Organic food sales on the rise in Pa.

Does it feel like the line at your local health food store has gotten a bit longer over the years? Well, you might be right.According to a U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) report, Pennsylvanians are buying into the organic food movement and account for nearly 10 percent of organic food sales in the nation.“I can’t say what’s happening in every state of course, but I will say it is true that there is more interest in more organic and more local,” [...]

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How Epicurean Principles Can Help You Transform Your Financial and Personal Life

Over the last few years, one of the most valuable areas of growing my understanding of personal finance has come from reading philosophy. As I discussed a few weeks ago:

Wikipedia provides a great basic definition: “Philosophy is the study of general and fundamental problems concerning matters such as existence, knowledge, values, reason, mind, and language.” Philosophy can be abstract, such as trying to figure out what is real and what isn’t or what it means to truly “know” something, or it can be more practical, asking questions like what the best way to live is.

I find both avenues very interesting and both are good parallels to personal finance. Understanding some of the big “whys” of the world often helps refine a lot of your internal perspectives and helps you define your internal values and principles, and the more practical elements of philosophy tend toward some degree of personal development, which I discussed earlier as an interesting area in its own right. Both avenues provide a lot of tools for thinking through challenging problems in life.

Honestly, philosophy (in a broad sense) is probably my favorite subject for reading these days. I find myself very attracted to books on philosophy and associated fields and sub-fields. I’ve jokingly suggested to my wife that this is something of a midlife crisis as I’m trying to figure out why I’m here and what the best life is.

To summarize, quite a lot of philosophy is focused on the question of how to live the best life, or what the “best life” even is, which is a question strongly tied to personal finance.

The first school of philosophical thought that really attracted me in terms of how to use it for personal success was Stoicism, the applications of which I discussed in an earlier article, How Stoicism’s Principles Can Help You Transform Your Financial Life. I found – and still find – that Stoicism is incredibly helpful in terms of stepping back from your emotional responses to things and carefully considering your actions.

However, my philosophical journey didn’t end there, and today I want to discuss Epicureanism. Epicureanism is so named because it was largely founded by a single Greek philosopher, Epicurus.

In simplest terms, the philosophy of Epicureanism centers around the idea of pleasure as the greatest good. One should seek a life of pleasure. However, what sets Epicureanism apart is its idea on what pleasure really is.

Epicurus argued that pleasure is found by living modestly, curbing one’s desires, enjoying simple pleasures in the moment without gluttony, and reflecting on and understanding the world. Doing this leads to tranquility and freedom from fear (and, to some extent, less physical pain) and that those factors together are a huge source for personal happiness. Epicurus considered this state to be the highest and best form of happiness and pleasure.

Let’s break these ideas down a little bit and see how they apply to modern life and personal finance.

Great Happiness Comes from Simple Pleasures with Minimal Cost

Epicureanism nudges people toward the idea that the greatest happiness is found in pleasures that have a minimal cost associated with them. When you pay a high cost to enjoy a particular pleasure, then that pleasure is inherently dampened by what you’re paying to enjoy that cost. This obviously has huge implications for how modern people spend their money.

Consider for a moment that a pleasurable activity or item is actually reduced in pleasure by having a significant cost associated with it. For example, let’s say you plan an amazing trip to Disney World with your family, but the bill means that you’re going to have to work a lot of hours to pay for that trip. While the trip to Disney World might be wonderful, you have to subtract from that joy the steep personal cost you’re paying for it – a lot of hours at work. On the other hand, you might enjoy a very low cost weekend camping trip somewhere that would require very little additional expense beyond what it would cost to just sit at home.

With the Disney World trip, if you don’t consider the cost of it, it might be substantially more fun than the camping trip. However, if you subtract out the immense amount of work you have to put in to be able to pay for the Disney World trip and subtract the unpleasantness of all of that time spent working on things you didn’t necessarily choose for yourself, the end result is rather little pleasure. On the other hand, that local camping trip is in itself quite enjoyable and doesn’t have nearly the downside in terms of hours of work associated with it.

For an Epicurean, the better option is the simple camping trip. It provides pleasure with much less cost. The Disney World trip may indeed provide more pleasure in itself, but it comes with a larger batch of unpleasantness – working on tasks that you didn’t choose for yourself.

(It’s important to note that work isn’t inherently unpleasant, particularly if you’re working on things that you choose for yourself; it becomes unpleasant when you can’t decide when and how much to work on your own terms and when you’re doing tasks you don’t want to do, which is a state most of us find ourselves in when working, at least some of the time.)

So, on the whole, Epicureanism points us to find pleasurable things with minimal cost, with the best things being highly pleasurable things with no cost.

It is worth noting that, while cost is often financial in nature, it can also be measured in terms of a health cost and a time cost (or opportunity cost). Epicureans prefer simple pleasures with absolutely minimal cost (obviously while seeking the best pleasures with very low cost) compared to somewhat bigger pleasures with significant cost.

So, what does that do for a person’s finances? For one, it strongly cuts into non-essential spending. An Epicurean seeks pleasure at minimal cost, so if you’re actually working toward that, your non-essential spending should drop through the floor. What does one do with that money? Well, Epicureanism offers some answers for that, too, but we’ll get to that in a bit.

As noted earlier, Epicurus offers some specific tactics for achieving a lifestyle focused heavily on achieving low cost pleasure.

Tactic #1 – Living Modestly

The main tactic that Epicurus offers for achieving a life centered around pleasure with minimal pain is to live a modest life. A modest life is one in which you cut out a lot of very minor pleasures that are associated with inflated costs, which really don’t add up to much pleasure at all, as described above.

In other words, for things that offer you relatively little direct pleasure, minimize the cost as much as you possibly can. Do you get direct pleasure from your laundry soap? Then go as cheap as possible. Repeat that for virtually everything in your life that you spend money on. If it doesn’t directly bring you pleasure, either cut the cost down to the minimum or cut it out entirely.

In my eyes, this is basic frugality strategy. If it’s not something that’s important to you, you should either avoid spending money or time or energy on it at all or you should strive to minimize the amount of time or money or energy you invest in it. Why toss perfectly good resources after things you don’t really care that much about?

The thing is, it is often hard to distinguish what really matters to you and the mere perception that something is “better” or “desirable,” which is where the second tactic comes in.

Tactic #2 – Curbing One’s Desires

The first tactic, living modestly by minimizing resources invested in things you don’t care about or care little about, is a fantastic strategy, but it comes with the assumption that you’re very clear on what things you really care about and what things are actually not that important to you. The catch, of course, is that for many people, the line between what really matters to you and what doesn’t actually matter but seems to matter isn’t very clear.

A great deal of our modern culture is centered around inserting and propping up desires in our life. Marketing is designed to prey on the core things we all want – health, good relationships, sex, joy, and so on – and tie it to products that we spend our hard-earned money on. Over time, it creates an artificial sense of want – we want a particular item not because of what the item actually delivers, but because we perceive it as bringing us health, good relationships, sex, joy, and so on.

A big part of a modern practice of Epicureanism, then, comes down to cutting through all of those mixed messages, figuring out our true desires, and curbing extra desires.

