Job scam or job offer? How to avoid fraudsters

Reading Time: 6 mins

A job scam is a fake online job advertisement targeting jobseekers with the aim of stealing their personal information or money. With more businesses advertising job postings online and over two thirds of the working population using the internet to search for jobs, more and more people are falling victim to these types of scams.

In particular, people aged between 18-25 are one of the most vulnerable groups, according to Action Fraud. Students and graduates keen to find work and applying for first jobs, or hoping to be able to work to pay their way through studying, become the easiest targets. With the current economic instability, it’s likely job scams will rise as more people turn to job searches for new or second jobs to boost their income.

Anyone can fall victim to any type of job scam. We’ve put together a guide which will help you recognise the most common types of job offer scams, how to avoid them, and what to do if you have fallen victim to one of them.

• Spotting a Scam
• Avoiding Scams
• Keeping Yourself Safe
• Steps to Take if You’ve Fallen Victim
• Additional Information
• More Useful Reading

Spotting a Scam

When you’re applying for jobs there are several signs you can look for that suggest a posting or job offer may not be genuine.

Being Asked to Provide Bank Details

A legitimate company will never ask you for your bank details upfront so if you spot this it’s an immediate red flag. Never provide any of your financial or bank details before you’ve had confirmation of work and all the relevant contractual paperwork.

Some scams ask you to pay a ‘referral fee’, ‘administration fee’ or similar. Don’t do this! You shouldn’t have to pay to find work.

Being Asked to Provide Personal Details Upfront

Be wary of any ’employer’ that asks for personal information such as your passport, National Insurance number, full address, or bank details before you’ve interviewed with them. While your employer will need more of your personal details further down the line, make sure to only provide these when you have confirmation of a genuine workplace and job.

A recruitment agency will ask for these details when you join their books. They’re legally obliged to check that you’ve got a right to work in the UK. However, only hand over your information if you’re certain that the agency is legitimate. If anything doesn’t feel right, walk away.

Being Pressured

Although almost all jobs have a deadline, you should not be feeling pressured or rushed into anything. If you do, this is a potential sign that someone is trying to con you – they could tell you that you need to transfer a certain amount of money immediately to them otherwise your job won’t be secure. That’s simply not true! Another con is to say you need to ‘confirm’ your bank details by sending them an amount they’ll then refund to you. Again, you should never have to hand over any money to get a job.

Generic Email Addresses

If you’re contacted by someone with a generic or personal email address this may be a warning sign. Most professional companies and their staff will have their own work emails and will contact you via that.

Sometimes, people use their personal email if, for example, they don’t have a website and only use a Facebook page for their business’ online presence. If you want to check whether the email is legitimate, find the phone number for the company and call them to check.

Is the Job too Good to be True?

If the job sounds too good to be true, it is. Look out for terminology and phrases used in job advertisements that make it sound like the dream job. Things like “earn £2000 a week working from home”, and “jobs guaranteed” are clear warning signs. Also, “no experience needed” can indicate a scam – unless the job is clearly entry-level or the advert outlines that training will be provided as part of the role.

Avoiding job Scams

While there are an abundance of job offer scams out there, there are plenty of steps to take to avoid them and keep yourself as safe as possible.

Do Your Research

Make sure to research the job and company you are applying for. Check out their website. If they don’t have one, or it doesn’t fit with the job posted, then this is a warning sign. Make use of Google – search the company’s name, and add scam into the search terms. This brings up any results of people having bad experiences with the company.

It is also worth checking out job scam lists like Better Business Bureau to see if the company is listed. Official records like Companies House help you confirm whether an organisation offering you the job actually exists.

You can also check out sites like Glassdoor to read reviews from staff who currently or previously worked at the business. This gives you a good idea of the work culture as well as finding out if it’s a legitimate company.

Don’t Hand Over Any Money

Legitimate employers don’t charge to hire you. A fraudster may ask you to send money to pay for training costs, certification and checks, or administrative costs. Any requests you receive from a supposed business to send them money mean it’s likely you’re being led into a scam.

There’s No Getting Rich Quick

Unfortunately, aside from winning the lottery there’s no real way to get rich quick. Be wary of listings that claim to offer you a high income for part-time hours or a guaranteed job and financial success. Sadly, these just aren’t true.

Check Your CV

Check over your CV and make sure you haven’t included your date of birth, full address, or National Insurance number. You don’t need personal details on your CV aside from your name and a means for an employer to contact you. It’s a good idea to set up a separate ‘job hunting’ email address to put on your CV and job applications. This limits the personal information you need to give out, and makes spam more manageable!

Keeping Yourself Safe

Be careful and cautious in what information you make available to the world online.

Be cautious

Never give out personal details – a fraudster doesn’t need much personal information to steal from you so be careful. If you feel like someone is trying to push you into giving your details then leave the situation by hanging up or ending communication.

Call back

If you doubt whether you’re speaking to a legitimate company you can always ask for a number to call them back on. If you do, be sure to call back on a different phone line to guarantee someone isn’t still connected. You can also google the number to see if anything matches. Often, if people have had bad experiences with it they’ve posted about it in forums.

Shred old papers

Be careful with personal documents. Make a habit of shredding or burning any old paperwork that holds sensitive or personal information.

Use different passwords

Use different passwords and pins for accounts and never give them out.

Steps to Take if You’ve Fallen Victim to a job scam

Anyone can get caught by a job scam, no matter how savvy they are. Suspect you’ve been trapped in a job scam? Follow these steps.

1. Stop all communication with the scammers immediately. Take note of their details and report them to Action Fraud.
2. If you’ve transferred money to a scammer within the past 24 hours, call the police on 101. Call 999 if you feel immediately unsafe or threatened, such as while you’re with the scammer in person.
3. If you’ve given them any money or financial details, contact your bank immediately. Keep an eye on your credit score to watch out for any applications for credit, if you notice changes that aren’t you, you can file an Identity Theft Report with the FTC.
4. Report the scam to job listing sites and any other places you may have listed your CV. Alerting websites to scams will help them block any false employers and protect others in the future.

Additional Information

If you’re looking for where you can get advice or find safe employment opportunities these are good starting points:

SAFERjobs

SAFERjobs is a non-profit organisation working with the police to raise awareness and combat job scams. They also provide detailed information about recognising job scams and your rights.

Student services

University students should access their college’s student advice service. As well as job scams, they’ll offer you advice about applying for jobs.

