10 Ways to Make Money This New Year’s Eve (While Still Having Fun)

We’re all excited to bid good riddance to 2016 and embrace 2017 — for better or worse.

But maybe we don’t all want to do it with champagne, a fancy dinner, a new dress and a ton of people covered in glitter. Or maybe you do, but you don’t want to forfeit a whole paycheck just to enjoy the night?

To help you get 2017 started on the right foot, we came up with 10 ways you can use New Year’s Eve to make money — and still have fun, whatever that means to you.

1. Drive With Uber

If you haven’t already signed up as a driver with Uber, now’s the time to do it.

New Year’s Eve is one of the biggest nights of the year for Uber all over the country. People want to have fun — and they want to be safe.

A a driver with Uber, you can help partygoers in your city get where they’re going — and where they’re coming from — safely. No driving drunk or walking in the cold!

Plus, the high demand could mean a busy night and big bucks for you.

You keep 80% of everything you earn as a driver (Uber keeps 20%). High Uber traffic means surge pricing, and the company sometimes offers guaranteed hourly rates for high traffic days (though we can’t confirm whether or where this will happen on New Year’s Eve.)

Here’s one more tip: Many riders might be using Uber for the first time. Offer them a free ride using your driver promo code to earn a bonus $5 – or your rider promo code to earn a free ride, usually up to $20.

Here’s a link to apply with Uber.

2. Get Paid to Stand in Line

Do you live in a town with hot nightclubs… or those that want to appear hot?

You may be able to cash in on those long lines. We talked to some professional line sitters who earn up to $25 an hour holding a spot in line for those who prefer spending money to time.

If you just want to make a few quick bucks on New Year’s Eve, mosey past the popular spots. Keep your ear open for groups complaining about the wait, how hungry they are or trying to find friends.

Offer to hold their spot for $20 while they grab some food or meet their friends. It’s a pretty attractive proposition for folks planning to spend hundreds of dollars on the evening.

Make sure to get a phone number or connect via Facebook or other messaging app, so you can let them know when you’re close to the door.

3. Take Stock Photos

People dressed to the nines and in big, happy groups of friends make for great photographs. Just check Facebook on January 2…

Take advantage of the glittering crowds in your town to get some candid shots you can sell to stock photo sites.

You don’t even have to give up your fun night to fill your stock photo arsenal. You can sell your smartphone photos via Foap, so don’t worry about keeping track of expensive equipment all night. (Just keep your phone out of the toilet.)

If you do want to go for higher quality, here are five sites that pay $100 or more for photos.

Note: Building owners or managers reserve the right to ask you not to take photos on their property. Otherwise, snap away, and make sure you understand whether your intended use of the photograph will require a model or property release.

4. Get Paid for Your Alcohol Purchases

You read that right: We found an app that will actually pay you money for your alcohol purchases.

BevRAGE is a fun rebate app that lets you get cash back on drink deals — whether you’re going out or staying in. And it’s available all over the country.

Here’s how it works:

1. Download the app and start a free account to browse drink deals in your area.

2. Choose the deals you want, and buy the items.

3. Click “Redeem” on the offer in the app, and take a picture of your receipt.

4. Cash will be deposited into your PayPal account within 48 hours.

BevRAGE is always updating with new deals, so check back before you go out.

For example when I checked, some of the latest deals included:

• $1.50 off any 24-pack of beer

• $2 off bottles of Frontera wine

• $3 off a 1.75L “handle” of any flavor Smirnoff vodka

You’ll also find deals for different days of the week for cash back on your favorite cocktails at restaurants and bars.

Redeem these anywhere — you’re not restricted to specific businesses. You do have to be 21 or older to take advantage of these deals!

Note: These deals aren’t yet available in Alabama, Arkansas, Hawaii, Indiana, Mississippi, Missouri, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Texas and Utah.

5. Babysit

Feel like an early night on New Year’s Eve? Stay in, enjoy it with the kids and get paid!

Make the holiday easier for family and friends by offering to watch the little ones while they go out. You’ll get to make $20 to $40, skip the crowded bars and help usher a family into the new year.

This job doesn’t even mean you have to skip the festivities. Come with treats, hats and noisemakers to celebrate with the kids. Watch the ball drop on T.V., or make your own, so you can all get to bed early.

6. Get Paid to Be Someone’s Friend

Get paid to be someone’s buddy! I’m not kidding.

You can register to become a Friend at RentAFriend.com, where paying users can contact you to attend concerts, sporting events, family functions, VIP events and more.

There may be users in your area who want to enjoy a night out for the holiday, but don’t know anyone in town yet. Sign up now, so you’re ready to help them ring in 2017!

Midnight kiss not required, by the way. This site only for platonic friendships.

7. Take Care of Pets

Pick up pet-sitting or dog-walking work to relieve partygoers from the need to stop home between parties.

Just stopping by to feed or walk a dog could earn you $40 an hour.

If you can’t find pet-sitting gigs in your network, hop on DogVacay to connect with pet owners in your area.

8. Rent Out Baby Stuff to Families Traveling to Watch the Ball Drop

If you live in New York, you’re about to see tons of people flooding your city to watch the ball drop in Times Square at midnight.

For families traveling with kids, that could mean major headaches, packing and hauling baby stuff across airports, planes, trains and automobiles.

The goBaby app aims to make it easier on parents — while giving you the chance to make some extra cash.

The app is a parent-to-parent marketplace where traveling parents could rent baby gear like strollers, car seats and other items from local parents with the same to spare. Use it to monetize your extra baby gear!

Here’s how it works:

1. Download the app for free here.

2. Take a photo of the item you want to rent out. Add a brief description, and set your price.

3.Choose whether you’ll deliver the item or have the renter pick it up.

4. Give the item to the renter, and get it back within the scheduled dates.

5. Get paid!

9. Take Polaroid Photos

You might not be into it, but you could earn extra money helping festive groups or happy couples capture the magic of New Year’s Eve.

Buy a Polaroid camera and offer to take their picture outside bars, restaurants and clubs. At $5 to $10 per picture, it’s a cheap memento for them and an easy income source for you.

10. Make Bar Bets

Team up with a friend who’s willing to stay relatively sober for at least part of the night, and you could earn a few bucks or free drinks.

These six foolproof bar bets are guaranteed to work, if you can find patrons willing to honor them.

You might not be everyone’s best friend if you try too many in one place, or get too serious about demanding your money. Make sure everyone’s having fun, and offer to buy the next round if you end up winning big!

Your Turn: What are your plans for New Year’s Eve?

Disclosure: Here’s a toast to the affiliate links in this post. May we all be just a little richer in 2017.

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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State slows economic development incentive

HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — Pennsylvania is throttling back on one of its signature economic development programs.The administration of Democratic Gov. Tom Wolf has sent rejection letters to Philadelphia, Coatesville and other municipalities that submitted applications to the Keystone Opportunity Zone program, The Philadelphia Inquirer reported.The program tries to spur revitalization of abandoned or blighted properties by exempting their owners from local and state [...]

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This Site is Hiring Someone to Look for Cat Videos and Stories. Seriously.

