I am getting ready to take a family vacation, and money is tight right now, so i have been blowing my mind up on where to go cheap, and how to make it cheaper, so here are some suggestions from my experiences in the past and recent vacations
1. Tour the state in which you live, there are more things than you can imagine if you look up stuff to do in your state.
2. Get discounts, for example: AAA, military, discounts for amusement parks at Meijer, and banks sometime have discounts on amusement park tickets also.
3. If you have a friend who travels a lot, see if they get hotel points or air miles, make a deal. For example: my husband travels, he reserved a hotel in his name for my beautician for a day in return i got a cut, style, and dye. Maybe they would even charge 1/2 price or something.
You can do the same with flight also.
4. We are going to disney this year, i bought a lot of disney souveniers for my children at stores around home when i saw sales, i will give them to the kids when we get there (have my hubby leave and come back with them, like he just bought them). I also bought a bunch of disney trading pins online also, so they will get them and then be able to trade for the ones they really want. Bought them for like a dollar a piece instead of $3-10 per pin.
5. Don't be afraid to pack lunch, take in a carry-on, along with sunscreen, cameras, and sunglasses so you don't have to buy them at the parks.
6. Do your research on how much gas is all the way to your destination if driving on your vacation. You can look up lowest gas prices in the town you are in. If you are staying in a hotel, most have internet, use it to look up cheapest gas stations near there.
7. Camping is always fun for the kids. If you can, camping is usually cheaper than a hotel. I have also rented a cabin at a campground for way cheaper than a hotel, it came with free canoe, on a lake, hot tub, etc..
8. If going to amusement parks for more than a few days, take a day off to relax, that will save more money than you can think of, and the kids will have just as much playing in a pool at a hotel, or you can even visit a beach.
9. Travel in off season
10. Some say to make reservations in advance, and it is cheaper, my belief is that there are better "last minute" deals, it's just getting the seats on the plane you want, or seeing if there is still availability when you wait, there are pros and cons on both.
11. I would highly recommend to make a budget before the vacation and only take so much with you, and then a low balance credit card for emergencies.
12. Only use your change you have saved all year, or even garage sale money for spending money, the more you sell the more spending money you have.
13. Take advantage of continental breakfast at hotels.
14. Rent a house for a week instead of hotel, more rooms, and if traveling with others, that is cheaper and also has a kitchen.
15. House Swap, never personally tried it, but have friends who do it every year.
16. The first year my whole family went to Disney, my husband and i tried a timeshare one morning before going to the park, we ate b-fast, they watch the kids and we are only entitled to stay 90 minutes and no longer, easy money "if you don't get caught up in the sale", if so, it could last much longer. We wound up going to 3 timeshares and getting $350 for listening to the sales pitch.
17. Buy a year zoo pass, if you travel, you can visit the zoo in the area you stay in.
18. If going to amusement parks, stay in the next town.
19. If traveling on a plane, try to use less bagage, i believe it averages $15 per bag +/- (try to fit all the childrens stuff in one suitcase instead of having their own). I know they just changed prices on baggage recently. Remember when you buy an all inclusive package, some don't include baggage or taxes. Read what you are signing and commiting to. Same with all inclusive including meals, some don't include drinks, not even soday, or gratuity.
20. Make your own autograph books for characters to sign (example:disney)
Tuesday, July 21, 2009
Saturday, July 18, 2009
ways to save with monthly bills
I am going to start off with giving some suggestions that i have personally used myself to save money on my monthly bills.
Electric bill:
1. Turn off all lights possible when its not necessary to be on. (including outside sensory lights, these will make a big difference on your electric bill)
2. If you have a second freezer, if there's not much in it, try fitting everything in your refrigerator/ freezer, and unplug the bigger freezer (you could still put the freezer in use as storage)
3. Limit the childrens video gaming time. If you limit to an hour instead of 3 hours a night, and keep the tv off, that is 14 hours a week of electric you could save. 56 hours a month.
4. Do not watch tv at night while you are sleeping.
5. Wait as long as possible to put the air conditioners in.
Water bill:
1. Put a full water bottle in the back tank of your toilet, so it makes the water go to a higher level, so you don't use as much water.
2. Take turns with neighbors of whos house is going to run the sprinkler for all the children in the neighborhood.
3. Turn off water when brushing teeth.
4. Take a quick shower, when taking a bath, you tend to run the water again and again to keep the water warm and then still stand up to rinse off.
5. When you use your washer make sure you get the laundry out right after it is done washing so it doesnt get left in the washer and start stinking so you have to wash the same load again.
Other extra bills:
1. Compare prices. May take a lot of time, for example, i called for cable, it seemed high, so i called a different cable company, tried to see if it was cheaper to get a package deal with internet phone and cable, some do that, go back and forth with different companies, they will give you better deals because they dont want to give their business to their competitor.
2. Get a family plan on phone bills with reliable family members, and share the price of the monthly bill, or get pay per minute if you only use cell for emergencies.
