Work-From-Home Attorney Jobs and Alternative Career Paths

If you enjoy working as an attorney, but you want to spend more time with your family, working from home may be the solution. Here are some companies and places that regularly offer telecommuting positions for lawyers. If you're looking to change careers, I have some alternative career paths for lawyers too! Where to Find Work-From-Home […]

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Bushkill man earns Blue Jacket of the Year

A recent graduate of East Stroudsburg High School North is making a name for himself in the U.S. Navy. Petty Officer 3rd Class Timothy Sullivan, of Bushkill, last week earned the distinction of Blue Jacket of the Year, an award recognizing him for his outstanding service on board the USS Boise.“Today is my two-year mark in the Navy,” Sullivan said on Wednesday. “I got Sailor of the Quarter about three weeks ago, so I knew I was in the running — I just [...]

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Monroe County conservationist honored

A Monroe County conservationist icon was honored this year for his more than three decades of service protecting the natural resources of the Poconos. Craig Todd, former district manager of the Monroe County Conservation District, is the 2018 recipient of the Northeast Pennsylvania Environmental Partners’ Thomas P. Shelburne Environmental Leadership Award.“Knowing who has received this award in the past, it was an honor,” Todd said on Friday. “That award [...]

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The Best Career Advice I’ve Ever Received

When I was first starting to get a good idea of the bad financial situation Sarah and I were in, I wrote an email to my professional mentor at the time. This person was a pretty well known person in our narrow field, with a high paying job and a lot of respect within the field and lots of professional options on the table before him. He was not my boss, though I had worked with him in the past and it was potentially possible that I could work for him again.

I simply asked my mentor what I could do to help build my career in a meaningful way, mostly in terms of money. He knew that Sarah and I had just brought our first child into the world, that we made decent but not great money, and that we were struggling with finances as many people in their twenties often do. I knew that he was not the kind of person to pull punches.

His response was wonderful, and I saved it for future reference. I just happened to be digging through that folder of ancient emails and came across it, and I wanted to share it with you, along with some commentary at the end. I did edit it a little to remove some references to other people and some of his rough language (he did have a pretty rough tongue, even in emails, if you knew him well).

* * *

Trent –

I’m assuming that you are interested in staying in data mining for many years. Here are some thoughts for building a career.

* Work on how to communicate and how to think through problems. Don’t worry about accumulating knowledge as it will naturally come to you over time in your career. You are good at writing but extend that to speaking. Work on problem solving – all kinds of problems. Don’t do easy [things] and when you have to get it out of the way ASAP or pass it off to someone. Hard [things] [teach] you way more than easy [things].

* Get used to asking lots of questions. Even if they’re dumb ones. Questions serve two purposes. One, it helps you build your knowledge in a practical way. Two, it helps to connect with the person you’re asking questions of. Ask for help when you need it, esp. when you can break it down into something simple for someone else to do like answering a specific question.

* Go to professional meetings. Pay attention in the sessions that are really relevant to you but for the rest of the meeting just get to know other people in data mining especially people a little bit further along than you. Talk to lots of people. Share your work and present in every avenue you can, but the value isn’t in the presentation itself but in the conversations after with people interested in what you’re doing.

* Dress like you care. Don’t have to wear a suit but don’t show up looking like you just rolled out of bed. Dress like [your boss] and you’ll be fine.

* If you go in and ask [your boss] for a raise, do everything you can to make it easy for him to make a case to [people higher in the pecking order]. Bosses usually want to pay their good subs as much as they can get away with but people higher up the pecking order want to pay the lower level people as little as they can. Give [your boss] tools to argue on your behalf. Figure that out by thinking about what [your boss’s boss] wants and supply [your boss] with that ammo.

* Get more education. It never hurts and [your boss] has funds for just that purpose.

* Help as many people as you can, be nice, and don’t backstab. I don’t just mean other data jockeys. Do the same thing for receptionists and janitors. Never, ever treat people [badly]. You help someone and they’re going to like you. Don’t give them any reason to think you’re going to backstab them later. Don’t worry about getting “paid back” because most of the “paying back” will happen when you’re not around when people speak highly of you. You’ll never directly see it but it will be a huge benefit.

* Point out good things about others all the time. Way better than saying bad things. Way better than bragging about yourself.

* Don’t brag about your achievements ever. Instead, dole out as much credit to others as you can without sounding weird. The only time you can “brag” is in a cover letter or resume or when you’re talking to your boss about a raise. If you brag outside of that, it will hurt you more than help.

* Learn as many names as you can and what they’re working on and if you can something about them that’s good.

* Get in the habit of talking to successful people you’re intimidated by. You practically ran away from [someone respected] at [a meeting]. People are people. [Respected guy] laughed it off but it wasn’t the best impression.

* Don’t pretend to be something you’re not. No one thinks bad of you if you’re into nerdy [things] as long as you don’t drag them into it. You play D&D right? Don’t be ashamed of it, as long as you don’t start talking to everyone about paladins and wizards and [other high fantasy things]. At the same time be cool with whatever other people like and if you’re even halfway interested dig in with them a little. Nothing better than finding someone who at least somewhat shares an interest with you.

Do that stuff and raises and promotions will come super easy.

* * *

For the next two years, I continued to work in that career path and I watched his advice start to pay off for me even as I became disenchanted with that career for other reasons.

The biggest change was that I stopped looking at meetings and conferences as an undesirable hassle and instead began to look at them as an opportunity.

If I was in a meeting or a conference session, I did everything I could to focus on what was being presented by taking notes and listening and asking questions during the Q&A session. My goal was to extract from their talk everything that was possibly relevant to what I was doing or what I might be doing in the future, along with the general summary of their talk.

When I was at conferences and not in a session and not sleeping, I was doing something with someone in my field, whether someone at my approximate level or someone who was further along in their career.

During the last several conferences I went to at that job (my boss was pretty big on sending people to conferences and encouraging them to present), I built a bunch of really good relationships. I fondly remember eating sushi with one of the absolute best people in my field and discovering that he also liked D&D. I built four different friendships that I still have to this day, two of which have told me that if I ever go back to that field, call them first.

My advice? Find ways to talk to people that are doing what you do in a positive way. How you do that is going to vary a lot depending on your specific job and specific career. It might simply be talking to your coworkers and having a laugh with them. It might be looking for a professional meetup in your area, or going to a professional conference. It might even be on social media. The point is to seek out ways to talk to people in your field in a positive way and share ideas and professional experiences and life experiences.

This was a struggle for me because I’m naturally introverted. I tend to clam up in situations where I don’t feel confident. I knew this was something I needed to work on, so I started learning how to hold meaningful conversations with people I didn’t know well. I found the book How to Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie invaluable for this. This because a skill set that I was able to pull over into my personal life as well and it’s helped me actually build a lot of personal friendships and connections in the community as an adult.

Another step I took was to try to eliminate any and all bragging from my professional conversations and extend as much credit to others as possible. I tried to avoid talking about myself and my achievements. Rather, I tried to focus on the achievements of the group as a whole if I was pressed to talk about it and dole out lots of credit whenever I could.

What I found to be really effective for this was to get into a habit of thinking about gratitude. Each day at work, I’d try to think of five people who did something that made my job easier to do or more effective or who gave me a key idea. Who was I writing software for? Who was I extracting data for? Who was actually employing me to do this? Who were the people who would bring key ideas to the table that I would implement?

