Category: Earn Extra Money

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.

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.

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. 

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. 

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!