If you are traveling this summer here are some helpful ways to save money in the following categories.

Hotels

When traveling by car, pull into rest areas and pick up the local hotel guide. They are chocked full of coupons for discounts on hotel rooms. You’ll save 10% or sometimes more on the cost of an advertised room. The discounts can be even greater than the lowest available one at the check in desk, such as the AAA discount.

Book online ahead of time for exclusive online savings. Use sites like Priceline.com, Hotels.com, or go straight to the chain hotel’s website to see what deals are available.

Consider staying at a KOA campground in one of their cabins. While this is not a hotel, it is a way to camp without having to bring a tent or camping gear. But you will have to bring your own bedding. Many KOA campgrounds have all of the amenities of a hotel, such as a swimming pool, restaurants, and even movie theaters!

Food

Stay with friends or family and you will hopefully eat out less. Stay at hotels that offer continental breakfasts. Don’t buy anything from the hotel mini-fridge because the food and drinks are way overpriced.  Do you tend to buy drinks and snacks at gas stations? Why not pack a cooler with snacks such as fruit, trail mix, and water bottles that you fill at home instead of buying? If you aren’t in a rush to get there, order pizza, which is less expensive that even fast food places. Or pack some paper plates and plastic silverware and buy food at grocery stores that you can whip together, like bagged salads and cold sandwich fixings.

Car Travel

Have your tire inflated and you’ll see at least a 5% improvement on your mileage. Drive the speed limit. The faster you go, the worse your gas mileage. Don’t try to save by not running the airconditioning and rolling down the windows, because you will reduce the car’s aerodynamics and cancel out any gas savings, so you might as well stay cool.

While You Are Way

• Turn off your air conditioning or raise the thermostat before it kicks in.
• Put your lights on timers. They are cheap and available at hardware stores.
• Unplug large appliances like TV’s and computers. You’d be surprised how much energy they waste while off. In fact, it’s a good idea to buy those plug strips that you can turn off every night even when you are at home.

In the May 2010 issue of Reader’s Digest an article described some of the extremes people will go to to save money. The ones that leaped out at me were:

• Save a McDonald’s paper coffee cup to run into any McDonald’s restaurant and get a “free” refill. Another way to think about this is “stealing.”
• Reuse trash bags–they wait for the garbage man, dump the contents of the garbage bag into the truck and bring the empty bag back inside the house to do it again. Another way to think about this is “gross.”

Reader’s Digest invited readers to share their own extreme money saving tips and here is what some of them shared:

• Bring your own Tupperware to parties to bring home left over hors d’oeuvres.
• Reusing: toothpicks, paper towels, floss, plastic sandwich bags, tinfoil, and other things that are meant to be used once and disposed of.
• Retrieving toilet paper from the trees after someone’s house gets “TP’d.”
• Diluting shampoo, household cleaners, and liquor.
• Bring loved ones to the store and read out loud the greeting cards you “would have bought them” if you weren’t so cheap.
• Bring your own slice of cheese to fast food restaurants to make your own cheeseburgers.
• Swing by the recycle center or check neighbor’s recycle bins for magazines and the Sunday paper.
• Walk through fast food drive thrus and pick up the change that people have dropped but not bothered picking up.
• Look for food that is out of date at the grocery store–including dairy–and get it for half price.
• When traveling, bring an empty bottle and fill it at a water fountain after you go through airport security.
• Only put one bulb in a multi-bulb light fixture like a chandelier.
• Mail out Christmas cards without postage but put the recipient’s address in the return address spot, so the post office will deliver the card to that address stamped “insufficient postage.” (this too is stealing).
• Bathing only once a week to save water or saving your shower or tub water to flush the toilet or water your garden.

Flickr photo by Sunfrog1

Here at MiCash several of the staff sometimes bike to work. This is only possible because Washington DC and Northern Virginia have a robust network of dedicated bike paths. In urban areas with reliable and extensive public transportation, including bike paths, subways, and buses, now more than ever it is possible to consider eliminating the need for a car all together, or at the very least, downsizing from two cars to one.

We’re not suggesting everyone can do this, but with some lifestyle adjustments, eliminating a car in your life can benefit you financially.

Cost Savings without a Car

In 2010, The average cost for a typical auto insurance policy, including collision and comprehensive coverage, is $1,031, reports AAA. This figure compared average rates for the top five best selling vehicles averaged nationwide. Of course, insurance rates also depend on the driver’s age, driving record, miles driver per year, and location. Insurance his generally higher in the city and higher for younger drivers who can least afford the costs of a car.