What I found is that when I regularly showed gratitude at work and tried to think of things from that perspective, it was easy to come up with a healthy list of people to share credit with. I could share credit with people who offered good feedback on my work. I could share credit with the people who gave me great ideas. I could share credit with the people who were simply nice to me during the day, making it easier for me to work. I found that I was consistently giving credit to the people who showed up in my thoughts of gratitude.

This gratitude pattern actually migrated over to my personal life and has become something I do personally as well as professionally. I think of people I’m grateful for because they made my life better in some respect, and then I find myself naturally giving credit to people who show up regularly in my gratitude thoughts. Not only does this give them credit for being awesome people, it also keeps me from falling back on being self-focused and potentially arrogant.

Another valuable thing I learned was that you’re always better off tackling hard problems than easy ones. If you have a choice between a hard task – particularly one complex enough that you can’t quite visualize how to pull it off – and an easy task, choose the hard one.

First of all, you actually learn things from hard tasks, which makes you more effective in your job and your career path. Easy tasks rarely teach you anything and can often lead your skills to atrophy.

Hard tasks often give you a good reason to ask questions of others, which often leads to relationship building. I found that when I work on hard tasks, I find myself turning to notepads and whiteboards much more often, and that translates into asking questions and having conversations with others.

Hard tasks make it much easier to get into a flow state, where you’re so engaged with the task that you lose track of time, and I’ve found that being in a flow state is incredibly good for one’s mood for a long while afterwards.

Hard tasks are also effective resume builders and often provide the foundation for presentations and conversations. No one wants to hear about the easy tasks. They want to hear about the hard tasks.

I do this very thing with The Simple Dollar. It would be really easy for me to fire off endless piles of ordinary “list articles” where I just list 20 frugal tactics or 10 good crock pot recipes or 8 reasons why you should be financially independent. Those articles are easy. I don’t have to think about them. I don’t have to reflect when writing them. I barely have to research them.

Harder articles center around doing a lot of research, evaluating and reflecting on the interesting points, and writing something that’s actually meaningful. Those are much more difficult to write, but they’re the rewarding ones, and I try to do them as often as I can.

Almost always, a “hard” article that I invested a lot of thought into and mixed together research and my own personal experiences effectively results in a lot of great reader feedback, which is a sure sign that it hit home. The “easy” ones? They might be valued by some, but I don’t think they hit home in quite the same way.

This is true in any field. The hard work matters. The easy work is forgettable and doesn’t help you make a name for yourself. It doesn’t help you build skills or build a reputation. Choose the hard work.

A final strategy I wanted to focus on was to make it easy for the boss to make a case for you when you want a raise or promotion. In general – though not always – your boss knows your work and would genuinely like to pay you more or give you whatever other compensation you deserve. The problem is that the person your boss has to justify that to generally doesn’t know your work, at least not on an intimate level. That person up the food chain wants to maximize the “bang for the buck” in terms of getting the most value out of every dollar spent, and unless there’s a really good reason to do so, giving you a raise doesn’t help the bottom line.

First of all, ask yourself what you’re doing for the organization that’s beyond what any warm body could be providing. If you’re not doing anything that someone with a very basic resume off the street couldn’t quickly do, then you’re not going to warrant a raise. Ask yourself what you’re doing and what you’ve done that’s beyond what a minimally qualified person for your job would be doing.

Then, ask yourself what the company wants out of your position. What are you doing to add to the value of your company’s bottom line? More importantly, what are you doing that’s exceptional that’s adding to the value of your company’s bottom line? What are you doing that’s adding more to the bottom line than your coworkers or than someone fresh off the street could add?

Figure those things out. Condense those things down to a handful of very clear and direct bullet points, ideally with actual numbers as evidence. Make a single Powerpoint slide if you have to, one slide that makes the case that you are doing far more for the business than the guy fresh in off the street could ever provide.

Take those bullet points and deliver them to your boss as you’re making your case. Give him or her the ammunition he or she needs to take your case up the food chain and argue on behalf of a raise for you with the person actually cutting the checks. If your boss is cutting the checks, then deliver those bullet points to him as justification for that raise or promotion.

If you can’t do this, you’re not giving anyone an incentive to give you a raise. If you’re not providing anything that anyone off the street could provide, why should you be paid more than anyone off the street? The answer is you shouldn’t be. You’ve got to figure out what it is that you’re providing that’s more than the random person off the street.

If you don’t know what that might be, step back and look at what the owner of your company would want from a very high value person in your position, and do more of that. If you don’t know what that is, ask someone who does. Keep track of your own performance data – how much you’re here, how many tasks you complete, the impact of the most important tasks you do. Use those things to make the bullet points.

The easier you make it for your boss to argue on your behalf, the more likely it is that you’re going to get the raise or the promotion that you want. Keep that in mind every day.

In the end, it’s all about making yourself valuable. You do this by having more skills. You do this by completing the hard tasks. You do this by having tons of relationships. You do this by giving credit to others. You do this by exceeding expectations. If you don’t make yourself valuable, how can you expect others to treat you as though you’re valuable?

Good luck!

The post The Best Career Advice I’ve Ever Received appeared first on The Simple Dollar.

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Spread the Local Love and Shop Small On Small Business Saturday, Nov. 24

Here’s a Simple Way to Earn $20 Today… Just for Buying LaCroix

Me: “Whoa, I can get cash back for buying LaCroix?”

My brain:

“Don’t do it.”

“Don’t do it.”

“Don’t do it.”

Me: *Loads 10 LaCroix cases into the cart.*

How to Get up to $20 Cash Back on Your Next LaCroix Run

Relatable? Same.

When I land on the LaCroix section in Target, I lose self control. I want all the cases.

Before your next LaCroix haul, download Ibotta, a free cash-back app.

Why? For an undisclosed amount of time, Ibotta has TWO cash-back LaCroix offers:

1. Earn $1 cash back on eight- and 12-packs of traditional LaCroix flavors.
2. Earn $1 cash back on eight- and 12-packs of the LaCroix Cúrate flavors, which include cherry-lime, blackberry-cucumber and cantaloupe-pink grapefruit.

This LaCroix deal is good for your purchases at Target, Walmart, Publix, Safeway, CVS, Whole Foods, The Fresh Market and more.

You can redeem each of these two offers up to five times per receipt, meaning you could pull in a quick $10 in cash back on something you’d already be purchasing — all you have to do is snap a photo of your receipt.

Plus, if you’re a new Ibotta user, you’ll get a $10 bonus after your first cash-back claim.

That means at the end of today, you could have $20 transferred over to your bank account. Just for buying  LaCroix.

When our deputy editor, Caitlin Constantine, spotted the Ibotta deal, she headed straight to Publix and grabbed four cases — a mix of key lime, grapefruit and passionfruit. She says it won’t take more than two weeks to finish off her stash.

“Not only would I do this again, I am going to do it again,” she says.

Finally, your lack of self control can pay off. Literally.

Carson Kohler (carson@thepennyhoarder.com) is a big fan of the cantaloupe-pink grapefruit favor. Yeah, it sounds weird, but it’s actually the best.

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.

The Penny Hoarder Promise: We provide accurate, reliable information. Here’s why you can trust us and how we make money.

