How to Become a Pet Sitter

Tell us about your entrepreneurial journey. First, I want to thank Holly for creating this great platform that helps women who want to work from home to find the right careers—and to be successful in them! What a valuable resource this website is! I’m honored to be able to talk about professional pet sitting on […]

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PennDOT awaits approval for placement of Lehman's fools gold in Blooming Grove

Motorists on Route 2001/Milford Road in Lehman and Delaware Townships have a few more years of construction to endure. Although contractor Leeward Construction is ahead of schedule, this $30.5 million phase of the Route 2001/Milford Road improvement project is projected to be done by October 2021, Pennsylvania Department of Transportation Spokesman James May said.Complicating the project is the discovery and treatment of pyrite, the acid bearing rock also known as fool’s gold, [...]

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Does pipeline age really matter?

PITTSBURGH (AP) — Thirty years of watching metal fail, often spectacularly, and Mehrooz Zamanzadeh has developed some go-to mantras."Mother Nature doesn't like what she didn't make," he likes to say.That means when a man-made object is exposed to the environment — say, a metal pipeline is buried in soil — that environment will begin tugging and pulling, trying to break the metal into its natural parts, to undo the decades of technological advances at steel [...]

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Monroe Housing Authority to poor: try another county

In May, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development awarded a $183,00 Section 8 grant to the Monroe County Housing Authority that officials immediately earmarked for the assistance of 15 individuals and families.However, the grant didn’t reduce the long Section 8 waiting list that has plagued those in the county who have fallen on difficult times.“We still have a waiting list that I don’t see opening for another six months,” said Linda [...]

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Tobyhanna seeks new township manager

Tobyhanna Township supervisors hope to hire a new township manager by the end of August.“It will move at a fairly good pace,” said Jeff Evans of Management Matters, the Mountainhome consultant retained by the supervisors to coordinate the search. “Fall budget season is coming up and those sorts of things.”Township supervisors voted 3-2 in June to terminate Phyllis Haase, an 11-year township employee who had been the manager for the past three years. [...]

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Salvation Army receives grants

The Salvation Army East Stroudsburg Corps. announces two recent grants: the Hughes Foundation Inc., $25,000, combined with the past generous contributions from ESSA Bank & Trust Foundation, for the purchase of a new 12 passenger van to support youth, senior and community programs; and the R. Dale and Frances M. Hughes Foundation, $70,000 challenge grant to support the Corps. Annual Campaign.

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Local girl named National American Miss state finalist

Chahat Panthi, known to her friends and family as "Love," age 5, has been chosen as a state finalist in the National American Miss Pennsylvania Pageant to be held on Aug. 13 at the Hilton Harrisburg. The pageant is for girls ages 4 to 18.Chahat’s activities include dancing, swimming, singing, and creating art. Her sponsors include her parents, local business owners Roshan Panthi and Payal Patel, friends, and the dance studio she attends for classes, Fusia Dance. She is starting [...]

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Five Home Flaws Worth Overlooking for a Better Deal

By almost any standard, it’s a competitive housing market out there. National real estate brokerage Redfin said June marked the fastest and most competitive housing market since the recession. In hot areas such as Denver and Seattle, homes averaged only about week on the market before going under agreement, while roughly two-thirds of homes in the San Francisco Bay Area sold for more than the (already staggering) asking price. But even nationally, a quarter of homes went off the market in just two weeks.

Meanwhile, home sales continued to rise — up 4.3% nationally year over year, according to Redfin — along with prices, as buyers eagerly snap up the few homes that hit the market. Buyer demand is outstripping supply, dropping the available inventory of homes for sale to its lowest level in years — just a 2.8-month supply (a six-month supply is considered normal).

This is all good news for sellers — a majority of whom acknowledge it’s a seller’s market out there — but it makes it much harder for buyers hoping to score an affordable home. In fact, most sellers surveyed by Redfin said their main concern has nothing to do with selling their existing home, but rather being able to buy one afterward once the tables are turned.

Home Flaws You Should Overlook

If you’re hoping to find a home without overstretching your budget in this hot market, it helps if you’re willing to compromise on certain home features from the start. And if you’re willing to buy a home that might turn off some other buyers, you may be able to find something in your price range – or even earn some quick equity with a bit of elbow grease.

To find out which home flaws were worth overlooking, and which you should never compromise on, we reached out to several experts and real estate agents to get their take. Here’s what they said:

Ignore paint colors and furniture.

Too many buyers become preoccupied with housing features that are easily changed, says realtor Jim Malmberg,

“You would be surprised at how many buyers will focus on things like wall color and the furnishings in houses that they look at,” says Malmbert. “I find myself regularly having to tell buyers that changing the wall color is as simple as a can of paint, and that they aren’t buying the furniture.”

