Travel Tips
- Renting a car at the hotel instead of the airport can save as much as 71% of the airport taxes added to your car rental if renting at the airport.
- Rent unused time-shares. Good web sites for bargains are vacationtimesharerentals.com and ebay.com.
- Room Service at the hotel can add 15 to 20% to the cost of the meal for the convenience of having the meal brought to your room.
- Think about ordering in from a fast food restaurant or Pizza place. Usually the menu's or ordering information can be found in your hotel.
- Avoid the bar fridge in your hotel room. Instead visit a vending machine or convenience store in the neighborhood. When my husband and I used to take our kids to Duluth for the weekend we used to buy their treats, chocolate milk and orange juice at the convenience stores near our hotel for less than one third of the cost of purchasing those items from the hotel.
- Best prices for travel are in late October or early November. Prices drop on cruises, fares to the Caribbean, etc.
- Visit priceline.com for amazing deals on hotels, car rentals, or airline tickets
Prescription Tips
- Fill prescriptions for 90 days instead of 30 days, everytime you fill a prescription you have to pay service fees, many insurance companies require you to purchase three to six months of your prescriptions at a time to save on paying those fees.
- Doctor's can give you samples of medications, especially if it's something new you are trying and if you don't know if it will work why not have the doctor give you samples before you have to purchase.
Jewellery
- best time to buy is January, although jewelers will also negotiate in April (after tax time), and in July and August (because there are no gift giving holidays in those months).
Electronics
- Stores bring in the newest, latest, coolest electronics stuff after Thanksgiving (in time for Christmas) in early to mid-November, stores are closing out "old inventory"
- Boxing Day sales are a great time to buy electronics for reduced prices. Some of the boxing day prices are so good they are untouchable any other time of the year.
Home Renovations
- January is a slow month for contractors, they may be willing to negotiate on their fees at this time of the year
Relocate for less
- Movers are busiest from May to August, so if you can avoid a summer move you pay less. You'll also find better deals if you schedule your move mid-month since moving companies are more in demand the first and last weeks of the month.
Wedding Budgeting Tip for Parents
How do you draw the line without looking like you're trying to ruin their special day? You want to helpout with the wedding but it's not worth going into debt for a few hours of fun. According to Mary Hunt, founder of Cheapskate Monthly: Parents should determine exactly how much they are willing to spend to pay for the wedding, then hand over a cheque to the couple and say, "This is our gift - use it however you like. And whatever's left over, you can keep.' Doing so will let them know that this is the only money they'll be getting from you and it may actually inspire them to be a bit more frugal. Hunt says, the average wedding costs $22,000 and nearly 30 per cent of couples are footing the entire bill themselves, your gift may well turn out to be priceless.
