Act Now: SMX East Rates Increase Saturday

SMX East rates increase Saturday. Register now for lowest rates! Here’s what’s in store: 50+ sessions, keynotes and clinics featuring results-producing tactics on paid search, SEO, analytics, mobile and social media; panel discussions, single-speaker TED-style presentations and interactive Q&A...

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The Best Cities for Jobs: How to Decide If They’re Right for You

If you’re looking for a good job and you’re willing to move to get it, you probably want to know which cities have the most opportunity.

Glassdoor tackled that question in a recent report, and the result was a list of the 25 best cities for jobs. To arrive at a “Glassdoor Job Score” for each metropolitan area, analysts considered these factors:

• Ratio of job openings to population (ease of getting hired)
• Ratio of median salary to median home value (cost of living)
• Reviews of employers by local employees (job satisfaction)

That’s a good start, but you might also want to consider these two factors:

• Your own lifestyle needs and desires
• Number of job openings that fit your personal qualifications

If you’re going to include job satisfaction in the score, you have to be satisfied with the place where you have to live for the job. And having plenty of jobs is great, but more important is whether there are plenty for you.

So with these additional factors in mind, let’s look at how to determine the best cities for your job.

Start With the List

Here are the top 10 cities for jobs, according to Glassdoor:

1. Raleigh, NC
2. Kansas City, MO
3. Oklahoma City, OK
4. Austin, TX
5. Seattle, WA
6. Salt Lake City, UT
7. San Jose, CA
8. Louisville, KY
9. San Antonio, TX
10. Washington, D.C.

You might want to look over the whole list of 25 and dig into the details. You’ll see, for example, that Raleigh has more than 24,000 job openings, a median base salary of $50,950, a median home value of $198,400 and a job satisfaction rating of 3.3 on a scale of 1 to 5.

But what if you’re a geologist or medical technician? Doing a job search for “geologist” on Glassdoor produces five postings for Raleigh, but 118 for Houston, Texas (number 21). Meanwhile, Chicago (number 20) has 1,041 openings for a medical technician versus 446 in Raleigh. So you might want to…

Determine Where There Are Good Jobs for You

Clearly the best city for you might have something to do with what kind of job you’re looking for. So use the list as a place to start, but then do a job search for each of the 25 cities, for each of the positions you’re qualified for and want.

Be careful not to search terms that are too closely related or you’ll be double-counting some job openings. For example, if you search “restaurant manager” and “bar manager,” you might get many of the same listings.

Tally up the total openings for jobs you searched in each city. Based on these results, you can cut down the list of 25 cities to the five or 10 best options for the type of jobs you’re seeking. You might narrow the list down further by looking at where the jobs seem to pay the most. Then you can…

Determine Where You Want to Live and Work

Once you have five or 10 good prospects, you have to decide which city has the most positive non-job-related benefits for you. If you want to ski on winter weekends, you don’t want to be in Houston. Here are some other factors you might consider:

• Crime rates
• Universities and colleges
• Climate
• Surrounding environment
• Demographics (average age of residents, educational level, etc.)
• Air quality
• Schools

You can get all of this information and much more from City-Data. Just click a state and find the city on the list. You can also go to the City-Data Forum to see what current residents have to say about a city and view photos of the surrounding area.

If you have kids, you’ll want information about the local school system. Find ratings and parent reviews by entering a zip code in the form at Great Schools.

If you’ll be buying a home, go to Realtor.com, search by city name and then refine your search using various criteria. Click “Map View” to see the results laid out on a map of the area. You’ll be able to quickly spot where you can afford to live.

Whether you’re buying or renting, use Google Maps to check out the neighborhoods where you might be living. Click “Street View” and “walk” the area for a while. Enter the address of potential employers to see where you might be walking for lunch.

With this bit of additional research you’ll soon have a personalized list of the few best cities for jobs for you.

Your Turn: Are you ready to make a move to find a better place to work and live? Which are the best cities for jobs for you?

Steve Gillman is the author of “101 Weird Ways to Make Money” and creator of EveryWayToMakeMoney.com. He’s been a repo-man, walking stick carver, search engine evaluator, house flipper, tram driver, process server, mock juror, and roulette croupier, but of more than 100 ways he has made money, writing is his favorite (so far).