The Job Centre

Your local job centre offers guidance for avoiding job scams. It also provides job application assistance and has a list of legitimate job opportunities.

Citizens Advice

Citizens Advice has lots of useful information on various types of scams. It also signposts you to ho and where you can get further help and support.

More useful reading

Job scams aren’t the only way people can steal your information for nefarious uses. Read these articles to protect yourself from other scam types, too.

• How to avoid the latest sophisticated scams in 2020
• Beware! Coronavirus scams and fraudsters to avoid
• Top scams and how to protect yourself

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Where and how to advertise your online business

Reading Time: 5 mins

With traditional high street shops closed (at least for now) and everyone doing their non-essential shopping online, there’s never been a better time to set up an online business. Even when shops reopen, many people will stick to online buying for a long time to come.

If you want to make the most of this period of quiet and come out the other side feeling productive and with something material to show for it, this could be a great time to launch your own online business.

So, have you had a great idea that you’re just about ready to get off the ground? If the answer is yes (and if you’re reading this, we think it probably is!), we’ve put together a few savvy digital marketing tips to help you get started. Read on for some business-launching inspiration… 

• Set up a great Instagram account 
• Invest in your photography 
• Make branded social channels 
• Find social media groups 
• Community groups and forums 
• Via a website 
• Think about the “voice” of your business
• How much should you charge for your online service? 
• More handy business tips and ideas

Set up a great Instagram account 

One of the best ways that you can launch the social channels for your business is by having a striking visual presence immediately – and the best way to do this is on Instagram. 

This is a great time for retailers on Instagram, and not just because shops are closed. Brands that sell through the platform were doing a roaring trade before lockdown, and in many cases are doing much better than their more traditional counterparts. This is only going to continue. To succeed you need to be sure about what you want to say, and say it boldly. Make sure your products – or services – are front and centre, and that what you have to offer is immediately clear. 

How to make sure you’re doing that? Well, we’ll get to that in our next tip… 

Illustrate your online business: invest in photography 

This one is tied to the above. If your business is purely online, you’re not going to benefit from potential customers wandering past your shop and maybe having their attention grabbed by your products in the window. You need to make sure that happens when they see your brand online instead. 

Make sure your online business turns heads straightaway by ensuring your imagery is top notch. This means hiring a quality photographer with good experience and a proven eye for your product shots. Stock images aren’t going to work in this case! 

Make branded social channels 

Of course, it goes without saying that you should set up Twitter and Facebook accounts too. These channels should act as an easy way for people to get in contact with you, and if possible book your services / order your products. 

One thing to remember here is that people expect a very quick response on social media. If you know that you’ll only be able to check your channels once a day, make sure that’s clear on your page. People are less likely to expect an instant response if you’ve specified that the inbox will only be checked between 7pm and 9pm. Social media is all about sending a clear message and managing customers’ expectations, so make sure you’re authentic and honest at all times. 

Find social media groups 

Aside from your own social media channels, you should look for local community groups too. Housing estates, villages and towns are very likely to have their own community Facebook pages these days. These platforms allow people to ask questions, discuss local issues, and even buy and sell items locally. Track down your local group, and then make sure you post introducing yourself and letting people know what your business is (but don’t go for the hard sell at this point!) As we all make our way through the coronavirus lockdown, people are happier than ever to support small and local businesses. Make sure you get in whilst interest is high!

Community groups and forums 

As we’ve mentioned above, lots of communities have set up online ways of communicating with each other – and this was happening even before the lockdown. They might not exist on the standard social media channels, but might be a separate forum, or a WhatsApp group. There’s even an app, Nextdoor, that’s designed exactly for this purpose. Do some digging to find out where they are, and make sure you’re active in general conversations within them. 

It’s important to know that these platforms are ways of building a community, not getting loads of sales straightaway. Chat to people as you normally would, and make sure they know about your new venture in an organic way. This will make them much more likely to look to your services in the future.  

Via a website 

This is an important one – think of your website as your shopfront. If you’re short on time, you might want to hire someone to design and build it and ensure that it’s got all the functionality that you need. This might include a product list, ecommerce platform for ordering, or a contact form – or more likely that not, all of these. If you don’t know where to start, hiring someone to do it for you could save you a lot of time and stress! 

Of course, you could build your website yourself too – the process can be quick and fun if you’re tech savvy, and it can be good to be completely in control. Try Wix, WordPress or Squarespace for easy templates that are optomised to certain business types to get you started. 

Think about the “voice” of your online business

This is something that you should think about right at the start, but is also something that can be adjusted over time. You need to think about your ideal customer here: who are they, what do they like, and how do they communicate? You need to make sure you reflect this in all your imagery, and all the copy that you have on your website and social channels. It can be a difficult thing to grasp if you’re not from a marketing background, so make sure you do your research! 

How much should you charge for your online service? 

If you aren’t selling a physical product, this is another important thing to think about. You initially need to work out what you would earn per year, or per hour, if you were employed by a larger company doing the same thing. There’s no reason why you should earn less just because it’s your own business! 

As an example, an annual salary of £39,000 per year equates to £150 per day, or (for an eight-hour day) £18.75 per hour. Work out what you’d expect to earn in your industry, and set your prices accordingly.  

Remember that you will be paying your own holiday and sickness pay, as well as your expenses, marketing and any staff costs, out of what you earn – so don’t be afraid to charge more than you would expect to earn if you were employed. 

More business tips

If you’re feeling inspired to start your own business, check out these other articles, too!

• How to launch your online business from home (with minimum effort)
• Business ideas you can start from home with (almost) no money
• Your guide to starting an online business
• Unique online business ideas you can start with very little capital
• Combining online and offline marketing to boost your business

Have you set up an online business during the lockdown? If so, we’d love to hear about it. Let us know on the MoneyMagpie Messageboard.

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Make money sanitising offices and homes

Reading Time: 5 mins

As the coronavirus lockdown eases and certain businesses start operating again, cleaners and those with experience in this area are likely to be more in demand than ever. So, could you make money sanitising offices, homes, or workplaces? The answer is yes!

As offices start to reopen, they’ll be looking for those with the skills to ensure their environments are disinfected and safe for their staff. The same is true for retail stores, dental and optical practices, and a range of other workplaces that have been closed over the past few months and now need to ensure the safety of customers. 

 

Those who find themselves readjusting to commuting into workplaces and likely to cause an increased demand for cleaning services in their own homes, too. With an increased awareness of infection, the need for regular and thorough cleaning is no doubt going to be at the forefront of many people’s minds for the foreseeable future. 

