Category: Earn Extra Money

How to Competitively Price Your Freelance Services

Freelance work has become more and more of a norm for most Americans, with over 59 million citizens working as independent contractors across the country. There are many benefits to freelance work, but a number of challenges as well. 

You run your work as your own company and as such, you have to make all the big decisions. One of the most difficult things to determine when you’re first starting out? How much to charge for your freelance services. 

There’s no simple guide out there on how to price freelance work, which is why it can be so difficult for many who are new to this kind of workflow. What do you need to know about creating your own personal pricing structure? Read on.

Determining Hourly vs. Fixed Rate

Before you get into the business of deciding how much you should charge, you’ll need to decide how you want to be charged. Deciding between an hourly wage or a fixed cost will depend a lot on the kind of work you do and the flexibility you’ll have per project.

Generally speaking, fixed pricing can be easier for you and the client. You simply ask for the amount of cash you’ll want upfront, and it’s delivered upon the delivery of your services. 

When might hourly rates make more sense? In situations where it’s hard to determine how long it will take you to accomplish the work at hand. For example, if you’re providing a service that might get sent back to you with notes for adjustments.

It can be hard to determine how many rounds of notes you might receive and how big and time-consuming the changes might be. Charging by the hour could help you to match the amount of effort you put into how much you get paid. 

If you have more control over when, where, and how you’re doing a job, working with a fixed rate might make more sense. It will certainly be less to keep track of. 

Luckily, you can find an invoice template to match whichever payment format you go with. 

How to Price Services

The best way to land a price for your own services is to look at the competition. What do people who do the same work as you charge for their services? If you do a good amount of research, you should get a steady sense of how much to expect for a certain amount of work. 

If you’re just starting out, you may want to pull your asking price just a little lower to stay competitive. You’ll need to build up a client base, so offering a small discount as you get your footing can be smart.

You can always push your price up later on once you are more established.

Cashing Out on Freelance Services

If you’re providing freelance services to a number of clients, you’ll want to be sure you’re getting paid what you deserve. Landing on an exact number as you’re getting started, however, can be tricky. The above info can help you determine how to go about this difficult task. 

Have more questions about business and labor? Keep scrolling our blog for more.

 

 

 

7 Great Ways Moms Can Save Money While Remote Working

A massive 40% of employees feel that having a flexible schedule is the greatest benefit of working remotely. However, this is not the only advantage, as you can also save cash you might have spent if you were still going into the office. 

But what are the unexpected ways that remote working can save you money? By making the most of every cost-saving opportunity, you could dramatically reduce your outgoings and leave yourself with more disposable income at the end of each month. 

You’ll be happy to hear that by the end of this short guide, you’ll know about 7 fantastic ways your remote job can help you boost your bank balance. 

Let’s jump straight in and learn more.

1. Cheaper Clothing 

When you are working from home, you won’t need to buy work clothes that you may have worn to look more professional in the office. This can cut down on your clothes shopping bill and reduce your dry cleaning costs.

2. More Affordable Food 

Rather than buying expensive snacks from stores and vending machines, you can stock your kitchen cupboards with cheaper and healthier foods. You can even use grocery store apps to source great deals to keep your costs as low as possible.

3. Gym Costs

Your remote work life may be more flexible than your old schedule, and you might not need to have a specific time for attending the gym before or after work. Instead, you could use weights that you have at home, go for a jog during your lunch break, or practice yoga in your living room during short breaks throughout the day.

You could also use fitness apps to save money as these can provide you with workout routines for free or at a small cost.

4. Cell Phone Charges

When commuting, you may have been bored and phoned friends and family for a chat, or played games that used up your mobile data allowance, resulting in increased costs. But, you’re more likely to be entertained at home and can use your Wi-Fi network to avoid running up a higher data bill on your cell phone. 

5. Fewer Haircuts

Another of the less obvious money-saving tips when remote working is to get fewer haircuts. While you’ll want to stay neat and tidy, you’ll be seeing colleagues less, so you can wait a bit longer between visits to your stylist. 

6. Fewer Takeaway Coffees

It can be nice to treat yourself to a takeaway coffee every now and then, but you might find you do this less often when you’re not walking past the coffee shop every day. Even if you invest in a quality coffee-making machine, this could save you a lot of money over an extended period. 

