11 Simple Ways to Boost Your Monthly Income, No Matter Your Age

Most of us want to figure out how to make more money, right? We all envision what we could do with a little extra cash, whether it’s a one-time windfall or a boost to the monthly paycheck.

While a study conducted by the Federal Reserve in 2015 showed men were less likely to earn big raises after age 45 — “If You Aren’t Rich by 45, Give Up” is how Slate put it — we think you can work to increase your income at any age.

Take your financial future into your own hands, hustle like your hair’s on fire and start making extra money a little bit at a time.

Whether you’re 16 or 60, here’s how you can make more money each month…

1. Negotiate Your Salary

Perhaps one of the quickest ways to increase your income is to ask for a raise — today!

Whether you work part time or full time, in an office or in retail, you can try to negotiate your wages.

Before you ask for more money, make a plan.

You should have a valid reason for a raise — e.g. you recently completed a major project that made your company a lot of money, you’ve been putting in a lot of extra hours or you’ve been receiving rave reviews from customers.

It’s also ideal if it’s been a while since your last raise. You don’t want to be asking every other month.

Show the value you provide to the company, like how many sales you bring in or feedback from customers you’ve helped. Present your case in a compelling way.

If your boss says no, remember to be professional, thank them for their time, and ask how you might be able to secure a raise in the future. You never know — maybe they’ll recommend asking again after tax time or in the next quarter.

2. Pick Up a Side Gig

A side gig can be any sort of small business you do alongside your regular work or school, whether it’s a recurring role with a client or one-off projects with multiple customers.

From picking up a newspaper route or mowing lawns to tutoring students on the weekend, side gigs are a great way to make a little extra cash.

Even though it might feel less official than your full-time job, be professional. Treat it like a real job — because it is one.

You could make business cards and even a website to add to your credibility. Follow up with clients and demonstrate great customer service, and your side gig could be a money-making venture for you for quite a long time.

3. Flip Furniture

Before I had kids, I made a habit of picking up old, used furniture at garage sales and thrift stores. Sometimes I’d find amazing deals, like solid wood desks for $20.

I’d spend a few hours refinishing and painting them and resell them for a nice profit.

People love custom furniture, and they’d rather not spend the time to refinish it themselves. This is a great way to make extra money, and it’s fun to hunt down deals.

In addition to garage sales and thrift stores, make sure to check your back alley for hidden treasures neighbors put out to the curb and the Craiglist’s free section for more potential projects.

4. Buy a Popular Blog

Starting a blog and building a following to become popular is no easy feat. In fact, it can take months or even years to start making money as a blogger!

One way to make money faster is by buying a site that’s up for sale — you can find them through Flippa.

Purchasing an online business can cost a few thousand dollars upfront, but if you buy a quality site, you can earn your investment back quickly. On one of the already-established websites I bought, I earned my money back in three months.

If you’re ready to go bigger, you could learn from Chris Guthrie, who earns a six-figure income buying blogs with established audiences.

Guthrie bought a crafting website for $4,000 (a relatively low amount in website sales) and was able to earn his money back in seven months. He went on to earn around $670 a month in profit with minimal overhead and time.

If you have the experience or are willing to learn, buying websites could be a great investment opportunity. If you’re not experienced, I recommend finding a trusted source to walk you through the process and a blog manager to help teach you the ropes.

5. Start a Freelance Business

If you have an in-demand skill like writing, graphic design, computer programming or personal training, you’ve got a great opportunity to start a freelance business.

If you have a full-time job in the same field as your new freelance business, check your contract to make sure you’re not violating any non-compete agreements or any other rules.

You’ll probably want a website that showcases your work, a professional pitch letter you’ll edit depending on the job, and a lot of professionalism and motivation to keep going when business fluctuates.

6. Become a Business Coach

If you’ve been in a particular field for a few years, you could provide valuable insight and guidance to less experienced people or those who want to break into your field.

For example, entrepreneur Carrie Smith offers coaching services to help people make the shift from employee to freelancer, and I offer a more niche coaching service to help freelancers and companies make more money through blogging.

When offering this type of coaching service, you can either charge an hourly rate to meet with someone over coffee or online, or charge a monthly retainer to be available for questions any time.

7. Walk People’s Dogs

With young twins in the house and tons of snow outside, I have a hard time finding motivation to take my dog on the nice, long walk she absolutely needs — so I pay a dog walker to take her out every week.

If you love dogs, becoming a dog walker is a great way to make extra cash. This is an especially great option if you have a flexible work schedule and can take dogs out during the 9-to-5 workday.

8. Become a Night Nanny

Love babies? If you have experience caring for and feeding newborns, you could make a lot of money helping sleep-deprived parents as a night nanny — sometimes as much as $100 to $200 a night.

This type of support is especially helpful to parents of multiples, so start by contacting a local multiples group in your area and advertising your services at its meeting or in its newsletter.

Once you’ve helped a family or two, ask for a reference to anyone else they know who could use your help.

9. Drive With Uber or Lyft

OK, so this one does depend on your age, technically. You’ll need to have a driver’s license and be at least 21 years old to drive with Lyft or Uber.

Both companies use a very detailed application process, so your car has to be a certain age and your license has to be up to date. If you qualify, you could fit shifts around other commitments and make excellent money, especially on busy weekend nights.

One Uber partner even turned his car into a salesroom for his jewelry business and earned $250,000 a year!

10. Sell Home-Cooked Meals and Treats

If you’re a college student or live near a college campus, you could make money selling home-cooked meals and baked goods to college students who might enjoy a piping-hot plate of lasagna or a freshly baked cupcake.

Not convinced? In 2013 University of Chicago student Aneesa Sonawalla started making gourmet cupcakes in her dorm room and delivering them to fellow students for $20 per dozen.

Students could order their treats through her blog and view examples of some of her “stress baking” options.

If you want to follow Sonawalla’s lead, be sure to check with college officials to get permission to advertise and sell your goods.

11. Become a Minimalist

Between email ads, billboards, TV shows and general office chatter, our world is filled with triggers to buy, buy and buy some more.

It can be hard not to keep up with the Joneses, but becoming a minimalist helps you enjoy extra money money in two ways:

• Once you identify the unnecessary items in your home, you can sell them. Whether you post them in a Facebook garage sale group or list them on Craigslist, you can earn money from something you don’t need anymore. If you don’t want to sell it, you can always donate it to a local charity for a tax deduction.

• When you stop spending money on meaningless items, you’ll experience an automatic boost to your bottom line. Consider all the money you would have spent on a new jacket or another unnecessary kitchen gadget, and think of what else you could do with it.

How Will You Make More Money?

The evidence is pretty clear: You definitely aren’t limited by age or experience when it comes to ways to make more money.

You just have to have a sense of entrepreneurship, a great work ethic and a strong will to make it happen.

