How a Meaningful Morning Routine Can Set The Stage for Financial, Professional, and Personal Success

The first few hours of each of my days are set in stone.

I wake up at 6 AM on the dot. (Some mornings, I awaken a bit earlier, and if I do, I usually read in bed for a little while.) I try really hard to just sit up and not hit “snooze” on my alarm.

Upon waking, I use the restroom and do some basic hygiene, then I head downstairs and drink a huge glass of water. I then head into my office, close the door, and meditate for ten minutes.

After that, I scan my email to see if there are any absolute emergencies happening and, if there aren’t any, I catch up on the day’s news. At about 6:45, I set three goals for the day, then I make sure my kids are awake and help them with their morning routine until they’re out the door.

After that, I write. I write in roughly one hour blocks with fifteen minute breaks in the middle, during which I do household chores, and that fills my morning. (In the afternoon, I write some more and usually finish by outlining the next article or two so that I can just sit down and start dropping words the next morning.)

I follow this exact routine each weekday morning and only a slight variation on it on weekend mornings (I do the same routine except I skip the morning routine with the kids and jump straight to the writing until everyone else in the house is awake.) I firmly believe that this routine is absolutely vital for me getting my day started off on the right foot, because whenever this routine fails, I spend the entire day feeling out of whack and unproductive.

In the afternoon, I’m much less intense. Rather than doing things I have to do, I focus more on things that I want to do. Afternoons are when I learn. They’re when I do mild exercise that I really enjoy. They’re when I sometimes just do something fun and personally enjoyable. They’re when I spend time purely focused on my kids.

In other words, my morning – and my morning routine – is focused on making sure I’ve taken care of the things in life that I need to get done, while my afternoon and evening is focused on the things in life that I want to get done.

Why a Morning Routine Works

The reason that I try to pack my day in this way – a morning routine where I handle needs, a freeform afternoon where I handle wants – is that it takes advantage of the normal mental and physical changes that happen to me over the course of the day. The thing is, these mental and physical changes happen to most people.

In the paper Ego depletion and the strength model of self-control: a meta-analysis, the authors (Hagger et. al.) offer up the following analysis (don’t worry, I’ll parse it out more clearly in a moment):

According to the strength model, self-control is a finite resource that determines capacity for effortful control over dominant responses and, once expended, leads to impaired self-control task performance, known as ego depletion. A meta-analysis of 83 studies tested the effect of ego depletion on task performance and related outcomes, alternative explanations and moderators of the effect, and additional strength model hypotheses. Results revealed a significant effect of ego depletion on self-control task performance. Significant effect sizes were found for ego depletion on effort, perceived difficulty, negative affect, subjective fatigue, and blood glucose levels. Small, nonsignificant effects were found for positive affect and self-efficacy. Moderator analyses indicated minimal variation in the effect across sphere of depleting and dependent task, frequently used depleting and dependent tasks, presentation of tasks as single or separate experiments, type of dependent measure and control condition task, and source laboratory. The effect size was moderated by depleting task duration, task presentation by the same or different experimenters, intertask interim period, dependent task complexity, and use of dependent tasks in the choice and volition and cognitive spheres. Motivational incentives, training on self-control tasks, and glucose supplementation promoted better self-control in ego-depleted samples. Expecting further acts of self-control exacerbated the effect. Findings provide preliminary support for the ego-depletion effect and strength model hypotheses. Support for motivation and fatigue as alternative explanations for ego depletion indicate a need to integrate the strength model with other theories. Findings provide impetus for future investigation testing additional hypotheses and mechanisms of the ego-depletion effect.

The idea in the paper is that during a given day, we have a finite amount of self-control that depletes throughout the day. That depletion can be measured physically in terms of things like blood glucose levels as well as mentally in terms of things like perceived task difficulty.

After a good night of sleep, our self-control “tank” is full and we gradually burn it throughout the day. Every time we don’t simply take the most pleasurable path in that moment, we’re using a bit of that self-control. When we make ourselves go to work, we’re using a bit of self-control. When we bear down on a task instead of dawdling, we’re using a bit of self-control. When we stick to a grocery list at the grocery store, we’re using a bit of self-control.

Eventually, the tank starts running low. It gets harder to exhibit self-control. Our mind starts wandering in the afternoons. We come home and have to really push ourselves through the things we need to do in the early evening. We often then find ourselves camped out on the couch watching television or browsing social media on our phones. Our self-control is basically gone at that point. (This is the part of the day where I’ll find myself playing video games or reading page-turner pulp fiction, for instance.)

“Need” to Do Versus “Want” to Do

So, let’s bring this back to the things that are on your agenda for today. They generally fall into two groups: things you need to do and things you want to do.

The things you need to do are things that you simply have to take care of in order for today to seem like a successful day. They have to be done, whether you like it or not. Many professional tasks fall into this category (the “un-fun” parts of your job) as do many personal tasks (like laundry… seriously, I don’t know anyone who relishes doing laundry).

The things you want to do are things that, as you’re doing them, bring positivity into your life. You actually enjoy doing them and look forward to them. These include the best parts of your job, some of your personal tasks, and most things that involve leisure and your personal hobbies.

You need to restock the shelves at work. You want to binge-watch that series on Netflix. It’s simple.

The idea behind building a morning routine is to make sure that you’re doing the things you need to do for a successful day in the morning when you still have a lot of self-control in your tank. Then, you can leave the things you want to do for later in the day when the self-control is flagging – the simple desire to do those things will help you to still do them.

For example, many people put exercise in their morning routine because they feel they need to do it, but they have a hard time mustering the self-control to do it later in the day when their self-control begins to run out. I put it in the afternoon because it’s something I want to do – I love going on a long, brisk walk while thinking about something in my life or listening to a podcast.

The Value of a Morning Routine

Given that idea, the reason for a morning routine makes sense. A morning routine is simply filled with the important things that you have to do in life – the tasks that are unpleasant or require a lot of focus to complete. You accomplish them early while your self-control is still really high and you create a strong sense of achievement early in the day.

For me, my morning routine is when I take care of things that absolutely have to be done, when I try to establish positive habits, and when I take care of things that require the most focus. I am lucky – there are very few things in my life that I truly dislike doing, so I don’t have to fill my mornings with them.

The thing that requires the most focus for me is actual writing – transforming an outline of ideas into an article and then editing that article into something more readable and pleasant. (I can brainstorm and create outlines when my self-control is slowing down, so I often do that in the afternoon.) I also need focus when I’m doing things that involve spending, like going to the grocery store, because I’ll easily make bad spending choices when I spend when my self-control is lower.

So, before we start talking about implementing a morning routine, ask yourself these three questions.

What things do you want or need to take care of every day in your life? Your job is probably part of this, as are positive personal habits that you’re trying to establish, like exercise.

Which of those are ones that you find hardest to motivate yourself to do? What are the hardest tasks to complete? What ones really require focus but you have a hard time producing that focus? Also, which ones are new to your life?

Which of those are ones that you relish and enjoy? What parts of your life do you really enjoy?

Those three questions will help you devise a great, meaningful morning routine.

What Goes Into a Good Morning Routine?

There are three key elements to a good morning routine.

The first element is making sure you’re physically and mentally alert when you get up. This involves different things for different people. For me, that involves using the bathroom, brushing my teeth, drinking a bunch of water, and doing mindful meditation for ten minutes.

The second element is setting the stage for what you want to achieve for the rest of the day. I do this by checking my to-do list and then deciding on three main goals for the day. Usually, those three goals are large tasks I need to do, often two professional and one personal. Those are the central focus of my day.

The third element is taking on the hardest tasks first. This way, you’re tackling the hardest tasks when your self-control is the strongest. After I’ve set the stage for the day, I then move on to taking on the tasks that require the most focus and hard work and I do them first while my self-control is still really high. I leave the other tasks that require less self-control until later in the day. So, for example, I do high-focus work tasks and tasks that involve financial responsibility as early as I can in the day and I save more “fun” tasks like brainstorming and learning for later in the day.