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Put Your Meme-Making Skills to the Test to Win This $500 Scholarship

Strung out on finals? Broke? Have a terrible roommate? I bet you’ve made a meme about it.

Thanks be to the almighty internet meme. You’ve made us laugh and cry, or laugh cry, in the best and worst of times.

From the naive college freshman meme to the burned-out, lazy college senior meme, they epitomize the ups and downs of academia.

You’ve no doubt made one — or 100.  

Choose your top three college memes and enter them into the Express Medical Supply Scholarship Program for a chance to win a $500 scholarship.

Enter Your Meme Into the Express Medical Supply Scholarship

The hardest part will be narrowing your dank meme collection down to three.

But let’s make sure you’re eligible to enter first. To qualify you must:

• Be an actual college student enrolled at an accredited two- or four-year college in the U.S.
• Be a legal U.S. resident or have a valid student visa.

Still eligible? Sweet.

The rules are pretty basic:

1. 1. Make an original meme that describes your college experience thus far. The meme image doesn’t need to be original, but the text does.
   2. Write a brief explanation of your inspiration for the meme.
   3. Post your meme to Twitter, Facebook or Instagram with the hashtag #ExmedScholarship and link to the scholarship page exmed.net/500. This will count toward the 280 character limit on Twitter.
   4. Email scholarships@exmed.net with your full name, address, telephone number, school name, birthday, name of parent or guardian if you’re under 18, your brief explanation and the URL to your meme post, which must be unprotected and public. Put “SCHOLARSHIP” in the subject line.

 

 

Only one submission will be accepted per social platform. If you submit the same image on all three platforms, it will count as one entry.  If you want to score three entries, you must submit a different meme to Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.

Guess what? Spelling counts. As do punctuation and grammar. Treat this like a homework assignment, and don't include foul language or abbreviations. Any of these mistakes will disqualify you.

While you can use old meme images, new and original ones will be favored, as will creative thoughts and ideas. Check out these examples.

The deadline to submit is 11:59 p.m. CST on Dec. 30, 2018. The winner will be announced on Jan. 7, 2019.

Meanwhile, check out our list of 100 scholarships that will help you pay for college, or you can like The Penny Hoarder Life on Facebook to discover other scholarship opportunities.

Stephanie Bolling is a staff writer at The Penny Hoarder. She’s not good at making memes, but she sure loves reading them. Read her full bio here or say hi On Twitter @StephBolling.

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.

The Penny Hoarder Promise: We provide accurate, reliable information. Here’s why you can trust us and how we make money.

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Your Loyalty Can Now Earn Rewards in These New Uber and Lyft Programs

Airlines offer them. Rental car companies do, too. Now, ride-hailing apps are following suit by creating rewards programs for their customers.

This week, both Uber and Lyft announced their respective rewards programs on their corporate blogs. With these programs, customers earn points when they use the ride-hailing services and can cash those points in for perks like discounted trips and ride upgrades. Users can join the programs at no cost.

Lyft will roll out its program — Lyft Rewards — in December. The company will email or send notifications to selected users inviting them to join and earn points for the money they spend. The program will be available to more riders next year as Lyft Rewards expands.

Lyft didn’t specify exactly how the program would work in its initial announcement but promised updates in 2019. A Lyft representative could not immediately be reached.

There’s a lot more to share about Uber’s program — Uber Rewards. Rewards program members earn points in the following ways, based on which Uber service they use:

• One point for every dollar spent on UberPool or Uber Eats orders.
• Two points for every dollar spent on UberX, UberXL, Select and WAV.
• Three points for every dollar spent on Uber Black and Uber Black SUV.

The rewards program is broken up into four levels, with everyone starting off on the blue level. Members reach different tiers by earning a certain number of points in a six-month period.

Once members earn 500 points, they rise to the gold level. Rewards members with 2,500 points move up to the platinum level. Those with 7,500 points advance to the diamond level.

The higher the level, the more benefits members receive. Once you reach a certain tier, you get to enjoy the benefits for the remainder of that six-month point-earning period, plus the following six months.

The benefits gold members get include:

• Flexible trip cancellations and refunded cancellation fees.
• Priority customer service support.

The benefits platinum members get include:

• All the gold-level benefits.
• Priority pickups at airports.
• A locked-in lower rate on one route of their choosing.

The benefits diamond members get include:

• All the gold- and platinum-level benefits.
• Complimentary ride upgrades.
• Premium customer service support.
• Special access to highly rated drivers.
• No delivery fee on three Uber Eats orders within six months.

Rewards members also get a $5 credit for every 500 points they earn, regardless of which level they’re on. The credit can be used on rides or food delivery.

The company is launching its program in nine locations: Atlanta, Denver, Miami, New Jersey, New York City, Philadelphia, Seattle, Tampa and Washington, D.C. Residents there should soon expect to see a pop-up screen inviting them to sign up for the program when they open their app.

Uber says it’ll expand the rewards program to the rest of the U.S. in the coming months. In the meantime, users can join a waiting list to find out when Uber Rewards will launch in their city and start earning points in advance.

Nicole Dow 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.

The Penny Hoarder Promise: We provide accurate, reliable information. Here’s why you can trust us and how we make money.

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8 of the Worst Black Friday Deals We’ve Seen (and We’ve Seen ‘Em All)

‘Avoid Stampedes’ and Other Things I’ve Learned From Shopping on Black Friday

Lyft Updates to Include More Tipping Options and Driver Rating Protection

Lyft is rolling out some new features aimed at putting more money in drivers’ pockets.

The ride-sharing company announced it’s launching in-app improvements that will allow for greater tipping, increased driver rating protection and better scheduling. These features will debut in December 2018 and will be followed by the release of at least one new improvement or feature each month.

Improved Tipping

Riders will soon have default tipping and in-ride tipping options. Default tipping will allow passengers to include a pre-selected tip amount automatically in the case they forget to do it after completing the fare. Riders will also be able to tip the driver during the ride, when it’s on their minds. These tipping features will be available for select passengers next month, then more widely in early 2019.

Driver Rating Protection

Those isolated one-star reviews will soon be a thing of the past. After completing 100 rides, Lyft will automatically remove each driver’s lowest rating. This will help drivers better maintain their five-star ratings.

Trip ratings will also default to five stars if the rider forgets to leave a review. If the passenger does leave a review, they will be required to give their reasoning for anything below the max rating.

In-App Driver Demand Predictions

Soon it will be easier for drivers to plan their weekly work schedules and maximize their earnings. Following a Lyft app update next month, drivers will see graphs predicting the hourly ride demands for the upcoming week. These graphs will appear on the home screen when drivers log in.

These Lyft app improvements come just a few weeks after the announcement of Uber Pro, a new rewards program for top-tier drivers. We’ll see how all these features affect the ride-share drivers in the months ahead.

For more information on Lyft’s new features, click here.

Matt Reinstetle is a staff writer at The Penny Hoarder. He covers career advice and side gigs. Follow him on Twitter @MattReinstetle.

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.

The Penny Hoarder Promise: We provide accurate, reliable information. Here’s why you can trust us and how we make money.

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How to Save Even More When Shopping Online for Black Friday Deals

It’s with a heavy heart that we inform you: Some news outlets are reporting the death of Black Friday.

But we can’t seem to dig up its official death certificate over here at Penny Hoarder HQ.

Maybe because the retail holiday isn’t totally dead; it’s just not as sparkly and exciting as it used to be.

