As a teenager and young adult, it’s hard to think deeply about the future. You may daydream about your career, spouse, or family, but it always feels distant. Even those who start planning young still struggle to emotionally understand what life will really be like in five, 10, or even 20 years.

But then we start to get older. With each passing year, reality becomes more evident. Our new worries and concerns are things that our past selves could hardly even conceptualize. Risks, threats, and other issues that could impact our loved ones and us start to take priority. Rather than wishing for things we don’t have, we begin to want to protect everything we do have.

Like the generations before them, most Millennials are now well into this journey. And they are probably starting to realize just how important insurance can be. Anyone who hasn’t yet come to this conclusion should probably start today.

Why? Because there are some great benefits of insurance that all Millennials should embrace now.

1. Financial Protection

The primary goal and largest benefit of insurance is its ability to protect your bank account. Because people can never fully eliminate risk — no matter how hard anyone tries — insurance allows you to pay a small sum over regular intervals to a third party that agrees to take on that risk for them.

This practice, known as “risk transfer,” can be seen most easily in everyday life in the form of auto insurance. Chances are, if you drive for a few decades, you will be involved in an auto accident. Paying a monthly auto insurance premium protects you — and anyone else involved —from suffering a major financial fallout if a serious accident occurs.

This form of insurance, and the resulting benefits, is usually compulsory by state law. But the government is doing you a big favor by helping you protect yourself on the road.

2. A Sound Body

Healthcare is among the most important things we all need in life, and young adults gradually realize this. A few decades ago, there wasn’t as much awareness and discussion about healthcare as there is today. Even the biggest and strongest among us can fall victim to disease and accidents.

With a rise in hospitalization costs and growing inflation, it has become the need of the hour to look after our health and wellness. So we need to know that we will have access to quality medical care if anything goes wrong.

Rising medical costs make health insurance absolutely vital. Since the cost of high-level treatment and medical services are so high, health insurance is something all adults must prioritize. When you acquire insurance at a younger age, the monthly cost is likely to be cheaper today than it will be when you are older. If your employer does not offer medical insurance, there are several good options in the marketplace.

Here are a few tips to help you focus on your health:

Since the costs of health insurance have been volatile over the years, every millennial should ideally calculate the amount they can and are willing to pay at the end of each month.

You can choose the best cover by comparing the different offers that are available.

If your lifestyle isn’t high risk, one way of keeping your monthly payments down would be to opt for a high deductible plan which is more affordable than a general plan.

An insurance plan offered by your employer is more likely to be cost-effective.

If your prescriptions are also covered by your insurance plan, you will save more when you use a regular prescription.

3. Family Security

We all work our tails off to provide for those we love. For most people, starting a family is one of life’s greatest joys, and raising children is as good as it gets. After experiencing this, there is usually one thought that always sticks with you: I want to protect these people no matter what.

Much of the younger generation is under a constant threat of stress and anxiety which leads to bad decision making. As you grow, you may find it more and more essential to safeguard your health. An unhealthy lifestyle can lead to hefty medical expenses.

Risk transfer to the rescue again! Life insurance benefits are the best way to provide security for your family — even in a worst-case scenario where you unexpectedly pass away. The financial blow of these sudden illnesses can be cushioned by a good health investment plan.

Hopefully, you live a long life into old age, and your loved ones will never need to deal with financial stress at the same time they grieve. You can always reinvest the money saved from a tax benefit on the health insurance premium in better investments. However, through a very affordable form of insurance, they will at least have one less problem to deal with if tragedy strikes.

Benefiting From Insurance And Risk Transfer

When you’re 20 years old, risk isn’t something you take very seriously. You’re aware it exists, but it isn’t a pressing worry day-to-day. You might even feel invincible and willing to accept the personal consequences if unlikely events strike.

Then you get older and you start to feel like you have a lot more to lose. And it’s around this time that you begin to seek out options to stay safe. No matter where else you look first, few things can offer as much protection as insurance. It will safeguard your finances. It will ensure you always have access to healthcare. And it will offer you family security if the worst comes to pass.

Conclusion

So now, knowing how much it can provide, any Millennial should be able to see just how important insurance really is. And armed with this knowledge, you can now use it as a tool to help you prepare for the next five to 10 years of your life. Make sure you compare different insurance plans online (they’re easy to find) and read all the policy documents given to you before settling on a plan!

This post originally appeared on Arrest Your Debt.

I recently stumbled across a great way to start investing with free stocks without having to spend a great deal of my own money. I have used the traditional index fund retirement strategy but recently started trading individual stocks for fun. This list will show you all the places that will give you free stocks just for signing up!

How To Get Free Stocks

Nowadays, there are several ways in which you can indulge in micro-investing without spending a penny. There are multiple portfolios available, and you can take advantage of free stock offers to give your platform a boost. Besides, if you are a novice in the stock market, risking your hard-earned cash in the initial stages may frustrate you. Therefore, it would be best to invest in significantly low-risk options to learn about stocks and the best opportunities.

Do you want to know how to get free stocks and the legitimate applications you can use to start your investment journey? It may sound too good to be true, but this article will take you through various platforms to help you out.

Giving away free stocks has been a great way for legitimate investment companies to encourage novice investors to start trading. For most companies, if you create a new account with them and make an initial small deposit, you are eligible for their free stock offer.

#1. Robinhood

Robinhood is one of the most popular trading platforms where you can invest in ETFs, cryptocurrencies, and stocks. The company has a user-friendly application and low-cost structure. If you are a new customer on Robinhood, you get free shares just for signing up with a new account!

Note that you must meet the following conditions;

Be a new account holder without having a previous one registered under your credentials.

You need to sign up via a new link that has an up to date promotion.

You may have an existing account, but it has no activities, yet thus, you may still qualify.

How To Get Free Stock On Robinhood

First, sign up by clicking on the top-right hand corner or the middle button of your screen. Next, tap on the pop up that indicates ‘Claim Your Free Stock Now.’ You then get a random stock in your account, but if you are lucky enough, you may get a blue-chip one like Facebook or Microsoft.

When I first signed up, I was given one share of VBI Vaccines that was valued at $3.39 when I received it.

You then need to enter your credentials on the next screen, such as your name, email address, home address, phone number, password, investment experience, social security number, and more. In case you are an expert in this field, you can choose the trading options you prefer. For instance, if you like cryptos, you can trade in Litecoin, Digecoin, Ethereum, and Bitcoin – for free.

Your account is then linked to your bank to enable the effortless transfer of funds. Registration takes a few minutes, and you should get a bonus in a week.

Robinhood Referral Program

You can still get more free stocks by referring your friends to the company. On the app, tap on ‘Invite Friends, Get Free Stock’ referral link to invite your contacts who may be interested. Immediately they sign up on their brokerage account and get approval on their account; you will have additional stock.

You don’t have to worry about extra costs since the app has no monthly fees or a dollar minimum balance requirement. In case you need assistance on how to buy stock, the app’s help center has articles and tutorials. Further, as a brokerage company regulation is critical; thus, both the Security and Exchange Commission (SEC) and FINRA regulate its operations.

Robinhood is so easy to trade stock, the Wall Street Journal recently wrote an article asking the question, “Does Robinhood make it too easy to trade?”

To receive your first free stock, sign up for Robinhood here!

#2. Webull

Webull is a brokerage company that deals in ETFs, stocks, and options. Additionally, the trading app offers you a commission-free account with no fees or minimum balance requirements. They offer free stock promotions in two techniques.

How To Get The Initial Free Stock

As a new customer, you need to sign up via a link with the promotion and sign up for the free stock reward. (click here for the promotional link)

Next, download the Webull application from your Android or IOS device.

On the app’s menu, click on the ‘My Free Stock’ page and the ‘Get It Now Button’ to initiate your registration and open a brokerage account.

You then receive your first free stock valued at about $2.50 to $250.

You also have a chance of getting a second free stock by depositing $100 or more in 30 days, valued at $12 to $1,400.

To claim your free deposits, tap on ‘My Free Stock.’

Within five trading days after your claim, your account gets credited with the free rewards you can choose to sell. You can potentially get two free stock worth a combined value ranging from $14.50 to $1,650. Stockpile fluctuations lead to the varying amounts that you could get.

Webull Referral Program

You can get more free stock after you fund your account by referring your friends using a referral link. Your referral will get a free stock at the sign-up stage worth between $2.50 and $250. Once they deposit $100 or more within 30 days, they get another free share worth between $12 and $1,400. In return, you will receive two free stocks.

In case you invite three users on the platform and all deposit $100, you get an additional three stocks. Therefore, the more people you refer, the higher your odds of receiving more free shares.

To refer your friends on Webull, go to the menu and click on ‘my free stock’ then hit ‘refer my friends’ button. You will get a link to send to new users who can sign up to use the platform.

Sign up for Webull here to get your free stocks!

#3. M1 Finance

M1 Finance is a straightforward and free-to-use brokerage platform that you can use to trade in stocks, ETFs, and Bonds. It comes with an easy to use interface with lots of innovative features such as an intelligent re-balancing tool to make it seamless while trading. Additionally, its commission-free, and you won’t have to pay for any markups.

The platform is 100% secure since it’s a member of the Securities Investor Protection Corporation (SIPC). Additionally, to ensure the security of your account, MI Finance has two-factor authentication and has military-grade 4096-bit encryption.

As a new user on the platform, you get a $10 bonus credit by following these steps;

Sign up into your free account using an M1 Finance link. (click here to sign up at M1 Finance)

Fund your account with a minimum of $100 for a taxable account and $500 for an IRA within 90 days. You also need to maintain your initial qualification funding for the same period.

A bonus of $10 will reflect your account under the ‘Promotions’ tab once you meet all conditions.

Once you have a free account, you can invest in ‘pies’ or an investment portfolio based on your goals, tolerance, among other factors.

M1 Finance Referal Program

The site features a refer a friend program that gives you bonus credits. Once you have an account, your friend can receive a $10 bonus after opening an account using your link. In return, you also receive a similar amount for investing. Moreover, you can earn an extra $1000 when you refer up to ten new users who fund all their accounts.

How To Refer A New MI Finance User

On the app, tap on ‘Refer & Earn.’ Please note that the feature will only be available when your account is fully funded.

Next, you need to sign up for the referral program.

Choose your preferred payment account where you will receive your referral program earnings.

Share your specific referral link with your friends and other associates.

Once your referrals sign up and fund their accounts, you get a $10 worth of bonus payment within 14 days.

Note that the M1 Finance referral program has various terms and conditions as follows;

The offer is valid to IRA and new brokerage accounts on the platform.

It’s non-transferable and not valid with other offers.

Your payment account should be either a joint taxable or an individual.

Both you and the referral should have an open brokerage account.

To get the bonus, the new user must deposit $500 for IRAs and $100 for taxable accounts within 90 days. Also, there should not be a withdraw in the same period.

The offer is restricted to US residents only.

Click here to get your free stocks with M1 Finance

#4. Nvstr

Nvstr is a brokerage platform that aims at helping you make smart and straightforward trade investments. The site empowers you on relevant insights, information, and community that help you make wise decisions. Therefore, you can follow several experts’ ideas and try to copy their habits to become like them.

Whether you are a beginner or veteran, the app has the right technology to assist you. It’s also easy to use and understand the platform. Moreover, it features an optimizer to help you decide the amount of money to invest in specific stocks.

As a new member, you can get up to $1,000 to invest, although the selection is random, you are assured of at least $10. Here are the steps you need to follow to get an amount in that range;

Find an Nvstr $1,000 referral link to sign up and get an approval for a free account.

You then receive free cash for investing in your account, ranging from $10 to $1000.

Ensure that you place a trade within one year to keep the bonus funds. It also restricts the withdraw of the reward for the same period. Also, note that the offer is only valid for live trading brokerage accounts.

Nvstr Referral Program

In the referral program, you and the referrals can get up to $1,000 free cash. To receive the amount, you need to refer a new member who then opens a free live trading account. There are no membership or monthly fees or any minimum deposit amount.

Note that the program is permitted to natural US residents, aged 18 and above. You will also incur a $4.50 charge per trade since it’s not commission-free. However, there is a simulated feature which lets you use their optimization and collaboration tools without risking real money.

#5. Stockpile

Stockpile is an online brokerage company with an easy to use application that helps people invest in stocks. It doesn’t require a lot of finances to start trading, provided you have a social security number and a US address. Additionally, there are no account fees or minimum account balances required. You can purchase fractional shares; thus, you can go for a set dollar amount less than the cost of a share. You buy the stocks by linking your bank account using either a debit or credit card.

Stockpile also offers physical and electronic gift cards from as low as $1 to $1,000 for the latter and $25 for the former. Therefore you can purchase one for yourself or your loved ones.

How To Get Your Free Stock

You need to sign up for a stockpile account using a referral link. You then receive a $5 worth of free stock for investing. Additionally, you get a chance to have your favorite stocks worth the same amount in various stores such as Amazon, Prada, Tesla, Snap, Disney, Victoria’s Secret, Apple, and more. Alternatively, you can buy others in your preferred travel company like Hilton, Expedia, Marriott, Hilton, American Airlines, Southwest Airlines, and more.

The stocks get deposited in your new account, and you can redeem the $5 free bonus without any additional purchase requirements.

#6. Bumped

Bumped is a modern application with a new twist to let you earn stocks every time you shop at your favorite e-commerce site, retailer, or restaurant. Therefore, as a customer, you get a share of the company by being a regular client. The application brings in disruption from the usual customer loyalty program that implements different forms of rewards such as discounts, free stuff, cashback, loyalty cards, and more.

You can earn free stocks using bumped through the following process;

Join the Waitlist

Before you officially sign up for a Bumped account, you need to join the waitlist since the application is still on public beta. You will get a notification when to download the app in your device then sign up for your brokerage account. Note that you need to be a US citizen or have permanent residency and be 18 years of age and above. You will also need to give your name, address, photo verification, and social security number.

Link Cards

After signing up, the app prompts you to link a credit or debit card per your preference. It helps in tracking your spending patterns in available brands. Here is a step to step guide on how to do it;

• On the menu, select ‘Linked Cards.’

• Select ‘Link a New Account.’

• Sign in to your preferred bank and choose the card you wish to use.

• You can also decide to link to many cards, and in case you are stuck, Bumped has a guide to ease the process.

Choose Brands

After creating a Bumped account, the next crucial step is to choose from 16 different categories that you will get your free stocks from. In each section, you pick one brand only. Some of the current types include;

• Rideshare – Lyft, uber

• Pizza – Pizza hut, Papa John’s, Dominos,

• Music streaming – SiriusXM, Spotify

• Video Streaming – Sling Tv, Netflix

• Superstores – Target, Wallmart

• Family Dining – Olive Garden, Red Robin, Chilli’s, Applebee’s

• Coffee – Dunkin’ Donuts, Starbucks

Bumped ensures that they give you diverse categories; thus, you can’t miss out on some areas even if you don’t choose from all of them. Therefore, you can accumulate as much stock as possible, making the platform one of the best rewards site. Besides, as it continues to grow, you can expect more brands to increase your chances of extra rewards.