7. Child and Pet Care Costs

Rather than hiring childminders and dog walkers, you can look after the kids while you work, and walk your pets during your lunch hour. You may also find buying dog products from breedgenetics.com while on a coffee break is a cost-effective way to shop for your pet.

You Could Save a Small Fortune When Remote Working

Remote working is becoming a normal way of life for many employees, and it offers terrific opportunities to save significant amounts of money. There is less need to spend cash on office attire or frequent haircuts, and you can eat more healthily for less. It’s also possible to reduce your cell phone bills and find flexible exercise routines that you can fit in without going to the gym.

You may soon notice that remote working is increasing your spending power while also providing you with a better work/life balance.

For more money-saving tips, check out our Frugal Living category.

Unique Ways To Make Money: 8 Options

Did you know that, as inflation is heating up, 64% of Americans are living paycheck to paycheck? This is because increased living costs are truly stretching everyone’s paycheck to the limit. 

If you are suffering from the same predicament and looking for some help, one way you can alleviate your financial worries is by making additional money from part-time or side jobs.

In this article, we share with you 8 unique ways to make money that you can start applying to your life right away.

1. Sell Items on Etsy or eBay

Do you make dolls out of bottle caps or are you a pro at knitting? You probably have some awesome skills that you are keeping under wraps till now. Well, do not hide your light under a bushel anymore; it’s time for you to use these skills to make money.

Sell the items you make on Etsy or eBay. Or you can create your website using Shopify and sell your items there.

2. Rent Out an Additional Room

If you have a huge house with additional rooms that aren’t being used right now, because your children left the nest or because you thought you would have guests over that never came, then those rooms are uselessly sitting empty right now.

Use them to your financial advantage by renting them out to students in need. Not only will you be giving them a safe and clean space to call home while they are in college or university, but you will also make some much-needed cash.

3. Teach English Online

There are so many legitimate websites right now that allow you to teach the language of your choice (primarily English) to students all around the world. Are you fluent in Dutch? Or perhaps you know Swahili because you spoke it with your grandmother? 

Whatever the language might be, you can find someone online who wishes to learn it from you, thus, giving you additional money to spend on debt repayment or other financial needs. This is one of the most unique ways to make money at home.

4. Offer to Babysit or Petsit for Busy Professionals

There are so many busy professionals out there who barely have enough time to eat and go to the toilet, let alone take care of their children and pets. If you have the extra time, why not use it to help out these time-harried folks? 

You can offer to watch their babies or pets or both, while they are busy doing whatever they do all day long. It’s a win-win situation – they feel relieved about leaving their babies at home and you get some additional cash to add to your monthly budget. 

5. Make Money on Amazon

There are many ways to make money on Amazon. You could build a website with referral links to particular products on Amazon or you could sell crafts. You are only limited here by your imagination, so start thinking big and you might even end up owning a 6- or 7-figure business on Amazon someday.

6. Become an Uber Driver

Do you love to drive, unlike all of your friends and family? Do you own a car that’s in pretty good shape? Then you can start ferrying people about in your car by becoming an Uber or Lyft driver.

It’s a great way to meet new people, make some cash, and see some new neighborhoods in your city. If you are going to be driving around in any case, why not make some cash at the same time?

The good thing about becoming an Uber driver is that you can choose your hours, so if you are still going to school or working another job, you can work around your schedule, and not have to choose between one or the other.

7. Clean Out Your Closet

There are many creative ways to make money online, but the easiest one of them has to be cleaning out your closet and selling your additional unwanted items on Facebook Marketplace or Craigslist. You probably have a closet stuffed full of items that sit around day in and day out. 

Most people end up wearing only a minor portion of their closet, leaving the rest to rot away in oblivion. If you are sick and tired of having all these clothes in your closet without using them, then why not clean them out and sell them to someone who will actually use them? 

This is even more lucrative for you if you have a lot of designer clothes and brands in your closet, collecting dust.

8. Take Beautiful Photos or Videos and Sell them Online

Are you quite creative when it comes to taking beautiful photos or videos of your city or your travels? There are many websites online like Shutterstock, or Unsplash, that are happy to pay you royalties for your photos and videos. It doesn’t even matter if you are a professional photographer or a novice.

You post your photos on their website and every time someone downloads your picture to use in their projects or presentations, you get a royalty fee. 

Who knows, you might even make a name for yourself online and become a big shot in the photography industry because of this small venture into the unknown. 