If a wall is bright orange, who really cares? A room where the previous owner got a little too creative with paint colors? Try to see the potential behind those sponge-painted walls. Interior painting is one of the simplest and cheapest do-it-yourself home improvement projects.

And ugly furniture may be a turn-off that muddles the overall vibe of the home, but you’re not going to buy it anyway. By looking beyond it, you can focus on what really matters – the bones of the house.

Bad landscaping is easy to fix.

We’ve all come across a house that looks ugly or downright crazy from the street. While it might be due to the condition or style of the home, sometimes it’s just bad landscaping that’s the culprit.

But if you want a deal, you shouldn’t be scared off by some ugly bushes or a lack of curb appeal.

Nathan Garrett of Garretts Realty actually tells his buyers to look for a house with poor curb appeal. Because sometimes, the house with a scary-looking porch and overgrown landscaping can actually be a diamond in the rough. At the very least, you could take a look at mark it off your list.

Remember, landscaping is usually an easy fix. And if you can look past it, you might just score a deal.

Consider a home with an outdated kitchen or bathroom.

Since most buyers are searching for updated homes with a kitchen full of new stainless steel appliances and a big, modern bathroom, a solid house may go overlooked because of its pink 1960s bathroom or “I Love the ’80s” kitchen. If an ugly-but-functional kitchen is enough to repel most buyers and get you a discount on the property, it may be well worth taking on the project yourself.

“Doing a bit of fixing up yourself means you may be able to get a better deal on a home — and get the exact kitchen and bathroom you want,” says Liane Jamason, a real estate agent in Tampa Bay.

Even if you hire a contractor to create your ideal kitchen, remodeling a tired kitchen should cost about $25,000 to $40,000 — much less if you do some of the work yourself or simply give it a cosmetic refresh. You can expect a new bathroom, meanwhile, to average about $11,000. If you’re able to get a big discount on a home with a great location and a floor plan you like, simply because the kitchen or bathroom is clad in pink and teal, it can be a smart move.

Don’t rule out homes that need major but straightforward repairs.

An extremely old HVAC system or leaky roof can scare off many buyers, but the truth is, these issues shouldn’t make you rule out a home altogether. While inconvenient, it’s fairly straightforward to budget for major replacements. And if you plan to make an offer, you can simply deduct those costs from your offer price from the get-go.

Real estate investor Brian Davis of Spark Rental says he has no problem buying properties that need these upgrades, as long as the price is right.

“A new furnace, AC condenser, and hot water heater can be easily budgeted for, but buyers need to evaluate them to know how much life is left in them and budget accordingly,” says Davis. “Likewise with kitchens and bathrooms – just be sure to know the cost to update them before making an offer.”

Go for a house with ugly doors and outdated fixtures.

Many buyers can be turned off by ugly interior fixtures that are actually fairly easy to change, says Mindy Jensen, community manager at BiggerPockets.com.

“Doors are easy to replace – even if they are a custom size,” says Jensen. “Electrical and plumbing fixtures like lights or faucets aren’t difficult to change out, either.”

Lots of houses built or remodeled during the ’60s, ’70s, and ’80s are filled to the brim with bright brass fixtures that are practically begging for an update. Since they’re easy to replace, you shouldn’t sweat these aesthetic affronts, says Jensen – just let them drive off some of your competition and hope you can get a better price on the house.

Home Features You Should Never Ignore

While cosmetic changes are easy to make and mostly affordable or straightforward, there are some home issues you should never ignore.

For starters, you can’t pay enough attention to a home’s location since that is the one thing you simply cannot change. Consider your commute, the neighborhood, local schools, and traffic or noise levels. No matter how much you like a home, you shouldn’t buy it unless you’re satisfied with its location.

Beyond a home’s location, there are myriad structural and component issues you should pay close attention to as you continue your search. Some red flags to watch out for include:

• Mold or soot: Never overlook mold or soot, says Alexander Ruggie of home restoration firm 911 Restoration. “Mold is not only bad to inhale on a regular basis, but it is also a remarkable indicator of water damage,” he says. “And if there is soot anywhere in the home besides right above the fireplace, then there has been a fire in the house at some point.”
• Issues with a main sewage line: “In older homes, the main sewage line should be inspected,” says Malmberg. “If the line has to be replaced, it can be very expensive and, for homes built on a slab, may also require digging up portions of the house’s foundation.”
• Outdated electrical wiring: “A lot of older homes still have knob-and-tube electrical wiring,” notes Malmberg. “It’s a fire hazard and normally means that the house has to be completely rewired.” Not only is this a very expensive repair, but it’s one that many insurers will require you to make before they’ll issue a new insurance policy on the home. “This is also true for houses that have a fuse box instead of an electric panel with circuit breakers,” he adds.
• Structure and layout: According to Los Angeles-based agent Brandon Assanti, the quality of a home structure outweighs almost anything else. And if you feel you might need to move walls or do some major updates, you should figure out what your costs might be before you dive in. “In some cases it may be easy to move walls or expand/adjoin rooms to make the home feel more open, modern, and livable,” says Assanti. “But you never know the full extent of work necessary until you physically begin that process.” Along those lines, large massive cracks on floors or on walls don’t necessarily spell disaster — but they do reinforce the buyer’s need to investigate the property during their inspection period.
• Evidence of water damage: While water damage may be old and can sometimes be remedied fairly easily, you may not know the extent of any damage until you open up walls and check. Because of this, buying a home with water damage can be a real gamble.
• Foundation issues: “Stay away from a home that has any strong traces of foundation and structural issues,” says Garrett. “These homes can possibly lead to very large, out of pocket expenses.” And even if you plan to remedy the problem, you should also consider resale value. “Will a home with past foundation and structural issues scare away new potential buyers in the future?”