Not as many folks are finding the appeal in camping out in the Best Buy parking lot or tackling some unsuspecting stranger to the ground for that snazzy TV.

This has to do with folks wanting, in part, to shop online while eating leftover turkey on their couch, sans pants. And yes, the digital deals are just as good these days, anyway.

Shopping Black Friday Online Deals? 4 Ways to Save More

That scene I described above… the one with the leftover turkey, the couch and the no pants thing… that’s me.

And, apparently, millions of other Americans, too. The National Retail Federation found that 51.6 million folks shopped in stores verses the 58.4 million who shopped online over Thanksgiving weekend last year. Rather, 6.8 million more people shopped online.

Here are four ways I’m planning to save even more money this Black Friday weekend.

1. Drop It, Drop It Low (The Prices, Duh)

The best kind of savings are the kind where you don’t have to do a thing. That’s what makes the Drop app so appealing.

What’s special about Drop is all you have to do is link your credit and debit cards (no coupon clipping or hoarding receipts!). When you make a Drop-qualified purchase, you’ll automatically earn points, whether you’re grocery shopping at Walmart, hailing an Uber or ordering a pizza.

The points will add up, and you can exchange them for gift cards in the app to popular retailers like Amazon and Starbucks.

2. Earn Cash Back When Prices Fluctuate

Black Friday is supposed to be the day of lowest prices EVER, but we all know that’s a half-truth.

Say I’m planning to try to find some heavily discounted boots. Well, I buy them for $39.99. But a week after Black Friday, I find the price dropped another $5.

Instead of kicking myself, I’ll try to get some money back.

One of my secret weapons is called Paribus — a tool that gets you money back for your online purchases. It's free to sign up, and once you do, it will scan your email for any receipts. If it discovers you’ve purchased something from one of its monitored retailers, it will track the item’s price and help you get a refund when there’s a price drop.

Plus, if your guaranteed shipment shows up late, Paribus will help you get compensated.

3. Hunt Down Promo Codes

You might not have to do a ton of hunting for promo codes on Black Friday. Hopefully your favorite retailers promote those on their homepages.

If not, poke around and see if you can find something.

Try finding “Hot Deals” over at Ebates. It aggregates some of the internet’s best deals and offers cash back.

For example, when I wrote this, Lucky Brand was offering 45% off everything plus 1% cash back, Gymboree was offering 15% off purchases plus 1% cash back, and Under Armour was offering 30% off fleece plus 6% cash back.

I prefer to search by store to make it easy (and so I don’t get roped in by other “ooooh shiny” deals).

4. Pocket Cash When Shopping Through Ibotta

At this point, I’ve done all the prep I’m going to do. Now, it’s time to shop.

If I’m buying anything from Amazon, Overstock, Target or Walmart, for example, I open my Ibotta app and shop through it.

Sure, it can be slightly annoying to shop through my mobile phone, but I usually find what I’m looking for on my laptop, then find it again after opening Ibotta.

I once earned $1.14 on a one-item order from Amazon, $3.21 from Target.com and $1.49 at Overstock.

Since signing up in May 2017, I’ve earned nearly $160 back on items I’d normally buy. So you betcha I’ll stack even more savings this upcoming Black Friday weekend. (Also because I’m in a race with co-workers to see who can save the most.)

Anyway, those are four of my favorite easy tips to help you save more money while shopping online during Black Friday. If you want even more, check out this post on saving (and making) money while shopping online.

Perhaps next year we’ll be eulogizing Black Friday. But for now, it’s still kickin’.

Carson Kohler (@CarsonKohler) is a staff writer at The Penny Hoarder. You can find her powering through a turkey coma to find the best online deals.

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.

The Penny Hoarder Promise: We provide accurate, reliable information. Here’s why you can trust us and how we make money.

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Ready for the Spotlight? Here’s How to Audition for ‘America’s Got Talent’

Ready to propel yourself from relative obscurity to a stage in front of millions of viewers? Here’s your chance to shine on NBC’s hit TV show “America’s Got Talent.”

The audition crew is on the road to find the diamonds in the rough for season 14. Open-call auditions will be held in eight different cities across the nation from November 2018 to February 2019.

America’s Got Talent Season 14 Audition Dates and Locations

Auditions have already taken place in New York, Detroit, and Knoxville, Tennessee. But there are other opportunities to prove yourself.

• Morongo Valley, California, Nov. 30, 2018.
• Tampa, Florida, Dec. 10, 2018.
• Charlotte, North Carolina, Dec. 15, 2018.
• San Antonio, Texas, Jan. 11, 2019.
• Los Angeles, California, Feb. 9, 2019.

If you don’t live near any of these cities, don’t worry. You can submit a video audition instead.

How to Apply to ‘America’s Got Talent’

There are a few steps involved before you can show the world what they’ve been missing. Even if you have signed up and auditioned with the show before, you will need to do so again for the latest season.

Eligibility Requirements

Nothing is worse than being discounted on a technicality. Make sure you’re eligible to participate before you sign up. The good news is that we’ve read the fine print, so you don’t have to.

The big takeaways: You must be a United States citizen, legal permanent resident or hold a current employment authorization card at the time of the audition. Minors may audition, but they must be accompanied by a parent or legal guardian.

Also, you can’t be currently running for public office… thankfully. We don’t need politics interrupting our time with Simon Cowell, right? You must agree not to run for public office until a year afterward, too. Sorry in advance if you were looking to “America’s Got Talent” to jump-start your campaign.

Audition Registration Process

If you fit the bill so far, you’ll need to head over to the ”America’s Got Talent” audition website to create a “performer profile” for season 14. For applicants interested in auditioning in person, you will need to register for the nearest city and fill out some paperwork on the type of performance you’re planning.

Solo fire juggler? K-pop dance group? Or maybe you yodel while shepherding of a flock of corgis?

Whatever your act entails, you’ll need to bring the appropriate paperwork with you, along with a valid ID.

Tips to Nail Your Audition

The “America’s Got Talent” website has some general guidelines to make sure your act is worthy of public berating by Simon Cowell.

Here’s some advice to set you apart:

• Singers, be ready to belt your heart out. There are no mics in the audition rooms.
• Make sure your act is fit to perform at a theatre in front thousands of people.
• For dancers, one or two full songs are best for performances. It’s difficult to secure rights to medleys for broadcast.
• Bring any relevant equipment with you, and have your music files downloaded. Don’t stream your music.
• Be fearless and original, and make sure to dress to impress.

And a personal tip, if you want to shake it up: Consider the winners of the last few seasons — a music-themed magician, a ventriloquist and a ukulele playing singer-songwriter for seasons 13, 12 and 11, respectively.

Maybe your talents are more fit for other shows? Here’s how to apply to nine of the most popular game shows that are open to applicants.

Good luck, Penny Hoarders!

Adam Hardy is an editorial assistant on the Make Money team at The Penny Hoarder. He lives off a diet of stale puns and iced coffee. Read his full bio here , or say hi on Twitter @hardyjournalism.

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.

The Penny Hoarder Promise: We provide accurate, reliable information. Here’s why you can trust us and how we make money.

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Building a Small Business? We Found the 10 Best Cities for Entrepreneurs

How to Convert Free Trial and Free Plan Users into Paying Customers

If your business relies on subscriptions to generate revenue, you probably offer a free trial to test your product before you ask your subscribers to pay.