Catherine Alford is an award-winning personal finance writer and fully self-employed work-at-home mom. She writes about how to balance life and a budget all across the web including her own site, catherinealford.com.

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

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This is Why Purging Your Medicine Cabinet is Good for You (And Your Wallet)

Mark your calendar, everybody.

Oct. 21 is National Check Your Meds Day, according to Consumer Reports.

Hey, stop rolling your eyes at yet another completely random holiday. This one is definitely more important than Hug Your Cat Day. And that’s coming from someone who really, really loves hugging her cat.

Why You Need to Check Your Medicines

Take a second to count how many prescriptions you pick up each month.

According to a Consumer Reports survey of nearly 2,000 adults, the average American takes four prescription medications. That doesn’t include over-the-counter drugs, vitamins or supplements.

“Much of that medication use is lifesaving or at least life-improving,” Consumer Reports writes. “But a lot is not.”

In fact, the report points out, nearly 1.3 million people went to the emergency room due to adverse drug effects in 2014, according to estimates from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Food and Drug Administration.

Of those folks who are taking prescription medications, more than half have never asked their healthcare provider if they should stop taking any. Of those who did ask, nearly three-quarters said their provider helped them cut down their number of prescriptions.

Now for the money part: IMS Institute of Healthcare Informatics found Americans spend an estimated $200 billion per year on the “unnecessary and improper use” of prescriptions.

That’s a tough pill to swallow. It’s time to take a good hard look into your medicine cabinet and learn what to do with your old prescriptions.

3 Easy Ways to Clean Up Your Medicine Cabinet

I get it: It’s hard enough to remember to call in a prescription you need ahead of time, and you’re leaving those franic, “Hi, I’m sorry, but can I get this ASAP?!” messages for your pharmacist.

But cleaning up your list of medications is a lot easier than you might think.

Step 1: Talk With Your Pharmacist About a Review

Hey, that’s what Oct. 21 is for.

Apparently, this isn’t one of those random social media holidays, because pharmacists across the country are ready to help you out, including those at Albertsons, Costco, CVS, Sam’s Club, Target, Walmart — you name it. Just be sure to call and make sure they’re participating.

Many pharmacists are also willing to do this on any ole day, so if you’re busy this Saturday or have a social life or something, no worries. You can also ask your doctor on your next yearly.

Then, gather all your pill bottles, vitamins, supplements — whatever it is you take — and ask for a review. Pharmacists can help you find less expensive, safer drugs or even natural alternatives.

Consumer Reports outlines seven questions to ask.

Step 2: What to Do With Your Old Prescriptions

Do not follow your natural instinct to flush your drugs. That’s mostly in movies. When the cops are in hot pursuit. (Though some drugs, only a small number, are flushable.)

Instead, mark one more date on your calendar: Oct. 28. That’s National Prescription Drug Take Back Day.

Find a collection site near you, and drop off any expired or unnecessary drugs. If you miss this day, there’s another in April.

Or, if you just want to purge on your own, you can follow these instructions from the Food and Drug Administration

(It suggests mixing medicines with a substance like dirt or kitty litter. You just might feel like Walter White during this step.)

Step 3: Start Fresh — and Consider Door Delivery

Now that you know which prescriptions you actually need, Consumer Reports suggests filling them all at one pharmacy. That’s because the electronic filing system will be able to flag any potential problems or odd side effects when new drugs inevitably enter the mix.

You can certainly opt to go to your brick-and-mortar store, but you could also make it super easy on yourself and try out an electronic filing system, like Phil.

You’ll pay the same copay, but instead of leaving that awkward “Hi, I need it, like, yesterday” voicemail for your pharmacist, you can opt for auto-fill on your own schedule. Then your prescriptions will be delivered directly to your doorstep.

For free.

Plus, if you’re a Phil newbie, you’ll get $20 off your first prescription.

So whaddya say? This is actually one helpful made-up holiday, in my opinion.

Carson Kohler (@CarsonKohler) is a junior writer at The Penny Hoarder. In the words of Young Joc, she’ll meet you at the pharmacy counter. ’Cause it’s goin’ down.

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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Study: 59% of People Haven’t Checked If the Equifax Breach Affected Them

Not too long ago, folks were up in arms about the Equifax data breach.

And for a good reason. Something like 145 million Social Security numbers were exposed. That’s panic-inducing.

A recent Credit Sesame survey revealed consumers are in fact concerned, but still aren’t taking action against the massive breach — deemed the worst in U.S. history.

Were You Part of the Equifax Data Breach?

Chances are, you still might not know.

In fact, I didn’t know until a couple of days ago. (Yeah. Boo, hiss at this Penny Hoarder.)

Credit Sesame found that 59% of consumers with excellent credit scores — and 73% with poor credit scores — hadn’t taken the basic step to see if their data could have been affected.

After getting shamed by my editor for not checking, I finally decided to see if my information had indeed been exposed.

Plus, c’mon. The Penny Hoarder had already outlined what I needed to do. It was too easy.

• Step 1: Enter your last name and the last six digits of your Social Security number here.
• Step 2: That’s all.

A screen pops up to let you know whether you could have been impacted.

This is what mine said:

Womp. Womp.

It then encourages you to sign up for its TrustedID Premier program, but I didn’t. I’d rather consider alternatives.

What People Are (or Aren’t) Doing About The Equifax Data Breach

Even if your Social Security number is already floating out there in cyberspace, it doesn’t mean you’re helpless.

There are a few preventive measures worth taking. And they’re easy, says the writer who puts everything off because it’ll “take too much time.”

Let’s Talk About the Credit Freeze

Following the breach, financial gurus encouraged consumers to freeze their credit reports.

But what’s a credit freeze? According to Credit Sesame’s survey, many consumers aren’t quite sure.

Of the 5,500 polled, 18% of those with excellent credit said they didn’t know what a credit freeze was. Neither did 21% of those with poor credit. And even if respondents did know, 29% of those with excellent credit — and 44% with poor credit — didn’t know a credit freeze was even an option.

And overall, 86% of respondents hadn’t put a freeze on their credit.

So here we go.

A credit freeze, as Credit Sesame defines it, is “a process which locks down your credit file and prevents identity thieves and cyber criminals from opening credit in your name.”

Basically, no one can do anything with that information except you.

When you do need access to your credit — for example, when you open a new bank account, sign up for a credit card or apply for a mortgage — you’ll unfreeze, or thaw it, a process that only takes a few hours.

Back in July, I chatted with Steve Weisman, a Bentley University professor and author of fraud and identity theft blog Scamicide. Even before this Equifax mess, he encouraged consumers to keep their credit frozen — unless it was needed.

He described credit freezes as “preventive medicine.”

“This is the single best thing someone can do to protect themselves from being a victim of identity theft,” he said. “Even if your Social Security number was in the hands of an identity thief, you’d still be protected.”

So, yes, after this breach, even if some cybercriminals gets their grimy fingers on your credit score, a credit freeze can still protect you.