Did you like cats before they were cool?

Were you the one who raised your hand proudly amongst your elementary classroom full of dog lovers?

Have you been known to crouch down and make kissy sounds at strays? Maybe follow tons of adoption Facebook pages? Perhaps impulsively adopt one?

If this is describes you (please say it’s not just me?), then we might have found your dream job. A cat-centric site is hiring a part-time, work-from-home research assistant.

What’s This Cat-Centric Site You Speak Of?

Let me offer some context.

Homer is an adorable blind kitty. His mom, Gwen Cooper, wrote a memoir titled “Homer’s Odyssey: A Fearless Feline Tale, or How I Learned About Love and Live with a Blind Wonder Cat.” It was a New York Times bestseller and has been translated in more than 20 foreign languages.

Cooper has other books, too, like “Love Saves The Day: A Novel, another cat-centric read.

In heaven yet? Well, Cooper needs a research assistant to help run her blog, Hi Homer!, which is paired with a tremendous social media following. Think: approximately 900,000 Facebook followers with a reach of 1 to 2 million folks each day.

Hi Homer! Needs a Cat Research Assistant

As you can imagine, Cooper is in overdrive right now and needs some help.

That’s where you, the research assistant, prowls into the picture.

“As you’ll see, right now the content is pretty heavy on videos,” Cooper wrote to me in an email. “I’d like to start creating more stories for the site beyond just the video content — stories about cats on the web who are beautiful, unusual, and with a general (although not exclusive) focus on positive rescue stories.”

Basically, she needs help finding stories that will expand Homer’s site while allowing her enough time to write.

You’ll dig into the internet and find anything and everything cat-related: videos, stories and photos.

The position is part-time, about 10 hours a week, and you’ll earn $15 an hour. Plus, you can do all of this joyous research from the comfort of your home — with your cat in your lap, probably.

Cooper hopes for expansion in the future. “I hope that the site’s growth will eventually allow both the pay and hours/responsibilities to be increased, although I can’t promise that right now,” Cooper writes in the Craigslist ad.

What Makes For the Purrfect Cat Research Assistant?

Oddly enough, I’ve never come across this requirement in my hours and hours of job searches:

“The right person for this job is someone who already spends a good chunk of time engaged with cat-related content online, and whose tastes will resonate with cat lovers everywhere,” Cooper told me in an email.

The Craigslist ad elaborates: “If you love animals, animal rescue, browsing the web for adorable/hilarious/inspirational cat stories — and if you’re looking for some extra work that you can do from home and fit easily into your schedule — this might be the right gig for you!”

Cooper needs someone with a professional background in editorial research and who understands her site’s content and what her readers want.

You should also have Facebook and Instagram accounts as you’ll likely reach out to people through these platforms.

Ogling over cats and getting paid $15 an hour to do so? Sign me up! (But, really, I’m seriously considering applying, so you better hurry up.)

Contact Cooper about the dream job via Craigslist.

(Plus: A big thank “mew” goes to Write Jobs Plus for bringing my attention to this “paw”portunity.)

Are you more of a dog person? Check out other work-from-home jobs on our Facebook jobs page.

Your Turn: What’s your cat’s name?

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. She has a 30-pound cat waiting for her cuddles at home.

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Teachers: This Tex-Mex Chain Loves You And Wants You To Eat For Free

Listen up, teachers. You spend countless hours grading papers, drafting lesson plans and generally putting up with our society’s very energetic and strong-willed children.

At the very least, you deserve some free Mexican food.

Tijuana Flats has your back. The casual Tex-Mex restaurant chain announced on its Facebook page that Wednesday, Dec. 28 is Teacher Hero Day at all 120 locations, which are mostly in the southeastern U.S.

“All teachers enjoy a free entree on us,” it said.

So, teachers, as you’re still savoring the sweet, sweet freedom of your winter holiday break, it’s time for a pop quiz: Do you want burritos, enchiladas or quesadillas? Tacos, perhaps? Chimichangas?

What you’ll need is a teacher ID or pay stub showing proof of employment with a school system. Home-school teachers, teacher’s aides and preschool teachers can get in on the deal as well.

Tijuana Flats has locations throughout Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, Virginia, and Indiana.

Your Turn: Who was your favorite teacher? Let us know in the comments below.

Mike Brassfield (mike@thepennyhoarder.com) is a senior writer at The Penny Hoarder. Like the superhero Deadpool, he prefers chimichangas.

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Lean Financial Independence: Early Retirement on a Supertight Budget

Sarah and I are at an interesting crossroads in our financial journey, one we’ve alluded to a few times recently.

As we’ve said before, our goal is to retire early when we’re in our late forties, roughly around the time that our youngest one leaves the nest. There are a number of reasons for this: a big part of it is household and social stability as they grow up, along with living in a good school district.

Once our children are out of the nest, Sarah and I intend to sell our current home, drastically downsize our possessions, buy a small country home with a few acres on it, and basically retire at that point. We intend to travel a lot in the United States with long stops at all of our national parks, get deeply involved with a few local charities, and pursue a few major personal goals; one of mine is to write a series of fantasy novels the way I want to write them, rather than with an eye for making a living from them.

Recently, however, we came to the realization that we’re very close to “lean” financial independence already.

So, what do I mean by “lean” financial independence? I simply mean that if we were to adopt a lifestyle with very low expenses – substantially lower than what we have now, but definitely livable – we could both quit our jobs right now and live for the rest of our lives off of our income.

To be more specific, if we chose a 3% withdrawal rate on all of our savings and investments and also moved to a smaller house and banked the money we earned on that transaction, we would be able to live on the investments at a level just above the poverty line. However, it’s worth noting at that point that our home would be paid for and we would have zero professional expenses.

While it’s not a life we would actually want right now for a number of reasons, it is a scenario that, once we realized it a few months back, has entered into our discussions a little bit.

The Benefits of “Lean” Financial Independence

Naturally, as Sarah and I do when any major decision or life option appears on our radar, we started making a big list of pros and cons. Here are the major benefits of “lean” financial independence, as we see it.

Tons of free time when we’re young and healthy The earlier that we “retire,” the more years we have in which we’re healthy and energetic and have the desire to take on major life challenges. Doing so right now likely gives us three or four decades of good health. That’s a lot of time to chase many of our personal dreams.

The idea that I could go on three or four hikes a week and spend several hours each at a few different charities and take care of the many other things I’d love to be doing but I simply don’t have time for seems blissful.

Infinite career opportunity We both look at this kind of opportunity as a chance to switch careers and have much more independence in our career choices. We can afford to earn nothing for a while if we have “lean” financial independence, so we can easily make career choices that might make no sense otherwise and we can also stand up for ourselves and leave unhealthy workplaces.

This doesn’t necessarily mean a dissatisfaction with our current career. It just means that when you have enough money come in to ensure your basic life expenses without working, it becomes much easier to make hard career choices and to be selective with your opportunities. It becomes possible to take huge risks and try things you might never otherwise try.

