Gifting your friends and family with something they’ll love this holiday season doesn’t require buying something brand new.
You can save a considerable amount of money by buying used gifts for Christmas instead. Thrift stores and private sellers price merchandise at a fraction of their original cost — not to mention the treasures you might be able to regift without spending a penny.
Before you cringe at the idea, consider this: A recent survey by the selling appMercarifound 60% of people felt comfortable receiving a previously owned gift.
Of course, you’ve got to consider the gift recipient — and the gift. Your vintage-loving sister would appreciate a good thrift store find, and your 2-year-old nephew won’t realize (or care) if his “new” toy truck used to belong to another kid.
But if your husband has been yearning for a specific tech gadget that just hit the market or your mom wants a 2020 calendar, maybe they aren’t the best candidates to give used gifts for Christmas.
When gifting anything used, examine the item’s condition the best you can. Arrange to meet individual sellers in safe, public places. If you’re purchasing online, vet the website to ensure it’s trustworthy and secure. Check out the reviews or ratings of sellers you buy from.
Opportunities to find pre-owned presents are widespread. Here are seven places to shop for inexpensive gifts this holiday season.
7 Outlets to Find Used Gifts for Christmas
Some places you’ll discover great secondhand gifts (that won’t bust your budget) include:
1. Brick-and-Mortar Thrift Stores and Consignment Shops
Thrift store chains like Goodwill and the Salvation Army have a varied assortment of goods. Proceeds from sales go to community programs that support the nonprofits’ missions.
Sites likePoshmark,TradesyandThredUpare great outlets to find clothing and accessories at a discount.
Other e-commerce websites, like Facebook Marketplace, Craigslist, eBay and Mercari, have less of an online store interface. On these sites, private sellers post a variety of previously used products for sale, including toys, tech, furniture and home decor.
3. Yard Sales, Estate Sales or Flea Markets
Yard sales, estate sales and flea markets can include a great array of options You may even find a table of trinkets the seller is giving away for free.
4. Public Libraries
Occasionally libraries will hold fundraisers where they’ll offer a selection of books for sale. You can find titles for only a couple bucks a pop. It’s a good opportunity to get something for the book lover in your life.
5. Pawn Shops
Disregard the negative reputation that pawn shops (often unfairly) have. This venue is popular for finding jewelry at low prices. You can also find a great assortment of other merchandise — from DVDs to bikes to musical instruments.
6. Buy Nothing Groups
TheBuy Nothingcommunity (which connects neighbors via Facebook) provides an opportunity to find a gift that won’t cost you anything. Members of Buy Nothing groups post items they own that they choose to give away for free.
Search Facebook to see if your community has an active group, and join to see what your neighbors are giving away.
7. Your Own Home
Regifting gets a bad rap, but it’s honestly no different than giving something from a secondhand retailer. The plus? You incur zero cost.
Consider items you’ve barely or never used, like that waffle maker that’s still in the box from when you got married. Just don’t give someone a present they originally gave to you!
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.
“If only we’d stop trying to be happy we could have a pretty good time.” — Edith Wharton
For a long time, I felt like happiness was something that is a life goal, that there were ways to work toward “becoming” happy. Yet, time and time again, I realized that happiness wasn’t something that came about on its own. Happiness is something that comes about as a result of something else – an achievement, a connection, an experience. Happiness is actually found on the road to those things.
Don’t try to be happy today. Instead, try to do something that you’ve always wanted to do or something big you’ve been putting off. Give yourself a walled-off block of time to engage in a hobby that’s meaningful to you that you don’t give enough time to. Go play with a child or listen to a friend. Help someone.
Make those things routine, and you’ll find happiness along the way. You can’t aim for it, but it will find you.
Most of us know Bruce Lee as the famous martial artist and action film star — but he was also a philosopher who taught “self-actualization”: the practice of how to be yourself in the best way possible. In this inspiring talk, Bruce’s daughter Shannon Lee takes us inside the mind of her father, exploring how to use his philosophy in your daily life to achieve profound personal growth and make a lasting impact.
This video is incredibly powerful and a great overview of the idea of “self-actualization” and the life of Bruce Lee, and well worth watching.
I used to have a poster of Bruce Lee on the wall of my dorm room. I bought it at an on-campus poster sale when I was a freshman during a period when I was enamored with his movies and other “kung fu” movies of the 1970s. He was obviously best known as a movie star and a martial arts practitioner, but it’s not why the poster stayed on my wall for two years.
Rather, I watched a short documentary about Lee that was shown after one of his films at a student event on campus. That documentary discussed his idea that knowledge leads to self-knowledge and how your actions are an expression of your values and beliefs. If I believed in a particular idea or value – or thought that I did – and I didn’t express it through action, I didn’t truly believe it, or I believed in some other value more. What is it that I actually value?
It’s questions like these that have really driven my life since I was… well, pretty young, and the idea that knowledge translates into self-knowledge, that you should never stop learning and changing, and your actions are an expression of what you know and value was something that I’ve considered for a lot of my adult life. In a way, most of my life has been a process of learning, honing what I believe, and weeding out actions that aren’t in line with what I belief and leaning into actions that are in line with it, and that Bruce Lee poster was a piece of that journey.
3. Mandy Hale on where you don’t belong
“Growth is painful. Change is painful. But nothing is as painful as staying stuck somewhere you don’t belong.” – Mandy Hale
There are few things more frustrating and sad than seeing someone you care about stuck in a tough situation that only they can get themselves out of. You know they have the ability to do so, but it’s a hard path to travel. You want to help, but it honestly comes down to their choice, because while you can lead a horse to water, you can’t make them drink.