And let me add a note on fees.

Credit Sesame also reported that 18% of folks were reluctant to place a freeze on their credit because of the fees involved. That’s true; there are fees if you’re placing a credit freeze on your account as a preventive measure. However, Weisman says it’s typically nothing more than $20.

If you want to learn more about credit freezes — and how easy it is to apply it to your credit — we’ve got more information.

Another (or Additional) Option: Sign Up For Free Alerts

Perhaps one of the reasons I was so reluctant to check the status of the Equifax breach — and other folks who responded in the survey — is because I receive alerts if anything fishy is going on with my report.

With Credit Sesame, I gain free access to my credit score and credit report. I’ve also signed up for alerts, so each month, the service shoots me an email letting me know what’s going on. (This can be adjusted to daily alerts as well.)

If anything weird happens, it notifies me. I also get $50,000 in identity theft insurance.

Again, for free.

So I know if something happens as a result of the breach, my world won’t necessarily come crashing down.

Carson Kohler (@CarsonKohler) is a junior writer at The Penny Hoarder. Another reason she didn’t check her status in the Equifax breach is because she was “frozen” with fear. Bad joke?

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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How This Mom of 4 Earns $35/Hour Doing Flexible, Heart-Based Work

Editor’s note: This post was originally published in March 2016.

Witnessing a birth is one of the most magical experiences you’ll ever have. Or so I’ve been told. If you’ve done it, you’d probably agree with me.

Now imagine witnessing 100 of them.

If you were Sarah Cowherd, it wouldn’t be hard; she’s coming up on number 100 soon.

It’s all thanks to her unique career — it allows her to earn a living wage, have the flexibility to raise her four children and, most importantly, pursue her passion for helping new families.

Do you dream of earning a sustainable income doing work that matters to you?

Then you won’t want to miss this…  

A Doula is Born

Cowherd is a birth and postpartum doula in Charlotte, North Carolina.

Through services that include creating birth plans, assisting during labor and even cooking meals, she supports women and their families before, during and after childbirth.

She became interested in the field while working at a coffee shop in high school, where one of her regular customers was a doula.

Cowherd thought that woman was “the coolest person on earth” and “wanted to do what she did.”

So in college, she took her first certification course with DONA International, one of the oldest doula programs in the world.

She started working soon after (Her first official doula baby turns 11 this year!), but it wasn’t always easy.

“I felt a little bit awkward…  because I had no birth experience [myself],” Cowherd says.

“But I was fortunate to have a few really wonderful couples invite me to their births, so I could learn and grow and see everything firsthand.”

She also volunteered at a crisis pregnancy center, where she worked with teen moms.

“That’s how I was able to go to many, many births in those years as a college student,” she explains. “That just gave me wonderful exposure and was great volunteer work.”

After Cowherd got married and had a child of her own, she started taking on private clients and getting involved in “more professional doula work.”

What’s Life Like as a Doula?

Doulas base their workload and schedule on pregnant clients’ due dates.

Cowherd is at “max capacity” when she has four births per month.

“On the books, it looks like I would have one birth a week, but sometimes it’s three births in one week and one hanging at the other end,” she says. “Every month is different and unique, which I love.”

Though four clients per month is her goal in working full time, she doesn’t always reach it.

“Sometimes I have slow months, and I have to hustle to meet with clients or to really put myself out there,” she says.

Cowherd charges $1,175 for her birth-only package and $25 to $45 per hour for postpartum care.

According to a 2015 survey of 5,000 doulas, typical birth fees range from $681 to $927.

Doulas’ popularity has grown, and so have their rates — a change Cowherd has encouraged and embraced.

“It’s a really cool thing to see this profession catching on,” she says. “Women are realizing they can be really passionate and excited about this work, but that it doesn’t just have to be a hobby. It can be a career, and you can make a living wage.”

Besides the potential to earn a decent salary, another doula benefit is flexibility — which, Cowherd says, makes it a “really amazing field for mothers.”

As Cowherd’s family dynamics changed, so did her schedule. She and her husband now have four kids under the age of 10.

Before having her third child, she worked full time. After that, she “really needed to slow down,” and worked part time for several years.

Now she’s working full time again, but still has flexibility over when she works — except, of course, the exact hours her clients’ babies are born.

“I’m able to arrange my schedule,” she explains. “My kids have spring break in March, so I don’t have nearly as much on the books… It’s kind of beautiful I can do that.”

How to Become a Doula

First things first: You don’t need to have a college degree, or a child, to become a doula.

“There are a lot of really successful, really amazing doulas who have never given birth,” Cowherd says. “Doulas are natural caregivers; they’re natural nurturers. They have a maternal nature whether they’re mothers or not.”

This career’s also a good fit for “business-oriented people, go-getters and extroverts,” she says.

Wondering how to become a doula yourself? Here are three steps you need to take:

1. Get Professionally Trained

Though certification isn’t required, it’s recommended. You can take training either in person or online.

When choosing a program, Cowherd says you should look for one “that offers a lot of support and mentoring.”

She recommends Doula Trainings International, because it’s a “modern organization,” teaching business skills, along with an “incredible mentoring program.”

2. Network With Other Doulas

As with any career, networking is essential.

“Ask [other doulas] out for coffee,” Cowherd suggests. “Pick their brain[s] and hear their stor[ies]. Every doula is so different with their family, work commitments and child care arrangements. It’s so interesting to hear from others how they’ve made this work sustainable.”

Not only can they provide guidance as you get started, they might also become your support network once you’re established.

“I work with a collective of other professional doulas,” Cowherd says. “We carry the same client loads, and we work with each other for backup…  If I’m really sick or have to be out of town, there’s always coverage.”

Forming relationships with other doulas is a “huge piece of this work,” she says.

She even knows of doulas with on-call partnerships.

One of them works days, while the other works nights. It allows them each to schedule around other work and family commitments.

3. Get Help

If you have children or pets, it’s important to enlist help from your family, friends or external sources.

Births occur at all hours — without notice — and you’ll often have to run out the door at the last minute.

Once she started working full time again, Cowherd hired a college student as a live-in nanny. For 25 hours of child care a week, she pays $125 plus room, board and gas money.

Not only has the nanny become a “part of the family,” she also allows Cowherd to “be on call and handle all the crazy, unpredictable hours of doing this work.”

Once her current nanny finishes college, Cowherd is considering hiring an international au pair.

Is Becoming a Doula Right for You?

If those crazy hours sound like too much for you, Cowherd recommends focusing on postpartum doula work.

“Postpartum is wonderful for moms, or anyone who needs more of a rigid structure,” she explains.

“Some postpartum doulas specialize in overnight care, helping families get a full night of sleep or establishing routines for the newborn; some just do daytime,” Cowherd says. “You can create a schedule that works for you.”