Shop And Earn Stock

When you buy for any of the selected brands in your account, you get stock rewards. It takes about two to five working days to show up. A majority of the categories pay a 1% to 2% cashback; thus, if you spend $1,000 at Target, you earn $1 in free Target stock. Moreover, others pay up to 5%, and you can confirm your account of the current rates.

You receive the percentage of stock in fractional shares, no matter the price fluctuations. Note that most of the brands opt to pay in EFTs, but it’s an excellent way to diversify your portfolio.

Sell Stocks And Cashout

If you want your fractional shares to increase in value over a duration of time, you can accumulate stocks in your account. However, if you choose to sell, it’s much more seamless using bumped by following these steps;

• Go to the menu and select ‘Portfolio.’

• Select the ETF or stock you would like to sell

• Tap on ‘Sell’ to confirm the sale

A few days later, a deposit of the stock sale will reflect on your ‘cash balance’ in the Bumped app. There are no charges incurred while making a transfer of your free money to an account of your choice.

#7. iConsumer

iConsumer is a unique platform that offers you an opportunity to invest in stocks as well as earn cashback. As a shareholder, you get a reward every time you shop at the participating online retailers. Additionally, it helps you save money through coupons and deals.

If you want to earn stocks and cashback, you need to join iConsumer. You can install the app on your iOS or Android device or use your desktop by getting directly into the site then sign up. Alternatively, if you use a referral link, you get a sign-up bonus immediately.

Once you make purchases from the participating stores, you get an iConsumer report within a week. You can get your cashback either via bitcoin or check after earning at least $25. Note that you need to be a US citizen and provide your social security number for a stock transfer and issuance.

How To Get Free Stocks With iConsumer

When you spend the first $25 on the platform, you are rewarded with up to $500 free iConsumer stock bonus shares. As a beginner, it’s an easy way to start investing since you are not taking risks. Further, you continually earn every time you purchase something from a partner brand.

iConsumer Referal Program

If you want to earn more shares, you can invite your friends and family to join the platform. For every referral that uses the platform for at least six months, you earn $100 regardless of the purchases they made. Therefore, you stand a chance of getting $10 and 250 shares. The more people you invite to use iConsumer, the higher your chances of more rewards. You can send them your link or referral code using various sites like Facebook, LinkedIn, or Twitter.

#8. Stash Invest

Stash is an investment application in stocks and exchange-traded funds that help beginners get started with limited resources. Once you sign up, you can build your portfolio based on your risk tolerance and goals. There is no minimum balance required, and you can also purchase portions of a company’s stocks since the platforms allow fractional investing.

Further, if you sign up via a referral link on orange, you receive $5 within two working days to start your investment. It will cost you $1 per month for an account and access to the platform’s online bank and debit card, which comes with a rewards program. It’s an excellent option for beginners, but you can also opt for growth or stash+.

Click here to get your free stocks on Stash

Stash Invest Reward Program

Stash Invest awards you with fractional shares as you make purchases. Moreover, you get a 0.125% reward for subscribing to the $1/month or $3/month account options. If you decide to pick the $9 per month plan, you get double the amount. Stash also offers monthly bonuses on the amounts spent in affiliated brands. If you purchase from a firm that is not publicly traded, your reward gets invested in a diversified ETF.

#9. Acorns

Acorns is a micro-investing as well as micro-savings application. Once you sync the app with your spending accounts, it will shift a small amount into your savings by reading your credit card’s spending habits. It uses a process called roundups as it pulls the difference from the checking account and invests in the Acorns account that you set up.

The roundups process rounds each purchase up to the nearest dollar to invest your spare change effortlessly.

It has an easy to use application and has become a popular option for millennials. You only need a fee of $1 per month for an account that is less than $5,000 and a fee of 0.25 for the larger ones.

Using Credit Cards With Reward Points

Signing up for automatic deposits and round-ups is the best way of maximizing your Acorns application. However, it would be wise to squeeze a little more out of your linking cards to relive yourself out of unnecessary consumer debt. Eventually, the credit cards that have high rewards can boost your gains.

For instance, if you purchase an item worth $2.95 from Amazon, the app will round up five cents and get them in your account. If you have a roundup booster, it will help you save more since it will get the amount to around $5.

You can also get free stocks after you sign up from a referral link. The platform will then deposit a free $5 in your account to start your investment.

Click here to get your free stocks from Acorns!

#10. Public

Public is a trading application that allows you to buy and sell ETFs and stocks for free with no account minimums required. With the tools on the app, you can own shares in a company with any amount.

You can download the app via your android or iOS device. Further, you can connect your social circles to learn the techniques your friends use to invest. Additionally, the platform has a free community that you can follow to know the trending stocks and start investing from as low as $1.

Public can be recommended to investors such as;

• People without so much money but who want to invest.

• Someone who wants to save on commissions.

• Beginners who don’t have enough knowledge about investing and want some inspiration and guidance.

• Investors who enjoy incorporating a social element to stock trading.

Steps On How To Get A Free Slice Of Stock On The Public Platform

Go to the platform’s app $10 free stock link and enter your phone number, which prompts a text.

Download the application through the text message and sign up to get a free account.

After creating your account, you will receive your preferred choice of a free $10 slice of stock.

The stock has a value of $10, and you can pick from several stocks such as Google, Amazon, and more.

Refer A Friend Program On Public

The platforms also feature a generous referral program to award both you and your friends for using the application. When you refer a new user to sign up via your link and create an account, you both get a free slice of stock in your accounts that are worth from $1 to $50.

Note that you cannot withdraw the free stock value for up to 90 days from the day you received it. Further, the highest amount of free stock you can earn gets restricted to $500.

#11. Firstrade

Lesser known Firstrade is an online brokerage firm that specializes in investment products through state of the art tools. Their focus is on investing strategies and practices with a focus on building wealth.

With an impressive selection of 11,000+ investments, Firstrade focuses on what they do best – offer high-quality investments without the flashy lights and graphics.

In additon to basic company shares, Firstrade makes several investment options available to investors to include:

Index Funds

Stocks

Bonds

Target Date Funds

Mutual Funds

How To Get Free Stocks On Firstrade

Firstrade provides a cash bonus to new investors. Depending on the amount you initially invest, you will be given a corresponding bonus you can use towards the purchase of additional stocks at no cost to you.

This is the bonus scale for Firstrade new accounts:

$25 bonus for an initial investment of $5,000 to $9,999

$50 added bonus for an initial investment of $10,000 to $24,999

$100 bonus for an initial investment of $25,000 to $49,999

$200 added bonus for an initial investment of $50,000 to $99,999

$300 bonus for an initial investment of $100,000 to $249,999

$600 added bonus for an initial investment of $250,000 or more

Firstrade Referral Program

When you sign up for a Firstrade account, you will receive a referral bonus link. When someone signs up with your link, both you and your referral will receive a free stock.

#12. E-Trade

A familiar face in the onine trading industry, E-Trade has continued to deliver a solid platform for investors to invest in the stockmarket.

From beginners to advance investors, E-Trade remains competitive in the investing world due to their constantly evolving platform that focuses on education and low fee trading.

How To Get Free Stocks On E-Trade

In keeping up with industry norms, E-Trade realizes the need to offer free stocks and bonuses to new investors. E-Trade has a similar bonus structure to Firstrade.

The bonus structure of E-Trade is:

$25 signup bonus with an initial investment of $5,000 to $9,999

$50 bonus with an initial investment of $10,000 to $24,999

$200 signup bonus with an initial investment of $25,000 to $99,999

$300 bonus with an initial investment of $100,000 to $249,999

$600 signup bonus with an initial investment of $250,000 to $499,999

$1,200 bonus with an initial investment of $500,000 to $999,999

$2,500 bonus with an initial investment of $1,000,000 or more

#13. Dough

Dough is a relatively new company that is trying to get into the trading space. Dough, similarly to other popular platforms, focuses on commission free trading.

How To Get Free Stocks On Dough

First-time users on Dough are eligible for a free share when they open a new account.

The free share is valued at $2 to $200 depending on the market value at the time of the award.

Bottom Line

From the above guide, it’s evident that various companies and applications are giving free stock or bonuses to earn your personal finance business. You can use multiple effortless ways to benefit from the initiative as each platform tries to convince people to use their services.

In most of the apps, you get a free reward bonus immediately you sign up. Therefore, if you have always wished to get into the stock market, you can choose one of the above trading platforms depending on your preference. Most of them have an easy to navigate interface and extra learning materials to favor beginners. Additionally, you don’t need to have a lump sum to jump-start your portfolio.

If you have wanted to start trading stocks without ruining your retirement, these platforms are the best place to get your feet wet without going broke in the process.

This post originally appeared on Arrest Your Debt.

Recently, my wife started experimenting with home remolding and flipping. One of the main selling points for potential buyers is a clean and tidy home when they come for a showing. With little time to do it on our own, she found the Tidy App and decided to give it a try. This Tidy review is a full review of our experience with the house cleaning service app – and if we would use it again.

What Exactly Is Tidy?

Tidy, in a nutshell, is an app that connects people who are looking for someone to clean their home, with available housecleaners. It’s similar to the business design of Lyft, Uber, and other gig economy type applications. If you want to “tidy away your life,” this maid service option may be right up your alley.

How do I know this? I’ve used Tidy myself. My experience with it has been mostly positive. In the age of apps to make our life easier, we decided to give Tidy a try.

As stated earlier, we used the Tidy app for a couple of homes we flipped, and we have also used it for our personal residence. My wife first heard about it from a couple of her friends and decided to download the app and give it a try.

We quickly realized the use of Tidy can simplify the process of reserving local housekeepers. If you’re searching high and low for professional cleaning assistance that is also reasonably priced, then Tidy services may be right for you and your household. We found Tidy is a relatively new and upcoming app that has an amazing amount of potential.

Where Tidy Cleaners Operate

At the time of this review, the Tidy App is only available in certain locations. Currently, the Tidy App connects house cleaners with customers in the following areas:

Arizona

California

Texas

Florida

Nevada

Colorado

Washington, D.C.

Virginia

Illinois

Georgia

*More locations are continually being added.

Signing Up For Tidy

We own Android phones, so a quick search in my Google Play located the Tidy App right away. The app is available for iPhone users as well.

Important! There are two house cleaning apps in the app store that are labeled as “Tidy.” One is the authentic Tidy.com app, the other is not.

When we first download the app, we found the initial sign up and onboarding process was straightforward. You can register to use the Tidy app via your cell phone or the main website at Tidy.com.

If you head to the official Tidy website, you can fill out a simple registration form. All you have to do is include accurate details regarding your full name and email address. You have to come up with a suitable password, too. Once you’re through providing the Tidy team with this information, you can click on the “Continue” button.

After you registering for a Tidy account, click “login” on the company’s site. You can get inside of your account using your email address and password.

How Much Does Tidy Cost?

We found Tidy home cleanings were way cheaper than we expected. For example, the screen shot below shows how much Tidy charges by time:

Tidy Rates

Tidy rates vary by the length of cleaning time requested as well as where you live. Here in Arizona, the rates are as follows:

Regular Tidy Cleaning

A regular Tidy cleaning is $40 for one hour of cleaning with one housekeeper.

Tidy+ Cleaning

A Tidy+ cleaning is $75 for 2.5 hours of cleaning with one housekeeper.

Tidy XL Cleaning

A Tidy XL cleaning is $115 for 4 hours of cleaning with one housekeeper.

Tidy Mighty Cleaning

A Tidy Mighty cleaning is $200 for 4 hours of cleaning with two housekeepers.

How The Tidy App Works

Cleaning durations vary depending on the service requested. Customers can choose durations of one, two and a half, and four hours. Staff member numbers differ as well. If you want a cleaning service from one housekeeper, that’s up to you. If you want a cleaning service from two individuals at the same time, then that’s up to you, too.

Geography also determines pricing. Some people pay a little more than $15.00 for cleaning service by the hour. Others pay up to $30.00 hourly.

The Tidy website makes it easy for potential customers to get detailed cleaning service price estimates. If you want to predict pricing for a whole house clean job, a partial one, or anything else, all you have to do is check out the site. That’s precisely what we did before booking anything.

All you have to do is provide Tidy with your zip code, your desired cleaning service duration, and your desired frequency. Some people want rates that apply to continued Tidy home cleanings. Others want rates that apply to single cleaning sessions. There are even many who need prices that are suitable for last-minute same-day service (added 10% upcharge for same day).

You can pay for Tidy services with a credit card and later write a review on how your Tidy cleaning went.

If you’re planning on booking your first Tidy cleaning session, you should think about certain things that relate to pricing in advance. We found Tidy doesn’t tack on any mysterious additional charges. It enables customers to reduce their cleaning costs by as much as $50.00 from other cleaning alternatives we were looking into.

Is Tidy Legitimate?

The last thing you ever want to do is squander your money and time on a cleaning company that’s not legitimate or credible. I did a bit of research and found Tidy takes a cautious approach to recruiting all of its housekeepers. Its team members meticulously analyze each application by hand, rather than relying on an algorithm.

I was also surprised to learn that the bulk of applicants are denied certification by Tidy. Certified Tidy home keepers go through in-depth background checks. That’s one of the things that made me a little less apprehensive about a stranger coming into my home.

Tidy E-Verify

Tidy maids are all legally permitted to live in the United States. They’re also English speakers. From my experience, I’ve never had any issues communicating with a Tidy home keeper.

I also liked the option of being able to schedule the same home keeper each time rather than having new people continually cleaning my home.

Do Tidy Cleaners Bring Their Own Supplies?

If you work with Tidy, you should never have to think about sharing your cleaning supplies. This can help reduce your costs significantly. Tidy home keepers all come equipped with safe and eco-friendly cleaning devices.

They all come equipped with safe, gentle, and mild cleaning formulas beneficial for the environment as well. Tidy’s professionals tend to show up with vacuum cleaners, towels, sponges, glass cleaners, shower cleaners, toilet cleaners, and mops. They tend to show up with cleaning formulas that are suitable for many diverse applications, too.

I was relieved when I realized that I didn’t have to have any cleaning tools on hand. That saved me a lot of stress and energy.

Eco-Friendly Cleaning Products

The cleaning formulas its team members use are required to be safe, natural, and eco-friendly. Tidy exclusively authorizes cleaning products that do not endanger pets or children in any way, shape, or form.

Tidy states they meticulously assess cleaning company manufacturers before approving them. Tidy goes exclusively with pH neutral manufacturers. This can keep home destruction at bay.

If you have any detailed cleaning wishes, that’s fine because I always do. Some people have requirements that relate to things like hardwood floor cleaning formulas. You can safeguard a note on the app for your cleaner to view. Remember, Tidy cleaners do not routinely come equipped with bleach. That’s because bleach can potentially wreak havoc on possessions, furniture items, and floors.

However, if you prefer bleach use, Tidy housecleaners will bring bleach to clean the surfaces you point out.

What Should You Do While Your Maid Is Cleaning?

If you’re home at the time, you may want to stay in another room. That’s because you want to make it as easy as possible for your home keeper to navigate and manage your living space.

I tend to run errands while I get Tidy services. It’s rather simple to give Tidy home keepers details to getting inside of your home when you’re not there. You can put all of these details on your residential profile, or send them specifically to your housekeeper.

