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الأحد، 26 نوفمبر 2017

32 Ways to Give Back Without Derailing Your Own Finances

Tuesday is “Giving Tuesday,” an event created in 2012 as a push-back to the hyper-consumerism of Black Friday, Cyber Monday, and the holiday season in general. It comes hard on the heels of our national day of Thanksgiving, when we’re all supposed to reflect upon the things for which we’re most grateful.

Some people are feeling grateful that they’re managing despite serious money challenges. While they’d like to give to others, they might not feel financially able. Others are trying to live frugally to reach financial goals like rapid debt repayment, college savings, or entrepreneurship, and have to balance philanthropy with personal money philosophy.

No one should make charitable donations if it endangers their own household’s financial well-being. However, “giving” doesn’t necessarily mean cash. You can also donate durable goods, gifts of service or time, or maybe even literal gifts of yourself (more on that in a minute).

And if you’re in a position to itemize your taxes? Get your donations together now, instead of joining a long line of cars outside the Salvation Army drop-off center the afternoon of Dec. 31.

Here are some ways to give back without going broke.

(Affordable) Gifts of Cash

Maybe giving loads of cash isn’t possible right now. But you might be able to find money in the budget with tips like:

1. Found Coin Challenge: The quarter in the soft drink change return, or the dime you see on the sidewalk? Pick it up, all of it, and save it in a jar for a while. When you get a decent amount then you can drop it in a fund-raising can, the Salvation Army kettle, the donation plate at your house of worship, or anywhere you can think of that needs it. You could also deposit it in your bank account and make a donation by check or credit card. Or run it through the CoinStar machine and opt for an e-gift card (no fee), then use it to buy something to donate to charity.

2. Spare Change Challenge: This is like the Found Coin Challenge, except the specie will come from you. Every night put all the coins from your pocket or wallet into a jar. After a while you’ll have enough money to do some good.

3. Do without: Every now and then, do without something that isn’t strictly necessary: a pizza, a movie, a new T-shirt even though you already have a dresser full of the things. Put the money you would have spent toward a charity or some other pet project.

4. Cash in for gift cards: Whether you’re in a rewards program like MyPoints or Swagbucks or have a rewards credit card that allows you to redeem points for gift cards, these bits of plastic can have a nice impact. Get some Amazon gift cards and have paper products or diapers delivered to a family shelter. Cash in for drugstore scrip and buy toiletries to donate to Covenant House. Some Target or Walmart cards could purchase crafts supplies for the Boys and Girls Club afterschool program. If there’s a no-kill animal shelter in your area, use free pet-store gift cards to buy grooming supplies, cat litter, and other needed items. And so on.

5. Get free PayPal. The Swagbucks program offers PayPal as an option along with those gift cards. Cash in and use the money to do some good.

Gifts of Time

6. Big Brothers/Big Sisters: This is a huge time commitment, but the rewards are immense as well. Imagine changing a kid’s life forever for the better.

7. Scouting and 4-H: Also a huge time commitment, also a potential life-changer.

8. Volunteer at a hospital: That could entail being one of the “pink ladies” pushing around a cart full of magazines. But you might also be asked to give directions to visitors, tidy up a common area, rock drug-addicted babies – the possibilities vary from hospital to hospital, but the sense of accomplishment is pretty much universal.

9. Cleaning up: Choose a place near you – transit stop, busy corner, pocket park – and drop by a couple of times a week to pick up litter.

Gifts of Service

10. Pro bono professional services: A relative who’s a dental hygienist volunteers at a free dental services event that’s so huge it’s housed in a sports arena. Maybe you have some professional talent that other people need, too, such as pro bono work through your law practice, helping high school students with their college essays, or volunteering at a health clinic.

11. Project Linus: Are you a knitter, a crocheter, or a quilter? This organization accepts new, handmade, washable blankets and afghans to be given to ill or traumatized children. Check the Project Linus map for a chapter near you. Similar to this is…

12. Christmas at Sea: The Seamen’s Church Institute offers patterns for knitters and crocheters who want to create warm garments for mariners who work during the holidays. The SCI distributes them along with lip balm, hand lotion, and other items useful to people who work long stretches in a marine environment.

13. Help a neighbor: Maybe the guy across the street has health issues that keep him from doing yard work, or the woman next door can no longer clear her own steps and driveway of snow. Offer your services. (Pro tip: A face-saving way for them to accept gracefully is suggesting that you need the exercise, or that your new snow-blower is so awesome you’re looking for new places to run it.)

14. Tutoring: Even if you’ve never been a teacher, you might be able to do some good at a neighborhood school to help a kid (or a teen). Maybe you already do this for pay; if so, could you donate a few hours a month to helping kids who couldn’t ordinarily afford it?

15. Hippotherapy: Good with horses or own a horse yourself? See if “hippotherapy,” or therapeutic horseback riding, is offered in your area. Expect to take some training first.

16. Music, art, or writing lessons: If you’re skilled in these or other creative endeavors, offer to conduct workshops at your place of worship, scouting group, a senior center, or an afterschool program.

Gifts from Your Garden

17. Extra produce: If you’re growing vegetables, donate any excess or maybe even add a couple of extra plants so you’ll have enough to give away. The Garden Writers of America maintains a state-by-state list of contacts for its “Plant a Row for the Hungry” campaign. Another program, Urban Food Forestry, links to harvest initiatives in the U.S., Canada, and the United Kingdom.

18. Give tree fruit: If you’ve got apples, citrus, or other edibles that you’re not using, look for a way to get them onto the tables of the hungry. Talk to your local food bank about possibilities, or check out the following programs:
· Village Harvest (San Francisco Bay area)
· Falling Fruit (includes links to organizations that distribute food around the world)
· Portland (Oregon) Fruit Tree Project

19. Wedding flowers: Okay, so you probably didn’t grow your wedding bouquet yourself – but someone did. A blog called Offbeat Bride suggests donating the flowers to hospice, shelters, and other locations. The article also includes links to organizations like Random Acts of Flowers and Petals With Purpose, some of which will even come pick the flowers up from the venue. Wedding gowns can also be donated, and sometimes it’s even possible to donate leftover catered food; do a search for options in your region.

Gifts of Goods

20. Household items: Charity thrift shops have rules about what they’ll accept; for example, some secondhand stores won’t take electronics or upholstered furniture. But if you’re thinking of getting rid of items that still have plenty of wear in them, find out what local shops are accepting.

21. Giveaway sites: In your area you may have The Freecycle Network, Craigslist (which has a “free” section) and Buy Nothing Day Facebook groups. Offer items you no longer need – and also take a look at the things people are requesting, since you might be able to help.

22. Old linens: Time to replace your towels, blankets, or sheets? Don’t throw them out before contacting animal shelters in your area – they might need cloth for bedding, cleanup, and other projects.

23. Long-sleeved shirts: Cuffs frayed or elbows giving way? The shirts will still make great painting smocks for young children. Call your neighborhood school to see if they’re needed.

24. Books and periodicals: This American Library Association fact sheet offers info on libraries and organizations that accept books. Outgrown children’s books might be left in the waiting rooms of public health clinics and social service agencies (ask permission first), or at local elementary schools. When you’re done with magazines, ask about dropping them off at job-source or adult education groups. (Pro tip: Cut the mailing label off the fronts of the magazines first.)

25. Old cell phones: Sure, you might be able to sell your old phone. But if you can afford to give it away, the device will mean a lot to programs like Cell Phones for Soldiers or to local women’s shelters. Some organizations collect phones to recycle for money to fund their work. Do a search for “donate old cell phones” and learn about local or national needs.

