Traveling can be very expensive. These articles provide a comprehensive guide on how to travel for less money. Save money on airfare, hotels and entertainment with these great deals we’ve found.
In case you’re not familiar with what a home vacation is (or staycation, as it’s also known), the concept is pretty self explanatory. Instead of traveling far distances, paying hotel fees, airline fees, gas, you make the best of what you have in your local area. Some of our most treasured family memories have been on these vacations.
Planning ahead is key to having an inexpensive vacation. Here we’ve complied what we thought are the 5 best places to visit to find the best deals, stay organized and make your vacation more enjoyable.
If you’re planning on taking a road trip, this is the place to start. You can name your roadtrip, save it, and use it as a great organizational tool. Once you’ve planned your trip and saved it, you can access directions, weather predictions and even write your own notes!
Get inspired to travel places here. You can choose a destination based on a category (i.e Hiking, Hunting, Arts & Crafts), and plan your whole vacation around it. Also, check out their great article section for information you won’t find anywhere else when it comes to travel.
For all things RV Travel. If you’re planning on driving your RV across country, this is not a site you want to miss. Tons of free information on where to find camping spots, how to choose an RV and even tips for how to repair your RV. Not to be missed.
The official website for everything national parks. If you plan on going for a more outdoors orienting vacation, this is a great place to start. Find national parks near you and learn their history. When you’ve chosen a park you’d like to visit, you can even plan your visit through this site.
I found this site through clarkhoward.com, this is a website who’s primary goal is to promote informaed bidding when using priceline.com’s Travel products. I’ve had a lot of luck using this website, and it’s helped save me up to half of what i’d normally spent.
The average yearly cost of car ownership is $8,500. This includes; financing, registration/license fees, insurance, and gas. Don’t let that number scare you though, there is hope.
As a disclaimer, in order to get the most out of this guide you will need to re-think how cars are perceived; they are a necessity, not a luxury.
The following steps will show you how to save money on your used transportation needs. That’s right, used cars only in this article. Buying used and paying in full, upfront, is the most cost effective way to purchase a car. So, without further ado, here is your guide to buying a non-financed used car.
We recommend buying outright. This means fitting a car purchase into your budget. Cut out any unnecessary spending and start a car fund. Here are some great Personal Finance Spreadsheets from Google Docs to get you organized.
The key to this step is learning how to live with what you’ve got. Keep driving that clunker until it stops running, find a spare car from friends or family, even utilize the company car. Be prepared, saving up to buy a car outright will not be easy, it requires sacrifice, persistence and some luck.
Don’t start looking for a car until you have almost all of your money saved up. Don’t tempt yourself. If you find that amazing deal and buy on credit, then all hope is lost. You need to remember why you set out to do this; to never have a monthly car payment again.
At this point, based on the amount of money you’ve saved up, you’ll want to start looking for a car. Use websites like Kelley Blue Book Online, Auto Trader, and Consumer Guide’s – Used Auto for actual values and reviews on reliability. This will also help determine if you’ve saved enough money to buy the year and make of a car you’re interested in.
Lastly, if you have a mechanic you know and trust, ask his/her opinion on certain cars they’ve worked on that they think are the most reliable.
Start a folder. Keep all cars that you’re interested in inside of this folder. The websites you went to on the tip above will help. Next, start a comparison sheet to help you find out which car is the best. Keep them organized by price, mileage, year, special features and contact information of the seller. Once you’ve narrowed it down to only a couple of cars, your job will be much easier.
At this point, you’ll want to put that contact information in your folder to good use. Here are some good questions to keep in mind when calling about the car you’re interested in:
This is a good step to take before you actually see the car in person. You get a good sense of the owner and the car without having to make the trip out to see them. Your next step, before meeting up face to face with the seller, is to arm yourself with as much info for negotiating as possible.
Visit Kelley Blue Book Online and keep the prices of the car you want in mind. If someone is selling a car for $10,000 and you see it listed on KBB $ 8,000, chances are you can get them to drop their price. When you feel confident in all of your research, it’s time to meet with the seller and inspect the car.
Once you find the car you’re looking for, set an appointment with the seller. Here are a few things you should keep in mind for the meeting:
For much more information on used car inspection you can go to samarins.com How to inspect A Used Car – An Illustrated Check-List.
Since you’re face to face with the owner, here are some questions to ask:
Once you’ve asked all the questions you need, you should ask to take the car for a test drive. While driving, listen for unusual noises, such as clunking over bumps or squealing when turning the steering wheel. Also check if the car pulls severely to the left or right, if so, it has an alignment problem.