Additionally, you can specify preferred parking locations for all Tidy staff members. You can indicate exactly how you want your home keeper to approach getting inside your space. You may have information that relates to lockbox keys and garage codes.

We found the Tidy service was extremely customizable for our needs. If you schedule Tidy for ½ hour cleanings, you can stick around. If you call Tidy for a cleaning service that lasts for 2.5 hours, you can handle work, errands around the community, and other similar chores.

How Many Hours A Week Should You Clean?

No one can determine precisely how many hours of cleaning work your home needs, because it always depends. No two residential properties are identical. If you live in a spacious home with a total of five bedrooms, it may require more frequent professional cleaning sessions. If you live all by yourself in a more compact home, then you may not need to get a cleaning service quite as often.

Think about the number of individuals in your household as well. Bigger houses naturally require more regular cleaning work. This is especially true for big families that have young and energetic children.

If you’re a parent who has little kids who do a lot of running around and playing, you shouldn’t be too shocked if your need for maid service increases. My wife and I prefer monthly cleaning to help deep clean some of the more difficult areas while we keep up on the day to day cleaning.

For others, weekly cleaning sessions are common. Some people opt to clean their houses twice monthly. Others, like us, choose monthly cleaning sessions. The decision ultimately is yours and yours alone.

Take a look around your home to assess its status. Do the hardwood floors in your living room look grimy and dull? Do the countertops in your bathroom and kitchen look like they’ve seen much better days? If your house continually looks lackluster, you should consider upping the frequency of your Tidy service.

What Exactly Should a Tidy Cleaner Do in Two Hours?

Many people hire Tidy for maid service that spans two hours. I was surprised how many tasks Tidy cleaners were able to tackle in a two-hour time frame. They can clean living rooms, bedrooms, kitchens, bathrooms, hallways, offices, and finished basements.

They can zero in on more nuanced house cleaning specialties as well.

What I particularly like about the Tidy app is the ability to customize your cleaning. You can specify which rooms or which tasks you would like completed. You are paying for the house keeper’s time, not the tasks.

Tidy home keepers devote a lot of time to cleaning bathroom sinks. They set aside a lot of time for cleaning household appliances. They mop and vacuum the family room and den floors. They empty garbage cans. They, in many cases, even take on the dishes in the kitchen.

I’m guilty of letting dirty dishes pile up inside of my kitchen sink any time I’m particularly busy. Fortunately, Tidy home keepers are a bunch of professional dishwashing powerhouses.

Do You Tip Tidy Cleaners?

Tipping is something that often makes people feel uncertain and confused. The Tidy team states explicitly that tips aren’t essential. That’s the reason that the bulk of Tidy customers refrain from tipping. Despite that, tipping home keepers isn’t prohibited in any sense. Customers can opt to tip their home keepers for excellent work as they desire.

Why isn’t tipping vital at Tidy? That’s partially because the company’s home keepers earn much more than standard housekeepers do.

Attitudes regarding tipping practices are changing in society these days as well. Some people want to keep things as straightforward as possible. These people often believe that doing away with tipping may keep things a lot more streamlined. It’s always a personal decision.

No one can tell you whether you should tip. If you return to a tidy home that looks like a vision of cleaning glory, you may be compelled to tip. Just remember that Tidy doesn’t require it.

The Pros Of Using The Tidy App

There are so many advantages that are associated with getting Tidy services. The app, when it’s working, is the definition of user-friendly. People who use this app to book maid service do not have to learn in advance. You can rely on the “concierge,” too.

Concierge representatives can answer all sorts of questions that involve bookings and services in general. They can even help customers who have cleaning wishes that are customized. People can reach out to the concierge team via email: concierge@tidy.com, or text message. The concierge feature is one of many examples of Tidy’s unique customer service style.

Tidy also has a customer service line that is provided when you send an email to concierge@tidy.com.

Cleaning a home well isn’t an easy job for anyone. If you’re interested in attaining unrivaled home cleaning results, using the Tidy app may push you in the right direction. From my experience, Tidy’s home keepers do a pretty good job.

I haven’t seen them take shortcuts during cleaning sessions. I have found single hour cleaning sessions can spruce up the nooks and crannies of your home. Same day cleaning sessions can rapidly get your home looking flawless before “last minute” guests show up at your doorstep for dinner.

Customers who work with Tidy are in charge of what gets cleaned and what doesn’t. You can opt for specialties that are big among Tidy customers in general. You can even specify the exact tasks you need to get done.

Tidy To-Dos

Tidy “to-dos” cover a lot of territory. This feature enables customers to demonstrate their preferred bed making approaches. It can come in handy for customers who want to clear up any bewilderment that involves washer and dryer functioning.

If you’re going to simplify things for your home keeper, then using “to-dos” is precisely what you need. I’m a massive fan of it due to the ability to customize my cleaning preferences.

Tidy Guarantee

Tidy services come with a reassuring satisfaction guarantee, too. Customers who are not satisfied with initial cleaning results can secure credits that they can put toward future sessions.

The app makes reserving appointments for professional housekeeping services a piece of cake. It makes it fast as well. It doesn’t matter if you simply want to book an appointment or if you want to make any adjustments to your “to-dos.” This technology enables customers to save a lot of time and energy.

Update Notifications

I was also impressed because the app continually updates me with email notifications and alerts related to my scheduled cleaning. If you want a reminder about an upcoming cleaning appointment, you can get it from the app. The app’s approach to Internet scheduling is pleasant and logical, as well.

Tidy can be a game-changer for people who want to minimize stress. To keep my wife happy, they utilize cleaning solutions that do not negatively impact the environment. They use products that are suitable for pets, cats, and dogs as well.

Tidy Cleaning As A Gift

Handling detailed cleaning work can be a hassle for people who have busy and demanding schedules. Luckily, people can surprise their friends and family members with gift cleaning sessions from Tidy. Tidy services can be especially helpful to people who aren’t able to move around their homes easily or swiftly.

If you have family members who have severe arthritis, then pleasantly surprising him with a Tidy present may be the perfect gift. People often give Tidy gifts to adult children who are strapped for time. They just as frequently provide these gifts to elderly relatives who suffer from persistent body aches and pains.

The official Tidy site has a simple form accessible to people who are interested in giving Tidy gifts. All you have to do is provide details, including your name, email address, recipient name, recipient email address, and gift monetary value.

You can also opt to include a message with your Tidy gift. I always say something basic. A classic birthday greeting tends to do the trick. Once you provide all of the details, you move forward with payment via a secured online portal.

Tidy Gift Refunds

People who are fortunate enough to get Tidy cleaning session presents have a lot of freedom. They can apply the gift credit to any service or package that’s accessible through Tidy. You don’t have to concern yourself with thoughts that involve the Tidy team not being able to accommodate your recipient’s wishes in full, either.

If the Tidy team, for whatever reason, is unable to cater to your recipient’s cleaning requests, he or she will receive a full refund. The Tidy crew will notify you of the refund as well.

Using Tidy For Business

House cleaning is only where things start for the Tidy crew. That’s because the Tidy menu is a vast one that doesn’t charge outrageous prices. It features cleaning services that go beyond residential properties. You can request cleaning work for an Airbnb or a standard rental. You can request it for a commercial space as well.

If you own and operate a bakery or a dining establishment of any kind, you can request cleaning assistance from the Tidy team. If you’re in charge of a clothing boutique or any office, you can request it. Tidy home keepers regularly take on cleaning projects that are suitable for offices that are mid-sized or even small.

Easy To Cancel

This app can be helpful to people who like taking “no strings attached” approaches to housekeeping services. If you test out Tidy, you don’t have to feel obligated to continue with it. The app enables people to quit using it as they wish.

The Cons Of Using The Tidy App

Although there’s no denying that Tidy is an app that has taken the housekeeping world by storm, that doesn’t mean that it’s 100 percent devoid of flaws. I’ve noticed a couple of things about Tidy that could most likely use a bit of improvement.

Tidy is accessible in many metropolises all around the United States. It’s not yet accessible everywhere, however. If you reside in a smaller town or city, then you may not be able to access Tidy cleaning assistance. Hopefully they will continue expansion into other areas of the country.

Cancellations

What else about the Tidy app could use a degree of improvement? Tidy gives people the option to cancel cleaning appointments if necessary. Occasional cancellations are inevitable. Life happens, people get sick, they injure themselves, they have cars that fail to start, and the list goes on.

If you have no choice but to cancel a Tidy appointment, the charge can be pretty high. This is a significant concern for some people. Tidy app users receive only three cancellation waivers every 90 days.

Some Tidy users have concerns that involve cleaning session timing. They sometimes complain that Tidy schedules sessions too rapidly. It can be hard to prepare for one cleaning job. Preparing for another that follows immediately can be an exercise in anxiety and frustration.

House Cleaner Cancellations

The top concern and complaints about Tidy are house cleaners that never showed or canceled at the last minute. I have not had this happen to me but I can certainly understand the frustration.

In addition to the untimely cancellations, users have reported significant struggles in getting their money back or appointments rescheduled. Their issues revolved around poor communication with customer service.

Poor Cleaning Services

Other people have complained about the poor cleaning or lack of cleaning they received. Several online critiques say the home keeper was extremely slow and/or didn’t clean everything they said they did. Fortunately, I have not had a similar experience with the cleaners who I hired.

App Issues

The Tidy app isn’t at all flawless in setup, either. I’ve come across a few issues with it in recent times. I recently noticed that my home keeper was unable to view anything I included in the “to-dos” feature. This brought on a great deal of confusion. It wasted my home keeper’s time and consumed a significant amount of my time as well.

This app can also be pretty sluggish at times. There are many apps these slow days, and that can squander a lot of your energy. I sometimes have to deal with the hassles of the Tidy app freezing. My app often freezes and logs me out. If you were in any reservation or transaction, you should make sure that you didn’t rack up any charges unknowingly.

Reports Of Theft

Some Tidy users have frustrations that involve allegations of theft or missing items. If you have any concerns involving the possibility of theft, you should take action to safeguard yourself and the rest of your household.

What I do to avoid any potential issues is to store all my valuables in my safe before the cleaners arrive. The last thing you want is to leave anything irreplaceable out in the open. Although Tidy goes above and beyond to assess its cleaners’ backgrounds meticulously, there is always a chance of a few bad apples.

Damaged Property

It isn’t unheard of for Tidy team members accidentally damage an item in your home. People who experience any issues have the option to go forward with damage claim form filings. If they fill these forms out, they can get compensated with credit for Tidy cleaning services.

People can set aside credits for any cleaning sessions that are coming up for them. Some people prefer to receive money refunds. This isn’t a major complaint among the Tidy customer base. Most cleaners take great pains to steer clear of doing anything destructive.

The Tidy app is known for being pretty user-friendly. It’s not ideal, though. If you want to steer clear of any mishaps or headaches, you should take the time to review it before you make any action. Don’t set up any cleaning session until you have confidence in your knowledge of the app.

Wrapping It Up – My Thoughts Of Tidy

When my wife and I first started using the Tidy app, I was reluctant. I don’t like spending money if I don’t have too, but we were in a position that we didn’t have enough free time to do all the cleaning on our own. By giving the Tidy app a try, I found it was extremely easy to connect to a maid service without having to vet them out on my own.

By trusting the company to do the background checks for me, I found the people who came into my home didn’t look like ex-convicts.

Before I wrote this post, I looked online through other Tidy reviews and saw there were plenty of horror stories about the Tidy app. Even though most of the commentary online is negative, I found that my experience with Tidy homekeepers over the past six months has been pleasant.

I will admit that the cleaners did not do as good of a job as I would have done but I’m also a bit of a perfectionist. Understanding this is my nature I was able to accept the job Tidy employees do and I’m pleased with the overall quality.

All in all, I would recommend Tidy to people looking for a little extra help keeping up with the cleaning around their home.

This post originally appeared on Arrest Your Debt.

Weekend getaways allow you a chance to escape from the hustle and bustle of life nat a fraction of the cost of a more extended vacation. And with a little planning, you can take several cheap weekend getaways throughout the year and scratch your travel itch for very little money.

You know what I’m talking about, right?

You’ve been working hard for months, and you just need a break. You also don’t have the time, or maybe the funds, to take a week or two off for a proper vacation.

What do you do? You begin planning a getaway for the weekend.

A Google search for cheap weekend getaways will reveal a plethora of travel lists. Destinations like Las Vegas or Atlanta are staples of lists like these, but you’ll also find quite a bit of variation.

The problem with lists is that what constitutes cheap weekend getaways for you is highly dependent on where you live and how long you have.

So, rather than regurgitate the typical getaway lists, we’ve decided to discuss the things you need to consider when planning cheap weekend getaways.

From distance to goals to discount options, here are all the things you need to consider when planning cheap weekend getaways.

Location

The first thing you need to consider when planning cheap weekend getaways is where you live.

We’ve already mentioned that Las Vegas and Atlanta are two frequent additions to lists of weekend travel destinations, but there’s a problem. Las Vegas and Atlanta are almost 2,000 miles apart, so while one of them might be relatively close to you, the other is not.

Thus, the first thing you need to consider when planning a weekend trip is your location and what’s relatively close to you. It doesn’t make sense to travel across the country just for the weekend!

Distance

Expanding on the point above, you’ll not only need to consider your location but how far you’re willing to travel.

Thus, the distance to your getaway will be a significant factor in planning your trip, especially when it’s just for the weekend.

Before you look too much into potential destinations, we recommend you first decide whether you’ll be driving, flying, or using some other mode, and then how many hours you’re willing to spend on travel for each.

Driving

Driving will often be the cheapest option for getting to a weekend getaway. The only transportation expense will be gas as opposed to paying for transportation tickets, plus public transportation, or possibly a car rental.

The downside is that driving will also typically limit you the most in terms of how far you can travel for the weekend.

If driving, we suggest a location that’s not more than about 3 hours away. The reason is that most people leave for weekend getaways after work on Friday and come back Sunday afternoon/evening.

Suppose you leave after 5 pm (most people’s clock out time) on a Friday and then drive 3 hours that puts you at an 8 pm arrival. Now, put in a few stops for restrooms, stretching, and a meal, and realistically you’ll be arriving more around 9 pm. Similarly, the trip back on Sunday will take you 3 hours of drive time plus an hour buffer for stops.

Altogether, a 3-hour destination will cost you 6 hours of drive time plus roughly an additional 2 hours for stops. That’s 8 hours out of your trip just spent on travel time.

Thus, if you push your weekend getaway destination to longer than 3 hours, you’re cutting into your time away and will spend almost as much time driving as you will enjoying your stay.

Flying

The same idea applies to flying.

The benefit of flying is that you’ll expand your possible weekend destinations, while the downside is flying will likely cost you more.

However, if you have points or travel rewards that will significantly reduce the cost of flying, then it may be a great option when planning your cheap weekend getaways.

For weekend trips, we recommend keeping your flights to no more than 2 hours one way.

As with driving, you must factor time other than just the travel time from point A to point B. Air travel, in particular, takes a lot of time. You should be going through security for at least an hour before your flight. That means you should be at the airport for about an hour and a half before your flight.

An hour and a half at the airport plus 2 hours of flight time, plus an hour or so for getting out of the airport and traveling to your hotel means you’ll be spending roughly 4.5 hours traveling to your destination.