3. Use coupons (there will be a lot of blogs on here about using coupons and if you take the advice, you could save a lot of money)
4. Don't rent movies unless you only watch 1 per month, there are other websites you can pay less than $10 per month and pick the movies you want to see and they will send them in the mail and you send them back, i have tried 2 different mail in movie places, and love it, no late fees, new releases, and the one i use now you can watch some movies on your pc even though you have a movie at your house. i pay $10 per month and get a movie every 2-3 days, depends how fast you watch it and send it back.
5. Exercise outside in the summer, so you can cancel your gym membership.
6. Try to use cash instead of credit card. If it's not a necessity, wait till you have cash to pay for it.
7. Share garbage disposal service with neighbors.
8. Save gas when you make one trip to stop at all the little places in one day than going to a dozen all week.
9. Car insurance is a big bill each month, i would highly recommend shopping around, i just learned the hard way. I had car insurance for years with an insurance company, i had the minimal full coverage (the cheapest full coverage) i got rearended, found out it didn't cover much, cancelled when i found another insurance company that was cheaper with my accident on my record and better coverage. It may take time, but I could have saved a lot more on fixing the car and monthly payment etc....Don't be afraid to call and tell the company that so and so offered you the same coverage for less money.
10. Student loans have deferrment payments, which in other words you can ask for an extention, to pay when you are done with your schooling instead of having to pay the loan back while still attending college.
11. I discovered a few months ago another thing that could possibly save money, but i just started using them, so i can't tell you how much you could save, but i believe you can save. I found at a local retail store some dryer balls. You put the balls in the dryer with your clothes, it seperates your clothes and makes them dry faster, it takes less electric to run your dryer because you don't have to run it for so long.
Thank you for checking out my very first blog, i promise i will post more ways to save money, and i would love your thoughts about the site. My next blog will include some ways to save on vacations with children.
Electric bill:
1. Turn off all lights possible when its not necessary to be on. (including outside sensory lights, these will make a big difference on your electric bill)
2. If you have a second freezer, if there's not much in it, try fitting everything in your refrigerator/ freezer, and unplug the bigger freezer (you could still put the freezer in use as storage)
3. Limit the childrens video gaming time. If you limit to an hour instead of 3 hours a night, and keep the tv off, that is 14 hours a week of electric you could save. 56 hours a month.
4. Do not watch tv at night while you are sleeping.
5. Wait as long as possible to put the air conditioners in.
Water bill:
1. Put a full water bottle in the back tank of your toilet, so it makes the water go to a higher level, so you don't use as much water.
2. Take turns with neighbors of whos house is going to run the sprinkler for all the children in the neighborhood.
3. Turn off water when brushing teeth.
4. Take a quick shower, when taking a bath, you tend to run the water again and again to keep the water warm and then still stand up to rinse off.
5. When you use your washer make sure you get the laundry out right after it is done washing so it doesnt get left in the washer and start stinking so you have to wash the same load again.
Other extra bills:
1. Compare prices. May take a lot of time, for example, i called for cable, it seemed high, so i called a different cable company, tried to see if it was cheaper to get a package deal with internet phone and cable, some do that, go back and forth with different companies, they will give you better deals because they dont want to give their business to their competitor.
2. Get a family plan on phone bills with reliable family members, and share the price of the monthly bill, or get pay per minute if you only use cell for emergencies.
3. Use coupons (there will be a lot of blogs on here about using coupons and if you take the advice, you could save a lot of money)
4. Don't rent movies unless you only watch 1 per month, there are other websites you can pay less than $10 per month and pick the movies you want to see and they will send them in the mail and you send them back, i have tried 2 different mail in movie places, and love it, no late fees, new releases, and the one i use now you can watch some movies on your pc even though you have a movie at your house. i pay $10 per month and get a movie every 2-3 days, depends how fast you watch it and send it back.
5. Exercise outside in the summer, so you can cancel your gym membership.
6. Try to use cash instead of credit card. If it's not a necessity, wait till you have cash to pay for it.
7. Share garbage disposal service with neighbors.
8. Save gas when you make one trip to stop at all the little places in one day than going to a dozen all week.
9. Car insurance is a big bill each month, i would highly recommend shopping around, i just learned the hard way. I had car insurance for years with an insurance company, i had the minimal full coverage (the cheapest full coverage) i got rearended, found out it didn't cover much, cancelled when i found another insurance company that was cheaper with my accident on my record and better coverage. It may take time, but I could have saved a lot more on fixing the car and monthly payment etc....Don't be afraid to call and tell the company that so and so offered you the same coverage for less money.
10. Student loans have deferrment payments, which in other words you can ask for an extention, to pay when you are done with your schooling instead of having to pay the loan back while still attending college.
11. I discovered a few months ago another thing that could possibly save money, but i just started using them, so i can't tell you how much you could save, but i believe you can save. I found at a local retail store some dryer balls. You put the balls in the dryer with your clothes, it seperates your clothes and makes them dry faster, it takes less electric to run your dryer because you don't have to run it for so long.
Thank you for checking out my very first blog, i promise i will post more ways to save money, and i would love your thoughts about the site. My next blog will include some ways to save on vacations with children.
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