So, how can you leverage this opportunity and make money from your cleaning skills? Here are a few ideas on what you’ll need to consider if you’re looking to launch your own cleaning business… 

• Where are your customers? And how can you reach them? 
• Consider what you might need to do differently 
• Advertising your business digitally 
• Precautionary measures to consider
• Precautions for staff  
• More cleaning business tips

Where are your customers? And how can you reach them? 

In the first instance, if you’re setting out to make money sanitising houses it’s likely that your customers will mainly be local. This is especially the case if you’re looking to focus more on cleaning private homes than on offices. 

In the first instance, you should make sure everyone you know who lives in your area is aware of your new venture. Word of mouth can take you a long way, so make sure your services are known! A good cleaner is in a position where they’ll find themselves being recommended widely by their clients. 

You might want to spread the word further than your immediate network by taking out a small advert in your local community newsletter or newspaper, and putting a note up in the window of local corner shops. With queues still snaking down most streets, you’ve got a good chance for potential customers to see them! Try community apps like NextDoor, Facebook groups, and Gumtree, too.

Local shops and businesses can be a great place to reach out to as well. They’ll need to take extra safety precautions with their customers once they do reopen, and they might never have used an external cleaner before. This is a great time to get in touch and let them know about your offering, emphasising your experience and expertise. 

Consider what you might need to do differently 

Even if you already have a lot of experience in the cleaning industry, no one would argue that requirements have changed a bit over the past few months. 

If you’re going to make money sanitising areas that might be infected by coronavirus, and do a good job, there are clear guidelines that should be followed.

These guidelines include: 

• Sodium hypochlorite, which can be found in the majority of household bleaches, should be used to disinfect small surfaces 
• A stronger solution of sodium hypochlorite should be used to disinfect larger areas, for example floors 
• A solution with 70% ethanol is also a good option for surfaces that need to be sanitised 
• Both 70% ethanol solutions and sodium hypochlorite usually start working on surfaces after around a minute 
• If you can’t find them, you can also use sodium laureth sulphate, alkyl polyglycosides or cocamide DEA. Note that these chemicals will only start working on surfaces after five minutes 

This video, aimed at those cleaning optical practices, explains this in more depth. 

You should do your best to get hold of the chemicals mentioned above. You might be able to buy them wholesale, especially if you’re planning on taking on a large number of clients. It’s likely that these chemicals will be in cleaning products anyway, so check before you start sourcing them separately. 

It also goes without saying that you should check that the chemicals won’t damage any of the furnishings, flooring, or surfaces, whether you’re in a household or a workplace. 

Advertising your business digitally 

After you’ve started to spread the word locally, you might also want to move into promoting your cleaning business digitally. You can do this by: 

• Setting up a website that details your offering, prices, location and any specific or unusual services that your business can provide 
• Setting up social media channels (including Facebook and Twitter), making your location clear and highlighting how customers can contact you and book your services 
• Taking out advertising in local press, for example on their website
• Considering promoted posts on your social channels, which can advertise your services to potential customers within a specific location 

Precautionary measures to consider 

There are clear guidelines on what you should do once you’re back at work cleaning offices, homes and workplaces. They include: 

• Making sure you social distance from anyone you might come into contact with, for example homeowners or employees of the business, at a distance of two metres 
• Wearing a face mask, which you can buy online or even make yourself, if you’re in an enclosed space 
• Increasing the frequency of your own hand-washing 
• If you’re cleaning a private home, you shouldn’t work in any households where anyone is self-isolating because they have symptoms 
• Extra precautions to avoid face-to-face contact should be taken if you’re working in the home of a clinically vulnerable person, even if they’re not shielding. 

You should speak to the employer or homeowner before you start working for them, in order to make sure these precautions will be put in place. Remember, it protects their health and those of their families or employees as well as your own. 

Precautions for staff 

If you’re planning on employing staff to work for your cleaning company, there are further precautions that you’ll need to take. These include, but aren’t limited to: 

• Ensuring all staff have sufficient PPE 
• Ensuring they know the general rules around social distancing, avoiding face-to-face contact, extra hand-washing, etc 
• Making sure they have any extra chemicals or cleaning products that they might need (see below)
• Making sure you have communicated with the client on their behalf, ahead of their scheduled visit, so you know that they’ll be working in a safe environment 

Clean up with more tips

If you’re feeling inspired to start your own cleaning company, check out these articles now!

• Old-school cleaning tips that’ll save you hundreds each year
• Make up to £45 cleaning in the nude
• Make money as a cleanfluencer
• Cheap, green cleaning products you can make yourself.

Have you started a new business during the coronavirus lockdown? We’d love to hear about it – let us know over on the forums.

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Should You Go Into Debt to Start a Business?

Reading Time: 5 mins

As the saying goes you must spend money to make money. This is definitely true when you start a business. Things like registering your business name, website hosting, and creating a space to work from all cost money. Although there are ways to minimise these costs.

So, the short answer is yes, expect to go into debt while you initially invest in your business but you need to make sure you take all the necessary precautions, such as funding as much initial capital as you can and making sure you have plans in place on how you plan to manage debt you take on.

• Starting Out With No Money
• Don’t Get Buried in Debt
• Go Limited
• Help You Can Get
• Ways to Fund Your Business
• More Useful Reading

Starting Out With No Money

When you want to start a business with limited funds, make sure everything you spend money on is essential to your business. Ask yourself what you can do, or get, for free instead.

If you’re just starting out selling products or services, instead of throwing a lot of cash at an expensive custom-made website, start off by creating social media pages for your business and advertising freely on there. Facebook Business pages are easy to set up and use, and as you begin to sell your product, people can leave you reviews and ratings which will help to grow your business. If you’re selling products, setting up an Etsy page is a good place to start. You can start selling items immediately with little outgoing costs – Etsy takes a 5% transaction fee on the cost of the product.

You can also set up a free website on WordPress which you can upgrade at a later date to a professional domain name. However, there are so many cheap domain registration sites like 123Reg and GoDaddy that offer special first-year discounts, it could be worth paying for a website name right away – some are as cheap as 99p for the whole year! You’ll look professional from the start, and can set up business email addresses to your .com or .co.uk domain.

