them, but they’re worth money to other people.

Old Baby Toys and Household MiscellanyEven though you’re no longer using something, someone else might be able to get many more years out of it.

Rather than trashing your gently used items, consider selling them at a flea market, garage sale or on Craigslist to put extra cash in your pocket (and keep one more item out of a landfill).

Defunct Phones

Upgraded to something cooler? Don’t junk your old device — you can sell it.

Used Stuffed Animals

Clean them up, and sell them on eBay. Collectors, gift givers and people looking to recapture their childhood are all willing to pay to take them off your hands.

Go Beyond Your Own Trash

Once you’ve learned how to maximize the profit with your own trash, why not take it up a notch and start selling other people’s junk?

Dumpster diving and curbside trolling aren’t just for recent grads hoping to score a futon. They can also become a nice side business if you’re willing to put in a little work.

You can also snag free items on Craigslist and resell them for 100% profit.

Look at you: saving the planet and making money at the same time!

Kelly Gurnett is a freelance blogger, writer and editor who runs the blog Cordelia Calls It Quits, where she documents her attempts to rid her life of the things that don’t matter and focus more on the things that do. Follow her on Twitter @CordeliaCallsIt.

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4 Experts Weigh In on What’s Needed to Make Workplaces More Flexible

Here at The Penny Hoarder, I’m incredibly grateful to have a good deal of work flexibility.

We’re allowed to work remotely once a week, and even on the days we’re in the office, there’s no punching in and out to record every minute we’re there.

We also often write about work flexibility — whether it’s juggling multiple gigs, working from home or logging hours from a cool co-working space.

One of the major benefits of work flexibility is that it helps workers create situations in which they can be most productive and live their best lives while earning a living.

Yet many employers still struggle with the idea of work flexibility because it differs from traditional workplace practices.

Oct. 17 marked National Flex Day, a time to reflect on what it means to have flexible work arrangements. 1 Million for Work Flexibility, a national initiative supporting flexible work, hosted an online panel where professionals talked about the current state and future outlook of flex work.

The Changing State of Flexible Work

Brigid Schulte, director of the Better Life Lab and The Good Life Initiative at New America, said that in the 1990s and early 2000s, flexibility was seen as an accommodation for women, mothers and caregivers — a viewpoint that still exists today.

“That’s led to a real sense of stigma around flexibility — that lesser workers will take it, or that somehow flexibility means less work or that you’re less committed,” she said.

Fortunately, the tides are changing as others start advocating for flexible work options.

“Millennials — both men and women — [are] saying that they want to have full, meaningful lives and full, meaningful careers and being adamant about getting them,” Schulte said.

Another panelist, Andy Cuneo, senior communications manager at Polycom, also talked about the effect millennials have on workplace flexibility.

“They’re the ones that are going to dictate the way our technology’s going to be used in the workplace,” he said. “They’re going to be the ones that are really going to shape the way the workplace looks like.”

Cuneo said advances in technology that help people communicate and collaborate will increase work flexibility and support a more mobile workforce.

He said Polycom did a survey earlier this year and found that 83% of millennials use video collaboration to stay in touch with a colleague and that 72% like having a work-life balance in varied locations.

The Challenges of Flexible Work

One of the concerns some employers have with flex work is the misconception that untethering employees from their desks could result in decreased productivity.

That’s quite the opposite, Schulte noted.

“There have been studies that have shown in certain instances — certainly in the United States — that if you have a formal flexible schedule or even an informal, under-the-radar flexibility, it tends to lead to longer work hours,” she said.

Workers are sometimes challenged with not knowing when to set a stopping point for themselves, Schulte said.

“Yes, flexibility is wonderful, but it has a real potential to lead to work creep,” she said.

Another panelist, Sara Sutton Fell, founder and CEO of FlexJobs, said many white-collar workers are already putting in some form of remote work — checking emails before bed or working at home over the weekend — which generally isn’t acknowledged.

Another challenge of flex work is that it can look entirely different to different workers.

“For example, we’ve yet to discover a way where an emergency room nurse could work from home,” joked panelist Ian Reynolds, director of WorkLife and Community Programs in the Office of Work, Life and Engagement at Johns Hopkins University and Health System.

In that case, flexibility can be implemented when it comes to setting schedules, he said. There isn’t one set way to approach flex work.

What Will Make Flexibility More Available to Workers?

Panelists agreed that measuring the impact of flex work is important going forward.

“The more we have statistics… that will help make the case,” Schulte said.

Sutton Fell said FlexJobs and WorldatWork conducted a study a couple years ago in which they interviewed 350 large North American companies. They found that while about 80% offered some form of work flexibility, only 3% tracked the return on investment.

“It highlights a massive problem with why employers aren’t adopting work flexibility more readily, given all the benefits that have been talked about,” Sutton Fell said.