Whether you choose to work in birth, postpartum or both, Cowherd says it’s an excellent time to become a doula. (The Bureau of Labor Statistics doesn’t include doulas in its data, but does show job growth in related industries, including nursing.)

“There’s such a demand,” Cowherd says. “People leave their families of origin and go start their life… They really seek out the support of doulas, so they have that sense of community, somebody who can walk them through new parenthood.”

Cowherd is happy to provide that service.

“Doulas get to play so many roles in the beginnings of a new family,” she says. “I feel honored to be part of every birth… It’s the coolest job ever.”

Susan Shain, freelance writer, is always seeking adventure on a budget. Visit her blog at susanshain.com, or say hi on Twitter @susan_shain.

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

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Push Your 401(k) to New Heights With Updated Contribution Limit in 2018

You’ve probably heard that feeding your 401(k) through paycheck deductions is a good thing, right?

It is.

In most cases, your employer even matches a percentage of what you put in, so why in the world would you pass up free money?

If you’re all about saving for retirement and putting away as much as you can, we’ve got some good news. Starting in 2018, you can contribute $500 more than you were allowed to in 2017.

A New Max on 401(k) Contributions

In 2018, the U.S. government will raise the personal 401(k) contribution max from $18,000 to $18,500 annually. That’s an extra $500 before taxes that you can tuck away and have working for you and your future.

This maximum does not include employer contributions, so your freebie dough is off the hook. Plus, if you’re over the age of 50 and a little behind on your retirement savings, you can do a one-time “catch up payment” of up to $6,000. That would allow your total to reach $24,500 for 2018.

Sweet, right?

Okay, we’ll be real. Not many of us are putting away that much money. If you get paid every two weeks like most of us, you’re looking at nearly $712 taken out of each paycheck to reach that lofty $18,500 by year’s end.

Another way to look at it is that if you make $92,500 annually, you can now stash a full 20% of your paycheck. What would that add up to?

If you were to start with no money and saved this much each year for 35 years, you’d have $647,500 before interest. Factor in a modest 6% return on investment, and that number jumps to over $2.2 million. That’s a nice little chunk of change for your golden years.

The trick is to not dip into your 401(k) savings before you retire.

It’s nice to have goals and having a boatload of cash by the time you retire is a good one. But let’s face it, most of us don’t earn $92,000 a year and don’t put 20% of our salaries in our 401(k) accounts.

For now, contribute as much as you can to your 401(k) without putting your financial health at risk. A good starting point is to see how much your employer matches and try to at least hit that number.

Need to get started? Here’s a simple 401(k) guide to get you jump started.

Get started now, or if you already have, revisit your 401(k) and do your best to maximize it. Who knows? Perhaps you’ll reach that $18,500 annual contribution ceiling eventually. #lifegoals

Tyler Omoth is a senior writer at The Penny Hoarder who loves soaking up the sun and finding creative ways to help others. 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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Now Hiring: Someone Who Likes Geography and Maps — and Working From Home

If you’re anything like the average internet user, you’re already logging in 10 hours or more online each week.

Put your screen time to good use and earn money with Lionbridge, a company that provides business services to organizations all over the world.

Lionbridge Is Looking for Part-Time Map Analysts

We’ve written about various Lionbridge opportunities in the past (“like” The Penny Hoarder Jobs page on Facebook to stay in the loop!), but this time the company is hiring contractors who’ll work as online map quality analysts.

This role involves completing tasks related to online maps and routing. You’ll also be investigating the geographical accuracy of queries and ranking or rating related information.

The job description is a bit vague, and the company you’ll be contracted to work for wasn’t named, but the online evaluation applicants must complete to get this gig may give you a better idea of what this work entails.

It’s important to note: This job is a temporary one and only requires up to 20 hours a week on a flexible schedule.

I reached out to Lionbridge for information regarding pay and will update this post once I get additional information.

Here’s How to Land This Job

According to the job description, online map quality evaluators will need to have:

• Good research skills

• Understanding of local and national geography

• Knowledge of how to use online maps, including route planning and identifying points of interest

• High-speed broadband internet access

Job applicants also need to be fluent in English and have lived in the United States for at least the past two years.

See here for more information about the job. If this sounds like the right gig for you, apply here.

Nicole Dow is a staff writer at The Penny Hoarder.

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

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Home Businesses You Can Start For Less Than $59

By Holly Reisem Hanna If you’re anything like me, your first experience with the direct sales industry is probably with Avon or Tupperware (both of which are still going strong today). In fact, our Avon Lady would make the rounds once a month, going door-to-door saying, “Avon calling.” My mom would let her in, and […]

The post Home Businesses You Can Start For Less Than $59 appeared first on The Work at Home Woman.

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How to Build Hype for the Holiday Season as an Ecommerce Brand

This is a great marketing opportunity for your ecommerce business.

You have a small operating window to effectively execute your plan.

These are some of the most common days to mark on your calendar during the holiday season:

• Thanksgiving
• Black Friday
• Cyber Monday
• Christmas Eve
• Christmas Day
• New Year’s Eve
• New Year’s Day

These all happen within a month or so of each other.

Sure, there are other holidays spread throughout the year.

You can still run promotions for holidays like April Fool’s Day, Mother’s Day, 4th of July, and Labor Day.

But the holidays at the end of the year can be extremely profitable for you if you’re building enough hype for your ecommerce site.

Ecommerce is on the rise, and it goes up 12% during the holiday season.

Online shopping is convenient for consumers.

They don’t have to sit in traffic or wait in lines.

Shoppers can buy from their homes, offices, or mobile devices whenever they have free time.

Sure, not everyone loves shopping on ecommerce platforms.

In fact, 49% of shoppers say not being able to touch, try, or feel a product is their biggest problem with shopping online.

Regardless, ecommerce is still trending upward.

This is especially true for the holidays.

The average adult in the United States plans to spend $419 on their holiday gift purchases.

Take advantage of this.

Building up hype for your ecommerce site can get you a piece of that number.

I’ll show you how to get exposure for your website during the holiday season.

This will increase your traffic, conversions, sales, and revenue.

Start planning early

Don’t wait until the last minute to execute your holiday promotional strategies.

Waiting until December to start marketing for Christmas is way too late.

Let’s take a look at some numbers.

Consumers are shopping less during the pre-holiday dates.

Look at the trends over the last three years.

Just because your customers are waiting to buy does not mean you should be waiting to promote.

Look, I’m not saying to launch your campaign in July or August, but you can certainly start planning ahead.

If you wait, you could potentially lose the edge to your competitors.

Start preparing for factors outside of your marketing strategy as well.

Make sure you have enough inventory.

You’ll also need enough staff on the schedule who are familiar with your procedures to fill and process incoming orders.

Touch base with your web hosting service.

Find out if your website has enough speed and bandwidth to accommodate a potential surge in visitors.

Slow loading times or a site crash could be detrimental to your company, so get all of this sorted out ahead of time.