Don’t Get Buried in Debt

Initially, while you invest in your business, debt is likely to happen. Before you take any business venture on make sure it is manageable for you. If you apply for a small business loan, work out exactly what you’ll need for essential spending and only apply for that – don’t be tempted to ask for the full amount available. Remember this money does have to be paid back!

Consider Going Limited

When you start a business, think about your financial liability. Setting up as a sole trader is very easy. However, if you take out a loan as a sole trader, you’re also personally liable for the debt. So, if your business can’t pay it back, you have to make repayments from your own pocket. Creating a Limited (Ltd) company takes a little extra paperwork and a small cost to set up, but your loans are linked to the business and not your personal bank account. So, if your business doesn’t work out, you won’t need to dip into personal savings to repay loans (nor will your credit score be affected).

A limited company is a private company whose owners are only responsible for its debts up to the amount of capital they invested themselves. So, if you put in £2,000 of your own money into the company, that’s the maximum you’re personally liable for.  A limited company is its own legal entity, so any profits and losses belong to the business and are separate from your own personal finances.

Bear in mind that if you set up as a limited company you are responsible for submitting various file accounts and returns to HMRC and Companies House. As a director, you have a duty to keep both informed about your business and are responsible for submitting the paperwork.

Don’t rush into any decision but carefully review your options to work out which is the best one for you.

Manage debt with budgets

To start a business, you’ll need to lay out some upfront costs for products, services, and marketing. It’s easy to get carried away and lose track. As you begin to spend on your business make sure to track your expenses so you know exactly where the money is going and regularly review it. Create a budget as part of your business plan – before you apply for any financial support – and stick to it as much as you can.

It is also worthwhile to have a back up plan in place in case your business does fail – think about how you’ll still manage to pay back your debt. Consider options such as the likelihood you could get a job in a previous career, or moving in with family to reduce living costs and earn the money to pay back the debt.

Help You Can Get

Somewhat surprisingly, there is actually a vast amount of help available to those setting up a business or transitioning into becoming self-employed. There are options for financial support, business grants, and mentorship schemes.

Universal Credit

You can continue to receive Universal Credit payments for each month when you’re earning below a certain amount. That means until your business earns a steady income you can still get some financial support.

Business Mentorship and Grants

Government databases are a good place to look for small business grants, also search in your local community to see if there are local funding opportunities. Your local Job Centre and Citizens Advice Bureau will have all the information you may need for accessing local business mentorship schemes, potentially giving you access to networking opportunities and cheap workshops.

Prince of Wales Trust

The Prince of Wales Trust is for entrepreneurs aged between 18-30 years old. There’s access to free information sessions in your local area, workshops, and you are provided with your own mentor and they’ll help you apply for funding.

That’s just the start of your funding options, too! Look at your full extent of options in our article that covers all the benefits and funding available to the newly self-employed.

Ways to Fund Your Business

As you start up your business consider the different ways you can find capital and their individual pros and cons to work out which ones will be most suitable for you.

Business and Bank Loans

There is an overwhelming amount of business and personal loans available so it is well worth taking the time to research for one with the lowest interest rates and best suited for you.

The Government offers a Start Up business loan of between £500 – £25,000, also giving you free guidance on writing a business plan and up to 12 months free mentoring.

Small Business Administration (SBA) loans may help your business as well. They are business loans partially guaranteed by the government and can range massively in amounts from a few hundred pounds to hundreds of thousands.

Crowdfunding

Crowdfunding allows you to pitch your business for investments online. Including as much detail as possible about you, your business, and your products will make it more likely for people to invest. In return, you offer them something, often depending on the size of the donation, such as a free sample of your product, or crediting them.

Angel Investment

An angel investor provides capital for a business start up usually in exchange for equity. Look at angel investor platforms to start, speak to several different investors before deciding, and make sure to read the small print so you know what you’re committing to.

Read even more ideas about funding your new business here.

More Useful Reading

Feeling inspired? It’s entirely possible to start a business on a bootstrap budget! Find out more with these articles:

• Business Ideas You Can Start From Home With (Almost) No Money
• Kick-Starting Your Business Idea With These 5 Steps
• How To Get Funding For Starting a Business
• Benefits and Funding for the Newly Self-Employed
• Small Business Ideas Section

The post Should You Go Into Debt to Start a Business? appeared first on MoneyMagpie.

Make Money in Teaching and Childcare This Summer

Reading Time: 5 mins

The Government revealed plans for some year groups to start returning to school from the beginning of June. Similarly, some industries, including construction and manufacturing, are slowly calling staff back to work as the lockdown eases.Teaching and childcare are in the spotlight as parents balance work and school.

No one seems to have exact start dates or know for definite whether plans will continue to go ahead as the news and updates constantly change. This leaves working parents in a tough situation as they make plans for returning to work and organise childcare. If you’ve got to go back to work, but your child isn’t in a year that’s going back to school, what do you do?

And when the summer holidays roll around soon after schools reopen, it could be an ideal time for parents to arrange extra education to help their children catch up on missed school.

Online teaching solutions and – where possible – childcare may become a hero resource for working parents. If you’ve been made redundant recently, or you’re facing an extended furlough period, now’s the time to consider if you can turn your hand to online teaching, tutoring, or childcare services this summer.

• Make Money in Childcare
• What You Need to Know
• Getting Started in Childcare
• Make Money in Education
• Tutoring
• Teach English
• Online Learning
• More Useful Reading

Make Money working in Childcare

As lockdown begins to ease there is going to be a surge in demand for childcare. Schools are expected to partially reopen from next month but still a lot of students won’t be returning before the summer holidays in August.

If you love children or have had experience raising your own, and looking to work part-time or be a bit more flexible with your hours then working in childcare could be a great money-making opportunity for you.

What You Need to Know

There are a few things to consider before taking on paid childcare work. You’ll need to get an up-to-date DBS check, which costs £23, and register yourself as a childminder, costing upwards of £35. This makes it easier to earn parents’ trust to look after their kids.

You can apply to be a registered childminder or nanny here. You need to pay an annual registration fee to Ofsted and will have to consider other costs you may need to pay for at the beginning including getting first aid trained and public liability insurance.

Make sure you are aware of your legal responsibilities and duty of care to the children you are looking after. Check out the regulations on childcare and your legal requirements before you take any job on.

If you plan on working from your own home and will be looking after multiple children then there are limitations on how many children you can look after at any one time. You can look after six children aged 8 and under at once, a maximum of three of these children can be under the age of 5, and you can only look after one child at a time if they are younger than 1 year old. You can also work in the family’s home if you prefer but this will obviously limit how many people you would be able to work for, and how much you can make.