26. Eyeglasses and hearing aids: These can be refurbished and reused. Search for local drop-off centers.

27. Military care packages: The biggest expense here might be the flat-rate shipping, since many of the items soldiers need are relatively inexpensive, can be obtained for free or nearly so if you match sales and coupons, or are things you already have. Some examples: playing cards, beef jerky, body wash, Beanie Babies (which the soldiers give out to local children), microwave popcorn, sunscreen, water flavoring packets, flip-flops, baby wipes, lip balm, Clif Bars, and nail clippers. The Department of Defense provides a list of organizations, like Any Soldier Inc. and Operation Gratitude, that will help you get started.

Gifts of Yourself (Literally!)

28. Blood donation: This is your chance to save a life, or at least improve someone’s health. Check out plasma and platelet donation, too.

29. Bone-marrow donation: So easy to sign up – and if a match is ever found, you will be saving a life. (For a double-whammy, donate the money you can earn by giving bone marrow.)

30. Sign your donor card: Not everyone is comfortable being an organ donor, for religious or personal reasons. It’s tempting to ignore the possibility because, well, it would mean thinking about your own demise. Please consider it – and be sure to let your family know of your wishes.

31. Breast milk: Local and national hospitals and organizations will accept donations of excess milk to help babies whose mothers cannot feed them naturally. If you’re able to help, contact the Human Milk Banking Association of North America.

32. Hair: Grow your locks out and then cut ’em off to be used in hairpieces for cancer patients or people with alopecia areata. Do a search for regional or national organizations that collect tresses, such as Pantene Beautiful Lengths, Locks of Love, and Wigs for Kids; each has different requirements, processes, and beneficiaries.

Finally: While the holiday season is one of ringing bells and end-of-the-year donations, please remember that need exists year-round. If you’re able to give, focus some of that largesse on the other 11 months. Your donation of money, goods, time, or service will be greatly appreciated.

Veteran personal finance writer Donna Freedman is the author of “Your Playbook for Tough Times: Living Large on Small Change, for the Short Term or the Long Haul” and “Your Playbook for Tough Times, Vol. 2: Needs AND Wants Edition.”

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The post 32 Ways to Give Back Without Derailing Your Own Finances appeared first on The Simple Dollar.

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7 Tips for Spending and Banking During Your European Vacation

Entre vostre PIN, si us plau.

Those six little Catalan words cost me more than $50.

I’d just arrived in Barcelona after a two-legged, sleepless redeye, but I was prepared — or so I thought. Despite my exhaustion, I wasn’t about to dish out a fistful of crisp euros on a cab ride when I could just take the airport bus for just €5.90. After 12 hours of travel time, what was 40 extra minutes?

But although I’d long since had the chip card international travel necessitates, I’d overlooked a crucial step: setting up the personal identification number, or PIN, required at teller-less credit-card transaction points in Europe.

At my early arrival time, there was no way to purchase bus tickets aside from the automated kiosk — and that pesky PIN prompt kept flashing on the screen, no matter which card I used. It was 5 a.m. EST on a Sunday, so calling customer service was out.

Unless I was ready to take a very long walk with all my luggage in tow, I was going to have to capitulate to the pricy taxi line.

Which I did. To the tune of €50 — almost $60 in U.S. dollars.

When you think about preparing your finances for a big trip, you might assume it’s all about saving up a big enough budget.

And to be sure, you want some extra padding if you’re going to be globe-trotting — both for once-in-a-lifetime splurges and unexpected travel surprises. (Trust me, they happen. A lot.)

But aside from patiently stashing away cash, there’s some other money-related homework you need to do if you want to smoothly transition your wallet to a new part of the world.

Here’s everything I did to prepare my finances for my big European excursion — and what I wish I’d figured out before my flight.

1. Get a Chip-Enabled Credit Card with No Foreign Transaction Fees

Even if you usually rely on cash, it’s important to have multiple ways to pay when you’re far from home. But when it comes to overseas travel, you don’t just need plastic: You need the right kind of plastic.

You might already be familiar with the EMV credit-card system, otherwise known as “chip” cards. The U.S. was a little late to this particular party, but they’ve been more or less the global standard for years, so if you’re headed to a far-off, foreign destination, you need one.

But that’s not all. You don’t want to pay an extra percentage every time you swipe — or, excuse me, insert — your card, so you need to look for a credit card that doesn’t have a foreign-transaction fee.

And while you’re card-shopping, it’s a good idea to bear in mind which vendors have the widest acceptance in your destination country (most likely Visa and Mastercard). I use my Discover card almost exclusively at home, but it’s a little trickier to do so in Europe.

Penny Hoarder bonus points if you use a travel-rewards credit card to earn frequent flyer miles or other valuable perks so you can afford even more adventures. Fun fact: My flight from Florida to Spain cost me a total of $6 — no, that’s not a typo — simply because of miles I earned on my credit card.

2. Set Up (and memorize) the PIN

Just don’t say I didn’t warn you.

3. Let Your Bank(s) Know Where You’re Going.

It’s actually a pretty awesome thing that your bank and credit-card providers keep tabs on your transactions’ whereabouts. It helps protect you from identity theft.

But if they see a charge in Germany when you’re supposed to be in Oregon, you’ll likely find your transaction disapproved… and face a lengthy phone-tree journey to get your card unlocked again. (Which is double-ick if you’re on a plan that charges crazytown prices for international calls! Check out low-cost, traveler-friendly cellphone and data providers like Google Fi if you’re going to be doing this jetset thing a lot.)

Fortunately, it’s really easy to set travel advisories ahead of your trip — most banks allow you to do it online, no tinny hold music required. Just be sure to repeat the process for every card and account you plan on using!

4. Take Out Some Foreign Currency Ahead of Time

Not every frequent traveler agrees with me on this, because depending on the specifics at your bank, it can be cheaper to use an ATM at your destination.

But I was certainly glad I had that €50 note to hand my taxi driver after my PIN snafu, even though it pained me to part with it. You never know what’s going to happen, and cash is, well, cash.

Here’s an important rule: Don’t utilize foreign-currency exchange kiosks in places like airports or malls. Ever. They’re convenient, to be sure, but not worth the convenience tax you’ll pay in the form of fees and a poor exchange rate.

Your best bet is to go straight to your bank and put in a foreign-currency order. They’ll likely charge a small handling fee (at my bank, it was about $7 for €400), but it’s a better deal than you’ll get in more visible, tourist-oriented places — and it’s worth it to have some cash on hand.

If you’re taking a relatively short trip, this is also a good way to budget. Take out a certain amount in cash foreign currency and promise yourself that that’s all your restaurant or “fun” money for the trip, only using your credit card for necessities and emergencies.

5. Learn Which International Banks and Partners

If you do need to take out more cash once you arrive, you’ll want to find out which international banks your home branch partners with and use them and their ATMs exclusively. Otherwise, you’ll be assessed an extra fee for the transaction — in my bank’s case, $5. (Not a huge amount, but I’d still rather spend it on a copa de cava.)

It’s not too hard to get the information; many banks publish them online, or you could ask a branch representative.

One thing I *didn’t* realize before I left, however: Even when you use the “right” bank, you may be charged an additional percentage of the amount you take out in foreign currency.

This led to some frustrated scowling when I checked my bank statement after my first trip to the ATM. Had I known taking out cash at my destination would come with a 3% upcharge, I would have taken out even more ahead of time.

6. Choose the Currency of the Country

When you use your credit card in a foreign country, you may be asked if you’d like to pay in U.S. dollars or euros (or yen, or whatever).

This might seem like a convenience. Now you understand exactly how much you’re spending!

But it’s actually a service called dynamic currency conversion, and it comes at a cost. You don’t know it, but there’s an upcharge built into that dollar amount.