For example, I desire good friendships, and because of that, I might desire a home where I can have friends over all the time and they’re comfortable and happy. That can often twist itself into having a much bigger home than I need with lots of flashy home upgrades to make my home feel more hospitable to guests and impress them with some virtue that we believe we’re signaling. The truth, however, is that most of us will happily meet friends almost anywhere that’s reasonably clean (and sometimes not even then, honestly). If you want to have good friendships, be a good person; if you want to have friends over, just keep things reasonably clean and presentable. You can do that without a McMansion.

This touches a bit on another issue: virtue signaling. Quite often, when we buy things that we’re going to show to the outside world, part of our reason for doing that is to signal certain virtues to others. We’re successful or we’re artistic or we’re smart or we’re tech-y or whatever. The thing is, most of those signals are completely missed by others – we think they notice far more than they do about us. This is called the “spotlight effect” and it happens constantly. For another, positive impressions are usually borne by you, not by your stuff. Be clean, be friendly, be kind, and listen, and you’ll find that it’s easy to build relationships and give a good impression in social situations, and those factors don’t really cost you anything. Your words and actions will form far more of their impression of you than anything else.

The key thing here is to figure out what things you actually want, what things are just fleeting impulses dropped on your lap by marketing and media and social influences, and what things are just stand-ins for a deeper desire. That takes time and reflection. One good way to handle this is to simply adopt the 30 day rule, which simply states that when you want something that’s not 100% essential, you give it thirty days before buying it, and you reflect on it a little bit during and after those thirty days. Almost always, you’ll find that the desire either fades away or you realize that it’s actually a desire for something deeper like friendship or love or knowledge, things that aren’t handed over by buying stuff.

Tactic #3 – Enjoying Simple Pleasures Without Gluttony

I appreciate a lot of simple pleasures, as do many of us. As I write this, I’m sipping on a cup of cold brew black coffee, made in my refrigerator from ground beans, just the way I like it. Each sip is a little treat. I love things like curling up with a good book for an hour or two of uninterrupted reading, the taste of sharp cheese, the smell of a forest not too long after a rainfall, the music of The Avett Brothers… I could list hundreds and hundreds of little simple pleasures that I enjoy.

The best simple pleasures are in line with the overall idea of Epicureanism – they come with minimal cost or, ideally, no cost at all. The coffee is made about as inexpensively as can be – it’s literally coffee grounds soaked in water for most of a day, then strained. I’m always reading books from the library. I listen to a lot of music streamed at a minimal cost. A little bit of food is always inexpensive.

The catch, of course, is that if you gorge on a particular pleasure, the pleasure of it starts to fade and it begins to feel ordinary. My first taste of coffee in the morning is a real pleasure, but if I gulp it all day, it ceases to offer much additional pleasure. That first nibble or two of cheese is amazing, but if I eat several ounces of it… it’s not as good any more. I can curl up with a book all afternoon, but if I don’t do something physical, I feel like a lazy slug. The wet forest is a marvel, but if I were there for hours and hours and visited it all the time, it would feel completely plain.

The key to simple pleasures, I’ve found, is to spread them out and alternate them. Don’t go to the coffee shop every single day or even several times a week or else it will feel completely ordinary. Don’t fill every ounce of hobby time with the same hobby or it will begin to feel dull. Don’t gorge yourself on delicious food or it won’t be as delicious or special any more (plus there’s a health cost). Mix up and spread out your simple pleasures; have a wide palette of them. Have several low cost leisure activities that you love. Spend time with lots of different friends in lots of different permutations doing lots of different things. Explore lots of different places. Sample (but don’t gorge on) lots of different foods, and enjoy small portions of your favorites on an irregular basis.

Doing this has a lot of benefits. It never allows the pleasure to become ordinary and expected; it remains a pleasure. It also prevents the downsides of overconsumption, which can be immense (obesity, alcoholism, dullness, etc.).

Tactic #4 – Reflecting On and Understanding the World

For Epicurus, a big part of enjoying simple pleasures in life is doing them without fear and worry, and one of his primary avenues for eliminating fear and worry is to reflect on, learn about, and understand the world around you. He felt that a life that involved directly addressing, learning about, and reflecting on the things that concerned you made that fear and worry fade away, enabling you to enjoy simple pleasures in life without that mild taint of worry in your mind.

For me, I find that there are three big tactics I can use to reflect on, learn about, and understand the world.

First, I practice lifelong learning. Very few days go by where I don’t spend at least a good hour reading a book about something that’s on my mind, and I often find that learning about that subject eliminates a lot of the fear I have about it. Sure, sometimes leads to new questions that might concern me, but then there’s a new avenue for learning. I used to be worried and stressed quite a lot about personal finance, for example, but now none of it really worries me at all as I have learned and applied good practices. I do this with all kinds of subjects, practical and otherwise – for example, I’ve spent a lot of time learning about subjects like AI and gene editing and politics, simply because those subjects really concerned me, and learning about them alleviated a lot of my concerns.

Second, I spend time meditating every day. For me, this is a quiet moment to still my mind from the hectic pace of my life. Typically, the voice in my head is always chattering and it often ends up flying off in unrelated directions (breaking my concentration and focus on the moment) and going down negative dead ends which can contribute to a sense of fear and worry. Meditation really helps me clear all of that up, and it definitely helps with my ability to focus in the moment. I just use a really simple mindful meditation practice where I either focus on my breathing or on a single word or phrase, and when other thoughts drift in, I notice them and consciously redirect either to my breath or to the word or phrase. That’s it. I do this for about fifteen minutes per session, one or two sessions a day. (At first, my sessions were much shorter, because it was actually quite hard to do this for very long.) I’ve found that this practice has calmed many of the worries of my wandering mind and helped me to focus on the moment much better.

Finally, I write in a journal (almost) every day. I usually just write down a couple of brief highlights of the day, a few things I’m grateful for, and some reflections on the things I’m trying to focus on. I’ll usually also do a single thorough “after action review,” which means that I write about a single situation in my recent life that’s troubled me, what exactly I did during that situation, what I ideally should have done during that situation, what the difference between the ideal and the reality is, and then what that difference boils down to in terms of what I can be doing better going forward. It’s pretty straightforward and takes about fifteen minutes or so in total; I often do some of it in the evening (highlights of the day, reflections on focus points) and some in the morning (after action review; things I’m grateful for; reminders of my focus points). For me, this is an opportunity to reflect on my life and the things that are worrying me the most, and the practice brings a lot of clarity which often washes away that worry.

Learning about the world followed by reflection on what I’ve learned and on my own inner self goes a very long way toward quelling most of the idle worry, fear, and emotional pain that I used to carry around. Quite honestly, eliminating those feelings (and improving my focus and gratitude) have been tremendously helpful in terms of keeping my spending under control. These things are practices in line with Epicureanism that I was doing before I ever learned about Epicurus, because the benefits are real beyond his philosophy.