This is a great strategy. People may be hesitant to pay for your subscription initially, but if they can try it first, it gives you an opportunity to win them over and turn them into paying customers.

Some of you may even offer free plans for certain services. The idea behind this strategy is that these people will eventually upgrade to paid plans.

But you can’t assume every free trial or free plan user will become a paying customer.

I see this problem all the time in my consulting work.

Businesses don’t have a problem getting people to sign up for free plans and free trials, but when it comes to getting paid, their conversions are lower than expected.

Even you don’t use this business model yet but plan to generate recurring sales by implementing subscriptions, it’s important for you to get this strategy right from the start.

Certain tactics will help you increase the chances of getting these free trial and free plan users to convert.

I’ll explain what you need to know so you can apply these strategies in your business.

Make the transition as easy as possible

The first thing you need to do is analyze your current process. Go through the steps a user needs to take to become a paying customer.

If you’ve got too much friction, unnecessary form fields to fill out, and anything else that slows down the process, it’ll hurt your conversions.

Everything needs to be as smooth and easy as possible for the user.

For example, let’s say the free trial period is over. Now what? Do they need to pick up the phone and call a customer service representative to give their credit card information over the phone?

That’s way too complex.

If you run subscriptions through a mobile app, you can have the user scan their credit card with their camera. This is even easier than typing the numbers.

To make this transition easy for your users, don’t force them to commit to a long-term plan.

In fact, monthly subscriptions have higher conversion rates from free trials than annual plans do:

If you’re forcing someone to commit to a year, they’ll think much longer and harder about the decision. You don’t want that.

But if they need to pay only for one month at a time with the option to cancel at any moment, it will definitely be an easier decision for them.

I get your thinking behind trying to drive annual plans. But realistically, if your product is good enough, customers will stick with you for long periods even on a monthly plan.

Plus, you’ll likely make more money this way.

You can generate more profits by focusing on your pricing strategy. Customers who commit to a yearly membership or subscription will probably be paying less during that period than those who get billed monthly.

Give users a reason to end their free trials early

Here’s something else I see all too often with subscription businesses. They wait until the trial ends before trying to get users to convert.

By that point, it’s too late.

For example, let’s say you offer a 14-day free trial. Once the trial expires, you give the user some buffer time to decide whether they want to become a paying customer.

A week later, you send an email with a CTA to a paid subscription link.

If this sounds like a strategy you’re currently using, it’s probably why your conversions are so low. Waiting this long is not a good idea. By this point, your service is no longer on the minds of the consumers.

They’ve already gone a week without using it and realized it’s not something they need in their lives.

Instead of waiting until the trial is over, you can give the user an incentive to sign up while their trial is still going on.

But why would anyone want to end their free trial early? You need to make them an offer that’s worth it.

Discounts and other promotions will usually get the job done. Here’s a great example from 500px:

This email uses FOMO—the fear of missing out. You can guide people’s emotions to drive sales with this strategy.

500px is offering 15% off its membership, plus additional account upgrades. However, this promotion won’t last long. As you can see from the highlighted bit, this offer lasted for only 24 hours.

Put yourself in the shoes of the consumer for a minute here. Let’s say they are on day 22 of a 30-day trial.

They like the product and are thinking about upgrading when the trial expires.

But why would they wait and pay the full price when they can get 15% off today? This type of offer gives them a reason to end their trial early and convert.

You want to target these users while they’re still hooked and your brand is fresh in their minds. If you give them an incentive to end the trial early, you’ll increase the chances of them becoming a paying customer.

Offer trial extensions

What happens if a user doesn’t take the bait of the incentive to end their trial early?

Does that mean you should give up on trying to get them to convert? Absolutely not.

Some people may need a bit more time to determine whether they want to use your product. Here’s what I mean.

Let’s say someone signs up for a free trial. The process was simple and hassle-free, so they completed this action without thinking twice about it.

But because of their circumstances, they didn’t get a chance to explore your product in full.

There are a number of different reasons for this. It’s possible they were busy at work, had a medical issue, were traveling, or simply forgot about the trial.

The reason why they need more time isn’t important. What is important is giving them the option to extend their trial.

Here’s an example from Squarespace:

Squarespace offers a 14-day free trial to anyone. But the team is willing to work with people who need more time to try its software.

As you can see from the email above, it’s easy for users to add a seven-day extension to their two-week trial.

This is a great way to get users who are on the fence to convert.

I know what some of you are thinking. You don’t want to lower the value of your product by giving it away for longer than necessary.

That’s the wrong mentality. The cost of an extra free week or two is well worth it if you can have this customer for years to come.

It’s bad business to let a prospective customer walk away because you’re unwilling to go the extra mile to acquire them. In this case, these users are already interested in your brand.

They’ve taken the steps to sign up, download your app, or start the process. It’s easier to turn them into paying customers than trying to market to someone else from scratch.

Furthermore, take another look at the email above from Squarespace.

To extend the trial, all the user needs to do is click on the link sent to them, making it super easy—one of the factors to aid conversions I discussed above.

If the user had to send an email or call a customer service representative to extend the trial, they would be less inclined to do so.

Run personalized promotions for the lowest tier plan users

Depending on the type of business you have, you may offer a free version of your product.

This version is free for anyone to use for an unlimited amount of time. Obviously, this is different from a free trial, which has an expiration date.

You should be coming up with marketing campaigns specifically designed to get these freemium users to convert.

Again, as in my last point, these people are already familiar with your product and use it on a regular basis. You need to ease their transition from a free membership to a paid service.

The best way to do this is with personalized content:

Personalizing email messages is the most effective tactic used by marketers. Take that into consideration when targeting freemium users.

Send them a personalized email about the type of content they’re currently consuming free.

Then, give them an incentive to convert.

Just because someone is using your lowest tier membership free doesn’t mean you can’t offer them a free trial of a premium membership. Let them see what features and benefits your other options have.

Once they try these upgrades, it may be difficult for them to go back to the freemium version now that they know what they’re missing out on.

Encourage inactive users to use your product

If you haven’t realized it yet, there is a pattern here with these strategies.

It’s much easier for you to market your paid subscription to people already familiar with your brand, products, services, and software. That’s because there is no learning curve.

You don’t have to explain yourself to people who have used your services in the past.

This holds true for people who used a free trial that expired or had a free membership plan they haven’t been taking advantage of lately. Don’t let that user churn.

Send them an email giving them an incentive to use your service again.

If you have a mobile app, send a push notification to their device. Here’s a great example of how Pokemon Go used this strategy to bring an old user back to life:

As you can see, they are enticing this user with a gameplay incentive to come back to the app.

If the user opens the app within the next 30 minutes, they’ll have access to three active lures. Pokemon characters are drawn to these lures, making it easier to catch them.

If any inactive user stopped playing this game because they were struggling to catch more characters, this type of push notification can bring them back.

Contact customers with failed payments

Your business is likely on your mind 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. But that’s not the case for your customers.

The reality is they have other things to worry about.

If their credit card gets lost or stolen or expires, they may not think to update their payment information for their membership with your company.

In some cases, that card may be tied to their utilities, health insurance, car payments, or other recurring charges that will take priority over whatever you’re offering.

That said, you don’t want to do nothing. The user may never update their payment information unless you contact them.