Getting Started in Childcare

One of the easiest ways to get working in childcare is by registering for an agency like Top Notch Nannies, or Sitters for babysitting jobs. They help you find job postings and you know you have their support if any issues arise down the line. Although, due to coronavirus at the moment, a lot of agencies may not be taking on new applications. But it is worth having everything you need ready so you can apply as soon as they open again.

Once you are a registered childminder, work with your local community to market your business and get the word out there. Leave flyers or business cards up on notice boards in public spaces and speak to nurseries and primary schools about being able to advertise your services there.

References go a long way. If you don’t already have experience in childcare a good place to start is by looking after the children of family, friends, and neighbours. You’ll gain experience and an understanding of your role and then they will be able to reliably refer your business on to others.

Payment is normally paid per hour, per child. Average hourly rate is £8 but will vary and in parts of London you can reach up to £12 an hour.

Make Money Teaching and Tutoring

Schools won’t reopen for everyone any time soon. Those with children of different ages face a huge juggling act. It’s not just school-age children who need tutoring, either. Universities face a tough time by not reopening until 2021! Adult learners are just as keen to find ways to continue their education.

Anyone with experience as an educator, tutor, or niche industry skills can take advantage of this new era. Online learning is the way forward!

Tutoring

Tutoring is an easy way to get started in selling your teaching skills. If you are new to it, sites like Skooli and Wyzant guide you through. It’s quick and simple to set yourself up on their websites, after you’ve done that you can start tutoring and earning straight away!

Younger children have missed out on a lot of crucial education over the past couple of months so many working parents will be looking for people to help tutor their children and help with homework and homeschooling to get back on track. You could post advertisements for your services on local community groups and pages.

Teach English to Non-native speakers

Even if you don’t normally work in education, if you are a fluent English speaker you can teach English online now! As schools across the globe have closed the demand for learning English has moved online.

You just need a TEFL qualification which you can complete from home and then you are ready to start immediately. Check out websites like Groupon for learning deals, too. You’ll often find 120-hour TEFL courses (the industry standard for TEFL teaching jobs) available at a discount. You could also be a TESOL teacher – this is Teaching English as a Second Language. The course structure (and lesson plans) are slightly different. If you like doing one of them, getting the second qualification could help expand your business!

You can set yourself up as a local TEFL teacher, advertising through Facebook groups and schools. Or, you could join an online TEFL agency if you’re willing to work obscure hours. You’ll deliver online live learning to pupils in places like Japan, Thailand, and China. As these are live, you need to work to their time zone – but the pay can be quite good (up to £40 an hour for experienced tutors).

Online Learning

Online learning has seen a massive spike since lockdown began and people are keen to learn new skills. If you have expertise in anything from graphic design and Photoshop skills, to business marketing and management, you can teach it in a course online. Sites like Skillshare and Teachable make it easy to set up your own courses and you can start earning straight away.

We’ve got a detailed guide to creating an online course for passive incomes here. You can also find out about teaching live classes or giving one-to-one tutor sessions in this article.

More Useful Reading

Inspired by the idea that teaching and childcare could be a new career for you? Try these articles next!

• Make Money Doing School Pick-Ups and Afterschool Childcare
• Make up to £80 an Hour as a Tutor
• Teach Online Classes to Make Money From Home
• Make Money as a Babysitter

The post Make Money in Teaching and Childcare This Summer appeared first on MoneyMagpie.

How To Make Money While Decluttering

I love decluttering. I don’t actually know how I end up with so much extra stuff, but it seems to regularly creep up on me....

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7 Usually-Forgotten Places Where You Need Your Company Logo

Reading Time: 3 mins

When you start to imagine your brand, there are obvious places where you put the business’s custom logo. It is already in your location building welcoming your guests, sponsors, and customers. It should be on your business’s website that is inviting from your choice of font and colors to its menu bar. Your business logo should be printed on every flier that you give out, every newspaper advertisement, everything that you sponsor, and every poster that you put up. From professional promotion to D.I.Y. advertising, you might have forgotten important places to exhibit your business’s logo:

 

1. When you give things to other businesses.

Everything that you prepare to give to other businesses whether you want to be connected to partner companies or you want their money (i.e. sponsors and investors), you print your logo on everything that has to do with it.  It will be so exciting for you to see your first business card!  Decide whether the card is vertical or horizontal and whether the cardstock is white or in color.  Your company’s custom logo must be there, whether on the front or the back of your business card.  Remember to put your company’s logo on business checks and business envelopes.  Don’t worry!  Ordering your business checks with custom logos can be a quick and painless process.  A trusted online provider can offer a free logo option, varied style section, and use of business accounting software like Quickbooks Online.  Lastly, do not forget to end all business emails with not only your name and the name of your business.  Another way that you remind people of your brand is to end every email with the company’s logo.

 

2. When you give products to present (and future) customers.

Have your business name and logo on everything that you send out, not only fliers and event posters.  Include it on all SWAG products to give out at corporate events or trade shows – water bottles, office supplies, keychains, magnets, pint glasses, pens, coffee cups, tote bags, stress balls, party supplies, brochures, postcards, t-shirts, stickers, labels, and anything else.  Make sure that your gear looks amazing so that you have promotional merchandise and word out of mouth advertising.   Every time you send out a product, make sure that the logo is on your packaging products, such as packing tape, tissue paper, wrapping paper, and boxes.  After you have completed work or made a sale, leave an impression with customers by putting your logo on physical and emailed invoices, receipts, and post-purchase emails.  Always give a trustworthy impression to your customers and everyone who wants to support your business.

 

3. When you give presentations to your future sponsors.

Learn how to create business presentations with your company’s logo featured on the introduction and conclusion of it.  Have the logo on the foot of every slide.

 

4. When you give office supplies to your employees.

Make sure that your company logo is set as your desktop and phone wallpaper. Even as your profile picture on Zoom, Google Hangouts, and every video chat. Give your employees this opportunity, and make it mandatory on the desktop of their business computers.

 

5. When you put your business online.

Have you created social media pages for your business? Once your logo is ready, this will be your business channel’s profile picture on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Instagram, and more social media outlets.

 

6. When you decorate your office space.

When you enter your place of work, your logo should welcome you. At the door, on your windows, on the walls, and supplies throughout the office, your logo represents the need that you fill out in the world.