A more minimalist life Part of the appeal of “lean” financial independence is that it requires a more minimalist life than we have right now. This isn’t so much in terms of possessions – though that’s true to a certain extent – but in terms of the daily hectic nature of our lives. We sometimes feel constantly busy, as though we’re on an endless cycle of commitments and tasks that never ends. Getting off of that treadmill seems quite appealing, but it’s something that’s fairly difficult to do with our current life commitments. Eliminating a bunch of commitments would be pleasant. Although this idea is tied to more free time, it’s more of a realization of the lower stress that comes from eliminating commitments and downsizing one’s possessions.

If you’re intrigued by the idea of reducing stress by downsizing possessions, something I am a strong believer in, I recommend Marie Kondo’s books The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up: The Japanese Art of Decluttering and Organizing and Spark Joy: An Illustrated Master Class on the Art of Organizing and Tidying Up.

A huge “emergency fund” if it’s needed If things went very awry, one or both of us coud return to the workforce in some capacity to bolster our income. Over the short term, however, we could certainly withdraw a larger portion of our savings in order to make ends meet, though that would almost definitely lead to some need to return to the workplace at some point.

The Drawbacks of “Lean” Financial Independence

Of course, there are some significant drawbacks to jumping onto this path.

A very “lean” lifestyle Although we don’t live a particularly expensive lifestyle as it is, we would still lose many little perks that we currently enjoy as we simply wouldn’t be able to afford them. My monthly hobby budget would almost entirely disappear, for one. We’d likely eliminate almost all of our entertainment-related subscriptions. Our summer travel would be much leaner.

While Sarah and I are very frugal, we do enjoy some hobbies and some entertainment options. We could give them up, of course, but losing those options would definitely be noticed. We’ve already filtered things such that we’re only using the entertainment and hobby expenses that really matter to us, so cutting those things would really be felt. We’ve already cut out the easy things, so further cuts would involve the hard things.

Serious health insurance questions If we both retired, we would be on our own when it comes to health care options. Going forward, it’s really hard to tell what the health insurance landscape of America will look like. Will there be a health insurance exchange? What will Medicaid and Medicare rules look like? It’s hard to tell going forward.

While Sarah and I could handle our family’s current medical expenses out of pocket, that’s definitely not a given in the future. We do not want to be caught in a situation where a medical problem with a member of our family soaks up all of our savings.

Stale resumes If we spend several years in this state of early retirement, our resumes will eventually atrophy, leaving us in a position where it is difficult to return to a lucrative career. We can, of course, combat this by staying somewhat current in our careers and keeping up some of our professional contacts, but if you’re doing that, are you really retiring early?

This is definitely something I’ve noticed with my previous career. When I made the choice to try full-time writing with a flex schedule to spend a lot more time with my children, I made efforts to keep my resume in my old career path fresh, but enough years have passed that the resume – and my contacts in the field – are extremely stale.

Making the Decision

After weighing these pros and cons, Sarah and I have made the choice, for the time being, to not head for a “lean” early retirement in the near future and instead head toward a more robust early retirement in ten years or so. Here are some of the key deciding factors that swayed us toward staying in our current path.

We both enjoy our careers. Neither Sarah nor I hate our current jobs, other than the fact that they eat up a lot of time that we might enjoy using for other projects. The reality is that every single hour you spend has an opportunity cost, meaning that you can no longer use that hour for anything else, but we both have the opportunity to spend professional hours on tasks that we enjoy that have a positive impact on others and without intense professional stress. That’s about all you can really ask for in a career, to be honest. The relative quality of our respective careers leans us toward staying with them for the time being.

This would, of course, push us toward early retirement if we disliked our jobs. Career satisfaction is generally a factor that resists a move to early retirement and career unhappiness is a factor that pushes people toward early retirement. Thankfully, we’re on the happier end of that spectrum.

We are apprehensive about the future. The next few years look uncertain to us in a number of ways. The opportunity for individuals to obtain health insurance for their families outside of the umbrella of an employer seems certain to change, which would definitely make a lean early retirement much more challenging, and something like a nationalized health care system – which would be a huge boon for early retirement – seems incredibly distant right now. Many investment markets seem high right now, and while I think market timing is useless, it is a truth that growth can’t continue forever.

The future holds changes with regards to early retirement, and when you’re considering a plan that requires you to walk a tightrope anyway, it seems even more risky to start on that plan in the face of those potential changes.

We place a ton of personal value on stability. A big part of this comes from our role as parents and our desire to have a very stable and secure home for our children as they grow and branch out into the world. Until they’re ready to fly on their own, we want them to have a nest to return to, one that they feel very safe and secure in. We’re not helicopter parents – far from it – but we want them to have a foundation in their life that they don’t doubt so that they feel confident taking flight in whatever journey life takes us.

Like it or not, there is more stability to be found in continuing to earn a healthy income from our careers and treating our early retirement savings as an emergency backup of sorts.

Reaching “Lean” Financial Independence Yourself

The options we have on the table before us would have seemed like an absolute dream several years ago. The idea that it was even possible for both Sarah and I to not be working for an extended period without us losing all of our possessions and basically being homeless seemed like an utter flight of fancy.

How did we get from there to here? I’ve written about these strategies often in the past, but for many people this will be their first exposure to The Simple Dollar, so here’s a quick summary.

We spend a lot less than we earn and bank the rest. This has been a constant for roughly a decade or so. We simply don’t spend a large portion of the money that we earn. This means living beneath our means. We live with the knowledge that we could definitely buy a lot more things, travel a lot more, have shiny new cars, and so on. We don’t do those things because they’re not as important to us as other things.

We automate our savings. Money is automatically taken out of our checking account and put into investments each week. This forces us to budget and make spending choices based on what’s left over. We never allow ourselves to have a bunch of cash in our checking account that we’re tempted to spend.

We avoid debt like the plague. We simply don’t get into debt. We keep a healthy cash emergency fund at our bank and replenish it if we ever need to tap it. If we don’t have the resources to buy something that isn’t essential, we don’t buy it and wait until our next pay period. If we know we have a big expense coming up, like a car replacement, we intentionally start saving for it so we can pay for the car replacement in cash.

We cultivate low cost hobbies and interests. Most of our hobbies are really inexpensive. We simply don’t throw money into expensive hobbies. My primary hobbies involve hiking in local state parks and other nature preserves (which is basically free), reading books I’ve checked out from the library (again, free unless I mess up due dates), and playing board games at community game nights and with my family (low cost, but it’s the one hobby I have to really watch).

We don’t worry about what other people think. Having clothes or cars or gadgets that were chosen to impress are meaningless to us. Most people don’t notice them at all. I don’t really notice what cars other people drive or what clothes they wear.

We pride ourselves on achievement rather than possessions. I’m more proud of the books I’ve read than the ones I’ve owned, for example. When I think of my hobbies, I think of the things I’ve made or accomplished rather than the stuff that I have.

We cultivate a social circle of friends with a similar philosophy. Most of our closest friends have an outlook that’s very similar to our own. They spend less than they earn. They intentionally save and invest the difference. They have low cost hobbies. They don’t buy things to impress others. They focus more on achievements rather than possessions. Our conversations and social events constantly reflect those values and thus naturally reinforce them.

