Cut Costs on Your Airport Parking

photo credit: markhillary

How many times have you run into a situation where you planned your business or vacation trip perfectly and end up shelving out loads of money on the airport parking? You reach the airport to find a decent parking space for the weekend or a long weekend and you are staring at a $100+ parking charges. That can be quite a dampener right at the start of your trip. Well the good news is that you can actually avoid such events, if you plan your airport parking in advance too.

In most cases, your perfect vacation trip was planned online through one of the several online flight / lodging or vacation booking sites. Planning your trip in that fashion is highly convenient and with pre-paid arrangements you are basically just enjoying your trip, without worrying about the additional charges. Well why not use the same logic for your airport parking too. If you can plan your entire trip meticulously, why leave out the small airport parking aspect.

There are many airport parking companies that display their services online. You must exploit the online services to get the best deals and spend minimum on the parking. The biggest advantage of the online service is that you can look at all the companies offering the service and compare them sitting at your home. So even before you get into the car you have a good idea of where your cheap parking spot is going to be. This is an excellent service that you must use. So what are the best deals that you could look at?

Cheaper Online Rates: Many of these sites give you special discounts for booking your spot online rather than turning up there to find a spot.

Special Day Rates: Just like flight charges, the parking charges during the middle of the week are much lower than during the weekends. You could get a multi-day discount or even a highly subsidized rate during the weekdays.

Early Bird Advantage: If you have your flight plans ready in advance; it is an ideal time for you to extend that advantage to your parking costs too. If you book your parking spot earlier, you could get good offers and discounts. This is more significant during the peak seasons when the actual rates can be quite high.

Membership Benefits: Being member of associations like the AAA can give you additional discounts, free pick and drop between the terminals and parking lot. Some of the credit card companies too have tie ups with these airport parking companies. You could avail special discounts or additional reward points, etc if you book the spots with certain credit cards.

Besides these, you could also look to choose a not-so-great parking spots for very low rates. Premium spots could cost you dearly, but rest are pretty affordable.

Thus you see there are many ways that you can cut costs in airport parking. When you are looking to save and bring down costs, why not do it with your airport parking too.

Getting a Cheap Car Loan

photo credit: tomsaint11

Cars are inevitable modes of transport now days. Almost everyone needs a car at some point or another. However, the car prices are not going down. Despite all the discounts, grand offers it is just amazing how the cars always seem to be dearer than the last time around. Fortunately you have the option of taking loans for purchasing cars. Loans give you the upfront money to buy the car and start using it even if you don’t have to finances to pay for it completely. You can repay the loans in monthly installments over a few months or years depending on the scheme. Car loans are very popular and several banking institutions and even car dealers offer such loan services. While such loans are commonplace, it is best if you do some research on the loans before accepting one.

For many of us purchasing a brand new car is virtually out of the equation because of the financial position. Some people may actually be in a good position to buy the new car on loan, they can exploit such services. For others there are always the used cars – cars that have previously been owned by some other person who wants to sell it. Of course with the used cars, a lot more things need to be taken into consideration like the mileage, condition of the parts, warranty, etc. Depending on your financial position you may have to avail car loans even for used cars.

Choosing a car loan like any loan is an important decision. Given the significant financial commitment, it is best if you carry out due diligence before signing the dotted line for any loan. So that brings us to the all important question on how to go about getting a good car loan.

Your best chance of getting a good, cheap car loan with desirable terms and conditions is to have a clean credit history. A good credit history means that you have a track record of paying your loans on time. This reassures the lender to give you the loan at better terms than otherwise. Hence, always focus on maintaining a good credit history.

However a bad or an extremely bad credit history may not mean you will not get the loan at all or get it at steep conditions always. The only problem with a bad credit history is that you would have to search harder to get the loan. But at no point should you hide any financial information while applying for the loan. It can damage your credit ratings even further and who knows you may be in other financial and legal hassles too.

Also remember that you don’t have to get the loan from a local institutions alone, you can get it from any lender that has favorable schemes. How do you find out about these schemes? Go online and visit their web pages. The Internet can be your best resource to get information about maximum number of lenders and their offers. You can then look at them and compare to find the one that is most compatible with your present financial situation. If you look hard enough you could actually get reports and discussion forums that would tell you which are the better lenders and who can help you the best.

Lastly, before signing any contract go through the fine print to find out any hidden clauses. Sometimes a great loan scheme on the face of it may have some terms and conditions that make it a mediocre one. If you are student, getting your car loan is a lot simpler as the credit checks are not very stringent for student applicants.

