Money Management

Meal kits can be a great way to learn new skills or try new ingredients. But they aren’t cheap. Try these promos to save on your next delivery. 

There are a lot of great reasons to try a meal subscription service — but your finances aren’t generally one of them. Sure, they can be a delicious excuse to try new flavors, or a less intimidating way to learn new cooking skills. But economical, they’re not.

However, there is one way to explore a new meal subscription service without sacrificing your bank account balance: promo codes. Most meal kit delivery services will offer new account discounts that can be worth $90 or more across your first few boxes.

We looked at some of the most popular meal kits for their best promos. While a couple companies offer promotions on their sites, most require an internet search (the name and the word “promo”). Here are some of the best deals we found.

Blue Apron

Blue Apron offers a wide variety of recipes that change every Monday, and includes vegetarian options. You can order meals that serve two people or four people each. Plans have between two and five meals per week. Regular cost starts at $7.99 per serving at the max servings per week, and $12.29 per serving for the lowest. Shipping is $10.99 per box.

Promo: Blue Apron has a tiered promo that gives you a discount on your first six orders, and free shipping on your first order.

Box 1: $35 off + free shippingBox 2: $35 offBoxes 3-6: $20 off

Green Chef

Green Chef has a range of recipes that change each Saturday, including gluten-free and vegetarian options. Plans can be chosen that include two, three, or four meals a week, with two, four, or six servings per meal. The cost per serving goes from $11.99 to $13.49, and shipping is $9.99 a pop.

Promo: Green Chef’s promo gives you a big discount on the first box, then a lower discount after that.

Box 1: 60% offBoxes 2-9: 20% off

HelloFresh

HelloFresh has a diverse menu that includes vegetarian recipes, and selections change every Saturday. Plans provide options for two to six meals a week, and will feed two or four people per meal. At the low end, expect to pay $8.99 per serving, and $12.49 per serving at the high end.

Promo: New HelloFresh customers can get a big discount on the first box, and a much lower discount on the following eight boxes. You also get one free breakfast item per box with an active subscription.

Box 1: 49% offBoxes 2-8: 13% off

Home Chef

Home Chef has a good array of recipes, including vegetarian and Gluten Smart, that refresh each Monday. You can choose a plan for between two and six meals a week, with two, four, or six servings per meal. The per-serving price varies from $9.99 for the six serving, six meal plan, up to $11.99 for the two serving, two meal plan.

Promo: Home Chef’s sign-up offer gives you the same 50% off discount on all of your first four boxes.

Tips for making the most of meal delivery kits

If you’re tempted by one (or more) of these promos, keep these tips in mind.

Make sure to skip or cancel to avoid unwanted deliveries. The default setting for a meal subscription is “on,” so you’ll need to actively skip weeks you don’t want a delivery. If you don’t want any more deliveries at all, be sure to cancel your subscription entirely to avoid unexpected meal kits. (Experience talking here, friends.)Watch out for “premium” or “craft” recipes with higher costs. Some meal kits offer recipes with extra or more expensive ingredients. These costs get passed on to you, in the form of an extra per-serving charge. These tend to range from $6.99 to $11.99 per serving on top of the regular per-serving cost of the meal. (I’m not saying it’s never worth it; I’ve paid the fee for a couple of particularly interesting recipes before and don’t regret it.)Pay with a grocery rewards card. A lot of meal kit delivery services will code as groceries on your rewards card. There are a lot of great grocery rewards cards, some that earn up to 6% back on grocery purchases. This can be a nice savings that stacks with any other deals.Look for issuer deals. Check your credit card issuer’s discounts portal before you order to see if you can get even more cash back or points on your purchase. (I see these very frequently offered on my Chase cards. I’ve also seen them crop up for my Amex cards. And they’ve appeared with my Citi cards on occasion.)Let your discounts ride. Several (but not all) of these services don’t have expiration dates on the discounts. They will let you skip as many weeks as you want, and your discounts will wait for you. You can bide your time until you’re excited about multiple recipes and still use your discount (just stay on top of the weeks you skip!).

A meal kit subscription can be a good way to try out new flavors that won’t require you to throw out unused spices or ingredients. It’s also a fun way to try out new kitchen skills (or practice old ones). But it’s never going to be cheaper than buying groceries, especially once you build up your collection of seasonings. So use these promos sparingly to try great recipes, then recreate them on your own for way less. A happy medium.

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We’re firm believers in the Golden Rule, which is why editorial opinions are ours alone and have not been previously reviewed, approved, or endorsed by included advertisers.
The Ascent does not cover all offers on the market. Editorial content from The Ascent is separate from The Motley Fool editorial content and is created by a different analyst team.Citigroup is an advertising partner of The Ascent, a Motley Fool company. American Express is an advertising partner of The Ascent, a Motley Fool company. JPMorgan Chase is an advertising partner of The Ascent, a Motley Fool company. Brittney Myers has positions in American Express. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends JPMorgan Chase. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.