Having concrete data to support the assertion that flex work is good for business could lessen employers’ hesitation about making flexible work options available.

Legislation may also be a way to bring about greater change.

Reynolds recalls how the federal government amended the Fair Labor Standards Act in 2010 to require employers to provide break time and space for lactating women to express milk, which led Johns Hopkins to establish over 25 mother’s rooms across their campuses.

“There was a real impetus to make that program a success — and that was the law,” he said. “We need something like that for flex.”

Sutton Fell agreed.

“We need more legislation when it comes to remote work and flexibility and for the freelance economy,” she said. “It will help address [these] future of workplace changes that are happening.”

Nicole Dow is a staff writer at The Penny Hoarder.

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Love to Cuddle? This $60-Per-Hour Job is Absolutely Perfect for You

A normal workday for Samantha Hess includes spooning, holding hands and snuggling with people she barely knows.

And she gets paid $60 an hour to do it.

This Portland-based entrepreneur started her business, Cuddle Up to Me, a little more than a year ago and has not only managed to build a steady client base, she’s become a bit of a worldwide sensation. The 30-year-old has been interviewed for print, radio and television media outlets across the country and globe, including CNN and USA Today, and even released a book earlier this year, Touch: The Power of Human Connection.

How did she do it? It all started with a broken marriage, a random article she found on the internet, a killer support system and a drive to succeed. You may not need that exact formula, but if you genuinely like people and want to make some extra cash — or explore a new full-time job opportunity — professional cuddling may be right for you, too.

The Inspiration for This Unusual Business

After Hess ended her marriage, she felt unfulfilled. She wasn’t ready to date but still yearned for touch and acceptance from another person, she says. One day during this bleak period, she came across an online article about a man who offers free hugs at a Saturday market. However, he was outdone by another man offering “deluxe hugs” for $2 a pop.

“I thought, how great would it be to have someone who would just hug me and make me feel loved, and not need anything from me emotionally?” Hess says. “Then I came across professional cuddler Jackie Samuel online and I knew I had found my dream job.”

How to Become a Professional Cuddler

When Hess began pursuing her full-time snuggling dreams last March, she had to make sure professional cuddling was indeed a legal, viable business. She even hired a lawyer to help her through the startup process, which also included developing a waiver to ensure her safety — a difficult task considering the cuddling industry is a relatively new, open landscape.

By June, she was ready to start taking client appointments, and Hess was marketing her cuddling services to everyone she met. She put flyers up around town and left business cards at local shops — anywhere she might find someone who needed a hug.

Within a month, local television, radio and print media took interest, but Hess really started feeling the love in October, when “The Oregonian” published a feature about her. Turns out, a lot of people wanted to snuggle with Hess — she received 10,000 emails that week.

Her business took off, and a year later, Hess says her story has touched 17 million people around the world, including China, Brazil and Australia.

Why She Charges $60 an Hour

Before finding her true calling, Hess held a slew of less-than-fulfilling, customer service-type jobs. She also spent time as a personal trainer, a job she says commands about $60 an hour.

Based on that, her skills and the fact the most similar professional she could think of — a massage therapist — charges about the same, she decided folks would be happy to pay that rate to spoon. Plus, she liked the idea of marketing her services for only $1 a minute.

With that rate, it took Hess about seven months to find herself in the black.

So how much can she make? When she snuggles up to her max of five clients a day, Hess brings in $300, and she usually works five days a week. But her earning potential doesn’t end there. She plans to open a retail store later this year and teach a 40-hour certification course for aspiring cuddlers.

Who Wants Cuddles From a Stranger?

When Hess first started, she expected to dole out most of her hugs to lonely widowers. That hasn’t been the case. She has spooned with people of all ages and backgrounds, from CEOs to artists.

Most clients schedule four to five sessions, and she’s amazed by the emails she gets from those clients who want to thank her for helping them get through a difficult, otherwise hug-less time.

And for Hess, that’s what cuddling is all about.

“When someone has some sort of gap in their world that makes them feel incomplete, I get to help fill in that gap,” Hess says. “I get to build people up to give them the self-confidence to go after what they want in life.”

Making It as a Professional Cuddler

Interested in cuddling professionally? You better like people.

If you’re going to try this business, you have to offer unconditional love to everyone who signs your waiver. There’s no room for discrimination or judgment, Hess says. You’re there to build your clients up, to offer them comfort and the human touch they crave — in a mother/child, non-sexual kind of way.

You can’t be a control freak, either. Clients drive the sessions, whether they want to hold hands in the park, spoon on the couch in silence or chat about their problems as you snuggle in bed. Of course, you should develop a sign that alerts clients when they’re making you uncomfortable or if something inappropriate happens — for Hess it’s two taps.

Find Support of Your Own

If you’re ready to cuddle with strangers, Hess says you need a support system. Hers consists of family, friends and the folks she volunteers with at the local food bank. They give her encouragement and lift her up when she’s feeling weighed down.