So, how can you build a morning routine that really works for you and sets you up for successful days?

Step One: Physical and Mental Alertness

The best way to start your day is to get yourself into a physically and mentally alert state so that you feel good, you know that your self-control is in a good place, and you’re ready to tackle the challenges of the day.

Here are some suggested elements:

Don’t keep hitting the snooze button. Set your alarm for when you actually need to get up and, when the alarm goes off, get up. Make yourself sit up and put your feet on the floor before you ever touch your alarm clock. Laying in bed in a semi-awake state isn’t restful; in fact, it adds to the stress of the day because you’ve lost that time.

Take a shower. Many people find that a morning shower makes them feel more alert and ready for the day. I’ve tried this, but I find that showering later in the day after I exercise works better for me. Different people are wired differently.

Brush your teeth or perform other basic hygiene. Similarly, basic hygiene tasks like brushing your teeth or using floss or washing your face can really help with bringing about both physical and mental alertness. I almost always start the day by brushing my teeth and splashing water on my face.

Drink some water, coffee, or tea, depending on your tastes. I’m a morning water person. My wife is a morning coffee person. We both consume beverages because it raises our alertness. For me, the hydration really helps with alertness; for my wife, the caffeine and heat of the coffee raises her mental state.

Do some mild exercise or stretching. Some people like to use exercise as a tool to raise mental and physical alertness first thing in the morning. I usually just stretch for a few minutes, as that seems to have the same effect for me in terms of raising alertness. I usually just sit on the floor with my legs stretched out and try to touch my toes and I also do a few basic yoga poses.

Mindfully meditate. To me, this is the key to mental alertness to start the day. I do this for ten minutes in the morning and usually for ten minutes around midday. It’s simple: I just turn off all distractions, sit in a comfortable place, close my eyes, and focus entirely on my breathing. If I feel my mind wandering away, I become aware of it and bring my focus back to my breathing. To me, this feels like doing “reps” with my mind and it really helps with building one’s ability to be alert and focused over the long term.

Step Two: Set the Stage

The second element of a good morning routine is to set the stage for the day to come. What is it that you need to achieve today? What are the most important things you need to do? This is a great thing to assess, because then you can choose from among those items and do the ones that require the most focus first.

Here are some suggested elements:

Set one to three key goals for the day. What are the key things you want to achieve before the end of the day? They might be personal. They might be professional. They might even be related to other spheres of life. Set those as your personal goals. I usually try to set three of them each day. Typically one to two of them are professional, one is personal, and the other one varies.

Check your to-do list for tasks you need to complete. I use a to-do list manager to keep my multitude of tasks organized. I’ll check this list so I know what things I need to do today. These are usually smaller tasks that don’t really make sense as the focus for the day.

Quickly review your email and messages to make sure there aren’t any absolute emergencies to handle. I do this now because, when I move on to taking on the hard tasks, I turn off my phone and email so that I can focus better on those tasks. If there’s a true emergency, I deal with it right away; if not, I don’t look at messages again until mid-day at the earliest. I don’t get anything done if I’m constantly interrupted by fresh emails and messages.

Step Three: Take on the Hard Tasks

At the start of your day, your self-control is as strong as it will be all day long, so use it! Put that self-control to work and knock out some of the key things you need to take care of.

Here are some suggested elements:

Exercise. Many people struggle to take the first step to exercise, so try doing it early in the morning when you have the self-control that you need to get you started. This is true for any tough daily routine you’re trying to implement.

Turn off distractions. Turn off your phone entirely. Close your email program and your social media sites. The goal is to focus on the tasks at hand, not to have your attention pulled away by the latest text or social media alert.

Do the most difficult task on your agenda first. What’s the hardest task you have to face today? You can define “hardest” however you’d like; for me, it’s the task that requires the most focus to complete efficiently. Do that task first.

Make spending decisions. If you need to shop, do it as early in the day as possible while your self-control is high. In the evening, when self-control is lower, you’ll have no reason to go to the store or visit e-commerce websites.

Do “un-fun” work and home tasks. Yes, some tasks simply aren’t enjoyable. We all have specific work tasks and home tasks we don’t like. Do them early so that they’re out of the way and the more tolerable tasks are the ones that are left.

Final Thoughts

A good morning routine sets you up for a successful day in every sphere of your life. It ensures that you get the important things done. It helps you motivate yourself to take on new habits and routines. It helps you to avoid bad spending choices. It leaves you with an afternoon and evening full of much more tolerable tasks and free time, perfect for when your self-control is naturally lower. In short, a morning routine can make you much more personally, financially, and professionally successful.

Consider using the ideas above to develop a strong morning routine for yourself so that you can enjoy all of the benefits, financial and otherwise. Good luck!

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Jackson Hewitt is Hiring Work-From-Home Reps in 21 States for Tax Season

Hold onto your receipts and pay stubs, folks — tax season is rapidly approaching.

Don’t have any pay stubs but want to get in on the action? It’s not too late: Jackson Hewitt is hiring seasonal, part-time, work-from-home customer service representatives.

Nope, you don’t have to miss your family’s Thanksgiving feast or bizarre Christmas Eve tradition with this seasonal gig. It actually begins in January and runs anywhere from three weeks to four months, depending on business needs.

And before you continue, I’m really sorry — there are some state boundaries.

You must live in Alabama, Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Missouri, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas and Virginia.

What Do Seasonal Customer Service Associates Do for Jackson Hewitt?

Jackson Hewitt aims to help clients with tax refunds and boasts the title of fastest-growing, full-service tax preparation company. You might have seen its station in your local Walmart.

With tax season fast approaching, the company needs seasonal, part-time, work-from-home customer service associates who will help customers via phone.

You’ll work to solve technical issues and answer any and all questions. Don’t worry, there’s training — so you’ll figure it all out in no time.

Our editorial fellow, Kaitlyn Perta, reached out to Jackson Hewitt to find out about the number of available positions and pay. She spoke with a customer service representative who said the company is attempting to fill 45 positions.

He also said the pay starts at $11 an hour.

Necessary Qualifications to Work for Jackson Hewitt

First off, you’ll need a high school diploma or GED.

You also have to apply with a home address listed within one of the states mentioned above. You’ll need to have a “distraction free” home workspace, too.

Jackson Hewitt would also prefer if you have at least a year of call center experience, but it’s not required.

You do, however, have to be comfortable working with and in multiple browsers and tabs, as well as with instant messenger tools. You also need to know your way around Windows and Microsoft Outlook.

More specific tech specs include an Intel Pentium IV 1500 mhz processor, 2 GBs or higher. Your screen resolution needs to 1024×768 or higher. All of these are pretty common. (Find more features in the job listing.)

Finally, you need to be pretty flexible when it comes to hours and days — days, afternoons, evenings, weekends, overtime (maybe).

However, you’ll be working from home, so no need to get all spiffy before heading into the office.

Find more information and join the talent network online to be considered.

Also, shoutout to Work at Home Mom Revolution — where we found this sweet gig.

For more work-from-home jobs, stop by our Facebook jobs page.

Your Turn: Are you ready for tax season?

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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Sick of Online Trolls? This Work-From-Home Job Will Pay You To Stop Them

Following your favorite brands on social media is a great way to stay updated on their latest deals and news.

Unfortunately, it’s also a great way to see the worst side of some of their other customers.

Hateful, rude and just plain unnecessary comments abound on social media, sometimes drowning out the good conversations and valuable information you want.

A new company — BrandBastion — offers a solution, and now you can be part of it.

Be a Customer Success Manager at BrandBastion

BrandBastion specializes in brand protection on social media.

It promises to “remove harmful user-generated content such as spam, racism, scam attempts and competitor promotions from clients’ social media posts …  within eight minutes, 24/7.”

That’s where the customer success manager comes in.