When factoring in other costs, such as car payments, maintenance, and gas, AAA found that the average annual cost to own and operate a sedan is $8,487 . That comes out to $707 a month.  Of course, that number could be much less if you drive a beater, or you only drive a few miles a week.

Still, there’s no escaping the fact that having a car is one of the biggest expenses for an individual after housing and food.

I Can’t Ditch My Car Because…

• I need it to get to work.
• I need it to go grocery shopping.
• I need it to go out on dates.
• I need it on the weekends to run errands or take trips.
• I need it to feel good about myself.

What are the Alternatives?

• Ride a bicycle…use one month of car expenses to buy yourself a really nice bike. Did you know you can even order one on the Web and it will be delivered to your house? Check your local area for bicycling information. Here’s a good information website to get you started.
• If you are the adventurous type, consider a motorcycle or Vespa instead of a car. The insurance is cheaper and you’ll pay only a fraction in gas costs. Also your cool factor will go up. If you’re single, your date can ride behind you, or just use her/his car when going out. Don’t think this will work? Listen how actor LA-based Tim Coyne has adjusted to life without a car on the Hollywood Podcast.
• Rent a car (or pickup) those few times a year you really need one. Companies like Enterprise maintain rental locations all across America that are not confined to the area around your local airport but actually in neighborhoods. Increasingly in many cities, like Washington DC, San Francisco, and Montreal, bike rental companies let you rent bikes that you unlock from a public bike rack and re-lock when you arrive at your destination. The more extensive the fleet and pick up locations, the better this works. Montreal just rolled out a huge network of bike rental kiosks, and more and more people are getting by without a car.
• Modify your shopping behavior… some people, especially busy urbanites, swear by Peapod and other grocery delivery options. Instead of the big weekly excursion to the grocery story, shop farmer’s markets and buy a few items at a time on your way home from work. Shopping locally will likely prove healthier too.

So go ahead and give it a try. If it doesn’t work for you after a little while, you can always go out and get another car.

“Snowballing” your debt is a phrase a lot of personal finance bloggers use to describe the idea of paying off your smallest debts first so you can benefit from having quick wins in seeing your debts go down. One win leads to another, and soon you are shedding debt like a snowball rolling down a ski slope. Coined by the popular get-out-of-debt guru David Ramsay, debt snowballing means essentially ignoring higher interest debt in favor of reducing the number of outstanding debts, starting with the smallest and working your way up to the largest. Ramsey writes: “personal finance is 20% head knowledge and 80% behavior.You need some quick wins in order to stay pumped enough to get out of debt completely.”

A contrasting school of thought holds that you should always start with your highest interest debt, such as high interest credit card debt. If you want to experiment with how this would work, download and use the free Debt Reduction Calculator, in Excel format, by Vertex42.

How to Curb Your Spending

Less discussed is the Spending Reduction Snowball. It was Ben Franklin who coined the phrase, “watch your pennies, and the dollars will take care of themselves.” Rather than cut out the big spending items–either because you can’t (e.g., mortgage payment, car payment) or you can’t bring yourself to do it (e.g., that trip to Hawaii), snowballing your spending habits in the downwards direction might mean passing up Starbucks in favor of brewing your own, darning your socks instead of throwing them out and buying new ones. Knocking back your cable subscription to basic.

Of course, unlike debt, you may not have an easy way to add up all of your spending. But just as the spreadsheet above works, you can easily calculate these small savings by projecting the savings out a month or a year. For instance, if you cut your cable bill by $15 a month, project your savings out a year $15 x 12 months = $180, and you’ll rightly multiply the effect of the sacrifice to put it in its proper perspective.

Or bring a notepad with you and jot down every penny you save per item when you reach for your usual brand, and then either go generic or pass it up all together. Who wouldn’t bask in the glow of passing through the check out and then realizing that you just saved $34 by shopping more frugally?

What else can you “snowball?” How about your e-mail in-box? We’ll save that for another post.

A new trend is popping up: websites that help people rent things from one another instead of buying them. This is a great idea for the average Joe or Jane who will probably seldom use  half of the stuff they buy because they assume the will “need it” at some point. Think of power tools, kitchen gadgets, camcorders to take on vacation, etc.

Once upon a time, when people were less transient and you really got to know your neighbors, you might be able to walk down the street and borrow your neighbor’s extension ladder to retrieve a frisbee on the roof or clean the gutters. Or, for you kid’s annual Cub Scout’s Pinewood Derby you might get away with borrowing a buddy’s Dremel rotary sander thingy to shape your boy’s dream car from a block of pine. Now, with so much made in China and seemingly “affordable” instead you buy the tools, the gadgets, the electronics, and store them on shelves, in cupboards, and in the garage (if you have a garage), for that rare event when you may need them. Sometimes years go by before these things are touched. Sometimes you even rent a monthly storage unit to keep all this stuff. And eventually, maybe you offload it between moves in a garage sale for nickles on the dollar.