Long story short: Follow the old adage and do as the Romans do — and pay in their currency whenever you have the option.

7. Learn the Country’s Financial Customs

You don’t want to be scrambling with your smartphone at the end of a meal to figure out how much of a tip is appropriate — or if you even need to leave one at all. Same goes for taxi rides, hotel porters, housekeepers and spa services.

You should also look up whether there are scenarios in which you’ll need cash. For example, I got on a last-minute train home from a remote village in Spanish wine country and was mildly surprised when the conductor told me I couldn’t pay con mi tarjeta.

Good thing I had some extra euros stashed in my wallet… although I have to admit, Priorat wouldn’t have been the worst place to get stranded.

Buen viaje!

Jamie Cattanach (@jamiecattanach) has written for VinePair, SELF, Ms. Magazine, Roads & Kingdoms, The Write Life, Barclaycard’s Travel Blog, Santander Bank’s Prosper and Thrive and other outlets. Her writing focuses on food, wine, travel and frugality.

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

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السبت، 25 نوفمبر 2017

Stroudsburg-Pocono Airport sold for $1.4 million

Stroudsburg-Pocono Airport has been sold, Robert Strenz, the seller, confirmed. The transaction took place months ago, but both parties have stayed quiet on the purchase details.“I can’t talk about the sale, that was part of the agreement,” Strenz said. He directed questions to the airport’s new owner, Troy Nauman, who also declined to name the price.Monroe County tax records show a Sept. 1 purchase date for the airport’s three parcels. The [...]

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Shoppers Out Seeking Deals, Though Sales Have Crept Earlier

Parking lots were full and shopping bags were plentiful in some places Saturday as holiday gift-seekers were out looking for bargains, even as the competition among retailers to offer earlier deals and snag customers first has pulled sales forward.

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Back to the land

Liz Whitehurst dabbled in several careers before she ended up here, crating fistfuls of fresh-cut arugula in the early-November chill.The hours were better at her nonprofit jobs. So were the benefits. But two years ago, the 32-year-old Whitehurst - who graduated from a liberal arts college and grew up in the Chicago suburbs - abandoned Washington, D.C., for this three-acre farm in Upper Marlboro, Maryland.She joined a growing movement of highly educated, ex-urban, first-time [...]

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Creating a Better Option When You Don’t Like the Choices

My oldest son is reaching an interesting age where he’s asking me a ton of questions about adult life, mostly when it’s just the two of us.

The other day, he came home from school with a ton of questions about my career. In our area, it’s fairly atypical for parents to work from home – in fact, one of his teachers apparently thought I was a full time “stay at home parent” because I worked from home with a healthy amount of time flexibility – so he had a lot of interesting questions about it.

How did I find this job? What exactly do I do all day? The questions went on and on.

He was particularly interested in my own career decision several years ago, when I decided to become an independent content creator and walked away from a “normal” job in an office. It was a radically different option than the other choices on my career path at the time – even he observed that. How was that radically different option even available to me? Why did I choose it?

I gave him an honest answer: I wanted to have an option like that, so I put in a ton of work to add that better option to my list of choices. I was simply not happy with the list of options available to me at that time, so I did everything I could to add another option to my list of choices.

That experience taught me an incredibly valuable lesson about life: sometimes, the options available to you are all pretty bad and you do have to take the “least bad” option, but the story doesn’t have to end there. Quite often, you can add more options to your list of choices and then make that decision again, choosing something even better.

Let me show you what I mean by spelling out some of my career options.

At the time in my career when Sarah and I first learned that we were about to become parents, I really had three main options in terms of employment with a healthy income. I could stay at my current job which offered a one year contract that was being renewed each year. I could apply for one of a handful of jobs in my relatively narrow niche of expertise that were available from local corporations at the time. I could also apply for a long term government position that matched my skill set.

Each option had some pros and cons.

I really loved the working environment of my annual renewed contract. My boss there was one of my career and life mentors and he was one of the kindest, most generous, and most insightful people I’ve ever been around. The schedule was fairly flexible, but not overly so. However, it was an annual renewing contract that never offered any sort of assurance beyond the next several months, as the whole thing relied on grants from funding agencies. It was a great day-to-day job, but with no stability and relatively little time flexibility.

The corporate jobs offered the most pay among the options, but the work schedules were completely set in stone and didn’t afford me much family time. The work was interesting, but I knew from the other people working in those labs that there was a lot of expected overtime hours and that I would also be doing a fair amount of travel, too. In short, these would be solid day-to-day jobs with stability, but with a lot of travel and a lot of overtime and no time flexibility.

The third option was a government job. It paid the least of the three options, but it did have some schedule flexibility especially compared to the corporate options. It was also the most stable of the three, as it was a permanent job. It only required a small amount of travel. What did it have against it, then? Bureaucracy and tons of it. While I’d be doing interesting work, a lot of it would be shrouded in mountains of forms and meetings and paperwork.

To be honest, I wasn’t really happy with those three options at all. I wanted a job with a super flexible schedule and at least some degree of stability so that I wouldn’t be scared that I’d be slapped with a pink slip all the time. I wanted a job with little bureaucracy and a lot of creative freedom. I wanted a job where extra effort would be eventually rewarded with financial returns.

All of those opportunities failed on at least a few of those counts.

Eventually, I decided to take on the third option, but it wasn’t a particularly joyful choice. The truth is that I wanted more options than those three.

So, what did I do? I created more options.

I spent the next several years looking for possibilities that matched what I wanted from a job – great scheduling possibilities, rewards for hard work, low bureaucracy, interesting creative work – and then putting myself in a position so that when such an opportunity presented itself I could immediately jump on board. Just a few years later, I was ready when things did click into place – I had built everything I needed to take advantage of it, and so I made that leap.

The entire experience taught me one thing: if life hands you a set of choices that you don’t like, build another choice. Choose the option before you that gives you the best chance to change your life and your situation enough so that you can revisit the decision and choose something much better later on.

Does it sound like wishful thinking? It’s not. It’s a technique I’ve used over and over again over the last several years, with my career path being just one example.

Here’s exactly how you can do this as well.

Clearly Identify the Option You Want

So, you’re trying to figure out which option you want to choose among several. None of them are exactly what you want, but they all have some elements of what you want.

Maybe it’s a career juncture. Maybe it’s a cell phone plan. Maybe it’s something as simple as planning out a family vacation for next summer.

Whatever it is, you have several good options, but no great options.

What do you do?

The first step is to figure out exactly what would make a great option. What is it that you’re looking for that could exist in the real world?

Let’s jump back to my career options, for example. Expecting a job with the best pay, the most flexibility, the least travel requirements, the least bureaucracy, and the most interesting intellectual challenge is simply not realistic. Instead, what I wanted was a job that was great in the one or two key areas I cared about the most and simply solid in the other areas.

In other words, I wanted a job that was very flexible in terms of time requirements, that was at least good in terms of creative challenge and rewarding consistent effort, and that was solid in terms of low bureaucracy, low travel, and solid pay. I sat down and considered what features really meant the most to me and which ones did not. I simply outlined an option that was exactly what I wanted but wasn’t completely unrealistic compared to the other options.

One great way to do that is to pull out your favorite piece from three or so of the other options. Look at the three other options you find most palatable and identify what you like best about each one. Generally, an option that has all three of those things is within the realm of possibility.

For example, my ideal cell phone plan would be one that offers several lines with robust data and strong signals in the central Iowa area at a very low price. When I develop that plan, I’m taking elements of the best options available from traditional carriers like Verizon and U.S. Cellular and pay-as-you-go carriers.

Think of this as being similar to a pros-and-cons list, except you’re just extracting the key “pros” from each option.