Beyond these obvious issues, you should look for updates that serve as nothing more than a cover-up, says Ruggie. While a neon green wall or room of purple trim shouldn’t scare anyone off, it’s well known that a fresh coat of paint is commonly used to hide problems and imperfections.

“Even if all is dry now, a few layers of paint can conceal some evidence of past instances that were never addressed,” says Ruggie.

The same can be said for other interior upgrades as well. A permanent mirror or wall hanging meant to hide problems or new rooms of drywall and skim coating meant to mask cracked walls are good examples of “cover-up jobs” made to look like upgrades.

As always, it pays to have a thorough home inspection that will uncover any of these issues before they become your problem. The upfront cost of an inspection (expect to pay a few hundred bucks) might make you queasy, but the costs of not having one can easily surge into tens – or even hundreds – of thousands of dollars if your home turns out to be a “money pit.”

Final Thoughts

With the housing market as competitive as it is, don’t immediately dismiss the ugly houses everyone else is overlooking. Cosmetic problems like gross carpets, an ugly paint job, or an outdated bathroom vanity can easily be remedied to your liking, but may turn off enough buyers to score you a lower price. Even scary-sounding problems like asbestos-wrapped pipes can often be fixed fairly cheaply.

Other problems, though, like a bad foundation, a wet basement, outdated wiring or plumbing — and, of course, location — are much more difficult to remedy.

Before you buy a home, it makes sense to figure out what you can live with – and what you desperately want to avoid.

What issues were you willing to overlook when you bought your home? Have you ever purchased a home with huge issues that needed fixed?

Related Articles:

• How Much House Can I Afford?
• What Common Home Repairs Cost (and How to Budget for Them)
• Why You Should Buy Less House Than You Can Afford
• How to Find the Best Mortgage Rates

The post Five Home Flaws Worth Overlooking for a Better Deal appeared first on The Simple Dollar.

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Here’s the Best Day to Shop for Wine, Ice Cream, Veggies and Other Groceries

If you’ve been following The Penny Hoarder for a while, you’ve doubtless heard us rave about Ibotta.

And for good reason: It’s a simple way save money on groceries — even super-healthy ones like produce and fresh meat.

The app couldn’t be easier to use. You just buy the things you need as usual, then snap a quick picture of your receipt on your cell phone. Click submit and boom: Cash back!

Quite a lot of cash back, as it turns out. The company just celebrated a big landmark: It’s distributed more than $100 million in rewards.

It took three years and a lot of receipts — about 50 million! — to get there. That means Ibotta has access to a ton of product pricing information. And its research team has made some pretty interesting observations from all that data.

Who knew, for instance, that Tuesday is actually the best day of the week?

Ibotta Reveals When and Where to Shop to Save Money on Groceries

Ibotta’s researchers used pricing information from user-submitted receipts to draw conclusions about where and when to buy items to get the very best deal.

For example, according to the study, you’ll most likely score the best bargain on a bottle of wine on Tuesday — and the best places to shop for it are Sam’s Club, Walmart and Walgreens.

Move over, Friday. There’s a new “TGI” contender in town.

Trying to stay safe in this ridiculous summer sun? The cheapest day to buy sunscreen is Monday, and your best bet shops are Target, Walmart and Dollar General.

Produce is cheapest on Wednesday and ice cream deals make Monday a little less painful…

… but the weekend, of course, is the most expensive time to shop.

You can find the full details in Ibotta’s nifty graphic below.

source: Ibotta

Strategically choosing which day to shop for which items is just the beginning — we’ve got tons of ways for you to save on groceries!

Deal-stack by shopping on the right day and also using coupons and a cash-back rewards credit card — and, of course, Ibotta itself!

If you do those four things, you’ll already be well ahead of the game.

But if you’re hungry for even more ideas, check out these ridiculous (but effective!) ways to save money on your groceries. For instance, betcha didn’t know you could earn $20 a month just for talking about your food!

