الاثنين، 10 سبتمبر 2018
Key Conversations You Need to Have Before Retirement
Being adequately prepared for retirement involves far more than simply squirreling away money in a 401(k), annuity, or some other savings vehicle and sailing off into the sunset.
When laying the foundation for one’s golden years, it’s also a good idea to have conversations with a handful of key people in your life – such as your spouse or domestic partner, children, employer, and maybe even employees if you’re a small business owner.
Nearly all of these people will either be impacted by your retirement or will personally have an impact upon it, making such conversations incredibly important.
“Retiring is a major milestone in a person’s life, and it creates a ripple effect that impacts everyone close to the retiree,” says Marc Diana, CEO of MoneyTips. “Making sure your network is prepared for your retirement is vital to ensuring as smooth a transition as possible.”
Here are some of the key people to engage in discussion, both when you’re planning a retirement strategy and as your departure from the workforce gets closer to being a reality.
With Your Spouse or Partner
Many couples assume they have a shared vision for retirement, or that the vision (even when it is shared) is realistic, says Delynn Dolan Alexander, a financial advisor with Northwestern Mutual.
To ensure you’re actually on the same page about goals and dreams, discuss what it is that you would like to do once work has become a thing of the past, and whether there’s an expense associated with fulfilling those dreams. If there is, how are you planning to pay for it?
Identifying where you want to live (both the location the type of residence) is also important ground to cover, as is determining whether you want to continue working in any capacity during retirement, and what your financial priorities will be.
“In other words, are you spending all of your savings, or leaving a legacy for the kids or charity?” explained Dolan Alexander.
Coming to an agreement regarding long-term housing plans is particularly important, stresses Jennifer Beeston, vice-president of mortgage lending at Guaranteed Rate Mortgage. Often, couples vary wildly on what they envision for their housing upon retirement.
“Some people want to stay in their current home while others want to downsize or move to be closer to their children,” said Beeston. “You want to have a game plan regarding housing before you retire as each scenario requires a different set of monthly costs to consider.”
With Your Children
Like a spouse, your kids will also likely be impacted by the changing finances associated with your departure from the workforce.
Mark Charnet, founder and CEO of New Jersey-based American Prosperity Group, suggests having a frank discussion with children about your plans, particularly if you have a less than adequate retirement fund established.
That conversation may involve pointing out to children that you will now be on a fixed or reduced income and that although you’d like to be as generous as you may have been in the past, it will no longer be possible. Charnet even suggests telling your children that they should no longer ask you for money.
Your housing plans are another important topic to cover with children prior to retirement.
“Many people are surprised at the vehemence with which children are attached to an old childhood home, or conversely many retirees hold on to homes even though children have set up independent lives and households elsewhere,” says Diana.
Familiarizing children with your medical directives and providing them with the contact information for your financial advisor, estate planning attorney and CPA, is also a good idea.
This process can be simplified by establishing an online vault for all of your important documents and giving your children access, says Brian Saranovitz, co-founder of Massachusetts-based Your Retirement Advisor.
“While not everyone will be comfortable sharing their financial details with children, it’s good to give them some insight into your financial preparations for retirement and any financial directives in your will,” adds Saranovitz. “Sharing your plan will not only help them upon your death, but also during your retirement if you need assistance. It can also teach them some valuable lessons about preparing well for retirement.”
With Your Employer
Like it or not, employers have a profound impact upon retirement. During working years, an employer plays a key role in the growth of your nest egg. And as retirement nears, it’s time to find out if there are any company policies that may impact pensions or other retirement income.
“It’s important to seek help from your employer on transitioning out of the workplace and making sure you understand your options with your company 401(k) or pensions, profit sharing, and healthcare options,” said Saranovitz. “If your employer doesn’t offer these services, a financial or retirement planner can help you, especially with the options for rolling over your 401(k).”
Additionally, it’s a good idea to give your employer ample notice of your planned departure date. “A rule of thumb is that for however many years of experience an employee has, that’s how many months it takes to replace him or her, so the more warning you can give your employer the smoother the transition will go,” suggests Diana.
With a Financial Planner
Retirement can seem like a dark cloud hanging over many people’s heads. Not because we don’t want to retire, but rather because of the money questions surrounding that all-important distant horizon.
Fears about retirement preparations need to be faced head on, and a financial planner can help, says Dawn-Marie Joseph, founder of Michigan-based Estate Planning & Preservation.
“Most people dream about not going to work every day and having freedom from their alarm clock. But when you think of retirement and the amount of money you have or have not saved, it can be overwhelming,” says Joseph. “There’s no time like the present to think about and act on the savings you will need for retirement.”
Begin by creating a draft retirement budget for yourself and then meet with a financial planner to help map out a solid game plan that includes helping your money last for as long as you think you will need it. Bring your spouse or partner to that meeting with your financial planner, and work as a team to put together a realistic, long-term financial strategy.
“The last thing you want to do is outlive your savings,” says Joseph. “Retirement savings can be accomplished. It is all about planning to get it done.”
Mia Taylor is an award-winning journalist with more than two decades of experience. She has worked for some of the nation’s best-known news organizations, including the Atlanta Journal-Constitution and the San Diego Union-Tribune.
More by Mia Taylor:
- The Biggest Retirement Risks and How to Prepare for Them
- Four Myths About Annuities: Do They Deserve Such a Bad Rap?
- Don’t Repeat These Five Mistakes Boomers Made on the Road to Retirement
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الأحد، 9 سبتمبر 2018
18 Remote Engineering Jobs and Alternative Career Paths
As a gal that's married to an engineer, a daughter of an engineer, and sister-in-law of an engineer, I know how hands-on the engineering field can be, which often makes it difficult for engineers to work remotely. But, if you're ready to ditch the commute and have a more flexible schedule, I've got good news! […]
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Making sense of Monroe's 2018 economic scorecard
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Pocono athlete a Ninja Warrior
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Stop Wasting Food: Creative Ways to Use Every Last Bit You Buy
Almost 40 percent of the food supply in this country never gets eaten, due to loss and waste, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. (“Loss” refers to things like mold and shrinkage due to desiccation.) More than half of that loss and waste is due to the way we use – or don’t use – the food we buy.
Stop throwing money away! Get the most out of every grocery dollar with two simple tactics:
First, make a plan for what you’ll be eating in the next week (or more) and build a shopping list based on those meals.
Second, learn to make great food from some of the things you might otherwise have thrown out.
Understand: This does not mean eating dangerous food. What it does mean is eating all the food – even parts you might not have considered usable. The following tips will help you get creative about every calorie.
Vegetables and Fruit
The boiling bag: We keep a bag in the freezer for onion skins, peapods, spinach stems, celery ends and leaves, carrot tops, potato peels, apple cores, chicken or meat bones, and other items. Simmered in the slow cooker and then cooled and strained, these items become a great soup stock. Add some diced potato, carrots, and onions (or any other vegetable you like) plus some seasonings and you have a satisfying supper. In the winter we go heavy on the root vegetables and sometimes add some cooked beans, rice, or pasta. Meat is, again, optional because this broth is very tasty – and it’s never the same twice.
Herb stems: Add them to a cruet of olive oil and make an herb-infused condiment. And speaking of condiments….
Broccoli and cauliflower cores, stems, and leaves: Chef and food author Tamar Adler quickly cooks these along with garlic, olive oil, salt, and a little water to make a chunky pesto-like product. It’s delicious on crackers or served hot on pasta – and it keeps you from throwing away one-third or more of these nutritious veggies.
Greens: If you buy beets or turnips with the tops attached, braise the greens with olive oil and garlic for a tasty, nutritious side dish. Or put them in the boiling bag.
Limp carrots: It happens. But while a bendy carrot is no good for a crudité platter, it’s just fine in soup or curry. (Pro tip: Don’t buy the five-pound bag if you can’t finish it up within a reasonable time frame.)