The key is to keep things within the realm of reality. You aren’t going to find things for free. You aren’t going to find jobs that pay you millions of dollars (though you may find door openings that eventually lead there). What you’re looking for are options that combine some of the best elements of the options already available to you to create a true best option for you.

Come Up with a Plan to Put That Option on the Table

So, you’ve identified a great option that you want in your life, whether it’s a great job or a great cell phone plan or something else entirely. Now, what exactly needs to be done to put that option on the table and make it available to you?

That “best option” isn’t going to create itself. You have to work to make that option available to you.

How do you do that? There are a lot of tools available at your disposal to add that desired option to your list of choices. The key is to put together a set of strategies and tactics that make the desired option available to you.

Here are eleven such tools that you might use to make the option you want available in your life, no matter what the choice.

Ask. If you know exactly what you want, ask for it. If you’re shopping around for a cell phone plan, spell out exactly what you’re looking for and ask for it. The worst thing that can happen is that they’ll say no, at which point you’re no worse off than you are right now. (Hint: the “fantasy” that someone might say yes someday isn’t worth much of anything.)

Improve your skill set. What skills are needed for that job you’d love to have that matches exactly what you want? Work on getting those skills, either in your current job or outside of it (through external projects or furthering your education).

Shop around with purpose. If you have exactly the package in mind that you want, start shopping around for exactly that package. See whether anyone makes that package available for the right price. If you find something close, that’s the time to ask.

Don’t apologize for asking. If you apologize when asking, you make it easier for the person to simply tell you no because you’re essentially telling them you’re asking for something you think you don’t really deserve. If you ask, don’t apologize. You deserve the good outcome.

Improve your professional network. Having a strong professional network in your field means that you likely have connections to lots of organizations in your field, making it much easier to get your foot in the door for the kind of position you want. Get involved in social media in a professional way. Attend meetings, particularly local face-to-face meetings, and participate. Build strong one-on-one connections with people by sharing contact information, following up, and giving of yourself, particularly in ways that are easy for you and valuable for the other person.

Figure out how to make the gain mutually beneficial. If you’re trying to get the best option for yourself, make sure to consider what the other people involved with that option would get out of it. How can you tweak that option so that it’s beneficial for the other parties involved?

Improve your public professional profile. Another great method for getting your foot in the door with the professional outcome you desire is to raise your public profile in your professional community. Get yourself out there. Share your knowledge and ideas. Participate in professional groups. Go to conferences and conventions – and, if you can, present there.

Improve your health. If your body is limiting you from taking on the option you most desire, work on that. Commit yourself to a better diet and/or a better exercise routine in the coming months and improve your health to the point where that desired option is feasible.

Negotiate. If you have a opportunity on the table that’s close to what you want but not quite there, negotiate. You’ll often find that there’s quite a bit of room for negotiation when you’re close to an agreement on something that benefits you both. Again, it never hurts to ask.

Start a side gig. If you can’t find the options you want, start building your own option. Block off time to start consulting work or building your own side business doing the things you’re passionate about. Don’t worry about making money from this, especially at first; if you make good things, money will come.

Be frugal. If your ideal option has a significant startup cost, the best way to put that option on the table is to build up some money in savings, and the only way to make that happen in the short term is to cut your spending so that you’re spending less than you earn and putting aside the difference for the future.

Execute That Plan

You’ve come up with an outcome that you want and a plan to get there. The final step is simply executing that plan. You have to actually go through the steps in your plan to make it so.

Here are some thoughts on how to make that work, especially when time and money are tight.

View the things you have now as leverage. Almost everything in life can help you move from where you are to where you want to be.

Your job, right now, is leverage toward the job that you want. How can you use the advantages and opportunities of the job you have right now to get the job you want? Use your job to give you the professional advantages you need.

Your paycheck, right now, is leverage toward the things that you want. How can you use the excess from your paycheck to get what you want from life? Use your paycheck to give yourself the money you need.

Your spare time is leverage toward the things that you want. How can you use the extra time in your life to get what you want from life? Use your spare time to give yourself the time you need.

Look at everything in this kind of light. How can you take this thing you have and use it to lift you toward the option you want? When you start finding ways to eke out spare time or extra money, you start heading down the path to having the option you want.

Recognize that a lesser option in the short term isn’t a bad thing, as long as there is light at the end of the tunnel. Not having the job you want right now is okay as long as it’s helping you move toward the job you want. Not having the cell phone contract you want right now is okay as long as you’re putting things in place to get what you want down the road.

In other words, if you have to make a temporary choice, choose the one that does the best job of pushing you to where you really want to be in several months or a year. Not only does this help you pave the path to where you want to be, it also gives you a clear light at the end of the tunnel.

Discipline equals freedom. If you want to have better options in your life, you’ve got to recognize that they won’t just be given to you. It takes continuous effort to alter your life so that the better options you want are present, and it takes discipline to put forth that continuous effort.

You want a great job? It takes the discipline needed to get a degree in your spare time or to spend an hour or two a day learning new things or working on extra projects.

You want a healthier and more attractive body? It takes the discipline needed to eat fewer calories and to exercise your body.

You want better social options? It takes the discipline needed to consistently put yourself in situations to build new positive relationships and friendships.

Those things aren’t automatic. They aren’t given to you. They require your continuous effort. The discipline you give to those things adds up to a greater freedom in your life in terms of wider options.

Final Thoughts

No matter what the choice is in life, if you don’t like the options available to you, create a new option. The tools to do so are at your disposal for almost every major decision in life.

The question really is whether or not you’ll put forth the effort to take advantage of those tools and build the option you want in life.

From the simplest things like cell phone contract options to much bigger things like job choices and relationships, the options on the table don’t have to be the end of your choices. You have the power to add more options. It’s up to you.

Good luck.

The post Creating a Better Option When You Don’t Like the Choices appeared first on The Simple Dollar.

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This is What You Should Do With Any Cash You Get for Christmas

I come from a great big family that’s spread out all over the country. I have a number of well-off relatives who know I’m pretty much broke.

Aunt Nancy or Uncle Bob never know what to get me for Christmas. They don’t know what books I’m reading, what music I’m listening to, what size I’m wearing. They don’t know what I want.

So, bless their hearts, they always send me a little something they know I’ll like: Greeting cards with money in them.

Happy holidays! Spend this on something you want. Love you!

Maybe you have an Aunt Nancy or an Uncle Bob in your life. I hope so.

This holiday season, maybe you’ll be gifted with a $20 bill here, a $50 bill there, or perhaps a check with a happy smiley face written on the little memo line at the bottom.

Here’s the question of the day: What are you going to do with that money?

Here are two choices for you:

You can waste it. It’s basically found money, right? You can blow it on mixed drinks, lottery tickets, dinners out, new shoes, overpriced lattes, expensive eyeliner. Let’s face it, you can burn through that cash pretty fast, and that’ll feel good. OR:
You can open a high-yield savings account.

Wait, wait, hear me out! I know that sounds less fun than mixed drinks and eyeliner. But it’s important — and totally worth doing.

If you don’t already have a savings account, there’s no better time to start one. Do it now, while you have this little bit of extra cash in your pocket. Put your holiday money to work for you.

Even if you’re living paycheck to paycheck, the way so many of us are, you should still have a little bit of money tucked away in savings. You never know when you’re going to need an emergency fund.

Without a savings account, you have no backup plan if you run into an unexpected car-repair bill, lose your job or worse. And should you find yourself in such an unfortunate circumstance, chances are you’d whip out the plastic — and end up paying interest.

Also: Next time you buy a high-dollar item, wouldn’t it be nice to pull that money from your savings account like a full-fledged adult? You’ll feel so accomplished. It beats charging your purchase to a high-interest credit card.