In this position, you would develop and maintain relationships with clients — “some of the world’s coolest and most innovative companies” — and help protect them on social media.

The startup is looking for quick learners, since trends and algorithms on social media evolve almost constantly. You should also be familiar with and have a genuine interest in social media and online marketing.

This is a remote position so you can work from anywhere.

A few times per year, you’ll need to fly to customers, who are mostly located in California and New York, and to company headquarters in Palo Alto or Helsinki, Finland.

Pay and Benefits

In addition to travel, this social media job comes with the benefit of getting in on the ground floor with a VC-backed company in a new industry. It’s a fit for anyone who likes to learn — fast — and be part of developing a growing company.

“This position is not for you if you are looking for a 9 to 5 job,” the company warns in its listing.

The listing promises a “competitive salary,” but no specifics, and doesn’t mention other benefits, so we suspect this is a part-time or contract position. We reached out to the company for details, but haven’t heard back as of this writing.

Are you ready to “make the world a better place by offering an efficient solution for fighting scammers and trolls on social media”?

To apply: Fill out the online application here.

Want to be the first to know about other fun and interesting jobs like this? Like The Penny Hoarder Jobs on Facebook to stay in the loop!

Your Turn: Would you take a job fighting internet trolls?

Dana Sitar (@danasitar) is a staff writer at The Penny Hoarder. She’s written for Huffington Post, Entrepreneur.com, Writer’s Digest and more, attempting humor wherever it’s allowed (and sometimes where it’s not).

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This Site Will Pay You $2,700/Year to Watch Videos Online. For Real

What’s your favorite way to relax after a long day at work?

If you’re like many of us, it’s sitting in front of the TV.

Watching the tube may be relaxing — but what if you could earn money for watching videos? Wouldn’t that be even better?

We’ve discovered a way you could earn an extra $2,700 per year just by watching videos online.

Here’s how to get started…

How to Make Make Money Watching Videos

Swagbucks is a website that pays users to answer surveys, search the internet — and, luckily for you — watch videos.

For performing these tasks, the company pays you in a rewards currency called “SB.”

You can redeem SB for a variety of gift cards to stores like Amazon and Target, or simply get paid cash through Paypal.

Here’s how to get started:

1. Sign up for Swagbucks

Click here to sign up for Swagbucks. All that’s required is your name and email address.

Plus, you’ll get $5 just for signing up!

2. Choose Your Videos

If you sign up through the link above, you’ll immediately be taken to the “Watch” page, where you can see the wide array of videos available on the platform.

Everything from the presidential debates to cooking shows to beauty tutorials is right there for your viewing (and earning!) pleasure.

3. Watch and Earn

For each video you watch, you’ll earn SB (as mentioned above, these are points you can eventually turn into cash).

I decided to click on the thumbnail of Blake Shelton and Gwen Stefani (go ahead, judge me!). Just for watching a series of videos about a fun topic, I earned 2 SB.

Keep doing that — even in the background, while you answer email or browse Facebook — and your points will start stacking up.

More specifically, here’s how much you could earn per day:

• Desktop watch: 500 SB

• SwagButton: 150 SB

• nCrave: Unlimited (average: 15 SB)

• nGage: Unlimited (average: 15 SB)

• Apps (7): 10 SB each = 70 SB

Total Daily Earnings: 750 SB

Those 750 SB can be redeemed for $7.50 in cash. So, if you watched videos for a whole year (even with a few days off!), you could earn $2,700.

What would you do with an extra $2,700 right now?

Would you pay off a credit card? Go on a cruise? Send your kids to summer camp? The possibilities are endless.

Click here to learn more and see if Swagbucks is right for you.

Your Turn: What’s your favorite TV show?

Disclosure: Here’s a toast to the affiliate links in this post. May we all be just a little richer today.

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Moving Cross Country? We Tried to Figure Out the Cheapest Way to Do It

How Often Does Your Credit Score Change?

If you routinely check your credit reports for changes, then kudos on developing a great habit. Keeping a close eye on your credit reports is a great way to ensure the information is accurate and that you haven’t become the victim of identity theft. And if you check your reports often from any of a variety of websites that are willing to give it to you at no cost, then you’re probably also getting your credit scores as well.

If you’re getting your scores from different websites or credit card issuers, you’ve probably noticed that your scores vary, perhaps slightly and sometimes significantly. However, while your credit scores may certainly be different today from the credit scores you viewed the last time you checked them, the truth is that your credit scores do not actually change.

The Difference Between Credit Reports and Credit Scores

First things first. It’s important to understand that your credit reports and your credit scores are not the same. They are different products entirely, sold by different companies, for different prices, and used for different purposes. A credit report is actually a record of your credit management history over a period of time. Conversely, a credit score simply interprets the data on your credit report into an easy-to-use three-digit number that predicts your level of credit risk.

Your Credit Scores Never ‘Change’

The idea that your credit scores change from time to time is actually a myth. This particular credit myth stems from a misunderstanding regarding how credit scoring actually works. Unlike the information contained on your credit reports, credit scores themselves are not actually a part of your reports.

I know this may be confusing, so let me explain how it works. The data on your credit reports (mortgages, credit cards, loans) is updated quite often, normally monthly. For example, your credit card balance may be updated to show a higher amount than you carried the previous month or a new late payment might have appeared on your auto loan this month.

And while your credit scores are completely dependent on the information contained in your credit reports, it isn’t changed as new information hits them. Simply put, your score isn’t a constantly changing number that is perpetually connected to your credit reports.

Recalculating a Credit Score

It may sound like semantics, but instead of your credit scores changing, they are actually recalculated each time they’re purchased by a lender. Whenever your score is calculated, it’s delivered to the purchaser (for example, a lender), but no record of that score is maintained on your credit reports. Instead, your scores are calculated, delivered, and tossed out.

The next time you or someone else requests a copy of your credit scores, they will be freshly calculated and based on the data as it presently appears on your credit reports. Your credit scores are simply a snapshot which reflect your level of credit risk at that very moment in time.

This is actually why the Federal law passed in 2003 that entitles all of us to free annual credit reports doesn’t actually apply to credit scores. So, when you claim your annual freebie through http://ift.tt/o2j1vQ, you won’t simply be given a credit score, because it’s not technically a part of your credit report. It’s instead an ancillary product that’s sold along with credit reports.

Related Articles

• You Can Improve This Part of Your Credit Score Almost Immediately
• Debunking Four Common Credit Myths
• How to Raise Your Credit Score

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12 Powerful Ways to Maximize Your Grocery Budget at Winn-Dixie

How to Protect Yourself From Getting Your Information Stolen

By Sarah Landrum Remember that day the web went crazy when an image of Mark Zuckerberg revealed tape across his computer’s camera? For a moment, you might’ve thought it was Photoshopped. It wasn’t. Considering the power and reach of today’s hackers, it doesn’t seem so extreme — at least if you’re a social media giant […]

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Don’t Have a TV? Here’s How to Stream the World Series for Free

The country is losing its collective mind over the Chicago Cubs ending its 71-year postseason slump and slugging into the 2016 World Series against the Cleveland Indians.

It’s historic! You have to watch!

But… what if you don’t have a TV? What if you don’t have cable? Are you banned from baseball for the next two weeks?

Before you head to your local watering hole for four to seven nights of spending your entire disposable income on tater tots, you may want to try this method of “free” sports streaming.

How to Watch the World Series (or Most of It) for Free

Live-streaming service Sling TV offers a variety of broadcast and cable channels for rates ranging from $20 to $40 per month. In many areas, subscribers can also stream local broadcast affiliates like Fox, which is showing all the World Series games.

Sling also offers a free seven-day trial for new members.

Are you picking up what I am putting down? Tuesday, October 25 would be a great time to start your free Sling trial. If the series runs for five games, you’re all set — just cancel your subscription after the final pitch.