Beyond that, believe in yourself and ignore those naysayers who don’t understand your dreams of full-time cuddling.

“You have to be so excited about it,” Hess says. “Know it. Just own it. If you’re not sure it’s going to work, it’s not going to work.”

Renee Knight is a freelance writer, editor and blogger based in Northern Virginia.

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This Smashburger Deal Makes it Easy to Slash Your Check in Half in August

Is it one of those nights when you just can’t bother cooking, but you don’t want to break your budget? We’ve got a dinner deal for you.

Through the end of October, you can use this printable coupon to get a free entree at Smashburger when you buy one adult entree.

To claim your free sandwich, just find your local Smashburger restaurant and present the coupon. The cheaper of the two entrees you order will be free.

Here’s the Fine Print on the Smashburger Coupon

You can order nearly any sandwich from the menu and get this deal, but it’s not valid on the promotional Triple Double or the Bacon Triple Double.

You also want to remember that you can only use one coupon per person per visit. That means you might have to split your orders up if you want to treat the whole family to this BOGO deal.

Desiree Stennett is a staff writer at The Penny Hoarder.

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Don’t Pack Lunch on Thursday: P.F. Chang’s is Giving Out Free Sushi

Sometimes, deals can be a drag.

That tempting freebie might come at a cost, and it’s not always obvious at the outset.

Maybe your “free” meal requires you to purchase a beverage or even a whole ’nother meal.

Or maybe you get your “free” cupcake or complimentary stationery set for the price of your precious inbox space — and an “unsubscribe” button you can only spot with a magnifying glass. Welcome to marketing!

That’s why we’re excited about this deal from P.F. Chang’s. It’s simple to the point of elegance: Just walk into the restaurant on Thursday, Oct. 26, and you’ll get free sushi.

No purchase necessary, no forms to sign.

Now that’s what I call a freebie.

Get Free Sushi at P.F. Chang’s Thursday, Oct. 26

All you have to do is mention the free sushi deal to your server — you don’t even have to show them the online offer.

You’ll be able to choose your free roll: California or spicy tuna. Only one per person, please.

Unfortunately, locations in Atlantic City, Hawaii, Puerto Rico and a few other locations aren’t participating, and the same goes for international and airport restaurants. And you’ve got to dine in to use the offer — but who wants takeout sushi, anyway?

Best of all, you don’t have to purchase a single thing to take advantage of the promotion. But please tip your server as if you had!

The only confusing part of this deal?

Sushi is Japanese, and P.F. Chang’s calls itself a “China Bistro.”

Maybe it’ll soon rebrand itself as pan-Asian cuisine… and we can only hope it offers lots more easy, breezy free food deals along the way!

Jamie Cattanach (@jamiecattanach) has written for VinePair, SELF, Ms. Magazine, Roads & Kingdoms, The Write Life, Barclaycard’s Travel Blog, Santander Bank’s Prosper and Thrive and other outlets. Her writing focuses on food, wine, travel and frugality.

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Fight for your rights: The sofa bed was no good for a night’s sleep

Moneywise columnist helps a reader get their money back for a faulty Ikea product.

"In August 2016, I bought an Ikea sofa bed to be used by the tenant in my flat.

"Early this summer, he got in touch to say that the sofa cushions had sunk to such an extent that he could feel the wooden frame underneath, making it uncomfortable to sleep on.

"I gave my tenant a copy of my receipt and he contacted Ikea to ask for replacement cushions.

Fight for your rights: Feeling blue over Stacees’ prom dress

"The store sent an inspector who said he would recommend a change of both cushions. However, Ikea then rejected the claim because the damage was caused ‘due to the care instruction not being followed’.

"We dispute this as my tenant has looked after the bed, albeit using it every night. If it’s not up to the job, we want it replaced. Can you help?"

BS/London

We certainly can. When we got in touch with Ikea, it responded quickly and sent you a gift card for the £350 cost of the sofa bed. My advice? Don’t buy the same model and check that the one you do buy is robust enough to be used on a nightly basis!

OUTCOME: Ikea sent a £350 gift card for a new sofa bed

Simon Read is a money writer and broadcaster. He was the last personal finance editor at The Independent and is an expert on BBC1’s Right On The Money.

Have you been let down by a company? Let Moneywise Fight for your Rights.

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The Art of the ‘Dump Meal’: Nine Super-Simple Ways to Get Maximum Efficiency and Value from a Slow Cooker

One of the most efficient ways for a family to save money is to simply eat meals at home as often as possible. Feeding three or four or five people with take-out or at restaurants all the time becomes quickly expensive, even if you choose super-cheap options, and if you consider the health impact of eating restaurant-prepared food, it becomes even more costly. (Research suggests that home cooking is a key part of a healthier diet, simply because you control what goes into the meals and you’re usually using better ingredients.)