The post The Best Cities for Jobs: How to Decide If They’re Right for You appeared first on The Penny Hoarder.

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Your $10 Bill May Be Getting a Facelift, Literally

Earlier this year, President Barack Obama announced plans to put a woman on the bill, and it's causing some controversy.

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The Money Impact of the Supreme Court's Gay Marriage Ruling

A look at how Social Security, taxes and other financial matters will now affect same-sex couples.

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5 Ways to Be More Mindful – and Less Stressed – at Work

How to remain calm and productive when you feel overwhelmed.

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10 Big Retirement Blunders

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A CMO’s View: AOL CMO Says Content Marketing Is About Value, Not Advertising

Since being named CMO in January, Allie Kline has led the launch of AOL Platform Studio, its in-house custom content creation division.

Please visit Marketing Land for the full article.

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How to Maximize the Value of Abundant Fresh Foods: Lessons from a Gardener and CSA Member

If you find yourself flooded in fresh produce this time of year, here are some strategies to make the most of it. Photo: Amy G

One of the pleasures of the summer season is the abundance of fresh foods available. From early summer through the middle of fall, gardens and fields are producing in such impressive abundance that we can scarcely take it all in.

In fact, in all honestly, it’s too much right now. Between our CSA share (which amounts to a basket of vegetables each week) and the abundance of our personal vegetable garden, we’re actually finding that we’re unable to eat all of the fresh items on our table.

If you consider that it’s very easy for us to also find huge produce sales at every local grocery store as well as at the many roadside fruit and vegetable stands that pop up this time of year, it’s easy to see how a family can end up having more produce than they can eat.

You might ask, “isn’t that expensive?” The truth is that it’s really not that expensive. The vegetables from our gardens are very cheap per pound, as is the basket from our CSA (we kept a running tab on it for a year and found the price to be way below a dollar per pound). Roadside stands around here are selling giant ears of sweet corn and many other vegetables for similarly low prices and the local grocery stores seem to be racing to the bottom on prices for fresh produce. Even the farmers markets are in on the act, with large truckloads of vegetables practically waiting for someone to carry them away.

Sure, this won’t hold true in the winter, but for right now, we can get pounds upon pounds of extremely good produce for pennies.

The thing is, even in the face of this abundance of produce, there’s still no reason to be wasteful. The prices won’t always be this low. In the winter, for example, the only option for fresh produce in the area will be imported stuff at the grocery store, which will be quite expensive.

Not only that, it’s wasteful to simply fail to use this stuff, even if it comes to us at a very low price.

Since this is a “problem” that we face most summers, we’ve developed a pretty sizable arsenal of techniques for dealing with the abundance of produce that the summer and early fall months deliver to us. If you find yourself flooded in produce this time of the year, take these strategies to heart.

Swap with Neighbors and Friends

Whenever you have more produce than you will reasonably use, you should consider sharing that extra produce with neighbors and with friends. Ideally, you can do this in a “swapping” fashion, where they give you some of their extra produce in exchange. For example, you might swap half a dozen ears of sweet corn for a dozen tomatoes, or a box of cucumbers for a bowl of green beans.

Another powerful thing to do with your excess produce is to use them for an informal “gift economy” with your friends and neighbors. Just give the excess to those people close to you. Then, the next time you need a small favor from them, receiving it will be trivial.

I’ll give you an example: We live across the street from a couple with children. They also have a garden and (I believe) they are also members of a CSA. About twice a week, my wife and the woman across the street get together for some exercise and some conversation and they often end up swapping or giving each other things.

Unsurprisingly, our flood of summer produce is part of that exchange. Because of that friendship, we have people who keep an eye on our house when we travel and water our plants. They will also watch our pets when we travel, watch our children in an emergency, loan us tools, help us move around heavy stuff, and son on.

Right near the core of all that is simply giving them our excess produce from the garden. It’s a simple gift that grows into so much more.