If the series stretches into seven (agonizing) games, it gets tricky. You have to enter your credit card information to start your trial, so if your billing address is the same on all the credit cards in your wallet, you may get rejected from signing up for a second trial.

Sadly, it’s not as easy as using your second email address, worldseriesfan2016@email.com, which you definitely have had for more than two days.

Consider teaming up with another local baseball-loving friend (preferably one rooting for the same team as you, as this is not a time for diplomacy) so one of you can pick up another free trial subscription if you need a few extra days.

Sure, it’s complicated. But it’s way cheaper than going to the bar every night.

Additional Cheap Options to Satisfy Your Baseball Craving

If you have a TV but lack cable service, an antenna is all you need to pick up broadcast channels — including, of course, Fox. If you anticipate you’ll continue watching your local stations on occasion, you can pick up an antenna starting at about $15.

Just want access to baseball? $9.99 is all you need to get MLB.tv for the rest of the season, including live World Series coverage.

Meanwhile, if you already have a TV and a PlayStation 3 or 4, Amazon Fire device, Roku Streaming device or Google Chromecast, use your PlayStation Network account to sign up for a free seven-day trial of PlayStation Vue.

Access to dozens of channels starts at $29.99 per month, but the free trial will grant you access to Fox. You’ll have the same challenge as Sling trial subscribers if the series goes on longer than five games, but that’s what friends are for, right?

Your Turn: How will you watch the 2016 World Series?

Lisa Rowan is a writer and producer at the Penny Hoarder. Baseball gives her heartburn, but she just can’t quit.

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Company directors to be fined £500,000 for nuisance calls

Tom Wilson

call-scams.jpg

Directors of companies that harass consumers with nuisance calls could be directly liable for fines of up to £500,000 under Government plans that will take effect from spring 2017.

Directors of companies that harass consumers with nuisance calls could be directly liable for fines of up to £500,000 under Government plans that will take effect from spring 2017.

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The 10 Most In-Demand Tech Skills — You Can Learn Them for Free This Week!

Want to make more money? You have two options:

A) Whine to your Facebook friends, hairdresser and husband. And keep getting paid the same amount.

B) Gain skills or education that will help you get promoted or change careers.

Yes, A is easy — but B is far more effective.

And thanks to LinkedIn’s Week of Learning, which means FREE online courses for all, you have no more excuses.

So which skills are employers looking for?

LinkedIn analyzed all the recruiting activity that occurred on the platform since January 2016 —  here are the results.

The 10 Most Sought-After Job Skills

Big surprise: They’re all technical…  

1. Cloud and Distributed Computing

2. Statistical Analysis and Data Mining

3. Mobile Development

4. Storage Systems and Management

5. User Interface Design

6. Network and Information Security

7. Middleware and Integration Software

8. Web Architecture and Development Framework

9. Algorithm Design

10. Java Development

“While some skills expire every couple of years, our data strongly suggests that tech skills will still be needed for years to come, in every industry,” adds LinkedIn Career Expert Catherine Fisher.

“Now is a great time for professionals to acquire the skills they need to be more marketable.”

So, if you want to increase your income or futureproof your career, it’s time to get with the program(ming) — and up your technical skills.

One easy way? Take an online course.

LinkedIn Learning offers more than 5,000 courses, and they’re all free from now until Oct. 30.

You can learn the in-demand tech skills listed above, or choose a course in another discipline like customer service, writing or marketing.

Because learning beats whining. Every time.

Your Turn: Will you take advantage of this deal?

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

The post The 10 Most In-Demand Tech Skills — You Can Learn Them for Free This Week! appeared first on The Penny Hoarder.

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7 Easy Halloween Costumes You Can Make at Goodwill for Less Than $30

Questions About Hot Air, Credit Ratings, Loose Change, and More!

What’s inside? Here are the questions answered in today’s reader mailbag, boiled down to summaries of five or fewer words. Click on the number to jump straight down to the question.
1. Air escaping through the roof
2. What’s needed for personal loan?
3. Helping spouse get credit rating
4. Getting on same financial page
5. Reducing cost of family Thanksgiving
6. Cash and inflation
7. Locking down with a CD
8. Spouse wasting money on survivalism
9. Notebook of tasks
10. Value of online classes
11. Bank won’t take change
12. Elections and market timing

We have a small, extremely playful dog that our children picked out last summer from an animal rescue group. His previous owners simply didn’t have time to do much of anything with him, so he spent a lot of time alone in an empty house.

You can still see the reality of his previous experience in his behavior. He gets incredibly excited whenever someone comes home for the day. As soon as you approach the door he’s right up against the side window watching you come in and when you do come in he’s barking and jumping around your ankles and acts as if your arrival is the greatest thing that could have possibly happened. He plays a mean game of fetch and tug-of-war and has chased all mice and rabbits and other small mammals away from our yard. In short, he’s a pretty good dog.

The only minor complaint I have is that he barks furiously whenever someone is walking another dog near our house. He seems to genuinely view the other dog as potentially attacking our home and our family and thus he barks to warn them off. He often spends his time perched on the back of the couch so he can peer out the window and wait for dogs to go by so he can bark at them.

It turns out that this is a pretty big distraction when I’m working. His bark is almost perfect at interrupting me when I’m trying to get a task done, and even shutting myself up in my office doesn’t work because his barking is loud enough that it still interrupts me.

What’s the solution? Well, we’re trying several experiments. The most successful one thus far is to simply spray him with a water bottle when he barks as a nonviolent deterrent to his barking. He does not like to be sprayed with the bottle, so whenever my train of thought is interrupted by barking, I simply grab the spray bottle off my desk, head into the living room, and give him a couple of squirts. Another approach has been to just put him in my office with me and close the door so that he doesn’t hear the other dogs and he usually ends up sleeping at my feet (as he’s doing right now).

In other words, we’re trying out free solutions first for our challenge rather than turning to other things that might cost money, and it turns out that free solutions might just solve the problem.

Q1: Air escaping through the roof

I just wanted to add to your advice on sealing windows in the colder and (and warmer) months. Although a well-sealed window always helps, in many cases in older homes, the unseen culprit for a cold house is heat loss through your roof. Roofs that have batt insulation along the sloped roofs do not always have a tight seal around the joists at the soffits (similar to small gaps around drafty windows). The problem is that this exacerbates heat loss since heat naturally moves upward then immediately escapes at the uninsulated joist ends. This of course causes your furnace to continuously replace the warm air, and the monthly heating cost adds up without ever keeping you warm enough.

A DIY and quite frugal solution is to go into your attic with the lights off, and if you see daylight through any openings at the perimeter, you need to seal them up. You can buy spray foam insulation in a canister at any Home Depot and spray it into the openings. For larger openings, buy rigid insulation (pink or blue foam board), cut it into small pieces as needed, and then use the foam spray around it to keep it in place.

This is hopefully helpful advice for people who have not seen results with sealing windows and doors in the winter. There may be a larger unseen problem!
– Kelly

This is great advice!

There’s no reason not to head up to your attic this fall and look around for any poorly-sealed areas. If you see any daylight, then you’ve got an issue that should be sealed up, especially before winter begins.

I actually check our attic about once a year, just in case the foundation has shifted a little. I’ve never seen any sign of daylight and our attic is usually pretty warm, which seems to indicate good sealing up there.

Q2: What’s needed for personal loan?

I am inquiring about a personal loan. I have bad credit, but i also have a full time job. It pays $10.00 per hour. Do i qualify for a loan?
– Stephen

Honestly, if your credit is poor and you’re earning just $10 an hour, you probably won’t be able to get a personal loan from any sort of financial institution. They’ll want some kind of collateral in order to lend you money.

Rather than looking for more debt, your route to a better financial situation is through doing everything you can to fix that bad credit. That will definitely be a challenge at a $10 per hour job, even one that offers full time hours, but it can be done. Live as cheap as you can, for starters, and do everything you can to bring every bill you have up to date, then start whittling down any debts that you have.