Potato peelings: Scrub the potatoes well before you peel them, then toss the peelings with olive oil and salt (and pepper, if you like), then bake until crisp. People pay good money to buy potato-skin appetizers at restaurants, right? These are healthier because they’re not smothered with cheese. (And if you can get your kids to love them, they’ll never have to know these things are actually good for them.)
Citrus peels. Orange, lemon, or lime zest can be frozen for future cooking and baking. Adler suggests combining a spoonful of zest with half of a chopped garlic clove, a handful of roughly chopped parsley or mint, and a little coarse salt to create a delicious seasoning for chicken or poached eggs. In her book “An Everlasting Meal: Cooking With Economy and Grace,” she also reveals a way to make sophisticated sodas on the cheap: Simmer finely sliced citrus peels in a syrup made of one cup sugar and one cup water until thickened, then add seltzer and ice to the cooled mixture.
Grains and Beans
Leftover hot cereal. Got a few spoons (or a lot of them) of oatmeal or Cream of Wheat? Add to pancake or waffle batter to provide extra nutrition and a lovely texture. Or do a search for “recipes leftover oatmeal” and you’ll get an eyeful: Oatmeal smoothies. Oatmeal bread. Oatmeal cake. Fried oatmeal, for heaven’s sake. (Incidentally, you can also just refrigerate leftover cereal and warm it up the next day for breakfast.)
Rice. You made too much. Now what? So glad you asked:
- Warm it up and serve it with milk for breakfast; pioneer frugalist Amy Dacyczyn used to feed this to her kids. (My grandparents used to eat it for supper when they didn’t feel like cooking.)
- Turn a small amount of leftover grain into a “rice bowl” by topping it with beans, a fried egg, sautéed vegetables, leftover meat, or whatever you like.
- Add it to burritos.
- Look for rice pudding recipes (including savory ones) and you’ll be amazed at how such a simple dish can be so satisfying.
- A spoon or two of leftover rice makes a bowl of soup heartier.
- Add it to raw ground beef and seasonings to make “porcupine” meatballs.
- And of course this grain needs to be at least a day old to make a successful stir-fry. (Here are some more clever ways to use leftover rice.)
Beany bits: A fairly small amount of pinto or black beans left over – not enough for a meal, but you hate to throw them out. So don’t. Instead, freeze them for a future meal, or add them to a canned soup for extra bulk and nutrition, or make them part of one of those rice bowls.
- Related: 10 Smart Ways to Use Leftover Beans
Quinoa: This wonder grain tastes like whatever you cook with it. If a small amount is left, turn it into breakfast with some apples, cinnamon, and milk. Or dump it into canned soup. Or add it to a meatloaf recipe. Or do a search for “quick quinoa recipes.” Just don’t throw it away – this stuff really is good for you.
Lentils: A half-cup of leftover lentils could wind up pushed to the back of the fridge until they turn into a science project. Try this instead: Saute onion and celery (if you have it) plus a small amount of cut-up ham or some other meat (or not, if you’re vegetarian), then stir in the lentils and any herbs/seasonings you like. Crack an egg on top, cover the pan, and cook until the yolk is as firm as you prefer. Enjoy as-is, or top with some of the mustard vinegar mentioned below.
Meats and Fish
Save the pan juices: The chicken or roast left liquid in the pan but you decided against making gravy. Pour the juices into a glass measuring cup or bowl and refrigerate, then remove the fat and freeze the meat drippings to make your next boiling-bag-broth soup more flavorful.
Save the fat, too: Use it to sauté vegetables, or spread it on toast made from good bread. As for bacon fat, it goes without saying: Save it!
Boil those bones: Beef, chicken, or pork bones can go into the boiling bag to add heft and flavor to the broth. Or boil the entire chicken or turkey carcass to make a great soup stock.
Fish broth supreme: The bones (and heads) of mild fish such as cod, flounder, and halibut make a good soup stock; so do shrimp, lobster, and crab shells. Look for recipes online.
Bread Products
Stale bread: If the last few slices of that Italian or French loaf went uneaten, turn them into croutons, stuffing mix, or bread crumbs. Save enough of these slices in the freezer, though, and you can create an easy and hearty Italian delicacy called ribollita, aka “bread soup.” Lots of recipes for that online, and it can be as simple or as elaborate as your available ingredients support.
French bread pizza: Stale bread, a little leftover spaghetti sauce, and a little cheese makes a very cheap, very fast entree that most kids (and a lot of grownups) will love. (To ensure leftover sauce, freeze a half-cup or so before you serve your next pasta dinner.) Play around with toppings; it could be barbecue sauce and a little shredded chicken, or sautéed vegetables, or spicy fruit salsa and grilled chicken with no cheese at all. Lots of recipes out there.
Bread pudding: Not just the dessert kind, either – look for “savory bread pudding” recipes online. If you do stick with dessert puddings, look for variations on the same old eggs-milk-bread dessert. So. Many. Options.
French toast: This extremely simple but surprisingly fancy breakfast treat can also be the underpinning for a “breakfast for dinner” evening. (Hint: Instead of drowning it in syrup, try it with cinnamon sugar or a dab of jam.)
Miscellaneous Tips
Vegetable cooking water: Start a container for the liquid you drain from boiled potatoes or other vegetables. When it’s time to put the boiling bag scraps into the slow cooker, add the contents of the veggie cooking water container. I even include the liquid from commercially canned vegetables; these can be high in sodium, which means I simply adjust how much (if any) salt I add to the resulting soup.
Save sauté oil: Once you’ve fried onions or braised vegetables in olive oil or chicken fat, use a spatula to scrape the oily (and flavorful) result into a container to refrigerate for the next cooking job. Or drizzle that liquid over rice. Or add it to the vegetable cooking water container for a flavor boost.
Same old rind: Don’t toss the rind from Parmesan or other hard cheeses. Cook them with homemade soup, pasta sauces, beans, and other dishes. Look for recipes online.
Bean broth: Cooking dried beans is noticeably cheaper than buying canned ones, so we’ll do a big batch and drain and freeze them (flat, in Ziploc bags) for fast meals. Their broth – rich with olive oil and spices – gets frozen separately, to be added to soup or curry. (Bean broth is also an element of that ribollita.)
Dairy disasters: If the milk smells just a little bit off when you take it out of the fridge, don’t pour it down the drain. Search for “uses for sour milk” and you’ll get everything from “scramble eggs with it” to “make it into a facial.” I’ve used it to make pancakes and waffles and a recipe called “sour milk cake.” You really can’t taste the sourness. Honest. (Pro tip: Forestall souring by using what you need and putting the container right back in the fridge, rather than letting it sit on the breakfast table or counter.)
Condiment gleaning: Don’t throw away that mustard/pickle/whatever jar! You can marinate pork chops in sweet-pickle vinegar, but save the dill brine as well: When the mustard bottle is nearly empty, add leftover pickle brine and shake to create a savory vinegar that’s great with lentils or beans and gives a little extra zing to a homemade soup. (If you add oil, it becomes a mustard vinaigrette.) Once I found a recipe for “dill pickle soup” that used pickle brine; it was actually pretty tasty.
For deviled eggs, add a tiny amount of milk to a nearly empty mustard bottle, shake well and add to the mayo and cooked egg yolks. When a bottle of ranch dressing is all but depleted, add a little milk to the bottle and shake, and make it part of the dressing for potato salad. If you’ve got a nearly empty jam or jelly jar, add milk and shake until the jar is clear, then tell your kids it’s a “milkshake” (or drink it yourself).
Nearly empty catsup bottles or salsa jars can get a splash of water and a hard shake; the result is good poured into chili or soup pots. Yes, this is just a couple of cents’ worth of food, tops, but why waste it? Especially since the results are so potentially tasty?