Tactic #5 – Minimizing and Eliminating Pain and Fear

A final area of interest is the Epicurean focus on minimizing and eliminating areas of fear and pain, which makes it much easier to enjoy the simple pleasures of life and minimize the amount of money, time, and energy spent dealing with pain and fear. I find that there are a lot of things a person can do to minimize and eliminate pain and fear in life.

One strategy is to live a healthy life. This eliminates a lot of pain and discomfort and also alleviates a great deal of fear. Obviously, no one can be perfectly healthy, but we can all lead a basic healthy life by eating a reasonably healthy diet and doing at least some exercise and moving around, such as going on walks.

Another strategy is to maintain an emergency fund, which protects you from worries such as what to do if your car doesn’t start or what to do if you lose your job. Cash in a savings account really takes the edge off many of life’s fears about unexpected events.

For bigger unexpected events, insurance can help. Life insurance can protect you against the untimely demise of a family member, for example. Auto insurance can protect you against the huge cost of having to unexpectedly replace a car. Insurance should prepare you for the big expenses that have some notable chance of happening that you can’t afford out of pocket, bringing the cost down to something you can afford with your budgetary breathing room and emergency fund.

Another useful tool is retirement savings. Simply putting aside money for retirement alleviates a big general worry about your golden years. You’re no longer straddled with thoughts about what you’re ever going to do when you’re 70 and aren’t able to keep up as well any more and don’t have any money, because you will have money.

Where does the money for these things come from? If you’re following Epicureanism as a whole, it comes from focusing on simpler pleasures in life. The natural benefit of focusing on simple pleasures with little cost is that you have more money to spread around.

Final Thoughts

If you found these ideas intriguing, there are a couple of books on Epicurean topics that I highly recommend.

First, you can read the writings of Epicurus himself, collected in The Art of Happiness. The writings we still have from Epicurus today that weren’t lost to the ages are a little fragmented, but this volume organizes them into a very cohesive collection that really spells out the philosophy well.

For a more modern perspective, Daniel Klein’s Travels with Epicurus does a wonderful job of putting a modern spin on Epicureanism, looking at it through the perspective of visiting people and communities living today on the Greek island of Hydra, which Klein visits after a troubling trip to the dentist and the realization that he’s facing a batch of painful and expensive (and a bit humiliating) dental work. It’s a great modern spin on the ideas of Epicurus.

In the tradition of Epicureanism, you’ll find the most pleasure from these books by checking them out from the local library.

Personally, I have found a lot to value in the ideas of Epicurus. I find that the overall philosophy – putting high value on simple pleasures with minimal cost, minimizing life’s worries – is strongly in line with how I’ve come to live my life. Thousands of years ago, Epicurus was able to take those elements and see the inherent links between them and how they form a nice framework for living, one that still rings true today.

The post How Epicurean Principles Can Help You Transform Your Financial and Personal Life appeared first on The Simple Dollar.

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How to Keep Your Budget in Check When You Just. Can’t. Resist. Shopping.

“Stranger Things” is Casting Old Cars and People Willing to Get Perms

This could be your chance to hang out in the Upside Down.

If you’re impatiently awaiting the next installment of the spook-tacular ‘80s throwback series “Stranger Things,” you could pass the time by earning some bucks being an extra.

Set in the summer of 1985, “Stranger Things” season 3 is filming and is casting for adults and kids to play extras. It’s also looking for “vintage” vehicles (model years 1960 to 1985).

Might I suggest the ‘82 DeLorean?

How to Get Cast on “Stranger Things” Season 3

The adults and cars get lumped together in this casting call. Kids 17 and under should apply here. Thanks to auditionsfree.com for the “Stranger Things” open call notice.

If you’re selected, you’ll need to be available for filming in and around Atlanta from April through fall 2018.

But don’t expect to rake in star WInona Ryder’s reported $300,000 per episode.

Instead, the “Stranger Things” casting call states you’ll earn $75 for an eight-hour day. Your vintage car is apparently a bigger star, since it can snag $175/day — not a bad haul for your 1980 Dodge Aspen woody wagon.

And how can you compare a paycheck with the priceless chance to meet Eleven?

The online casting call form asks pretty standard questions about height and weight, but the final question is whether you’d be willing to have your hair cut and permed.

It is a show set in the 1980s, after all.

Tiffany Wendeln Connors is a staff writer at The Penny Hoarder. She’s definitely a Barb.

This was originally published on The Penny Hoarder, which helps millions of readers worldwide earn and save money by sharing unique job opportunities, personal stories, freebies and more. The Inc. 5000 ranked The Penny Hoarder as the fastest-growing private media company in the U.S. in 2017.

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Data Breach: This is Why MyFitnessPal Getting Hacked is a Pretty Big Deal

Sometimes we take our email address for granted.

We hear about hackers stealing Social Security numbers and banking information, but we give our email out willy nilly to get a cookie or a free appetizer.

Nothing against free food.  

You never think about the consequences until the sting of the unexpected.

For example, 150 million users of the MyFitnessPal app are feeling said sting after being alerted to a February data security breach that gained access to their email addresses and passwords.

The breach includes user names, email addresses, and hashed passwords. It did not include Social Security numbers, driver’s license numbers, or other government-issued identifiers … because the app doesn’t collect that info from users.

MyFitnessPal’s parent company, Under Armour, found out about the breach on March 25 and emailed users about it March 29.

Any payment card data was processed separately by Under Armour and was not affected by the MyFitnessPal breach.

You should care because hackers can use or sell email addresses and passwords to gain access to more sensitive information.

In an email MyFitnessPal sent out to its users, the fitness app suggested you “change your password for any other account on which you used the same or similar information used for your MyFitnessPal account.”

I also disconnected the app from my Facebook account, along with about 100 other apps and websites I use Facebook to log in to.

Take simple steps now to protect your privacy and you’ll be at less risk for bigger breaches down the road.

Jen Smith is a junior writer at The Penny Hoarder and gives money-saving and debt-payoff tips on Instagram at @savingwithspunk. She spent a lot of time changing passwords today.

This was originally published on The Penny Hoarder, which helps millions of readers worldwide earn and save money by sharing unique job opportunities, personal stories, freebies and more. The Inc. 5000 ranked The Penny Hoarder as the fastest-growing private media company in the U.S. in 2017.

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Save Money By Trying Before You Buy With This New Amazon Service

You know that thing Amazon keeps doing where it rolls out a new service with zero fanfare and just hopes customers will figure it out and start using it on their own?

Well, the retail behemoth did it again, but this time with inexpensive samples of some of its most popular products.

And while no, Amazon hasn’t released a line of in-house beauty products or granola bars like it did with over-the-counter meds, it does have a cool new service for Prime members that should make picking the right moisturizer, protein powder or even diapers a whole lot simpler — and cheaper.

$2 Samples From Amazon Prime

Prime Samples, the newest feature available to Amazon Prime members, gives customers the chance to try out small samples of various beauty, skin-care, food, nutrition and household products before committing to the “full buy.”

Individual samples can be purchased for $2-$4, or you can select a box filled with a variety of samples for anywhere from $6.99 to $19.99.

Whichever you choose, it will ship free to your home if you have a Prime subscription.