Forging Your Own Path

Whether you choose to save your money to retire “lean” as early as possible or you save to retire early with a higher level of income or you choose to save for a completely different big goal, the exact path you follow is up to you and no one else. It is your own path.

What’s the right choice? What’s the wrong choice? The thing is, when you’ve saved up and invested enough money to start seriously thinking about financial independence, what’s “right” and “wrong” has a lot more to do with what you value than with following the rules of others.

You get to decide when you’ll have enough income coming in to retire early.

You get to decide what you’ll do with that time.

You get to decide whether you want to jump into a different career or just spend all your time enjoying a hobby or engaging in a passion that doesn’t make money.

There is no right. There is no wrong. There is only you.

At this point in my life, I find that a particular quote from Ralph Waldo Emerson provides a ton of guidance and solace.

“Do not go where the path may lead, go instead where there is no path and leave a trail.”

I am the first person in my family and the first among my friends to really be facing these questions. I don’t know all of the answers. The best I can do is learn from books, listen to my heart, and forge a path.

Maybe that path is a great path that I’ll be happy with. Maybe it won’t be. Regardless, I share this path and this journey with you, with my friends, and with my family. If nothing else, they can draw their own conclusions and ideas from it.

Trust yourself. Learn as much as you can from what others have done. If lean early retirement feels right for you, make that leap. If it doesn’t, stay on a different path.

Forge your own destiny. You’ll always be glad you did.

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Get a Gorgeous Gown on a Budget With These Tips from “Say Yes to the Dress”

Southern States Burdened With Higher Credit Card Debt

Southern States Burdened With Higher Credit Card Debt

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Credit Freeze vs. Fraud Alert

Credit Freeze vs. Fraud Alert

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Ask GFC 023 – Fitting an HSA into Your Budget

Welcome to another Ask GFC! If you have a question that you want answered you can ask it here.If your questions get featured on GFC TV or the GFC Podcast, you are the lucky recipient of a copy of my best selling book, Soldier of Finance, and a $50 Amazon gift card. So what are you waiting for? Ask your question now!

At a time when health insurance premiums are going through the roof, and it seems as if medical expenses are getting harder to cover, people are becoming increasingly keen to learn about alternative ways to handle health coverage.

One of the best ways available is through health savings accounts, commonly known as HSAs. These plans are often available through employers, though not everyone participates in them.

Part of the reason for this is that an HSA represents an additional expense. Not only are you paying for your health insurance, but you must also fund your HSA. In many households, that creates a budget squeeze.

We received an Ask GFC question on this very topic:

“Jeff, what recommendations do you make to your clients when they are seeking to create a balanced budget while factoring in HSAs in a high deductible health plan? Please advise.”

I’ll get into the budget aspect of an HSA, but first let’s take a look at the basics for the benefit of those who don’t know what they’re all about.

What is an HSA?

HSAs were first created in 2003. In effect, they are employer-sponsored savings accounts that are designed specifically to pay for health care costs. They are typically set up under employer-sponsored cafeteria plans, in which you can select from a menu of employee options that you consider to be valuable, and are willing to fund.

Though they are most often offered by employers, you can also set up an individual HSA through a bank or brokerage firm that offers the plan.

The contributions that you make to an HSA are tax-deductible, much like IRA and 401(k) contributions. The money can even be invested to earn more money, and those earnings accumulate on the tax-deferred basis. Withdrawals can be made to cover qualified medical and dental costs only. That means you won’t be able to allow the money to grow and then to withdraw it for unrelated purposes.

HSA’s are designed specifically to work in conjunction with high deductible health insurance plans. The funds that are contributed to the HSA can be withdrawn and used for such expenses as copayments, health insurance deductibles, and even certain health insurance premiums.

A limitation is that you are not eligible for an HSA if you are either on Medicare or you can be claimed as a dependent on someone else’s tax return.

HSA’s do have contribution limits. For 2016 they are $3,350 for individuals with self-coverage only, and $6,750 for individuals with family coverage.

Contributions can be made either by you as the plan participant, your employer, or by a combination of both. So if you are an individual with family coverage, and your employer pays $3,000 for the plan, your maximum contribution will be $3,750, for a maximum total of $6,750.

You can make contributions to an HSA right up until the tax filing deadline for the previous year. For example, you can make a 2016 contribution as late as April 15, 2017.

Earlier I mentioned that HSA’s are designed to be used in conjunction with health insurance plans that have high deductibles. There are two such deductible levels, one for individual coverage and the other for family coverage. Those deductibles are as follows:

• Individual/self-only health insurance – A minimum deductible of $1,300, to a maximum of $6,550.
• Family coverage – A minimum deductible of $2,600, to a maximum of $13,100.

The basic idea behind HSA’s is that your contributions to the plan go to cover the higher deductible, which enables the premium on health insurance policy to be lower.

What are the Benefits of an HSA?

HSA’s have several benefits, even apart from the fact that your contributions to the plan are fully tax-deductible, and can earn investment income on a tax-deferred basis.

Withdrawals from the plan are tax-free. But only if they are used for qualified medical purposes. This can be a major benefit to someone who can’t deduct medical expenses, either due to the fact that they are unable to itemize their deductions on their tax return, or they don’t qualify to deduct medical expenses.

That second point needs some explanation. Even if you do itemize on your tax return, medical costs can only be deducted to the extent that they exceed 10% of your adjusted gross income. What that means is that if you make $100,000 per year, your medical costs will be deductible only to the extent that they exceed $10,000. Unless you experience a medical catastrophe, it’s unlikely that they will reach this level.

But if you have an HSA, you will be able to pay those expenses with pretax contributions to the plan. That will enable you to get the full benefit of the tax deduction even if you don’t or can’t itemize.

One other important limitation: any funds withdrawn from in HSA that are used to pay for non-medical expenses are subject to both ordinary income tax, and a 20% penalty. So if you have any idea about using the money for some other purpose, forget about it – the tax costs too high.

HSA funds can accumulate in the plan. With the high cost of healthcare, it’s entirely possible that your out-of-pocket medical expenses will exceed the amount of contributions that you can make to the HSA in any given year.

However, unused contributions can be rolled forward from year to year. That means, for example, that you might accumulate $20,000 in the plan over a three-year period. That would give you a generous resource for a year in which your medical costs are particularly high.

HSAs are portable. If you’ve built up a balance in an HSA with an employer, the plan comes with you even if you leave that company.

Using an HSA to Create a “Backdoor Medical IRA”

Since you can build up an HSA balance much like you can build up a retirement account, an HSA has the potential to become something of a medical IRA. This is particularly true if your participation in the plan starts when you are very young and healthy, and unlikely to make many withdrawals from the plan. The account balance can continue to grow steadily from a combination of contributions and investment earnings.

As an example of the potential of how this could play out, the Employee Benefits Research Institute (EBRI) reported the following:

“A person contributing for 40 years to an HSA could save up to $360,000 if the rate of return was 2.5 percent, $600,000 if the rate of return was 5 percent, and nearly $1.1 million if the rate of return was 7.5 percent, and if there were no withdrawals.”