Make Simple, Storeable Recipes

If you have extra cabbage, make sauerkraut. All you need is a big crock and some salt, as described here. You can also freeze the sauerkraut instead of canning it.

If you have extra tomatoes, onions, and peppers, make salsa. Chop everything up and combine it to your tastes. Add some cilantro, too. You can keep it in a jar in the refrigerator for quite a long time.

If you have extra tomatoes, onions, peppers, basil, and oregano, make pasta sauce. Just puree some of the tomatoes, then add some chopped-up tomatoes, onions, peppers, oregano, and basil, then boil this at a low boil, stirring regularly, until it thickens up. Thicken it even more for pizza sauce. You can store it in the refrigerator for a while, can it, or freeze it in small containers.

If you have extra tomatoes and oregano, make ketchup. Puree the tomatoes, then boil it down into a paste with some chopped-up oregano (or just add dried oregano later). Add two tablespoons of cider vinegar per half cup of paste (and maybe a bit more to taste), then mix in a teaspoon of salt, a teaspoon of cumin, a few hefty dashes of dried pepper, and two teaspoons of mustard powder. Add more of the spices if it’s not flavorful enough. This can be stored for ages in a plastic bottle in the refrigerator.

There are so many simple recipes that you can make with summer produce that work as a part of another meal and can be stored on their own. These four are just the start.

Dry Things Out

If you grow a lot of herbs (as we do), you should strongly consider drying them. Drying herbs is easy – you essentially just lay them flat and heat them up to cause the moisture to leave and then you’re left with dried herbs that will last you for months, all throughout the winter.

This even works well with tomatoes and onions. You can powderize the dried onions later to make onion powder if you’d like, and there are countless uses for dried tomatoes. I like to use them as a pizza topping, myself.

You can use a food dehydrator to do this task, but laying the things you want to dry out on a non-stick baking sheet or a sheet covered with parchment paper and baking them in the oven at 200 F will do the trick.

Once the vegetables are dried, you can store them in your pantry in whatever containers are available, from old pickle jars to empty spice containers. As long as it’s clearly labeled and you can find it, the container will work. Plus, there’s nothing that quite beats the fragrance of herbs that you dried and quickly packaged when you open up that container on a cold winter’s day.

Can Your Extras

Canning excess vegetables in glass jars and storing them in your pantry is a great way to store those vegetables for the future. You can can almost any type of vegetable – in my life, I’ve been involved in the process of canning pickled cucumbers, green beans, whole tomatoes, tomato sauce, salsa, pickled peppers, jams, jellies, and probably a dozen more things that I can’t remember.

The process is pretty straightforward, though there are different variations on the process depending on what exactly you’re canning. This “Canning 101″ guide from Real Simple is a great guide to get you started. Mostly, you’ll just need some jars (which are reusable), lids, rings, tools for getting the jars in and out of hot water, and a large pot and/or pressure cooker (depending on what you’re canning). If you want to just try it out in the easiest way possible, this Ball Canning at Home Discovery Kit provides everything you need as long as you have a large pot with which to boil water. You can also expand that kit by merely buying more jars, lids, and rings.

The biggest advantage to home canning, in my eyes, is that you can store the results at room temperature in your pantry. You don’t need a freezer or anything else for the products of home canning. Just label them (I usually just write on the lid with a Sharpie or another magic marker) and store them.

Another advantage is that you can flavor the foods you are canning. You can add a few onion rings, some peppercorns, and a couple garlic cloves to your jar of pickles. You can toss some diced onions into your whole tomatoes. You can make your own homemade salsa or pasta sauce and can it up.

Freeze Your Extras

If you have access to significant freezer space, such as a deep freezer, freezing your extra produce can be a good option as well.

Many vegetables and fruits can be frozen whole. For example, you can simply soak tomatoes in water for a while, then freeze them on a baking sheet. They will become very solid, much like billiard balls, and can be frozen in bags and gently thawed later on.

Fresh produce can also be frozen very well after having been cut up or slightly prepared. Shredded cabbage stores very well, as does diced apples, applesauce, tomato sauce, pasta sauce, and so on.