Your Turn: Will you start buying ice cream on Monday?

Disclosure: Every time you click an affiliate link in this post, Kyle’s favorite Taco Bell order magically appears at his desk. OK, maybe that only happens in his dreams. But your clicks help us keep The Penny Hoarder HQ full, happy and working hard to help you save!

Jamie Cattanach is a staff writer at The Penny Hoarder. Her writing has also been featured at The Write Life, Word Riot and elsewhere. Find @JamieCattanach on Twitter to wave hello.

The post Here’s the Best Day to Shop for Wine, Ice Cream, Veggies and Other Groceries appeared first on The Penny Hoarder.

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Alumnus to bring athletic injury analysis to Stroudsburg High

While playing for his middle school football team, Scott Dietrich broke his hand in a game. The hand required a fiberglass casting and sidelined Dietrich for the next four weeks.Dietrich remembers hating having to wait for his hand to heal before he was allowed to play again, but in retrospect, it may have saved his life. He also suffered a concussion in that game, and playing again too soon could have caused him severe brain damage.From playing football all the way through to [...]

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Alumni brings athletic injury analysis to Stroudsburg High

While playing for his middle school football team, Scott Dietrich broke his hand in a game. The hand required a fiberglass casting and sidelined Dietrich for the next four weeks.Dietrich remembers hating having to wait for his hand to heal before he was allowed to play again, but in retrospect, it may have saved his life. He also suffered a concussion in that game, and playing again too soon could have caused him severe brain damage.From playing football all the way through to [...]

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Mount Airy slots score in July

Mount Airy outperformed the state in slots growth during July.The Paradise Township casino resort generated $13.9 million in slots revenues during the month, a 2.9 percent jump over July 2015, according to figures released Tuesday by the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board.The state’s lots revenues from its 12 licensed casinos rose 1.1 percent in July to $213.4 million, compared with July 2015 of $211 million. The small gain was somewhat surprising considering July had [...]

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Incoming Starbucks will relocate voters from Eastburg 1st, 2nd wards this November

The people’s right to vote won’t be stopped this Election Day by the thirst for a new coffee shop.But planned construction of a Starbucks coffee shop on the East Stroudsburg University campus could result in voters from East Stroudsburg’s first and second wards voting in a different section of Dansbury Commons on Nov. 8.Voters normally cast ballots in the lower level of Dansbury Commons. Campus cooking and dining facilities are located on the upper level of [...]

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Eastburg food pantry honors constables

Manuel Rodriguez of Delaware Water Gap and Sean Benjamin of East Stroudsburg were both raised to realize the importance of serving the community.That's why both became state constables.These are elected law enforcement officers who work with district courts, as opposed to officers hired to municipal police departments or troopers hired by the state and assigned to barracks. Like police, state constables are authorized to carry guns, make arrests, serve warrants, conduct [...]

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Pioneer Diner rolls along after 45 years

A Mount Pocono restaurant has something special to celebrate this Labor Day. September will mark almost half a century of business for the family-run diner.“This place will be 45 years old,” said Nick Korovesis, manager and chef for the Pioneer Diner. His father, Constantine, has, since 1971, owned the restaurant at 508 Pocono Boulevard.“All together I’ve been here about 30 of those years,” said Nick Korovesis. “I was thrown into it at [...]

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Deeds done

Barrett TownshipFannie Mae (By Atty, A/K/A) Federal National Mortgage Association, KML Law Group PC (Atty) to James Walsh, Lot 6, Final Plan Subdivision of Lands of Harry Howard, Parcel 01/113054, $215,000Chestnuthill TownshipLois M. Flynn to Jonathan Chou and Asami Kondo, Lot 47, Section II, Countryside, $280,000Amy Michetti to Barbara and Bryan Schultz, Lot 1, Final Plan, "Subdivision of Lands of Charles Cogan Jr." containing 3. [...]

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Birth announcements, Sunday, August 7, 2016

Grayson Lawrence BorgerBryan and Amber Borger of Effort announce the birth of a son on July 14 at Pocono Medical Center, weighing 10 pounds. The baby has been named Grayson Lawrence.Older child is Clayton.Their mother is the former Amber Heckman.Grandparents are: Mark and Gail Heckman of Effort; Duane and Michele Frable of Palmerton; and Dennis and Joye Borger of Kunkletown.Madison Hope RipleyWesley and Jillian [...]

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Inspiration from Pat Summitt, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Ralph Waldo Emerson, and More

Once a month (or so), I share a dozen things that have inspired me to greater personal, professional, and financial success in my life. I hope they bring similar success to your life.

1. Ralph Waldo Emerson on success

“To laugh often and much; to win the respect of intelligent people and the affection of children… to leave the world a better place… to know even one life has breathed easier because you have lived. This is to have succeeded.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson

I view success as leaving the world a better place than where I found it. Have I improved the lives of others? Have I contributed something to the world? Have those contributions been worth the negatives I have brought – the waste I’ve produced and so on?