Now that’s an incredibly optimistic projection.

But it shows what could happen if you were to invest in an HSA for 40 years – at a healthy rate of return – but without ever making any withdrawals. Still, the analysis raises an interesting possibility.

One of the biggest – and certainly the most unpredictable – expenses in retirement is healthcare. That’s because health care expenses are rising relentlessly, and the need for services increases with age. It can be very difficult to factor healthcare costs into your retirement planning.

But that’s where an HSA as a medical IRA becomes an interesting possibility. Even if you can never reach the high account balances cited by EBRI, but you do manage to accumulate say, $100,000 or more in your HSA, you’ll have plenty of money available to pay for uncovered medical expenses.

This can include expenses such as prescription medications (including insulin), the cost of certain health insurance premiums, payments for long-term care, as well as co-payments and deductibles under your health insurance plan.

In this way, an HSA that accumulates money over the long term can offset one of the major expenses of the retirement years. Even if it cannot be used to pay for general living expenses, the ability to pay for healthcare costs will be significant.

Building an HSA into Your Budget

Finally, let’s get to the reader’s primary question – creat(ing) a balanced budget while factoring in HSAs in a high deductible health plan.

Whether you are eligible to contribute up to $3,350 or $6,750, it will represent an additional expense in your budget. Remember, the HSA contribution is over and above your basic health insurance premium. This can create a problem in a lot of budgets. After all, any money that you contribute to an HSA, is money that is not going to other purposes, including savings and investments.

But there are a few factors working in favor:

• HSA contributions are tax-deductible. If you are in a combined federal and state income tax bracket of 30%, you will only be effectively contributing 70% of the amount of your contribution out of your own pocket. The government will cover the rest.
• Your employer may make some or all of the contribution. Whatever they will pay will be that much less that you will have to contribute.
• An HSA will allow you to take a higher deductible. That means that your basic health insurance premium will be lower. The savings on the premium should cover a good part of the cost of funding your HSA.
• You don’t have to make the maximum contribution. If you can’t afford to make the maximum, contribute whatever amount you are able to do comfortably.
• HSAs are cumulative. During stretches when you are healthy and not filing claims, the account will quietly build up. Even if your contributions are relatively small on an annual basis, it can seriously add up over several years.
• Join an HSA after a major pay increase. Probably the best time is after you get either a large raise, a promotion, or a new job at substantially higher pay. You can dedicate the additional income to the HSA.
• Fund an HSA with small pay raises. Let’s say that you earn $50,000, and you get a 2% pay increase, equal to $1,000. Make that the contribution to an HSA for the following 12 months. Do the same with the next pay increase, and each year until you reach the maximum HSA contribution limit.

If you set it up right, you’ll hardly notice that you are even making contributions to an HSA. And the payoff is that you will be covering what is perhaps the biggest contingency expense that most of us will face, and that’s a major medical event.

The peace of mind that you will gain from that kind of benefit will certainly be worth the inconvenience of carving out an extra space in your budget.

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7 Crucial Questions to Ask on Your Next College Campus Tour

Your Credit Card Minimum Payment Is Just That — a Minimum

When finances become tight it can be quite tempting to cut back on your credit card payments. After all, if you send in a small payment on your credit card balance you could buy those concert tickets or that new iPhone you’ve been eyeing. Making the minimum payment might even free up funds you need for another bill or necessity.

However, before you start self-justifying minimum payments on your credit card bill it’s important to understand the downside.

The truth is, one of the biggest mistakes you can make when it comes to your credit and finances is to develop the dangerous and expensive habit of making only minimum payments on your credit card debt. And while your card issuers are totally fine with you doing so, it’s not the best course of action — and it’s a hard habit to break.

How Your Credit Card Minimum Payment Works

Your credit card issuer determines your minimum payment each month based on their own internal policies and standards. There is no uniform, industry-wide method used to calculate your minimum payment. Each card issuer is different.

Certain card issuers will require a percentage of your overall balance to be paid as a minimum payment (e.g., perhaps 1% to 3%). Others will require a percentage of your balance plus interest accrued along with any fees (such as late fees) as your minimum payment. Additionally, if your account balance is relatively low, most card issuers will still require at least a fixed minimum payment regardless (e.g., your minimum payment each month must be 3% of your credit card balance or $25, whichever is higher).

Why Making Only the Minimum Payment Is Bad for Your Wallet

Credit card debt is very likely the most expensive debt you’ll ever service, which is a fancy way of saying it isn’t cheap to carry credit card debt. It is not uncommon for credit card interest rates to hover around 15% or higher. In the short term, making only the minimum payment on a credit card might offer you a temporary financial breather — but those high interest rates on the debt will continue to cause your balance to grow quickly.

Let’s assume that you owe $5,000 in credit card debt with a 15% interest rate, which is about average, and a minimum payment of 2% of your overall balance. If you make only the credit card minimum payment each month ($100 in this example), then it would take you 27 and a half years (no, that’s not a typo) to pay off your outstanding debt – and that’s if you don’t put any new purchases on the card in the meantime.

By making just the minimum payment, it would take you almost as long to pay off your $5,000 credit card balance as it would to pay off your entire home mortgage.

Why Making Only the Minimum Payment Is Bad for Your Credit

Making just the minimum payment on your credit card will sting financially, but this bad habit can also wreak havoc on your credit scores as well.

It’s true that making the minimum payment on your credit card will prevent late payments from showing up on your credit reports, and that’s important — paying the minimum is better than not paying at all. However, avoiding late payments is not enough to maintain a great credit score. Credit scoring models like VantageScore and FICO focus on not only how reliably you pay your bills, but also the balances on your cards relative to their credit limits.

Unpaid credit card debt equates to you being an elevated credit risk, period. TransUnion did a study a few years ago that determined people who do not pay their credit card bills in full each month are three to five times riskier than people who do. And, earlier this year, Fannie Mae began considering something called “Trended Data,” which is information from your credit reports that identifies whether you pay off your cards completely every month, or if you carry (or “revolve”) some portion of the balance.

The bottom line is this: Paying the minimum on your credit cards is never, ever a good idea. It’s expensive and it can harm your credit scores. Your best bet is to use credit cards in such a way that you can pay them in full every month, without exception. Then your interest rates become meaningless.

Related Articles

• Five Signs You Shouldn’t Use a Credit Card
• Debt Payoff Calculator
• You Can Improve This Part of Your Credit Score Almost Immediately

John Ulzheimer is an expert on credit reporting, credit scoring, and identity theft. He has written four books on the topic and has been interviewed and quoted thousands of times over the past 10 years. With time spent at Equifax and FICO, Ulzheimer is the only credit expert who actually comes from the credit industry. He has been an expert witness in over 230 credit related lawsuits and has been qualified to testify in both federal and state courts on the topic of consumer credit.

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Freelance Services Busy Moms Can Offer That Don’t Interfere with Family Time

By Ashlee Anderson Whether you’re a stay-at-home mom or a working mom, chances are you’ve got a lot on your plate. The last thing you need is to add another entry to your already overflowing to-do list. But what if an added task or two each week could lead to extra money without having to […]

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Got an Email Address? These 93+ Companies Will Give You Free Stuff

Who doesn’t love free stuff?