Another strategy is to use the fresh stuff in preparation of full meals, then freeze those meals. If you make a fresh lasagna using tomatoes and spinach from your garden and you have an abundance of those things, make three or four pans and freeze the extra pans. Pull them out later in the fall when the thought of a slice of lasagna with garden-fresh ingredients sounds amazing.

Donate Your Extras

Almost every food pantry or food bank in the country will happily accept your donations of fresh food and will quickly redistribute them to people who are hungry.

We love doing this on the local level by dropping fresh produce off at our local pantry. Not only does this ensure that the vegetables will get used quickly while they’re still fresh, but we also know that the food will stay in our local community, helping the disadvantaged that live nearby.

Putting some fresh food on a hungry child’s plate is a wonderful way to use the produce that goes above and beyond what you might need.

Make Smoothies

If you find that you’re collecting a lot of extra vegetables and fruits, you’re pretty much begging to turn those things into delicious smoothies.

Personally, I like to mix together a wide variety of things, usually in a 50/50 split between fruits and vegetables (sometimes with a few more vegetables). I’ll sometimes add a bit of ice, a bit of milk, or a squirt of honey, and then I’ll just puree the stuff in our blender.

The end result is a delicious smoothie that will fill up your belly with natural goodness.

If you’ve had too many smoothies already, one strategy is to simply prepare all of the ingredients you’d use to make a couple of smoothies in a freezer container. Label it “smoothie kit” and then pull it out later in the summer or fall or even next spring. Just toss those frozen ingredients in the blender with a splash of milk and a few drops of honey and blend it up.

Turn Edible Scraps Into Stock and Soup Starter

If you have leftovers that are edible, such as the remnants of a bowl of vegetables that you steamed for dinner or the three extra cucumbers that you sliced or the extra head of broccoli that you didn’t need, chop them up into small pieces and combine them all together in a gallon-sized freezer Ziploc bag. Keep that bag in the freezer and keep adding to it until it’s full.

When you have a full bag, it can work great as a soup starter, but what I really like to use it for is for preparing vegetable stock. Just add that bag full of vegetables to a stock pot or to a slow cooker, fill it up with water until you’ve covered the vegetables with at least an inch of water, then turn it on low and let it simmer all day. Add some salt and a handful of peppercorns, too. After several hours, strain the liquid and save it.

That liquid is golden. It works wonderful as the basis for a soup, the liquid ingredient in any casserole you might make, or even as the liquid in a skillet meal. I’ll use it as the liquid in cornbread to make the bread incredibly savory, or even as the liquid in pizza crusts or other kinds of bread. There is nothing that doesn’t get a giant infusion of flavor from vegetable stock.

You can easily freeze this extra stock if you prefer, or you can raise it to a boil and then can it. I tend to find freezing it works much easier, as I’ll put a quart in a freezer container and pop it in the freezer. That’s just about a perfect amount for anything I might want to do with it.

Turn Inedible Scraps Into Compost

What about the pieces that are left over that are inedible (or at least not very tasty at all)? Things like corn cobs, trimmings, and so on?

Those items are perfect for a compost bin. A compost bin is simply a container where you allow organic materials – like plant scraps – to break down so that the material is usable as a fertilizer for future crops. We actually have both a compost barrel and a compost bin in our yard which allows us to process pretty much all of our scraps.

If you don’t have a bin, you can actually compost pretty well in any loosely-lidded container that you can keep outside. Just add your scraps, rotate it regularly, make it moist regularly, and wait until everything inside is kind of mushy and brown. When that happens, you have some of the best fertilizer you can buy for your flowers, garden plants, and other vegetative life on your property.

I do find that chopping up large pieces before you put them in the composter really helps with the speed of composting. Whole corn cobs can take a long time to compost, but if you chop it into small pieces first, it will compost a lot faster.

Save Your Seeds

If you’re careful about the seeds you grow in your own garden – and about the produce you buy – you can save the seeds from those fruits and vegetables and grow them again in the spring, saving you the cost of buying more seeds.

We often buy our seeds from Seed Savers Exchange, which provides non-hybridized seeds. Many of the vegetables you buy at the store have hybridized seeds, which typically means that their seeds won’t grow new plants. Non-hybridized seeds generally will do so, which means that you can grow plants from those seeds.