It’s a hard road, but if you ever want to get to a point where bad credit isn’t dogging you and you have some control over your financial state, it’s a road you’re going to have to take.

Q3: Helping spouse get credit rating

I recently got married and my husband has NO credit. There is literally nothing on his report (he is 25, I am 26). I want to help him build credit because we would like apply for a mortgage in 3-5 years. I added him as an authorized user on my account so he at least has *something*. Should he wait any length of time for this to help him before applying for his own credit card? I just don’t know what/when the next step should be.
– Gail

Your next step would be to wait a few months, then check his credit report at the government’s annual credit report website. Make sure that the credit card he’s authorized on is showing up on his credit report, because that’s the only way he’s going to start building credit.

If it does show up, he can apply for a card in his own name and should get one with a low credit limit. I see no reason to remove him as an authorized user on your card, though, as it should mostly serve as a continued credit boost for him.

If it doesn’t show up, contact your credit card company and make absolutely sure that they’re reporting his authorization on your card to the credit bureaus.

If he’s still getting declined, you can head down to your local credit union and get him a secured credit card. A secured credit card is essentially one where you pay a deposit before getting the card. Once you have the card, it functions like a normal card unless you misuse it (at which point your deposit is used to pay your bill) or you cancel it, at which point you receive your deposit back. It’s a great “option of last resort” for building credit.

Q4: Getting on same financial page

Was wondering if you can help – my husband and I recently got married and I’m having a hard time getting on the same page with him in regards to finance. Every time I bring something up like following Dave Ramsey’s baby steps or combining finances, he always verbally agrees, but doesn’t really help in actuality. How can I get him to be more collaborative with me? It really just seems like it’s me spitting out suggestions, him agreeing, and then nothing happens.
– Lindsay

Here’s the thing: actions speak louder than words. Your husband might talk a good game about being on board with you, but his actions indicate that he’s not really on board with the changes you’re suggesting.

You can’t make him be more collaborative with you. You can’t make anyone do anything if they don’t want to do it. It’s up to him to do it.

Having said that, if he’s seemingly telling you one thing and doing another, that’s a sign of a lack of honesty in your relationship. There’s a communication failure going on somewhere, whether it’s you taking more out of what he’s actually saying or him overpromising and underdelivering. If you can’t have trustful communication with your spouse, you’re facing real marital troubles.

Since I’m not there to see what’s actually going on, my suggestion would be to sit down with your husband and try to spell everything out as clearly as humanly possible. Focus not on “going through a program,” but on real tangible steps that move in the right direction. Try to choose steps that would be easy for him to follow – perhaps ones that give you greater control over your shared financial responsibilities where he perhaps gives you some money each month and then you handle the bills while he retains a portion of his paycheck to spend freely.

Remember, compromise is the only way things work in a marriage. If you can’t meet in the middle, you’re going to have constant troubles.

Q5: Reducing cost of family Thanksgiving

For the cost of hosting family Thanksgiving, how about everyone bring something? This is different from what has been done but is a lot less work for the host and not that much for each family member.
– Nina

This is a great idea if everyone lives locally. However, that’s often not the case for family Thanksgivings. With my wife’s extended family, for example, everyone who would attend their Thanksgiving dinner lives in different places spread across five cities in three different states. It’s really difficult for someone coming from a couple of hours away to bring a side dish to a Thanksgiving dinner.

A better idea would be to simply split the financial burden and the work. Have a family conversation about the realities of Thanksgiving dinner when responsibilities begin to shift. Who’s willing to put in some work? Who’s willing to put in some money?

The solution to a situation where the hosting of a family Thanksgiving meal is changing is usually best found by having a candid conversation with everyone involved.

Q6: Cash and inflation

i’ve read many places that it’s a bad idea to keep a good amount of cash in reserves, since inflation devalues the cash. So assuming I have my 3-5 months of emergency fund saved up, what are some of the more popular methods of storing that cash? I’m assuming some stable index funds or etfs? Witha mix of stocks and bonds, but still a chance of decline, no? Not sure my 1% savings account is the right direction.
– Eric

Most investments outside of cash involve a great deal of risk over a short timeframe. If the stock market returned 7% like clockwork each year, having your money in the stock market would make a ton of sense. However, that 7% is an average and it includes years with 40% drops in value, and if you need your money just a year or two down the road, you can easily be facing a loss in value. A lot of investments really only make sense for the long term.

Basically, if you think there’s a strong chance you’ll need that cash in the next year or two, then a savings account is definitely the right answer.

So, where do CDs fit into all of this? I think they’re the right vehicle if you’re very sure you’re going to need that money in a year or two, but you won’t need it in the next several months. For example, if you’re saving for a new car and intend to buy it in 2018, a CD can be a good place to stick that cash and earn a better return than a savings account for the time being.

I really wouldn’t even think about any sort of stock market investment unless you’re either a very active “day trading” type of investor or your time horizon is more than a few years out. Bonds are somewhat safer, but they tend to run the same gamut – the most secure bonds earn little more than a savings account and you have to start taking on real risk to earn more than that.

Q7: Locking down with a CD

My scenario: 30 yrs old. 250,000 net worth. Married. School teacher and NGO worker. Wife is 14 seeks pregnant. Living overseas for 20 more months. We have 76k+ in an Ally savings account earning 1% as part of our future home down payment (99k). Adding $2,390 every month. What do you think about taking 50k and locking it in an 18mth CD with Ally at a 1.3% rate of return. Rate chasing…but 15-20 min of work for over $100 in gains… Appreciate your time and wisdom.
– Drew

My advice to Eric in the question above really does apply almost perfectly to you, too.

It looks to me like you’re shooting to buy a house in 2018. In that case, putting that money in an 18 month CD to earn a better rate than you’re getting right now in savings is a pretty solid choice. You have no intent to touch that money in that 18 month period, but you’re going to want it shortly after that period expires.

As I mentioned above, other investments are still pretty volatile for that short of a timeframe. I think a CD is a safe but very solid choice for your situation.

Q8: Spouse wasting money on survivalism

I have a difficult situation with my spouse and I am hoping that you can help me figure out what to do. My husband is completely convinced that the dollar is going to be worthless very soon and is spending basically every dime we have on survivalist crap. He bought like 100 pounds of seeds that are just sitting in a box in the downstairs closet and he keeps buying more and more ammo. We have tons of prepackaged meals that almost fill up our guest bedroom so we can’t really have guests stay any more. He is talking about cashing out his 401(k) to build a wind turbine and some other stuff so we can go off the grid when “things go bad.” We’re 52 and if he cashes out our 401(k) we’re going to have a hard time retiring at all before we die.

Whenever I try to talk some sense into him he just tells me that the money is worthless and not even worth the paper it’s printed on.

Is there any approach I can take here to keep him from sacrificing our future?
– Anna

Before I say anything else, I think that spending your extra money on things that improve long-term self-reliance and independence and security are fine. If you budget for it and plan for it, for example, a wind turbine can have a very positive effect on your electricity bill going forward and it’ll be a godsend if the power grid ever fails.

Having said that, sacrificing your financial future at the altar of something that is fairly unlikely to happen in the near future is not a strong choice. Regardless of the words of any doomsday prognosticators, the United States still has one of the strongest economies in the world and, in the era of globalism, most major world economies are linked together so tightly that trouble in one nation will be buoyed by the trade agreements with other nations. In short, it would be almost impossible for America to fall off the cliff without some sort of external event happening (like a global pandemic or something) and those types of external events are rare.

You should never sacrifice security in the current world for some sense that things might be slightly better for you in one fairly rare hypothetical future. That’s just not reasonable or sound planning of any kind.

Having said that, some degree of compromise is healthy. Your family should probably be preparing at least somewhat for these events if your husband believes in it so strongly, but it should not go to the extent of wrecking your future. Closing out a 401(k) plan should be off the table because of the damage it could do to your finances in the most likely future.