The age of Internet advertising means freebies are all around you, from food to beauty supply samples to boat trips (yes, seriously).

Marketers want to get their names and products in your inbox. And they’re often willing to give away a little something-something in return for that precious email address of yours.

So we raked the Internet to find some of the best freebies you can get by signing up for companies’ newsletters.

Pssst — can’t stand the inbox bloat?

You can still take advantage of many of these freebies: Just sign up, grab the coupon offer inside and unsubscribe from future advertisements.

Food and Snacks

From appetizers to entrees, these restaurants have enough freebies to keep your tummy full and your wallet happy.

1. Einstein Bagels: Free bagel and shmear — and a free bagel on your birthday — when you sign up for The Shmear Society
2.  IHOP: Free stack of Rooty Tooty Fresh and Fruity Pancakes at sign-up, each anniversary of the sign-up, and also on your birthday when you join the Pancake Revolution
3. First Watch: Buy one, get one free offer when you sign up for the Sun eClub
4. Ruby Tuesday: Free appetizer when you join its So Connected email club
5. Longhorn: Free appetizer when you purchase an adult entree for subscribing to its eClub
6. Friday’s: Get a free appetizer or dessert when you join its Give Me More Stripes newsletter
7. Olive Garden: Free appetizer when you purchase two entrees
8. California Pizza Kitchen: Free small plate when you join its Pizza Dough reward club
9. Joe’s Crab Shack: Free appetizer when you join Joe’s Catch E-Club
10. Texas Roadhouse: Free appetizer and birthday offer when you join its email club
11. Moe’s: Free queso when you join Moe’s eWorld
12. Applebee’s: Get a free birthday special when you sign up for its newsletter
13. Spaghetti Warehouse: This one’s a twofer! Get a free appetizer (and a free meal on your birthday) when you join the Warehouse Club email list, and a free Brownie Sundae Supreme when you join the Text Club!
14. Red Lobster: Free appetizer or dessert with two adult entrée purchases when you join the Fresh Catch Club
15. Mi Abuelo’s: Free entrée with the purchase of a regular-price entrée and two drinks, along with a points system and other special offers on your birthday
16. Del Taco: Two free tacos when you join the Raving Fan eClub and a free shake on your birthday
17. Rubio’s: Free taco when you join the Beach Club
18. Taco Cabana: Free fajita taco when you join TC Fanatics
    
19. Arby’s: Sign up for Arby’s newsletter to get a free roast beef sandwich when you purchase a drink
20. Johnny Rocket’s: Join the Rocket eClub for a free burger with the purchase of an entree and drink — and on your birthday
21. Denny’s: Join its Loyalty Program and enjoy a free Grand Slam on your birthday when you show your ID
22. Firehouse Subs: Download its mobile app for rewards and enjoy a free sub on your birthday when you show your ID
23. Benihana: Earn a $30 gift certificate during your birth month when you join Chef’s Table
24. Houlihan’s: Get $10 off your next visit, plus a free meal on your birthday when you join its email club
25. Buca di Beppo: Get free pasta when you join its eClub
26. Sbarro: Get a free slice when you join the Slice Society Email Club
27. Zaxby’s: Free Meal Deal when you join, and then a free Nibbler on your birthday when you join the Zax Club
28. Baker’s Square: Sign up for its eClub to receive a free entree when you purchase another entrée and two drinks
29. Culver’s: This eClub will get you a free Value Basket when you purchase another Value Basket
30. Red Robin: Free burger on your birthday when you sign up for Red Robin Rewards
31. Bennigan’s: BOGO entrée when you join its e-club, as well as a free dessert on your birthday
32. Uno’s: Get a free birthday offer when you sign up for Uno’s eClub
33. Auntie Anne’s: Free pretzel after first purchase when you download its Pretzel Perks app
34. Pizza Hut: Free cheese sticks with your next order when you join Hut Lovers
35. Qdoba: Get a free order of chips and salsa or a regular drink when you sign up for Qdoba Rewards
36. Bojangles: Get a free cheddar biscuit with any purchase and a coupon for a free berry biscuit on your birthday when you join the Bojangles’ eClub
37. Wingstop: Get a free order of fries for signing up for Wingstop’s newsletters
38. Chili’s: When you sign up for MyRewards, you’ll earn 60 points, which Chili’s says is enough for your first free menu item
39. Earl of Sandwich: Get $5 off your next purchase when you sign up for the Royalty Club
40. Firehouse: Get a free large drink with next purchase when you sign up for Firehouse Rewards
41. Hardee’s: Get a free small fry and beverage with the purchase of any Thickburger when you sign up for Hardee’s email list
42. Waffle House: Become a Waffle House Regular to get a free order of hashbrowns
43. Steak ‘n Shake: You’ll get a free menu item on your birthday when you join Steak ‘n Shake’s eClub
44. Alien Fresh Jerky: Get a free jerky sample — just for giving your email address to Alien Fresh
45. Don Pablo’s: Get free nachos and a $10 voucher on your birthday when you join the Habaneros Club
46. Captain D’s: Get a coupon to enjoy a free dessert once a month with the purchase of a regular price meal
47. Marie Callender’s: Subscribe to the newsletter and get 20% off your next dine-in purchase

Dessert

What’s a meal without dessert? Here’s where to get a little sugar without spending any cheese.

48. Sprinkles Cupcakes: Get a free cupcake on sign-up… and on your birthday!
49. Panera: Join MyPanera Rewards to earn a free pastry or Sweet Welcome Reward
50. Krispy Kreme: Download the app and sign up to score a free half dozen donuts — and a free donut on your birthday
51. Great American Cookie: Get a free cookie with regular cookie purchase when you join the CookiE-mail list — and a free cookie on your birthday, too
52. Village Inn: Get a free slice of pie with an adult entree purchase when you join VI’s eClub
53. Black Angus: Free dessert for joining the Prime Club and a free steak dinner on your first birthday as a member
54. Cracker Barrel: Sign up for its newsletter to score a free dessert on your birthday
55. Big Boy: Big Boy’s eClub will get you a free dessert on your birthday
56. Macaroni Grill: Get a free dessert on your birthday when you join the email club
57. Jack in the Box: Get a free dessert on your birthday
58. Cinnabon: Join Club Cinnabon to get a free Minibon
59. Corner Bakery Café: When you sign up for eCafe, you’ll get a free cookie
60. Barnes and Noble Kids’ Club: Your kid will get a free cupcake and more on her birthday when you join the Kids’ Club
61. BJ’s Restaurant and Brewhouse: Get a free mini Pizookie (a fresh-baked cookie topped with ice cream and, yes, it’s as good as it sounds) when you sign up for BJ’s Premier Rewards Program
62. Melting Pot: Get a free box of chocolate-covered strawberries when you spend $60 (which is easy to do there!)
63. Godiva Rewards: Get free chocolate every month when you sign up!