You can open a savings account at your local bank branch, but my suggestion is going with a high-yield savings account at an online bank — you’ll be less likely to withdraw the money.

There are a bunch of great online banks, but one of our favorites is American Express. Right now, this high-yield American Express savings account offers an interest rate around 100 times what a normal bank offers. And there are no monthly fees.

Here’s the promo link:

Even better? If you don’t spend it, your balance in that account earns up to 1.25% interest — over 100 times more than regular bank accounts.

So don’t let Aunt Nancy or Uncle Bob’s cold, hard cash go to waste. They’re tucking those $20 bills in your Christmas card every year because they love you.

Make that love last. Put their money to work.

Mike Brassfield (mike@thepennyhoarder.com) is a senior writer at The Penny Hoarder. He doesn’t have much money, but he has a savings account, dadgummit.

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الجمعة، 24 نوفمبر 2017

No tax increase for 2018

Monroe County will not increase taxes for the 2018 calendar year, according to a budget that commissioners intend to approve on Dec. 15, with falling debt obligations and fund balance withdrawals helping keep taxes stable.The total budget is $103.6 million, including a general fund budget of $60.4 million.The millage rate will remain at 21.25 mills. Of that, 18.42 mills will be used for general purposes and 2.83 mills for debt service obligations.Non-union employees will [...]

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Small Business Saturday returns to Poconos

STROUDSBURG — Co-owner Ron Siwiec of Fine Jewelry Designs on Main Street put it best."Black Friday is for the big box chain stores with corporate addresses out of state," said Siwiec. "Small Business Saturday is for the independently owned businesses whose owners live in the same communities where their businesses are."Started in Boston, Mass., in 2010 as an American Express corporation trademark, Small Business Saturday is held the Saturday after Thanksgiving, as a [...]

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Christmas tree buyers face shortage

There’s a shortage of Christmas trees this year.But it's not because of disease, the 2008 recession or lack of land.Young kids aren’t going into growing Christmas trees because it's work, Dale Kirk of A.J. Nursery in Saylorsburg said.Kirk has been in the business for 45 years.“It used to be people thought you threw a tree in the ground for a quarter and a few years later you sold it for $30 and you had a good deal,” Kirk said. [...]

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How to Leave an Empty House: 5 Must-Dos Before Your Vacation

The Top Customer Engagement Strategies That Generate Sky High Revenue

In order to run a successful business, you’ll need to do more than just acquire customers.

One of the best ways to have a successful customer retention strategy is by creating customer engagement.

That goes for all companies across every industry.

Whether you have a brick and mortar location in a small town or have a global ecommerce distribution network, the customer is the lifeline of your business.

While it may not seem like an issue or concern right now, failing to keep your customers engaged could be detrimental to your business.

Fortunately, it appears as though you’ve recognized the importance of customer engagement and that’s what brought you here.

You’ve come to the right place.

I’ll show you my proven strategies to help you improve your customer engagement strategy.

Following these techniques will show the customer how much you care about them.

When customers don’t think you care, they’ll stop using your services and find another company to treat them better.

Part of successful engagement and retention involves going above and beyond to connect with your customers.

Big retail companies are even spending upward of $1 million on artificial intelligence technology to improve their customer engagement strategy.

It’s the top expected benefit from such a big investment.

I’m not expecting you to do this, but I wanted to show you how much stress big brands are putting towards improving their company.

My strategies are much more cost efficient and will yield a high return on your investment.

They don’t require too much time or effort either.

You can implement these tactics to your marketing plan right away too.

Here’s what you can do to get started.

Create interactive emails

How much time have you spent in the last few months making sure that your email marketing strategy is performing at a high level?

I see this mistake far too often when I’m consulting with various businesses.

They send the same boring weekly newsletters and promotions.

While your customers definitely want to hear from you, the constant repetition won’t keep them engaged.

That’s a problem.

You can spice up your email campaigns by incorporating interactive emails to your messages.

One way you can accomplish this is by getting your email to mimic the look and design of your website.

Include different menus that give the subscriber a reason to actively click to find out more information.

Accordion menus work well too.

It allows you to pack more information into a small space.

When a customer sees something that they like, they can click to expand the accordion.

This also improves the chances that your subscribers will see more of your content because it eliminates the need for scrolling.

Adding GIFs and videos to your messages can help increase engagement as well.

It’s much more exciting than just reading a plain email.

If you have a retail or ecommerce business, you should include live shopping carts in your messages too.

This is a great strategy to improve your shopping cart abandonment rates.

When a customer doesn’t finish the checkout process, send a follow-up email with the shopping cart embedded in the message.

That way the consumer can complete the transaction without having to go back to your website.

It’s quick and efficient for everyone, which will help generate more revenue for your company.

Use Facebook Live on a regular basis

Facebook Live is one of my favorite trends of the year.

It’s the perfect resource for businesses to engage with their customers.

More than half of marketing experts agree that video content yields the highest return on investment.

Why?

First of all, it’s so easy.

Second, if you’re using Facebook Live to promote video content, it won’t cost you anything except for your time.

Treat your live stream as if it were a television show.

Don’t just come on randomly whenever you feel like it.

Set a scheduled time once or twice each week to go live.

This will help you build a loyal audience, which will impact your conversions and revenue.

One of the best parts of going live on Facebook is the ability to interact with the viewers in real time.

As you broadcast, users have the option to comment on your stream.

These comments could be directed towards you or even other people who are watching the stream.

Make sure that you respond those comments.

Acknowledge those users.

“That’s a good point, John Smith. I’ll keep that in mind.”

It’s simple.

That recognition will help make the viewers feel special.

It encourages them to keep watching each week and it inspires others to comment as well, knowing that they could also get mentioned.

Facebook live videos are native, which means they are embedded on a page or feed as opposed to an external link.

Native formats increase the share rate of your content compared to other channels.

Don’t do a quick stream.

Longer live videos increase your chances of getting a larger audience.

Facebook allows you to go live for up to four consecutive hours.

You don’t have to stream for the full four hours, but I’d recommend doing at least two or three hours.

Not sure what to talk about during this time?

Don’t worry about it.

Just be yourself.

Obviously, you want to keep things professional, but this stream will give your customers a chance to see the human side of you.

Recognizing that there’s a real person behind the brand name will help them establish a closer connection with you.

This can ultimately increase customer loyalty.

Here’s something else you’ll want to keep in mind.

85% of videos on Facebook get viewed with the sound turned off.

So use lots of visuals in your stream.

You can also add captions to your video so the viewers can read what you’re saying.

Take a look at some of the top Facebook video statistics from 2016.

All of these numbers reiterate what I’ve been saying.

So add this strategy to your marketing campaign to improve the relationship between you and your customers.

Run a contest or sweepstakes

Promotions are a great way to get the attention of your customer base.

Everyone wants something for free, so give the people what they want.

First, you’ve got to understand the difference between a contest and a sweepstakes.

A contest means that the customers need to put forth some sort of effort to win.

There’s a judgment involved in selecting the winner based on skill.

A sweepstakes means that the winner is completely random.

Personally, I recommend running a contest as opposed to a sweepstakes because it gets the customer more involved and genuinely interested in your brand.

If they enter a sweepstakes, all they do is enter and forget about it.

I would recommend running your contest through social media platforms.

When analyzing the top benefits of social media marketing, we can see that the list applies directly to our discussion about customer engagement.

Developing loyal fans will help increase your revenue.

Running your contests on social media will also increase exposure for your brand.

One suggestion could be a photo contest on Instagram.

I like this technique because it’s so easy.

Plus, it encourages user-generated content.