Now here’s the really cool part: Prime Sample will actually give you a credit equal to the cost of your sample items. If you requested $6 worth of face-wash samples, you’ll automatically get a $6 Prime Sample credit in your account to use to buy a full-sized version of your favorite product once you’ve had a chance to test the options.

The new service launched at the end of 2017, with products available in the following categories: beverages and food, sports and nutrition, beauty and grooming, personal care and household, vitamins and supplements, and baby.

You’ll be able to buy each version of each sample only once, (although if there are two shampoo options from the same brand but with different scents, you’ll be able to order both). Still, being able to test out products before you commit to buying the full-size version could save you some big bucks in the long run.

So if you’ve been wondering if a certain brand of diapers would work for your baby or if you’ve been wanting to test out a new hairspray without committing to the full purchase price before you even know if you like it, Prime Sample seems to be a pretty sweet opportunity.

(Plus, if enough people use Prime Sample, the company will hopefully add more options to the sample inventory.)

Note: Amazon does say that the equal credit system is a limited time offer, but it doesn’t specify the time frame. You can check out the rest of the fine print here.

Grace Schweizer is a junior writer at The Penny Hoarder.

This was originally published on The Penny Hoarder, which helps millions of readers worldwide earn and save money by sharing unique job opportunities, personal stories, freebies and more. The Inc. 5000 ranked The Penny Hoarder as the fastest-growing private media company in the U.S. in 2017.

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Here’s One More Good Reason to Step Away From Those Sugar-Laden Drinks

What are you drinking right now?

If it’s a sweetened drink, you may want to think twice before you take another sip.

A new report presented to the American Heart Association reveals that people who drink 24 ounces or more of a sugary beverage every day have twice the risk of dying from coronary heart disease than people who drink less than an ounce per day.

In fact, researchers say, there’s a higher risk that they’ll die of all causes, including other cardiovascular issues.

But here’s an interesting twist: The study, which focused on adults older than 45, didn’t find the same link between sugary foods and an increased risk of death.

Researchers say sweet drinks contain few to no nutrients, inundating the body with sugars that need to be metabolized. Sugary food, on the other hand, often also contains fat or proteins that make it easier for the body to process an influx of sugar.

This certainly isn’t the first study to link soda and other sugar-sweetened beverages to health problems. It’s also been associated with depression, diabetes, gout, Alzheimer’s disease and obesity.

Step Away From the Soda

Cutting back on sugary drinks or giving them up all together doesn’t mean a life sentence of boring tap water or dehydration.

• Get yourself a Sodastream and enjoy all the fizz of your favorite soft drink with with none of the sugar.

• Iced or hot, green tea is a great alternative to sweet drinks.

• If it’s the caffeine buzz you’re after, try this DIY Starbucks drink right in your kitchen (just omit the sugar).

• Blended fruits and vegetables are a good way to kick the sugar habit and get some extra nutrition at the same time.

It can be hard to give up soda if everyone around you is guzzling it. Instead of giving in to temptation, follow them around and collect the empty cans to make a few bucks.

Lisa McGreevy is a staff writer at The Penny Hoarder. She drinks unsweet tea while she writes. Hold the lemon, thanks.

This was originally published on The Penny Hoarder, which helps millions of readers worldwide earn and save money by sharing unique job opportunities, personal stories, freebies and more. The Inc. 5000 ranked The Penny Hoarder as the fastest-growing private media company in the U.S. in 2017.

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This New Utah Law Gives Parents and Kids More Freedom, But at What Cost?

I remember going grocery shopping with my daughter when she was about 1. We were strolling down an aisle, approaching a couple who looked at us and smiled.

I was about to attribute the smiling to my young daughter’s cuteness when they spoke up.

“I remember when our kids were about that age,” I recall the woman telling me. “When they were small, we could sit them in the cart and go shopping with them. Now we have to get a baby sitter if we need to grocery shop together.”

They walked away with a look that seemed to say, “Enjoy this time while you can.”

As a new mom who had no idea what she was getting into with this parenting thing, I was shocked. I couldn’t imagine having to pay a baby sitter for something like a mundane trip to the grocery store.

Unfortunately, (or fortunately, depending on which way you look at it), we live in a helicopter-parent society that tells us our kids need to be under constant adult supervision.

But a new law passed in Utah is providing parents — and their kids — with a little more freedom.

Free-Range Parenting Gives Parents Greater Discretion

Earlier this month, Utah Governor Gary Herbert signed a bill into law that changes the definition of child neglect in the state.

It’s become known as the “free-range parenting” law, a term coined by the movement following Lenore Skenazy’s New York Sun opinion piece on letting her 9-year-old ride the subway alone and Skenazy’s subsequent book “Free-Range Kids.”

The revisions to the state’s definition of neglect stipulate that neglect does not include allowing a child to engage in certain activities independently, including:

• Traveling to and from school.

• Traveling to and from nearby shops, parks or other recreational or commercial facilities.

• Playing outdoors.

• Remaining in a vehicle unattended.

• Remaining at home unattended.

The law — thought to be the first of its kind in the country — states that children engaging in these activities alone must have their basic needs met (presumably fed, clothed and otherwise well-cared-for) and the children must be of “sufficient age and maturity.”

But what is sufficient age and maturity? That is not clearly defined in this law, giving parents discretion to make the call themselves.

The Advantages and Disadvantages of Free-Range Parenting

Utah state Sen. Lincoln Fillmore, the bill’s chief sponsor, was quoted in The Salt Lake Tribune saying our society of helicopter parenting is “robbing children of some of the joys of childhood.”

There’s also an argument to be made that supervising our children’s every move and not allowing them to manage independently can stifle their ability to grow into autonomous, self-sufficient adults, à la “failure to launch.”

From a financial standpoint, allowing children to exist in spaces without constant adult supervision can mean parents won’t have to cough up money for a baby sitter to spend an hour of child-free grocery shopping.

Parents won’t have to reduce their hours at work, missing out on wages, to make sure their kids don’t come home to an empty house. They may not choose to enroll their children in expensive after-school programs or summer camps if they deem their kids old enough and mature enough to stay home by themselves.

Utah’s law allows parents to make these types of decisions without fear of having the authorities automatically take their children away or worry about having to hire lawyers to fight possibly unwarranted child-neglect charges.

The downside to this “free-range parenting” law is that it could make allowances for parents to abuse their newfound liberties.

Let’s be honest, not all parents make the right judgment calls when it comes to their kids. And it’s scary to think of children being left in situations to basically fend for themselves when they aren’t ready.

Before the law was passed, Salt Lake County District Attorney Sam Gill expressed concerns to The Salt Lake Tribune that a law like this could compromise prosecutors’ ability to hold abusive parents responsible.

Luckily, Utah’s law still upholds protections for children who lack proper parental care, who encounter threats of harm or abandonment and who face dangerous, inappropriate or abusive situations. It’s just that every unsupervised child won’t immediately be lumped into those categories.

Nicole Dow is a staff writer at The Penny Hoarder. She’s a mother who believes children should be protected but that children should also learn independence. She has mixed feelings about free-range parenting.