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There’s still plenty of time to have a meaningful impact on your tax bill. Read on for four ways you could do it. 

Tax season might seem far away, but we’re only about three months away from when the IRS will begin accepting 2023 tax returns. If you’re looking to lower your tax bill or boost your refund, there are some highly effective strategies you can use to save hundreds or even thousands of dollars. Here are four in particular that you can use between now and the end of the year that can be great ways to save money now, set yourself up for later, and more.

1. Charitable contributions

If you itemize deductions on your tax return, you can deduct contributions made to qualifying charitable organizations. And while it’s a good idea to spread your contributions throughout the year, giving extra at the end of the year can provide you with a nice tax boost (as well as a holiday cash infusion for the organization).

Keep in mind that your donation doesn’t necessarily have to be in cash. You could clean out your closet and bring clothes you don’t need to your local Salvation Army or similar charitable secondhand store, for example. Did you get a new TV for the holidays? Consider donating the old one. The point is that there are many different ways you could give. Be sure to get a receipt, and you can then deduct the fair value of the items you donate.

2. Workplace retirement plans

If you have a traditional or Roth IRA, you can make deductible contributions for 2023 anytime before the April 2024 tax deadline, so there’s no big rush on those. But if you have a 401(k), 403(b), or other qualified retirement plan through an employer, the end of the calendar year is the latest you can make elective deferrals.

For 2023, the elective deferral limit for employees is $22,500, or $27,000 if you’re age 50 or older. While it may not be practical (or necessary) to max your contributions out, if you can increase your contribution rate for the last couple months of the year, it could save you money on taxes as well as help set you up for a more comfortable retirement later on.

3. Health savings account contributions

If you have a qualifying high-deductible health plan, either through your employer or as a self-employed individual, you can contribute money to a health savings account, or HSA.

The HSA is one of the best savings tools you can contribute to, as it has a rare triple tax advantage. Contributions can be tax-deductible, money in the account can be invested, and any withdrawals made for healthcare expenses are 100% tax free. And unlike a flexible spending account, or FSA, money in a health savings account can be rolled over from one year to the next.

Perhaps best of all, after you turn 65, money in a health savings account can be used for any reason, so while it can be a great way to budget for healthcare expenses, it can also double as a supplemental retirement plan.

For 2023, eligible individuals can contribute as much as $3,850 to an HSA with single healthcare coverage or $7,750 with family coverage, and there’s an additional $1,000 allowance if you’re age 50 or older.

4. Tax-loss harvesting

Considering how the stock market has performed in 2022 and 2023, it’s fair to assume that many people reading this have some investments in their stock portfolios that are worth less than they paid for them. If this applies to you, using a tax-loss harvesting strategy could be worth looking into.

Basically, if you sell an investment at a loss, you can use that loss to offset any capital gains during the year. For example, if you sold an investment earlier in the year at a $5,000 gain and now sell another stock at a $4,000 loss, it would lower your taxable capital gain to $1,000. If you didn’t have any capital gains, you can use this to lower your other taxable income by as much as $3,000.

To be sure, harvesting losses isn’t a smart move in all cases. If you still believe in the investment long term, lowering your taxes isn’t a great reason to sell all by itself. But if you have stocks that you’ve been thinking about moving on from, this strategy could be a good one to use.

Several ways to save

With about two months left in 2023, it’s a good time to start planning some end-of-year tax strategies. And as you can see, there are some great options that could be available to you.

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We’re firm believers in the Golden Rule, which is why editorial opinions are ours alone and have not been previously reviewed, approved, or endorsed by included advertisers.
The Ascent does not cover all offers on the market. Editorial content from The Ascent is separate from The Motley Fool editorial content and is created by a different analyst team.The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.

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Looking for the perfect gift for a Costco fan in your life? Read on to find out what it might be. 

The holiday season is approaching. And while there’s still plenty of time to do your shopping, you don’t want to wait too long to start checking items off of your gift list.

Now in the coming weeks, you might find yourself scouring the internet for sales, whether it’s apparel, electronics, or home goods. But if you’re looking for the perfect gift for a Costco fan in your life, then you may want to consider picking up a Costco Shop Card.

Better than your average gift card

A Costco Shop Card is basically Costco’s version of a store gift card. You can use a Costco Shop Card at any warehouse club store or online. You can also use one to purchase gas at Costco stations.

Now some people will tell you that gift cards aren’t actually the best holiday gift for a few reasons. First, they can be somewhat impersonal. And also, you run the risk of them going unused.