That’s 9 hours out of your weekend getaway, which is probably about the most you’d want to spend on travel time.

Other

While less typical travel options, we’d be remiss if we didn’t mention other modes of traveling for a weekend getaway.

You may also choose to travel by train or bus, depending on your location and where you could go using those methods. It is also relatively cheap to travel by train or bus and might be a good option for those without a car.

Again, we recommend not traveling further than about 3 hours by train or bus for your getaway. While you’re not the one driving and free to do other things going by train or bus, you’re still not enjoying your getaway as long as you’re still driving to it.

How Long You Have

Another thing you need to consider when planning cheap weekend getaways is how long you have.

While most weekend getaways go from Friday evening to Sunday evening, you might also have a 3-day weekend or even a 4-day weekend if you’re able to take an extra day off.

We won’t spend too much time on this topic except to say that if you have more extended than the typical weekend, you may consider traveling further or scheduling more activities. For instance, a long weekend may turn what would have been a driving trip into a flight to another state.

More time opens up more possibilities.

Travel Rewards/Points

Do you have travel rewards or points available? That will also influence your choices for cheap weekend getaways.

If you have points and the Southwest Companion Pass, for example, you could fly a friend/partner for free and pay for your flight with points. The cost of this flight would then be whatever the fuel surcharges are (typically $22 roundtrip on Southwest for domestic flights).

Even if you don’t have a companion fare, there are plenty of options to find cheap flights, with or without points.

Similarly, if you have hotel points or flexible points (like Chase Ultimate Rewards), you could get your hotel for free (don’t forget resort fees in places like Las Vegas).

Combining airline and hotel points/rewards, you might be able to fly away for a cheap weekend getaway for just the cost of incidentals (there is no such thing as a free trip, after all).

Even when driving, points that can get a weekend hotel stay for free go a long way towards making your cheap weekend getaways genuinely affordable.

If you have no idea what I’m talking about with any of the above, I’d recommend checking out this beginner’s guide to travel hacking to get you started.

Purpose of the Getaway

You’ve considered the distance, travel time, how long you have, and what travel rewards you have at your disposal.

Now, it’s time to consider the purpose of your getaway.

Have you ever heard the phrase “I need a vacation for my vacation?” Depending on what you do and how active you are, you might find yourself feeling drained after a vacation, which is fine, depending on the reason you want to getaway.

So, before narrowing down your options, first, consider what you want to accomplish. Is this getaway to relax, sightsee, be outdoors, visit family, or for a special occasion (aka, romance)?

The goal of your getaway will heavily influence where you go and what you plan to do during your trip. Those looking to relax or for a special occasion may want to stay in a nicer hotel with a pool and amenities. Those looking to get outdoors might stay in a cheap hotel near a National Park. Sightseers may choose a location with a lot of history and impressive architecture.

Whatever you prefer, make sure you establish the why before deciding on the where.

Discounts

The last major thing to consider while planning cheap weekend getaways is what discounts you can get.

We’ve already covered points and other travel rewards, which will significantly cut the costs of a trip, but you should also consider different ways to save money.

For instance, do you have a National Park Pass? If so, you’ll save on activities by heading to a National or State Park location. Maybe you’ve seen a discount on activities in the Entertainment Book, Groupon, or some other discount site?

Maybe a particular state or city is offering travel discounts to try and draw more tourism?

Hint: Most major cities offer a discount book that you can find on their tourism site.

Another option to consider is whether you belong to a group that makes you eligible for discounts. For instance, senior discounts are prevalent, but so are military and student discounts. You may even get a discount if you’re in a particular profession, like teaching.

While these discounts aren’t guaranteed, it’s always a good idea to bring your work or military ID just in case it could save you a few bucks.

In sum, if you’re looking to cut costs on your getaway, plan to go where the discounts are.

Making it as Cheap as Possible

Now that we’ve covered all the essential things to consider when planning your cheap weekend getaways let’s talk about how to save as much as possible.

Stay for Free

One of the best ways to cut costs on a weekend getaway is to choose a location where you can stay for free.

We’ve already discussed this a bit, but the best way to get free hotel stays is to earn points. You can also get free night awards with certain credit cards, such as the Marriott Bonvoy card, that comes with a free night award every year.

It’s also a good idea to join hotel loyalty programs. They’re free to join and give you the best access to exclusive deals, giveaways, and the ability to earn rewards like higher member status (which provides you with more perks on your stays).

Other programs, such as Hotels.com, offer the ability to earn a free night after completing a certain number of stays booked through the program.

If you don’t have points at your disposal, you can still stay for free the old-fashioned way by visiting family and friends.

Check All Your Options

Even if you can’t stay entirely for free, it’s a good idea to check all your options and look for the best deal.

Maybe you can pay for some of the nights with points or other rewards and pay out of pocket for the rest. It also might be worth it to check out a site like Hotels.com or Trivago to see what deals are out there.

Especially if you’re traveling with a group or meeting up with others, Airbnb or VRBO could be great options for saving money.

If you can’t stay for free, make sure you do your due diligence and find the best affordable option for you. Your destination may even be dictated by where you can find a cheap stay.

Saving on Food

One of the highest incidental costs of travel is food, which is why I always try to stay somewhere that offers free breakfast. Some hotels even offer free evening hors d’ oeuvres or a happy hour special.

In addition to a free breakfast, you should always try to stay in a place that has at least a mini-fridge and a microwave so that you can store and heat leftovers and simple meals. Believe it or not, lots of hotels skip these items to try and force you to eat out more (cough Vegas cough).

Another way to save on food is to stay at a place that offers a small kitchen so that you can cook your meals.

If all else fails, check out these tips to save money when eating out to try and keep your food bill as low as possible.

Find Free or Cheap Activities

Aside from transportation, hotels, and food, the next biggest cost of travel is activities.

The discount section mentioned tips for saving money on activities using The Entertainment Book, Groupon, city tourism books, and service-related discounts, and those are still good options.

However, the cheapest activities are those that don’t cost a thing.

Sightseeing by walking around town or exploring historical places and buildings doesn’t cost a dime. One of my favorite activities in a new city is to explore cathedrals. They are often the most beautiful and interesting buildings and are free for anyone. Capitol buildings are another favorite of mine.

Sightseeing was one of the ways my friend and I were able to keep costs down while touring western Montana last year.

Outdoor activities such as hiking are also a great way to keep the costs of activities down. Many areas in nature are entirely free, while State Parks and National Parks will cost a small fee to access (usually $5 for State and $25 for National).

Drive

Although we went through several transportation options above, the cheapest option for a weekend getaway will almost always be driving.

Even if you paid for your flight with points, you’d still need to pay for fuel surcharges and to get around once you reach your destination. You’re also likely to spend more on food and other items traveling through airports.

While you will pay for gas when driving yourself, that’s the only transportation cost, and you gain a lot of added convenience.

Travel During the Offseason and Avoid Popular Spots

Last but not least, to save the most when planning your cheap weekend getaways, you’ll want to avoid popular spots and travel during the offseason as much as you can.

You’ll already be paying more for traveling during the weekend, so if you’re going on the cheap, it’s important to not compound those costs by traveling during peak times or to the most popular destinations.

The caveat here is if you can get a free stay, then it’s not as big of an issue when or where you choose to travel. Just know that you’ll also be paying a premium in points during peak times or for popular destinations.

If you want your dollar (or points) to stretch as far as they can, go during the offseason and avoid hot spots.

Cheap Weekend Getaways: Putting it all Together

You’ll be able to plan relatively cheap weekend getaways using the tips and considerations above, and often, savings in one area will allow you to splurge in others.

But, for those who may not have the luxury of being able to splurge, or who want to make their dollar stretch the farthest, here’s how to plan the cheapest weekend getaways:

Drive to your destination and stay relatively close to home

Stay for free using either points or staying with friends/family

Utilize free breakfast and/or make your meals

Keep your activities to those that are free or cheap

Utilize discounts wherever you can

Travel to offseason or less popular spots

Moral of the Story

We all need to get away once in a while.

Weekend getaways are a great way to unplug for much less than a typical vacation. And if you can save even more by going on the cheap then even better.

A quick Google search will give you tons of cheap weekend getaway lists, but these lists don’t take into account the factors you’ll need to consider when planning your trip.

First, consider your location and the distance to the destination, which will determine whether you’re driving, flying, or using another mode of transportation.

Next, consider how long you have to get away, the purpose of your getaway, and any travel rewards or discounts at your disposal.

For the cheapest trips, consider driving and ways to stay for free, save on food, and save on activities. Also, try to travel during the offseason and avoid popular locations, as demand will drive up prices.

Now that you have all the tools to plan cheap weekend getaways, where will you go?

This post originally appeared on Arrest Your Debt.

Saving part of your income for retirement is a habit everyone needs to nurture from a young age. Most people claim they can’t afford this, especially those with little income, but it is the surest way to secure your future.

Make saving part of your financial journey the moment you start your first job to help maximize the benefits. With a proper retirement and saving plan, you can ensure you have a comfortable retirement while also focusing on other life goals such as paying off a mortgage quickly.

Here are several reasons why saving for retirement while paying off debt should be part of your financial plan.

Having A Sustainable Savings Plan

Most people have debt at some point in their lives. These debts have to be paid, but they should not halt your plan for saving and investing. In certain situations, paying off debt first while stalling your savings can be a good strategy, but the problem with this is some debts will take many years to clear.

Consider making a flexible debt payment plan to channel some money towards investments, which can compound over the years to help clear your long term debts. Some investments have annual returns, such as stock market dividends, which you can then use to help pay off your debts.

In some cases, students who are fresh out of school are advised to hold off repaying their student loans and save money instead. Some people advise students should save until they can afford to invest and pay off debt at the same time.

Training Good Habits

Generally, the habit of investing prepares you for financial crises that might come up later in life when you’re not as capable of working as when you were younger.

The idea behind this is compound interest can snowball much faster than a low-interest student loan bill.

Depending on the amount of debt owed, you should always contribute a certain percentage of your income to retirement savings so you can secure your future. However small the contribution is, it makes a difference over several years.

Saving for retirement as you pay your debts is a win-win situation since it becomes much easier to achieve financial freedom.

Financial Responsibility

If your employer makes additional retirement contributions in the form of a match, you should not delay investing – at least the amount of the match. An employer match is essentially a 100% return on your money.

First, find out if your employer is willing to match your contributions. If they are, find some way to budget in your retirement contributions from the start – regardless of how much debt you have. Employer matches usually involve a certain percentage that can range from 3 to 5 percent.

If you have a large amount of debt, you should consider investing, at a minimum, the smallest percentage match so you can start working on any high-interest debt. Clearing your debts is not only emotionally fulfilling, but it also works hand in hand with financial freedom. Also, once the debts are cleared, you can quickly increase your retirement contributions.

An experienced finance and economics research writer for the best essay writing service suggests that to easily achieve this, you need to view debts and retirement savings as separate entities, so it can be easy to deal with both. Clearing debts helps you eliminate extra expenses that come with them, but investments help you save (and gain interest) on the money that you already have.

One might think they need to earn a lot of money to save comfortably, but that should never be the case. Be sure to go through your financial records, decide the do and don’ts, (needs vs. wants), and identify the most comfortable plan that achieves both goals of saving and paying off debt.

Building Wealth

Saving early on is the easiest way to build wealth, which you can pass on to your future generations. Saving comes with investments, and over time, you will realize your money has given birth to even more money. This is why some people find it flexible to slowly clear their debts as they also save for their retirement.

However, such a level of wealth accumulation does not happen overnight. That is why this has to be a nurtured habit you develop, whether you’re making a bunch of money or not. It also means having an eye for potential investment ideas where you can make money.

It does not make sense to save money in the bank earning less than 1% interest when it can be used to generate more elsewhere (i.e. a retirement fund). This can be easily achieved by prioritizing retirement over the clearing of debts or doing them concurrently. Once you accumulate enough wealth, it becomes easier to offset your debts with a one-off payment.

A debt-free lifestyle is everyone’s ultimate goal in life, and the sooner one breaks the debt habit, the better. If you find yourself in debt, strategize well to deal with clearing your present situation and secure your future – starting with a monthly budget.

Financial Backup

As you pay your debts and save on the side, this money can act as an emergency fund to cushion you in need. Most people tend to get into debt and fail to adequately save. With proper planning, this can be avoided.

Unfortunately, when someone is so focused on paying debts without setting aside any savings, the only option would be to get into more debt by getting a loan. With the rate of unemployment soaring all over the world, saving in advance in a retirement account as well as an emergency savings account works as a backup in case of a job loss.

By funding a six-month emergency savings account, you can always have something to fall back on in case you lose your source of income. This should be motivation enough to start saving at an early age to avoid going deep into debt. Having a liquid financial backup helps you to manage tough times without having to compromise on your future.

It also gives you enough time to put a sustainable plan in place, including getting a new job or even starting a business. Without a retirement saving plan, such tough times become hard to handle and you may have to resort to going further into debt before you can begin digging out of the situation.

Early Retirement

When you start saving for retirement early, your chances for early retirement is increased. Let’s say you start saving in your early 20s, so, in about 30 years, you can choose to retire if you want and live a financially stress-free life.

This highly depends on the contribution amount and the kind of vehicles you choose to invest in, and of course, clearing accumulated debts. If the investments are bringing in good returns, it’s possible to retire in your 30s or 40s!.

Paying off debts is also an investment of its own because once they are paid off, you will have the surplus amount to add to your savings. The moment you are debt-free, it becomes easier to concentrate more on building your wealth.

Know the kind of debts you have, and the interest that comes with them, to decide if you would need to offset them sooner than later—for instance, high-interest debt versus low-interest debt.

If you currently have a long term high-interest loan, an option is to get a personal loan with low-interest rates to offset the debt.

You can then pay the loan as you save for retirement, with an assurance you’re not wasting a ton of money on interest charges and fees.

Conclusion

The ideal approach to this is to balance debt payment and to save for retirement at the same time. You want to lead a debt-free life, but you also have to ensure that you have a secure future. Having your savings in places comes with emotional stability and peace of mind, knowing very well that you will not be looking for a job at the age of 60.

Make saving a habit from a young age, and you will not be disappointed later in life.

This post originally appeared on Arrest Your Debt.

It can be challenging to make ends meet while you’re still in college. Especially since the cost of higher education has risen by more than 25% in the last ten years. So, it’s unsurprising that many students have trouble saving more money.

But, it doesn’t have to be that way. There are plenty of ways you could save money while you’re still in college. Here we have selected six top tips to help you decrease your costs and save more money.

Calculate Your Living Expenses

For some people, it’s cheaper to live off-campus and rent an apartment. But, for others, that might not be the case. This is why it’s essential to calculate your expenses for rent, utilities, food, and transportation costs. This will help you make a better decision about your accommodation. You can also save more money if you live with a roommate.

If this is your first year in college, then you might feel overwhelmed with the decisions you have to make. According to Best Student Loans, these are the things to take care of before your first semester at college. It’s a handy guide that will help you set your priorities and get prepared for your first school year.

You can also use it to create your own college checklist, or use the guide as a way to tackle the most important tasks on your to-do list. Anyway, you will be fully prepared and ready for your college experience.