We often do this with whatever produce is in the greatest abundance. Generally, it involves extracting the seeds from the vegetable and drying them properly. If you’re unsure as to what to do with your specific plant, the information you need is just a Google search away.

Once the seeds are dry, you can store them in ordinary envelopes. Label them with the type, the variety, and the year and you’ll have seeds that you can easily plant the following spring.

Start a Roadside Stand or a Farmers Market

If you’re still flooded in produce… well, that means your garden is working overtime this year. You might want to consider selling the excess at a farmers market or at a roadside stand.

If you have a relatively small amount – less than a truckload, for instance – a farmers market might be the best option. Many farmers markets offer inexpensive spots for sales which you can easily recoup and still make some nice pocket money.

A roadside stand requires some significant setup effort beyond that of a farmers market, but if you have permission and time, almost all of your produce turns into profit.

Both methods are viable ways to turn your excess produce into cash. While this won’t earn a mint for you, it can help you deal with a bumper crop of produce.

Final Thoughts

You never need to waste an ounce of summer produce unless you choose to. There are a ton of options for you to try here and while some may not work for you, most of these strategies will work well for everyone regardless of their situation.

If you’re flooded with produce in the summer months, be smart. Find good ways to put all of that produce to use. If you’re saving it for the winter, look at it as time invested right now to make things easier and less expensive in January.

Just remember, the smarter you are with produce this month, the less you’ll be spending on food this month… and next month… and the month after that. The savings from properly handling a big load of summer produce keeps rolling throughout the year.

Good luck, and may some delicious foods find their way into your pantry, your freezer, your dinner table, and your stomach!

The post How to Maximize the Value of Abundant Fresh Foods: Lessons from a Gardener and CSA Member appeared first on The Simple Dollar.

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The Multi-Goal Magic Of Split Testing Software

Columnist Brian Massey discusses the many benefits of incorporating split testing into your analytics mix -- especially when you take the time to track multiple goals.

Please visit Marketing Land for the full article.

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Localytics Boosts Mobile App Analytics With Twitter Parnership

Mobile analytics firm can now offer app publishers a more complete look at the effectiveness of Twitter ads.

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Study: In-app Ad Fraud Could Near $1 Billion Globally In 2015

Firm claims to find large number of "mobile device hijacking" instances in which mobile apps load hidden ads and simulate human activity similar to traditional botnets.

Please visit Marketing Land for the full article.

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Hungry, Hungry Ad Tech: Innovation Through Acquisition

As ad tech behemoths continue to gobble up the smaller players, columnist Alex LePage takes a look at the reasons behind the acquisitions.

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Here's the first thing you should do with your child support check

Millions of Americans depend on monthly child support checks to help cover the bills. In fact, for many single parents, those checks are a vital part of household income.

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8 Budget-Friendly Places to Visit This Fall

When temperatures cool off, so do prices. 

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5 Easy Ways to Reduce Student Loan Costs

Want to avoid the average $28,400 in student loan debt? Try these strategies. 

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Government could merge income tax and national insurance

Michael Trudeau

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The government is reviewing the possibility of merging income tax and national insurance into a single tax to make things simpler for taxpayers.

The government is reviewing the possibility of merging income tax and national insurance (NI) into a single tax to make things simpler for taxpayers.