The counterbalance to that is our busy lives. For many people – myself included – preparing a meal at home becomes yet another task in a day that’s already filled to the brim with tasks. After a long day at work followed by parental responsibilities and marital responsibilities and community responsibilities and a pile of household chores, simply being able to offload the task of meal preparation can seem like a huge breather.

So, the problem is this: Meal preparation at home is cheaper in the moment and healthier over the long term, but it requires a larger time and effort commitment. That’s an equation that becomes particularly tricky when you’ve got a highly committed life.

Our solution to that has been to find ways to reduce the time and effort it takes to prepare meals at home – in other words, to reduce the friction of meal preparation.

We use a lot of tactics for this. We make meals in advance on the weekends, often by planning a “meal prep day.” We make convenient spice mixes so that it’s easy to just add several dashes to a dish to make it come together quickly. We keep the ingredients for “staple meals” on hand for when we need something we can prepare on autopilot – for example, we always have a box of pasta and a jar of marinara sauce in the pantry and a bag of flash-frozen vegetables in the freezer.

Last, but not least, we have a slow cooker. The slow cooker is probably our most valuable tool for reducing the time and energy investment in meal preparation on busy evenings.

Our favorite use for the slow cooker is in preparing what we call “dump meals.” A “dump meal” is one where you can just “dump” several ingredients in the slow cooker in the morning, turn it on low (or program it to turn on low in a few hours), and then just let it sit there all day. When you get home and are ready to eat, the meal in the slow cooker is all ready to go.

What this often does is that it lets Sarah or I actually prepare dinner right in front of the kids as they’re eating breakfast. I’ll talk to them about their day or about current events or about what books they’re reading at the breakfast table while actively assembling supper in the slow cooker. I’ll flip it on “low” just as they’re walking out the door and put any dishes or utensils I may have used into the sink or dishwasher. Supper prep is complete – all I have to do is serve it that evening!

For us, these “dump meals” are worth their weight in gold. They enable us to have a great family meal together on even the busiest nights, and they make it easy for us to eat in two separate groups when that doesn’t work out (we usually try to make sure that at least one parent eats with each child when they’re eating dinner, so we might have one kid eating with one parent at 5:30 and the other two kids eating with the other parent at 6:15 on super-busy evenings).

Another advantage of “dump” meals is that you can prepare most of them well in advance by putting most or all of the ingredients together in a gallon freezer Ziploc bag or another freezer-safe container and just freeze them until you’re ready to use them. Most of the recipes below work perfectly well in that environment, particularly the soups and stews.

Interested? The first thing you need is a slow cooker, and pretty much any slow cooker will do. I prefer ones that actually feature a crock on the inside and I generally don’t bother with ones with lots of electronics, because that seems to be the element that fails first. My suggestion? Go to your local Goodwill or other secondhand store and find a used slow cooker there. If you can’t find one, then I recommend this 7-quart manual Crock Pot, which is a great slow cooker at a nice price.

It’s also useful to get an outlet timer (like this one). This enables you to plug in the slow cooker and walk away even if the cooking time is shorter than the length of your day. Just set the timer so that there’s no power running to the crock pot until you want it to start cooking. That way, if you have a recipe that requires six hours on low, you can set the timer to turn on the outlet at noon and then the recipe will be done at 6 o’clock.

Here are nine of our favorite “dump meals” – some vegetarian, some otherwise. Most of these boil down to simply adding a bunch of stuff to the slow cooker, turning it on low, and walking away.

Slow Cooker ‘Dump’ Beef Stew

When Sarah and I were first married, this was our traditional Tuesday night meal together during the winter months. We would make a pot of this, and then we’d have leftovers on Wednesday and Thursday to take to work.

Ingredients
– 2 1/2 pounds beef stew meat, cut into bite-sized pieces
– 1 medium onion, finely chopped
– 2 celery ribs, sliced
– 30 baby carrots, approximately, or 2 cups sliced carrots
– 5 small red potatoes, cut into small bite-sized cubes
– 1 cup frozen corn
– 3 cloves garlic, minced
– 1 6 oz. can tomato paste
– 1 32 oz. container beef broth
– 2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
– 1 tablespoon salt
– 1 tablespoon ground black pepper
– 1 tablespoon dried parsley
– 1 teaspoon dried oregano

Directions Combine all ingredients in the slow cooker and set it on low for ten hours. That’s all.

If you want your stew to be a bit thicker, about half an hour before it’s finished, mix together 1/3 cup flour and 1/3 cup water and mix it into the stew – you can do this right when you get home.

Slow Cooker ‘Dump’ Lasagna

This recipe structure works with all meat, all vegetables, or a mix of the two. You can use almost anything there – in fact, just a few days ago, our vegetables consisted of just quinoa. Four cups of it. It was delicious.