 

7. When you consider other options of which you never considered.

Order self-inking stamps, ink pads, and wax seals that you can use as a cool addition to packages, business envelopes, and letters.  Order vehicle branded decor for your business vehicle or even for your car. Every time that the cars move about, the vehicle becomes passive marketing and the brand’s moving billboard.

In conclusion, your custom logo builds your branding identity and represents your company to everyone.  To use your branding budget efficiently, it is important to pick the branding assets that are most relevant to the product or service that you are offering, whether you are working in the restaurant, real estate, health, or fashion industry.  Your brand isn’t only represented in your logo.  This small symbol is the most visual element more than anything else.  Find everywhere you can put, paste, and print your company’s custom logo!

 

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How to Turn Your Hobby into a Successful Business

Reading Time: 3 mins

Whether it’s an afternoon of baking, a few hours spent painting or crafting, or a lazy day of fishing, our hobbies bring us happiness and can be a great way to relax and rejuvenate after a long week at work. It’s natural for most people to dream about turning their hobby into a full-time business; after all, who wouldn’t want to make a living doing what they really love?

The good news is that turning your hobby into a business doesn’t have to be impossible. Today, with a huge wealth of tools right at our fingertips, starting a business has never been more accessible to everybody. But to run a successful company, you need more than just being passionate about what you do and the skills to do it well. Building a business that succeeds takes a lot of commitment, planning, and the right attitude. Here are some tips to help you get started.

 

Understand Your Goals

Do you want to start a full-time business so that you can completely quit your day job and live off the proceeds of your company instead? Or, are you happy to continue going to work, but just want to make a little bit of extra cash on the side to put towards new purchases and having fun? Bear in mind that the more you will need to depend on the income that you get from your hobby business, the harder you will need to work.

 

Come Up with Different Options

Chances are, there might be several different ways in which you could make money from your hobby. For example, if you are an artist, you might be able to set up an Etsy store and sell your original art and art prints for money, or on the other hand, you could start an online course and teach other people how to paint using your favorite techniques. If you decide that you want to teach, you’ll need to spend time creating a course and figure out how you are going to provide it to your clients; usually, digital downloads are a great way of doing this, so check out PayHip if you want to go down this route. PayHip allows you to easily sell digital downloads as a one-time purchase or on a subscription and works for courses, eBooks, music and much more. This service can help you sell digital downloads, so start here.

 

Make Sure You’ll Still Enjoy Your Hobby

It’s one thing to do something purely for fun, and quite another to do it to make money. Creating a business from your hobby might mean pleasing demanding customers, meeting strict deadlines, and doing your hobby on days when you don’t really feel like it. You’ll also need to manage the business side of things, like finances and marketing. Before you start, make sure that you are passionate enough about your hobby to be able to juggle all this and still like doing it.

 

Get Really Good at What You Do

In order to turn your hobby into a successful business, you need to be really good at it. So, if your skills could use some improvement, don’t jump straight into creating a business out of it yet. Come up with a plan for improving them as you continue to work at your day job, and put off launching your business until you are ready. Not only will this help you get the results that you need, but you’ll also be able to make the switch from hobby to business more confidently.

 

Adopt a Business Mindset

Successfully turning your hobby into a lucrative business means shifting the way that you think about it. A hobby is something that you do for fun and at your leisure, but when you turn it into a business, it becomes work, and you need to show up to work. Whether you’re still working as an employee or have quit your day job in order to pursue your hobby business full-time, you can’t carry on thinking of your hobby as purely something that you do for fun. Start to consider it your job and make sure that it becomes a top priority.

 

Create a Consistent Brand

Finally, coming up with a consistent brand is crucial for marketing and business success. Your brand is your business identity, and having a strong brand helps your loyal customers recognize your business and what you do, just like you immediately know you’re near a McDonald’s when you see the golden arches. Your visual brand is important, so spend some time coming up with a logo, business name, fonts, and color schemes that reflect what you do, and make sure that you use them consistently on your website, social media profiles, advertisements, and other forms of marketing.

Turning your hobby into a business definitely means living the dream for many people. But before you switch from doing it for fun to doing it for a living, there are a few important changes you’ll need to make.

The post How to Turn Your Hobby into a Successful Business appeared first on MoneyMagpie.

Business Ideas You Can Start from Home With (Almost) No Money

Reading Time: 8 mins

Everyone at some point in their life has thought about working for themselves. Being your own boss and not having to answer to anyone else, the ultimate sign of independence. So why don’t more of us make our business ideas reality?

The simple answer for many is lack of funds and the uncertainty of job security. Most people don’t know how to go about beginning their own business or the pitfalls that come with it, either. It seems like a huge task – but when you break it down into easy steps, it’s achievable for anybody!

• Common issues for startups
• Business ideas that require almost no capital
• Blogging
• Catering
• Hairdressing
• Childcare
• Talk to more entrepreneurs
• More useful reading

Common Issues for Start-ups

Understanding where many new businesses fail will help you to avoid the same traps.

Lack of finances

Cash flow is essential for your business to survive. It is the biggest issue that small businesses face.

As income increases your expenditure also increases. Your overheads grow with your business – and this can lead to businesses unable to keep their cash flow cycle going. As the owner of a business you have to make sure you have enough money to go around while also paying your contractors, business overheads, and your own salary and bills.

Solution:

Start-ups can start with minimal costs. Look at ways you can streamline your expenses – you don’t, for example, need to rent office space when you’re starting out. Many businesses operate entirely remotely with no office at all!

It’s easy to set up different instant payment solutions that accept credit card as well as bank transfer – so clients have no excuse to not pay you. There’s also no hard-and-fast rule that you have to wait 30 days for payment: instant payment is possible, so you should demand it immediately upon delivery of your services!

Securing credit before your business needs it is also important, as you do not want to be put in a situation where you need it but don’t have it. Startup business bank accounts often allow you to access credit cards and loans when you set up your company. You can also look at peer-to-peer or crowdfunding solutions, especially if you have an exciting product launch in the works.

Also, using an accounting software to keep an eye on money coming in and going out is always a good plan. You can link many of them to your business bank account to make it really easy to create reports – and even file your tax return every year. Save money when you’re starting out by choosing a business bank account that comes with free software, such as the Natwest account that includes 6 months’ FreeAgent subscription.

Check out our in-depth article about benefits and funding for the newly self-employed, too.