Planning ahead for unforeseen circumstances will save you time, money, and headaches in the long run.

Offer shipping benefits

Give the customer a reason to buy from you over the competition.

Shipping could be the deciding factor resulting in the sale.

In fact, 9 out of 10 consumers list free shipping as their top incentive for shopping online.

Free shipping isn’t the only motivation you should offer.

If possible, offer priority shipping or even overnight shipping options. Don’t exclude those last-minute shoppers.

If it’s the week before the holidays and people still need to buy gifts, they won’t use a company that takes two weeks to deliver an order.

That shouldn’t be your business. Let your competition make that mistake.

Sure, for overnight shipping or expedited packages, it may not be practical to offer free shipping.

Just make sure your customer has the option to choose when their package will arrive at the most affordable rate.

Be upfront about your shipping prices.

Consider that 61% of consumers said that unexpected costs like shipping, taxes, and fees were the reason for not finalizing their checkout process.

You definitely want to minimize shopping cart abandonment.

Offer free shipping whenever possible, and be transparent about extra costs before the customer reaches your checkout page.

Don’t alienate last-minute shoppers with long delivery dates.

Retargeting must be a top priority

Target your existing customers during the holiday season.

Sure, it’s always great to get new business.

But think about your marketing budget.

It can cost you up to 7 times more to obtain a new customer than to retain an existing customer.

The holiday season isn’t the time to experiment with a new customer acquisition strategy.

Focus on the people already familiar with your brand and products.

If you don’t market to your current customers, they may turn to your competitors instead.

Look at the data above.

During the holiday season, consumers are open to shopping on websites they haven’t visited before.

You can look at this in two ways:

1. You have a greater chance getting new customers.
2. Your current customers may shop on other ecommerce sites.

I would strongly recommend focusing on that second point.

We just talked about the cost of acquiring a new customer compared to keeping an existing one.

If you get new customers, that’s great.

But don’t make that your primary strategy for building holiday hype.

I would be much more concerned with losing one of your customers.

Launch your most successful retargeting strategies for your next holiday campaign.

Create a sense of urgency

Give your customers a reason to make the purchase now.

If they are just browsing, entice them to buy immediately instead of later.

Amazon uses this strategy on their platform all year round.

Look at this example.

Do you see how they created urgency here?

Only 1 item left in stock.

The customer may panic.

Even if they were just browsing, now they have a reason to buy it right away.

The customer knows their loved one really wants this item as a gift, so they don’t want to risk it being sold out before the holidays.

Implement this strategy on your ecommerce site.

• Limited quantity remaining
• Only 2 hours left before sale price expires
• Free shipping if you order before midnight

These are some phrases you can use to encourage buying.

You should do this all year, but it’s especially effective during the holidays.

People want to buy the perfect gift for their friends and family members.

Entice them to purchase those gifts from your website.

Make sure your website is optimized for mobile devices

I often speak about the importance of mobile optimization.

The holiday season is no different.

It’s essential for your customers to be able to make purchases on their phones and tablets easily.

Look at the mobile ecommerce trends from last year’s holiday season:

Earlier we established that people wait until the Thanksgiving weekend to do the majority of their holiday shopping.

The above graph shows purchasing statistics over 3 important days for online retailers:

• Thanksgiving Day
• Black Friday
• Cyber Monday

These dates are within five calendar days of each other.

On each of these days, over half of the ecommerce traffic came from mobile devices.

Purchases from mobile users were 40%, 36%, and 35%, respectively.

Those numbers cannot be ignored.

If your platform isn’t mobile optimized, there’s no chance you’ll get a significant number of sales.

Your page has to load fast too.

Mobile users will leave a site 57% of the time if it doesn’t load in 3 seconds.

Earlier we discussed the importance of planning ahead for the holiday season hype.

Mobile optimization and mobile load times should be at the top of your list.

Flash sales

Run a same day promotional event.

Flash sales work great.

This relates back to the concept of urgency.

Here’s a great example from the J. Crew Factory Store.

Take a look at the two points I highlighted here:

• ends tonight
• online only

These are both great ways to create hype.

Sure, this isn’t an advertisement focused on the holidays.

But you can use those terms during seasonal promotional campaigns as well.

Here’s another thing you want to consider when running a flash sale.

Timing is everything.

If you’re going to run a same day sale or a promotion lasting for a few hours, you need to plan it perfectly.

Find out what time of day your customers are shopping.

The data above shows consumer shopping habits from Cyber Monday last year.

For the most part, activity was much lower during the normal working hours of the day.

What does this tell you?

Starting a sale at 10 AM and ending it at noon probably isn’t your best bet.

However, starting your sale in the evening and running it through 8 AM the following day would be much more effective.

When planned and executed properly, flash sales are a great way to build hype during the holiday season.

Focus on your pricing strategy

Consumers are always price sensitive.

The holidays may not be a bad time to focus on your prices.

Compare your pricing to that of the competition.

Where do you fit?

One of the perks of online shopping for consumers is that they can compare prices between different sites in just seconds.

Chances are, they will buy the least expensive product.

Take a look at these researching habits:

Consumers even visit websites before making a purchase in a brick and mortar store.

Understand the psychology behind pricing.

People love feeling like they got a good deal.

Make sure your products offer them value.

What makes your company different?

If your product is the same as those of every other brand on the market, why should the customer pay double for yours?

They won’t.

The holidays are also a great time to offer discounts and deals.

We already talked about how important it is to offer free shipping.

Discount the products as well.

Mark the initial price higher if necessary, and then slash the prices with flash sales and other promotions.

Know your audience

Whom are you targeting with your holiday campaign strategy?

If the answer is anyone and everyone with access to the Internet, it’s a mistake.

Narrow your focus, and choose your target audience.

Does your business have a Facebook page?

If it doesn’t, you need one. But I won’t get into the importance of that right now.

For the time being, I’ll assume you have a presence on Facebook.

It’s a great way to find out the demographics of your target audience.

Go to the “Insights” tab on your Facebook page.

This will show you valuable information about everyone who liked your page.

You’ll learn their:

• Gender
• Age
• Location
• Language

Take this data, and create campaigns for your followers.

Based on this information, you can potentially figure out which holidays your followers celebrate.

Advertise accordingly.

Use multiple distribution channels

How are you planning to advertise during the holidays?

Email?

Facebook?

Your answer should be both, plus every other distribution channel you can find.

Make sure your brand has an active presence on different social media platforms.

Facebook is effective.

But that shouldn’t be your only resource.

Use Instagram, Twitter, and YouTube to connect with your customers.

Billions of consumers are active on various platforms each month.

If you’re running a promotion such as a flash sale, which we talked about earlier, advertise it on all of your active distribution channels.

This is the best way to ensure it reaches the largest number of people.

It may sound obvious, but too many ecommerce stores look over this concept.

They may advertise a promotion on Instagram but not on Twitter.