The thing is, if you’re not happy with the path you’re on, doing nothing and staying on that path will never make it better. If you look around your life and aren’t happy with some aspect of it, not changing anything will not make that aspect better.
Change is hard. Growth is hard. But nothing ever gets better without going through that process. You can’t get over the hill without climbing it.
Serene is an app I’ve been using to help me stay focused when I’m working and not at my desk. I find that I can focus pretty well when I’m at my desk at home. I can shut out distractions and really get down to business there.
Unfortunately, some days, for various reasons, I need to (or want to) work elsewhere, and I run into trouble elsewhere.
I’ve used Serene multiple times when working away from home (with my noise-cancelling headphones and my phone on “do not disturb, but vibrate for specific emergencies” mode) and I found it really helpful for keeping me on task. It blocks some apps of my choice and some websites of my choice (provided I install the browser add-ons) while I’m working on my task, helps me break down today’s main task into smaller pieces and work sessions, and walks me through some steps to get in a good situation for work.
The app’s idea is that there’s one big task you want to complete today and that task can be broken down into some smaller pieces that are individual work sessions. So, for example, if my goal today is to write two articles, I might have six work sessions – outline article A, write a good draft of article A, and edit & submit article A, and the same tasks for article B. The tool then locks down your computer (according to what you set up) while you work through each of those sessions, with breaks in between them.
I’m not a big fan of the audio (yet) — I usually use other audio for focus — but the tool does a really nice job outside of that in terms of creating a focused work environment wherever I’m at. I sometimes just need to get out of the house, even at the cost of productivity.
This app has a permanent place on my laptop. It helped me get a lot of writing done over multiple sessions in an environment where I’ve struggled to work in the past. Highly recommended if you sometimes work on a laptop in different environments and struggle to focus.
5. Richard Feynman on questions and answers
“I would rather have questions that can’t be answered than answers that can’t be questioned.” – Richard Feynman
Part of the beauty of the world is the mystery about it, how the entirety of the human race only knows a fraction of what there is to know about the universe, and I can only ever possibly know a small sliver of that.
Life is like laying on your back on a country pasture in the nighttime and staring up at millions of stars. I can’t possibly know the story of each of them, but I can sit back and be awed by their collective beauty.
As of late, I’ve been watching Youtube videos while eating lunch. I’ll find a channel that’s interesting and well-executed, turn it on while I’m prepping lunch, and watch a few videos while eating and cleaning up.
The channel I’ve been binging on as of late is Planet Money from NPR, which is a large collection of short videos on specific financial topics, mostly economics, but done in an entertaining way.
I think that channels like this are the ideal replacement for “channel surfing.” They’re free (if you have an internet connection), they’re usually pretty short and bite-sized so they’re good to watch if you’re eating lunch or something, and it’s not a big deal if you miss an episode.
I can list tons of these – Binging with Babish, Pro Home Cooks (formerly Brothers Green), Marques Brownlee, Kurzgesagt, CGP Grey – but there are so many individuals and small groups out there making really thoughtful and thought-provoking and engaging content if you look for it. A lot of Youtube is junk, but if you can find a few channels that actually bring value to you, they provide a pretty good bite for your mind to swallow while your mouth is swallowing lunch.
7. Brianna West on self-care and self-improvement
“True self-care is not salt baths and chocolate cake, it is making the choice to build a life you don’t need to regularly escape from.” – Brianna West
If I know what things make me unhappy about my life and I choose to do nothing to fix them, I’m essentially choosing to keep that unhappiness in my life. Any “self-care” I do is merely a short term distraction, because the problem remains. Leisure is good for relaxation, but it doesn’t take care of problems.
True self-care comes from doing the hard work to fix problems in your life and make real changes. Self-care isn’t a distraction from a problem, it’s solving a problem (or at least trying to).
If you feel overwhelmed by life, don’t turn to luxuries that distract you from the problems. Identify what’s wrong and work to actually fix it.
8. Jeremy Binns on our picture of life
“What screws us up the most in life is the picture in our head of what it’s supposed to be.” – Jeremy Binns
I have this picture in my head of what an “ideal life” should be like. Perfect relationships, perfect marriage, perfect kids, perfect work, perfect house, and so on.
Whenever I compare my life to that “ideal life,” my life looks … shall we say, highly imperfect by comparison. Nothing in my life is perfect. Nothing in my life is ideal.
Yet, lots of things in my life are good, even great. Lots of things in my life are beautiful.
That ideal life cannot exist in the real world. If I constantly compare myself to that, I can’t enjoy what I already have, and what I already have is quite good.
Magic the Gathering head designer Mark Rosewater shares twenty lessons learned over twenty years of designing one of the world’s most popular collectible card games. Watch to learn lessons such as “Restrictions Breed Creativity,” “Fighting Human Nature Is a Losing Battle” and “If Everyone Likes Your Game, But No One Loves It, It Will Fail”.
Yes, this is a video that’s ostensibly about game design, but it’s about so much more than that. Almost everything Mark Rosewater talks about in this video is applicable in some real way to life and, well, to every single creative endeavor we take on in life.
I watched this video recently because of a burgeoning personal interest in game design, but I couldn’t help but think, as I was listening to it, of how many of the ideas really apply to The Simple Dollar and to other creative work I’ve done in my life and, frankly, to a lot of things in my life.
For example, “restriction breeds creativity.” The Simple Dollar’s topic space is a relatively narrow wheelhouse. I try to expand on the idea of “spending less than you earn so you can achieve life goals” – that’s really the core message of the site – in each direction while keeping it as simple as I can. I try to delve into complex ideas, but to the absolute best of my ability, I try to avoid jargon or complicated language (for better or worse). That restricts my topics that I could write about quite a lot and that restriction forces me to be creative. What’s a new angle on this idea? What element haven’t I delved into before, or in a long while?