Garbage soup bag: Not actual garbage! This is for things like that quarter-cup of leftover mashed potatoes, the half-spoon of corn, last ladle of gravy, the shreds of pot roast from the carving board. It all goes into a bag in the freezer; when it’s full, cook it with a container of that boiling-bag broth (or canned stock) plus some seasonings and, if you like, additional vegetables. This potage de garbage is never the same twice, but it’s always good. Float some of those homemade croutons on top and feel not just well-fed, but frugal.
The Bottom Line
Food is the portion of our budget with the most wiggle room. We have to eat – but we can decide how best to use our food dollars.
You worked hard for that money, so make it work for you, grocery-wise.
Readers: How do you make sure you use all the food you buy?
Award-winning journalist and 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.”
More by Donna Freedman:
- Slash Your Food Budget With ‘Salvage Groceries’
- Half-Price, Not Half-Baked: Save a Fortune at the Bakery Outlet
- Eight Life Essentials You Can Get for Free
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السبت، 8 سبتمبر 2018
The Seven Things I Need to Work On Most To Improve My Financial and Personal Life
As I’ve mentioned a few times on The Simple Dollar recently, I’ve been using Julia Cameron’s “three morning pages” journaling technique most mornings and it has genuinely been a life changer. It’s helped me reflect on lots of different ideas and viewpoints that I have. It’s helped me to reflect on choices I’ve made and relationships I have. It’s helped me reflect on the state of my life and where I want it to go.
(For those unfamiliar, “three morning pages” is a journaling technique in which, each day, a person pulls out a journal and a pen and fills three pages by writing down whatever comes into their mind. What’s on your mind right now? That’s the prompt every single morning. Then, you just write that down. I find that in the process of writing out a thought in a sentence or two, the next step in that line of thinking begins to emerge, and then I write that out, and the process repeats itself until I hit some really useful conclusions.)
If I had to summarize what I’ve figured out over the last year, it’s this: I’m pretty content with my life in general, but there are a handful of areas where I could be a lot better. Notice that I’m not saying that “my life” could be better or something like that – I’m pointing internally. My life is good, but I could be better.
In other words, I’m content with my life, but I’m not content with me.
The thing is, I feel as though, if I work on fixing some things, they will inevitably lead to some good outcomes, not just for me and my own future, but for a lot of people in my life – my friends, my family, and even the people who read what I write. Changing me has a ripple effect outwards.
At the end of the day, I’ve figured out seven things that I really need to work on in terms of improving myself. Almost all of these things have direct (or strong indirect) financial and personal implications, so I thought it might be interesting to share them here.
The key message I want you to take home is this: personal finance success – and other forms of personal success – come down far more to improving yourself than factors outside of yourself. If you improve yourself, then things outside of yourself naturally begin to have better average outcomes. If you become a nicer person, you’re going to have better relationships. If you improve your professional skills, you’re going to have better professional results. If you want people in your social circle to be nicer, train yourself to be nicer. It’s all about you.
I Need to Curb My Worst Spending Impulses
99% of the time, I manage my finances wonderfully. I have a bunch of automated savings systems in place that fund saving for my retirement and for my children’s college education and for other goals. I’m extremely careful and diligent with large purchases. I budget quite carefully.
However, there’s one spending issue that has continually been difficult for me over the last decade and that’s impulsive spending related to my hobbies. I have a handful of hobbies that I have been deeply passionate about my whole life and, time and time again, I give into impulsive spending related to those hobbies.
Those hobbies are, namely, reading, cooking, and tabletop gaming (board games and the like).
Those hobbies are things that I am deeply passionate about, and when I find something that strongly engages that passion, a lot of my careful financial principles in other areas of life crumble. I make impulsive spending choices that I wouldn’t otherwise make.
I curtail this to an extent by having a “hobby budget” each month, but at times, I’ll even go beyond what I’ve budgeted.
Why? Mostly, it’s because I get caught up in the moment. I learn about a book or a board game or something and it scratches something deep inside of me that other things really don’t reach, and that causes me to not really think about my budget and just click the “buy” button.
This is a really tough challenge for me to overcome. I’ve found lots of things to make it better, but I inevitably find myself in situations that get beyond those strategies.
How can I curb my worst spending impulses? Right now, my plan is to make next year into a “spend nothing whatsoever on hobbies” year and entirely focus on using the things I already have. The only way I’ll get new hobby items that year is in the from of gifts from family or friends.
I’m hoping this achieves two things.
One, it should help me to make better financial moves in the coming year. I will still have a small “hobby budget” for other interests, but it’ll be much smaller than what I currently have. I’m going to channel the rest of that money into other savings goals.
Two, and this is more of a “hope” than a certain outcome, it should break my worst spending tendencies related to my hobbies. If I’m literally not spending any money at all on hobbies, then I have no reason to put myself in situations where I might spend. If I do that for a year, then I have new routines in life that will hopefully stick.
I Need to Incorporate Small Freelance Income Into My Overall Financial Planning Better
On occasion, I find myself with small freelance jobs that are either related to writing or (believe it or not) related to my old career path. Actually executing these freelance jobs isn’t a problem. What is a problem is that I’m not really wise with the money that comes in.
Frankly, when money rolls in from those jobs, I tend to use it to “put out a fire.” I address whatever I feel is most urgent at the moment. Often, that money is used for something like a small home repair or a small emergency or something like that.
In effect, I treat that money as an “emergency fund” of sorts, which keeps me from tapping my actual emergency fund.
Sometimes, if there’s no real “fire” to put out, I’ll use it in some foolish way that doesn’t ever show up in my budget. I’ll usually just cash the check and then use the cash for some purpose that never directly shows up in my financial planning.
The problem, of course, is that I could do much smarter things with that income. I could always make an extra retirement contribution. I could make an extra 529 contribution for my kids. I could add it to my “tax” fund out of which I pay estimated quarterly taxes and make up any differences at year’s end.
How can I manage my “odd job” income better? I simply need to have a consistent plan in terms of what I do with those checks. For now, I’ve decided to simply use them as extra equal contributions to my children’s 529 accounts.
So, going forward, whenever I get any sort of freelance income, it’s getting split into thirds and put into my children’s 529 accounts.
This is a strategy I’m going to revisit annually during my annual financial review. I may end up using the money for something else at other times.
I Need to Improve My Physical Fitness
Let’s get this straight right off the bat: I’m in way better shape than I was, say, five years ago. I’m definitely more aerobically fit. I’m more flexible. I have better balance.
I’m just not where I want to be.
I want to live for a very long time, and I want as much of that life as possible to have me in physical shape to do things I want to do, like go on hikes and go on bike rides and play with my children and eventually grandchildren and so on. Part of the benefit of this, of course, is that I will have lower health care costs throughout my life, which makes a lot of our financial decisions easier. I don’t want to be in a situation where gobbling lots of medications is also gobbling up our financial future.
How can I improve my physical fitness? My first big plan is to get a standing desk for my new office arrangement, and perhaps eventually use it as a treadmill desk. As I mentioned, we’re rearranging our home and my current desk simply will not work as a standing desk because of shelves above it. That’s going to change very soon.
A second move is that I’m returning to the most successful program I have ever been on in terms of managing my weight, which is simply strict calorie counting. It took a lot of work, but it worked. I abandoned it because it was difficult to do while traveling, so my new rule is that unless I slept away from home the previous night or am sleeping away from home the coming night, I’m counting calories.
A third move is to amp up my fitness routine. I’ve been doing a simple routine for exercise and flexibility that I’ve been able to stick with easily, but it’s not been really very challenging. The purpose was to help me with taekwondo, but I’ve really plateaued with it, so I’m going to revisit it and make it more difficult so I can continue to progress and get stronger, more flexible, and in better cardio shape (though, honestly, the class helps with that a ton).
I Need to Devote More Time to Hard, Meaningful Learning
For the last few years, I’ve had an hour blocked off each day for focused reading and learning. I originally wanted to use that time to read challenging things that really made me think and to apply what I was learning to the best of my ability, but over time, that reading hour has migrated to lighter fare, mostly read for entertainment.
I moved from reading things like The History of Western Philosophy to reading high fantasy novels during that hour.