Tell your customers to post a photo that relates to your business.

The user who has the most likes on their picture will win the contest.

Now your brand is all over social media exposed to people who may not have known about you before.

So in addition to improving engagement with your existing customers, you have the opportunity to acquire new customers at no cost.

It’s two birds with one stone.

Here’s an example of a contest that Infiniti ran on social media.

Using a hashtag to enter the contest can also help increase the chances of your promotion going viral.

Contestants know that their photo will be compared to other customers, so they’ll have a chance to check out all of the other entries as well.

Here are some tips to keep in mind when you’re running a contest.

Make sure the rules are clearly posted
Set a deadline
The prize needs to be relevant to your brand
Allow mobile users to participate
Your hashtag should be creative and unique
Make sure the contest is shareable on social platforms
Announce when you’ve selected a winner

Since contests are so easy and inexpensive to run, I recommend doing this frequently.

Just because the contest is over, it doesn’t mean you can’t start another one up right away.

In fact, running these promotions often will give your customers a reason to keep entering and keep them actively engaged with your brand.

Post on your Instagram story

Take advantage of everything that Instagram has to offer.

Don’t just post to your profile.

Add photos and videos to your story as well.

Similar to Snapchat, anything on your Instagram story lasts for 24 hours.

So be active and add to it every day.

These are my top suggestions for what you should put on your story.

Promotional information and discounts
Social proof
Content from your website
Behind the scenes clips of your company workspace
New product launches
Introduce your staff

All of these will keep your followers engaged with your profile.

If you want to run an enhanced version of Instagram story, you can go live on this platform as well.

We already discussed the importance of this strategy when we talked about Facebook Live.

I recommend using Instagram live story for something different than your Facebook strategy.

With Facebook, you should host a weekly stream.

But with Instagram, you should go live when you’re at an event or doing something cool.

This will create an authentic interaction with your viewers.

As a result, they will stay engaged with your profile and brand.

Write a double opt-in landing page

Here’s a strategy that’s often overlooked.

To increase customer engagement, you need to acquire customers who want to be engaged in the first place.

Here’s what I mean.

If your customers can create a profile or join your subscription list with just one click, you may get some people who aren’t genuinely interested.

Making customers take an extra step to join a list will increase engagement.

The best way to do this is with a double opt-in landing.

So when a customer subscribes to your email list from your website, make them confirm their subscription with a welcome email.

It will help you filter out people who don’t want to be engaged.

Double opt-in emails will also improve your open rates.

While you may end up with fewer subscribers if you implement this strategy, you’ll get more active subscribers.

This will make it much easier for you to apply the other engagement tactics that we discussed.

Conclusion

Improving your customer engagement strategy will positively impact your revenue.

Not sure where to start?

Follow the tips that we outlined.

Start by developing interactive emails.

It’s easy. Just continue to email your current subscriber list but include videos, GIFs, live shopping carts, and menus to increase engagement with each campaign.

Schedule a time each week to go live on Facebook.

Interact with the viewers who comment on the stream.

This is a perfect opportunity for you to connect with your customers in real time.

Run a contest or sweepstakes that encourages UGC.

Contests will give the customers a reason to interact and engage with your brand.

Take advantage of the Instagram story feature as well.

Another way to make it easier to engage with your customers is by filtering the most viable candidates to your subscription list.

Create a double opt-in landing to ensure that your customers are interested and actually want you to keep engaging with them.

What type of content will you include on your Instagram story to increase engagement with your current customer base?

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10 Cities Where Income Grew Fastest in 2016 (and 10 Where It Grew Slowest)

Balancing Frugality and Caring Dog Ownership

A couple of years ago, our family made the collective decision to get a family dog. I wasn’t particularly sold on the idea, but my wife and all of our children clamored to have a dog at home, so I agreed.

During the process of finding a dog and the subsequent process of owning and caring for one, I learned quite a few things about both responsible dog ownership and frugal dog ownership and how to make the two overlap. The thing is, much like a child, you can sink a ton of money into a pet, but the truth is that most of that money isn’t all that necessary.

Here are nine key lessons I learned about balancing caring dog ownership and frugality.

Do some serious homework first. This is the first step and, in my opinion, it’s the most important step. Know what your needs are and why you’re getting a dog. Identify breeds that match your needs.

We decided early on that we wanted a low-allergen dog that didn’t shed and was friendly around older children (we weren’t concerned about issues with younger children). We also preferred a smaller dog for space-related reasons and to keep food costs relatively low.

This led us to identifying a number of breeds and mixes that would be ideal for our family and we used that as the basis before we even started looking for a dog. We knew what we wanted and we did homework to identify breeds that matched what we wanted.

Get a rescue dog. One big factor in our search was that we preferred to get a rescue dog from a situation that wouldn’t cause violent behavior. For example, many rescue dogs aren’t necessarily directly abused (which can cause violent behavior) but are simply neglected, which can sometimes simply mean that they may have minor attachment issues. Rescue dogs are also typically pretty inexpensive, which means that a rescue dog is not only a caring choice but a frugal one.

After a few months of contacting animal rescue services in our area and explaining what we were looking for, we were matched with a wonderful little Yorkie Maltese mix that checked all of our boxes. He’s small (so he doesn’t eat much), he was rescued from a situation where he was almost permanently kenneled but not abused, and he’s friendly and energetic with older children and adults who know how to interact well with him.

Choose a non-destructive dog and preferably one that’s already potty trained. One important option to consider is to choose a dog that’s relatively calm and doesn’t have destructive tendencies. A dog that routinely destroys shoes and furniture will be an expensive pet to keep around, so look into this before adding a dog to your family.

According to this survey, chihuahuas, dachshunds, boxers, dalmatians, and bulldogs are the most destructive breeds, whereas Staffordshire bull terriers, West Highland terriers, Yorkshire terriers, spaniels, and whippets are among the least destructive. We chose a Yorkie mix and it turns out that this is very true – he has damaged very little of our property over the past two years.

When you’re considering getting a dog, ask about the dog’s tendencies towards things like chewing up shoes and damaging furniture, as well as the status of their potty training. Having a dog that leaves shoes alone and is already trained will save you a ton of money and headaches.

Learn how to groom the dog yourself. Many people choose to simply take their dog to a pet groomer to have basic grooming services done, but most such tasks can be done at home in an environment that’s not only as low-stress as possible for your dog, but is also an environment that saves a lot of money for you. Note, of course, that dogs typically don’t enjoy grooming, but it keeps them healthy and smelling good.

You’ll want to look up the specifics of dog grooming for your breed, but some common dog grooming tasks include trimming claws, brushing teeth (particularly the fangs), cleaning ears, trimming hair, and bathing. None of these tasks are too difficult and they don’t require many tools, either. They just require some time with your dog.

Visit the vet annually and keep up with vaccinations and preventative medications. Think of this as being like getting an oil change for your car. If you skip the regular oil change for your car, things will be fine for a while, but your car will break down eventually and it will cost you far more money and angst than if you had just kept up with the maintenance schedule.

Get into the routine of scheduling an annual vet visit (ours is in October, close to our dog’s birthday). Get on board with the annual vaccinations for your dog and also follow your vet’s recommendation when it comes to preventative medicines. The cost of doing this is far less than the cost of caring for your pet should that pet be stricken with many common pet illnesses like kennel cough or heart worm.

Talk to your vet about dog food, but shop around. I’m not going to make specific recommendations about feeding your dog because the best choice varies greatly from breed to breed and even from individual dog to individual dog (depending on tooth health, food tolerances, and so on).

What I will say is that you should follow your vet’s suggestions regarding feeding and then take those suggestions and shop around carefully for dog food that matches what your vet suggests as closely as possible.