Or, for example, “if everyone likes your game, but no one loves it, it will fail.” From the get-go, I’ve had a vision in mind of exactly who I’m writing for, and it’s basically myself right at the point when I was earnestly starting my financial turnaround. I was absorbing everything I could about personal finance and what I wanted was clear and friendly voices to give me lots of ideas that I could plug into my life and turn this ship around. The Simple Dollar is a site I would have loved at that point in my life, and I figure that if it’s a site I would have loved, there are probably some people who would love it too. That doesn’t mean that everyone loves it or even that everyone likes it (though that’s nice). I’d rather change one life than mildly amuse a hundred people.
That stuff applies to my life, too. I constantly find that my best solutions for life problems and my best decisions come when there’s a restriction. When I have infinite choices, I just shut down, so I make a restriction right off the bat. Only store brands, maybe, or only stuff without added sugar.
Also, I’ve learned that having a few really close friends and family members — people that love me — is better than a truckload of acquaintances and people who vaguely like me. I’ll take one person that loves me over 50 acquaintances, and that shapes how I build relationships.
You can find really good life lessons in the most unusual of places.
10. Anne Frank on regret versus gratitude
“Dead people receive more flowers than the living ones because regret is stronger than gratitude.”– Anne Frank
It’s strange how regret is a stronger feeling than gratitude. I think that part of it is that we feel weak when expressing gratitude and love to people in our life, but we often feel more free to express regret because that other person is silent. We’re not expressing that feeling to their face.
It can be hard to express to others what they mean to us now, when they’re living. What if they don’t feel the same way? What if they think I’m silly or foolish?
Trust me, there’s very rarely a time when such an expression won’t at least be very meaningful to them, even if it’s not fully reciprocated. You’ll feel better and so will they.
Don’t hold the gratitude and appreciation in. Let it out before it turns into regret.
I’ve read this book four or five times since it was initially published in 2008. It’s a fantastic book on how to get better at pretty much anything and a wonderful guide to lifetime learning and deliberate practice.
I recently picked it up again, almost on a whim, and read most of it in a single sitting. It reminded me again of the true joy of learning something new and mastering a skill, and it renewed a little fire in my belly for learning and practice, as it does every time.
You cannot get better at the things you dream about by just sitting there.
12. Terry Pratchett on growing older
“Inside every old person is a young person wondering what happened.” – Terry Pratchett
I swear that it was just yesterday that I was 25 years old and working in data mining. It feels like yesterday that I started this site on a whim rather than writing daily material for it as a well-oiled practice. It feels like yesterday that I was holding my first child in my arms rather than teaching him how to drive.
What happened? It’s easy to lose track of the endless flow of hours and days until you wake up one day and look around and things have passed you by.
The one thing I can say about that feeling is this: it should be a reminder to us all to live in the moment, to say the things we want to say but are afraid to, to hug someone and to tell someone they matter, to apologize for a mistake. Leave those things undone and you’ll wake up in a few years wondering what happened.
It shouldn’t come as a great surprise that one way to avoid college debt is by choosing an institution that fits your budget and a major that promises a job that pays well.
But now you can run the numbers and realize that, for example, your bachelor’s degree in music from the University of New Haven offers a median first-year salary of $21,700 compared to the typical $27,000 in debt that accompanies the diploma. Ouch.
Those cheery numbers come courtesy of the U.S. Department of Education’s updatedCollege Scorecard, which allows students to compare colleges by costs, admissions and results. And now the site lets you customize a search by potential debt compared to earnings based on their field of study and institution.
But even if you’re comparing colleges and their debt-to-income ratios, there are plenty of ways to earn your tassel with less debt hassle regardless of your major. Read on for a little higher education in how to avoid college debt.
5 Ways to Avoid College Debt
Check out these five strategies for avoiding student loan debt before you get your diploma, no matter where you go to college or what your major may be.
1. Apply for Financial Aid
If you think financial aid ends with loans, think again. Although theFAFSAandCSS Profilesare essential when applying for student loans, they can also help you qualify for grants and scholarships — aka free money you don’t have to repay — as well as work-study opportunities.
Each college has its own deadline for its financial aid applications, so make sure you ask about the due date for every school you’re considering.
2. Know When to Say No to Money
Simply put, student loans are designed to cover the cost of college. The College Scorecard defines those costs as tuition, living costs, books and fees — minus the average grants and scholarships you could receive.
But what is “living costs” — is it just your dorm room and basic meal plans? Or does it include a stress-relieving night out and a car to get you across campus? It’s highly likely that you’ll be approved for loans that cover much more than books and a dorm room, but that doesn’t mean you should take everything that’s offered. Bymaking a budget for collegebefore you acceptunnecessary loans, you’ll end up with less debt when you graduate.
3. Get a Job
Every little bit helps. Repeat this phrase to yourself when you deposit that minimum wage paycheck from your barista job. But you can also getcreative with a student job— if you have the brains, you can make money as a tutor, or if you love the outdoors, dive into a lifeguard gig at the local pool.
Pro Tip
Your minimum wage job alone probably won’t get you out of college debt free. The federal minimum wage is $7.25 an hour, while the average cost of a public, four-year degree is $80,661.44.
And regardless of whether your major is destined to make you rich, you can get a leg up on the competition — and increase your post-graduate earning potential — byapplying for an internshipwithin your field of study.
The Scorecard provides the official numbers from your chosen institution, but there are plenty of otherhidden college costs. Even if you’re choosing a major that has high earning potential — like aviation or engineering — you should investigate whether there are additional costs due to expensive equipment or materials on top of your tuition and regular fees.