Once the inspection and test drive have been taken care of, arrange for your mechanic to look at it. This costs about $80, but a professional opinion could save you thousands of dollars in repairs down the road.
Once your mechanic has given your potential new ride his approval, it’s time to start negotiating with the seller. Don’t be the first to offer a price. Go over anything your mechanic may have found, then ask the seller what their best price is. If you did enough research, and looked into the marketplace, you can counter their offer.
Don’t let your emotions get the best of you. If you show your excitement for the car, you will be at a disadvantage. You need to come with the facts, and try to be as removed as possible. Remember, most people selling their car will not put down a reasonable offer.
Once the purchase has been made, you need to remember to ask the seller for these things:
Well, you’ve got your new (used) car, and we hope it gives you many years of great reliability. We hope this guide helped you in your quest for the best car for your money. If you have any suggestions, stories or questions, please feel free to comment below.
Buying used gear on either ebay or craigslist is a great way to find deals on even name brand equipment. Make sure you thoroughly inspect anything before buying it, and we would avoid buying things like used sleeping bags.
Many of these campgrounds are free or have a small fee. The national forest campsites will not have electricity, but usually have running water. If you plan on staying at BLM owned land, make sure to bring your own water.
One of my favorite tips that I just used. If you have any friends or family that love the outdoors, ask them if they have any items that you could use. Afterward, you can take them out for coffee or lunch to thank them.
Especially if you’re going with more than 4 people. Call or use email to start a pot luck (eg. one person brings hot dogs, the other brings buns, etc). Write up lists of whose bringing what so everyone doesn’t end up bringing the same food item.
This works on two levels. You have free ice and when or if it melts down you have drinking water. This is a very inexpensive alternative to buying bags of ice that would go to waste.
Obviously you don’t want to bring your fine china out to the campsite, but any standard re-usable plates and utensils you have will save you from buying disposable cookware. Just make sure you set up a system for cleaning your dishes.
Old coffee cans, Cool Whip containers, empty water jugs, etc. Use these to store any of your favorite foods. It recycles and saves you money.
This may take the fun out of camping for some people, but if your car is big enough, sleep in it! This saves you from having to buy a tent, and for some will be more enjoyable.
If you have any exercise mats (yoga mats, etc) or know someone who does, bring them. These work as little portable pads, which means you don’t have to go out and buy specialized outdoor sleeping pads.
Fill a black garbage bag with water and hang it from a tree. If you let it hang on a sunny day, by the evening you’ll have a nice warm shower you can use to freshen up with. Simply poke a hole in the bag and enjoy!
Tips on saving you money for that next trip to the mechanic, plus a website that gives you unbiased quotes on your repairs!
Lets face it, sometimes you can be over-quoted on repairs when you visit a mechanic. I just had this happen to me recently, what was supposed to cost only $300 in the beginning, ended up costing roughly $1,200 in the end. This may not be the case with every mechanic, but if you ever find yourself in a situation similar to this one, the best thing you can do is go in prepared.
The most obvious tip to saving money on car repairs for is preventative maintenance, but at what point do you change your oil? Is it better to put premium gas in my car than regular gas, who has the best deals on preventative maintenance?
A lot of people seem to be sort of confused on how many miles you should drive before getting your oil changed, and there are even some tactics companies will use to scare you into getting your oil changed when it’s not needed.
In the early 70′s there was a Jiffy Lube campaign stating that you needed your oil changed every 3,000 miles, this is a little excessive, but a good starting point to know when it’s time to get that oil changed. The average American drives about 12,000 miles a year, so at about $25 an oil change, $100 a year is a small price to pay for something much worse happening later on.
If you put premium gas into a car that recommends regular gas, the only difference you’ll notice is that you have less money afterward. According to the American Petroleum Institute, premium has higher energy content, which can give better gas mileage, but the difference is so minute, it’s hard to notice any advantage to doing this.
The mid grade fuel just has a higher hesitance to combustion, which means that on some super or turbo charged car, mid grade fuel can arguably give a slight advantage to reducing engine damage. What it all really comes down to, though, is making sure that you put whatever fuel is recommended for your specific car. If it says to put premium in there, you have to use premium, if not, then stick to regular grade gas.
When it comes down to getting your oil changed, car checked up and any other over preventative auto maintenance I would trust some of the bigger names. Midas has a great function on their website where they allow you to search for coupons you can clip out on their site by entering your zip code. Jiffy Lube has an instant $5 off coupon when you bring your car to get serviced by them.
If you’re a real DIY’er you can always perform any of these maintenance procedures yourself, but please DO NOT attempt any DIY work on your car unless you feel you can really handle it. Overall, though most big name places are usually having great deals and have good service for keeping your car all tuned up.