Remember: there are a lot of salespeople in the dog food industry who will use emotional tugs to try to get you to buy incredibly expensive foods. The more you learn and know from actual trusted sources (and not salespeople and anonymous folks on the internet), the better off you are.

Exchange pet sitting and pet walking. Pet sitting and pet walking can be a pretty significant cost for a pet owner, so if you can find neighbors or friends who are also pet owners who will share and divide those tasks with you, take advantage of it.

Talk to pet-owning friends about sharing pet care when you’re each on short (or even long) trips. This will keep the pet in the house of a trusted friend and save a great deal of money along the way.

The same is true for tasks like pet walking. If your friend works somewhat different hours than you, perhaps your friend can walk your dog once a day and you can walk your friend’s dog once a day, saving you both from hiring a pet walker or some other such service.

Make sure your dog gets lots of exercise. One of the best ways to ensure sustained health in your dog is to make sure he or she is getting plenty of exercise. Don’t leave your dog in a kennel constantly. Take your dog on plenty of walks and find places where he or she can run and get adequate exercise as often as possible.

This can be difficult in some situations, I know, but there are few things better for the long term health and happiness of your dog than opportunities to run free and get some real exercise. A dog kept inside all day might be a loyal companion, but for that dog’s best physical and mental health, some outdoor exercise is essential – and free.

Time is the most valuable ingredient. The most valuable thing you can give to your dog isn’t some amazing gourmet food or a spacious kennel or expensive dog grooming. It’s time. Time spent with your dog just cuddling or playing or petting or simply sitting together is incredibly beneficial for both of you, emotionally, physically, mentally, and otherwise. Do it often!

Not only that, such play will help you identify any issues with the health of your dog when such issues are minor and still treatable at a very low cost. If you play with your dog and spend a lot of time around him or her, you’ll naturally notice these little changes.

Even though I was very apprehensive about getting a dog, I’ve found Dexter to be a great little companion. He spends a lot of days when I’m working at home curled up at my feet. He’s always excited to go on a walk with me. He’s also great at alerting me when the kids are almost home, as he spies them getting off the bus and begins to emit this wonderful little yelp of joy because the true highlight of his day is romping with them when they first get home. I’m glad he joined our family, and thanks to these strategies, the financial impact has been much lower than expected.

The post Balancing Frugality and Caring Dog Ownership appeared first on The Simple Dollar.

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People With Poor Credit Make These Financial Mistakes Way More Often

Do you ever feel like no matter what you do, you’re doomed to have poor credit forever? Think an excellent credit score is a far-fetched fantasy?

You might have a vague understanding that your credit score stays low because you have trouble paying medical bills, can’t repay your student loans or ran up credit card debt when you were young.

But do you have a strong grasp on what’s really affecting your score?

Most of the people I know have no idea.

The good news is a solid look at your credit history can clear up your questions and make improving your score actually seem possible. We’ve pulled together a few common issues you’ll want to look for.

Credit Sesame, a service that shows you your free credit report card and tips to improve your score, analyzed its users to find common missteps among those with poor credit scores.

It found users with scores below 500 make these three missteps far more often than those with an excellent credit score.

1. Using Too Much of Your Available Credit

“When your credit-card balances are close to or at their limits, that sends the wrong signal to lenders about how responsible you are when it comes to using credit,” writes Rebecca Lake at Credit Sesame.

Your credit-utilization ratio has a huge impact on your credit score.

(Reminder: That’s the amount of credit you use versus how much you have available. If your credit card limit is $500 and your balance is $250, that’s a 50% utilization.)

While Credit Sesame found its users’ credit-card balances were similar — landing just over $2,000 — their utilization ratios were way different. Those with credit scores below 500 were using 73% of their available credit on average, while those with scores of 750 or higher were only using 9% on average.

Don’t Rely on Your Credit Card for Basic Spending

To reduce your credit utilization and improve your credit score, don’t use your credit card to expand your monthly budget.

Use it like a debit card: Don’t spend money you don’t have.

You can still keep using your cards. That’s a smart way to earn cash-back rewards and build strong credit. To keep your balance from creeping up, make sure you pay off your full balance at the end of every month, too.

If you’re leaning on your credit card for necessities like groceries or gas, try tightening your budget. Find the small places you can cut costs, and the little ways to boost your income without spending a ton of extra time.

2. Paying Your Bills Late

The most important item weighing into your credit score is your payment history. It accounts for 35% of the grade.

While folks with low scores aren’t overwhelmingly paying bills late, they’re still much more likely to have delinquent — read: “late” — accounts than those with high scores — 11% versus just 0.18%, respectively.

Any late payments could end up on your credit report, from student-loan payments to credit card debt to utility bills.

Pay Your Bills on Time — and Reduce Them When You Can

“Given how important payment history is to your score, the remedy for people with poor credit is obvious,” Lake writes. “Get into the habit of paying your bills on time, every month.”

If you’re struggling to pay the bills, figure out how to make them smaller. You could save thousands just by calling utility companies and asking for discounts.

Or, let Trim do it for you. This app works through Facebook messenger and your text messages to help you manage your finances — like a free personal assistant.

Trim lets you see where you’re spending (and wasting) your money, helps negotiate bills with companies like Comcast, Time Warner, Charter and others you never want to talk to; and it can easily cancel recurring charges you’ve forgotten about — like magazine subscriptions and gym memberships.

3. Having Accounts in Collections

More than half — 59% — of Credit Sesame members with poor credit scores have accounts with “derogatory” status. That includes stuff like collections, bankruptcy, tax liens and more.

Those with the good scores? Less than 1% have derogatory marks.

Even if you’ve cleaned up your act and have your spending and debt under control, derogatory marks can drag down your credit score for a long time.

“Like late payments, derogatory marks can remain on your credit report for seven years,” Lake explains.

You might just have to wait it out and let these marks fall off your report in time. But it’s worth trying to clean them up sooner.

Fix Mistakes on Your Credit Report

If a poor credit history is holding you back, start by carefully examining your credit report.

You can get your free credit report once every 12 months from each of the major reporting agencies: TransUnion, Equifax and Experian. To keep a closer eye on it, sign up with Credit Sesame, which updates every month with your TransUnion credit report and credit score.

There you can see exactly what’s affecting your score in plain English.

Start by looking for errors. If you find a mistake on your report, follow these steps to report it and have it removed.

If the black marks on your credit report are accurate, Lake says, “you could appeal to the creditor directly to ask them to remove it from your credit report.”

She says it doesn’t always work, but why not give it a shot? That excellent credit score might not be so out of reach.

Dana Sitar (dana@thepennyhoarder.com) is a senior writer/newsletter editor at The Penny Hoarder. Say hi and tell her a good joke on Twitter @danasitar.

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This is How to Simplify Your Life and Manage Your Money Like a Minimalist

Simplify, simplify, simplify.

Our lives are so complicated. Our world is so busy, so noisy, so distracting.

To counter that overwhelming feeling, there’s a movement afoot in America to embrace the idea of minimalism.

It means living with less. Buy less. Own less. You don’t need all this stuff to be happy. Without all that meaningless stuff dragging you down, you can focus on what really matters to you.

The Penny Hoarder recently ran an intriguing interview with Joshua Fields Milburn, one half of a two-man team who call themselves The Minimalists.

Stressed, miserable and overworked, Milburn quit his lucrative job and got rid of 90% of his possessions. Now he preaches the benefits of living a simple, meaningful life with less.

Now, we’re not suggesting you throw out 90% of your stuff. That’s not for everyone.

But along those lines, here’s an assortment of apps and tools that can help you simplify and streamline your life — and save you some money to boot.