Rather than losing a customer, send automated emails whenever a payment gets declined. It’s easy!

Just look at this example from Netflix:

It’s as simple as that.

By providing a CTA in the email that directs the user to a landing page where they can update their payment information, you will reduce friction in the process.

Without contacting these customers, you run the risk of them going back to the free plan or stopping using your service altogether.

Nurture free trial users with email campaigns

Email marketing is an effective way to communicate with your customers.

If you learn how to create an actionable drip campaign, you can target free trial users and entice them to convert.

This smooth process will help move the customer through the conversion funnel. It all starts with a welcome email.

Research shows that 75% of users expect to receive a welcome email after signing up for something. Give your prospective customers what they expect.

Here’s an example of how Spotify uses this strategy:

As you can see from this message, Spotify is simply confirming that the user has signed up for the service.

There is no pitch for them to upgrade to a paid plan. The message explains the user can play their favorite music free and get personalized recommendations.

Start slow.

Remember, the user just signed up for a free trial or free plan. They’re probably not willing to upgrade their membership within the first hour.

But that doesn’t mean you can’t start to nurture them with an email drip campaign. The subsequent emails will encourage them to upgrade down the road.

Conclusion

Free trials and free plans are both great ways for subscription-based businesses to get as many users as possible to try their products.

But ultimately, those users are useless if they don’t become paying customers.

Rather than focusing your marketing efforts on a new audience, you should be coming up with ways to get the free trial and free plan users to convert.

Make sure the transition process is easy for the user. If they have to jump through hoops to become a paying customer, your conversion rates will be low.

Give them an incentive to end their trials early. On the flip side, if they need more time to test your product, offer a trial extension.

Target your lowest tier membership and inactive users with personalized campaigns.

Don’t forget to contact your current customers when their payment methods don’t work anymore.

Leverage your email marketing strategy to nurture leads and free trial users. If you follow the tips I’ve outlined in this guide, you’ll have a much easier time getting free trial and free plan users to convert.

How are you encouraging free trial and free plan users to upgrade to paid memberships?

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Financial Success Is a Lifestyle Outcome, Not a Skill or a Fad

When I first started making financial changes in my life, I believed at first (and for a surprisingly long time after that) that the changes I was making to my life were largely short term changes. Sarah and I would “get ourselves on a good financial track” and we’d basically go back to the lifestyle we had before.

As I started making changes, however, I began to realize that a lot of the changes I was making to my life were strictly better than the way I was doing things before.

For example, we started buying a lot of store brands, and we learned that for the most part, they were basically identical to name brands in every way other than perhaps the aesthetic appeal of the packaging. We just switched to buying store brands for most things, and we probably buy an even higher percentage of our items in store brand form today.

Another example: we started trying to fill our weekends with new things by challenging ourselves to a “money free weekend”, where we’d try to go from Friday after work to Monday morning without spending any money. We actually grew to love these and actually did a lot of “money free weeks” where we wouldn’t spend any money from Friday after work until Monday morning ten days later. I wrote about money free weekends quite a bit when we were really diving deep into them, listing deeply fulfilling ways to spend a money free weekend and other similar pieces, eventually culminating in a giant list of 100+ things to do on a money free weekend.

I could list dozens of these changes – installing energy efficient light bulbs, making meals at home, shopping around more carefully when we made a significant purchase, etc. etc. – that all produced the same end result: a life that was at least roughly equal or notably better in non-financial terms and strictly better in financial terms than the life we were leading before.

These new routines that we were discovering weren’t the temporary changes we expected them to be. It became pretty evident pretty quickly that these changes should be permanent, as the upside that they produced in our life was quite clear.

So they became permanent. They became the backbone of a lifestyle that was just as enriching (if not more so) than our previous lifestyle, but the difference was that it was financially positive. Rather than seeing our net worth stay in place or go down year over year, it went up drastically each year.

We still go out to eat, but it’s a pretty rare thing to do so. We took our oldest son out for a birthday dinner recently and we realized that the last time we had eaten out before that was for another child’s birthday two months earlier (excepting a trip that we went on for a remote wedding). We just realized that eating at home was usually more convenient and pretty tasty and usually healthier, and the better we got at cooking, the easier it became. We can usually make dinner, serve it, eat together as a family, clear the table, and load the dishwasher before we would have even ordered at one of the nearest restaurants to our home. Plus, I’ve come to really value doing dinner-related tasks as a family, where we’re loading the dishwasher or prepping food together and just talking about life. This is a net improvement in our life, not just because of the money, though the money is a strict improvement.

We still stop at coffee shops, but we make 90% of our coffee at home. When we do go to a coffee shop, it feels like a genuine treat rather than just something we grab all the time, and that makes it seem a lot better. (It’s also probably healthier.) This is a net improvement in our life, not just because of the money, though the money is a strict improvement.

We both still like to read, but I’m more interested these days in curating my waiting list from the library and getting through a big pile of unread books I’ve picked up at used bookstores or received as gifts over the years. I haven’t been in a bookstore in several months aside from a quick stop where I was helping my dad find a specific book. I spend time reading, not seeking out new books to buy. This is a net improvement in my life, not just because of the money.

We have to have a real reason to spend money now. Incidental spontaneous spending of money feels wasteful because there are so many times when that incidental spending is just completely forgotten. If I want to be spontaneous, it’s usually far more memorable and meaningful if I’m spending time or energy. If I “splurge” on my own with money and it’s not something planned, it’s usually just completely forgotten before long, and that’s just an utter waste. Moving away from “splurging” or “being spontaneous” with money has been a net improvement in my life.

I’ve discovered many new hobbies over the last ten years or so. The biggest one has been hiking, which I have come to dearly love. There are few things that feel better to me, regardless of spending, than going deep in the woods somewhere and coming out on some beautiful vista or some unexpected clearing that is rarely touched by people and just enjoying the view and the quiet and the moment. It costs nothing, it’s deeply meaningful for me, and it’s something I’m going to keep doing as long as my legs can get me there. There are many other things like that, too: meditation and journaling immediately come to mind. They’re passions that fill my time and bring me deep personal value regardless of the fact that they cost essentially nothing to practice.

These changes – and many, many, others – are lifestyle changes. They are the default in how I live my life now. They aren’t temporary changes to get my head above water. They’re better ways of living – or at least comparable ways – that happen to be financially positive to boot.

For me, the decision of whether or not to try something is often influenced by finances, but whether it sticks around usually has nothing to do with finances. I filter the things I try by the expense of it and then stick with the things that seem strictly better or meaningful. I’ve learned over the years that there’s an infinite abundance of things to do and try and tweak if you use a “low cost” filter, something I simply didn’t see before. Now, our lifestyle choices often run through this filter first unless there’s something that truly doesn’t fit.

The end result of all of this is that our everyday life is perhaps more joyous and fulfilling than it ever has been, but it’s one where we’re spending drastically less than we earn rather than spending every dime (or more). Furthermore, being on a consistent financially positive track is a great reliever of background stress. I don’t feel the need to buy anything to “escape” from stress, and I haven’t for a long while.

The bonus? These changes have put Sarah and I on a track to retire relatively early, and that’s just the kicker. I genuinely believe that even if we were not on a track to retire early, we wouldn’t change anything significant about our current lifestyle. It’s fulfilling as it is. It gives us fertile ground for happiness. We don’t really need anything else, especially not anything we can buy.