Q9: Notebook of tasks

Just wanted to share a productivity strategy that I learned from my mom. This is something she did her whole life.

Basically, I just keep a notebook with me all the time. I write down tasks as I become aware of them with a dash at the start and a little bit of indenting on additional lines if they’re needed so I can quickly see each separate task. I basically just spend each day doing the tasks in the notebook, crossing them off as I complete them and adding new ones to the bottom. At the end of the day, I go back to the last few pages and copy forward any tasks that were undone from previous days so that I never have to look back more than a page or two for my current tasks.

It works really well for me. I use a steno notebook and keep a pen in the spiral at the top. I work as a surveyor.
– Dennis

This is actually pretty similar to what my own mother used to do – and she still does it during busy times in her life. She actually even uses a steno notebook for it.

Honestly, it’s not all that different than most other to-do list strategies. Most electronic to-do list managers essentially do the same thing as this. Whenever you “cross off” a task, it just disappears, leaving you with just the things left undone. It’s just a bit less physical than a steno book and a pen.

Personally, I find that writing things down is better for things that need to be more permanent in my brain. I trust my electronic task list for the tasks I have to do. I prefer to use pen and paper for things I want to learn and embed in my mind.

Q10: Value of online classes

What is the value of taking an online class if you don’t receive any kind of certification from it? You can’t put it on a resume or anything.
– Daniel

The value of taking an online class is that you learn something from taking it, and having a diversity of ideas in your head and skills in terms of solving problems means that you’re more likely to come up with novel solutions to the problems you face in the workplace and in life.

You’re pretty much always adding value to your life whenever you’re learning new ideas or a new skill. It doesn’t matter whether you earn a certification or not. That certification might look good on a resume, but that certificate won’t help you develop a great new idea in a pinch. That comes from the learning.

The question is whether you want to actually be the person with those novel ideas and solutions, or you just want to be the person with a padded resume.

Q11: Bank won’t take change

I keep my pocket change in a big glass on my dresser and in the past I have taken it to the bank when the change glass is full and cashed it in to take my wife out to dinner. I went to the bank with my change on Friday and they said that they no longer accept loose change. What can you do with loose change if the bank won’t take it?
– Arnie

For starters, try calling other local banks and see if they do change sorting for account holders. If they do, consider taking your business there, because that’s a very worthwhile service for a bank to have.

If that’s not really an option for you, you can at least take a peek at Coinstar, which operates kiosks in many grocery stores. They’ll take your change, but there’s a fee involved if you want cash. They’ll also give you a fee-free gift card to a bunch of different retailers if you’d prefer that instead.

If that doesn’t work, try spending it for small purchases. Keep some of it in your vehicle for tolls. Have change in your pocket so that you can actually hand over the change instead of receiving it – give over eight dollar bills and 41 cents in change instead of handing over nine dollar bills and receiving back 59 cents in change.

Q12: Elections and market timing

Would it be a good idea to buy mutual funds just before election day? Because of the uncertainty of this election the markets will go down just days before.
– Roger

Market timing is a bad idea, period. It almost never works out well, for a lot of reasons.

My belief is that the stock market has already incorporated the likely outcome of the presidential election and the other races that go along with it this November 8. Unless there is an unexpected event – the proverbial “October surprise” – I don’t anticipate any changes in the stock market in the days leading up to the election. There might be a rise or a drop the day after the election as a large likelihood shifts to a certainty, but it’s really hard to tell in what direction that will go.

My advice is to just ignore all of it and keep doing what you’re doing. It might go up or down depending on the day’s news, but it’ll balance itself out in fairly short order.

Got any questions? The best way to ask is to follow me on Facebook and ask questions directly there. I’ll attempt to answer them in a future mailbag (which, by way of full disclosure, may also get re-posted on other websites that pick up my blog). However, I do receive many, many questions per week, so I may not necessarily be able to answer yours.

The post Questions About Hot Air, Credit Ratings, Loose Change, and More! appeared first on The Simple Dollar.

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6 Costume Contests With Cash Prizes (Plus How to Make a Cool DIY Costume)

Halloween’s just around the corner.

We know how fun this time of year can be for all the kids (and kids at heart) who can’t wait to show off a clever, well-crafted costume.

But everything’s more fun if you can make money doing it, right?

Keep an eye out for costume contests in your community and at the events you’re attending this year. Just the right combination of hot glue, felt and glitter could earn you a bundle of cash — and a year’s worth of bragging rights.

Even better, you can find tons of online costume contests that pay cash prizes, too.

Below, we’ve included a list of seven free contests you can enter online — you don’t even have to leave the house!

First, some tips for nailing that costume.

Tips for Affordable DIY Costumes

Mary To-Saturnio and her family earned second place and a $50 prize for “Best Family Costume” in last year’s online contest with Costume Works.

To-Saturnio hand-crafted these game-themed costumes for herself, her husband and their (now) 6-year-old son and 3-year-old daughter.

The best part? She only had to buy $3.23 worth of materials to create these adorable characters.

To-Saturnio is an avid “maker and crafter” and self-proclaimed “fabric hoarder,” so she had some of the basic materials and skills to get started. But, she says anyone can make simple costumes that look great.

Felt and hot glue are her secret weapons for Halloween costumes.

Wielding the hot glue gun is faster than sewing, and anyone can do it.

Plus, To-Saturnio points out, your Halloween costume won’t face too much wear and probably won’t need to be washed, so it doesn’t have to be as durable as everyday clothing.

She does admit, though, “As my kids get older and more active, I have to rethink the durability of costumes.”

To keep the hobby — and her budding business — affordable, she keeps an eye out for sales and keeps a stock of scraps from past projects.

The day we spoke in early October, she was headed to Jo-Ann Fabric, where she knew she could get a good deal on felt compared with pricier hobby stores.

She also advised that fabric stores tend to have sales leading up to Halloween — so keep an eye out for unique materials this time of year.

It also helps to get the kids involved in the process.

“My son likes to build stuff out of recyclables,” To-Saturnio explains, so assisting his mom with his cardboard-box-based costume can be a fun way to fill an afternoon!

But plan ahead.

Even though you’ll save money, a quality costume is probably going to require a sizable time investment. To-Saturnio spends about six weeks before the holiday researching, planning and making costumes for her family.

She’ll start perusing sites like Pinterest for inspiration in late September, gather materials by early October, and spend about two weeks making costumes while the kids are in school or napping.

She’ll spend two to three hours on a simple costume, and as much as 10 to 15 hours on more complex costumes.

But if you enjoy the process, it’s totally worth it.

“I never realized how long they took because we enjoy doing it so much,” she says.

Want to try it yourself?

Here are seven online costume contests you can enter this year. Each is free to enter — all you have to do is submit a photo online.

1. Costume Works

The contest that hooked To-Saturnio and her family in 2015 is on again this year! Enter in one or more of eight categories in the Costume Works Halloween Costume Contest to win up to $300.

Categories

Enter store-bought or homemade costumes in one of the following categories: pet, baby (age 0-2), children (age 3+), group, family, couple and adult.

There’s also a “Most Creative Costume” category, and only homemade costumes are eligible.

Prizes

For “Most Creative Costume,” prizes are:

• First place: $300

• Second place: $100

• Third place: $50

In the remaining seven categories, prizes are:

• First place: $100

• Second place: $50

• Third place: $25

Rules

Read the criteria for each category to make sure your costume is a fit.

You can submit multiple costumes as separate entries — unless they’re part of a couple or group costume.

How to Enter

Submit up to 10 photos here. Also include a description of how you created the costume, which materials you used and how much it cost, if the costume is homemade.

Deadline is Nov. 20. Winners will be announced and prizes paid via PayPal in late November.

2. Halloween Express

This popular costume retailer’s contest is in its fourth year and received 5,000 entries last year. See the winners here.

This year Halloween Express will be giving away $10,500 in total cash prizes.