And if you choose a university in a large city, you could be paying more for living expenses — but you could offset some costs by using public transportation that might not be available to your country cousins.
If you do take out federal student loans, you can save a bundle on interest by paying down the interest (and the loans, if you can) while you’re still in college.
By paying off your interest before your grace period ends, you’ll avoid an event known asinterest capitalization. That’s the moment when your interest balance gets lumped into your principal balance and you start getting charged interest on the total amount.
Although the College Scorecard can give you a starting point for figuring out your debt load compared to your potential earnings, you still have the power to avoid debt and graduate a winner.
Tiffany Wendeln Connors is a staff writer/editor at The Penny Hoarder. Readher bio and other work here, then catch her on Twitter @TiffanyWendeln.
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.
Everyone you know has way too much going on in their own lives to sit around pondering the circumstances around your retirement.
In the very unlikely event that they gave it so much as a passing thought, they’d probably conclude that you were successful and got a head start on the good life a little early as a result.
So if your wife really has said she doesn’t want you to retire because she’s worried what others will think, I offer her my words of comfort.
But wait! Did your wife actually say that?
You say youthinkshe fears what other people will think. This sounds like your hypothesis. Have you tried having an actual conversation about what she’s actually thinking?
Before we delve into what could be giving your wife pause, let me acknowledge the obvious: This is a really good problem to have.I get so many letters from people who are in their 50s and 60s with virtuallynothing saved for retirement. Often, the problem iscompoundedbycrushing debt.
You, however, have a seven-figure nest egg, three homes and no debt. You have a comfortable retirement ahead of you — your only dilemma is when that comfortable retirement begins.
But there’s a bigger issue at play here.
Retirement marks a huge lifestyle change. Planning for retirement ideally involves a lot more than planning for life beyond a paycheck.
But often the focus of retirement planning is solely financial because most people are woefully lacking in savings. Just getting to retirement in this lifetime is the goal.
Money is just part of the picture. Retirement gives you a plethora of free time. You’re more likely to become isolated. There’s no way your spouse won’t be affected — and that’s something I worry you may have lost sight of.
Here’s what you say: You’ve worked hard. You want to retire. You’re financially prepared. There’s no “we.” No reference to the life the two of you have built together. Your wife only enters your narrative as a force who stands in the way of what you want.
Talk with your wife about what you envision for your retirement. Ask her what she thinks your life will look like. Maybe the two of you have starkly different visions that are at the root of this conflict.
Perhaps you envision a retirement filled with part-time work you love, volunteering, hobbies and quality time with family. But maybe she has flashes of you puttering around the house 24/7 as the hum of televised golf drones forever in the background.
Instead of focusing the discussion on what you hate about work, try talking about what you love about life. How would retiring now let you get more of that? And in what ways does your wife worry your retiring now would change your lives for the worse?
And if shedoessay she’s worried about what other people will think? Press her on it. Ask her: Who are these people, and what will they think?
It’s easy to mask your own thoughts under the guise of what “other people” are going to think, so figuring this part out could yield valuable insight.
The most important thing you can do here is listen openly and hear your wife out. Ask questions if you don’t understand her perspective. You can only address her worries if you know what they are.
If you can’t agree for now, there’s always a compromise: You could transition gradually out of the workforce by taking on less stressful work with fewer hours.
Just make sure you aren’t looking at retirement through rose-colored glasses. Retirement doesn’t magically give you health and happiness. What it gives you is a lot more time — time that will be a lot more blissful with your wife on your side.
Robin Hartill is a senior editor at The Penny Hoarder and the voice behind Dear Penny. Send your questions about retirement to AskPenny@thepennyhoarder.com.
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.
Hiring in the United States jumped last month to its highest level since January as U.S. employers shrugged off trade conflicts and a global slowdown and added 266,000 jobs.
Online shopping is a fantastic convenient tool, particularly around the holidays. It opens up an enormous array of options for gift-giving (as well as shopping for ourselves), but it’s not all perfect.
One of the big risks of ordering from online retailers is that there is a chance, however small, that the item will arrive damaged, that the item will be snatched from your front step after delivery, or that it won’t be delivered at all. I’ve had packages fall into all three of those groups in the past, and I’ve learned some lessons the hard way.
Here are some of the best practices you can follow with regards to handling damaged, lost, or stolen packages effectively, particularly during the holiday season.
Be proactive and give plenty of shipping time.
This is my number one rule when it comes to buying gifts online, particularly during the super-busy holiday season. I generally don’t order packages online unless there’s enough time for the package to get here twiceand with an extra day or two of shipping on both journeys. If it’s got two day shipping, I won’t order it less than a week in advance of the event; if it’s slower than that, I give it two weeks.
Why? This gives the package a little extra time to arrive and be evaluated for damage or to not arrive at all while still giving me plenty of time to fix the problem and have a replacement delivery make it before the event.
If you don’t have that lead time, you run a real risk of having packages
Yes, this does mean that it’s hard to order perishable gifts through the mail. A simple way to handle this is to simply avoid ordering perishable gifts through the mail for holiday gift-giving.
If you’re going to buy holiday gifts online, do it now — like, right now — rather than later, so you have time to do the other things on this list if something goes wrong.
If you won’t be home at the delivery time but have a friend who will be, have the item shipped to that friend.
I’m lucky in that I work from home so I’m here to receive packages during the day, but many people aren’t so lucky. If you are going to have a package delivered while you’re out of the house, it might be a smart idea to simply check with friends and see if any of them will be home when the package would be delivered.