There’s nothing wrong with a high fantasy novel – it’s a great form of entertainment – but it’s not what I want to get out of that hour. I want to use that hour to learn and grow.
How can I devote more time to hard, meaningful learning? I’m retaking that hour. I’ve built a reading list for myself of challenging books that I want to read and I’m spending that hour churning through that list, taking notes and thinking about what I’m reading.
I’m not abandoning the high fantasy and sci-fi novels I’ve been reading lately, just that I’m moving reading primarily for entertainment to other parts of the day, such as before bed or on lazier weekend days.
I have an hour set aside for reading and things I want to learn. Time to bring those two things together again.
I Need to Become More Organized with My Possessions
My office is a complete disorganized disaster, made worse by the fact that I have to move it elsewhere in a few months. I’ve got piles of stuff covering my desk and haphazard piles of things all over the floor. I’ve got an overflowing bookshelf and an overflowing game shelf. It’s bad.
Part of the difficulty is that I feel overwhelmed by all of it. It’s easier on a day-to-day basis to just shrug my shoulders and let it be rather than tackling it in any serious way.
To an extent, it’s also true in my bedroom. I’ve accumulated too many books over the years, mostly cookbooks (remember, one of my big hobbies is cooking) and I don’t have a proper bookshelf in my bedroom to store them. My wife does – her “wall” of the room does not include a door, while mine does.
All of this stuff represents both sunk time and money. I’m going to have to spend time going through all of these things and figure out what’s worth keeping, then I’m going to have to recover some of that money by selling off some of these items, too.
How can I organize my possessions better? One thing I’m going to do during our home reorganization is put a cookbook shelf in our dining room/kitchen area. This will provide a place to store our cookbook collection, which is sizable and spread out in several places in our home (although this is more my thing, Sarah uses them, too).
I need to downsize my book collection, my board game collection, and some of my other possessions to boot. I’m doing this by setting aside one hour four days a week (I’ve already penciled this into my schedule) solely to go through possessions, figure out which ones need to go, and selling them off, and then putting the ones I’m keeping in places where they belong.
I Need to Prepare My Children for Adulthood Without Damaging Their Childhood
My children are getting older, whether I like it or not. While I feel that Sarah and I have done a great job of instilling good core values and knowledge in them, the truth is that our oldest two children are preteens (and our youngest isn’t far behind).
That means that we’re starting to give them more and more responsibilities and more and more autonomy over their life decisions, and that means that they need to learn some key life skills and decision making skills.
How does one do laundry? Dishes? How does one decide how to spend their time? How does one remember commitments and responsibilities?
Most importantly, how does one decide what’s the right thing to do and the wrong thing to do once outside of parental control?
The time is coming for a lot of micro experiments in independence and a lot of difficult conversations.
This is a hugely important step. I’m starting to prepare them to live wholly independent of me, a move that will be a huge financial boon for Sarah and myself. Moving from being financially responsible for the food, care, and clothing of five to the food, care, and clothing of two.
How can I prepare my children for adulthood without damaging their childhood? The biggest step I’m taking right now is keeping track of what things I’m doing for my children that they will eventually need to do for themselves. On a surface level, it’s things like doing the laundry or doing dishes or making dinner or paying bills, but there are deeper things, too, like managing time and remembering things.
As I notice these things that I’m handling for them, I write them down. Over time, I’m trying to figure out how to migrate those things from me handling those tasks to them handling those tasks.
This is going to be hard. It’s going to take a lot of time. Guess what? Good parenting takes time and attention and love.
The journey still has a long way to go. I want to make sure that we get there.
I Need to Be Better in Uncertain Social Situations
I have always felt very comfortable conversing with people that I know, as well as new people in small group or one-on-one situations. I can pick up a conversation with anyone and I have some good techniques for doing that.
However, when that conversation expands to a larger group, especially when it includes people I don’t know well or haven’t seen in a while, I clam up. I simply have a hard time saying anything.
I have a few conversational techniques that I know work really well, but the difficulty is actually using those techniques in any useful way. Instead, I just sit there and clam up.
This hurts me. It makes it nearly impossible to build new friendships in a lot of social situations. It makes me appear aloof or uninterested when I’m actually just feeling really nervous or shy. Those aren’t outcomes that are good for me personally or professionally.
How can I handle uncertain social situations better? A few weeks ago, a good friend of mine gave me some great advice. He said, “Just act like the person you wish would be there with you.” Imagine how I would ideally like an unknown person to act toward me in a group social situation, and then act like that.
Basically, I’d want that person to smile, explain their connection to the group, and ask some questions to nudge me into talking. Right there, that’s my recipe for those situations. I just need to act like the person that I wish was sitting across the table from me. Pretend to be that person rather than the shy person that I actually am.
It takes conscious practice and probably a lot of failures. However, I have a bunch of social situations coming up to put this to the test.
Final Thoughts
Again, as I stated at the start, I’m pretty content with my life. I don’t feel like I’m a bad person overall, or a failure overall. I just notice some things, some specific elements of my life, that I’m unhappy with that I think are leading to bad financial and personal outcomes and I want to fix them.
To me, that’s the core of improving your situation. You figure out specific things about yourself that you could work on – it doesn’t mean you’re “bad” but that there are things about yourself that could be better – and then intentionally work on those things, adopting new norms in your life along the way.
This isn’t a one-stop thing. It’s an ongoing process that can and should be revisited all the time. I revisit it quite often and this is where I stand at the moment.
The thing to remember is that you’re good, but you’re not perfect and you’ll probably never reach it. However, the effort to move closer to that ideal is almost always worth it, because every little step you take in that direction is going to have ripple effects throughout your life that will benefit you in more ways than you’ll probably ever know.
Good luck!
The post The Seven Things I Need to Work On Most To Improve My Financial and Personal Life appeared first on The Simple Dollar.
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Should You Switch to an Electric Toothbrush? Here’s All You Need to Know
“There’s almost no plaque on these teeth,” your hygienist might remark. “Great job!”
Or maybe you’re gently scolded for an apparent coffee habit, unable to defend yourself in the open wide position.
Either way, when we’re in that well-feared chair, we know we’re being evaluated, that our dentist can tell a lot about how well we’ve been abiding by the rules of oral hygiene. And despite the recent controversy around the ostensible claim that you don’t actually need to floss, those rules haven’t changed too much in decades.
Most of us have a handle on the basics of dental care — as in, a literal toothbrush handle. Which we know we’re supposed to operate at least twice daily. (And by the way, you should probably keep flossing.)
And some of those handles are part of electric toothbrushes. Which begs the question: Do you really need to spend upwards of $50 on one?
Why Are Electric Toothbrushes So Darn Expensive?
You can find rechargeable, brand-name electric toothbrushes starting at about $30 at Walmart—- and sometimes they’ll go on sale for as little as $20.
But you can just as easily spend more than $250 on a top-of-the-line, fancy-pants setup that includes a traveling case and five different “modes,” whatever that means.
Even with an entry-level brush, the expense continues. Along with your one-time handle purchase, you’ll also need a regular supply of replacement brush heads.
Brand-name brush heads tend to cost $6 to $8 a piece, and that’s if you buy the bulk package. If you opt for upgraded versions with extras like “plaque control,” you might spend more than $10 on each.
There are cheap generics, of course, though you run the risk that they won’t fit your base toothbrush.
And considering you can get a manual brush for less than a buck, even the cheapest electric option is a serious upcharge.
So is it worth it?
According to dental professionals, the answer is: Kind of. It all comes down to your behavior.
Published studies suggest that “powered” toothbrushes have an edge on their manual counterparts. But those results may have less to do with the brush itself than how you use it.
Even armed with only a plain-Jane manual brush, it’s totally possible to keep your teeth healthy. “Proper brushing technique achieves everything that even the most expensive electric toothbrush would,” notes Dr. Ron Blaise of 92 Dental. (His prescription for “proper”: soft, circular rotations across every tooth surface up to the gum line for a total of three minutes.)