Government could merge income tax and national insurance

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The government is reviewing the possibility of merging income tax and national insurance (NI) into a single tax to make things simpler for taxpayers. Following July's summer Budget, David Gauke, financial secretary to HM Treasury, said in a letter to the Office of Tax Simplification (OTS) that he wanted it to review the potential for 'closer alignment' of income tax and national insurance. “This is an area often cited as a major source of complexity for taxpayers,” he writes. “I would like the OTS to look at what the impacts, costs and benefits of closer alignment would be and to set out what the necessary steps would be to achieve closer alignment.” According to press reports, chancellor George Osborne has previously considered merging the two taxes in his 2014 Budget but refrained from doing so due to complexities linking the respective IT systems. In a document outlining the review - which the OTS hopes to complete in time for next year's Budget - the office says: “Differences in the rules and procedures between the income tax and [national insurance contributions] systems were found to be the second highest source of complexity for small businesses.” The idea was also mooted in 2011, but kicked into the tall grass until progress was made on other tax changes being worked on at the time. Expert view Gary Smith, financial planner at Tilney Bestinvest, outlines four potential implications of the merge: Potential reduction in tax liability - the starting rates at which you pay income tax (£10,600) and national insurance (£8,060) are different. Logic would dictate that, given the Conservative pledge to increase the personal allowance to £12,500, this would also have to be the starting rate for any combined income tax/NI rate. This would mean that everyone could earn £4,500 more before paying any NI equivalent. It would enable the government to increase the rate at which people pay higher rate tax to £50,000, while reducing the potential loss to the Exchequer. This is quite devious, as under the current system an individual pays 40% income tax and only 2% NI above the basic rate band. So, if they leave the system as it is, the exchequer will be giving up 20% income tax on circa £8,000 of income if they do increase the basic rate band to say £50,000 (including personal allowance). However, if the government merge income tax and NI, the effective basic rate tax would be 32% and the higher rate 42%. Therefore, if they increase the basic rate band they are only giving up 10% on £8,000. The death of pension tax relief? At present, a basic rate taxpayer gets 20% tax relief on pension payments, but surely this would increase to 32% under a combined system. It seems illogical to increase tax relief at a time when they are actually trying to reduce the cost to the Exchequer. An equal tax treatment of Isas and pensions could be a prelude to merging the two, potentially drawing Isas into some form of lifetime allowance. Would any new rate apply to dividends? We have already seen the introduction of tax on dividends of 7.5% for basic rate taxpayers from April 2016. At present NI isn't payable on dividends, and one could suspect that the government will also seek to increase this rate to reflect the merged rate. While probably below the 32% rate for people with earned income, the additional tax generated could cover the cost of increasing the basic rate band to £50,000.

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How Self-Trust is the Secret to Success

By Kelly Robbins Your relationship with yourself is the most important relationship you have. It is, in fact, the foundation of every other relationship you form. Relationships with family, clients, friends, business partners, children … The level of self-trust you have is particularly important when you are an entrepreneur creating fresh tracks in this world […]

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Christmas in July: Your Chance to Save Big on Back-to-School and Holiday Shopping

Christmas seems to come earlier every year — at least the shopping part of it.

Target, Amazon and Walmart have already turned a holiday-themed gimmick into a way to test the waters for Black Friday, even though it’s months away. Now it’s Best Buy’s moment to shine with a Black Friday-esque sale July 24 and 25.

While it’s tough to out-do Black Friday, could these deals help you get a head start on your back-to-school or holiday shopping? If any of these items are on your list, you could save a bundle — and spread out the hit to your budget.

1. Back-to-School Clothes

If you’re trying to save money on clothes, you’re in luck.

Stores are eager to clear the shelves of shorts, swimwear and sandals, but many staples like blue jeans and tees carry over into fall. You may also find some last-season cool weather apparel heavily marked down. Look for flash sales on backpacks, too.

2. Dorm Furnishings

If your kid is heading off to college, you’d better act fast before inventory clears out.

Kmart is offering 30% off of dorm bedding sets and other furnishings through early August. Check The Container Store and Target for dorm registries, organizers and décor.

3. Patio Furniture

Long one of the best things to buy in July, outdoor tables and chairs, fire pits and loungers are as much as 40% off right now online at Kmart, up to 30% off at Sears, and up to 50% off at Macy’s.

Don’t overlook sales at your local furniture outlets, or on smaller specialty websites like Hayneedle and Furniture Depot.

4. Barbecue Grills

Summer is synonymous with hot dogs and steaks hot off the coals, but depending where you live, you can use your barbecue almost year-round.

If you’ve had your eyes on a new one, check Lowe’s, hhgregg and Kmart for deals on gas and charcoal models.

5. Air Conditioners

You’d think prices would be high with summer demand, but at the end of the month and into August, online shoppers can get good deals on window and portable ACs. Walmart and Newegg had the best deals last summer.