This was originally published on The Penny Hoarder, which helps millions of readers worldwide earn and save money by sharing unique job opportunities, personal stories, freebies and more. The Inc. 5000 ranked The Penny Hoarder as the fastest-growing private media company in the U.S. in 2017.

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This Study Says Giving Workers Steady Schedules Can Increase Retail Sales

Besides the time I was called “karate kid” or the time I set my tie on fire, the worst part of working as a waiter at a sushi restaurant was the seemingly random shift assignments.

If you work in retail or the service industry you know the drill:

Manager: “Hello Alex what’s happening. I’m gonna need you to go ahead and come in on Saturdays now.”

Me: “Well, I sort of had weekend pl—”

Manager: “Ahh, I’m also going to need you to go ahead and come in on Sundays, too.”

OK, so most of that exchange was from the movie “Office Space,” but we’ve all been there. In the retail industry, we sort of expect our schedules will change from week-to-week and hours will vary across each day.

It’s a pain for workers — so much so that Oregon enacted a law mandating seven days’ notice for scheduling changes.

But a new study shows stable scheduling (unlike that preferred by Bill Lumbergh and my former boss at that Japanese restaurant) can actually increase sales — by a lot.

How Gap Stores Made 7% More Sales With Stable Scheduling

The prevailing wisdom in the retail industry is you can’t set regular shift schedules for your employees because demand in this sector is all over the place. Well, researchers from the University of Chicago set out to challenge that assumption.

They studied 28 Gap stores across Chicago and San Francisco in which 19 encouraged stable start-and-stop times for shifts and more consistent scheduling across the work week. The stores in the study group also added shift-swapping through an app that didn’t require management’s involvement, among other measures to stabilize hours.

The stores with stable schedules saw a 7% increase in sales on average, according to the study, “a dramatic increase in an industry in which companies often work hard to achieve increases of 1–2%.”

Those stores added $2.9 million in increased revenue over 35 weeks. And the cost to Gap? Just $31,200 on additional staffing during the study.

What does this all mean? Investments in stable scheduling and more staff to facilitate it could mean higher sales in the long run, according to the study.

Is more hiring the key to slowing down the retail apocalypse at brick-and-mortar stores? This study says it it just might be the answer.

Alex Mahadevan is a data journalist at The Penny Hoarder. Yes, he set his tie on fire while serving a dragon roll. Don’t worry, a customer graciously put it out with a Diet Coke.

This was originally published on The Penny Hoarder, which helps millions of readers worldwide earn and save money by sharing unique job opportunities, personal stories, freebies and more. The Inc. 5000 ranked The Penny Hoarder as the fastest-growing private media company in the U.S. in 2017.

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How to Use Continuous AB Testing to Increase Conversions

When was the last time you updated your website?

If you have to stop and think for a minute to answer that question, you may have a problem. Your website needs to be monitored and updated on a regular basis.

However, you don’t want to make changes without any rhyme or reason. That’s why you can use A/B testing as a tool to help guide your website updates.

But before you start A/B testing, you need to understand how it works. It’s not just a one-time thing. Some of you may have tried these tests in the past and seen an improvement. So why did you stop?

For those of you who have never tried A/B testing, it can be difficult to know where to get started. Regardless of your situation and experience with A/B testing, I can help you out.

Continuous A/B testing will make your website more efficient.

I’ll explain how you can use this strategy to improve your business and help you boost your conversion rates.

How A/B testing works

A/B testing isn’t really that difficult of a concept to understand. You start by creating a hypothesis about a certain element and then run a test to see if your theory was right.

To do this, you create two different versions of your website. Then half of your site traffic will get sent to one version, and the other half gets directed to the variation.

Here’s a visual representation to give you a better understanding of what I’m talking about.

Once you set up the test, you wait and see which variation has higher conversion rates. Then you draw conclusions and update your website with the version that converts the most.

What’s tricky about A/B testing is deciding how long to test things and what elements need to be tested.

Honestly, there’s not one right answer to those questions. But I’ll give you some guidance to help you run these tests efficiently.

Test your CTA buttons

When you’re trying to get higher conversions, it’s best to start with the button that gets people to convert.

Obviously, these buttons are different for each company in every industry. It depends on your goal on a specific landing page as well. Some of you may be trying to drive a sale while others may be trying to get site visitors opt-in to their email subscription list.

The key here is just picking one element to start. You don’t want to test two theories at once. Testing multiple hypotheses doesn’t give you conclusive results because you won’t know which variation impacted the results.

That’s why you should be running tests continuously to maximize the efficiency.

Start with something subtle and easy such as the size, color, or placement of your CTA button. For example, you could hypothesize that a larger CTA button will have higher conversions.

You can also test the actual text written on your CTA button. Try testing power words against action words.

Here are some of the power words that convert the most.

Are any of these words currently used in your call-to-action?

Here are some more statistics about the conversion success of words that entice an action.

Based on the numbers in these graphics, you could hypothesize that a call to action that says, “Sign up for free” will have higher conversion rates than one that says, “Download now.”

But there’s only one way to find out. Test it.

After you test one of these and you’re satisfied with the results, move on to another. So if you started with the size of your CTA button, then move on to the color. After that, you can test the text or placement.

Test all of the CTAs this way on each page of your website.

Less than half of websites have a CTA button that can be spotted in less than 3 seconds. So putting so much effort into testing your CTA will definitely give you an edge over your competitors.

Evaluate your headings

After you’re satisfied with your CTA button analysis, move on to other components of your website that stand out the most.

Your headlines and subheadings definitely jump off of the page at visitors, so it makes sense to test those next.

If your headlines aren’t worded properly, visitors may not even read all of the content on the page. So while testing the CTA may seem more important, visitors could miss out on your entire value proposition if the headers don’t keep them engaged.

In addition to conversions, you should be looking at analytics that shows how long each visitor stays on the page for.

If one headline causes the average page viewing time to be significantly longer than the variation, it will definitely increase the chances that the visitors will convert.

Here’s an example of an A/B test on a website’s headline.

As you can see, the two pages are identical, except for the headlines. The variation has different words for the main heading and subhead.

The test yielded conclusive results. Website visitors who saw version A filled out the form at a 27.76% higher rate than the ones who saw version B.

If your tests are only within 5% or so if each other, you may not be able to say that one is definitely better. To find out for sure, you can run an A/A test before your A/B test to see what your standard deviation is between the same version of a web page.

Improve your checkout process

For those of you with an ecommerce website, you need to find ways to minimize shopping cart abandonment.

Using A/B tests on the layout of your checkout process can really help you maximize conversions. You’ll be able to tell which elements are working and which ones can be tossed away.

I’ll give you some ideas of what you can start testing.

Are you accepting coupon codes? If you have an option for visitors to input a coupon code during the checkout process, it could cause them to go searching for a code.

But if these codes aren’t always readily available and they’re just something you use to offer a disgruntled customer, it shouldn’t be a primary element of your checkout process.

Test it out to see what kind of results you get.

You could also test a guest checkout vs. login to checkout conversion rates. I’m assuming you’re offering a secure checkout, so use A/B tests to see if the size and placement of your security badges have an impact on conversions.