Do you have a friend who works from home or a stay-at-home parent that lives near you? Simply ask your friend if you can have a package or two delivered at their house, then stop by and pick it up as soon as you can.
This is a simple added layer of protection against theft at your doorstep.
Know the lost package, damaged item and return policies of the business you’re buying from.
Most online retailers have very clear information about what you need to do in order to report an item as damaged, lost or stolen. For example, Amazon has a very helpful page outlining its procedures in each of those cases; most online retailers have similar documents that can be found on their website.
Before you buy a holiday gift from a retailer, spend the time to read through their policies so you know what will happen if the item turns up lost, stolen, or damaged. I’m pretty familiar with Amazon’s policies, for example, but if I’m shopping from another retailer, I take the time to check their policy and I usually bookmark it so I can quickly find it later if something goes wrong. I can always delete that bookmark in a few weeks if everything’s fine.
Document, document, document.
Keep note of everything that happened regarding your lost, stolen, or damaged item. Note when you bought it, when it was shipped, each step it took in tracking, when it was delivered, when you noticed it missing (if it was) and what problems you noticed with the item. If the item is damaged, take some pictures of it with your phone immediately upon opening, along with pictures of the packaging.
I strongly suggest writing all of that down and having it ready before you contact a customer service line. The customer service agent will be asking questions and if you have that information ready to go, it will be much easier to provide answers.
Don’t delay in contacting the retailer, but check the procedure first.
As soon as you’re aware of a problem, check the documentation and follow the procedure they have stated for what to do if your item is lost or stolen or damaged. Often, for lost or stolen items, the retailer encourages you to wait a day or two before contacting them because packages often turn up a day late (maybe someone left the item in their delivery truck because they needed to get home or something), so contacting the retailer immediately won’t help.
The sooner you begin following procedure for contacting the company and getting the situation resolved, the better. However, contacting the company when you haven’t followed all of the steps they’ve listed will just mean frustration for both you and the customer service representative you’ll be talking to. They will ask you if you’ve done the things listed and if you haven’t, you’ll both be frustrated. Check the policy first and make sure you’ve done your part before calling.
Be calm, patient, and polite.
When you contact the retailer, be calm, patient and polite. If you’re making contact when you feel angry or annoyed, give yourself some time to calm down before contacting them.
Here’s the truth: the customer service person you’ll talk to is someone who had nothing whatsoever to do with the package problems you’re having. They did not damage your package. They did not steal your package. They did not lose your package. Rather, they’re just trying to help you fix the problem as efficiently as possible, and they’re usually already harried because of other people yelling at them for things they didn’t do.
The best approach is to be calm, patient, and polite. Be as positive as you can with them and thank them for their efforts. Don’t raise your voice. Don’t get angry. Say “please” and “thank you.” Appreciate their efforts, even if they didn’t get you the resolution you ideally wanted. If you want to escalate your request, ask to do so politely. This will get you far better service and help than being angry or demanding, as no one likes it or wants to help someone who is angry or upset with them.
If you’re sure a package has been stolen, file a police report.
Simply call up your local police department and report that a package was stolen from your front step. You may need to do this if an insurance claim is needed or the retailer or shipper won’t fix the problem (the retailer may or may not, depending on the exact situation and their specific policies).
When you do this, make sure that you have everything already documented about the potentially stolen package, as suggested earlier. Have the ship date, shipping carrier, delivery date, contents of the package and the tracking number available if you’re reporting the package as stolen.
This likely won’t help you recover the package, but it may be able to help you recover the value of the stolen item.
It’s not the end of the world.
Remember that if a holiday package is damaged, lost, or stolen, it’s not the end of the world. You might be able to pick up the same item locally if needed or order the item a second time. If that doesn’t work, you can likely find something at least similar locally or online.
Keep in mind that the purpose of a holiday gift is to show someone you care, and you can still achieve that goal even if there’s a problem with a package. It’s a minor setback that’s easy to recover from.
Deal of the week: Christmas for £99 - tree, turkey, and presents too
Families can have a whole Christmas for less than £100 by purchasing everything they need from a select list of retailers.
Edmund GreavesFri, 12/06/2019 - 09:43
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What is the deal exactly?
By following a carefully constructed list of Christmas products (below), you can have yourself a family Christmas dinner, drinks and even a tree for just £99.
Income streaming app Wagestream have provided Moneywise with a fantastically specific list of items that keeps Christmas costs low.
The most expensive item on the list is a £9.99 turkey from Lidl. The next most expensive is a £6 cake from Tesco and a tinsel tree from Wilko at £5.
Tesco tops the list with 11 best-value items. The Works came in with seven. The list includes gifts for two parents and two kids.
See the full list of items below.
Item
Store
Description
Each
No
Cost
Turkey
Lidl
Braemoor Ready Basted Small British Turkey with Giblets
Soap & Glory Original Pink Collection Tin (Gifts for Her)
£6.67
1
£6.67
Child No1's pressie
The Works
Retro Wood Satchel Skateboard - Assorted
£4.00
1
£4.00
Child No2's pressie
The Works
Giant Fairy Shaped Foam Jigsaw Puzzle
£7.00
1
£7.00
Wrapping paper
Wilko
Wilko Festive Fiesta Gift Wrap 9 Sheets
£1.00
1
£1.00
Advent calendars
Sainsbury's
Cadbury Dairy Milk Chocolate Advent Calendar 90g
£1.50
2
£3.00
Stocking
Hobby Craft
Red Felt Christmas Stocking
£1.00
2
£2.00
Stocking fillers
The Works
Unicorn Stampers - Pack of 10
£2.00
1
£2.00
Christmas tree
Wilko
Wilko Tree Green Tinsel 3ft
£5.00
1
£5.00
Xmas baubles
Wilko
Wilko Mini 38 Pack Luxe Sparkle Gold Baubles
£3.00
1
£3.00
Xmas tree lights
Aldi
50 Warm White LED Outdoor Lights
£3.99
1
£3.99
Tinsel
Wilko
Wilko Gold Christmas Tinsel 2m
£1.00
1
£1.00
Box of chocolates
Tesco
Quality Street tub 650g
£3.50
1
£3.50
Board game
The Works
Christmas bingo game
£2.00
1
£2.00
TOTAL
£99.61
Wagestream is a wage management app that lets workers drawdown income early for a £1.75 fee and is touted as a way to avoid payday loan companies. The firm charges no interest and it is not a loan per se.