This doesn’t make any sense.

It will only take an extra minute or two out of your day to get this campaign up on all of your platforms.

Don’t slack during the holiday season.

Use all your resources to promote your products and brand.

Conclusion

The holiday season is a great opportunity for ecommerce stores to generate high profits.

It’s a time when people are looking to spend money over a short period of time.

The days between Thanksgiving and Christmas are the peak time when consumers shop for the holidays.

Run most promotions between Thanksgiving and Cyber Monday.

Those few days are a popular time for online shopping.

Plan ahead.

Make sure you’ve got plenty of staff and inventory ready for a potential surge in online orders.

Online shopping is growing in popularity, especially on mobile devices.

Your ecommerce store needs to be optimized for mobile users.

Create a sense of urgency with each campaign.

Run flash sales, and target your existing customers.

It’s cheaper to keep a current customer than to acquire a new one.

When you’re running a flash sale, pay special attention to the timing of your promotion.

Know your audience. Research the demographics of your customers, and market to those people accordingly.

Customers are sensitive to pricing, so make sure you focus on your pricing strategy.

Offer incentives like free shipping.

Don’t forget about last-minute shoppers.

You also need to advertise next day shipping whenever possible.

Promote your brand on all your distribution channels.

Following these techniques is a recipe for success if you want to build hype for your ecommerce site during the holidays.

How will you promote your ecommerce store during the holiday season to increase sales?

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Guanxi: Thoughts on Building Relationships for Professional and Personal Success

Over the years, I’ve been incredibly fortunate to have some great friends from other cultures. Back in the late 1990s, I was lucky enough to have my time on this earth overlap with a wonderful guy from China, a guy whose laughter could fill a room at certain times, a man who would have your back whenever you needed it, a person who always seemed to have the right question to ask, an individual who seemed to click in any group he was in.

Most of the time, when I spent time with him, he would dress very casually and seem very loose and humorous. He usually wore a rumpled sweatshirt and blue jeans. At other times, I’d see him with other groups and he might be dressed to the nines in a business suit and seem as serious as can be, or I might find him with a group of his peers, dressed in sharp business casual clothes while engaged in thoughtful conversation.

I asked him about it once and he told me that the most valuable lesson he learned from his parents is that it was always well worth his time to put himself in positions where the people around him felt comfortable with him as a peer, because from there he could start building relationships that felt equal on both sides. For him, that often started with clothing.

He called this “guanxi,” and spelled it out for me. I jotted it down in my notebook next to his own beautifully written characters, ruminated on it, and then eventually it spilled from my mind.

The other day, I was leafing through some of my old notebooks and found that page of notes. All it said there was “guanxi,” along with the term written in simplified Chinese characters that he’d written on the page for me. Back then, I wrote it down with the intent of remembering it and looking into it later… and, I guess, almost twenty years after the fact, “later” has finally come around.

Wikipedia offers a great introductory explanation of guanxi: “Guanxi (Chinese: 关系) describes the basic dynamic in personalized networks of influence (which can be best described as the relationships individuals cultivate with other individuals) and is a central idea in Chinese society. In Western media, the pinyin romanization of this Chinese word is becoming more widely used instead of the two common translations of it – “connections” and “relationships” – as neither of those terms sufficiently reflects the wide cultural implications that guanxi describes.”

It goes on: “At its most basic, guanxi describes a personal connection between two people in which one is able to prevail upon another to perform a favor or service, or be prevailed upon, that is, one’s standing with another. The two people need not be of equal social status. Guanxi can also be used to describe a network of contacts, which an individual can call upon when something needs to be done, and through which he or she can exert influence on behalf of another.”

“Guanxi also refers to the benefits gained from social connections and usually extends from extended family, school friends, workmates and members of common clubs or organizations. It is customary for Chinese people to cultivate an intricate web of guanxi relationships, which may expand in a huge number of directions, and includes lifelong relationships. Staying in contact with members of your network is not necessary to bind reciprocal obligations. Reciprocal favors are the key factor to maintaining one’s guanxi web, while failure to reciprocate is considered an unforgivable offense (that is, the more one asks of someone, the more one owes them).”

To summarize, guanxi refers to the network of relationships you have with people and the reciprocal favors that are done within those relationships.

As is natural when one learns about something like this, I immediately translated this into my own life.

I have a pretty wide social network, encompassing people in a lot of different locations, with different backgrounds, in different career paths, and at different socioeconomic levels. If needed, there are several dozen people I feel like I could tap for a personal or a professional favor and reasonably expect it to have positive results. Most of those favors are on the back of favors done in the past, often a chain of favors that we’ve shared over the years. Those favors and relationships add up to a lot of value, something I can tap if I ever need to do so.

This brings me to a few observations.

First of all, it’s almost always worth my while to do a favor for someone else, particularly when the favor has low cost for me personally. If someone I know needs help and I can provide that help without exceptional effort, I almost always do so without even thinking twice about it. I’ll offer advice in an area I know well. I’ll introduce people. I’ll lend a book. I’ll give a recommendation or write one. I’ll listen to their story and give the best suggestions I can. I’ll help people with tasks like moving furniture or boxes. You get the idea.

I do those things without any specific reciprocity in mind. I don’t expect anything for doing things for other people, not at all, unless there’s an extensive personal cost of time or money or energy for me. When someone needs a hand, I give it.

Sometimes, those favors are in fact completely invisible. I have recommended friends without their knowledge. I help friends out of trouble without their asking. I’ll sometimes just offer things if I see that they’re needed. I don’t just wait to be asked, and I sometimes do positive things without the person even knowing about it.

I come to view people I help as then being part of my larger social network. If we’re not already friendly, I expect that we will be if I’ve done a favor for you. If I see people I’ve helped in public and they’ve not wronged me, I’ll greet them.

Of course, when the time comes and I need help, I feel okay asking almost anyone in my network for a favor, though I try to look for someone for whom the favor is low effort. If I need someone to watch my children for a bit when I get off the bus, I’ll ask my neighbor. If I need help with dog care, I’ll talk to my dog lover friend. You get the idea.

I don’t mind it if complex favors are declined, but if simple ones are declined, I begin to doubt the relationship. If I ask for something from someone and the favor seems trivial and they just don’t bother without a very clear reason, I tend to start to view them as someone who wants to just use me, especially if the lack of reciprocity is repeated.

That’s how I view practical guanxi in my life.

Now, guanxi isn’t a cultural thing in America as it is in China. It’s merely something I value personally. I think that many relationships are often made of a long series of small favors, and that those favors actually add up to a lot of value, because favors are usually things that are hard for the person asking but easier for the person that’s asked. Over time, if you have a lot of people who you’ve built relationships with who are willing to do favors for you, things that are hard for you but easy for them, you’ve got a lot of value in those relationships. It doesn’t need to be a cultural thing.

So, how do you cultivate this in your own life?