I’d like to think so, but I’m not sure. That sense of not being sure gets me up in the morning. It motivates me. It makes me want to make sure that today is a day where I do something positive in the world.

2. Van Gogh’s paintings redone with a “tilt-shift” effect

Recently, a friend of mine showed me this set of wonderful images of van Gogh’s paintings redone using a “tilt-shift” effect in what I assume must be Photoshop, though this is a Photoshop technique that’s out of my rudimentary image processing skill set. I find these images hauntingly beautiful, as they take some of the paintings I most love in the world and transform them in stunning ways.

I was able to figure out that these alterations were done by a reddit user named melonshade; kudos to him or her for the absolutely stunning works. Melonshade claims to have primarily used the blur tool within Photoshop to create these effects, which must have taken some time. It certainly produced some amazing results.

In fact, I actually wouldn’t mind having prints of a few of these on my walls, though I have no idea as to the legality of selling prints of such works. Images like these – digital modifications of digital reproductions of old paintings – get into really strange areas of copyright.

3. John Steinbeck on summer and winter

“What good is the warmth of summer, without the cold of winter to give it sweetness.” – John Steinbeck

I actually think the reverse is true as well, but I’m a northern Midwesterner, so by default I appreciate the cold weather.

In a broader sense, though, it’s all about being on both sides of the fence so that you can see that the grass is always greener on the other side. On a scorching hot summer day, I sometimes long for winter. On a frigid winter day, I sometimes long for summer.

The truth is that they both bring something wonderful to the table, something I wouldn’t really trade for anything else. The promise of summer makes winter bearable, and the promise of winter makes summer bearable. The truth is that both are wonderful and it’s only the extended periods of extreme weather that really make me desire the other.

4. Tom Hulme on what we can learn from shortcuts

From the description:

How do you build a product people really want? Allow consumers to be a part of the process. “Empathy for what your customers want is probably the biggest leading indicator of business success,” says designer Tom Hulme. In this short talk, Hulme lays out three insightful examples of the intersection of design and user experience, where people have developed their own desire paths out of necessity. Once you know how to spot them, you’ll start noticing them everywhere.

You really need to watch this video. Hulme lays out a concept called a “desire path” that is going to stick in your head. You’re going to see it over and over and over again in life once you understand what it is.

What I find interesting is that these things don’t just pop up in physical paths. They pop up on websites. They pop up in our own time use. They pop up in how we do our work and how we spend our time. Desire paths are everywhere.

To me, it’s just another way of looking at the idea of “the path of least resistance.” People are going to consistently root out the method of least effort to get the result that they want. You do it yourself, and so do I. The real question is what we can learn from those paths of least resistance. What is it saying about what we desire? What is it saying about how we do things?

Look at what you do every day. You can learn a ton.

5. Abraham Lincoln on preparation

“Give me six hours to chop down a tree and I will spend the first four sharpening the axe.” – Abraham Lincoln

This is a quote that I see popping up from time to time in email signatures or in the forewords of books. It’s a quote all about the value of preparation, of course; a sharp axe will be far more effective than a dull one, so much so that the time spent in sharpening the axe will more than pay for itself later on.

I learn that all the time in almost everything that I do. The more I prepare to write an article, for example, the faster by far the writing process actually is, so much so that in the end it’s actually shorter to go through a sensible process for preparing the article.

The trick, for me, is figuring out when to stop sharpening my axe and to start cutting. I fully understand the value of axe sharpening, but sometimes I tend to sharpen too much, not leaving myself adequate time for the task at hand.

6. Tristan Harris on how better technology could protect us from distraction

From the descriotion:

How often does technology interrupt us from what we really mean to be doing? At work and at play, we spend a startling amount of time distracted by pings and pop-ups — instead of helping us spend our time well, it often feels like our tech is stealing it away from us. Design thinker Tristan Harris offers thoughtful new ideas for technology that creates more meaningful interaction. He asks: “What does the future of technology look like when you’re designing for the deepest human values?”

My cell phone is a giant distraction. In fact, quite often, when I need to work, I literally put my cell phone in another room. I don’t need to hear the beeps or dings from my phone because the vast majority of the things that my phone tells me are urgent but not in the least bit important.

What I would love is a phone that’s truly smart enough to only actually alert me when there’s something genuinely important happening. A phone that can figure out when something is truly important and only lets me know about those things would be great. I’d still want to be able to review the less important things, but on my own terms.

For me, the risk of missing something important – something more important than the task I’m working on at the moment – is pretty small, so it’s worth it for me to just drop distractions entirely. It’s sad that it has to be that way, that there’s no way to be connected and not distracted, and it’s a useful puzzle to solve, because when it’s actually solved, it will make technology far, far more useful than ever before.