Ice Cream

If you stand between me and my ice cream, you’re looking to get knocked over.

Fortunately, these ice cream freebies mean nobody gets hurt.

64. Friendly’s: You’ll earn a free scoop on your next visit, and then a 25% off coupon — not to mention a sundae on your birthday!
65. Dairy Queen: Buy one Blizzard, get one free — and get a free Blizzard on your birthday, too!
66. Cold Stone: Join the My Cold Stone Club to get a Buy One Get One coupon and a birthday offer
67. Carvel: Subscribe for a buy one get one free coupon
68. Menchie’s: You’ll get 25 free smiles — rewards points — when you sign up
69. Pinkberry: Download its app to earn rewards and get a free small yogurt on your birthday
70. Marble Slab: Free ice cream when you sign up for its Rewards program
71. Orange Julius: Join the Julius League for a BOGO drink coupon
72. Baskin Robbins: Sign up for the Birthday Club to get a free birthday scoop
73. Dippin’ Dots: You’ll get free Dippin’ Dots on your birthday when you join the Dot Crazy! Rewards Club
74. Rita’s: Join the Birthday Club for a free birthday treat (Italian Ice)
75. Maggie Moo’s: Get a birthday freebie when you subscribe

Coffee

Raise a glass to the beverage that keeps us all sane and (mostly) civil in the early morning hours!

76. Caribou Coffee: You get a free medium drink when you join Caribou Perks, the shop’s reward club
77. Au Bon Pain: When you join this eClub, you get a free travel mug!
78. Dunkin Donuts: DD’s rewards program gets you a free beverage at sign-up, on your birthday and every time you rack up 200 points
79. Dunn Brothers Coffee: Get a free cup of coffee or half off a prepared beverage for joining
80. Starbucks: Get a free drink on your birthday — and free food and beverages every 10 purchases
81. IKEA: Get coffee on the house, as well as price protection and the chance to win a $100 gift card, when you join IKEA Family

Other Freebies

Now that you’re not hangry anymore, you can take care of other business. Here are some of our favorite non-food newsletter sign-up freebies.

Samples and Supplies

Need some shampoo? Maybe a sticker that might save Sassy’s life?

Here are some freebies you can get just for signing up.

82. ASPCA: It’ll send you a free Pet Safety Pack of stickers to put on your window so first responders know your pets are inside
83. Pantene: Get free samples and promotional materials for hair care products when you sign up for Pantene’s mailing list Free Samples
84. L’Oréal Paris: Subscribe to this newsletter, and you’ll get a free shampoo tailored to your hair’s needs.
85. Sephora: Beauty Insiders get a free gift on their birthday — and it’s usually a pretty nice one!
86. BareMinerals: Get a personalized birthday freebie when you sign up for its newsletter.

Ecourses

Ecourses are an awesome way to learn more about something… and these ecourses will help you earn and save lots of extra pennies.

87. Femtrepreneur: Get a free “Build a Profitable Blog” ecourse when you sign up for Femtrepreneur’s newsletter
88. Braid: It’ll send you a creative branding ecourse sample to get your freelance or small business off the ground
89. Tiny House Build: Just supply your email address for a free seven-day ecourse on building tiny houses that covers everything from insulation to home storage.

Movies and Events

Hey — you’ve got to live a little! Here’s some free entertainment.

90. Redbox: Join the Text Club to get free Redbox movies every month
91. Movie Tavern: Get free popcorn when you become a Movie Tavern member, and a free movie ticket on your birthday!
92. Barnum and Bailey: Children under 12 months old get a free circus ticket when you sign up for Baby’s First Circus
93. Catalina Express: If you happen to be in southern California, you can get a free trip to Catalina Island on your birthday when you give the company your email address

Percentages Off Your Next Purchase

If you’re in the market for some new clothing, kitchenware or lettuce, you don’t have to spend full price!

Here are vendors that will give you percentages off your next purchase in exchange for your email address.

Clothing

Get everything from free shipping to 30% off when you sign up for these store newsletters.

1. The Children’s Place: Get $10 off your next purchase when you sign up
2. Williams-Sonoma: You’ll get 15% off and free shipping on your next order
3. TJ Maxx: Free Shipping on your next purchase when you sign up for its newsletter
4. Old Navy: You’ll score 30% off next purchase when you sign up for its newsletter
5. Gap: This company will give you 25% off your first purchase when you sign up for its emails
6. Aeropostale: Sign up to get 20% off your first purchase

Food

Save on your next food purchase with these companies.

7. Quiznos: You’ll get a coupon for $1 off when you sign up for the QClub
8. Boston Market: Join the VIP Club to get $3 off your next purchase of $10 or more
9. Maggiano’s: Sign up to get $10 off your next visit
10. Smashburger: Get $2 off your next purchase of $5 or more
11. OrganicGirl: Join the OrganicGirl elist to get a coupon for $1 off any OrganicGirl product

Other Stuff

Here are a host of other businesses that will give you discounts when you trade in your email address.

12. Buy Buy Baby: Follow the popup prompt to get 20% discount off one item when you sign up for its newsletter
13. Pyrex: When you give Pyrex your email address, you’ll score 20% off your next order
14. Crate and Barrel: Get 10% off your next purchase when you sign up for its newsletters
15. Bed, Bath and Beyond: Get a 20% off coupon when you get connected with Bed, Bath & Beyond
16. World Market: Become a World Market Explorer to get 15% off your next purchase
17. Origins: Sign up for its email list to get 15% off first order
18. Joann Fabrics: Sign up to get 20% off your next purchase in store or online

Your Turn: Will you take advantage of any of these newsletter freebies or discounts? Let us know in the comments!

Jamie Cattanach is a staff writer at The Penny Hoarder. She also writes other stuff, like wine reviews and poems — you can read along at http://ift.tt/1RiB7sH.

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Is Your Job Bad for Your Relationship? 15 Careers With the Highest Divorce Rates

When you’re looking for a job, you likely consider whether the work is interesting, how much it pays and its benefits.

But have you ever thought about the effect your work might have on your relationship with your significant other? Or the impact of your partner’s job on your relationship?

Some jobs seem naturally more likely to cause friction. For example, you might guess that high-stress jobs are bad for relationships, but that’s not always the case. Firefighter, military personnel and airline pilot all show up on Forbes list of the most stressful jobs of 2016, but do not appear on the Statista list of the 15 jobs with the highest divorce rate.

So what are the careers with the highest divorce rates? You probably won’t be surprised by the first few.

1. Dancers and Choreographers

This category tops the list, with a divorce rate of 43.05%.

Of course, dancing can be romantic and intimate. The environment and practice sessions seem to affect even those who are new to dancing. Consider the many confirmed hookups that have happened between contestants on the reality show “Dancing With the Stars.”

2. Bartenders

This is perhaps the least surprising profession on the list. After all, how does a bartender get the best tips, apart from providing excellent service? Flirting comes to mind.

The divorce rate for bartenders is 38.43%.

3. Massage Therapists

Who did you touch today? Even if it isn’t asked, it’s a question that might be on your spouse’s mind when you walk through the door after a long day as a massage therapist.