Why should I care?
Christmas is the most wonderful, but most expensive, time of the year. It is a time for celebration and family, but should not be a time for breaking the bank.
Savvy planning of your Christmas shopping can make an enormous difference to your new year’s wallet.
What’s the catch?
You’ll have to do a lot of moving around to different shops to get all the items. Not every town will have all the shops on the list unfortunately, so you might have to substitute with other products that won’t always be as cheap.
What other options do I have?
You can try building your own savvy list by doing research online and buying the best value. See it as a challenge to be met rather than a drain on your bank balance. Remember, Christmas is about friends, family and coming together – don’t make it about who can buy the most expensive gifts and the biggest turkeys because your wallet won’t thank you.
Where can I find out more?
The supermarkets and shops listed will all have online listings available to check the prices and locations for the best value shopping.
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Vanguard launches 'cheapest ever' personal pension – here's how it stacks up
The SIPP comes with an account fee of 0.15%, meaning you will be paying 15p for every £100 invested
Stephen LittleThu, 12/05/2019 - 15:01
Image
Fund manager Vanguard is set to launch what it claims is the lowest-cost self-invested personal pension on the market next year.
The Vanguard Personal Pension comes with an account fee of 0.15%, capped at £375 a year. That means you will be paying 15p for every £100 invested.
You can invest from £100 a month or a lump sum of at least £500.
Investors will have access to 76 of Vanguard’s funds and ETFs available on the Vanguard Personal Investor platform, including Vanguard's Target Retirement Funds and the popular LifeStrategy range.
The account fee cap applies across all personal pension, Isas and general account holdings on the Vanguard Personal Investor platform.
If you want to buy or sell ETFs through the optional Quote and Deal service, you will be charged a fixed fee of £7.50.
Sean Hagerty, head of Europe at Vanguard, says: “The Vanguard Personal Pension is designed to reduce the cost and complexity of saving for retirement. An individual’s savings often represent a lifetime’s effort, yet many investors and retirees continue to be charged far too much on the proceeds of their own hard work.
“Fees can have a sizeable impact on investment returns, and consequently on the quality of life in retirement.
“We want to offer investors the clarity, peace of mind and value for money they deserve, through a service that is simple, effective, transparent and fairly priced.”
What is a SIPP?
A SIPP is just like any other pension except you get to manage and invest your pension where you like.
It gives you access to a wide range of investments, including funds, shares, ETFs and bonds.
They can also be used to consolidate your pensions. Nowadays, most of us work for more than one employer, so they are a good way of putting all your pensions in one place.
The government will also add 20% tax relief to your pension, so if you put in £8,000 you will get an extra £2,000.
Traditional personal pensions offer you the choice of investing in a hundreds of different funds, but they can come with relatively high charges.
While stakeholder pensions have lower charges, they have a more limited choice of funds.
Although SIPPs offer investors greater investment choice than a personal pension, they are typically more expensive to run.
Is it good value for money?
However, Vanguard is charging an annual management fee of 0.15% with no exit or transfers fees. On top of this there are also additional fund charges.
This compares to interactive investor (Moneywise's parent company) charge flat fees between £9.99 or £19.99 a month depending on how active you wish to be with buying and selling investments.
Other providers such as Hargreaves Lansdown’s 0.45% which is capped at £200 a year. It has no fund dealing charges, but you will have to pay £11.95 for buying and selling shares.
Myron Jobson, personal finance campaigner at interactive investor comments: More competition in the investment platform space is good news for investors, and in the case of the forthcoming Vanguard launch, it may be of interest to those who don’t mind their choice being restricted to Vanguard funds – although it’s a big sacrifice to make.
"The ability to cherry-pick from a range of literally thousands of investments is hugely attractive to engaged investors, and our customers are not restricted to funds and ETFs either – many actively engage share dealing and trading investment trusts.
"It is worth noting that the interactive investor SIPP would still be cheaper to hold Vanguard for those with pot sizes of £159,920 or more. This is on the basis of a 0.15% AUM charge capped at £375 per year, compared to our own monthly core charge of £9.99 per month in our Investor price plan, plus £10 per month in addition for the SIPP."
While Moneywise recommends several Vanguard funds as part of its First 50 Funds selection, with the interactive investor, Hargreaves Lansdown or other major platform SIPPs you can invest in thousands of funds and other instruments, far higher than the 76 available with Vanguard.
Jeremy Fawcett, head of platform research group Platforum, says: “Pension investing is a long-term activity and outcomes are significantly improved when fees are pegged back.
“The Vanguard SIPP is one of the lowest cost options in the market, especially for those at the beginning of their investing journey.”
Platforum found that if you invested £40,000 through the Vanguard SIPP would cost £172 a year in total charges.
Investing the same amount in the same fund through a SIPP on a different platform would cost an average of £283, or as much as £396 via the most expensive platform.