Test every element on the page. You’d be surprised at how something small could make a huge difference.

Here’s a great example of something subtle that iHerb used to when A/B testing their checkout process.

Take a look at the left side of the screen. They have a shipping cost calculator. All the customer has to do is input their zip code and they’ll get an estimate on their shipping costs.

But the heavy-duty bag promotion draws lots of attention away from the calculator.

Here’s another version of that same page.

As you can see, the image was removed and the “Calculate” button was placed much closer to the “Proceed to Checkout” CTA.

OK. So technically they changed two elements of this page, which I know I said you shouldn’t do. But this was subtle enough to be effective.

I’m a big advocate for removing clutter from your pages, so I think it was a smart decision to get rid of the image in addition to moving the placement of the calculator.

Find out which images convert

You definitely want to use images to help you improve your website. But it’s just a matter of what images to use and where to place them.

If you’re on the fence about a decision, or you have some images already in place on your website, run A/B tests to see which ones have the highest conversion rates.

For example, you could test an image of a man vs. an image of a woman to see if one yields different results. Or you could test an image of the same model, but with different facial expressions, such as smiling vs. a serious face.

Is it better to have one big image as the background of your website? Or will a white background with the image in the forefront have higher conversions?

The only way to find out for sure is by testing your theory.

You should also consider the size and position of your images in relationship to other elements of your website.

Continuously run these tests to maximize your conversion rates.

For example, let’s say you find out that a photo of a man converts higher than a photo of a woman. Now you’ve got to find the most optimal position of that photo on the page, so your tests will continue.

Test different color schemes

Colors can make a huge impact on how people see your website. That’s because certain colors have a psychological impact on our mind.

We’re programmed to associate certain colors with things. For example, but what color does everyone wear to a funeral? I’m not trying to sound grim, but that’s one of the reasons why we automatically associate the color black with death.

Test colors for every component of your website, such as the color of the text, the menu icons, and CTA buttons.

Here’s an example that tests the colors of the call-to-action on this website.

The pages are identical, including the text. The only thing that’s been changed is the color. Refer back to what I said earlier about our minds automatically associating certain colors with things.

Well, we’re programmed to go on green and stop on red. So a valid hypothesis for this A/B test would be that a green CTA button will have higher conversions than the red one.

Use A/B tests to improve your emails

Everything we’ve discussed so far is based around your website. But that’s not the only platform that you use to get conversions.

A/B testing is not limited to your website. You can also test factors from your email marketing campaigns.

Test things similar to what we’ve already talked about. Focus on your CTA, colors, images, headings, and text.

But with email, you can test other factors as well.

For example, use A/B testing on your email subject lines. The content of your message can be the same, but see if you have a significant difference in open rates and conversions based on the subject.

Test the word count of your marketing emails.

Recent studies suggest that emails between 50 and 125 words have the highest conversion rates.

So think outside of the box when you’re running these A/B tests.

Don’t assume that you’re only allowed to test elements of your website. Email campaigns are another viable option.

Revisit your early tests

A/B tests don’t just last for a day or two.

Typically, you’ll want to run each test for at least a few weeks or so to make sure that you’ve got a large enough sample size to yield conclusive results.

So let’s say you run 4 or 5 different tests on your CTA button. That alone could take 3 months. Then you move on to test your headlines, images, colors, and checkout process.

By the time you get through all of these tests, a year or two could have passed since your initial test.

Well, don’t stop now. Go back and see if your CTA is still as efficient as possible.

Conclusion

A/B testing is one of the best ways to increase your conversion rates.

But you don’t just run one test and call it a day. This process needs to be a continuous part of your marketing strategy. Always strive to make improvements to your website.

Test things like your CTA buttons, headlines, and checkout process.

You can also test visual elements such as your images and color schemes on your pages.

A/B testing isn’t just restricted to your website. You can apply this strategy to your email marketing campaigns as well.

Once you finish testing something, move on to the next element. After you’ve tested everything, start back at the beginning.

What elements of your website are you testing first to improve your conversion rates?

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Eggs on Sale? Four Ways to Take Advantage

During the week before Easter, many stores will put eggs on deep discount, selling them for as little as $0.80 per dozen. After all, many families pick up a bunch of eggs for the Easter weekend with the intent of coloring and decorating them; thus, discounted eggs are a great “loss leader” that stores advertise to get you in the door.

Whenever I see an item on such deep discount, the question I ask myself is “how can I take advantage of this?” In other words, what could I do with a large quantity of eggs to really get the most out of this sale?

Here are some of my answers to that question.

Make-Ahead Breakfast Burritos, Quesadillas, or Egg Sandwiches

There are few times during the year that are better for loading up your freezer with individually-wrapped savory breakfast items than this week because the cost of eggs is so low. If you can buy a dozen eggs for less than a dollar, then the cost of making a big batch of breakfast burritos, egg sandwiches, or quesadillas becomes really, really cheap.

It’s actually quite easy to do this. A breakfast burrito is basically just scrambled or fried eggs and any other ingredients you like (sausage, bacon, onions, peppers, hot sauce, cheese, etc.) wrapped in a tortilla. A quesadilla is more or less the same thing, except inside of a flattened folded tortilla (I usually cook these for a little bit in a sandwich press before wrapping them for freezing). A breakfast sandwich is usually a fried egg with toppings inside of a muffin or biscuit or slices of toast. They’re all more or less constructed out of the same ingredients, which you can select according to your taste preferences.

I make these items quite regularly and store them in my freezer for future use in large quantities. Here are some tips for making this work.

First of all, cool your ingredients to room temperature and pat them dry before using them. Why do this? If you don’t, you’re going to wind up with a ton of extra moisture in your burrito/sandwich/quesadilla, which will make them soggy when you reheat them. So, if you’re making breakfast sandwiches or quesadillas (if you’re using fried eggs in the quesadillas), fry a bunch of eggs and let the eggs cool before assembling sandwiches, and pat them dry before assembly. I often stick them in the fridge on a plate while I’m getting other things ready, just to cool them off.

Second, if you’re making burritos, use large tortillas or else you’ll have super-tiny burritos or a giant mess. Use large tortillas so that you can put an ample amount of filling in there and still fold them thoroughly without splitting or leakage. With quesadillas, any size works.

Finally, wrap the sandwiches/quesadillas/burritos individually in aluminum foil right after assembly, and then freeze them in a single layer on a cookie sheet. First of all, the individual wrapping ensures that minimal additional moisture is lost to the outside, which can cause the outside of the tortilla or sandwich to get dampened by steam, which can cause freezer burn or super-crunchy or super-damp tortillas or bread when you cook them. Freezing them on a single layer on a cookie sheet causes them to freeze quickly, minimizing the amount of moisture that can soak into the tortilla or bread, reducing dampness upon reheating. When they’ve frozen, transfer the sandwiches/quesadillas/burritos to gallon Ziploc freezer bags for long term storage.

This is my preferred breakfast burrito recipe, except that mine are typically vegetarian with something substituted for the bulk sausage, like mushrooms or black beans depending on my mood. For quesadillas, I usually follow something close to this recipe. For breakfast sandwiches, I make these, with some being vegetarian-friendly by simply using two eggs instead of a single egg and meat. With all of them, I use the tips above to make them turn out really well.