Ingredients
– 2 24 oz. jars of your preferred pasta sauce
– 1 box lasagna noodles, uncooked (don’t need the “oven ready” ones)
– 2 cups cottage cheese
– 1 egg, beaten
– 1 tsp. oregano
– 4 cups chopped vegetables of your choice (almost anything works) OR 4 cups chopped cooked meat of your choice (again, almost anything works) OR mix and match the cups
– 2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese
– 1/2 cup parmesan cheese
– olive oil

Directions Coat the inside of the slow cooker with olive oil. Put about 1/2 cup of the sauce on the bottom of the slow cooker. Add a layer of uncooked noodles, breaking them so that they fit – it doesn’t have to be perfect. Mix the oregano, egg, and cottage cheese together, then add about 1/3 of the cottage cheese mix as an even layer on top of the noodles. Add about 1/3 of the meat or vegetables as the next layer, then a layer of 1/4 of the mozzarella. Repeat the layers twice more, starting with the sauce – 1/2 cup sauce, followed by layer of noodles, followed by 1/3 of the cottage cheese mix, followed by 1/3 of the meat/vegetables, followed by 1/4 of the mozzarella. Add a final layer of noodles on top, cover it with just a bit of sauce, and put the remaining mozzarella and Parmesan on top. Cook on low for 5-6 hours, using a timer if needed.

Slow Cooker ‘Dump’ Chili

This is a fall and winter classic at our house, and it’s so simple that our 11-year-old has actually prepared it before. I told him that if he wanted chili for supper, he could make it himself, and I handed him the recipe card for it. He put it together and started it himself and it turned out wonderfully. The optional ingredients at the bottom are purely to taste, as chili has infinite variations.

Ingredients
– 1 pound uncooked lean ground beef or turkey OR 2 15 oz. cans black beans OR 2 15 oz. cans red kidney beans OR 1 can each
– 1 15 oz. can red kidney beans OR 1 15 oz. can black beans (in addition to the first ingredient)
– 1 15.5 oz. can crushed tomatoes (28 oz)
– 2 cups water
– 1 medium onion, finely chopped
– 2 cloves garlic, minced
– 1 1/2 tablespoons chili powder
– 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
– 1 teaspoon black pepper
– 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
– 1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper (optional, to taste)
– 2 tablespoons red wine vinegar (optional)
– 1/2 cup leftover dry red wine (optional)
– 1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce (optional)
– 1 tablespoon barbecue sauce (optional)
– A dozen chocolate chips (optional)

Directions Mix everything together and cook on low for 8 hours. Remember, use one can of beans only if using meat; use three cans of beans total if making a vegetarian version.

Slow Cooker ‘Dump’ Pot Roast

With this recipe, it’s well worth your while to get a good roast. Chuck roast works best, but you can substitute a beef brisket or a round roast if you don’t have a chuck roast available. If you’re pulling the roast from the freezer, make sure it’s fully thawed before using this recipe or else it won’t be fully cooked.

Ingredients
– 2 to 3 lb chuck roast
– 1/2 medium yellow onion, chopped
– 1/2 medium bell pepper, chopped (any color will do)
– 2 stalks celery, chopped
– 2 large potatoes, chopped into bite sized pieces
– 3 cloves garlic, minced
– 1 1/2 cups beef broth (or 2 beef bullion cubes and 1 1/2 cups water)
– 1/2 cup tomato sauce
– 1 1/2 tablespoons salt
– 1 teaspoon black pepper
– 1/2 teaspoon dried thyme

Directions Place the roast in the bottom of the slow cooker. Place the vegetables on top of and around the roast. Add the other ingredients on top of the vegetables. Cook on low for 8-10 hours.

Slow Cooker ‘Dump’ Chicken or Vegetable Tetrazzini

This recipe does require a bit of extra effort in the morning before you leave – you need to boil up some pasta and put it in the fridge! You’ll add it right at the end, within a few minutes of actually serving it (I like to add the cooked pasta just before setting the table for dinner, then put the crock directly on the table after the table is set).

Ingredients
– 2 pounds chicken breasts, sliced into 1″ thick strips, OR 4 cups vegetables of your choice (for a vegetarian version – I like using just a standard frozen vegetable mix)
– 1/2 small white onion, diced
– 8 button mushrooms, sliced
– 1 cup broth, vegetable or chicken
– 3 cloves garlic, minced
– 1 teaspoon salt
– 1 1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
– 1 tablespoon dried tarragon
– 2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese
– 1 8 oz. package cream cheese, cut into small cubes
– 1/2 to 1 pound spaghetti noodles, cooked to package directions

Directions Put the cream cheese, mozzarella cheese, and cooked spaghetti noodles in the fridge for later. Add the rest of the ingredients to the slow cooker and cook on low for eight hours. About ten minutes before serving, add the cream cheese to the slow cooker, then use two forks to shred the chicken breasts, then add the pasta. Just before putting it on the table, put the mozzarella cheese on top.