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With nearly 40 million residents, California is enormous, and so is its renter population. Stockton, Anaheim, Santa Ana and San Bernardino are all cities where renters outnumber homeowners. Californians spend most of their household income on rent, the highest in the country, so renters insurance is especially critical for extra protection. California prices for the best renters insurance are more expensive than other states, averaging an annual total of $223.
Renters insurance protects your belongings if they are damaged or lost in circumstances like fire, theft and vandalism. Although renters insurance is not required of residents, it comes highly recommended nonetheless. It will provide protection for your most valued belongings.
With so many renters insurance companies, it’s more important than ever to do your due diligence when looking for the best cheap renters insurance in California.
The best cheapest renters insurance companies in California
Unlike California car insurance, there are no state requirements for California renters insurance.
Renters insurance includes personal property and personal liability coverage, medical payments and even additional living expenses should you have to vacate the property for protected events. The cost of renters insurance is also based upon the number of policies and claims filed within the state. This includes the total cost of all insured items.
There are many factors that insurance companies consider when creating your quote. Things like your neighborhood, coverage and deductible will all determine what you pay.
These are California’s best cheapest renters insurance companies:
Allstate: Allstate’s plans cover living expenses, personal liability, personal property coverage and guest medical. You can also get add-ons like identity theft protection.
Farmers: Farmers is a good option for people who want to customize their policy. It offers claim forgiveness, an eco-rebuild option and cosmetic damage coverage.
Liberty Mutual: Liberty Mutual has flexible, comprehensive coverage. It offers inflation protection, the full replacement cost of personal property, loss forgiveness and lots of discounts.
Nationwide: Nationwide offers good add-on coverage like earthquake and theft extension options. It also has many discounts to help people save money.
State Farm: State Farm offers the standard things you’d expect in your renters insurance policy and add-on options like business property and earthquake damage.
Best renters insurance company for customer service: State Farm
State Farm is known for its reliable customer service, particularly in California, and boasts a perfect score from J.D. Power, which judges customer satisfaction.
Best renters insurance company for eco-friendly options: Farmers
While its customer service is average, Farmers offers many protections that other companies do not, such as an eco-build discount if you rebuild damaged property with green materials.
Best for inflation coverage: Liberty Mutual
Liberty Mutual does not rank high on customer satisfaction, but it does take inflation into account when it renews your policy. You’ll keep the same coverage level you signed up for no matter how much inflation happens.
Best renters insurance company for extended coverage: Nationwide
Nationwide is excellent for its many coverage options, offering theft extension, which covers the valuables within your stolen vehicle, and Valuables Plus, which provides additional coverage for your most cherished things.
Best renters insurance for medical guest coverage: Allstate
Among its unique add-ons, Allstate offers special guest medical coverage, which will take care of any medical expenses if there are any injuries to a visitor on your property.
Ratings for Cheapest Renters Insurance Companies: California
There are different rankings that determine whether a company is good for renters insurance. JD Power and the Better Business Bureau judge a company’s customer satisfaction, while AM Best conveys a company’s financial stability.
Company
J.D. Power
AM Best
BBB
State Farm
5/5
A++ (Superior)
A+
Nationwide
2/5
A+ (Superior)
A+
Farmers
2/5
A (Excellent)
A+
Liberty Mutual
2/5
A (Excellent)
A
Allstate
2/5
A+ (Superior)
A+
The cost of California renters insurance varies greatly depending on where you live, so you should always research your options before committing to a renters insurance policy.
We gathered quotes using a sample policy that included $30,000 in personal property coverage.
Farmers: $168
State Farm: $162
Liberty Mutual: $175
Allstate: $269
Nationwide: $351
Many companies will discount renters insurance policy if you also bundle auto insurance. Inquire to see what incentives the best California renters insurance companies can offer you.
Frequently asked questions
How much renters insurance do I need in California?
Renters insurance is not required in California, but some landlords will include a clause within the lease that requires coverage. Regardless of the requirements for your property, renters insurance is still highly recommended to protect you against unexpected damages and loss.
What is the best renters insurance company in California?
No one person is the same, so no renters insurance is the same. The best renters insurance company in California differs from person to person, so use the rankings and information provided here to make an educated decision on the best California renters insurance companies for you.
What kinds of events does my renters insurance policy cover?
California is known for its wildfires, so that’s an integral part of coverage. That’s not all that can happen to your home. Things like theft, fire, smoke, lightning and flooding can all wreak havoc on your home and turn your life upside down. When interviewing different renters insurance companies, make sure that there is the right coverage for your property and all of your things inside.
Are there discounts for my renters insurance?
Most companies offer additional discounts for qualifying parties. Multi-policy discounts are common, as are extra savings for homes with home or fire alarm systems. There are also exclusive discounts that could apply to your renters insurance policy, like Allstate’s claims-free discount for renters without a history of claims. Every discount can save you precious dollars when you’re living on a budget.
Something like 44 million Americans have student loan debt at this point, so if you’re one of them, you’re definitely not alone.
But truth be told, your student loan providers could be ripping you off with too-high interest rates — just getting rich off you while you flounder in debt. Year after year after year.
But there are other, nicer companies that’ll help you get out of debt faster. A website calledCredibleknows the best ones and could pair you up as soon as tomorrow.
Here’s how it works: Credible will match you with a loan that’ll cover your student debt tab. Use that loan to pay off your federal and/or private loans. Now you’ll be left with one new monthly payment. This process is called refinancing.
At first it might sound like you’re just moving your debt around, but the key is to find a loan with better interest rates or lower monthly payments.
In fact, we talked to Ashley Williams, a financial analyst who graduated with $46,000 in debt. Refinancing saved her more than $18,000 in interest over the life of her loan, and she’ll now be debt free at least five years sooner.