It’s because financial success is a lifestyle outcome. It’s the result of living a lifestyle that makes financial success practically inevitable, and that means normal daily routines that minimize spending while maximizing opportunities for joyful and meaningful activity and connection with other people. Find those things that make you feel good (without making you feel bad later) and don’t involve spending money and fill your life with them. Discard the rest. You’ll find yourself with a very good life that inevitably marches you right toward financial success (provided you do something smart with your leftover money after each paycheck).

Good luck!

The post Financial Success Is a Lifestyle Outcome, Not a Skill or a Fad appeared first on The Simple Dollar.

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My Fiance Spends His Student Loan Refund Like It Doesn’t Cost Interest

Dear T.,

The answer is yes, and also yes.

As you prepare for your wedding and your new financial life together, now is a great time for you to take a closer look at your own finances. It sounds like you have plans in place to tackle your debt while still saving for what’s important to you in the coming years.

But sit down for a spell with some wine or coffee and give everything a once-over, to make sure you’re feeling confident about your plans for paying off debt and saving. A wise mentor once reminded me that you’re only person whose behavior you can control, and so it’s in your best interest to shore up your own finances as tightly as possible before embarking on this joint journey.

Now, about your fiance. I’m sure so many students reading this (including my former self) know that feeling of getting student loan money to cover living expenses and doing only one math equation: How do I make this last all semester?

Maybe basing your whole financial plan on that one question is fine if you’re an undergrad or living with five roommates in a three-bedroom apartment. (Hey, I’ve seen it with my own eyes.) But your fiance has some pretty specific events on his horizon, and he should be thinking as strategically as possible about how to allocate the cash coming in from loans.  

But you can’t just roll up with PowerPoint slides to remind him of the impact compound interest will have on the balance he’ll eventually pay back. You have to take a curious approach rather than a furious one — because it’s not really about his Chipotle visits. It’s more about attitude, right?

If he’s not yet contributing to the wedding savings or any savings of his own, ask him how he plans to save once you’re married. He may already have expectations of how you’ll manage your money together.

Until you know what those expectations are, you won’t know how much his approach to money will need tweaking. Only after you have more information can you sit down together (wine, coffee, popcorn, Chipotle — whatever you need) to talk about how you’re going to reach your goals, both now and in the future, together.

Have a tricky money question? Write to Dear Penny at https://www.thepennyhoarder.com/dear-penny/

Lisa Rowan is a personal finance expert and senior writer at The Penny Hoarder, and the voice behind Dear Penny.

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.

The Penny Hoarder Promise: We provide accurate, reliable information. Here’s why you can trust us and how we make money.

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8 Money Tips to Make Life as Easy as When You Were a Kid (Raising a Tamagotchi)

40 ways to get free money

Who says there is no such thing as free cash? There is plenty – if you know the right places to look

We have rounded up 40 different cash-generating ideas you may be eligible for. Some could be worth hundreds of pounds. Add a few together, and you could be putting away thousands of pounds – and all just for making a few phone calls or filling in a couple of forms.

We’re always interested in your ideas for getting hold of free money – whether it is thousands of pounds or pennies. Please share them with us at editor@moneywise.co.uk.

1 Track down lost pensions and bank accounts

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There is over £5 billion sitting untouched in lost pensions, according to the Pension Tracing Service. Similarly, there is an estimated £850 million languishing in dormant current and savings accounts.

It’s easy to track them down for free. For pensions, contact the government's Pension Tracing Service (Gov.uk/find-pension-contact-details). For bank accounts, use Mylostaccount.org.uk.

2 Free money for switching suppliers

Switching providers, such as mortgage lenders, insurers, broadband and energy suppliers, can save you hundreds of pounds. But as well as saving, there are ways to make money too.

Some firms will offer cash sweeteners to encourage you to switch providers – bank account moves are particularly lucrative. Look out for cash incentives from Barclays and NatWest.

Cashback sites can offer free cash when you click through their website before switching providers. These also offer free money when you click through them while shopping at hundreds of retailers. Sign up to sites such as TopCashback or Quidco.

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3 Cash to make your home warmer

Energy-efficiency grants can be used towards the cost of improvements such as adding insulation or installing a new boiler.

Ask your energy provider if you are eligible for any schemes it is running. At a minimum, you can get a free smart meter installed, which can help you to cut your energy bills.

• Direct selling: Make money at your leisure

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4 Are you a Premium Bond winner?

Premium Bond prizes worth more than £60 million remain unclaimed, including five £100,000 prizes. NS&I holds a register of all the unclaimed prizes.

Similarly, there are thousands of National Lottery prizes that have gone unclaimed, amounting to £122.5 million last year.

Always check your tickets and make sure your contact details are up to date.

5 Lost insurance policies

Could a family member have had a life insurance policy that went unclaimed? These can be worth huge sums. If you think there is a chance, check bank or credit card statements for payments to an insurer or contact the Unclaimed Assets Register (Uar.co.uk).

6 Lost legacy

There are nearly 10,000 unclaimed estates in the UK, worth an average of £150,000. Could you have a claim? The government publishes a list of unclaimed estates, which is updated daily (Gov.uk/government/statistical-data-sets/unclaimed-estates-list).

7 Council tax discounts

Do you live alone? If so, you could be entitled to a 25% council tax discount, regardless of income. If you are on a low income, you may pay even less.

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8 Make money from your home

If you have a room, loft or driveway you don’t use, turn it into a money-spinner. You can earn up to £7,500 a year tax free using the government’s Rent a Room Scheme (see more here), while some companies help you to rent out storage space (Stashbee) or a parking space (JustPark, Parklet and ParkonMyDrive).

9 Birthday freebies

Many retailers will give you a discount or freebie on your birthday. Check if your favourite shops and restaurants have any deals – you usually have to sign up to their newsletters to be eligible. For instance, you can get a free bottle of prosecco at Pizza Express if you buy two main meals or a free milkshake at Ed’s Diner with a loyalty card.

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10 Free money online or via your smartphone

• Job Spotter Take photos of job adverts in windows and submit them to jobsite Indeed.com, so the ads an be viewed online. Earn points that are converted to Amazon vouchers.
• WeBuyBooks Use the app to scan the barcode/ISBN number of books you’ve read to get an instant valuation. Post them for free and get paid cash.
• Zapper.co.uk or MusicMagpie Sell old books, CDs, DVDs, games and phones.
• Zeek Sell unwanted giftcards to release the cash.
• Google rewards If you have a Google or Android device, you can sign up for Google rewards. The app asks you questions about your shopping habits. If you answer, Google gives you credits towards your Google Play account.
• Honey When you visit shopping sites, this add-on to your web browser automatically finds and applies coupon codes at the checkout when you buy online.

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FREE CASH FOR YOUNG PEOPLE

11 Boost your deposit for a first home

Fancy £1,000 free cash a year towards your first home or retirement? That’s what the government is offering to under-40s.

All you need to do is open a Lifetime Isa – a tax-free individual savings account – and for every £4,000 you put in, the government will top it up with £1,000. The cash can only be used towards retirement saving or buying your first home – withdraw it for other reasons and there are hefty penalties to pay.

12 The 16-19 Bursary Fund

You could get a bursary to help with education-related costs if you’re aged 16 to 19 and studying at a publicly funded school or college in England – not a university – or on a training course, including unpaid work experience.