First of all, treat others as you’d like to be treated and help them, especially when the required effort is low for you. If you can do something that will really help someone and it doesn’t take a lot of time, effort, or money, then you should do it almost without thought. Not only does this build your relationship with that person, it puts them in a better place. You’re helping to raise the tide, and a rising tide lifts all boats, yours included.

Seek out potential friendships in your own life and don’t be afraid to be the first to help. Put effort into building real-life relationships, even if it’s uncomfortable. Go to community events, especially ones where you will have the opportunity to meet people. Don’t sweat meeting everyone, but focus on building just a few relationships each time. I’m an introvert, so in those situations, what I usually do is just commit to having a meaningful conversation with at least two people, enough so that I might have something to follow up with. That’s the start of a relationship, and I’ve built many over the years that have blossomed into great community relationships and even some lifelong friendships.

Put yourself in positions where you can start building relationships without crossing a cultural bridge. This is one of the interesting lessons my Chinese friend taught me. You’re going to always find it easier to connect with people if you’re willing to bend a bit to their cultural expectations. If you want to “challenge their expectations” and change their mind, you’re going to have a much better chance at it once your relationship is already established. Start by being palatable – dress appropriately for the situation, don’t throw up controversial opinions (even if you harbor them), and look for commonalities. Build the bridge first before you cross it. For me, that does mean that sometimes I keep my mouth shut when I might express a particular viewpoint, and that does mean that sometimes I dress in ways that aren’t perfectly comfortable for me.

Accept that some relationships aren’t equal and reciprocal ones. Most relationships you have in life are going to be fairly equal, where people help each other out from time to time in a roughly reciprocal fashion. Some relationships are even ones where the other person is incredibly giving. Both are good. However, not all relationships are like that. Sometimes, people take and take and don’t give back. Unless there is a strong reason to do otherwise, you should de-emphasize such relationships in your life. There are times when friends are down and you need to give far more than you receive, don’t get me wrong, but there are relationships in which otherwise normal people do nothing but take and take, and you should divest yourself from those relationships. It’s not a relationship, then; you’re merely a tool to be used, and no one deserves that.

In the end, I appreciate guanxi as a personal principle, even if it’s not a truly embedded cultural one, and practicing it in my life has been a huge personal and professional boon. I’ve developed great friendships and relationships, saved a ton of money and time over the years, had some career doors open up for me, and been a positive influence in the lives of a lot of people around me, putting all of them in better places in both large and small ways. I now have a large circle of people I know I can ask when I need help, which is incredibly valuable. All it really took was doing favors, particularly ones that were easy for me but really helpful for others, and doing it without question.

It turns out that maybe I did remember guanxi after all.

The post Guanxi: Thoughts on Building Relationships for Professional and Personal Success appeared first on The Simple Dollar.

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No Glue Gun Needed: 7 Last-Minute Halloween Costumes Anyone Can Make

Costume parties in and of themselves seem like a great idea.

That is, until you realize that you’re about to spend $50+ and countless hours of work on an outfit that you’ll wear once before shoving it deep under the bed with the rest of your one-hit-wonder Halloween ensembles.

And while I always try to be frugal (because despite my over-the-top holiday enthusiasm, I’m still a Penny Hoarder at heart), I’m also pretty lazy when it comes to Halloween costumes.

I always think I’m going to go all out and DIY my costume, but then every year, without fail, I end up running to the store at the last minute and spending a lot of money.

There has to be a better way to go about this whole costume business — a way that, ideally, won’t cost any money at all.  

Shop Your Closet for Halloween Inspiration

If your aim is to wear a completely free (we like free!) costume on Halloween, start with your closet. Chances are you already have a few costume options lurking in the dark recesses of your wardrobe.

I mean, there’s gotta be a reason you didn’t throw out that Hawaiian print shirt from the summer of ‘92 yet, right?!

I started brainstorming a few costume options that I could make from just the pieces I could find in my closet, and I think they are all pretty doable.

7 Last-Minute Halloween Costumes You Can Find in Your Closet

I managed to put together seven great options that I could wear to a Halloween costume party — using only things I already owned.

1. Tourist

This one might be the easiest costume on this list to pull off. I mean, who among us doesn’t have a pair of shorts, a brightly colored shirt and some tacky socks you can pair with sandals?

Slap on a straw hat or visor and some sunglasses and grab a camera or a map and you’re ready to go. A sunscreened nose will only make your costume more realistic (although a little messy).

2. Fortune Teller

For this one, you’ll need drapey, flowy clothing, a scarf or headband and lots of stacked jewelry (never enough jewelry). If you’re not totally convinced that your costume is convincing, carry around a prop like a Magic Eight Ball (or a plain glass orb, if you just so happen to have one lying around) and make vague but ominous statements all night about how your friends’ Mondays will go.

3. Minion

Overalls are like the parachute pants of 2017: You either own three pairs already, or you’re desperately looking for an excuse to add them to your closet. Go ahead, I won’t tell anyone you didn’t actually already own these babies. Add in a yellow shirt (any shade will get the point across), black shoes and gloves and a pair of round glasses or goggles (find an awesome DIY tutorial here), and you’re all set to annoy the living daylights out of everyone at the party.

4. Pinup Girl

High-waisted shorts + a button-down shirt + wedges + red lipstick + bandana = perfect pinup girl. Follow a YouTube tutorial like this one to achieve that flawless pinup hair curl (I promise, it’s actually so much easier than it looks), and you’re ready to make old-fashioned gentlemen swoon.

5. Witch

This costume is less classic witch and more witchy-esque. I mean, does anyone just casually own a pointy hat?

No matter: Throw on lots of black layers, add some dramatic makeup, frizz up your hair and add some drippy black jewelry and no one will even question your costume (mostly out of fear). Bonus points if you’re willing to carry a broom around all night.

6. Zombie

This one doesn’t take a lot of… wait for it… brains to figure out. (I know, I know. I already docked me three whole funny points.)

But seriously, all you need is holey, grungy clothes: ripped jeans, an old work shirt, a plaid button-up and a pair of dirty sneakers. This will either read as zombie or “midnight Taco Bell run” depending on how you accessorize — which is why you can’t skip the makeup.

Use dark eyeshadow around your eyes and under your cheeks, rat your hair and add some twigs and leaves and you’re good to go.

7. Greaser

This one’s a classic, and honestly if you try to tell me you don’t own a white T-shirt and leggings or jeans, I won’t believe you.

Tie a scarf around your neck, slip on a pair of sneakers or wedges, throw a jacket (denim, leather or bomber) over your shoulder and you’re good to go.

Bonus: This one makes for an excellent couples costume, too.

Trick or Treat!

Assuming you own at least a pair of jeans and some dark makeup, I’d say we’ve just about solved your last-minute costume woes.

Now you officially have no excuse for not showing up to the party in a costume that could shock Frankenstein’s monster to life.