Buy Used Textbooks

New textbooks can be costly. So, make sure to explore other options before you buy a new textbook. First, you can rent used books from Amazon, or also find digital textbooks from sites like VtitalSource.

Another option is to purchase used textbooks from other students and used bookstores. Maybe you won’t find all of your textbooks, but you will certainly save a lot more money, instead of buying new ones from the bookstore on campus.

Create a Budget

If you want to track your expenses and be mindful of your spending habits, the best way to do that is by creating a budget for your needs. Maybe you want to start paying off your student loans while you’re still in college, or you simply want to better idea of your total costs each month. Either way, a good budget is definitely an excellent way to take control of your finances.

Work Part-Time

A part-time job is a great way to have a stable income and gain some work experience. But, make sure your part-time job isn’t interfering with your studies. Or, you can also start freelancing if you already have a good portfolio and job-specific skills.

The most significant advantage is you will be working remotely, and you will have more control over your schedule. Also, make sure to apply for paid internships during the summer; they are quite competitive but offer a lot of benefits.

Use Your Student-ID

If you want to save more money every month, make sure to find good deals on sites like Groupon and GottaDEAL. But, also, your student ID allows you to access museums for free, and you will also find many clothing stores and restaurants that offer discounts for students. So, keep your student ID on you at all times.

Avoid Eating-Out

Cots associated with eating out can quickly grow, so make sure to create a meal plan and stick to it. Meal prepping can also save you a lot of time and money, and you will most likely eat healthier meals.

If you live with a roommate, you can split the grocery expenses. Otherwise, if you bought the meal plan at your college, make sure to use it.

This post originally appeared on Arrest Your Debt.

Living stingy is a compliment for some people, yet a derogatory term for others. Some people who embrace the stingy term are proud of their lack of spending and the ability to get a good deal. While this is certainly a motivator to help you get ahead in life, you are often competing with karma.

However, if you’re one of the 59% of Americans currently living paycheck to paycheck, a stingy lifestyle may be your only option to finally get ahead.

Full disclosure – people have referred to me as living stingy at times. It always seemed to have a negative connotation with it, but I wasn’t sure why.

“Stingy” in the dictionary means: “unwilling to give or spend; ungenerous.” While the beginning of the definition sounds pretty good, the last word is a shot to the gut. I don’t think many people want to be labeled as an ungenerous person.

When I think of ungenerous, I think of the kid at Christmas who finishes opening a pile of presents and then says, “is that it?” That’s not really what I want to be associated with. However, I love the idea of being unwilling to spend on things I don’t need. I’m looking for more of a stingy lite type of life.

Is Living Stingy A Bad Thing?

Define bad. Living life by only spending money on things that bring you value and being intentional with your budget can be classified as living stingy. I think most of us would agree that when we start getting into being ungenerous or deceiving others to get ahead financially, we cross the line.

To answer the question, I don’t think being overly cautious about spending is a bad thing. However, it is a slippery slope – and one that I fell into early on in my debt-free journey.

I was so focused on saving money and getting out of debt that I was a bit extreme and frustrated my immediate family members. I felt guilty for buying anything that wasn’t essential to my survival.

Unfortunately, this is no way to live. If you have been blessed with money, it’s expected you use your money wisely. This doesn’t mean you can’t spend money occasionally on things that bring you temporary happiness.

Vacations and experiences are a great way to use money responsibility, even though it technically isn’t a necessity. Of course, as long as you don’t use your credit card repeatedly on that magical debt filled trip to Disney Land.

Why Living Stingy Gets A Bad Rap

If you are responsibly stingy (I should trademark that), it can be frustrating when people regularly comment about how you refuse to spend money. Because I like living stingy lite, I have several people who routinely comment on my lifestyle. However, my biggest critics are the ones who have the most debt. Many of my spendy friends believe we should live in the moment and trust the future will work out how it is meant to be.

Unfortunately, I’m not that carefree, and I believe we should live life now and in the future. Just because I put 24% of my income towards retirement doesn’t mean I don’t enjoy my life now.

My family and I spend heavily on experiences but little to no money on “things.” This has drawn contact criticism we have become accustomed to.

So What Is Living Stingy?

To make it painfully clear, living stingy involves drastically cutting your spending on things that do not bring you value. It involves being purposeful about your budget and intentionally directing all of your extra money to get out of debt or reach a financial goal.

Living stingy can also involve an ungrateful and ungenerous attitude, which should be avoided at all costs. What goes around comes around, and this is especially true with how we handle our financial blessings.

By embracing a stingy lifestyle with a clear purpose and plan, you can use this strategy to skyrocket your progress toward your financial goals. Imagine being debt-free and living in a paid-off house. You heard me right – living without a mortgage or rent. That’s what we have been able to do in our 30s – by being intentional with our spending.

With the right mindset and discipline, there really is no limit to what you can financially achieve. It will take a bit of sacrifice and perhaps a little pain, but if you want your financial stress to be a distant memory, a stingy lifestyle may be the perfect option.

11 Tips To Start Living Stingy To Reach Your Goals

If you’re ready to start your stingy living journey because you’re sick and tired of being broke, these tips will quickly help you get back on track.

#1. Create Clear Goals And Expectations

To achieve the best results, you need to have a clear goal set before considering living stingy. Goals give us a purpose and keep us motivated. If you need some inspiration, you can set financial goals like these:

Create an emergency fund

Pay off all of your debt

Pay off your mortgage

Invest 18% of your income for retirement

Go out of state on vacation each year

Save up for a house on the beach

Pay off your student loans

Fund an emergency savings account with six months of living expenses

Increase your net worth

Purchase real estate

Invest in the stock market

The sky is the limit! To help you visualize these goals, I have created free money goal coloring pages to keep you motivated.

My wife and I used these coloring pages to keep our eye on the prize and achieve our dream of paying off our mortgage early.

#2. Create A Monthly Budget / Monthly Financial Plan

A monthly budget or a monthly spending plan is the secret weapon to achieve your financial goals and dreams. By telling your money where to go rather than wondering where it went each month, you can be intentional about spending.

A spending plan can be used to allocate money to the things you enjoy and bring you value.

Rather than feeling limited by a budget, it can actually free you and give you a reason to spend. For instance, my wife and I both have a “fun money” account, and we budget this each month. This fun money can be used on anything we want without feeling guilty for spending.

Give your money a purpose and guarantee your money goes towards a goal you highly value rather than frivolous spending on junk.

I wrote a detailed article about budgeting here as well as the 50/30/20 budget method.

#3. Complete A No Spend Challenge

No spending challenges are a great way to shock your system into saving money. There are all types of no spend challenges available that range from:

No Spend Month – refusing to spend money on anything other than needs for a whole month.

No Spend Monthly Challenge – refusing to spend money on your usual habits, such as coffee, entertainment, or other routine purchases.

No Buy year – challenging yourself to stop spending in a specific area for an entire year.

A no-spend challenge is a drastic challenge to help you reset your daily spending habits to realize what truly brings you value and what you can live without. This is a great way to go all-in on living stingy.

#4. Eliminate Your Unnecessary Subscriptions

Most of our non-stingy habits come from routine spending. Monthly subscription plans are a great tool to keep companies wealthy while you struggle to make ends meet.

For the longest time, my father has paid for a cable TV subscription. He enjoys watching television, but he was paying an arm and a leg for this service. After years of nagging, he finally cut the cord last month.

After about two weeks, he told me he was not missing cable. He put a TV antenna in the attic, so he still watches all the local sports and primetime channels for free. He also added a streaming service that is less than $20 a month for those other shows he enjoys.

I have been on the no cable bandwagon for years, and I have been able to save thousands of dollars. Canceling subscriptions to your monthly services may be needed to give you a little extra cash flow.

#5 Use Cashback Apps For Shopping

In the age of financial technology (fintech), saving money through automation is easier than ever. My wife and I use several automated apps to save money on our everyday purchases without having to jump through hoops.

Rakuten

Rakuten (formally eBates), is one of our favorites. What I like about Rakuten is installing the Chrome extension, which automatically tells me if an individual website is eligible for cashback. No more signing up for a million different “deals” just to save a buck. Rakuten is fully automated and is worth it to run in the background and save me money.

If you want to give Rakuten a try, check it out here.

If you want more information about Rakuten, I wrote a detailed review here.

Honey

Because I’m stingy, whenever I buy something online and see that “have a promo code or coupon” box, I immediately search Google to see if I can save a couple of dollars. However, more often than not, I’m frustrated by all the spam sites I have to visit with outdated coupon codes.

This is why Honey is one of my favorite extensions. When I’m on a checkout page, all I do is click the Honey app extension, and it automatically tries coupon codes for me. No more searching through endless garbage sites on Google!

If you want to give Honey a try, you can check it out here.

If you want to read my detailed Honey review, head over to this related page.

#6. Stop Overpaying In Taxes

If you get a tax refund every year, you’re doing it wrong. I’m all about being generous, but stop lending your money to the government each year interest-free. When you receive a tax refund, you paid too much in taxes over the year, and they are giving you your money back.

Think of it this way. You technically gave the government extra money all year for free. Yes, you got your money back, but that was a free loan.

Take your money back and earn interest on it by reducing the amount of taxes you pay during the year. Speak with your accountant to ensure you don’t pay too little and end up with a large tax bill at the end of the year. Work with your financial professional and do your best to break even with your taxes.

#7. Complete A Pantry Challenge

This one hits close to home for me. A pantry challenge involves eating only the food you have in your pantry for an entire month (or until you run out). Every week, I hear my kids tell me, “there’s no food in this house.” The reason for this is we usually run out of the food and snacks that we enjoy the most.

Our usual Costco trips involve buying the same things over and over. We tend to eat the same things each week, but there is a ton of food in our pantry we never touch. Our usual eating routines often lead to waste by not consuming the food in the back of the pantry that we just don’t feel like making or eating.

Do a pantry challenge by using all the ingredients and food items in your freezer, pantry, and refrigerator to make unconventional meals. By eating the food you already have, you can significantly impact your monthly food budget.

#8. Pack Your Lunch

This one is a no brainer, and you already know you should be bringing your lunch to work rather than eating out at a restaurant every day. Unfortunately, knowledge is useless without action.

Make the choice today to get on board by making your lunch each night, so it’s available in the morning. Don’t expect you will have enough energy every morning to make your lunch every day before work. Set yourself up for success by following a meal planning structure and by creating better habits.

By packing your lunch, your budget and gut health will thank you.

#9. Live On Way Less Than You Make

If you make $3,000 a month, don’t make a monthly budget to spend $3,000. Try pretending you make less than you actually do, and budget accordingly. For instance, my wife and I still live off the same budget we have had for the past ten years. My income has increased, but our budget has not.

By learning to live off less than you make, you can live stingy and save a ton of money with little to no effort. If you get a raise at work, don’t reward yourself by making a large purchase and going further into debt. Stash the raise and use it to achieve your financial goals while still budgeting a lower amount.

#10. Buy Or Sell Gift Cards

Do you routinely get gift cards for your birthday or holidays to places you never visit? I have several gift cards in my junk drawer that have sat for months because they are for businesses or restaurants I never frequent.

There are websites like Raise.com, where you can sell your gift cards for cash! However, you obviously won’t get full price for the gift cards you sell, but you will get more money than if you let them expire in a drawer.

You can also buy gift cards to your local grocery store and other favorite stores at a discounted price! If you plan ahead, you can purchase discounted gift cards for your routine purchases. Now that’s a living stingy lifestyle hack!

#11. Shop Around For Car Insurance

Most of us have the same vehicle insurance company we have had for years – and the insurance companies know it. Because you’re a loyal customer, many companies will slowly increase their rates over time hoping you don’t shop around.

My grandfather taught me the trick of shopping around for car insurance every three years. This gives your current company enough time to start increasing their rates but gives you a set timeline for when you will check out their competitors.

If you find a lower rate but are happy with your company, give your insurance company a call and let them know you have found a cheaper alternative. Ask them what they are willing to do to keep your business.

Is Living Stingy Worth It? – Advantages

By focusing on a minimalist lifestyle focused on intentional spending, you can quickly achieve several beneficial advantages. Personal finance is a learned trait, and sound financial habits can take time to develop.

Financial Control

Because I have trained myself to live on less than I make and clearly define needs and wants, I am in complete control of my finances. While I can’t control life or the unpredictable and inconvenient vehicle breakdown, I can control how much I put in my emergency fund to ensure I can pay cash for any repairs.

The financial control I have achieved is based solely on my learned ability to manage my money rather than my money leading my life. Being stingy has allowed me to put my money where I place my value.

Contentment And Appreciation

By eliminating the bells and whistles in your life, you can get back to the basics and appreciate the small things in life that have so much meaning. Rather than spending all your days off working a side job, the stingy living lifestyle can free up your time to enjoy with family and those who mean the most to you.

Working side hustles is a great way to accelerate your debt payoff, but if you’re working side hustles to maintain a frivolous lifestyle, you’re doing it wrong. Time is the most limited resource; don’t waste it.

Financial Independence

Financial independence is the idea that you no longer need to work unless you want to. By creating passive income streams (your money makes money for you), you can live off the interest and other side projects that work for you.

Living stingy can increase your savings and investing rate to achieve the financial independence goal many people dream about.

Disadvantages Of Living Stingy

Be prepared to be shunned by your friends who spend more than they make. There is definitely a stigma to being stingy, and it can cause friction in some of your relationships.

Living stingy can also cause you to overthink purchases. Remember, it’s not about spending the absolute minimum by eating out of the garbage. A stingy lifestyle focuses only on using your money on things that bring you value. Spending money is acceptable as long as it’s not frivolous and out of habit.

Don’t Be That Person

As I mentioned at the beginning of this article, living stingy can also translate into a lack of generosity. From my previous experience as a food service worker, do not be cheap when it comes to tipping your waiter or waitress. There’s a difference between saving yourself money or hurting someone else due to your lack of spending.

If you don’t like tipping waiters or waitresses 20%, don’t go to a restaurant. Just like you deserve to be paid for your work, so do they. This is often where stingy people cut corners, and it is a bad practice.

Being stingy doesn’t mean you can’t spend money. If you like your morning coffee at the local coffee shop, put it in the budget! Life is too short not to enjoy the little things in life. Just be sure those “special occasion” purchases are few and far between.

Putting It All Together

Most of us can afford to cut back on some of our unnecessary expenses. You work hard to make money, and each dollar represents time spent to earn it. Give every dollar and every penny a purpose. If that means living stingy, then so be it.

This post originally appeared on Arrest Your Debt.

It’s so easy to point the finger at others and to judge their sense of entitlement, but recently I did some self-reflection and found I am just as guilty of feeling entitled as the next person.

My Sense Of Entitlement And Frustrations

As a career professional, I have high expectations. I expect my team to work as hard as I do and I expect certain things in my life. When I get up in the morning, I expect the water to work when I turn on the faucet and for hot water to be there when I take a shower.

My Car Better Start

If I get in my car and it doesn’t start – I get angry. I hate when things don’t work or when things break. When I can’t figure out what’s wrong with my vehicle, I get stressed and agitated – just ask my wife.