There is a different scheme in Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland called the Education Maintenance Allowance.

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13 Money from your university

Many universities offer bursaries, scholarships and awards to students. University student support services will be able to tell you what is available. Some also offer hardship funds.

• Five steps to making money on Instagram

FREE CASH IF YOU’RE WORKING

14 Government pension perks

The government offers massive incentives to encourage you to save into a pension. When you make contributions, the government generally automatically tops them up.

Even if you’re not in work, you will still be eligible for tax relief – this includes spouses who are not working, and even children.

You don’t have to be an employee to take advantage – you can set up your own pension, known as a Self-Invested Pension Plan or Sipp, and benefit from tax relief.

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15 Employer contributions to your pension

Employers are obliged to contribute to their workers’ pension savings. Chances are you are part of a scheme through auto-enrolment.

Your employer should pay in a minimum of 2% while you pay 3%, and this will increase from April 2019 to 3% and 5% respectively.

16 Extra work perks

Check whether your employer offers any perks, which could save you hundreds of pounds. For example, the Cycle to Work scheme allows you to buy a bike out of your pay packet tax free. That can amount to a saving of 25% to 39%. That’s in addition to the potential savings from avoiding public transport or driving.

FREE CASH FOR PARENTS

17 Tax-free childcare

Parents can benefit from tax-free childcare. For every £8 you pay in, the government tops it up by £2, with total savings of up to £2,000 per child. Savings are doubled for disabled children and you can spend the money on nannies, nurseries, childminders after-school clubs and holiday clubs.

18 Free school meals

If you’re claiming certain benefits, including income-based jobseeker’s allowance, universal credit and child tax credit, and are on a low income, your child may be entitled to free school meals.

19 Cut costs for your school children

Your local education authority may be able to help with the cost of school uniforms or music lessons.

20 Child benefit

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Eligible for child benefit? You’ll get £20.70 a week for your first child and £13.70 a week for other children.

Anyone responsible for a child under 16 (or under 20 if they’re in education or training) can claim it. If either you or your partner earn more than £50,000 a year, you may have to pay some or all of it back. But it can still be worth applying to help build up your national insurance contributions and boost your pension.

FREE CASH FOR FAMILIES

21 Amazon Prime

Are you already paying for Amazon Prime? Then you can share your free shipping benefits with up to four additional family members who live at the same address. It could save your household a fortune in postage.

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Stream music for free by sharing multiple account deals

22 Share your music downloads

Look out for multiple account deals from your music streaming services. While you can get Spotify for free with ads, Spotify’s Premium for Family, which costs £9.99 a month, allows you and up to five people who live at the same address to play their own music and keep their own playlists without the annoying ads, plus you can download music for offline listening. You can try it out for free for 30 days.

23 Give your family free mobile data

Chances are your kids will use up their mobile data faster than you do. If you all have an EE account, you can manage your family’s data in the My EE app, gifting data to anyone in the family who is running low – you just need a minimum of 500mb left on your account.

24 Share Netflix with your family

Buy Netflix’s Premium plan for £9.99 a month and get access to programmes on four devices at the same time – that is only £4 a month more than the basic plan where you can only view on one screen.

And remember – if you’re new to Netflix, you can get a 30-day free trial.

But with all free trials, make a note in your diary and remember to cancel the subscription if you decide not to start paying for the service.

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FREE CASH FOR OVER-65s

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25 Cash if there is acold snap

If the temperature plummets, over-65s who claim income-related benefits may be eligible for extra help towards their energy bills.

The cold weather payment of £25 will automatically be paid when the temperature falls below zero degrees Celsius or below for seven consecutive days between 1 November and 31 March.

26 Pension top-up

Pensioners on low incomes may be able to claim two types of pension credits that can be worth thousands of pounds.

The guarantee credit boosts your weekly income if it’s below £163 for single people or £248.80 for couples.

Savings Credit is an extra payment for people who saved some money towards their retirement – for example, a pension.

27 Winter fuel allowance

The winter fuel allowance is a set payment offered to retirees to help with the cost of heating over the winter months. Anyone born before 6 May 1953 is eligible for an annual payment of between £100 and £300.

28 Free TV viewing

If you’re over 75, you are entitled to a free TV licence. You can get a special discounted licence of £7.50 if you’re living in residential care, so long as you are retired and over 60.

29 Free prescriptions and eye tests

Over-60s are entitled to free prescriptions and eye tests, as well as vouchers towards the cost of glasses and contact lenses.

Those who receive the pension guarantee credit are also entitled to free dental treatment.

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30 Free travel

Once you hit state pension age, you can get free off-peak bus travel if you live in England.

If you are aged 60-plus and live in London, you will be eligible for a 60+ Oyster card, which gives you free travel across the capital. When you reach state pensionable age, Londoners can apply for a Freedom Pass, which offers free travel across London and free local bus journeys nationally.

If you live in Scotland, Northern Ireland or Wales, you can apply for a free bus pass when you turn 60.

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31 Christmas bonus

If you receive the state pension or pension credit, you are entitled to a Christmas bonus, which is usually £10 a year. This is also paid to some people who receive disability or bereavement benefits.

FREE CASH FOR LOW-INCOME HOUSEHOLDS

32 Help with housing costs

If you’re on a low income and pay rent, you may be eligible for government help towards your housing costs.

If you’re on a low income and are struggling to keep up with interest payments on your mortgage, you may be eligible for support and can apply for a mortgage interest loan.

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33 Budgeting loans

If you’re receiving certain income-related benefits and need help to pay for clothing, furniture or rent, you may be eligible for an interest-free budgeting loan.

If you’re getting Universal Credit, you need to apply for a budgeting advance. Contact Citizens Advice for more information.

34 Cut phone and broadband costs

You can get a cheap phone and broadband deal from BT if you are on a low income. It costs £9.95 a month and has a price cap to help you budget.

35 Help to Save

If you are on a low income, are entitled to working tax credit or receiving universal credit, the government has recently launched a scheme to help you save. You will receive a bonus of 50p for every £1 you save over four years. You can save up to £50 each calendar month.

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36 Help towards hospital travel costs

Check out the Hospital Travel Costs Scheme, which helps those on lower incomes with the cost of getting to and from hospital appointments.

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FREE CASH IF YOU ARE DISABLED

37 Health costs

You may qualify for help towards some NHS charges if you’re on income support. You may also qualify for help towards healthcare travel, adapting your home for your needs, a reduced earnings allowance, disabled students’ allowance and a Blue Badge parking scheme.

FREE CASH WHEN YOU’RE PREGNANT

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38 Free dental care and prescriptions

If you are pregnant, you will receive free NHS dental care and for a year after the baby is born.

In England, you’ll also get free prescriptions over that period; in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, you’re entitled to free prescriptions at all times.

39 Free time off

You have a right to paid time off from work to go to antenatal appointments, regardless of how long you’ve been in your job.

The baby’s father or your partner are entitled to take unpaid time off work to go with you to two of your antenatal appointments.

When you have a baby, you’re entitled to a year’s maternity leave and pay from your employer for up to 39 weeks while you’re on leave, or shared parental leave, if you’re eligible.

40 One-off grant

If you or your partner are in receipt of certain benefits, you may be entitled to a Sure Start maternity grant, which is a one-off payment of £500 from the Social Fund to help with the cost of your baby.

 

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