Save Money on Hotels in NYC

photo credit: eschipul

New York City is one of the world most famous and popular tourist spots. Be it Times Square, or the Statue of Liberty, the NYC catches the attention of everyone. There are a number of places in New York City that tourists can easily associate with the city, even if they have not been there. Besides the landmarks, NYC is also the hub of many cultural and social activities. All these attract loads of tourists to this beautiful city. Though NYC has many regions around, invariably all tourists prefer to book a hotel in Manhattan.

Given the huge number of tourists, the hotels in Manhattan are not cheap. This is common perception among the tourists who end up paying huge charges to these hotels. However this is not true. You can get great hotels to stay in NYC without having to pay hefty rooms rents.

Here are some simple tips that you can use:

1. Travel Off-Season
   During the peak season and festive seasons, there are many tourists that visit NYC so there is always a shortage of rooms in the Manhattan. This is the time when hotels would charge tourist astounding rates and they pay them due to lack of alternatives; avoid them. NYC is as beautiful during non peak season as during peak season and costs much less too. Try to plan you trip so as to exploit such times.
2. Avoid Hotels in Hot Spots
   Many hotels that are in premium locations charge you for the proximity and the view from their rooms. You can save a lot by avoiding such hotels. NYC is a big city with several great public transport facilities. Getting from one place to another would not take you long especially within Manhattan. If you are ready to look at hotels that are away from the hot spots, you can get huge discounts. You will be surprised at how much a premium spot hotel overcharges for a similar service.
3. Book Early
   This logic works for everything. If you want to plan a vacation, plan it well in advance. You can save a lot in almost everything. You travel charges go down, your hotel rents go down and if you plan your New Year vacation in NYC well before hand, you could actually save a lot and yet enjoy the special rooms.
4. Shop Online
   Online is the best place to find all the information that you need. There are several online reservation and travel sites that can give you excellent rates and discounts. Visit these sites to know about the best deals on offer. These sites would also give you a comparison of various rates from various hotels. This allows you to decide on what to pick. Besides, if you were to book a complete package like air travel, car and hotel you may get a bundling discount too.

By following these simple tips you can save a lot during your next travel to NYC. Then you can wear the “I Love NYC” T-shirt and actually mean it.

Money Saving Tips for Teens

photo credit: AH!Photography

Saving money is important for everyone. However, it is not something that always comes naturally. A large portion of this habit comes from the coaching that the child gets from the childhood. Hence, if you start early you can inculcate this habit. If you know how to save and practice it diligently, you should not face a lot of financial problems in your life. Of course no one can predict what can happen in future, but at least under normal circumstances you can enjoy financial freedom. So if you are a teen you are at the perfect age to start learning to save. It is the age when you first start dealing with your own money and have your expenses. If you learn to balance these two, you can have a secure financial future.

The practices are not difficult, they are more logical, so you won’t find hard to connect with them and implement them.

Avoid unnecessary spending

Spending on things that you can do without, or buying on impulse must be avoided. This has two benefits:

1. You save the money you would have spent on something unwanted and
2. The impulsive buying habit can become an addiction causing greater financial loss in later stages of life.

You can avoid this by planning your purchases in advance. Before you leave to buy anything, make a small list of items you need and carry approximately the amount that you would spend. This way you would not have extra cash to buy those extra things. An extension of this logic is that if you are just going out for fun with nothing to buy, don’t carry any cash. This way even if there is an impulse, you don’t have the money to nurture it.

Save on Utilities

This may not affect you right now, as your parents may be paying for them, but it is a still a good habit to inculcate. Shower when bathing and avoid the bathtub. Bath tubs use lot of water which amounts to water wastage and also bigger water bills. Secondly, try to save electricity. Switch off any unwanted light, turn off computer monitors, TV screens, etc when not in use. Also make it a habit to put your computer on standby, if you are not using it for a short time and shut it down if you don’t use it for long. It is a good idea to shut down the computer, for example before sleeping.

Grow your Savings

Always make it a point to save a part of your earnings. You may not have a source of income, but any gifts, monthly allowance that you get, make it a point to save a part of it. Typically a 10% savings is good enough. Ask your parents to start a savings bank account for you and deposit these savings in that account. At the start it may not seem a lot, but eventually when you grow big you would have a decent amount there. Besides, having seen it grow with you, the chances are that you would want to destroy your hard work and spend all that hard earned money immediately. That is the indication of a saving habit that you have been practicing.

Thus as teens there are many small ways by which you can save and learn to save. This is a vital survival habit that you must learn to live a life with fewer financial challenges.