One great perk of ordering from a store like Walmart: You can order online and pick up in a store to avoid hefty shipping costs.

6. Laptops

You’ll now start seeing the price of laptop computers come down, with prices dropping even lower in August. For example, you’ll find great deals on basic models like a 15-inch screen with 500GB hard drive that’s perfect for students or home use.

Check out 48% off clearance deals on Asus laptops at Newegg, warehouse specials at Amazon and the “Deals” section of Dell.

Miss the July Sales?

The Christmas in July phenomenon has upped the competition for your dollar, but there are more ways to save money in late July.

Compare Prices

A coupon website will group products by category, allowing you to compare stores and deals on a single page. Or try a price comparison tool like PriceJump, or one of these browser extensions that help you find extra savings.

Take Advantage of Tax-Free Holidays

If your state is one of the 17 that has a tax-free holiday in August, you can save on state sales tax, too.

Stack Discounts

While you shop, look for opportunities to combine as many deals as you can in one transaction. Use an online coupon code for site-wide deals or free shipping, a deal-of-the-day sale, a manufacturer coupon and a cash-back app.

Get Free Shipping

Combining orders, rather than piecemeal shopping, is an easy way to meet a free-shipping minimum. If you’re buying in bulk or ordering a larger item, choose site-to-store shipping to save money.

Use Price-Matching

As the Amazon-Walmart showdown proved, competition is keen. Many large-volume retailers will meet or beat other prices for identical items. Read each retailer’s fine print to make sure it’s an identical deal. Here’s a look at the price-matching policies for some of the largest online retailers.

If you’re the type who’s always scouting for low prices, you don’t have to wait until fall to get a jump on school and holiday shopping. Take advantage of Christmas in July to kickstart your back-to-school and holiday gift shopping!

Your Turn: Are you planning to hit any of these Christmas in July or Black Friday in July sales?

Disclosure: We have a serious Taco Bell addiction around here. The affiliate links in this post help us order off the dollar menu. Thanks for your support!

Marie Hickman is a savings writer at valpak.com. She lives the fun but frugal life with her son in Palm Harbor, Florida.

The post Christmas in July: Your Chance to Save Big on Back-to-School and Holiday Shopping appeared first on The Penny Hoarder.

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Banks banned from using premium-rate helplines

Laura Whitcombe

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Banks and all other financial services firms have been banned from charging customers premium rates to call their helplines.

Banks and all other financial services firms have been banned from charging customers premium rates to call their helplines.

The rule laid down by the regulator will come into effect as of 26 October and includes all 'post-sale' calls from customers in need of assistance.

Banks banned from using premium-rate helplines

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Banks and all other financial services firms have been banned from charging customers premium rates to call their helplines. The rule laid down by the regulator will come into effect as of 26 October and includes all 'post-sale' calls from customers in need of assistance. The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA's) confirmed to Moneywise that the move will mean banks will have to update debit and credit cards displaying such premium-rate numbers. The new numbers will have to be displayed on all cards issued from 26 October 2015. It added that it "wouldn't be proportionate" to make the banks re-issue all cards but it is understood that financial services companies will have to inform customers calling the old premium-rate numbers that a cheaper alternative is available. The rule change is part of action being taken by the FCA to improve informal complaint handling. This also includes tripling the time financial companies have to resolve customer complaints before a customer can ask the Financial Ombudsman Service to investigate from one to three days. Better and easier resolutions The FCA said the increased time will "allow for better and easier resolution for a greater number of complaints, benefiting both consumers and firms". For complaints resolved during the three-day period, companies will have to send customers "a simpler, template message" that will "inform the complainant of their right to take their complaint to the Financial Ombudsman Service". The regulator added it expects the change to "result in fewer consumers having to take their complaints further". Christopher Woolard, director of strategy and competition at the FCA, said: "Our rules will help deliver the quicker, easier and fairer resolution to complaints that consumers want."

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Source Moneywise http://ift.tt/1Vzbwiu

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Source NEWS.com.au | Business http://ift.tt/1LF76SG