Poor business planning

Planning is the key to getting your business off the ground. Poor planning causes many businesses to fail in their first year, because they do not factor in challenges or pitfalls. No matter how good an idea or how big the ambition of a start-up is, if their business plan isn’t right then they are doomed to fail, or run around in circles chasing their tail.

Solution:

Before you launch your business, it’s important to carry out thorough research by investigating your competitors, suppliers, and the various extra costs you will encounter in your new venture. This approach is the base for any successful business, and must be viewed as such, so the vision for your business meets with your target audience.

You can also access free business mentorship in your area through schemes run by your local authority or local Citizens Advice Bureau. These schemes will help you create a solid business plan – and can also point you in the direction of local funding options, too.

Lack of marketing strategy

It’s always difficult to figure out the best way to market yourself and your new business. A scattergun approach where you just put money into online or print adverts without thought to who your customers will be is like burning cash.

Solution:

Keep an eye on your competitors and see how they’re snagging customers. Spend time to work out who you actually want to buy your products and services, too. This will help you target your limited marketing budget to get to the customers most likely to invest in your offerings from the start.

Try taking a free online course to learn more about marketing strategies. Websites like Udemy, Alison, and FutureLearn all have free courses you can take in your own time.

Business Ideas

Now we have gone through the things to watch out for when starting your business, let’s have a look at a few that you can start from home.

Starting a business with absolutely no money is unrealistic. With some, like blogging, it’s not impossible – but a small fund to get you started will help a successful launch.

Start with a budget between £1,000 and £5,000 and go from there. Even if you only have £250, that’s a good start! Check your local authority and other places, like the Princes Trust, for more funding options to get you started, too.

You need to set up as a sole trader with HMRC. You are classed as a sole trader if you run your own business as an individual and are self-employed. If you want to set up in business with someone else, you’ll need to set up a Limited Company or a Partnership. Once you’ve done this you will need to file a Self-Assessment Tax Return annually, so keep a record of all your sales and expenses. This is easiest to do if you have a separate business bank account for your income and outgoings.

Blogging

Possibly the biggest business model to come out of the rise of the internet is blogging. Blogs are like niche online magazines that people can read for advice, information and resources.
Anything from blogs about money, food, fashion or even just your life will find an audience. You can blog about absolutely anything so long as it is fun and informative. The incredibly popular Techcrunch began as nothing more than a hobby and turned into a $25 Million business. That could be you!

It takes nothing more than a laptop and knowledge to start a blog. Check out our article about starting and making money from a blog for more details.

Blogging is a slow-and-steady type of passive income generator – it’s a great way to make a side income. If you want to make it your only job, you’ll need to spend a lot of time building it up first.

Caterer or Private Chef

If you have a background in kitchens or are just a good home cook then perhaps this is the business for you.

Whether you want to bake bread or cakes, create the next big thing in the culinary world, or you just make good wholesome food, there’s a catering business opportunity in it for you.

You need to register with your local authority at least 28 days before opening for business. It’s free to register and registration cannot be refused. You must register if you are preparing, cooking, storing, handling, distributing, supplying or selling food.

You’ll need to put some money into buying the equipment needed to begin this venture. A mixer, baking trays, bowls, knives, a blender etc. All are integral parts of a good set up for the beginnings of a successful catering business. To get a decent quality set of all these items you are looking at between £2000 – £4000, so prepare to put out some money before you begin. You will also need to remember your perspective clientele and market towards only them.

Remember to budget for the cost of ingredients, deliveries, and your time when you’re pricing your goods, too!

Home-Based or Mobile Hairdresser

You don’t need formal qualifications to become a mobile hairdresser, but it’s wise to take some training if you can. You’ll definitely need to invest in liability insurance, too!

Set up your salon in your own home and your clients can come to you. You have ultimate control over when you see clients as you choose the hours you work. Instead of spending money renting a chair in someone else’s salon, you save money when customers come to your house. You must be comfortable having customers in your house and feel safe with them knowing your address.

Alternatively, you can travel to your customers houses. This means you need your own transport, so make sure to budget for that. You’ll need to build trust from your customers to be allowed into their homes, too.

After your initial expenditure for things like clippers, scissors and dyes etc., you might even need to purchase a chair, which range from £120 – £600 depending on the quality you want.

Advertise on local Facebook pages or on the NextDoor app to begin with as your clientele are going to be in your local area. There is little to no point in travelling farther as you will spend more travelling there and back and eat into your profits.

Once you’ve established yourself for your hairdressing services, try diversifying: branch out into beauty! From the comfort of your clients’ homes you can offer manicures, pedicures, spray tanning, lash extensions and other popular treatments.

Childcare

If you’re passionate about looking after children, then you should consider starting a childcare business looking after other people’s children while they’re at work.

There’s a particularly large demand for childcare as lockdown ends and schools remain closed or only part-time. Parents going back to work need to arrange childcare for all ages of children.

This is a perfect business for stay-at-home parents, as you can run it from your own home (with some minor adjustments for child safety). You can work from other people’s homes if preferred, though this will limit you to one or a few clients.

You need to be a registered childminder and have an up-to-date DBS check. In terms of marketing your childcare business, you should outreach to local pre- and primary schools to advertise your services to parents. You can also partner with local nurseries to deal with their overflow.

Childminding is more than babysitting. It’s a regular commitment that’s hands-on. You’ll need to create schedules, plan out activities, and cater for the children specifically (be aware of allergies).

Talk to other entrepreneurs

These business ideas are only a drop in the ocean of what can be achieved by working from home, and you may have something you are far more suited too in mind already. Just remember that you won’t get far without the basics; cash-flow, business plan and marketing strategy.

Now’s the perfect time to connect with other entrepreneurs who have started their business on a tight budget. Get chatting on the MoneyMagpie Messageboard to ask your burning startup questions!

The lockdown is the perfect time to get the groundwork in place to launch your business. Take this time to start marketing yourself, come up with that perfect business plan, send out feelers to see whether your plan is what is most needed or should you tweak to better suit the demand.

More useful reading

Inspired by these ideas and want to know more about running your own business? Try these articles next!

• Small Business Ideas
• How to Get Funding for Starting a Business
• Make Money Sewing
• Set Up Your Own B&B
• What is a Social Enterprise?
• Earn Money as a Freelance Secretary

The post Business Ideas You Can Start from Home With (Almost) No Money appeared first on MoneyMagpie.