Pickled Eggs

Each Easter, I like to make a giant jar of pickled eggs that’ll last for weeks in the fridge. I usually use a gallon glass jar and put three or four dozen eggs in there, then eat them slowly as a snack over the subsequent weeks. The acidity of the vinegar pickles the eggs and keeps them safe and the other ingredients imbue flavor.

All I do is hard-boil four dozen eggs, allow them to cool to room temperature, then peel them and put them aside in a bowl. At this point, I boil 12 cups of white vinegar and 4 cups of water together with a cup or so of peppercorns, a tablespoon of salt, a third of a cup of sugar, a bay leaf, five tablespoons of pickling spices, and a sliced onion (big slices). I let this simmer for a few minutes, then I let it cool until it’s cool enough to handle without worrying about scalding myself.

I then toss several garlic cloves in the jar, put a layer of eggs on the bottom, put some of the onions on top of the eggs, and then keep alternating between the onions and eggs. When the jar is mostly full, I dump in the liquid from the boil to fill the jar. If I need more, I mix three cups of vinegar and one cup of water and add it on top. I close up the jar, put it in the fridge, and don’t touch it for a week, and then after that, I have wonderful pickled eggs to eat for a long while!

Make-Ahead Frittata Muffins

You can most certainly make full-sized frittatas, quiches, and breakfast casseroles. They work great for this – just fill up a pan with your favorite recipe, let it cool, make sure there’s no excess moisture on the surface by blotting it with a paper towel, and then freeze it right in that pan. It can easily be reheated with just enough oven time to heat it up any time you need a weekend breakfast.

However, what I really like to do is make frittata muffins, which are kind of all-in-one breakfast items that are individually sized and easy to freeze. I usually just follow this recipe and then, when they’re all done, I’ll wrap them individually in aluminum foil, freeze them in a single layer on a cookie sheet in the freezer, then fill up gallon-sized freezer bags or freezer containers with them.

Again, as with the sandwiches above, just make sure everything is as dry as possible before you freeze it, because the secret to freezing things successfully is to recognize that there’s more moisture there than you think and if you allow it to be too moist, you’ll end up with freezer burn and lots of sogginess when you thaw it and cook it.

Breakfast or Snack Bars

Yet another idea is to simply make a big batch of breakfast or snack bars, like these. They don’t use a ton of eggs, but they’re so different than the savory items above that they’re quite nice to have around, plus they freeze really well in a large freezer container. Just finish off the recipe, enjoy a bar or two for yourself, then cut up the rest and stack them in your preferred freezer container. You can thaw the whole container later on and you’ll have convenient breakfasts for the whole family for several days.

The nice thing with this recipe is that you can literally use any berries available to you and the recipe turns out great, so if you have a source for raspberries or blackberries or huckleberries or blueberries or lingonberries or cherries or strawberries, use them! Just use what you can easily pick, or what you can get for a low price at the store or the market.

Final Thoughts

If you follow these recipes and strategies, you can fill up your freezer with a ton of savory and sweet items that will work well for breakfasts (and for other meals – our family eats “breakfast” foods for dinner fairly often) for a long, long time.

The number one key for making food ahead, though, is to make sure it’s dry. Let the ingredients cool to room temperature before assembling the items and freezing them. You’ll be so glad you did!

Plus, there are few things cheaper than grabbing a quick breakfast out of the freezer and warming it up while you fill up your to-go cup with coffee at home before you leave. The total cost of a breakfast and a good cup of coffee in this situation is just a dollar or two, compared to the $8-$10 you might drop for the same thing at the coffee shop. Preparing a bunch of these items when eggs are on sale makes it even cheaper.

Good luck!

The post Eggs on Sale? Four Ways to Take Advantage appeared first on The Simple Dollar.

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The Best Places to Find Legitimate Work-at-Home Jobs

By Holly Reisem Hanna There are many paths to the work-at-home lifestyle — from joining a direct sales company, to telecommuting for a large corporation or even starting your own business. While I can offer up advice on polishing your resume, how to prepare for a job interview, or tips for finding the right products […]

The post The Best Places to Find Legitimate Work-at-Home Jobs appeared first on The Work at Home Woman.

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Tannersville reverend on special mission

St. Paul Lutheran Church in Tannersville went through some stormy years. Conflict had diminished membership and the atmosphere at the Fish Hill Road church was poor.On Jan. 1, the Northeastern Pennsylvania Senate of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of America assigned the Rev. Carl Filer to a three-year special call – to revitalize the church, improve conditions and grow its membership.The call to service involves his normal functioning as a regular parish pastor, [...]

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5 Fun and Affordable Ways to Celebrate National Take a Walk in the Park Day

As far as made-up U.S. holidays go, there are some pretty fun opportunities to celebrate throughout the year.

Holidays, (and I use the term loosely), like National Pizza Day or Cookie Day get all the glory, but there other are days that deserve to be be noticed, too — and they won’t mess with your waistline.

National Take a Walk in the Park Day is March 30, 2018, so strap on the baby, grab the dog and get going.

You’ll get some fresh air, a nice change of scenery and maybe even boost your mood.

5 Ways to Celebrate National Take a Walk in the Park Day

Whether you get around by walking, wheelchair, or other means, check out these ideas on how to make the most of National Take a Walk in the Park Day.

1. Sign up with Achievement and get paid just for moving around.
2. Keep your eyes peeled for deer antlers to turn into jewelry or resell as-is.
3. Watch for meteorites!
4. If you plan to trek in a national park, be sure to check into all the ways to save money on entrance fees.
5. Get a group together for a hike and make everyone walking sticks.

Enjoy your excursion!

Lisa McGreevy is a staff writer at The Penny Hoarder. She always watches for meteorites.

This was originally published on The Penny Hoarder, which helps millions of readers worldwide earn and save money by sharing unique job opportunities, personal stories, freebies and more. The Inc. 5000 ranked The Penny Hoarder as the fastest-growing private media company in the U.S. in 2017.

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I Thought We Were Frugal. Then I Found His Half-Million in Credit Card Debt

Dear Penny,

I recently found stacks of $100 bills at the back of my husband’s sock drawer. There are thousands of dollars.

Upon further investigation, I found a large notebook with 48 Visa cards and Mastercards in it concealed high on a closet shelf. All the cards are in his name. I didn’t know about these. From notes he made, it looks like they’ve all been maxed out, to the tune of more than half a million dollars.

I’m in shock and don’t know what to do. My husband pays the bills and handles the money. I work also. I never want for anything, although we are frugal.

I don’t know why he hasn’t told me about these things and feel uncertain about what to do, if anything. My husband and a partner own a business, which I’m not involved in.

Thanks for any advice you can give.

-C

It’s one thing to confront him.

It’s another to be ready to hear what he tells you.

If it’s just about the cash, we could assume you moved things around too vigorously while putting away laundry and found the stash.