Declutter Your Home

If you’re an American (or Canadian), let’s face it, you probably have stuff in your house or apartment you don’t need anymore. Get rid of your clutter —and make some extra cash — with these free apps:

Decluttr: Clear out your old DVDs, Blu-rays, CDs, video games, old phones and other electronics. Scan the barcodes with your phone, and Decluttr will make you an offer. It’ll send you a shipping label, so you can ship everything for free. One user, Gil Flores, sold about 100 DVDs and 75 CDs and made $275, an average of $1.57 each.

Letgo: You can sell nearly anything through this app. Just snap a photo of your item and set up a listing in about 30 seconds.

Drive Less, Save on Insurance

When your car-insurance bill comes due each month, do you find yourself asking, “Why am I paying this much when I mostly just drive to work and the grocery store like the boring human being I am?”

It doesn’t have to be that way with a pay-per-mile insurance company like MetroMile. Philadelphia resident Susan Gibbons switched to the provider and lowered her payment to $35 per month after spending 30 years with State Farm.

Right now, MetroMile is only available in California, Illinois, New Jersey, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Virginia and Washington. If you live in these states, get a free quote. If you don’t, join the waitlist.

Use a Simple Cash-Back Credit Card

Credit cards and cash-back rewards programs can be so freaking complicated. Pay this annual fee. Remember to scan your receipts. If you rack up enough airline miles, you can get 5% cash back at Shell gas stations on Wednesdays in July.

No. Forget that noise. Simplify, simplify, simplify.

With a simple cash-back rewards card, you get paid for every dollar you spend. We recommend checking out the Barclaycard CashForward™ World MasterCard®, which gives you 1.5% cash back on every purchase. You also get a $200 sign-up bonus if you spend $1,000 in the first 90 days. There’s no annual fee, either.

Streamline Your Student Loans

Student-loan debt can be insanely complicated. It entangles you with your alma mater, the government, some private company you’re barely aware of, banks and sometimes debt collectors.

To simplify things, consider student-loan refinancing. Through a marketplace like Credible, you can refinance federal and private student loans.

Credible connects you with a lender to replace your multiple loans with a single loan, potentially with a lower interest rate and/or lower monthly payment. Just enter your info to see what your new interest rate could be.

Figure Out Where All Your Money Is Going

Nothing is more complicated than us humans and our weird spending habits.

To keep tabs on what you’re spending, use Trim, a Facebook messenger or text bot that helps you hold yourself accountable. It’s like a personal-financial assistant that lives in your phone.

The best part: Trim helps you negotiate bills with cable companies like Comcast, Time Warner or Charter. It’ll keep at it until it succeeds at saving you money. (It keeps 25% of whatever it saves you.)

Use Less Power, Spend Less Money

If you’re anything like me, you could probably be using less electricity. We all could. Have you already taken the basic steps to cut your power bill?

Contact your power company. Many offer programs that’ll lower your energy usage — and reduce your bill.

Or, if you’re a California resident, look into an online service called OhmConnect. This free app will pay you up to $300 for turning out the lights and shutting off your appliances for an hour at a time.

It pays you to help save when the energy grid gets overburdened. Once you connect your utility account, you’ll get notified about these earning periods called “OhmHours.” During this time, your job is to simply use less power.

Again, minimalism is about living with less — even though our culture has conditioned us to want more, more, MORE.

Joshua Fields Milburn, one of the duo called The Minimalists, says it best:

“How might my life be better with less?” he encourages you to ask yourself. “Maybe I’ll be able to regain control of my finances. Maybe I’ll focus more on my health. Maybe my relationships will improve. Maybe I’ll reclaim my time and my creativity and work on that passion project.”

“Or maybe I’ll just have a cleaner house.”

Mike Brassfield (mike@thepennyhoarder.com) is a senior writer at The Penny Hoarder. He has too much stuff.

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Women: What to do if you are struggling to make ends meet in retirement

It is females who lag the most when it comes to any sort of private pension saving, according to research by Fidelity International among people who have accessed their pots since April 2015.

We found a significant group - mostly women - whose savings are barely covering their essential expenses are struggling to know what to do.

Of the pension products women hold, they are far behind men in terms of employer pension coverage (except for defined benefit pension schemes) and for self-invested personal pensions (Sipps). They are also more than twice as likely not to be able to even say what type of pension they have. See the table below.

Pensions rules explained

Which if any of the following pension schemes do you hold?

	Men	Women
I have a self-invested personal pension (Sipp)	47%	21%
I have a guaranteed defined benefit (final salary) scheme	52%	54%
I have a defined contribution pension scheme	40%	27%
I have a pension but I don't know which type	7%	16%

Source: Fidelity International 2017.

Among the women who do have some sort of pension product, for a significant group it’s not enough to cover even their basic expenses - 39% of women vs 23% of men.

In addition, figures from independent research organisation the Pensions Policy Institute show that, on average, women will get £30 less per week in retirement income than men, even if they have worked full-time with no career break.

Workplace pensions: a guide

So, what can women (and men) do to plug the gap? Watch the video below for tips from Moneywise editor Moira O'Neill and Fidelity International associate director Maike Currie.

For those approaching/at retirement:

Plan as best you can - Our research shows that 11% of men and 18% of women have not done any form of retirement planning. Even more worryingly, 17% of people aged 65+ have no plan and crunch time will be soon approaching.
Find out what you already have and what it is worth - Boring though it is, you need to know what pensions and savings you do have to spot the gaps. Use the next wet weekend to go through your old paperwork and get up-to-date statements for those which are out of date. And if you can’t quite remember these details then visit the Money Advice Service website, which includes template letters for what you will need to get together to trace any lost monies.
Find out how much state pension you can get - It is a valuable source of guaranteed income and for someone with a full entitlement, it is worth £159.55 a week for 2017/18; a significant sum for anyone. However, many people in their 50s or 60s who have workplace pensions may have been “contracted out” during their working life, which means their state pension income could be lower. What is essential is that people find out EXACTLY what they will get. People should check here on the Gov.uk website.
Investigate any additional benefit entitlements - If your income is low enough then do see if there are any additional benefits you can claim to top up your income. Again, visit Gov.uk and check if you can apply for extra money such as a winter fuel payment, income support and carer’s allowance.

And for those who are younger and saving?

For both genders:

Stay auto-enrolled into your workplace pension – If you have a workplace pension, this should be your first port of call for retirement planning. Workplace employer contributions mean that it will almost always beat other products, such as the Lifetime Isa.

For women:

Please claim child benefit, or at least, file the paperwork - Women are more likely to have career breaks so please claim your child benefit as it gives you national insurance credits towards your state pension. And if one parent earns more than £60,000 and you are worried about incurring a tax charge, you can still submit the form and not claim (and you still get credited). Useful links on this include Gov.uk’s Child Benefit Tax Calculator which gives information on whether you will be hit by a tax charge. Its website also includes the claims form.
Every woman should have her own savings pot – Keep this separate from your partner’s or family’s savings. The Isa allowance can be passed between married couples and civil partners on death and this means you can inherit your spouse’s Isa when they pass away and continue to benefit from the tax-free income and capital growth of the Isa pot. Make sure you stipulate clearly in each of your wills whether you intend on leaving your Isa to your other half. This will be a sensible approach from a tax planning point of view too.
If you don’t have access to an employer pension, consider a Sipp - Women are more likely to be part-time workers and fall outside the remit of auto-enrolment. So, if you earn less than £10,000 with one employer, consider opening a Sipp. However, if you are employed and earn more than £5,825, you can ask your employer to enrol you into their workplace pension and you should be entitled to receive employer contributions from them too.

Maike Currie is an investment director at Fidelity International.

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