Clients often develop a crush on their massage therapists, and sometimes try to date them, massage therapist Daniel Reinisch told Glamour. He mentioned one marriage that resulted from a work relationship, and he said of a massage therapist friend who has many female clients, “…it would be ludicrous to deny his attraction to all these women…”

The divorce rate for massage therapists: 38.22%.

4. and 5. Casino Workers

When I worked as a blackjack dealer, it was difficult to keep track of who was dating whose wife or husband, and who was breaking up or getting together. The environment is one of gambling and partying, perhaps making it conducive to risky behavior.

Gaming service workers have a 31.35% divorce rate, according to Statista. Cage workers (cashiers and money counters) have an even higher divorce rate (34.66%), so maybe the problem is money. Is it a dangerous aphrodisiac?

Other Jobs With High Divorce Rates

Some of the jobs on the Statista list are surprising. For example, why would extruding machine operators have a divorce rate of 32.74%, landing at sixth on the list?

And who would have guessed that factory workers would get the No. 7 spot, with a divorce rate of 29.78%?

Here are the rest of the 15 professions that might negatively impact your relationships, along with their divorce rates:

8. Telephone operators: 29.30%
9. Nursing, psychiatric and home health aides: 28.95%
10. Entertainers and performers, sports and related workers: 28.49%
11. Baggage porters and concierges: 28.49%
12. Telemarketers: 28.10%
13. Waiters/waitresses: 27.12%
14. Roofers: 26.85%
15. Maids and housekeeping cleaners: 26.38%

The only surprise with entertainers is that they’re not higher on the list. How many people could be truly comfortable with all the kisses and bed time other people get from their movie actor spouses, even if it is just for the camera?

But roofers? Why are they on the list? Do they come home too tired to contribute to the relationship?

Whatever the explanations are, at least you know you may have to work extra hard on that relationship if you or your significant other is a roofer, telemarketer or porter.

And Now the Good News

Some professions seem to be good for a relationship, or at least not bad for it.

If you want to make a relationship last, look for someone in one of these professions with low divorce rates. Marry an agricultural engineer, for example. Their divorce rate is an amazingly low 1.78%.

Here are some other professions to consider, along with their divorce rates:

• Nuclear engineers: 7.29%
• Podiatrists: 6.81%
• Sales engineers: 6.61%
• Clergy: 5.61%
• Transit and railroad police: 5.26%
• Optometrists: 4.01%

Your Turn: Do you think your job has a negative or positive effect on your relationship?

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).

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Here’s How I Make an Extra $200/Month on Etsy — Without Making Anything

Unless you’re a crafter or vintage item dealer, you’ve probably never considered selling on Etsy.

Traditionally, items sold on Etsy have to be either handmade or vintage. But if you sell tools or supplies to make things, neither of those requirements apply.

I made an extra $200 last month selling needlecraft patterns, kits and supplies on Etsy — and my numbers are growing every month.

Here’s what I’ve learned, so you can do the same.

Figure Out How to Sell on Etsy By Finding Your Niche

Cross-stitch is a hobby of mine, but selling completed cross-stitch projects isn’t a moneymaker.

Why?

When you consider how long it takes to finish one piece, you’ll never be able to earn a decent hourly rate.

However, because I love to cross-stitch and am active in needlecrafting social media communities, I know the types of kits and patterns needlecrafters want.

I regularly shop at local thrift stores, purchasing kits and patterns for a few bucks each.

Then I mark them up anywhere from 400% to 1,200% and sell them in my Etsy shop. I opened my shop in August and had earned more than $600 by the end of December.

Needlecraft kits and patterns are rarely expensive at thrift shops. In fact, I seem to have little (if any) competition for them. Most of the kits I find are from the 1970s or 80s and still sealed in the original packaging.

Needlecraft is enjoying a renaissance right now.

When an older person passes away, family members see a stash of old needlecraft supplies, assume it’s junk and toss it in a donation box.

Some of it is junk, but some are vintage or out-of-print patterns and can be sold for anywhere from $20 to $100. Not a bad markup for something I typically buy for less than a dollar!

Buy Cheap

Needlecraft patterns and kits already are inexpensive at thrift stores.

But to make the biggest profit, I’m a bargain shopper — even when I’m thrifting.

I know which stores near me have half-off days. I also sign up for their email lists or follow them on Facebook to regularly receive 20% coupons.

Get to know your local stores so you’ll know how to get the best deal.

How to List Your Products on Etsy

Etsy charges 20 cents to list an item for four months. Plus, it gets 3.5% of the selling price, which is pretty competitive compared to Amazon and eBay seller fees.

Etsy is a big marketplace, so if you want buyers to find your items, there are a few things you’ll need to do.

Post Good Photos with Your Etsy Listings

When people shop online, they can’t pick up the item to feel its materials and textures.

Etsy listings allow you to add up to five photos per listing. Use them all — and take the best, well-lit photos you can.

Etsy has several articles about taking killer photos in its seller handbook.

Before you take the photo, spend a few minutes cleaning up the item. Remove sticker residue and any dust.

Use Photoshop to brighten the photos a bit. Be honest about the condition of the item, but present it in the best light possible.

Write Great Descriptions for Your Listings

Again, your customers can’t inspect products in person, so your description should tell a story, as well as provide useful information.

Buyers want to know the stitch count, size of the finished project and the materials required. If there’s an interesting story behind the design, share that, too!

Use Effective Keywords

Etsy gives you space for thirteen keywords.

Use them all.

Don’t just use generic keywords like “cross-stitch” or “needlecraft.” An Etsy search for the term “cross-stitch” reveals nearly 160,000 products.

Think of a term someone would use to find your specific product.

If you’re selling a vintage car needlework kit, use “vintage car cross-stitch.” A search for that term leads to fewer than 100 products for the buyer to explore. That’s much more manageable.

Share, Share, Share

Unless you’re a cross-stitch lover, you’d never know about the huge cross-stitch community on Instagram. I set up an account specific to my Etsy shop and regularly share projects I’m working on, as well as interesting pieces I’ve listed for sale.

I definitely see a spike in Etsy shop views when I post photos of the kits I’m listing. I also pin new listings to Pinterest and share them on Twitter.

I’ve even had people send me private messages, letting me know what kinds of kits they’re looking for so I can keep an eye out while I’m thrifting.

How Much Can You Make If You Sell on Etsy?

The average needlecraft kit may sell for between $8 and $15, but I often come across rare, vintage kits and patterns that sell for $25 or more.

My shop’s sales started out pretty modest, but as I’ve added items to my shop and gained social media followers, my sales have grown steadily each month.

I’m not going to be able to quit my day job any time soon, but I‘ve been able to make a profit from something I love doing, and it doesn’t get better than that.

Your Turn: Will you start an Etsy shop for your craft hobby?

Janet Berry-Johnson is a Certified Public Accountant and a freelance writer. Her work has appeared on Scottsdale Moms Blog, Forbes and BonBon Break.

The post Here’s How I Make an Extra $200/Month on Etsy — Without Making Anything appeared first on The Penny Hoarder.

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