That said, the built-in features of electric toothbrushes can help develop and reinforce good oral care habits.
For instance, many electric toothbrushes come with automatic timers, which can keep you honest about how long you really spend on dental hygiene.
And according to Dr. Oksana Boyechko of Shingle Springs Dental, those fancy “modes” and programs translate to a simple benefit: extending the total amount of time you brush.
I Tried the Quip Electric Toothbrush. Here’s What Happened
I’ve been an electric toothbrush user for years, having switched to a mid-range Sonicare at my dentist’s suggestion. (What can I say? I’m especially responsive to parental-brand authority.)
Each refill costs just $5 including shipping, which is less than I was paying in the store. Plus, I wouldn’t find myself scrubbing my teeth with bent, burned-out bristles in an effort to stretch my budget — which is important. Every dentist I talked to said using a soft brush and replacing it regularly far outweighs whether or not it’s electric.
When my Quip arrived, I was duly charmed. It has all the cute packaging and aggressively conversational marketing copy we’ve come to expect from these kinds of direct-to-door services. The helpful welcome guide even taught me a few things about proper tooth brushing. (Did you know you’re not supposed to rinse your mouth?!)
The handle is waterproof and comes with a convenient caddy that sticks to your mirror. And it is, indeed, less bulky than my electrically charged Sonicare. Quip keeps the timer feature but ditches all the extra modes that can push up the price on those astronomically expensive, brand-name versions. And the brush is covered for life as long as you stay on Quip’s refill plan.
You can even add your dentist to your online Quip profile to help them automate your six-month reminders. Which is cool in theory, but also, like, do we really want our toothbrushes to be part of the Internet of Things?
In the end, I found myself reaching for my Sonicare, bulky or no. Quip’s vibrations weren’t quite as vigorous, and I actually kind of like the bigger brush handle.
But if you’re looking for an affordable, high-quality electric toothbrush and regular, no-planning-necessary brush head replacements, Quip is a great option.
And, hey — if having an online portal for your oral-hygiene reminders gets you excited about brushing, all the more power to you.
Jamie Cattanach (@jamiecattanach) is a writer whose work has been featured at Fodor’s, Yahoo, SELF, Ms. Magazine, the Establishment, Roads & Kingdoms and other outlets.
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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الجمعة، 7 سبتمبر 2018
ESU holds economic summit
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How to Improve Your Click Through Rates with Emojis
Whether you love them or hate them, emojis have become part of our lives and our digital culture.
The first emoji was created nearly 20 years ago in Japan. But today, the use of these tiny, animated faces and characters has drastically evolved.
They have become so popular that July 17th has been officially named World Emoji Day.
It’s a fitting date. Apple users may recognize July 17th from the calendar emoji.
Origins and history aside, the fact remains that emojis have become a dominating mobile trend. As marketers, we need to understand this trend and apply it in our businesses.
People have full conversations using emojis.
Some emojis are even used as a type of slang. Depending on the country you’re in, some emojis are used to imply things other than what the creators intended.
For example, some innocent pieces of food are commonly used to represent parts of the human anatomy.
There is even a middle finger emoji.
Even if you’re not using emojis for business, I’m willing to bet that you and your friends send them to each other when you’re texting. Or maybe you use one in the occasional social media caption.
The odds are in my favor. That’s because 92% of the online population uses emojis.
Furthermore, it’s worth noting that women use emojis more than men.
In fact, 70% of women are frequent users, while just 50% of men fall into that category.
With all of this in mind, now it’s time for you to start using emojis to improve your business and not just your texting.
I’ll explain how you can implement an emoji strategy that helps you improve your click-through rates and ultimately drive conversions. Here’s what you need to know.
Make your email subject lines stand out
You need to learn how to increase your open rates with different subject lines. If people don’t open your messages, your campaigns won’t be successful.
One of the best ways to use emojis to increase clicks is by adding them to your email subject lines.
I know how much time and effort you put into your content. Don’t slack off when it comes to crafting a subject line.
Research shows that 56% of brands saw an increase in their open rates when they added an emoji to their subject lines.
They experienced higher click-through rates as well. Recipients were more engaged with the content.
These are the most frequently used emojis for email subject lines:
That doesn’t mean they were the most successful.
You’ll have to see which ones work best for you depending on your brand, industry, and purpose of the message.
For example, using the gift emoji or airplane emoji in a subject line would be irrelevant if you’re a restaurant informing your subscribers of your new dinner menu.
Adding emojis to your subject line is a winning strategy because it helps you stand out from the crowd.
Your subscribers get their inboxes flooded with promotional content on a daily basis. Anything you can do to be different will help your cause.
Look at how Grubhub used an emoji in this subject line:
It stands out from the others because it’s the only one with an emoji.
Plus, it’s relevant to the subject line. They used the smiling face with sunglasses for a subject line that’s related to the sun being out.
Add an emoji to your ad headlines
If you’re using sponsored ads to market your business, you should definitely consider adding an emoji to your headlines.
I know it may sound simple, but you’d be surprised at the results you’ll see.
Take a look at this example of a promoted Facebook advertisement from Scoro:
At first glance, the two ads are seemingly identical. But the ad on the right has a simple red flag emoji added to the headline.
Nothing major, right?
Well, Scoro A/B tested these two headlines, and the results were astonishing. The headline with the emoji had 241% more clicks than the one without an emoji.
It’s worth finding out whether your company can have the same success.
Start running A/B tests on your upcoming ad headlines.
Use them in your push notifications
If you have a mobile app for your business, you have an advantage over all of your competitors who don’t.
Having the app is a great start, but you need to make sure you’re getting the most out of the tools at your disposal. You need to learn how to target your mobile customers with push notifications.
These messages get sent directly to the devices of your app users. It’s a great way to contact them with various promotions.
But just like with your email subject lines, the campaigns are useless if nobody clicks on them.
Studies suggest that adding emojis to push notifications can increase open rates by 85%.
The open rates are 135% higher on Android devices than on iOS devices.
That’s an enormous difference.
Here’s an example of how Postmates used this strategy with one of its push notifications:
It’s a simple and effective way to promote its membership.
Since push notifications have a limited character count, it’s important to grab the attention of your app users with just a sentence or two at most.
The arrow emoji reflects the swiping motion. And the side smirking face implies there is some type of secret or information worth reading.
Here’s another example, from Yelp:
Again, it’s very simple. It’s using a flame emoji to enhance the phrase “hot new business.”
It’s not rocket science.
You don’t need to create your entire push notification strategy around emojis.
Just write what you were planning to say in the first place. Then add an emoji or two that fit the description, and you’re all set.
Program your chatbots to use emojis
How are you communicating with your customers?
You can provide better customer service by implementing live chat. Now your customers can reach you when it’s convenient for them, without having to make a phone call or send an email.
But it’s not always easy to have a customer service representative available to respond to these messages 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.
That’s where chatbots come into play. You can set up a chatbox to automatically appear in the corner when someone lands on your website.
Take a look at how Air Tailor uses this strategy on its homepage:
For a business that promotes affordable clothing alterations, effective customer communication is definitely important.
Everyone has unique requests and needs when it comes to getting their clothes tailored. So getting welcomed by a chatbot is a great feature.
According to a recent study from Wise Merchant, adding emojis to the chatbot feature has helped Air Tailor grow by 100% each year.
This strategy worked for them, and it can work for your business as well.
An emoji from a chatbot adds a human element to the conversation, even though the communication is with a robot.
Include emojis in your meta titles
While you may not think of it, people are using emojis in search queries.
Adding an emoji to your meta titles can help improve your SEO strategy. The increase in clicks will drive more traffic to your website.
Here’s an example of what happens when you add the birthday cake emoji to your Google search:
Look at the top two results on the page. They both have a birthday cake emoji in the meta title.
The top two ranked pages of search results control roughly 50% of all clicks.