Slow Cooker ‘Dump’ Potato Soup

This is about as easy as it gets. Can you chop a few potatoes? Can you cut cream cheese into cubes? Can you put ingredients into a slow cooker and turn it on? Then, my friend, you’re in for some delicious potato soup!

Ingredients
– 8 small yellow potatoes, cut into bite-sized cubes
– 1 small onion, finely diced
– 4 garlic cloves, minced
– 8 cups chicken or vegetable broth
– 1 tablespoon salt
– 1 tablespoon black pepper
– 1/2 teaspoon paprika
– 1/2 teaspoon turmeric
– 2 8 oz. packages cream cheese, cut into small cubes
– 1 cup shredded cheddar cheese

Directions Put everything but the cream cheese and the cheddar cheese in the slow cooker and turn it on low for 8 hours. Before serving, stir in the cream cheese until melted. Serve with the shredded cheddar as topping. If you wish to thicken it, add a tablespoon of corn starch or flour and stir when it’s hot and repeat until it’s at your desired thickness.

Slow Cooker ‘Dump’ Frittata

I like this recipe because you can pretty much use any ingredient you want and come out with something tasty. It is super flexible, and it’s almost never failed me as long as I stick to something that at least seems reasonably palatable. I sometimes make this before I go to bed and then start it when I first wake up on a Saturday morning so we can have it for breakfast, but it also works well for dinner.

Ingredients
– 4 cups cooked meats or uncooked vegetables of my choice, cut into small pieces (ham, broccoli, onion, bacon, steak, carrots, spinach – almost anything works)
– 8 ounces Swiss cheese, sliced thin
– 12 eggs, beaten until consistent
– 1 tablespoon fresh ground black pepper
– 2 teaspoons salt
– 1/4 teaspoon tarragon
– 1/2 teaspoon basil
– 1/2 teaspoon thyme
– 2 cloves garlic, minced
– nonstick cooking spray

Directions Mix the pepper, salt, tarragon, basil, thyme, and garlic with the eggs and set aside for a moment. Spray down the inside of the slow cooker thoroughly. Add the meats and vegetables to the slow cooker on the bottom, then put the sliced cheese on top of those ingredients, then pour the egg mix on top. Cook on low for three hours, no more.

Slow Cooker ‘Dump’ Red Lentil Curry

This is my wife’s favorite slow cooker recipe of all time. I think she would make this weekly for herself and just subsist off of it if she were single. She always makes a double batch of this and then takes the leftovers to work several days in a row. This is her particular version of the recipe.

Ingredients
– 4 cups brown lentils, uncooked
– 2 onions, diced
– 4 cloves garlic, minced
– 1 tablespoon ginger, minced
– 2 tablespoons butter
– 6 tablespoons red curry paste
– 1 1/2 tablespoons garam masala
– 1 1/2 teaspoons turmeric
– 1/2 teaspoon sugar
– 1 teaspoon salt
– 1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
– 2 28 oz. cans pureed tomatoes
– 6 cups water
– 1 cup coconut milk
– rice or naan bread for serving

Directions Add all ingredients but the coconut milk to the slow cooker, stir, and cook on low for 8 hours. If you come home and it looks dry, add more water to your own judgment – different lentils absorb water differently, and sometimes it can end up soaking up all of that liquid. Just before serving, mix in the coconut milk.

Slow Cooker ‘Dump’ Black Bean Soup

Since we just listed Sarah’s favorite recipe, we’ll finish off with mine. I seriously cannot get ENOUGH of this stuff. I love this soup so much I have actually eaten it for breakfast. I will eat it and eat it and eat it and eat it. I love black beans and I love how this soup comes out. (I just wish the rest of my family all loved it, too, so we could have it twice a week.) Plus, it’s really really easy.

Ingredients
– 3 cups dried black beans, soaked in water (see directions)
– 1 tablespoon olive oil
– 1 large yellow onion, chopped
– 1 orange bell pepper, chopped
– 1 red bell pepper, chopped
– 5 garlic cloves, minced
– 8 cups vegetable broth or vegetable stock
– 1 1/2 teaspoons cumin
– 2 teaspoons salt
– sour cream, tortilla chips, and shredded jack cheese, to serve

Directions The night before, put the beans in a separate pot and cover them with water so there’s at least two inches covering the top of the beans. Put a lid on the pot and let it sit overnight, at least eight hours (do it in the early evening and you’re fine).

You can do this part the night before, too. Add the oil to a skillet and heat it over medium-high heat. Add the onions, peppers, and garlic and cook until the onions are translucent. Add 1/2 cup of the broth to the skillet while it’s still hot. Save the onion, garlic, peppers, and liquid.