Categories

Enter in one of the following categories: adult couples, adult singles, child/teen/tween, infant/toddler, pets and group.

Prizes

Winners in each of the six categories can receive the following prizes:

• First place:  $750

• Runner-up: $500

• Third Place (2): $250 HalloweenExpress.com voucher

Rules

Your costume must be homemade!

This contest defines that as “created with at least 50% materials that come from something other than a store-bought Halloween costume.”

You must submit original photos of the contestant sporting the costume, taken between Sept. 1 and Nov. 4. However, you can enter a costume made at any time.

You must be a U.S. resident and at least 18 years old to enter. For categories including children, only a parent or legal guardian can submit photos.

How to Enter

Submit up to three photos of your costume online before midnight EST on Nov. 4. Include your full name, street address and email address.

You’ll also need to include a brief description of the costume: your inspiration, how you made it, materials and accessories, and how it was received by others at your Halloween gatherings.

Read the full rules here before submitting.

Your costume will be judged on execution, originality, creativity and your written story behind the costume.

Winners will be announced by Dec. 1 and paid via PayPal.

3. Coolest Homemade Costumes

The contest by Coolest Handmade Costumes is all about sharing your story and inspiring others with your creative (and cool) costume ideas.

Prizes

This year’s prizes aren’t specified in the guidelines, but the contest has been running since 2004 and typically awards cash prizes of $100-$150, plus two grand prizes of $300-$500.

The contest has also awarded smaller prizes of store credit or gift cards for costume shops, depending on sponsors.

How to Enter

Include a creative title for your entry, a write-up of at least 300 words about the process of creating your costume and the reactions to it, up to 10 photos and an optional video.

Because your story is as important as your costume, “make sure to invest as much energy and creativity in your write up as you did in creating your costume,” the site asks.

4 and 5. Kid to Kid

If you’re on Instagram or Facebook, you’ll probably be showing off your kids’ costumes there already. You might as well enter to win some cash from these Kid to Kid contests!

Prizes

You’ll enter to win these prizes:

• $250 grand prize to the winner with the most likes on Facebook

• $100 grand prize to the winner with the most likes on Instagram

• Several $25 Kid to Kid gift cards to top costumes selected by the judges

How to Enter on Instagram

1. Follow @kidtokid on Instagram.

2. Post your image to your public profile, and include the hashtags #KidtoKid and #KidtoKidCostumeContest. Deadline to enter is midnight MST on Nov. 3.

3. On Nov. 4, Kid to Kid will select finalists and post those images to the @kidtokid Instagram profile.

4. The finalist with the most likes to their photos posted by @kidtokid by midnight on Nov. 7 wins the $100 grand prize.

How to Enter on Facebook

1. Like Kid to Kid on Facebook.

2. Post a photo of your kid(s) in costume in the comments of this post.

3. Receive the most likes on your comment by midnight MST on Nov. 3 to win the $250 grand prize.

Judges will reward their favorites from both contests with $25 gift cards at their discretion.

6. Halloween ComicFest

There is one added step to entering this Halloween ComicFest contest — but it’s perfect for comic book fans and cosplayers!

You’ll have to submit a photo of yourself in costume with one of 32 free Halloween ComicFest 2016 comic books, which you can pick up at your local comic book store on Oct. 29.

Categories

Enter your costume in one of these categories: superhero/comics, TV/movie, gamer, horror and original.

Prizes

Two grand prize winners will be randomly selected to win a $500 shopping spree to their local comic shop.

One adult and one child from each category will receive a $100 shopping spree to their local comic shop.

One adult and one child in each category who earn the most votes online (see below) will receive a prize pack with items from contest sponsors, including Archie Comics, DK Publishing, Scholastic and more.

How to Enter

Take a picture in costume while holding one of the free comics, and submit online here before 11:59 p.m. EST on Nov. 7.

Between Nov. 1-7, fans will vote on their favorite costumes in each category on the HCF website.

HCF will announce winners on Nov. 11.

Your Turn: Will you enter your costume into a free online contest this year?

Dana Sitar (@danasitar) is a staff writer at The Penny Hoarder. She’s written for Huffington Post, Entrepreneur.com, Writer’s Digest and more, attempting humor wherever it’s allowed (and sometimes where it’s not).

The post 6 Costume Contests With Cash Prizes (Plus How to Make a Cool DIY Costume) appeared first on The Penny Hoarder.

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How to Save Up to 10% on Everything You Buy — Without Sales or Coupons

If you go into your favorite store with a $100 gift card, you can spend it just like a Ben Franklin.

But what if the gift card only cost you $90? That extra $10 stays in your pocket. Using discounted gift cards this way could help you save hundreds of dollars each year.

A previous post on The Penny Hoarder reported on selling unused gift cards to make some extra cash, and that’s not a bad idea. Most of us have received cards for stores we don’t shop at or which aren’t located near us.

Rather than letting them collect dust or take up space in your wallet, you can easily sell them online… but at a discount.

The flip side? Other people are selling discounted cards that you actually want — and taking advantage of these discounts could save you money on things you’d buy anyway.

To investigate how this process works, I tested out a gift card reselling site to see how the deals compared to buying a gift card at face value. With a move coming and our new home needing a bit of work, I knew I would be spending hundreds of dollars at The Home Depot, so my test is based on its gift cards.

Gift Card Zen

Gift Card Zen differs from other sites in a couple of ways. As a security measure, it calls all first-time users, and it also adds a short delay to your first order. But once that is out of the way, ordering becomes much simpler.

Gift Card Zen keeps it simple by dealing only with gift cards that do not have expiration dates, so you don’t have to remember to check or worry that you’re on a tight deadline.

At the moment, the site has cards from about 200 retailers. The site will not refund for buyer’s remorse, but says it “will never leave you with a card that is not working.”

The only downside? The best deal I could find only saved me 8% on my purchase.

Raise

Raise is another option for buying discounted gift cards, though they tend to go quickly. Most cards sell within 24 hours, so if you see one you like, you might want to buy it rather than watching it for too long.

The site says it lists gift cards from “thousands” of brands, and you can search the assortment by brand or filter by amount, category or type of card (physical or electronic).

The best price I saw on a gift card to The Home Depot would save me 10%.

Other Gift Card Sites

You’ll find many other discount-gift card vendors online. Typically you find cards with balances between $2 and $100, although some have balances as high as $500. Make your first order a small one if you haven’t used a particular website before.

Some sites do not sell directly, but facilitate sales between individuals. For example, Gift Card Granny had 1,600 Home Depot cards available when I checked, but each listing linked to a different site where the seller had actually listed the card.

You can also buy gift cards on eBay, but you need to watch the auction prices and consider shipping charges.

Making Discounted Gift Cards Work for You

If you value your time, you won’t want to spend five minutes buying a $2 gift card to save 20 cents. It also doesn’t make much sense to buy cards for stores you aren’t sure you’ll be shopping at (although you could always sell them back to one of these websites).

A good strategy, once you find a site you trust, is to buy large quantities of cards at one time for stores where you’ll definitely be shopping.

If you’re a risk-taker and an entrepreneurial sort, you might experiment with gift card arbitrage. Buy cheap on eBay and then find the best places to sell your gift cards for a profit.

Or you might buy all the unused gift cards owned by family and friends for 50% of face value and sell them for a profit online.

Even if you don’t have any interest in the profit opportunities, the potential to save money is clear.

Your Turn: Have you ever bought discounted gift cards?

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 How to Save Up to 10% on Everything You Buy — Without Sales or Coupons appeared first on The Penny Hoarder.

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Bombed Your Job Interview? These 5 Horror Stories Will Make You Feel Better

Can you remember the worst interview you’ve ever had?

Interviews can be intimidating (and weird), even under the best circumstances. But sometimes, things go straight-up wrong.

Maybe your interviewer is rude or behaves inappropriately — or unexpectedly turns out to be someone you know a lot more about than you’d like.