But that’s less likely if you give a Costco Shop Card to someone who you know is a member and shops at the store frequently. For one thing, the recipient of your gift can always use that Shop Card to cover expenses like groceries and household essentials.

Granted, that may not be the most fun way to use a Costco Shop Card. But if money is tight and it minimizes their credit card bill that month, so be it.

Otherwise, a Costco Shop Card might be someone’s ticket to guilt-free Costco spending. A lot of people force themselves to stick to a list of essentials when shopping at Costco, but the store is actually loaded with fun purchases.

Someone you care about might use their Costco Shop Card to buy a new kitchen gadget they’ve had their eye on. Or, they might buy some clothing. Heck, they might even decide to spend the Costco Shop Card you give them on snacks and sweets from the bakery. And there’s nothing wrong with that.

A good gift for non-members, too

You have to be a Costco member to purchase a Costco Shop Card. But you don’t have to be a member to use one.

So if you have a friend who you know has been eager to give Costco a try, a Costco Shop Card could be a great thing to hand over during the holidays. That Shop Card will give them access to Costco (even without a membership), so they can try out the store and, better yet, purchase some items that you paid for.

There are plenty of great holiday gifts you can find at Costco, from cozy blankets to gourmet food baskets. But it pays to consider the gift of a Costco Shop Card. That way, your friends and loved ones can pick out their favorite Costco items without having to reach into their own wallets as they normally would. And if you gift a Costco Shop Card to a non-member, you might help introduce them to the wonder of Costco. That alone is a good reason to go this route.

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We’re firm believers in the Golden Rule, which is why editorial opinions are ours alone and have not been previously reviewed, approved, or endorsed by included advertisers.
The Ascent does not cover all offers on the market. Editorial content from The Ascent is separate from The Motley Fool editorial content and is created by a different analyst team.Maurie Backman has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Costco Wholesale. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.

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When a home is destroyed, it may be a while before homeowners can move back into it. Learn what insurance coverage you need to cope with this situation. 

Homeowners insurance pays when a property is damaged or destroyed by a covered cause like a fire. This type of insurance can prevent property owners from having to empty their checking accounts if a devastating event happens.

But what if a home is destroyed or badly damaged? Chances are good the property owners will not be able to live in it for a long period while repairs are being made, or while the property is being rebuilt.

For homeowners who are forced to find a rental property or live in a hotel or find other accommodations, the costs can be very high. In fact, the average price of a hotel is around $171 daily. That would be a ton to pay for months on end, especially since mortgage payments would typically continue to accrue while the home was being repaired.

So, what can homeowners do and how can they cover these huge expenses? Here’s one of the best options.

Make sure to get loss of use coverage when buying home insurance

Homeowners who want to make sure they can cover added costs they incur when their home is damaged should make sure to add loss of use coverage to their homeowners insurance policy.

Loss of use coverage is also called Additional Living Expenses (ALE) insurance. ALE insurance provides payment for reasonable extra living expenses that accrue when any or all of a home becomes unusable due to a covered loss.

For example, a property owner whose home was badly damaged by a fire would usually get reimbursed for the cost of a hotel or other temporary housing. Or a homeowner whose kitchen was flooded due to a broken refrigerator water line may be reimbursed for restaurant foods and prepared meals. Other potential things loss of use coverage could pay for include:

Boarding a petExtra gas costs if temporary housing is farther away from work or schoolTaking public transportation if a commute changes as a result of being temporarily displaced.

Loss of use coverage will pay up to the limits set in the policy when there’s a covered loss and a property owner incurs additional costs because of it. For example, if a property owner has $250,000 in dwelling coverage and buys a loss of use policy with a limit equal to 30% of the dwelling coverage, then up to $75,000 in additional living expenses would be paid in appropriate situations.

Get covered before it’s too late

Additional living expenses coverage must be purchased before a covered disaster for it to pay for a hotel, food, or other extra expenses caused by a home being damaged. Once a problem arises, it will be too late. Homeowners should check their policy to make sure they have this add-on protection in place.

Any property owner who doesn’t have loss of use coverage should consider contacting their insurance company or insurance agent about adding it. Otherwise, they could find themselves out a ton of money when they have to pay for extra expenses if they are displaced from their home. Don’t wait until it’s too late.

Our picks for best homeowners insurance companies

There are many homeowners insurance companies to choose from. We’ve researched dozens of options and short-listed our favorites here. Looking for a green build discount or easy bundle policies? Want an easy-to-use interface? Read our free expert review and get a quote today.

We’re firm believers in the Golden Rule, which is why editorial opinions are ours alone and have not been previously reviewed, approved, or endorsed by included advertisers.
The Ascent does not cover all offers on the market. Editorial content from The Ascent is separate from The Motley Fool editorial content and is created by a different analyst team.The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.

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