So Many Unique Ways to Make Money Online and Offline

It’s time for you to choose some out-of-the-box ways to make money, rather than grinding away at the same-old, same-old scenario. There are hundreds of people, both online and offline, who are using the techniques mentioned above to make 6-figure incomes. 

You can do the same. All you need to do is believe in yourself.

If you wish to read more articles about unique ways to make money, keep browsing through our website. 

Alternative Assets: How to Start a Wine Collection

The world’s most expensive private wine collection sold for a staggering $29.8 million at a Hong Kong auction in 2019. With such vast amounts of money at stake, it’s not surprising some savvy entrepreneurs consider collecting wines for investment purposes.

But, is it easy to learn how to start a wine collection? After all, you’ll want to be sure you only spend as much money as you need to, while also getting the maximum return on your investment. The good news is you can follow some straightforward hints and tips to get started with this potentially lucrative hobby. 

Let’s dive in and learn more about collecting wines as an investment. 

Set a Budget

When investing in wine, it can be tempting to buy expensive wines in the hope of selling for the bottle for a large fee in the future. By setting a budget, you reduce the risk of overspending when an opportunity arises. Not all wines have to be expensive, and you can visit the Wine Dispensary to find excellent bottles at reasonable prices.

Keep an Inventory

You won’t want to read the label of each bottle every time you check what wines are in your collection. If you keep an inventory list on a spreadsheet or written on a sheet of paper, you can quickly identify which wines you already own.

Keeping an inventory can also be useful for creating a varied collection. You can include information such as wine regions and the wine type in your columns, and then buy a bottle with different characteristics next time you’re making a purchase. 

Consider Your Wine Storage Options

If you buy a fine wine, you’ll want to store it in optimal conditions. You may already have a cool and humid environment in a room in your home, but you could also consider using a storage facility to house your investment.

Save the Documentation

Ensure you keep a record of wine purchase receipts, seller details, and auction catalogs. These details could be important when selling your collection and help raise the price by a significant amount. 

Have Your Wine Collection Appraised

Wine collections can fluctuate in value, so it could be useful to have regular appraisals. You could potentially identify the peak time to sell some or all of your collection rather than missing out on a profitable sale. Knowing the value of your wines is also vital when insuring your bottles.

Now You Know How to Start a Wine Collection

When learning how to start a wine collection, you can become fascinated with the many different available varieties and their financial values. You may want to set a budget to reduce the risk of spending too much money and have a suitable storage facility to help protect your investment. Remember to keep an inventory, and place your wine-related documentation in a safe place. 

Before long, you could have built up a valuable wine collection!

Don’t rush off to start collecting wines just yet, first be sure to check out more great posts in our Deals section. 

 

The Different Types of Bottles for Essential Oils Explained

Did you know that there are over 90 types of essential oils? Each has a unique smell to them, and some have potential health benefits. 

There are different ways to use essential oils as well. For example, you may decide to put some drops in a diffuse to help spruce up the smell of your house. Or, maybe you want to apply some to your skin.

Depending on how you plan to use your essential oil, you may need a certain type of essential oil bottle.

So, which type of essential oil bottle do you need? Keep reading on to learn about different types of bottles for essential oils and proper storage for them. 

Euro Bottles 

Euro bottles are some of the most versatile essential oil bottles available. They come in a variety of sizes and can come in clear bottles or darker amber bottles.

For people who prefer droppers, euro bottles can be topped off with glass droppers. These glass dropper bottles allow for easy and accurate measuring of essential oils.

Boston Round Bottles 

Boston round bottles are available in different shades of amber colors. Using amber colors for essential oil bottles allows for the essential oils to have a longer shelf life.

This is because it reduces the UV ray light from entering inside the bottle. Unfortunately, UV ray light can be damaging to essential oils and cause them to go bad faster. Boston Round Bottles darker amber color options help reduce UV rays light from damaging the essential oils and helping them last longer. 

Boston round bottles can be topped with various toppers such as glass bottle droppers, reducers, or sprays. 

Roller Bottles 

Roller bottles are a great option for people who wish to apply essential oils to their skin. Roller bottles easily and evenly spread the essential oils on your skin.

The roller bottles can even help relieve tension and help relax you by rolling the roller over your temples or neck.

Roller bottles can come with either glass, plastic, or stainless steel rollerball on the lid. The rollerball makes it easy to apply the essential oils to your skin.

Dram Bottles 

Dram bottles work great for samples of essential oils. They are smaller and more compact.