It’s a confusing discovery, but not the most worrisome. Some people like to have cash squirreled away for true financial emergencies. Some people like to have a reserve ready in case of a “Mr. Robot”-style attack on the banking system. His unoriginal hiding spot gives you an easy entrance to discuss it.

A joke about how cash in a drawer doesn’t earn any interest could lighten the mood, but your mileage may vary.

The further investigation to find his credit card notebook is trickier because it’s not a case of you getting handsy in his crew socks anymore. You were clearly looking for evidence.

Are you ready to admit you were rifling around in his things? Are you ready for any skeletons he could pull out of your own closet — financial or otherwise — in retaliation?

If the answer to the two questions above is “yes,” then it’s really a question of whether you’re ready for your life to change.

If it’s true your husband has been hiding parts of his financial history from you, then all your existing trust and assumptions about life as you know it are probably going to shift. Everything might be fine between you after a while, but there’s a chance the road ahead will not be clearly marked and or smooth.

Practical suggestion No. 1: Are you sure your own credit is clear? You need to pull a free credit report to make sure none of his credit cards are also in your name — check No. 4 in this post to get started.

Practical suggestion No. 2: Have you thought about where to go if you need to leave? The gravity of the situation may lead you to want some time apart, and you don’t have to feel physically threatened to want some space to digest what your husband tells you. Consider packing an overnight bag and having some cash ready in case you want to step out for a bit.

If you approach your husband about what you found, you have to be ready for answers that could rip your marriage apart.

If you say nothing, you have to be ready to sit with the information you do have, indefinitely.

Which sounds worse?

Have an awkward money dilemma? Send it to dearpenny@thepennyhoarder.com.

Disclaimer: Chosen questions and featured answers will appear in The Penny Hoarder’s “Dear Penny” column. I won’t be able to answer every single letter (I can only type so fast!). We reserve the right to edit and publish your questions. Don’t worry — your identity will remain anonymous. I don’t have a psychology, accounting, finance or legal degree, so my advice is for general informational purposes only. I do, however, promise to give you honest advice based on my own insights and real-life experiences.

This was originally published on The Penny Hoarder, which helps millions of readers worldwide earn and save money by sharing unique job opportunities, personal stories, freebies and more. The Inc. 5000 ranked The Penny Hoarder as the fastest-growing private media company in the U.S. in 2017.

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Stroudsburg grads specialize in orthopedic surgery

Chris Murawski’s interest in science began in junior high school, when he became fascinated with the human body.His particular interest was the musculoskeletal system, and he was curious about how injuries occurred as well as how and why some healed and some didn't.The 2008 Stroudsburg High School graduate’s interest took him all the way through medical school, where he’s about to graduate and go onto a residency in orthopedic surgery.He’s not [...]

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Monroe County roadwork week of April 2, 2018

The following is a list of Monroe County roadwork for the week of April 2, 2018. Always use caution when driving through work zones.Hamilton TownshipWhat: Drainage workWhere: Pa. Route 33 between Bartonsville and SnydersvilleRestrictions: Southbound lane restriction. Pattern will be in place overnight. Rain may delay construction.When: April 2-5, from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Middle Smithfield [...]

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Love Wawa? The Company’s Filling 5,000 Positions in Its Spring Hiring Event

Like George Harrison said, I don’t need no “Wah-Wah”.

But I do need Wawa coffee.

If you think you can put up with hearing that joke a couple times a day, you could snag one of the 5,000 Wawa jobs the cult-fave gas station/convenience store chain is looking to fill during its annual spring hiring campaign.

These Wawa jobs range from customer service to management, according to the company’s press release.

Wawa operates more than 790 stores across six states: Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia and Florida.

The company says every store will have job opportunities posted over the next three months, but some stores have been hosting open house-style Wawa Career Wednesdays, which started on March 28 and continue through April 18. Stores that are hosting the events will have signage posted outside, the company notes.

Besides being known for its made-to-order hoagies, Wawa has a reputation for offering its employees competitive wages and benefits like health insurance and a 401(k).

Tiffany Wendeln Connors is a staff writer at The Penny Hoarder. She probably eats too many Wawa hoagies. And breakfast sandwiches. And cinnamon rolls. And candy bars.

This was originally published on The Penny Hoarder, which helps millions of readers worldwide earn and save money by sharing unique job opportunities, personal stories, freebies and more. The Inc. 5000 ranked The Penny Hoarder as the fastest-growing private media company in the U.S. in 2017.

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Houston, We Have a Dream Job. NASA Is Hiring a Flight Director

Houston, we have a dream job alert.

Did you grow up with aspirations of becoming an astronaut? Of course you did — we all dreamed of being launched among the stars at one point or another, à la Starman in a Tesla Roadster.

You probably didn’t achieve that goal, but that’s OK because we might just have the next best thing: You can be the person who sends those astronauts to space and makes sure they make it back home safely.

How to Work for NASA

NASA is on a mission to hire a new fleet of flight directors to work at the famous Johnson Space Center in Houston.

Flight directors oversee missions as the leader of the flight operations team. You will be making decisions that ensure a mission goes smoothly and safely.

Sounds simple enough, right? Not so fast.

This is a fast-paced, high-stress job, and a flight director’s decisions have a huge impact. They need to keep a level head in a crisis situation.

The job listing states, “The Flight Director’s responsibility for leading the flight operations team and making decisions can have ultimate consequences for human lives and multi-billion dollar commercial and international space assets.”

So if you get stressed in the line at Starbucks trying to decide which latte to get, this isn’t the job for you.

Now, I know what you’re thinking: You probably need a doctorate in astrophysics or previous experience working at NASA, right?

Wrong! Those are common misconceptions about flight directors. Many flight controllers have gone on to become flight directors, but it’s not a requirement.

As far as education goes, NASA requires you have a bachelor’s in engineering, physical science, mathematics, life sciences, computer science, or any other other related field of science.

That being said, candidates are required to have pretty extensive professional experience. Here are some of the job listing’s qualifications:

• “Technical leadership with expert knowledge of spacecraft and launch vehicle design and operations”
• “Demonstrated leadership including comprehensive knowledge and experience required to accomplish the integration of ground, crew and spacecraft capabilities”
• “Leading people including experience with managerial practices and principals”
• Experience in “building professional relationships with other organizations at the Center, Agency, International, and with Commercial Crew/Cargo entities to achieve mission goals”

Candidates must also be a U.S. citizen to qualify.

Did you read these requirements and think “Hey, that’s me!”? Then you should definitely apply for this stellar job and do it soon — the application period ends April 17.

Oh and if you’re curious how much these mission control flight directors make, the job listing says its a cool $117,736 to $153,057 per year. And as a Penny Hoarder, I feel obligated to point out the obvious: That is A LOT of pennies.

Kaitlyn Blount is a junior staff writer at The Penny Hoarder. If you claim you didn’t get Elton John’s “Rocket Man” stuck in your head while reading this, you’re lying.

This was originally published on The Penny Hoarder, which helps millions of readers worldwide earn and save money by sharing unique job opportunities, personal stories, freebies and more. The Inc. 5000 ranked The Penny Hoarder as the fastest-growing private media company in the U.S. in 2017.

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