Now, if you’re not sure where to start, we like Credible because it’s an easy way to compare your options, and it won’t make you stand in line or call a bank. And if you’re worried you won’t qualify, it’s free tocheck online. It takes just two minutes, and it could save you thousands of dollars.
Totally worth it.
Carson Kohler (carson@thepennyhoarder.com) is a staff 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.
Remember that sixth helping of stuffing you devoured? Oh, and countless heaps of grandma’s cherished mac and cheese? Don’t regret eating them. (We don’t.) Instead, think of those extra pounds as preparation for the grandest holiday side gig of them all.
Every year, thousands of shopping malls, department stores and corporations throw Christmas-themed events and parties that rely on guest appearances from Ol’ Saint Nick himself.
(Spoiler alert: not the real one. He’s too busy. It’s actually a complex network of Santa Claus impersonators.)
If you’ve got what it takes — e.g. a burly chuckle, a mean beard, a background check and liability insurance — you can find a variety of Santa Claus jobs this time of year.
How to Find Santa Claus Jobs (Mrs. Claus, Too!)
Becoming Santa Claus is a little more complicated than walking into your local shopping mall with an application in hand. Many malls and department stores rely on event companies, talent agencies and freelancers to meet their Kris Kringle needs. Here’s how to join those ranks.
Work at an Event or Photography Company
When you think of Santa Claus jobs, do you think of a winding single-file line through the atrium of a shopping mall, everyone waiting for a photo with the big guy? These types of events are often coordinated by events and photography businesses.
Some companies contract with shopping malls or department stores as full-service vendors – handling all the staff, decorations and photographs. Others mayonlyprovide photography services or Santa-staffing services.
Not having any luck with national Santa companies? Narrow your job search to local events and photography companies. If all else fails: Call your local mall to see how they usually hire Santa.
Use a Talent or PR Agency
Maybe you have experience as Santa under your well-worn leather belt. In addition to looking the part, you sing or act to enliven your impersonation. Simply put, you’re down to do more than sit on a red velvet throne for a few pictures.
A talent agency is just what you need. Such agencies find the Santa Claus jobs — the corporate events, the media appearances, the charity drives — and reach out to you if you’re a part of their network and meet certain criteria.
Pro Tip
Real-bearded Santas are generally higher in demand and can charge better hourly rates. Some agencies may even require the applicant to have a real beard.
Three free nationwide Santa networks,Hire Santa,Real SantaandSanta for Hire, are looking for talented actors to play the part. Applications are open for Mrs. Claus as well.
Freelance as Santa
Whether you find gigs through an events company or talent agency, you can always boost the profile of your Santa enterprise by finding clients on your own. This will require a bit more legwork on your part, but the reward can be well worth it. Some Santas we spoke to earn up to $7,000 a season by running their own show.
In ourultimate guide to becoming a professional Santa, The Penny Hoarder spoke to several pros who built their own websites or made listings on talent-freelancing websites likeGig Salad. They shared insider tips on finding the best clothes, enrolling in Santa school (it’s a thing — we checked) and getting into character, even when you’re off the clock.
“Before you become a Santa, you really need to understand what it’s going to do to your life,” said Santa Tim, a retired professional Santa from Kansas. “You are going to have tobeSanta Claus.”
Adam Hardy is a staff writer at The Penny Hoarder. He specializes in ways to make money that don’t involve stuffy corporate offices. Read his latest articles 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.
When you’re in your twenties, you spend a lot of time planning for your future.
At one point or another, you’ve probably thought about buying a home, getting married, having a kid — even saving for retirement. So why not add life insurance to your list?
We know. If you’re young and healthy, life insurance might seem like a waste of time and money. You’ve got other bills to pay, anyway. Plus, if you’re single and don’t have kids right now, what’s the point?
But the truth is, locking in a low rate for a term life insurance policy before you turn 30 — even if you don’t have a spouse, kid or home — could easily save you thousands of dollars.
Plus, getting a policy is super easy. It takes five minutes to shop your options through a company calledPolicygenius, where you can find $1 million policies for as little as $25 a month.
Benefits of Life Insurance (Even For Twentysomethings)
Let’s back up really fast and talk about the benefits of life insurance.
Life insurance basically makes sure whoever you leave behind when you die can afford to pay for your funeral, any unpaid bills and monthly living expenses.
If you’re married and/or have kids, it’s probably pretty obvious who’d benefit from your life insurance policy — your spouse or your child’s custodian. If you’re single and don’t have kids, think about who’d handle your funeral costs or who’s co-signed any loans with you (probably your parents).
In terms of how much coverage you’ll need, personal finance experts typically suggest a policy that’s 10 to 15 times your annual salary. Policygenius can help you figure this out when youget a free quote, and you can also change or update your policy at any time.
Why Getting Life Insurance in Your Twenties Can Be Smart
We’ve established many of us twentysomethings are thinking about our futures, right? Even if you don’t think you need life insurance right this second, you’ll likely — at some point in the next 20 to 30 years — find a partner, buy a house, or have a kid or two.
But the thing about life insurance is that the price ticks up and up the older you get and the more health issues you inevitably encounter. So if you can lock in a price right now for the next couple of decades, you could save hundreds, if not thousands, of dollars.
Want to see how little life insurance can cost you a month as a healthy twentysomething? We suggestgetting a free quote through Policygenius. It takes about two minutes to enter your basic information.
Once you find a policy that fits your needs, you’ll apply online and finish up the process with a quick phone call from a representative who’ll be able to answer any questions.
Now you’ll have one less thing to worry about in the future — and you can save a ton of money in the process.
Carson Kohler (carson@thepennyhoarder.com) is a staff 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.