My Phone Service Should Be Perfect

When I make a phone call and the service drops – I’m frustrated. In other words, I expect everything to be perfect in my life or my mood changes.

At what point in my life did I become this way? I don’t have any idea how my phone transmits my voice to another phone but if this modern day miracle isn’t perfect, I’m upset.

In the early days, people rode horses to get from one place to another. Now I drive in a vehicle that goes much faster, controls the climate within the vehicle, and shields me from rain. Again, I could not build a vehicle from the ground up but I expect it to work and be available to me.

I mean, I work everyday so I deserve these things right?

Our Reality Is Most People’s Dreams

In this post I want you to have an honest reflection with me. By being able to disconnect from our inherent entitlements, we can more fully appreciate what we have, and hopefully, gain a sense of contentment rather than entitlement.

Contentment is the secret ingredient for controlling our finances and living within our means.

From my time in law enforcement, I have seen many different people at very difficult points in their lives. On one end, I have seen people sweep their dirt floors with a smile on their face and contentment in their hearts.

On the other end of the spectrum, I have seen someone in a mansion with marble floors curse out a family member because they thought they were stealing money from them.

Some of the richest people in this world are the most unhappy.

Perhaps you have experienced similar circumstances. I can honestly say that throughout my career, I have been to more suicides that occurred in “rich neighborhoods” than I ever did in “poor neighborhoods.” For some reason, the rich always seems less content than the materially poor.

For most of us – especially if you’re able to read these words on an electronic device, we are much more wealthy than any of our ancestors and the majority of the people in this world.

Focusing On Contentment Rather Than Entitlement

Recently I have been making a conscious effort to focus on all my blessings rather than cursing situations or my lack of material things. This has proven to be easier said than done.

I have found that by changing my focus on what is right in my life, even when there are negative things happening, I am able to reduce my stress and frustration levels.

In preparation for this post, I researched more about our sense of entitlement and where it comes from.

What Does It Mean To Have A Sense Of Entitlement?

In simple terms, one aspect of entitlement means that someone believes they deserve something without earning it or doing any work towards it. A simple Google search will immediately point the finger at the “younger generation.”

Some believe parenting methods are much different these days and younger individuals don’t appreciate the work it takes to obtain things – the way older generations do. Whatever the case may be, more and more people are feeling entitled and showing behaviors that can be hard to change or even realize are happening.

That last line was pointed directly at me.

The World Revolves Around Me

Regardless of where you’re at, you’re going to run into some entitled people, possibly yourself, who think the world revolves around them. This narcissistic trait can be extremely aggravating and it can actually ruin relationships – and your finances!

It’s especially heartbreaking if the people you care about have this personality disorder, (yes it is a disorder) because there might come a time when you have to cut them off.

Since entitlement can be quite serious, it’s important to know as much about it as you can, including where it comes from and how social psychology goes along with it. I have put together this article to help you understand the ins and outs of a sense of entitlement.

Hopefully, you will gain a few tips on how to spot it and how to help yourself or others improve this behavior.

What Is An Entitled Person?

Entitled individuals think they should have everything given to them – as if positive circumstances or things are a birthright.

They often have unreasonable expectations (me) and tend to get upset when things don’t go their way (ugh – me again). This type of feeling is often a result of things like deep-seated insecurity, but it could be so much more. It’s usually pretty easy to spot someone who has a sense of entitlement, but it can be extremely hard to actually help them change these behaviors.

This is even more true when the person is you, so knowing where the entitlement comes from can be the first step towards improvement.

Examples Of Entitlement

Besides knowing that someone who is entitled thinks they should get whatever they want without having to work for it, it’s important to understand real-world scenarios of entitlement.

We all know the other guys or girls on the squad that have the lowest recap, the fewest reports written, and the ones that hide all shift. But when your squad is recognized for some type of achievement, they’re always there to be part of the pictures and accolades.

These are the slugs that refuse to put in the work but expect praise when the team excels, despite them.

A False Sense Of Entitlement?

Some people refer to this as a “false sense of entitlement.” This often results from parents that give their children everything they want without making them earn it.

When this happens, the child grows up thinking that everyone around them should give them what they want, just like their parents did. These children have been conditioned to expect results without work. If it isn’t, they tend to get upset and even have serious meltdowns.

As parents, it’s important to say “no” and refrain from always giving in.

With my children, I don’t give them an allowance because this sounds too much like welfare. My kids earn money by working for commission. This helps tie in the work for results type of mindset.

The Opposite Of Entitlement

The opposite of entitlement is humility and a sense of contentment. While it’s not always the case, in my experience I have seen that people who grew up poor tend to be less entitled than those who grew up in wealthy families.

In general, individuals who struggled through life tend to realize how hard it is to make ends meet and how hard they need to work to stay afloat. As a result, they don’t expect things to just come to them and they are often surprised and extremely thankful when they get help.

Now before you send me hate mail, I have also witnessed my fair share of entitled lower-income people as well.

How Do You Deal With Entitlement?

Alright, now that we all feel a little embarrassed – let’s examine how we can change our entitlement behaviors and those of others. Since it can be aggravating to deal with someone showing these symptoms, it’s essential to know what to do to try to salvage your relationships.

With that being the case, here are 5 things you can do in order to work through it. Keep in mind, these might not work for everyone and there’s a chance you’ll just have to walk away.

For this next section, I’m definitely putting my “dad hat” on.

If you’re dealing with your own kids – it will be rough but there’s a good chance you can change, or strongly influence their behaviors if you stick with it.

If you’re dealing with an adult – good luck.

1. Identify The Behavior

The first thing you can do is point out the entitled behavior. Letting someone get away with it is going to make them feel like they can do whatever they want and easily take advantage of you. It might be a hard conversation, but letting them know when they are showing these behaviors and that you don’t appreciate them may help salvage the relationship (and it might not).

If they ignore you or don’t seem to care, you might need to walk away. If they truly want to change, they’ll take what you say into consideration and try and stop the behavior.

2. Help Change Their Wording

You could also talk to them about changing their words when they are with you. Many people will use a lot of “I” statements, or make everything about them. By helping them change their words, you can help them change the way they think.

It might not seem like a big deal, but just changing normal word usage can help change a mindset. Even if they don’t change how they talk all the time, there’s a chance they’ll try and watch what they say around you and show less entitled behaviors.

3. Set Limits

Make sure you’re setting limits around those you know with a sense of entitlement. If you have no limits, they’re going to think they can do anything and convince you to give in to anything they want. This is the last thing you want to do because they’ll keep expecting it if you keep allowing it.

In other words, you’re enabling them.

Be firm with your “no’s” and hold strong. Giving in only hurts them in the long run. You might feel like you’re helping and making them happy, but you’re actually sabotaging your relationship.

4. Treat Everyone Equally

Regardless of where you’re at or what situation you’re in, treat everyone equally. Just because someone is showing negative emotions because they aren’t getting what they want, don’t show them any special treatment.

To help show them that this behavior isn’t acceptable, you want to treat them the same exact way as you do everyone else. You also want to show them that it’s not always someone else’s fault.

It might be hard to deal with, but they’ll eventually realize that you aren’t going to give in, and you aren’t going to let them get away with any of the behaviors associated with their feelings of entitlement.

5. Don’t Push Yourself too Hard

No matter how you try and deal with an entitled person, there’s only so much you can do before you reach your breaking point. With that said, don’t overextend your sanity or push yourself too hard. You also want to make sure you don’t blame yourself if they choose not to change their behaviors.

As stated earlier, you can’t force someone to change if they don’t want to. You can only offer honest, loving guidance, and how their behavior makes you feel. If they don’t want to hear it, then they aren’t going to listen. There’s no point exhausting yourself when there isn’t any hope.

How Do You Change Entitled Behavior?

Besides dealing with it, it’s important to also know how to change these behaviors. This mostly refers to helping those around you change their behaviors, but it can also work for you if you’re finding that you are the one with a sense of entitlement.

Remember, as stated above, these might not work and you might need to take more extreme measures. Regardless of the situation, it’s important to do what you can in order to facilitate change.

1. Set Expectations

The first thing you can do to help stop these behaviors from those you’re close with is to set expectations. Not only should they know exactly what you expect, but they’ll be able to realize that they can’t get away with those behaviors.

It might be hard to set these guidelines, but it’s essential to let them know you’re serious. It may take some time for them to listen to and respect your guidelines. Keep in mind, depending on how stubborn they are, there’s a chance they may never respect your guidelines.

2. Don’t Fight

You also want to try and avoid any fights. If you need to, just walk away if they’re arguing or yelling. Most people who don’t get what they want tend to have meltdowns and nasty behavior, so there usually isn’t any reasoning with them.

With that being the case, you can argue until you’re blue in the face. As you probably know from prior experience, this doesn’t help anyone and you don’t want to waste your time or energy on a losing battle.

Give them time to calm down, then try and go back to the situation when cooler heads can prevail.

3. Say No

This can be the hardest obstacle for some people, but you’ll need to learn to say “no.” This is the case even if, in the past, you’ve given them anything they’ve ever wanted.

It doesn’t matter if the person is your spouse, your child or a friend, telling them “no” will let them know that you’re done with their behavior, and you won’t allow it anymore. There’s a good chance they’ll become extremely upset and nasty, but you want to stand your ground and refuse to give in, regardless of what they try and do.

4. Don’t Give In

No matter what, don’t give in. Even giving in one time can completely erase any progress you’ve made and bring you back to square one. Keep in mind, many people will give in and say, “just this one time” but that one time tends to turn into two, three, and four times.

Since you’re trying to stop these behaviors, doing this is going to put you right back where you started. It may be hard and it might make you feel upset or heartbroken, but you’ll need to fight through these feelings and continue to stand your ground – for their sake.

5. Take Some Time Away

If nothing else works to help stop the entitled behaviors, you might just need to take some time away. Not only will this give you time to evaluate what you want from the relationship, and where you should go from here, but it could help show them what will happen if they don’t change or stop.

Depending on the person’s personality, this might not affect them. If that’s the case, you’ll at least be able to figure out how you feel and be able to consider if the relationship is worth it.

Dealing With Your Own Entitlement

Once you realize you have a sense of entitlement, you’ll probably want to stop these feelings. It might seem like the entitlement has been working until now, but there’s going to come a time when people start avoiding you and deciding that they just can’t deal with it.

In order to save your relationships and give yourself more favorable living conditions, it’s important to find ways to stop the behavior. These are just a few things you can do on your own without professional therapy.

1. Consider The Perspective Of Others

The first thing you can do is consider other people’s perspectives. It’s important to realize how they feel and see what they see when you act this way. If it helps, you can try using a journal to write down times when you’ve realized you’ve been showing entitled behaviors. You can then look back over them and work on the behaviors you see.

2. Encourage And Promote Others

Another step you can take is to encourage and promote others. Things don’t always have to be a competition and it’s important to show other people that you recognize their accomplishments.

Helping others succeed can bring you a great sense of happiness and satisfaction.

3. Make Your Own Way

Even if you’ve been given everything, it’s important to make your own way to get over feeling entitled. You need to see how it feels to work for what you need instead of just having things handed to you. You also need to understand that you will never feel fulfilled without hard work.

4. Change Your Expectations

One of the biggest things you can do is change your expectations. Instead of always expecting everything, you can try to burn it into your mind that you’re not going to get something if you don’t work for it. This is one of the hardest things to do but it’s an important step. If need be, ask someone close to you to help you and encourage you during this phase.

5. Try Therapy

One other thing you can do is find a therapist that can help you take a look at your mental health. Many times, entitlement is a result of underlying issues, so it’s important to get to the root of the problem.

If you try and change your behavior without taking care of the underlying problem, you’re going to have a higher chance of going right back to your entitled ways. It might take some time, but they’ll help you work through it.

Entitled People Can Be Toxic

These traits of those with a sense of entitlement can be contageous and toxic. Avoid this behavior and from letting your children adopt these personalities.

1. Believing They’re Better than Others

The first sign that someone is entitled is they believe they are better than everyone else. It doesn’t matter what the situation is or what’s going on, they will always believe they are better and know more than those around them. They try and turn things into a competition and tend to continuously tell everyone how good they are.

2. Double Standards

Another big sign is they have double standards. This means they expect different results or rewards for themselves compared to others in the same situation. For example, if they were working as a team at work, they would expect extra compensation or rewards for doing the same exact work as their partner.

Basically, they think they should be treated better than others.

3. Not Playing Fairly

People who are entitled also tend to play unfairly (cheat). In addition to believing one deserves preferences over others, they also expect special treatment. Often, they’ll do things that aren’t allowed or right to get one up on the competition.

In some situations, cheating might not be a big deal, but in other situations, it can lead to serious or legal consequences.

4. Manipulating/Controlling

Manipulating and controlling behaviors can be a huge clue that someone has a sense of entitlement. They will do what they can to make sure they get what they want and not care about who they hurt in the process.

Many times, they don’t even consider how the other person feels or what happens when they do these things. It’s a good way to ruin relationships, and those with entitlement issues don’t necessarily care.

5. Constantly Attention Seeking

There’s also the red flag of constant attention-seeking. These people always want to be the center of attention, regardless of the situation. This can be something simple like work, or it can be more important events like funerals or weddings. They’ll do whatever they need to ensure they always come first and often end up embarrassing those around them.

6. Regular Meltdowns/Nasty Attitude

One last sign that someone has a sense of entitlement is that they have regular meltdowns or nasty attitudes when they don’t get their way or they have unmet expectations.

When this happens, a lot of people won’t care where they are or how they look to others. Besides being embarrassing, this can give them and those associated with them a bad name. As a result, many people will give in just to try and avoid any of these behaviors from happening.

Signs You’re Entitled

Before wrapping up, there is one other thing to discuss. How do you spot entitled behavior in yourself?

Entitlement can easily push people away. With that being said, here are 6 signs that you are the one who has feelings of entitlement.

1. Unrealistic Demands

One of the biggest signs you are the one with the entitlement issue is when you realize you have unrealistic demands of others. This includes expecting others to be perfect or do things you wouldn’t do yourself.

2. Self-Pity

Another sign is that you feel a lot of self-pity when things don’t go your way. This is especially true when it’s a situation that’s extremely simple and shouldn’t really matter. Often times, people who do this tend to ignore situations other people are in and sometimes will even try to one-up them regardless of what is going on.

Depending on the situation, this can completely destroy relationships and result in you losing friends.

3. Doing Whatever It Takes (at all cost)

I’m not talking about hard work and determination, I’m talking about child like behavior.

If you notice you do whatever it takes to get what you want through negative actions, you may be entitled. Not only will you do whatever it takes, but there’s a high chance you don’t care who you hurt while trying to achieve your mission.

You might not realize you’re doing this, but it can really hurt people’s feelings and make them feel like you don’t care about them or their friendship.

4. Punish People With Your Behavior

Punishing people with your behavior is a telltale sign you may be entitled. Some of the punishments could be: the silent treatment, making snide remarks, or just being plain out rude. Sometimes, people don’t even know why you’re treating them this way and it can really make them feel horrible.

5. Others Are Always Competition

If you find yourself viewing everyone else as threats and competition, it’s another sign that you’re entitled. You should feel a sense of happiness and joy for your friend’s or family’s accomplishments instead of always trying to be better than them.