7. Marcus Aurelius on pain

“If you are distressed by anything external, the pain is not due to the thing itself, but to your estimate of it; and this you have the power to revoke at any moment.” ― Marcus Aurelius

There is a lot of pain in life. Physical. Emotional. Spiritual. It can add up and really drag you down.

The number one most valuable skill I have ever learned in my life is the ability to put it out of my mind for a while. It doesn’t matter how bad things are screaming, I can shut down pain for at least a while when I want to.

When I was a little kid, I had an extremely painful surgery. During the recovery process, my doctor told me that it was going to hurt a lot in the coming weeks. It did. I put it out of my mind a lot in those weeks. At first, it was just to give me peace to rest. Soon afterwards, it was to give me peace while I did things with friends. Eventually, I found that the pain wasn’t there at all.

I’ve done the same thing with lots of different pains in my life. I woke up once in such bad back pain that I literally couldn’t bend myself into a standing position for fifteen minutes. I then proceeded to fly cross country that day while carrying several heavy bags through the airport on both ends of the flight.

I had a girl dump me once. I thought it was the end of the world. I put it out of my mind and within three days my future wife had asked me out on a date. She didn’t know that anything was bothering me.

You can revoke the pain in your life if you want to, at least for a little while. You can sink it and submerge it and perhaps find that you really can deal with it.

8. Pat Summitt on losing

“Losing strengthens you. It reveals your weaknesses so you can fix them.” – Pat Summitt

A few days ago, I was joking about the graveyard of other blogs that I attempted to launch over the years, either prior to The Simple Dollar or even after The Simple Dollar launched.

I had a blog devoted to parenting issues (that one was actually kind of successful). I had a blog devoted to board gaming (an utter failure). I had one devoted to personal productivity (it had potential, but it ended up being more useful to me than to anyone else, I think). I had one devoted to philosophical issues (I deeply, deeply enjoyed writing this one – it had almost no readers).

All of those blogs failed for various reasons, most of them related to time, but at least in part due to the fact that they just didn’t catch on for one reason or another. Maybe the topic was too narrow, for instance, or maybe I didn’t promote it.

Each time I saw a blog fail, though, I learned something. I learned about how not to attract an audience. I learned about good topic selection. I learned about how to write in a way that engaged people.

And, from all of that, The Simple Dollar was born. It rests on a foundation of a lot of failure.

I failed. Many times. It strengthened me. It made everything I did after that much stronger.

9. Sajay Samuel on how college loans exploit students for profit

From the description:

“Once upon a time in America,” says professor Sajay Samuel, “going to college did not mean graduating with debt.” Today, higher education has become a consumer product — costs have skyrocketed, saddling students with a combined debt of over $1 trillion, while universities and loan companies make massive profits. Samuel proposes a radical solution: link tuition costs to a degree’s expected earnings, so that students can make informed decisions about their future, restore their love of learning and contribute to the world in a meaningful way.

10. Buddha on happiness

“Thousands of candles can be lit from a single candle, and the life of the candle will not be shortened. Happiness never decreases by being shared.” – Buddha

There is literally no cost to me to be happy in public. There’s no cost to me to smile at someone. There’s no cost to me to laugh at someone’s joke. There’s no cost to me to express sympathy to someone. There’s no cost to me to stop and ask someone if they need help.

Each one of those things, though, offers a huge benefit. Each one of those things makes someone else’s life better. It makes them smile, too. It makes them feel self-confident. It makes them feel less confused. It makes them feel like someone cares about their problems.

If these things can happen with literally no cost to you, why not take that step to make them happen. Smile. Listen. Share condolences. Laugh. Give some simple help. It doesn’t cost you anything, but it makes the lives of everyone around you a little better, and the waves will eventually bounce back to you.

11. Daisy

Over the years, I’ve tried out a bunch of habit-promoting apps that were designed to encourage me to build better personal habits and routines, like making sure that I exercise each day and such. These are things that I sometimes put into my to-do list, but, honestly, it’s kind of weird to have a to-do to remind me to floss. I want that habit to just become natural over a long period of time, just something I do each day.

I think Daisy is that app.

It basically just sits on your phone and sends you reminders of the things you’re trying to do each day. I find myself flipping over to that app each time a reminder comes up just to see what I missed, and usually I just do it to take care of it.

The whole app is about as simple as can be. It also generates good statistics along the way, so it’s good for “chaining” sequential days of good habit performance.

In other words, it’s basically the perfect habit building app, in my opinion. It’s free, too, unless you are wanting to build a ton of habits at once, in which case it’s $3.

12. Dietrich Bonhoeffer on regarding others

“We must learn to regard people less in the light of what they do or omit to do, and more in the light of what they suffer.” – Dietrich Bonhoeffer

This quote has been the signature of my email for the last year or two. It’s been changing and shaping the way I look at other people.