In the morning, pour the water off the beans, rinse the beans a bit, and add the beans to the slow cooker. Add the onion, garlic, peppers, and liquid to the cooker, too, along with the rest of the broth/stock, the cumin, and the salt. Cook on low for 8 hours. Serve with the sour cream, tortilla chips, and shredded jack cheese. Eat more of it than you should (wait… that’s my own personal part of this recipe).

Final Thoughts

The best part about “dump” recipes for the slow cooker is that they’re incredibly easy and the actual work can be done in the morning or late in the evening before, so that you’re not rushed at all during the actual meal time. You just come home to a house that smells amazing and serve up dinner for everyone within a few minutes.

These recipes are all very inexpensive compared to going out to dinner and most of them will generate leftovers, even for a family. If you’re not sure if there’s enough for your family, just double the recipe and add a little cooking time.

They’re also healthy, and they manage to be pretty delicious, too.

Slow cooker “dump” meals manage to actually hit the mark for us in terms of fast, cheap, healthy(-ish, in some cases) and delicious, all at the same time. They’re a key part of how we keep costs low, even though we’re busy in the evenings. I hope you find some value in copying these recipes or modifying them to your own use!

Good luck!

Related Articles:

The post The Art of the ‘Dump Meal’: Nine Super-Simple Ways to Get Maximum Efficiency and Value from a Slow Cooker appeared first on The Simple Dollar.

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Here’s Exactly How This Woman Raised Her Credit Score From a 568 to a 732

At 26, Kelsey Buxton was sitting on $22,000 of stagnant credit card debt.

She’d worked as a project manager for a business her then-boyfriend founded. But when the couple split up, Buxton lost her job — and her substantial income.

She’d been paying rent for a nice apartment and made payments toward a nice car. Now, she couldn’t afford to foot these big bills.

Buxton dug into her savings and took her money out of the stock market to make ends meet.

“But it went pretty quick,” she says.

So she started relying on credit cards.

Buxton secured another job, this time as an administrative assistant, but her income was still cut to a quarter of what she’d previously made.

As Buxton continued to rack up charges, her credit card balance hiked — the interest rates didn’t help — and her credit score consequently plummeted. She felt stuck.

Seven months later, she was hired on at The Penny Hoarder as a media buyer. (Whoo!) It was then that she had a chance to step back and survey the damage that had been done.

How Buxton Started Paying Off $22K in Credit Card Debt

At first, Buxton’s strategy was to consolidate her debt.

She was paying about $700 to $800 a month in minimum payments, but the (up to) 29% interest rate on her eight cards kept stacking up. Consolidating would have lumped her payments together, ideally, with a lower interest rate. (Or at least just one interest rate.)

She contacted a ton of debt consolidation services.

“They all just basically told me I was screwed unless I either filed bankruptcy or filed a hardship payment plan, which meant I’d forfeit all my credit cards,” she says.

She started reaching out to banks to refinance her debt, but she kept getting denied with her 568 credit score.

Then a sign showed up on her doorstep.

No, really. This isn’t a chiché. Buxton came home from work one day and found a flyer for Upstart with an offer code. Feeling as though she was out of other options, she started to research the lending platform.

As it turns out, Upstart didn’t care at all about her poor credit score. Rather, the platform ditches the traditional FICO-scoring model and uses artificial intelligence markup language (less technically known as “computer programming stuff”) to identify qualified buyers.

For example, when Buxton received her free quote, she entered the amount of money she needed to borrow, then a few personal details, such as her highest level of education (a bachelor’s in biology from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute). She also answered questions about her job, years of experience and income.

By showing off her potential, Buxton was approved in less than two days. Within a week, the loan was in her bank account.

“The reason I think I got the loan is because of the college I went to,” Buxton says. “They take where you went to school and what you graduated with into account to see your ‘earning potential,’ so even though my credit was awful, I had potential.”

Giving Buxton this chance, the Upstart loan flipped her financial situation upside down — but in a good way.

How an Upstart Loan Changed Buxton’s Financial Game

A quick recap: Before Buxton’s loan from Upstart, she was making minimum credit card payments of $700 to $800 each month. That was basically covering the credit card interest, which kept knocking her down, reaching 29% in some cases. Her credit score had plunged to 568.

After the Upstart loan?

Buxton’s monthly payment is now $518. Instead, she pays $600 each month, and nearly half of that goes towards principal. Her interest rate is down to 16.12%, which is saving her more than $12,000 in interest overall.

She took out a five-year loan, but with her drive to pay it off, Buxton should be home free in about three years.

Her credit score has also perked up. It’s now a 732, which has allowed her to make the move into a new rental.

Buxton says this loan has put her at ease in many ways, including facing potential emergencies.