“The old paradigm of buy and use it once and store it forever is shifting to an economy based on usage and accessibility,” said Jeff Boudier, co-founder of Zilok. (From the Washington Post)

Zilok is a “peer-to-peer” social media rental site founded by a couple in France who figured out that the average power drill is used a total of only 12 minutes during its lifetime. Another is iRent2U.com. Here’s how it works. People post stuff they are willing to rent and users can rate the reputation and quality of the owners much like E-Bay merchants are rated. Renters meet the owners, sign contracts, perhaps put down a security deposit, pay a rental fee, and hopefully use and return the item in the same condition they found it.

Of course, trust is a big concern, but these sites are growing fast and features like the rating system help build trust.

What do you own that you think you might make some extra income from by renting it out? Or what might you consider renting as needed rather than buying?

A recent interactive article in the New York Times offered 31 Steps to a Financial Tune Up. Step Number One was to start saving 1% of your salary. This is an excellent idea that is nearly pain free.

If you have money taken out of your paycheck before it hits your bank account, you’ll never miss it. Once you’ve done that, increasing your savings by another percentage point probably won’t hurt a bit. But over time, it could add up to six figures in additional savings.

Flickr image by TheTruthAbout...

Fact is, every year earlier in your life that you start saving for your retirement you will see a greater return on your savings, due to the magic of compounding interest. A person in their early 20s has to save  a fraction of what someone in their 40s has to save to reach the same goal. Suppose you save just one thousand dollars when you’re 20 and don’t touch it until you are 65. If you averaged of 10 percent interest on your savings per year (not an unreasonable figure) that thousand would become nearly $73,000 by the time you reach 65. Saving $1,000 when you’re 50 would only grow to $4,200 by age 65.

The one percent rule can apply to just about everything. Got some money in your wallet, take out 1% and put it in a jar. Do that for a few weeks, and you’ll have an unexpected windfall. Grocery shopping? Put something back and don’t buy it to the tune of at least 1%. Over the course of a year, that’s real savings. Driving down the road? Go just 1% slower and you’ll be saving both gas and the environment and you won’t even notice the difference in your time of arrival. Filling your bath with water? That’s right, fill it just a little less.

You get the idea. Being part of the 1% club means you will keep savings top of mind. The result is that you will probably save more than 1%. How much farther is up to you.

It is okay to splurge every once in a while. After all, life would not be very enjoyable if we could not let ourselves loose every once in a while. We also need some form of reward for all the hard work we have been throwing ourselves into. We have pointed out some time before that splurging is very different from overspending. If you find yourself compulsively shopping more often, buying something not because there is a need but simply for the sake of buying it, than you had better watch out especially if you use a credit card as your main payment option. Excessive overspending can lead to credit debt. And as we always say, credit debt is a nasty trap we do not want to get ourselves pulled into.

continue

Nothing can unleash your hidden creative and mushy tendencies more than Valentine’s Day. Every year, as the Day of Hearts draws near, you along with couples from all over the world start racking your brains for the perfect date ideas for you and your special someone. It would have to be romantic. There should be no slip-ups. And it should always end with the sweetheart more in love with you than ever. So you free up your schedule for the day and make a mental list of ideas. And then you hit a slump. The reality of the matter is that a budget must be allotted. Now the question is how can you plan the perfect Valentines date, without burning a hole in your wallet?

continue

Oh look, it’s February already! It has been one whole month since the New Year started. Allow us to ask you a simple little question you may or may not want to hear: Have you started fulfilling your New Year’s resolutions yet? Don’t worry, this is not a scolding, and we won’t judge you if you answered ‘no.’ As always we are here to help. If you are part of the majority of New Year’s resolution makers who have vowed to shed some pounds or save more money by the end of the year, here are a few simple tips that can help you do both. The only effort you need to take is discipline.

continue

Casket designed by Brian Tenorio for Lux Mortem.

One of the most heartbreaking and difficult experiences life has in store is laying a loved one to rest. It is never easy, but it is part of life. It is the final punctuation on a life lived, shared, and ultimately treasured through the days, weeks and years together. There aren’t any shortcuts to take about it, and it can be a test of character in itself.

It is only right that a family treats one’s last rites with respect and honor. A major part of honoring this is handling the funeral, and the different aspects that come with it. Different families have different customs, and different people have wishes that need to be respected. These can be a complex series of processes, events and details that all culminate in one last gathering to honor their memory. This can take time and money, but they are for many a small price to pay to respect one’s passing.

continue