Get a Nintendo Switch and £500 to test fitness games

Reading Time: 2 mins

With Animal Crossing taking off during lockdown, the Nintendo Switch is in high demand. And now you can get your hands on one as part of a new job, which sounds incredible.

The Job

One of the UK’s leading sports multivitamin companies is offering four of you £500 each to complete video game workouts everyday for a month. They’re doing this in a bid to discover how effective exergaming is.

You must workout via a variety of games, including Ring Fit Adventure, Just Dance 2020 and Zumba Burn It Up on the Nintendo Switch while keeping a detailed health and wellbeing diary recording your weight and energy levels

You will be provided a Nintendo Switch and four games. The games are Ring Fit Adventure, Just Dance 2020, Zumba Burn It Up and Arms by Lyvit. You will be required to exercise via a game everyday for one hour, over four consecutive weeks.

At the end of each week you will need to submit a diary, which will detail your mood and energy levels, as well as your weight. In addition, you will be asked to continue eating your normal diet.

 

Pay and Perks

Successful applicants will be paid £500 each by Lyvit over the course of one month. You’ll get a free Nintendo Switch and Ring Fit Adventure, Just Dance 2020, Zumba Burn It Up and Arms.

PLUS you will literally be getting paid to stay fit and exercise an hour a day. That’s the kind of motivation we’ve been after.

Eligibility

According to the website there is only one main criteria the employer is looking for to fill this role. We found this:

“Applicants are required to have a BMI between 25 and 29, must be aged between 18 and 65 years old, and have no underlying health conditions, such as diabetes, arthritis or heart disease. We’re recruiting two females and two males to fill the four roles.”

So if that sounds like you, this could be a great lockdown opportunity!

How to Apply

To apply for the job simply click here.

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Working From Home is Here to Stay (Even After COVID)

There have been millions of people put out of work due to the COVID-19 pandemic. If you’re not laid off, you’re probably working from home....

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How to Give to Charity Without Spending a Penny

Reading Time: 4 mins

However much we might want to give to charity, often it’s just not possible to sign up and commit to a direct debit every month. 

So, how can we do good and help out charitable causes when we haven’t got that much money to spare ourselves? 

Luckily, there are a few ways you can incorporate helping out charities into your daily life, without having to spend money you don’t have. Here are just a few of them…

• Give to charity when shopping: use Amazon Smile
• Donate via a cashback site
• Give to charity online: search engines that pay charities with each search
• Remembering to tick the Gift Aid box
• Give to charity by donating your stuff
• Play games online and give to charity

 

Give to charity when shopping: use Amazon Smile

Yes, it’s great to support small business – but sometimes, the sheer range and convenience of Amazon just can’t be beaten. 

There is a way that you can do good whilst shopping for all your essentials online, though. Amazon Smile works in exactly the same way as the regular Amazon site, but a percentage of what you spend (0.5%) goes to charity. You can choose which charity you want to support, too. Over a million organisations have signed up since the scheme was launched in 2013. Just log on to smile.amazon instead of the regular site to get going. Guilt-free shopping! 

Donate via a cashback site

You might already use a cashback site – but if you don’t, we’d recommend signing up to giveortake.com. Unlike other cashback sites, Give or Take allows you to make a charity donation using your cashback. This way, you’re not spending anything extra on top of what you’d normally spend. You could make money for yourself from cashback sites, but if you want to give to charity and are on a tight budget, this is a neat solution!

Give to charity online with Charity search engines

Search engines don’t always have to be massive, Silicon Valley based companies that funnel billions of dollars into their founders’ pockets. Over the past few years, more and more search engines with a social good at their heart have been popping up. Many of them are offering money to charity every time users click, which we think is a great way of giving to charity as part of your normal day to day life. 

Some of our favourites include: 

1. Benelab – this site, founded by a US teenager, funds itself through advertising in the same way that Google does. The difference is that its profits go to charity, with a different cause being chosen every month 
2. Ecosia – Berlin-based Ecosia is the “search engine that plants trees”, with 80% of its profits going directly to reforestation charities. Nearly 93 million trees have been planted so far 
3. GoodSearch – the original search engine that was founded with social good in mind, Good Search donates 50% of its profits to various charities, as chosen by its users. It’s been around for 15 years and has set up various other charitable causes since then, too

So, is it time to show Google the door? We think so! 

Remember to tick the Gift Aid box 

Never really been sure what Gift Aid is? No worries – we’re here to explain once and for all how this nifty government scheme can help charities, with literally no effort from you at all. 

Gift Aid is a long-running government scheme that gives charities a basic 20% tax relief on whatever you’re donating to them, as long as you’re a UK taxpayer. The scheme has been in place for 30 years, and has gifted charities billions of pounds in that time. All you have to do is tick the Gift Aid box whenever you’re making a donation, sponsoring your neighbour to run that 5k, etc, to ensure Gift Aid is included. Easy! 

Gift Aid doesn’t cost you anything extra – but means the charity gets the tax relief on your donation. This puts more money in their pocket!

Give to charity by donating your stuff

You don’t need to be giving money to charity to be helping them out. Instead of throwing out that old chair or pair of jeans you’re bored of, or those kid’s shoes that don’t fit anymore, why not drop them off at your local charity shop instead? 

Of course, you can support charities by shopping in their high street stores too – books, DVDs, clothes and lots more will be significantly cheaper than they would be in other retail stores, and you’ll be doing a good deed in the process. Remember to hand your donation bag to a member of staff and ask for the Gift Aid form to make sure they get the most from your donations, too.

play games online and give to charity 

Did you know you can raise money for charity just by playing games online? Turns out you can! 

Our favourite new find is the Free Rice website, from the World Food Programme. For every correct answer, the site’s sponsors will send the cash equivalent of 10 grains of rice to the World Food Programme, who will funnel it into feeding those in need around the world. Spending time on your phone has never felt so worthy! 

We hope these tips have inspired you to give to charity, even if you’re not able to drop cash into the collection box or set up a monthly direct debit. Remember, every little helps! 

Share your charity donation ideas

Is there something you do to help charities that we haven’t mentioned here? Shout about it to our fellow Magpies on the Magpie Messageboard! We love to share tips and ideas for money-saving and money-making hacks, so get involved and you could win a £25 Amazon voucher for Post of the Week!

Now read:

• Make money selling charity shop items for a profit
• Clear your wardrobe for charity on Clear Your Clutter Day
• Clear out your closet for charity
• Charity credit cards – are they worth it?

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