If you want to allow potential customers to sample your essential oils without giving too much product away, dram bottles are the way to go.

Storing Essential Oils 

No matter which bottle you choose, there are some important considerations to keep in mind when shopping and storing essential oil bottles.

Glass bottles for essential oils are a better option than using plastic bottles or containers. Some essential oils contain compounds that can damage plastic packaging, causing the essential oil to leak.

Like the kind seen in Boston Round Bottles, a dark amber color can help reduce UV rays light to help extend the shelf life of your essential oils. If you choose an essential oil bottle that is clear or lighter in color, keep your essential oil bottle out of the sunlight whenever possible.

Air can also damage essential oils over time. Therefore, when shopping and storing your essential oil bottles, make sure the bottle is closed tightly.

When air interacts with the essential oils, it can cause oxidation to occur. Oxidation then can reduce how strong the essential oil is and can lead to shorter shelf life.

Choosing the Best Bottles for Essential Oils for You

There are many choices when it comes to bottles for essential oils. How you plan on using your essential oils, storage, and type of topper you wish to use can help you decide which is the best essential oil bottle for you.  

Did you enjoy learning more about essential oil bottles? If so, check out more of our articles on this blog post. 

This Is How to Rent Out Your House the Right Way

A recent survey of renters and homeowners found that over one-quarter of renters are renting a detached, single-family home. If you’re considering renting out your home, you’ll find that the market is full of interested candidates.

If you’re new to this process, you’re probably wondering how to rent out your house. After all, we’ve all heard horror stories about tenants causing expensive damage, refusing to pay rent, or breaking multiple terms of their leasing agreement. How can you make sure that your experience goes smoothly?

Managing rental properties doesn’t have to be as hard as it may sound. As long as you set yourself up for success, you’ll mitigate most liabilities associated with renting out a house. 

Read on to learn more about how to rent out your home and what you can do to achieve the results you’re hoping for.

Step 1: Decide on Your Goals Before Renting Out Your Property

Not all rental agreements look alike because not all property owners share the same goals. For example, you may be upgrading to a larger home and want to turn your first home into an asset. Alternatively, you may be moving for a set period of time and only want to rent out your home for that period.

In some cases, you may not want to rent out the whole house at all. Many property owners choose to rent out a room in their house to reduce their debts. Home sharing is also becoming a more popular option and can provide a great alternative for travelers who don’t wish to stay in a traditional hotel.

Ultimately, you need to understand your goals before you start drafting up leasing agreements, setting rental prices, and looking for tenants.

Should You Use a Property Manager?

Property managers can take care of the vast majority of your responsibilities to tenants, from showing the property to addressing issues and complaints to collecting monthly rent. Should you use one?

If you are managing several rental properties, a property manager can be helpful. We also recommend using a property manager if you don’t live in the same vicinity as your rental property. Unless you feel equipped to take care of your rental property and tenants on your own, you will probably want to work with a property manager.

Step 2: Establish the Fair Market Rent

You may not have as much say in establishing your rental prices as you think. In fact, your local real estate market will pretty much decide that for you. 

To establish the fair market rent for your property, look at other houses of comparable size and function that are up for rent in your area. If you’re hoping to find a tenant right away, you can consider charging slightly under the local average. However, it’s best to stay in that same price range. 

Step 3: List Your Home and Start Screening Applicants

Once you have your goals and fair market rent in mind, it’s time to list your home and start screening applicants. Some property owners use websites like Craigslist to find tenants, but we recommend sticking with actual rental websites. These websites make it easy to create a high-quality, professional listing. 

When you’re screening applicants, you will need to conduct background and credit checks, verify income, and ask for recommendations from previous landlords. Properly screening your applicants allows you to choose an applicant that is most likely to pay rent in full and on time while also respecting the terms of their lease. 

Step 4: Draw the Terms of Your Rental Agreement

When drawing the terms of your first-even rental agreement, you may want to consult a lawyer. Each state has its own laws regarding landlord obligations, tenants’ rights, and so forth.

A rental agreement (aka a leasing agreement) is a legally binding document designed to protect the interests of the landlord and the tenant. It must include:

  • The address of the rental property and names of the tenants
  • The length of the rental agreement (typically one year)
  • Monthly rent and any other fees (ie the security deposit, typically equivalent to one month’s rent)
  • Late fee definition and penalties
  • Rental policies (ie, “Painting of walls prohibited”)
  • Rules regarding pets
  • A move-in inspection report

You should also include a provision in your rental agreement regarding breaking the lease early. This is especially important if the length of your rental agreement is one year or longer. 