The truth is that everyone you meet has been through some sort of pain in their life, and some have been through far more than others. Everyone has the capacity to bear some burdens, but sometimes people have more thrown on their shoulders than they can stand.

As human beings, even if we’re not willing or able to help that person, the least we can do is respect that person. It is far, far too easy to judge someone else through the eyes of our own experiences and burdens, because that’s all we have. It’s very likely that the person you see on the street, having been given your burdens and your advantages, might have turned out very much like you. But they weren’t given those burdens and they weren’t given those advantages.

The vast, vast majority of people are trying to do the best they can with the situation they’re in, with the burdens they’re carrying and with the advantages they have. Some people simply have fewer advantages and more burdens, often through no fault of their own.

Keep that in mind as you interact with the people around you. Ask yourself what burdens they carry. You might end up seeing that person a little differently, and that might end up shaping how you see the world a little bit, too.

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What Is a Balance Transfer (and Should I Consider It)?

If you’re struggling with high-interest debt, a balance transfer credit card could be the solution to your problem. By moving balances from your high-interest credit cards to a balance transfer credit card, you can score a 0% interest rate for 12 to 21 months, buying you time to make faster progress on your debt – or even pay it off entirely. Not only can you do this with minimal or even zero fees, but you can save hundreds – or even thousands – of dollars in interest during your balance transfer’s introductory offer.

Many consumers are hesitant to get another credit card when they’re already in debt, however, and that makes sense. With yet another credit card in your wallet, you could potentially get even further into debt, right?

That’s absolutely true, if you’re not careful and disciplined. Yet many people have learned how to use a balance transfer to their advantage. As with anything else, there are certain rules you should follow when you transfer a balance, and best practices that keep you from spiraling back into debt. We’ll get to some of those tips in a minute.

How a Balance Transfer Works

Let’s start with how this process works. When you’re ready to transfer a balance, the first thing you’ll do is shop around for a new balance transfer credit card. While there are several criteria to consider, the biggest factors worth mentioning are the length of the card’s introductory 0% interest offer, and the card’s associated transfer fees. Let’s look at a few specific cards to illustrate how a balance transfer works in real life.

As an example, the Citi® Diamond Preferred Card® offers 0% interest on transferred balances for a full 21 months. However, it charges a balance transfer fee equal to 3% of the balance. The Chase Slate®, on the other hand, offers 0% intro APR for 15 months, but doesn’t charge a balance transfer fee in the first 60 days. Neither card charges an annual fee, and both cards revert back to normal interest rates (between 13% and 21%) once your introductory period ends.

Let’s say you owe $10,000 in credit card debt at an 18% interest rate — you would likely benefit from transferring that debt to a card with a 0% introductory APR.

If you chose the Citi® Diamond Preferred Card® for your balance transfer, you’d get 21 months to pay off your debt at 0% APR, but you would need to pay a 3% balance transfer fee — equal to $300. Over a 21-month timeline, you’d have to pay around $490 per month to pay off your entire $10,000 balance plus the $300 balance transfer fee. But at the end of those 21 months, you’d be entirely debt-free.

By comparison, if you paid $490 a month for 21 months at the original 18% interest rate, you’d have to keep paying for another four months — almost $2,000 more — before you vanquished the original $10,000 balance.

With the Chase Slate®, meanwhile, you wouldn’t have to pay a balance transfer fee for the first 60 days. On the flip side though, the 0% introductory APR period is markedly shorter. To become debt-free within this card’s 15-month 0% intro APR period, you’d need to pay $666 per month.

The right card and offer for your situation will mostly depend on how much you can afford to pay each month and which offer works best for your needs. As you shop for a balance transfer credit card, make sure to read the fine print and understand each offer in its entirety.

Tips for Getting the Most Out of a Balance Transfer

While a balance transfer might seem like a no-brainer, there are plenty of ways for this strategy to go awry. If you don’t change your habits and continue using credit to spend more than you can afford, for example, you have very little chance of improving your situation.

To make a balance transfer work, you have to dedicate yourself to using your card’s 0% APR offer to actually pay off the debt. Here are some tips that can help:

• Don’t forget to factor fees into the equation. As you search for the best balance transfer card for your needs, don’t forget to factor in fees. While at least one card doesn’t charge a balance transfer fee, others charge fees equal to 3% to 5% of the transferred balance. Needless to say, these fees can add up fast on a big balance.
• Choose the best card for your needs. After you factor in balance transfer fees, you should also look for cards that offer 0% APR for the longest time possible. With more months at 0% APR, you’ll have more time to pay down the debt without paying a dime in interest.
• Quit using credit cards for purchases. This might be the most important rule to follow. Once you transfer your balances, you must stop using your credit cards for additional purchases. If you continue using your credit cards as you once did, you’ll keep racking up more debt. If you want to stop digging yourself deeper into debt, you must break the cycle and stick to a cash budget instead.
• Make sure to pay all of your bills on time. The single biggest factor in your FICO credit score is your payment history, so it’s crucial to pay all of your bills on time. Beyond that, paying bills on time can help you avoid late fees and penalty interest rates. If your goal is getting out of debt, you don’t need any new fees in your life anyway.
• Keep old accounts open – even if you’re not using them. Once you transfer balances from your old cards, you might be tempted to shut them down. Before you do, however, realize that closing old credit card accounts can shorten your credit history and lower your utilization ratio, and thus, lower your credit score. To keep those old accounts working in your favor, keep them open — just don’t use them. (You can cut up the cards or hide them in a drawer to ward off temptation.)

The Bottom Line

A balance transfer can be an absolute lifesaver if you use it wisely, but it may not make a large impact if you continue using your credit cards and racking up debt. To get the most out of these offers, you have to change the way you think about and use credit. And most of all, you have to change the way you spend.

Have you ever used a balance transfer credit card? Why or why not?

Related Articles:

• Best Balance Transfer Credit Cards for 2016
• Five Steps You Should Take Immediately After Doing a Balance Transfer
• How to Save Money With a Balance Transfer
• In What Order Should I Pay off My Debts?

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Got a Parking Ticket? This Robot Lawyer Will Fight It for You — for Free

By the time he was 18, London native Joshua Browder had garnered 30 parking tickets.

“When I started driving, I thought I knew everything about the roads, and I didn’t,” Browder, now 19, says. “It was a combination of my carelessness and the unfair nature of the tickets.”

The self-taught coder decided to take matters into his own hands. So he created DoNotPay, the world’s first robot lawyer programmed to fight parking tickets. Then he started getting tickets on purpose to test his new system.

Thanks to DoNotPay, he ended up paying only 14 of those parking tickets. And now, his program helps other drivers fight their tickets, too.

DoNotPay Helps Drivers Fight Parking Tickets — For Free

In nine months, DoNotPay has helped appeal more than 160,000 tickets in the United Kingdom, worth about $4 million, according to Browder. And it’s won 64% of those appeals.

And most importantly to Browder, DoNotPay is free.

“Parking tickets are issued to rake in money for local governments, but that’s what taxes are for,” he says. “Some of the most vulnerable people in society are getting tickets, and that’s not fair.”

How DoNotPay Works

DoNotPay is a chatbot, which is a program that automatically generates an appeal to your parking ticket based on the way you answer a few quick questions.

To get started, visit donotpay.co.uk and sign up or log in. The program will then guide you through simple multiple choice questions.

Where was the ticket issued?

Which of these best describes why you shouldn’t receive a parking ticket?

For the second question, you’ll select an answer from 12 options ranging from “The parking bay was too small” to “Missing details on the ticket” to “I was travelling [sic] to the hospital urgently.”

Answer a few more questions until it’s time to type in your name, citation number, street of offense and the offense itself. Then click “generate appeal.”

The bot chugs through the information you’ve entered and generates either an appeal for you to copy and paste into your city’s online form or a printable version you can mail.

It all depends on jurisdiction, but, either way, you’ll receive directions as to what to do next.

DoNotPay Comes to the United States

Browder still can’t believe the number of people who are using his little coding project — which is why he plans to expand.

“It’s amazing how much parking tickets anger people,” Browder says. But he never expected his side project — something to show off to his friends — to explode and help an exponential number of people.

Last month, the chatbot launched in New York City.

It’s a bit of a test to see if his system and handle the “biggest kind of crookery,” as Browden describes New York.

“If it can work there, it can work anywhere,” he says.

He plans to debut DoNotPay in Seattle later this year and says Los Angeles is on the horizon.

It takes Browder two to three months to master the parking regulations in each city and devise the code to work with them. Luckily, he now has many lawyers on his side who want to help out in their time off.

Plus, DoNotPay Isn’t His Only Chatbot

In addition to the parking ticket system, Browden has created an interface to help people with flight delay compensation — also for free.

Browden also devised a system that allows those who are HIV-positive to prove they’ve disclosed that information to their partner (since not doing so can be punishable by law in several countries, as well as 35 states).

He’s also exploring an interface to help refugees navigate foreign legal systems.

But these are all just side jobs, really. He’s not even getting paid.

Browden plans to start his second year at Stanford University in the fall. Naturally, he’s studying economics and computer science.

Talk about an overachiever.

Your Turn: Have you ever fought a parking ticket? What happened?

Carson Kohler (@CarsonKohler) is a junior writer at The Penny Hoarder. After recently completing graduate school, she focuses on saving money — and surviving the move back in with her parents.

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