There’s a chance you don’t realize you’re doing this, or maybe you do but don’t necessarily care. This is especially hurtful for those close to you that just want to share their joy and accomplishments with you.

6. Everyone Else Comes Second

One last sign you have a sense of entitlement is when you put everyone else second. You don’t really care about their feelings or what happens to them as long as you come out on top and end up being the center of attention.

The Result? You may frequently lose relationships and people avoid you because they don’t want to feel unappreciated.

The Main Takeaway

Hopefully, after reading this article, you’ll be able to improve your living conditions and be happy with the relationships you have. As a parent, ensure you are not raising entitled children. Contentment is powerful and necessary to live life to the fullest.

Identify entitled behavior in those closest to you as well as yourself. Teach and practice humility by focusing on all the gifts and blessings you have. Lead by example and treat others with love and respect.

In a worst-case example, you may have to practice “tough love” and walk away from bad behavior. Avoid empowering bad behavior and help others by modeling the behavior you want to see.

This post originally appeared on Arrest Your Debt.

Do you want a condo or an apartment or both?

It’s the age-old debate, condo vs. apartment living. What’s the main difference and which one is better? Generally, condominiums (condos) can be purchased while apartments are rented. While you may have an option of buying an entire apartment complex, most of us are not in that position.

Which Is Better, An Apartment Or Condo?

To see how they match up, we will evaluate the pros and cons of living in and renting an apartment versus the pros and cons of living in and purchasing a condo. In the past, I lived in an apartment and also purchased a condo. I will share with you my unique perspective and experiences with both.

The Apartment Experience

Let’s start with the experience of apartment living. When I was younger we lived in an apartment for about a year. Apartment hunting wasn’t so bad. Go online and look at pictures, email the property manager, and start from there. You sign a lease and pay the security deposit, usually a first and last month’s rent, and you move in.

Pretty painless.

Apartment living typically doesn’t involve apartment maintenance. When something goes wrong, you typically aren’t responsible for any repairs – unless the damage or issue was caused intentionally or by your negligence. The property owner takes care of everything in and outside the apartment unless you break something, then they send you a bill after they fix it.

Paying rent and living in an apartment has its advantages. If your working and don’t have time to deal with the complexities of property maintenance and ownership, then apartment living is actually a pretty good idea.

The Best Apartment Floor To Live On

From experience, I can tell you that the top apartment floor is the premier floor and the most sought after floor. Due to this, some apartments also charge a premium for this location. The reason the top floor is the best becomes painfully obvious if you have ever lived below apartment renters with children who jump and stomp everywhere.

Living on the top floor has its perks, but it also has unique downfalls. Having to hike stairs on a daily basis or wait for the elevator can be frustrating. In addition, have you ever moved furniture up stairs? It’s as big of a pain as it sounds.

The Condo Experience

What about a condo? Condos are usually individually owned so it can get complicated, pretty quick. Generally, you have two options when it comes to living in a condominium. You can either buy a condo to rent out or live in, or you can rent a condo from an independent owner.

With the price of a single family residence quickly becoming out of reach for the average person, owning property and building equity is much more difficult. Luckily, depending on location, condos can be an attractive option to afford a piece of property and provide quality housing for your family.

Finding a condo is relatively easy. The same sites that advertise apartments may have a link to condo listings. You can look at only one site for listings but you’ll probably want to look at as many online listings as possible to get the best selection.

Purchasing A Condo

Once you’ve found a condo that looks to be what you want, generally, the only person you can contact is the real estate agent – who probably hasn’t been inside the actual unit in a while.

Realtors are usually easy to deal with, but if you call a number from a listing, you’re getting the sellers agent, which means they work for the owner, not you. If you find yourself getting overwhelmed, then you’ll need to contact a buyers agent, which is the same as a sellers agent, except they’ll work for you instead of the seller.

What’s The Difference Between An Apartment And A Condo?

For this discussion, we are going to assume the debate is between renting an apartment versus owning a condo.

Common Area Maintenance

If you live in an apartment building and you see something wrong outside your window, you call the property manager to fix it. If, after buying a condo, you see something wrong outside your window, you contact the property management company that does the maintenance, and they will fix whatever it is. So regarding exterior maintenance, there’s not much of a difference.

On the other hand, if you are living in an apartment and want to paint or remodel, you are required to get the manager’s approval, and they may say no. If you’re living in a condo, you can do pretty much whatever you want as long as you get permission from the condo association, who will most likely welcome any work that improves the condition of a unit.

There’s also the local building ordinances to contend with, but if you use licensed contractors, they can keep your project legal so you won’t have to worry.

Property Insurance

If you live in an apartment, you may need renters insurance. If you live in a condo and you own it and finance it, you will have to purchase homeowners’ insurance. Depending on where you live, insurance may be extremely expensive or quite cheap. States that routinely deal with earthquakes or hurricanes are usually going to charge higher insurance rates than states without frequent natural disasters.

If you own a condo and rent it out, you should require your tenant to get renters’ insurance. You will also need liability insurance, which is different than homeowners or renters insurance. Your agent might offer building collapse or sewer backup insurance as well. Evaluate how much these extras cost to see if it’s worth it to get the insurance or go without.

Generally Speaking, Are Condo’s Nicer Than Apartments?

apartment vs condo, which is better

Again, the answer is: it depends. You get what you pay for, so generally, the more you spend on rent or mortgage, the nicer the place. But remember, apartments are usually a lot easier to walk away from than a condo. An expensive apartment in a downtown area may have great amenities while a low priced condo may not even have covered parking or a pool.

While landlords can only get away with charging so much for rent, the condo association can pass assessments endlessly like a city tax authority. This means if a landlord tries to raise the rent to pay for an appraisal for new road work in front of the apartment building, you can give notice and move out. Even if your in the middle of a lease, you generally can get away without too much hassle.

A condo association, however, can pass assessments for something like sewer replacement, and you’re stuck with it.

To make matters worse, if you don’t pay the special condo assessment, the association can foreclose on you. Remember, the realtor and building inspector can only tell you about the condo condition at the time of purchase. Anything that happens or you discover afterward is your problem unless you can prove negligence on someone’s part.

What Are The Disadvantages Of Buying A Condo?

Keep in mind, when you go to look at an apartment, it most likely will have been cleaned, or the manager might have a display model ready for inspection to show off all the apartment amenities. It will look beautiful and probably have modern appliances and furniture.

Now, when you go into a condo, you might find a new unit ready to move into, or you may walk into a condo where the previous tenant passed away six months ago – and it doesn’t have the best smell. Without getting too graphic, you never know what you’re going to walk into when you are condo shopping. Fortunately, that’s a worst-case scenario and not usually the norm.

You need to prepare for anything, and the realtor’s information may be limited. Even without icky details, remember that when people move into a condo, they tend to stay for a long time and may or may not have done much work while they lived there. In other words, the place might be a wreck and require a lot of time and money.

The property may have fifty-year-old paint on the walls or damaged linoleum in the kitchen and bathroom. It will probably need a new toilet unless you want to use a toilet someone else has used for years or decades.

My Condo Horror Story

In my early 20’s, I rushed out and purchased a condo because I couldn’t afford a detached residential home. I was in such a hurry to purchase, I signed up for an interest-only loan and signed a contract that was at the very top of my spending limit.

A few years later, the housing market crashed and my condo lost more than 70% of its value. Fast forward five years and my interest only loan adjusted and the payments skyrocketed out of reach. I was unable to afford my home and foreclosed shortly thereafter.

The housing market took a big hit but the overpriced condo community was especially volatile. My condo did not hold its value nearly as much as a single family residence would have.

Had I decided to rent an apartment for a while and later purchased a property with more cash, I would have been in an entirely different situation.

Condo Vs Apartment Analysis

If you can’t put at least 20% down on a condo purchase – renting an apartment is the clear winner.

Deciding To Make The Condo Purchase

Let’s assume you’re in a good personal finance situation and have made the decision to buy a condo. In the end, you liked the location and the common areas, and the monthly HOA fees are reasonable. You held your nose and made a low ball offer, and they accepted.

Now what?

You have to pay closing costs and come up with a down payment if you’re financing a mortgage. Keep in mind that when you are financing any property, and you plan to live in it, you can pay as little as three percent down with a Federal Housing Administration (FHA) loan, or $1,000 down with a VA loan.

Why The Down Payment?

The mortgage company uses your down payment as a prepaid mortgage payment, which means you are paying your mortgage in advance. For example, if you close on your condo loan at the beginning of November, your first payment will not be due until January the next year.

It’s the same with your monthly homeowner’s association(HOA) dues, so your first HOA payment will be due in January. Also, you might get a tax credit for closing costs, but your accountant would know more details. You got through all that, and you are now a condo owner – welcome to the condo community!

Is It A Bad Idea To Buy a Condo?

This is a difficult general question to answer and it depends on a lot of things. In the apartment vs condo debate, you can walk away if you find too many problems in an apartment, but you’re stuck with condo until you sell it.

Lower Your Risk Before You Purchase

Mitigate unknown problems by getting a building inspector to look at the property before you buy it. The larger, more established realtor companies have access to everything buying and selling related, and they can arrange inspections and even help connect you with a mortgage lender. Tell the realtor, so they know what you want, or they will steer you to someone who can arrange these things.

Planning for the unexpected makes life much more comfortable.

Is Renting A Condo A Good Idea – Instead Of Buying?

Yes, sometimes it is because condos tend to have nicer amenities than apartment buildings. Condos can have things like indoor garbage collection, indoor pools, community and exercise rooms, and indoor parking. Apartment buildings usually don’t have all the extras unless you pay a lot more.

Apartments are generally geared for the short term, while condos attract more long term tenants. The biggest problem with renting a condo is trying to find one to rent. Many condo associations don’t allow renters at all. Some condo associations are so strict they don’t even let owners have guests in the unit or on the grounds unless the owner is present.

However, don’t give up hope, there are still condos for rent out there. Try entering “rent condo” in a search engine, and see what comes back.

rent condo google search

Purchasing Your Apartment Unit

Maybe your asking, “how do I turn my apartment into a condo?” The short answer is you have to buy your apartment from the owner – if they’re willing to sell. While it sounds easy enough, you would have to convince everyone else to buy their apartment as well.

The concept was quite popular back in the 1970s. Apartment building owners sold off the units one by one, and the condo association was born. Some people didn’t want to buy or couldn’t afford to purchase their apartment and moved out, while others stayed and bought their unit. Buying the apartment means taking out a mortgage or paying cash.

Most people can’t pay in full, so borrowing is the only option, which generally means coming up with a down payment. Of course, if anything goes wrong with the building or units, then the owner(s), meaning you, have to deal with it.

Making The Decision To Buy

If, after all of this discussion, you still want to buy a condo, go ahead. In an ideal situation, and if you have extra money to invest, you could form a limited liability corporation(LLC) and buy the condo for cash and put it into the LLC. That would give you some additional legal protections.

Aside from that, once you buy the condo, you can either rent it out while it appreciates in value (if the HOA allows it), or move in as your primary residence. You won’t find many people who think a property is a bad investment. I personally think real estate is an excellent way to diversify your investment portfolio.

You can contract with a property management company to deal with tenants, or maybe even the company that manages the condo’s would do the work for you in exchange for a fee or commission.

Condo Renting Tips And Tricks

A backdoor method you could or might use when trying to make money off tenants is to check the condo association bylaws on renting or have a lawyer do it for you. The association might forbid renters – but not rent to own agreements.

Rent to own contracts means you sign a contract to sell the condo. The benefit is you generally collect a lump sum payment upfront. After the lump sum, you collect monthly payments until a mutually agreed upon date, at which time the tenant must either buy the unit or move out.

A significant advantage is you can state in the contract that the potential buyer is responsible for all repairs and maintenance. If the deal doesn’t work out, then they move, and you keep the money paid to that point and find someone else. If the tenant does buy, then you get more money.

Become A HOA Board Member

Even if the association bylaws don’t allow renters under any circumstance, you could still try running for a seat on the condo board or ask for a vote at an association meeting. Other owners might have the same idea as you so you could band together and ask for a vote on the issue. The bylaws can change if there are enough votes.

Understanding HOA Dues

Another sometimes overlooked item is the HOA dues. The dues to the association cover various items. It may cover the heat in your condo and the hot water you use, as well and the sewer and overall water usage. It should cover garbage pickup if you live inside a building.

HOA dues also pay for common areas that are used by you and everyone else. The common areas might include a pool, exercise, and community room where you can entertain guests. It also should pay for outside lawn maintenance like grass cutting and flower planting in the spring, and summer and snow removal in the winter.

The association will most likely have some type of liability insurance to cover significant events like fires. However, the HOA insurance will most likely only restore units to their original state. So, for instance, if you have oak cabinets in the kitchen but the original cabinets were particleboard, then the insurance will only cover particle board cabinets if you didn’t pay for additional coverage.

The realtor can find out what is paid for by the association before you ever make an offer so you can make plans accordingly.

The Decision Is Personal

In the end, you have to make your own decision. Owning property is one of the American dreams. Having something to call your own can be extremely rewarding, both financially and psychologically. However, purchasing property when you are not in a good financial position can have the opposite effect. You could end up foreclosing, being unable to pay your bills, and digging yourself out of debt for years to come.

Apartment living gives you more freedom of movement. If you have the means, you could have it both ways. You could buy a condo that allows tenants and hire a management company to take care of the details. You could use the rental income to pay rent on your apartment and never move and still have ownership equity.

The condo vs apartment debate will continue to live on because purchasing a condo may be the right decision for one person, but the wrong decision for another. Write down a list of pros and cons and set yourself up to be in the best financial situation possible.

This post originally appeared on Arrest Your Debt.

When I was a kid, there was always something I wanted to buy. The problem was, I usually had spent all my birthday money and my parents were not in the habit of buying me whatever I wanted just because. If I wanted to buy something, I needed to learn how to make money as a kid.

It was much harder to make money when I was a kid because we didn’t have the internet with all these great ideas! Now, with a quick search, you can end up on an awesome web page like this to figure out exactly how you can start earning money – at any age!

For you grownups reading this post, there are also great ideas for you to make a little extra money on the side as well!

An Easy Way To Make Money As A Kid – If You’re 13 Years Old Or Older

Some online side hustles require you to meet certain legal standards in order to be paid. This section is dedicated to those jobs for kids 13 years old or older.

1. Online Surveys

Are you thirteen years old or older? If so, I have a great idea for you. With your parent’s permission, you should sign up for Survey Junkie! It is a completely free website that will pay you $1 – $3 dollars for every survey you take.

It not only is a simple way to make extra money, but it is relatively simple to start making a few extra bucks in a short amount of time.

You won’t get rich from taking online surveys but they can certainly make you extra money in your spare time.

To sign up for Survey Junkie for free and to start making extra money, click my link here.

23 Best Ways To Make Money As A Kid

Online surveys, as long as they do not require you to be 18 years old or older, are a great way for kids to make money at home. Making money as a kid online was not something that I had the opportunity for when I was younger. If you have a smartphone and a little extra free time, there are tons of ways for you to make extra money!

Making money fast as a kid online has never been easier than taking surveys!