Adding an emoji to your meta titles and even meta descriptions can increase your chances of getting ranked higher.
Add emojis within the text of your marketing emails
Earlier I discussed how you can use emojis in email subject lines to increase your open rates. But that’s only half of the battle.
Now you need the email recipients to consume the content, click, and convert.
Increasing click-through rates is a top email marketing objective according to a survey of business owners and marketers.
That’s because there is a direct correlation between clicks and conversions.
Getting more clicks can ultimately help your business make more money. Depending on the goal of your campaigns, these clicks can directly drive sales.
A recent study reported that some businesses enjoyed a 93% increase in click-through rates after adding emojis to their email content.
Use emojis in the subject line to generate opens. Then continue using them within the body of the message to increase click-throughs.
Enhance your Instagram captions
You can’t have an effective emoji strategy without changing the way you do things on social media.
Adding an emoji to your Instagram captions is a great way to increase engagement with your followers.
Here’s a look at the top ten most used emojis on Instagram last year:
Furthermore, posts with emojis increase interactions by 47.7%, which means users are more engaged with the posts.
It’s no surprise that the camera emoji was at the top of the list. I see this one used all the time.
People commonly use the camera emoji to give credit to another user who took the photo.
If your brand is encouraging user-generated content and sharing photos submitted by your followers, you can use this emoji instead of typing “photo credit.”
Gain an advantage over your competition
If you start using emojis in your marketing strategy, it will help you stand out among your competitors.
While emojis are popular for personal use, businesses are still adapting to this trend. It’s not a strategy that’s being implemented by everyone just yet.
These are the top industries using emojis:
As I said earlier, emojis bring a human element to your marketing strategy.
Consumers don’t feel comfortable interacting with giant corporations. If you take yourself too seriously, you won’t appeal to your customers.
You can use emojis while still remaining professional.
When consumers see emojis in your marketing campaigns, they will feel as though they’re getting a message from one of their friends.
Jump on the emoji bandwagon before your competitors have a chance to catch up with these trends.
Get creative on Twitter
While Twitter may not be your primary marketing channel, you should still have an active account and post content on a regular basis.
Emojis are a great way to drive engagement on your posts and generate clicks. This is especially true if you’re sharing a video.
Pairing an emoji in a tweet containing a video generates six times higher interest and emotional connection among your followers.
Even if you’re not sharing a video, you can still get creative with emojis to improve your tweets. Look at this example from Domino’s Pizza:
Sure, it may be a bit corny, but it’s definitely creative.
Just look at the engagement on this post. It has more retweets than favorites, which means it’s being exposed to a wide audience.
As a result, the page will be seen by more users, even if they don’t follow the brand.
This increase in exposure will translate to more traffic to the company’s profile and website and ultimately yield more clicks.
Conclusion
It doesn’t look like the emoji trend is going away in the foreseeable future. You need to recognize this and start promoting your content accordingly.
Add emojis to your email subject lines to increase your open rates. Then continue using them within the body of your emails to generate click-throughs.
A/B test emojis in your ad headlines. Use emojis to enhance your push notifications.
Add a human element to your live chat feature by programming your chatbots to use emojis.
Use emojis in your meta titles to improve your SEO ranking. This will help give you an advantage over your competition.
Emojis will increase your engagement metrics on Instagram and Twitter as well.
You don’t need to apply all of these strategies right away. Pick a few and see how they work out for your brand.
Which emojis are you using to increase click-through rates for your marketing campaigns?
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Lessons from the Average American’s Food Expenses
Let’s start off with a fact that’s “mildly interesting” on the surface, but takes on a whole different set of meanings when you dig in a little bit.
The average American household spends $7,203 a year on food, of which $4,049 is spent on food at home and $3,154 is spent on food away from home.
Let’s break that down a little bit into numbers that are more practical for how you and I live our lives.
Each month, the average American household spends $600 on food, of which $337 is spent on food at home and $263 is spent on food away from home.
Each week, the average American household spends $139 on food, of which $78 is spent on food at home and $61 is spent on food away from home.
Each day, the average American household spends $19.73 on food, of which $11.09 is spent on food at home and $8.64 is spent on food away from home.
Before we go on, let’s break this down into individual people. The average American household is 2.58 people, thus the average American person spends $2,792 per year on food, or $233 per month, or $54 per week, or $7.64 per day on food.
What does $7.64 per day look like?
It means that virtually any day that you eat out is an above average food spending day. If I eat a full meal at almost any restaurant, I’m going to be spending more than $7.64. There are a few restaurants that can slip a meal in under that price, but it’s either something super unhealthy and of questionable origin or it’s something quite small.
The reality is that eating out is a budget buster, moving you quickly above the American average food expenditure. If you treat eating out as a consistent “everyday” or “multiple times a week” phenomenon, it is extremely likely that your food spending is significantly higher than the average American’s.
In fact, the same is probably true if you eat convenient prepackaged foods. If you eat a prepackaged meal, it’s probably eating up a lot of that $7.64 that the average American spends on food each day.
That has consequences. If you look at the full annual budget for the average American, the extra money you’re spending on food has to come from some other budgetary element. Where is it coming from? Clothing? Housing? Retirement savings? Health care? Entertainment? For a lot of Americans, it comes from credit cards, to be quite honest. None of those options are particularly wise when it comes to financial success.
Your excess food spending comes from somewhere. What other part of your budget is it consuming?
For me, the solution to this problem was to ensure that my baseline meals were as inexpensive as possible. Unless there is a reason to do otherwise, I strive to eat cheap meals, which are meals made at home out of inexpensive staple foods or things on sale at the store.
What do I mean by “inexpensive staple foods”? I’m referring to what I call the six frugal food staples: rice, beans, dry pasta, eggs, fresh produce (on sale), and oatmeal. Those staples, mixed with things to flavor them (spices, sauces, sweeteners, and so on), can form the backbone of a healthy, nutritious, and varied diet. That’s because those six staples can be remixed in infinite ways. They form the backbone of a lot of different meals and cuisines from around the world.
The best part, of course, is that those six staples are really cheap. A meal utilizing rice, beans, oatmeal, on-sale fresh produce, dry pasta, or eggs is a meal that’s probably going to come in under $1. I can make a lot of meals for less than $1 per person using those ingredients as a baseline. Thus, those ingredients are often the backbone of many of our meals.
For example, for breakfast, the cost of a pound of cooked oatmeal is about $0.25. I can whip up a couple of pounds of cooked oatmeal ($0.50 or so) and add some fresh fruits on sale (another $0.50) and maybe a bit of sweetener (another quarter) and then feed my family of five breakfast for a cost per person of about a quarter. That’s a “default breakfast” for us, leaving us with $7.39 to spend on the rest of the day’s food.
Alternately, I might scramble a dozen eggs (total cost: around $2) and lightly season it (total cost: around a quarter) for breakfast for the five of us, giving each person roughly two and a half eggs worth of scrambled eggs. Per person, the cost of that is around $0.50, leaving us with $7.14 apiece for the rest of the day.
Lunchtime might include a rice and bean bowl or some pasta with sauce that was purchased on sale or something left over from a previous meal, making for a dirt cheap lunch.
This leaves us with $6 or so per person for the cost of dinner, and if I can come in way below that, we’ve spent substantially below the national average for food for a day. If I can do that most of the time, then we can eat out occasionally and still stay well within a completely reasonable food budget.
It starts with cooking at home, not relying on convenience foods, and using inexpensive nutritious staples as the backbone of your meals.
There’s another key lesson hidden in these numbers: Averages don’t paint the full story.
So, the data says that the average American spends $7.64 in food on a given day. Let’s take a group of 50 Americans. On average, those 50 people should spend a total of $382 on their food, right?
Let’s say one of the group of 50 eats out at a restaurant and drops $50 on his meal and eats $5 in food over the rest of the day. Another person eats out at a restaurant for $20 and eats another $5 in food over the rest of the day.