“[My credit cards] were all maxed out, so if I ran into an emergency, I had zero options,” she says. “I don’t use them much now, but it’s nice to know they’re there with $0 balances, so I wouldn’t be totally screwed.”

Buxton says since taking out the Upstart loan, she’s felt a huge sense of relief. Sure, she’s still in debt, but it’s something she can manage.

“I finally feel like I have a little control,” she says. “It’s nice to see every month that more than half of what I’m paying is going towards principal rather than just throwing money down the drain paying credit card interest.

“It’s like I can see the light at the end of the tunnel now.”

Carson Kohler (@CarsonKohler) is a junior writer at The Penny Hoarder.

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Disaster Relief: How to Assist from a Distance

You may be following the news of recent natural disasters from thousands of miles away, wondering what you can possibly do to help. If so, rest assured that the effectiveness of your charitable donations doesn’t necessarily decrease with distance.

A large number of charities and relief organizations are helping victims of Hurricane Maria in the Caribbean, as well as earthquake victims in Mexico. The list includes some of the most respected, highest rated groups in philanthropy, including:

Whether it’s on Main Street or beyond the mainland, the combination of generosity and effective charitable organizations can make a difference in people’s lives. But if you have questions about the process of donating to groups doing good work far afield, we have some answers.

Is international disaster relief tax deductible?

It largely depends on the nationality of the groups rather than the nationality of the people they’re helping.

Many of the nonprofit groups channeling your charity into disaster relief are based in the United States and meet Internal Revenue Service requirements for tax-deductible donations. In the case of Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands — both U.S. territories — your donations to charities located there should be tax-deductible as long as they meet those same IRS requirements.

Although charitable organizations based in foreign countries generally don’t qualify for deductions, certain Mexican, Canadian, and Israeli charities do.

How do I check a group’s tax-exempt status?

That information should be readily available on the group’s website or in its literature. Signs to look for include:

Registered 501(c)3 nonprofit organization
A statement specifying that donations are tax-deductible
An EIN (Employer Identification Number) assigned by the IRS

Also, you can check directly with the IRS using its Exempt Organizations Select Check Tool.

How do I know if a charity is legitimate?

Even though disasters can create opportunities for scams, you have a number of safeguards on your side.

The internet has made it easier for potential donors to do their own detective work and donate safely. You can also check an organization’s credentials with watchdog agencies such as Charity Navigator and GiveWell.

Can I donate credit card rewards to charity?

Many credit card issuers allow you to donate points, miles, and cash back to charity. In some cases, an issuer may offer bonus rewards in exchange for donating to disaster relief.

If you want to donate your credit card rewards, be aware of the card issuer’s guidelines and the intended charity’s guidelines. For example, the value of your points may vary when you convert them to donations.

Also, remember that the IRS typically doesn’t consider such donations tax-deductible. To get the tax benefit in this situation, you would probably need to redeem cash back rewards for a cash payout and then donate that payout to the charity of your choice.

Your support matters, no matter the destination

People in Texas, Louisiana, and Florida still need help with hurricane relief, as do victims of the recent California wildfires. Locations around the country and the world need assistance at any given time. Whether you choose to provide help, and how, is entirely up to you. Just remember that your generosity can cross oceans and span continents, and make a real difference.

The post Disaster Relief: How to Assist from a Distance appeared first on The Simple Dollar.

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Home Finances Awards 2017: Most recommended takeaway and travel booking services

Home Finances Awards 2017 – the winners revealed

In need of a takeaway? Or maybe wanting to jet off on a great value holiday. Find out which household names came top in this year's awards.

To view the full list of winners see the Home Finances Awards page.

There are hundreds of firms fighting to sell you gas, electricity, water, broadband, mobile phone contracts and TV packages. Meanwhile, competition between supermarkets is as fierce as ever as discount shops continue to increase their market share.

The Moneywise Home Finances Awards help consumers make an informed choice in all these areas, and for the first time highlight the best travel and takeaway booking services in the UK.

The awards are based on the Moneywise Home Finances Survey, in which almost 5,000 readers name their favourite companies and highlight which firms offer the best value for money.

Thank you to everyone who contributed to our survey.

This year, Moneywise asked for your views on the best takeaway and travel booking services for the first time. Many consumers are comfortable conducting these transactions online, whether booking flights abroad or simply ordering a Friday night takeaway.

In the travel booking category, TripAdvisor scoops fi rst place. The site narrowly comes out ahead of its nearest rival, Expedia, thanks to its wealth of reviews and detailed information. Both are crucial sources of information to travellers.

Let down by an airline? Don't take flight, fight back against delays and cancellations

When it comes to food, readers recommend Just Eat more than any other takeaway provider. It scores highly for the variety of restaurants it has signed up, the quality of its app and general ease of use, leaving Hungry House in a distant second place.

To see more of this year’s winners visit the Moneywise Home Finances Awards page.