Zina Kumok

I loathe selling things online. Even though it’s a popular side hustle, it’s not my favorite thing to do. It takes forever to take pictures of the item, I despise negotiating with people, and it takes way too long to get paid. That’s why I’ve stopped trying to sell things online, especially high-end electronics like…

I’ve never had much luck making money from survey websites and other similar online side hustles. I get bored easily and I hate taking endless surveys, filling out the same information over and over again. But using Mistplay was different. Mistplay is a fun app where you play popular games and earn points that you…

I hated my first job out of college. I was working as a newspaper reporter in a small town where I didn’t know anyone. My workday lasted from 2 to 10 p.m., which left little time to hang out with people. My boyfriend lived in a different city three hours away, and I quickly realized…

Everyone has their own motivation for losing weight. Sometimes it’s because you want to wear clothes you fit into years ago. Or maybe your doctor said some of your health problems could be relieved if you lost some weight. But finding the motivation and discipline for weight loss is hard. A survey from 2013 to…

We all know someone who loves numbers. They’ll spend hours poring over budgeting spreadsheets, examining the finer details of their investment accounts, and organizing the cash in their wallet by denomination. For someone like that, being offered basic budgeting advice is like preaching to the choir. For the rest of us, there’s the 50/30/20 budgeting…

Learning how to fill out a money order is essential to completing important money moves when a checkbook is no longer an option for you. These days, checkbooks have largely gone the way of the dinosaur. Some people still keep one around for old times’ sake — or for budgeting reasons. But for the most…

Everyone loves getting a new cell phone. It’s fun to set it up, see how fast it is, and try out the new features. But then you’re stuck with your old phone. Throwing it away seems like a waste, and you may not want to donate something you paid hundreds of dollars for. So the…

The cost of college tuition has outpaced inflation, but the cost of textbooks has increased more than 800% since the 1970s. I was extremely cost-conscious when I applied to college. My parents weren’t going to pay for everything, so I had to apply to schools I knew I could afford. I knew the cost of…

Every time I go to the mall, I’m reminded of why I love shopping online. I hate sitting in traffic, trying to find a parking space, and standing in long lines. The crowds don’t generally help the experience, either. Online shopping is the opposite. Plus, with online shopping, you can easily comparison shop to find…

You have some money to invest, but don’t like the idea of not touching the money for years or decades. What are the best short-term investments to maximize your returns? Most often, people in this situation are saving for a short-term goal — a down payment on a house, shiny new car, or planning for…