Those two people together spent $80 on their food. That means that the remaining 48 people in the group spent a total of $302 on their food for the day ($382 minus the $80 spent by the two big spenders). Those remaining 48 people only spend $6.29 for the day on their food.
The reality is that numbers like the $7.64 a day “average” are really skewed by the big spenders that are spending many multiples of that amount on food in a day. These are people going to expensive restaurants or eating all of their meals at moderately priced restaurants or consuming super-expensive ingredients at home. They’re out there and they’re busting the average.
What’s actually more interesting is the median person’s data.
Imagine if you take those 100 people and line them up in order of how much they spent on food for the day. The person right in the middle of the line is the “median” person – the same number of people spent more than him or her as people who spent less than him or her.
Compare that to “average,” where everyone in the line adds up how much they spent on food for the day and then divides that by the number of people in line.
The truth is that this “median” person almost assuredly spent less than $7.64 on their food (which was the “average” amount). How do I know this? The simple fact that lots of people spend many multiples of that amount on food each and every day, as witnessed by the existence of expensive restaurants and the presence of expensive foods in grocery stores.
For another example of the difference between “median” and “average,” look at American incomes. In 2015, the median household income (meaning everyone stands in line and we look at the person in the middle) was $56,516, while the average household income (meaning we add up everyone’s incomes and divide by the number of households) was $79,263. How is that possible? It’s possible because some people earn far more than the average – many, many, many times more – in a given year, and that skews the average.
The truth is that the “median” person – that real person in the middle – almost assuredly spends less than $7.64 on food per day. My back-of-the-envelope math, which is extremely rough and based on some guesses, says that this person’s average food spending is somewhere between $5 and $6.
What’s the point? Aiming to spend something like $1.50 per meal and $1 on snacks for the day puts you pretty close to what the median American spends on food in a given day. You’re not a big spender and you’re not a small spender if you aim for that.
In fact, if your salary is somewhere in the middle of the pack, one way to get ahead is to put in the effort to keep your numbers below that. Aim for $1 meals as much as you can. Learn how to use the six frugal staples as much as you can (and a few other good bargains, like chicken and peanut butter). Cook at home as much as you can.
As Dave Ramsey says, “Live like no one else so you can live like no one else.” If you aim for average, you’re going to get average results.
Sometimes, the reality of how other Americans actually live can be a really helpful eye opener.
Good luck!
More by Trent Hamm:
- How I Shop: Specific Tricks for Your Next Trip to the Grocery Store
- 10 Smart Ways to Use Leftover Rice
- How to Reduce the Urge to Eat Out
- Surviving and Thriving on an Extremely Small Food Budget
The post Lessons from the Average American’s Food Expenses appeared first on The Simple Dollar.
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I’m 23 and Afraid Full-Time Work Will Kill My Dreams for My Chess Game
Dear J.,
Hold up. We need to break this down a little bit. You’ve got a lot of thoughts and ideas swirling in your head, and I wonder if your worries are starting to cloud your judgment. (We’ve all been there.)
Buying a camper and renting out your mom’s house sounds like more trouble than it’s worth. Beyond needing the cash upfront for the camper, you would have to administer to the needs of your frequent short-term tenants.
Could you take on a roommate or two to live with you inside the house instead? Your utility bills may rise from having additional people, but you’d be splitting the tab with your roommates. Plus, you may be able to share some additional expenses, like grocery staples or streaming video services.
Having roommates isn’t always easy — especially when you want to preserve your quiet time for studying. But it may provide a short-term solution to make taking care of your mother’s home more bearable.
Now, for your work schedule. The way I see it, you have two options.
The first is to use some of your savings to supplement your part-time income. Doing so will buy you time to study chess. Because you mentioned chess is your priority, and your love of recreational vehicles did not exactly come up, I’m going to guess that would be a better use of your savings than a camper.
The second is to take on more hours at your current job. I know this will be hard to consider, because you’re dedicated to your studies. But sometimes, having a challenging schedule pushes you to work smarter.
A colleague recently reminded me about Parkinson’s law: Basically, it says that work expands to fill the time you have to complete it. When I’m busy, I might be stressed for a short period, but I can get a lot done. When I don’t have a lot on my schedule, I find that even the smallest tasks can take hours.
What could you still accomplish with your chess studies if you worked five more hours each week at your job? What if you could take on 10 more hours of work? Could you still reach your chess goals and be able to earn that grant?
If there’s little availability at your current job, think about taking up a side gig that has a low barrier to entry. Maybe you could serve as a chess tutor and use the skill you already have to make extra cash.
Map out a few different options — not for the long term, but to get you through the next six months to a year. Where can you add hours at work or add on side gig earnings? How much could you cut back your chess studies and still develop your skills? This seesaw might need to dip to one side more heavily than the other for a while.
And those days when you feel pressed for time and you’re eating cereal for dinner (again) and you’re staying up late because you have to, remember that this is only temporary. This is only temporary.
The inbox is open. Submit a question or send your worries to dearpenny@thepennyhoarder.com, and I’ll see what I can do to help.
Disclaimer: Chosen questions and featured answers will appear in The Penny Hoarder's “Dear Penny” column. I won't be able to answer every single letter (I can only type so fast!). We reserve the right to edit and publish your questions. Don’t worry — your identity will remain anonymous. I don’t have a psychology, accounting, finance or legal degree, so my advice is for general informational purposes only. I do, however, promise to give you honest advice based on my own insights and real-life experiences.
Lisa Rowan is a senior writer at The Penny Hoarder.
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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Tight Budget Will Travel: How We Planned for Three Weeks Overseas
As my best friend Megan and I began to plan our trip to see Scotland and Ireland, we quickly realized we could see a lot more and stay a lot longer if we planned the trip ourselves.
Here’s how we did it.
Creating the Vacation Budget
Megan and I have long been motivated to travel. Together, she and I have explored the Pacific coast, our nation’s capital, the beaches of Mexico, the city of St. Louis and more. Separately, we’ve adventured all around North America.
To do so, Megan and I have given up a fair amount. While friends our age spent their money on frequent nights out, Megan and I stayed in for board game nights. While they bought new electronics and clothes, we made do with less. We recognized that if we wanted to travel as twentysomethings, we would need to be serious about sacrificing some nice-to-haves to save for absolutely-must-dos.
For me, that meant putting between 4% and 6% of my biweekly paycheck into a sub-savings account I had created specifically for vacation savings. If I earned unexpected income through a surprise freelance piece or a stuffed birthday card, I put that money into my savings as well.
For more than two years, Megan and I saved this way. We dipped into our vacation funds for trips to Cedar Point, Gatlinburg, New Orleans and more, but the bulk of those savings were waiting for our big European adventure.
Eventually, we had each set aside $4,000 for the trip of a lifetime.
Deciding to Plan a Trip All by Yourself
Originally, Megan and I had intended to do a paid tour of Ireland and Scotland. There are, admittedly, a lot of benefits to paid tours: You don’t have to plan anything on your own, you don’t have to worry about driving (and getting lost) and you have an expert who can give you all the information you could ever want about each amazing thing you see.
The downside? Tours of Scotland and Ireland are expensive. For the $4,000 we had saved, we could afford a 12-day guided tour – with enough money left over for flights, uncovered meals and souvenirs. For the same amount, we managed to explore all of Ireland, Northern Ireland and Scotland for 21 days.
Guided tours are also limited in their scope. They really only take you to the highlights, without the flexibility to see some of the lesser-known gems of the countries. We saw all the amazing stops the guided tours would have offered, but we also hiked up the mountainous coast of Ireland’s Slieve League, biked through the pastures of the Aran Islands and spent five nights truly experiencing the wilderness of the Scottish Highlands — all of which we would have missed with basic tour packages.
Planning a Three-Week Trip
Though we saved money by opting to plan the trip ourselves, Megan and I spent dozens of hours during evenings and weekends researching and designing the trip. Be ready to invest time in place of money.