2. Gift Cards

By taking various online surveys, many companies will incentivize people by rewarding them with gift cards. Another way to earn gift cards is to play games or watch videos. Mistplay is another great app that lets you test out games and earn gift cards while doing it.

How To Teach Your Kids The Value Of Money And Work

I just want you to know that it took everything in me not to start this section out with, “back in my day.” The truth is, things are different now from how they were 30+ years ago. Change isn’t necessarily bad, but there is definitely generational differences.

It seems that each generation is better off than the last. As parents, we want our kids to have everything we didn’t when we were younger. Unfortunately, this can create a bunch of kids that are spoiled brats that don’t understand how work and money are tied together.

We all know those kids who get whatever they want without working for it. The entitlement factor is extremely high and unfortunately, these kids struggle as they get older. As adults, we understand that in order to feed your family, you need to go to work. Nothing in this life is free, as you are aware.

How We Teach Our Children About Money

In our home, our three children do not get an allowance. An allowance is too similar to conditioning my kids to get free money – for doing nothing. I want my kids to understand that money is directly tied to work and we do this by paying them for completed chores.

You could also refer to it as commission. My kids get a commission for completing certain tasks.

My wife recently picked out a magnetic chore chart that we use on a weekly basis. Each kid gets a list of chores that they can complete to be paid at the end of the week. Because I have three kids and I don’t want to go broke, we offer $1 dollar per completed chore. They each get 5 chores they can complete on a weekly basis.

By doing this, in a worst-case scenario, I could be out $60 a month if all my kids did all their paid chores. It’s a small price to pay to teach them about responsibility and good work habits.

If you’re interested in which chore chart we use, you can find it on Amazon.com through this link here. Pictures of the chart we use are below.

If you’re a kid reading this, this may be a great way to make some extra money. Just tell your parents how much more responsible you will be if you learn the value of doing chores for money!

**On a side note, my kids also have “regular” chores they are required to do that they are not compensated for.

Make Money Fast As A Kid – At Any Age

Here I will give you a list and explanation of some of the best ways you can start to make money. It involves a little work but you will make more money by doing some of these chores as opposed to online surveys.

3. Recycle Aluminum Cans Cans For Cash

This was probably my favorite way to make money when I was young. We would collect cans at home in a separate bin and take the cans to a recycler when the bin filled up. With an entire bin, I usually could make about $30 dollars from the collection.

When I needed extra money, I would go around the neighborhood and look for cans or check trash cans for soda cans that people threw away. Not only can you make extra money by looking for cans, but you can also clean up the neighborhood!

4. Recycle Plastic And Glass Bottles For Money

In a similar vein, some states will pay you for glass and plastic bottles in good condition. Unfortunately, in Arizona, we don’t have these types of recycling facilities. However, we frequently visit California and we recycle our bottles when we are visiting there.

Side note – it is illegal to transfer recyclables from one state to another in order to cash them in. You can only recycle cans and bottles for cash if they were purchased in that state.

5. Help Your Parents With A Garage Sale

More than likely, your parents have a house filled with stuff they no longer use. Work with your parents and see if they would be willing to help you organize a yard sale.

Honestly, most of us adults would love to have a yard sale next weekend to get rid of a bunch of stuff we don’t need. Unfortunately, we usually lack the motivation to actually organize and put together a yard sale. This leads to more and more stuff piling up that needs to go.

If you offer to do most of the work, which includes labeling and organizing, you may be able to get your parents on board. As adults, the less work we need to do – the better. Offer to do some of the more tedious processes and you may be surprised by our answer!

A weekend garage sale can easily bring in over $100 if you have enough stuff to sell. Make sure you put plenty of signs out in the neighborhood and post on Nextdoor.com to let people know about the sale!

6. Run A Lemonade Stand In Your Neighborhood

how to make money at 12 / lemonade stand

This tried and true business model has stood the test of time! I’m pretty sure that even my grandparents had a lemonade stand when they were younger. No seriously – I bet they did.

Last month there were two kids who set up a lemonade stand in our neighborhood and from the amount of traffic that stopped, I’m sure they made a ton of money!

Believe it or not, but it’s hard for us grownups to drive past some cute kids who are trying to make a couple of bucks selling lemonade. In addition, most people will give you even more money than you were asking for.

For the absolute best tasting lemonade, use this recipe:

Basic Ingredients For The Best Lemonade:

2 Cups Of Sugar

3 Limes

5 Lemons

½ Of An Orange

1 Lemon (thinly sliced)

Step By Step Instructions:

Cut in half and squeeze the 5 lemons, ½ an orange, and 3 limes into a large pitcher (at least one gallon).

Add two cups of sugar, one cup of hot water and stir until all the sugar dissolves.

After the sugar is dissolved, fill the rest of the pitcher up with cold water and add the thinly sliced lemons.

Pro Tip: Before serving, make sure you add ice. No one likes warm lemonade!

7. Walk The Neighbors Dogs

Adults are notoriously busy people and rarely have time to walk their dogs. As you may know, dogs need exercise and should be walked daily. If you know one of your neighbors who has a friendly dog, offer to walk their dog on specific days.

Tell them you are saving up money for something special and ask if they would be willing to pay you for your time. If you ask nicely, they may pay you more than you thought they would.

Petsitter.com and other similar websites help connect people who are willing to walk dogs for money, with people who are willing to pay for this service. In addition, Petsitter offers other ways to make money by working with animals to include:

Watching puppies

Grooming

Training

8. Water The Plants At Home

If all the plants or gardens at your house are not on an automatic timer, your parents know how exhausting it can be to water the plants every week. If you offer to take over the watering schedule and are reliable, you may be able to make a few extra bucks each week!

Have a conversation with your parents to see if this is possible or what other jobs they would be willing for you to do in order to be paid.

How Teenagers Can Make Money

The older you get, the more potential you have to make even more money. This is true in your adolescent years as well as your adult years. Check out some of these great ideas to make money as a teen!

9. Mow Lawns And General Yard Work

If your neighbors have grass in their front and back yard, I’m willing to bet they would rather pay someone else to do it if the price was right. Many adults, like me, do our own yard work because hiring a landscaper is expensive.

Due to the price, I am forced to mow my own yard each week and do my best to keep up with the weed pulling and tree trimming.

I do this because some ambitious neighborhood kid has not come by and offered to do my yardwork for a lower price. The landscaper in our neighborhood charges $100 dollars a month to come by every two weeks. If some neighborhood kid offered to mow my grass twice a month for $50 bucks, I would take it in a heartbeat!

While $50 a month may not sound like a lot, it can quickly add up if you are able to work for 4-5 people in your neighborhood. That $50 per yard could quickly turn into $200 a month for you!

10. Babysitting

If you are in your teenage years, you may be a great candidate to babysit other peoples younger kids. Many of us wish we could go out with our spouse more often but we often feel guilty asking family members to do it for free. For the right price, you may be the right person for the job!

Before you start asking around for babysitting jobs, I recommend you attend a cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR), certification class.

If someone stops breathing and their heart quits pumping, CPR can jump start their heart and save their life! By using simple CPR techniques, you can save kids and even adults. In short – CPR SAVES LIVES!

You can find a local class online here. Having this certification will not only make the parents feel better about you watching their kids, but you could actually need to use it to save a life! Knowing CPR is an awesome skill to have – I strongly recommend you attend a class before babysitting.

Sign Up At The Red Cross

The Red Cross routinely offers babysitting classes to kids 11 to 15 years old. The Red Cross offers in-person and online babysitting classes to prepare kids to be responsible and make extra spending money.

11. Sell Your Work On Fiverr

Are you a teenager who loves computers and has a knack for designing things? If you are 13 years old or older, you can take orders from people who need specific things done for their business.

On Fiverr, you can sell services to people who want you to:

Design a logo

Designing a poster

Editing a photograph

Writing a short song or introduction jingle

There are a ton of other services you can sell on Fiverr if you are a creative person. To find out more, head over to Fiverr here and see how you can make money!

Here is a great step by step tutorial on how to start selling services on Fiverr:

TUTORIAL: How to Create a Fiverr Gig and Start Selling Services to Make Money Online

12. Host A Neighborhood Carwash

If you have a few buckets and old cloths/towels lying around, you could use them to wash cars for donations. Every weekend in my city, it seems I drive past at least a couple of car wash fundraisers.

A couple of things you will need to prepare to have a car wash:

Buy soap and sponges

Get permission from a local business to have the carwash in their parking lot

Get permission to use their water

Bring your own hose

Bring plenty of sun screen, drinking water, and friends or family to help you!

Be sure to advertise with signs or people directing traffic in

13. House And Pet Sitting

pet and house sit to make money as a teenager

Many of us as adults hate going on vacations because we know we will have to find someone to watch our animals. If you love animals, you could be the perfect solution for many of us who have a hard time finding people to watch our dogs and cats.

Pet care services are in high demand and people are willing to pay someone else to watch their animals if they know their pets will be taken care of.

Knowing that a reliable teenager can come by every day and feed our animals lifts a huge burden off our backs. If you think you could play with animals for an hour or so and make sure to feed and water them every day, pet sitting may be perfect for you! Even if you’re only getting $10 dollars a day, that can quickly add up with a minimal amount of work.

Great places to post an advertisement for house sitting or pet sitting would be:

Your Church

Local Library

School Office

Nextdoor.com

Word of mouth

14. Social Media

While social media can be a dangerous place for a kid, with the right direction and oversight it can be a great way to make money as a kid. Have you ever heard of EvanTubeHD? He is a kid who makes over $1.6 million dollars each year with his YouTube channel.

If you’re entertaining and like to capture funny or informational incidents on camera, YouTube and social media can be an excellent way to make money.

USA Today recently announced that the top earner on YouTube is a seven-year-old who made 22 million dollars by unboxing and playing with toys on video!

Evan makes so much money because he has a large following of people who watch his videos. However, every social media platform can be used as a method to bring in additional income. As an added plus, the younger you are, the easier it seems to be to learn how to use social media to quickly build an audience you can use to make money with.

15. Sell Flowers

If sitting in front of a screen doesn’t sound fun to you, maintaining and profiting from a flower garden can be an awesome way to make money as a kid. If you enjoy learning new things and working with your hands, you can start making money by growing flowers and later arranging them for special events. This can be a cheap and easy way to make extra cash.

Not only does a flower garden teach responsibility, but it can also be a great way to learn independence and start a small business on the side.

16. Come Up With A Business Idea

If you can find a way to fulfill a need or add value to someone’s life, these skills can be used to come up with a business idea. Thinking of the perfect business idea can be challenging which is why it is a good idea to talk with your friends, family, and neighbors about common problems they have.

By finding solutions to problems, these solutions can be turned into a small business to make money as an entrepreneur.

17. Graphic Design

make money as a kid with graphic design

If you love drawing and creating different graphics on a computer, graphic design can be an extremely profitable way to make money as a kid. Fiver, Upwork, Peopleperhour.com are all places where you can work as a freelancer and sell your services.

Small businesses are constantly outsourcing much of their graphic design work to talented individuals who can create amazing images with popular graphic software.

If you have special talents involving design, kids can make money by providing services related to:

Photo Editing

Copy Writing

Graphic Design

Video Production

Logo Design

Sound Editing

18. Post Office And Other Errands

Busy households often require additional help with odd jobs and errands. Some small businesses need people who can run items to the post office to ship them out quickly to meet deadlines. Websites and apps such as Takl.com connect people willing to do odd jobs with others who need help.

If someone in your neighborhood is going out of town, you can offer to pick up the mail while they are gone. Think of common tasks that people hate doing and offer to complete these chores for a price.

19. Run A Hot Chocolate Stand

The tried and true lemonade stand is a great way to make money but not many people are willing to buy lemonade in the winter. By learning to adapt your product and services to meet current needs, kids can learn to take advantage of winter weather by offering to sell hot chocolate!

Learn to meet the needs of customers by offering things for sale that are appropriate for the given circumstances.

20. Start An Online Blog

Kids are never too young to work on their computer and typing skills. By learning how to manage a blog, kids can pick up valuable life skills that can transition into a full-time career later in life. Did you know kids can make money blogging? It’s true, bloggers can make a decent income by providing relevant information and unique stories to people seeking answers.

Bloggers make money through affiliate marketing to start earning money online.

My nine-year-old daughter runs a blog and is actively on her way to start making an income with it.

Cheap website hosting companies like BlueHost will help you set up a blog for less than $10 dollars a month to start generating income.

21. Virtual Assistant

Similar to helping others with routein tasks such as grocery shopping or house sitting, people often need help with online tasks.

Virtual assistants help small businesses and people with data entry, scheduling meetings, answer customer calls, or manage social media accounts. Imagine all the things people do online and how you can help them with their routine tasks.

Because social media can be time-consuming, in the past I have hired a social media manager to ensure I maintain a positive social media presence.

Again, Fiverr is a great place to offer your services for hire.

22. Sell Items On Etsy

If you’re particularly crafty and like creating things, Etsy is a great place to make money as a kid. Think of Etsy as an online yardsale or marketplace where you make money selling all of your personal creations.

Many successful business owners have made money on Etsy by starting a homemade jewelry business.

Kids can set up an Etsy account with the help of their parents and sell items such as:

Handmade Decorative Signs

Art

Toys

Clothing

Handmade Jewelry

Bags

Anything else artsy and crafty

23. Sell Old Toys And Items On Mercari

My wife and kids are addicted to Mercari. It is a new and upcoming app that lets you buy and sell items online without having to meet people in person. We recently wet through our closets and pulled out the old toys and clothes we no longer use. Normally we would donate these items to a local thrift shop but we wanted to see how much money we could make by selling our old stuff online.

After spending some time taking pictures and listing our stuff for sale, we were able to rake in $125 in just a week!

How Kids Should Spend And Save Their Money

If you give a child $10 dollars, what do they want to do with it? I can tell you that from experience – spend it immediately!

This last weekend I paid my kids for doing their chores. My middle son is not always the most ambitious and only made $3 dollars for what he had done the previous week. We sat down on Sunday and I paid him his earnings.

Right after I paid him, he immediately asked if we could go to the grocery store so he could buy something he saw in the checkout lane that was only $1. It’s apparent he is going to be my kid with a spending problem if we don’t get it into check immediately.

Changing Your Child’s Bad Spending Habits

I sat him down and we had a brief discussion about materialism and buying things just to spend money. After our conversation, he understood that buying that item was probably not a good item – but he still wanted to buy it.

save spend give

Because of his inclinations, we have money envelopes set up for the kids. They each have a save, spend, and give envelope. Each time they are paid, they are required to put a certain amount into each envelope. By doing this, we are training them to know that when they receive money, it doesn’t mean that they should spend every last cent. Teaching these good money habits early on is extremely important.

If you’re interested in which money envelopes we use at my house, you can find the ones we use here on Amazon.com.

Encourage Your Kids To Work For Rewards

Allowing kids to make money when they are young gives them a sense of responsibility and independence. Avoid giving your kids an allowance just for existing. Encourage them to work for commission – just like the real world!

If they are trained to work for the things they want, they will grow up much more prepared to add value to this world in order to provide for their future families!

This post originally appeared on Arrest Your Debt.