Maybe it’s a misunderstanding, or lack of preparation on your part — followed by the sudden, terrible feeling of knowing you’re in way over your head.

Either way, it might make you feel a little better to know that it happens to the best of us. And in a lot of cases, it probably could have been a lot worse.

Here are five mortifying bad job interview stories that will make you cringe, smile, laugh…

… and mostly be glad they’re not yours!

A Rejected Handshake

After the workplace she’d called home for almost a decade put pressure on Amanda for taking maternity leave, she knew she couldn’t return as she’d initially planned.

She found herself job-hunting, for the first time since college, in her mid-30s — and unfortunately, one of her interviewers did a particularly bad job of rolling out the welcome mat.

“She was 25 minutes late collecting me from the lobby and she didn’t apologize,” Amanda writes to Forbes’s Liz Ryan.

“She just said my name (like it was the Department of Motor Vehicles or a courtroom) and stood there,” Amanda explains. “I stood up awkwardly, walked towards her and extended my hand and she didn’t shake it.”

Talk about awkward, right?

She goes on to say her would-be colleague didn’t even smile, and that her very first question was the infamous “What is your greatest weakness?”

Although she never imagined she’d have the gumption to do so, Amanda was so (rightly) upset by her interviewer’s behavior that she got up and walked out — a move that would cue witness applause, at least in my case.

A Very Familiar Face

It’s always nerve-wracking to meet your interviewer for the first time.

But GreenPal co-founder Gene Caballero faced a particularly awkward set of niceties when he showed up to an interview for an IT position in Tennessee.

One of the interviewing managers turned out being his ex-girlfriend, whom he’d dated for three years in college.

Last he’d heard, she’d moved back to her home state of Texas to take a job with an IT company there. Looks like they still share some compatibility, since they both wound up in the same state!

So, how did Caballero fare after his initial shock?

“I actually did get the position and stayed with the company for about eight years before starting my business,” he writes.

“Needless to say, never burn any bridges.”

Stranded — Three Times Over!

Tech entrepreneur Phil Petree might have a slightly disappointing superpower: being invisible to interviewers.

He’s been forced to wait for hours for them to acknowledge him — and even found himself stranded after traveling long distances for the meeting.

In one instance, he was scheduled for an interview at 9 a.m. at a location about an hour from his home.

“They called and confirmed the evening before,” he writes.

“I got up extra early, drove up ahead of traffic, sat at Starbucks until 8:50 and showed up exactly on time,” Petree explains. “I was promptly seated in the waiting room, where I sat for two hours.”

When he finally got up to walk out, the receptionist said the interviewer had “made time to see [Petree],” and invited him into his office…

…for a ten-minute lecture on his “rude behavior.” What?

At another company in the same area, it happened to Petree again: He sat for two hours in the lobby before his depleted cell phone battery (and hopes) had him heading for the door.

“The receptionist asked me how it went,” he says. He told her no one had even stuck their head in the door to check on him — the recruiter had forgotten about the meeting.

“Not one manager ever called to apologize, but that recruiting company has called me three times asking to come in.” Needless to say, he politely refuses.

Finally, the real kicker. This story makes the others look like practice runs.

“I was being flown to Houston from Miami,” Petree writes.

“It was a high-flying tech company that had just been acquired by Cisco. I had been through four different phone screens,” he says, and knew he was one of the top candidates.

All his travel arrangements had been made for him. He was excited for what seemed like the start of a new opportunity.

“I arrived on time, took their pre-arranged car to the hotel and was dropped at the front door. The hotel then told me I didn’t have a room,” as they’d given it to someone else due to his late arrival, which the company apparently didn’t confirm with the hotel.

Inconvenient and unprofessional, but livable… until he learned a convention in the area meant all the hotels close by were completely booked.

“I spent hours trying to find another room,” he says. “It was almost 3 a.m. when a Holiday Inn 15 miles away took me in. I had to pay for the room out of my own pocket. The interview started at 9 a.m.” He had to take a taxi to the office, which he also paid for himself.

Unfortunately, the interview itself didn’t justify the botched trip.

He knew after meeting with the third manager that it wasn’t a fit. The company refused to call him a car to return to the airport, and told him he could wait for the 5 p.m. airport shuttle… from the original hotel.

That’s how Petree ended up on a “two-mile walk to that hotel, in a suit, at noon, in July.” The company also didn’t cover his hotel, cab fares or anything else because he “didn’t stay at an approved vendor.”

An Inappropriate Seating Arrangement

TPH reader and Facebook commenter Terry Boblet faced a terrifying situation during one of her very first interviews as a young woman.

“A man who interviewed me sat me down on his lap,” she says. “He later kissed me goodbye when I left.”

Although his behavior was over-the-top inappropriate, Boblet was understandably stunned and scared. She didn’t know what to do.

And apparently, neither would anyone else: Although she’s asked career counselors and others what she should have done for years since, none of them have an answer.

Obviously, the interaction has made interviewing an even more stressful process for Boblet. She’s had some good ones, but says she’s selective about which she agrees to go to — and we don’t blame her one bit.

A Fundamental Misunderstanding

Kathleen Garvin, an editor and marketing strategist here at The Penny Hoarder, had a pretty serious mix-up while she was still on the job hunt.

Since she also occasionally cycles in the “fantastic writer” hat, I’ll let her tell the tale in her own words here:

“About four years ago, I had an interview with a large Philadelphia media company. The print and online news giant was looking to hire a multimedia content producer. It was my dream role, and with nearly three years of online editing, social media and WordPress experience, it seemed like the perfect fit.

“During the interview (which had been previously canceled the day of, after I’d already rearranged my work schedule and took the train downtown — an omen?), I sat across from my would-be boss. She offered a limp handshake and then sat there… just staring at me.

“She made it clear she was not interested in the interview. Undeterred, I started making small talk and talking about my past job experience.

“‘Do you have a portfolio to show me?’ she interrupted.

“I’m not a photographer, so I replied no. That’s when she informed me her department was looking for an image and video producer for the web — Not a writer. Not a WordPress pro. Not an editor.

“I essentially went in to interview for a job that didn’t exist.

“There was obviously a major communication breakdown between her and human resources when cobbling together a job description. Still, there was no sympathy on her end.

“I explained the situation to the HR woman before I left, and then emailed both women after the interview. Thankfully, I received a job offer from a different company a couple months later.”

Your Turn: What was your worst interview ever? Did you get the job? Let us know in the comments!

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

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Package account providers have "more work to do" on sales and complaints handling

Helen Knapman

stack-of-uk-money.jpg

Package account providers still have “more work to do” to improve sales and complaints handling, according to a review of the industry by the financial regulator.

Package account providers still have “more work to do” to improve sales and complaints handling, according to a review of the industry by the financial regulator.

In 2013, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) introduced new rules on packaged bank accounts, which are paid-for current accounts that come bundled with added services, such as insurance products.

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Market town living costs £54k more than nearby areas

Hannah Nemeth

uk-market-town.jpg

Owning a home in a picturesque market town could cost almost £34,000 more than a similar property in a neighbouring area, according to new research.

Owning a home in a picturesque market town could cost almost £34,000 more than a similar property in a neighbouring area, according to new research.

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Lackawanna College announces Ranger/Officer program

Scranton — Lackawanna College is accepting applications for their Conservation and Natural Resource Officer Certificate Program. This one-year, dual-certificate program combines the Lackawanna College Police Academy with a 16-credit, undergraduate level, environmental semester at the Lackawanna College Environmental Education Center in Covington Township. The program is set to begin spring 2017.The CNRO program will prepare students for entry-level Natural Resource Ranger [...]

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Stella & Dot – A Home-Based Business for Style Enthusiasts

By Holly Reisem Hanna I first learned about stella & dot eight years ago. A friend of a friend had just started selling it and wanted to let me know so I could include it in my research for the website that I was going to launch. I took a look and immediately fell in love […]

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