Selecting What You Want to Do
Our process started by studying existing tours offered by major companies, to see what common stops they included. We used sites like TripAdvisor to discover can’t-miss attractions and locations. Friends and family who had previously visited the countries offered insights on their favorite memories. Using this, we were able to compile and prioritize everything we wanted to do over the course of three weeks.
We made to sure to balance the trip well with historic sites, museums, beaches and hikes. As you map out your extended vacation, make sure you don’t put too many castles or museums in a span of just a couple days or you might burn out. Likewise, too many hiking days in a row can be draining if you’re not in peak physical condition.
For food and drink, Megan and I researched TripAdvisor’s top-rated restaurants and pubs in each area we would be visiting and compiled a list with notes on the cuisine, price and atmosphere. That way, when we arrived in a small town, we knew our options, where they were located and how much we would likely spend at each. This made choosing a lunch place a fast and easy process, while still giving us the flexibility to eat something we were in the mood for.
Timing
The best advice I have when planning a trip of this size is to allow more time than you think you’ll need. Investigate the forums for every museum you intend to tour, every hike you plan to take, every castle you intend to explore — and see how long people say they spend there.
Our rule of thumb was to average the numbers we saw and add a little padding time (roughly 15 minutes for every hour). So if the average time spent at a location was two hours, we would plan 2 1/2 hours.
We also applied this to driving time. We used Google Maps to chart out all of our stops and lodging; we even noted the time in between each stop. We always rounded up to the nearest hour or so to account for parking and missed turns, which happened quite a bit.
This method worked for us. Megan and I had only one close call over three weeks: We were two minutes late to our Guinness Storehouse tour, but as it was self-guided, there was no harm done. Otherwise, our careful planning and time estimation ensured we never missed a thing.
Booking Flights, Lodging and Attractions
Megan and I followed the findings of CheapAir.com’s 2017 study when booking our trip. They found that the best deals on European flights were found 99 days out. Though we didn’t book exactly 99 days out, we acted right around the three-month mark and definitely got the best deal. Prices had been dropping steadily until then and started to climb back up shortly after we booked. (Note: The study been updated for 2018.)
We also thoroughly researched lodging for each city we intended to stay in. To save money, we spent most nights at hostels. You get what you pay for with hostels: There is a lack of privacy, showers are an awful affair (most require you to press a button every 10 seconds to keep the water going) and the beds are just a flimsy piece of foam with a limp excuse for a pillow.
However, hostels are significantly cheaper than hotels and bed-and-breakfasts. If you can sacrifice some personal luxuries in the name of seeing and doing more on your trip, book hostels. For our sanity, Megan and I sprinkled in a few nice bed-and-breakfasts, castle stays and unique sleeping cabins (e.g. Jedi huts at Skyewalker Hostel) to break up the hostel routine.
We kept our entire itinerary in a detailed Excel workbook with hour-by-hour guidance on what we’d be doing — driving, sleeping, eating and, most importantly, exploring. Since we knew when we expected to arrive at each attraction, we were able to pre-book tours and tickets online in advance. Most places offered notable discounts (multiple pounds/euros) for booking online, and several places (especially tours in big cities) had sold out by the day of our arrival, meaning we would have missed out had we not booked in advance.
Because we did not have a tour guide joining us at each stop, we thoroughly researched each destination ahead of time. I made Megan and myself detailed folders with history lessons and fun facts about each stop on our route, which added something extra to our trip (and gave us something to talk about over breakfast each morning).
When booking your flight, lodging and attractions — and when spending money during your time abroad — use a travel rewards credit card with no foreign transaction fees. By using our Capital One Venture card, we earned a couple free nights of lodging.
Packing for a Three-Week Trip
Perhaps more daunting than planning a three-week trip is packing for one. You want enough space to pack all the essentials, but you don’t want to overpack and have to carry multiple bags down Edinburgh’s cobblestone streets. Megan and I managed with one duffel bag each and a couple backpacks.
A few packing must-haves:
- Packing cubes
- A microfiber towel (if showering at a hostel)
- TSA-approved locks
- Extra phone chargers
- Weather-appropriate clothing and shoes (in Ireland and Scotland, this meant layers, rain jackets and waterproof shoes)
- Protein bars or protein-heavy snacks (so you can skip breakfast)
- A water bottle
If you will be gone for three weeks, plan to spend time at a laundromat or, if you’re lucky like Megan and me, stay with a friend who lives abroad and use their laundry machines. By washing your clothes instead of packing enough to last you 21 days, you will save a ton of space. And don’t be afraid to rewear clothes — a lot. Just bring long-lasting body spray or Febreeze, and voila! You can suddenly wear your same Dunder Mifflin T-shirt for the third time in a week.
My biggest mistake on the trip was overpacking. I packed more shoes than I needed, and despite three options for pajama shorts, I wore the same pair every night. I also packed three books and only finished one of them (I know: I need an e-reader).
Money-Saving Tips
Megan and I did not plan our trip perfectly. We made some money mistakes along the way, and at times we felt a little rushed. However, we also did a lot of things right. Here are the ways we saved money on our trip:
Download Offline Google Maps
Rental car companies will try to sell you cars with navigation systems for a steep daily rate. However, many reviewers online lamented that the maps were not always up-to-date. Instead, Megan and I downloaded the Google Maps for each of the countries we were visiting and then accessed them while in airplane mode. Though they lacked real-time traffic updates, the maps still gave us turn-by-turn directions, and the only times we got lost were because of human error, not map error.
Stay in Hostels
I’ve already mentioned this, but it bears repeating: Stay in hostels when you can. We spent about $20 to $30 a night each on hostel lodging, compared to the $50 to $75 we would have spent each on hotels or bed-and-breakfasts. Most hostels also offer free breakfasts and discounts on day tours or overnight tours out of the cities.
Request a Hybrid
Petrol is more expensive in Europe, and I have a lead foot. It was immensely helpful to our wallets to drive a hybrid in each location. How’d we swing that? We simply asked when making the reservation, and it came at no extra cost.
Get Full Coverage
If your credit card and personal auto insurance do not cover you abroad, get full coverage for your rental. The country roads of Scotland were rough, particularly in the Highlands. Our rental suffered multiple large dents that we were ultimately not responsible for since we opted for the full coverage.
Walk
When you visit major cities, it can be tempting to park near your destination in an expensive parking garage. But if you do your homework before visiting, you’ll likely find cheaper lots (or free spaces) that might require you to walk a little farther. Though our feet and knees were sore most nights, Megan and I saved a lot of money by walking farther — and I lost 20 pounds (in weight!) on the trip, despite stuffing my face with potatoes every meal.
But when I say “walk,” I don’t just mean walk from the car park to your destination. I also mean you should make walking your actual activity. My favorite memories of my trip were the experiences I had outdoors: hiking to Steall Falls, exploring the Neist Point lighthouse, collecting shells on Derrynane Beach. All of those had two things in common: They required a lot of walking, and they were completely free.
Set a Daily Budget
After booking flights, lodging and attractions, Megan and I knew how much we had left of our $4,000 to spend on food, booze, souvenirs and gas. We simply divided that number over 21 days and determined how much we had for our daily allowance. Of course, we also remembered that for three weeks, we weren’t spending money at home on groceries, gas or entertainment, so we padded our wallets with a little extra.
Don’t Overpay for Drinks
A friend told us never to pay more than 5 euros for a pint of Guinness in Ireland. She wasn’t wrong. Prices for Guinness ran the gamut, but pints were most expensive in the most touristy places. If we ordered a Guinness that was significantly more than 5 euros, we knew: 1) we should find a less touristy place for an authentic experience; and 2) we were being ripped off.
Timothy Moore is an editor and freelance writer living in Germantown, Ohio, with his partner and their two dogs. He has traveled to lots of cool places, including Mexico, Scotland, Ireland and all over the US, but his favorite vacation is and will always be to Cedar Point in his home state.
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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