Grace Schweizer is a junior writer at The Penny Hoarder. She’s just trying to figure out if there’s a way to combine all her best costume ideas into one. Is there a such thing as a fortuwitcheaserpinuzombieist?

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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Identity Thieves Aren’t Only Going After Adults — They Target Kids Too

Imagine getting a phone call from a collection agency.

The representative says Nathan has racked up a whopping $34,000 in debt by buying things like a big screen TV, a high-tech drone and even a slightly used car. His debts are way overdue and the agency needs answers.

Now, imagine Nathan is your son, and he’s only 5 years old.

What Is Child Identity Theft?

Child identity theft is when someone gets a hold of a minor’s personal information and uses it for personal gain. As with regular identity theft, this can severely damage the victim’s credit score.

Even newborn babies and young children can become victims. If a thief is able to get their Social Security number and birth date, they can use that information to apply for credit cards, bank accounts, loans, government benefits or even get a job.

Why would they choose to use a child’s identity? Two very simple reasons:

1. A child’s Social Security number comes with a clean slate. They have no credit score to speak of, so a thief with a terrible credit score can get loans and benefits that would otherwise be out of reach.

2. Most people won’t realize what’s happened until much, much later. Think about it. When did you first memorize your SSN? For me, it was when I was 18 and started applying to colleges and then for my first credit card. And that’s pretty typical.

Researchers estimate approximately 1.3 million kids have their identities stolen each year. Why is that just an estimate? Because as many as 50% of them are under 6 and may not discover the crime until years later. There’s no great way to track it.

In other words, while little Johnny is playing in his sandbox, some bad dudes could be out there ruining his credit and his future.

Unfortunately, all too frequently, the bad dudes are close to home.

“The key to most identity theft is the Social Security number. Now you have a child with a Social Security number. Who is going to steal it? Sometimes it is a family member,” said Steve Weisman, a lawyer whose website Scamicide helps to educate people on the threat of identity theft. “I’ve seen it more with other family members than actual parents. Maybe it’s aunts, uncles or extended family members.”

Weisman said the motive behind child identity theft is usually financial.

“It is used to rack up debt and credit without paying that money back,” he said. “When you steal the identity of a child, you have a clean slate. There’s no crimes, no bad credit and no negatives.”

By the time the victim or their parents discover the issue, the victim’s credit score could have already sustained years of damage. It can be fixed, but it’s a long, exhausting and expensive process.

How Does It Happen?

Since you don’t really think about kids having Social Security numbers, much less a credit score, it may seem odd that they’d be vulnerable to identity theft. But since they can have both, the threat is always present.

Identity theft often happens when the bad guys get their hands on a child’s Social Security number.  It frequently happens when parents unwittingly put their child’s SSN out there for people to see or hear:

• A trip to the pediatrician’s office. The person at the front desk asks for the the SSN and the parent recites it out loud, allowing the entire waiting room to hear.
  

• The parent fills out paperwork for school. It could be a field trip or just some basic background information for the school office.
  

• The parent carries their child’s Social Security card around with them and loses track of it.
  

• The parent leaves their child’s information vulnerable within their own home.
  

• In some cases, criminals even scan graveyards for fresh graves belonging to children as a starting point.

How Is Child Identity Theft Usually Discovered?

Not surprisingly, it’s usually the parents who realize what’s happened first. Kids don’t look at their credit scores.

Unfortunately, in most cases, the parent doesn’t realize what’s happened until their child is nearly grown.

Parents can be alerted to child identity theft by a few red flags:

• Collection agencies are calling to collect unknown debts in the child’s name.
  

• An application for a car loan or other transaction is rejected due to poor credit.
  

• Their child is denied a driver’s license because a driver’s license with their name and SSN already exists.

• The youth is denied employment without explanation.

• The youth is sought by the police for unknown crimes.

However it happens, discovering your child’s identity has been stolen can be a horrifying experience. What do you do? Can you fix it?

The key is to remain calm and take the appropriate steps.

What to Do When You Discover the Identity Theft

Once you’ve discovered that your child is a victim of identity theft, it’s crucial that you move quickly to stop the damage. Then you can move on to repairing it. Here are your first steps.

• Contact one of the three major credit-reporting companies: Equifax, Experian and Transunion. Ask it to put a fraud alert on your child’s credit report. By asking one agency to do this, you can rest assured that they will contact the other two agencies and make the same request. A fraud alert forces anyone requesting access to that credit score to verify the holder’s identity before issuing new credit.
  

• Consider putting a freeze on the child’s credit report. This limits access to that credit score so no one, including your child, can open new accounts.
  

• Request a copy of your child’s credit report. A number of companies, like Credit Sesame, offer free credit score reports.
  

• Contact any business where you can see that the child’s information was misused to try to cancel accounts. This will stop any further charges.
  

• Create an identity theft report. This will serve as an official report of the crime as well as help you figure out the next steps to repairing your child’s credit.
  

• Keep thorough notes. Keep track of every name, number, date and anything else you can for every communication you have throughout the process. It will make things much easier as you go along.  

Prevent it Before It Happens

The best way to handle identity theft, whether it’s for you or your child, is to take steps to avoid it before it ever happens. When it comes to your child, you can take some basic steps to ensure that their identity stays safe.

• Do not carry your child’s Social Security card with you. Keep it in a safe place and memorize the number for when you may need it.

• Question every situation when someone requests your child’s Social Security number. Do they really need it, or could some other form of identification work?

• Check your child’s credit score periodically, just to be sure that it is in good standing. If not periodically, at least by the time he or she is 15 because that score may soon become much more relevant.

• If possible, put a freeze on their credit accounts as soon as they have a Social Security number. Unfortunately, this is not yet legal in every state. As of this writing, only 29 states allow parents to put freezes on their children’s credit.

Weisman hopes more states will allow parents to freeze their children’s’ credit scores.

“This is something that should be a no-brainer. There’s no drawback to it,” he said. “These laws permit parents to establish a credit report with the three agencies and immediately freeze it.”

He’s also a fan of Childscan.

“Childscan will look at credit records tied to your child’s Social Security number. If your child’s SSN shows up, this is a good way to see if it’s out there and if the ID has been stolen. The service is free.”

Don’t Wait for That Call

The good news is that child identity theft can be avoided more easily than other forms of identity theft. By protecting your child’s information and putting a freeze on their credit, you can stop it before it ever becomes an issue.

Because your child won’t have a credit or debit card that they’ll use at places like Kmart or even Sonic, there are fewer opportunities for their information to get leaked.

Don’t wait to get a call from a collection agency or hold your breath to see if your child can get a driver’s license.

You tell them to protect their teeth by brushing and to protect their heads by wearing a helmet when riding a bike. Do your part and be proactive to protect your child’s identity.

Tyler Omoth is a senior writer at The Penny Hoarder who loves soaking up the sun and finding creative ways to help others. 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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