Step 5: Inspect the Property Before Move-In Day

Your move-in inspection report is something most property owners conduct alongside their approved tenant before move-in day. This report gives both parties an opportunity to acknowledge any pre-existing damage that the tenant cannot be held responsible for. It also creates legal grounds by which the security deposit can be withheld in the future.

In other words, the move-in inspection report is another document that is designed to protect both the tenant and the property owner. If the tenant causes damage that was not noted in the move-in inspection report, the property owner can use their security deposit to pay for repairs. (This is the specific purpose of a security deposit and it typically cannot be withheld for any other reason.)

Learn How to Rent Your House the Right Way and Mitigate Risks

Learning how to rent your house the right way is a crucial step in avoiding the rental horror stories we’ve all heard about. By understanding your rental goals, screening your applicants, and creating a solid rental agreement, you can almost guarantee a smooth rental process.

Looking for more ways to reduce debt or increase your income? Take a look around for more tips, tricks, and guides that will teach you how to live a thriftier lifestyle!

Beanie Baby Value: A Brief Guide to Buying and Selling

Remember the Beanie Baby boom? When Ty first introduced Beanie Babies in the early 90s, everyone thought their collection would be worth a fortune one day — and some of them wound up being right!

While some Beanie Baby value is simply nostalgia, some Beanies became valuable collector’s items. That said, figuring out which of your old Beanies is worth something and getting that money is easier said than done.

Ready to start trading in your Beanie Babies for cash but aren’t sure where to start? Here’s everything you need to know about how to begin buying and selling Beanie Babies.

How to Determine Beanie Baby Value

Did you know that a Ty Princess Diana bear once sold for over $500,000? Well, if that figure alone is the reason why you want to get into buying and selling Beanie Babies, then you’re out of luck because it never happened. While the famous Princess Bear can be one of the more valuable Beanies on the resale market, if you try to sell one now, at most, you’ll probably rake in about $80.

That said, if you manage to find one of the original nine Beanies with a tag misprint, you could be looking at a significantly heftier payout.

There’s a lot of misinformation out there about Beanie Baby value, and the only way to combat it is by doing plenty of research and becoming an expert on Beanie resale and by consulting a toy appraiser before listing your Babies for sale.

Keep Your Babies Clean

You may be able to sell a well-loved, tagless, original Pattie the Platypus to someone who’s feeling a bit nostalgic. But, if you want to earn big bucks selling Beanies, you’re going to have to make sure your toys are pristine.

Unfortuabnlty, the best way to ensure you’re Beanie Babies are in “like-new” condition is to travel back to 1997 and pop them all into those handy Beanie Baby display cases that were all the rage. But, until time travel becomes a bit more mainstream, the best you can do is to try to prevent any further damage.

One easy way to keep your Beanie Babies as fresh as possible is by popping them in a Ziploc bag. A Ziploc bag will protect your Babies from dust, water, and unpleasant smells like smoke, which can significantly lower their value.

If you have a few slightly shabby Beanie Baby’s you’re interested in selling to collectors, you may want to consider passing them off to a toy restoration expert first to get them cleaned up and looking their best. But, keep in mind that some purist Beanie connoisseurs may want you to disclose this information before you make a sale.

Find the Right Marketplace

Finally, once you have your Beanie Babies ready to go, all that’s left is to find a place to sell them.

Sites like eBay may seem like the most obvious choice when selling collectibles like Beanie Babies. But, these types of online marketplaces have gained a bit of a bad reputation due to scammers.

If you want to make money selling Beanie Babies on one of these sites, you’re going to have to spend some time building up your reputation first, which can take a while.

The best place to buy Ty Beanies Babies online is specialty sites that cater exclusively to Beanie Baby collectors. Usually, Beanie lovers and experts run these types of sites and will be able to help you navigate the buying and selling process with ease.

Getting the Most Bang for Your Beanies

Once upon a time, people banking on Beanie Baby value was a bit of a joke. But now we know that some of those adorable little plushy, bean-filled animals were actually worth their weight in gold.

Now that you know more about how to begin buying and selling Beanie Babies, it’s time to get to work.

Are you looking for more information on how to get into buying and selling high-value collectibles? We’ve got you covered. Check out the rest of our blog for more helpful articles today!