Cutting Down on Wedding Costs

photo credit: jurvetson

Wedding is a special event in everyone’s life, which is why people don’t mind spending a lot to make it memorable. This is so not just in the US, but in all the regions of the world, across geographies, cultures and religions. However, the times now are tough and financially hosting a grand wedding can be a huge strain on you. You have to look at ways to bring down your wedding costs without taking away the preciousness of the moment. There are many aspects of a wedding that can be a source of cost cutting.

Location

The weddings are common in your local church in the town. Though this is a great practice to call the local community, the associated charges in the urban areas can become a problem. Instead look to have the wedding in a small town or a rural area. This has many advantages.

The costs of everything in a small town are less. You can get a professional photographer, the hall, food, etc arranged in a fraction of the cost of your wedding in a big city. Even your wedding make up, haircuts, etc would cost you much less than having it done in your city. Besides, they are as professional and as effective as their urban counterparts. In short, you don’t have to pay for the branding which many urban stores and services have.
Having your wedding in a small town can actually be a cherished memory for more than one reason. The quite and peaceful rustic charm would leave an indelible mark on the minds of all your guests. Even they get a chance to take time out of the busy urban schedule – something that they’ll appreciate.

Cake

The wedding cake is special and is a major expense during that time. You can cut costs here too. You can also choose the not-so-popular types of cakes and save loads of money. Alternatively, you can ask someone to bake the cake for you and have professional decorate it for you. The last and probably the best option is to have the whole cake made by friends, family and close relatives. Having such home-made cakes can make the event really special and memorable than the professionally made, great looking ones.

Wedding Gowns

These are also an important expense that you have to pay close attention to. There are many ways by which you can get a wedding gown. You could use a close relative’s gown. Else you could have a tailor or a friend good at sewing make it for you. You could also look to go for the lesser known brands to get a gown of similar quality but much lower price. You can order it from the low-cost developing nations – given that most branded textiles come from there you may just skip the middle men and save on their cut. Lastly you can look for it online. The classified sites are great places to look for wedding gowns and accessories at low rates.

The real timeless memories are not the material aspects like the cost of the cake, or brand of the company whose dress you wore, or services you used; it is the joint effort of the whole family to make the special day happen and execute it successfully. With your friends and family playing a greater role in organizing your marriage, it would be remembered forever by them. So cut your wedding costs and make your wedding extra special.

Shopping During a Cash Crunch

photo credit: Paul Keleher

During tough economic times, meeting ends meet itself can be challenging, leaving very little to save for the future. On top of if you get into the festive season, you could be really stretched for liquidity. Holiday shopping can’t be avoided, neither can your regular purchases. If choosing between the two is not an option, you have to get both at lower prices. Fortunately, this is possible. There are several stores and alternatives by which you can purchase gifts as well as regular items at very economical prices and save lots of money too.

Here are some avenues that you can tap into to save money.

Economy Stores

Look to shop at goodwill stores, Salvation Army and thrift stores. These stores not only have used items, but you can even find loads of brand new stuffs. Besides, even the used items are not always poor in quality and appearance. You can actually get a great deal on a dress or any other item that was hardly used by the owner. The chances are that the original owner decided to sell it off, as he/ she did not find much use for it after purchasing. In that regard, you may even get a brand new item for throw away price. Now that can be a great buy – even a great gift.

With goodwill stores and Salvation Army stores, you actually get dual benefits. While you got the dress in a bargain, major part of the proceedings actually are pumped back into the community to help support the underprivileged people. How proud would you feel if the dress that you wear or the wallet that you use actually gave some unfortunate hope or something to cheer about. It would even make the gift special too. Hence look to exploit such stores and make the most of it.

Store Sales and Discounts

Many of the regular stores would actually have regular sales when you get good discounts on some of their listed items. Over time you would realize that most of the items that the store sells would have a sale at some point or another. By tracking these sales meticulously, you can get the best from such sales at low costs.

Some stores also come out with discount coupons that give you good discounts even on regular days. Take time to go through the flyers and cut out the coupons. Carry them with you when you go shopping and save money.

Always be on the look out for renovation sales, end of season sales, etc. These are times when the store has to get rid of all its stock, so you can get amazing deals. If you are charming enough, the person at the counter might just throw in a small gift for free too.

Retail Sales

Many people put out a garage sale to clean their garage up. Over the years, a garage can become a place to store a lot many things and not just a place to park your car. On these garage sales, you would get some interesting utility items that you can purchase at extremely cheap prices. The best part being that this is a sale by an individual or a family. So you can always negotiate the prices and try to make bulk purchases at even lower rates. Exploit such avenues to the best possible extent.

You can also look at online classifieds for items that you want to buy. Many people put out some very interesting items for sale on these sites and with a bit of luck you could just find what you wanted at much lower price!

Save Money on Your Utility Bills

photo credit: Ben Brown

The present economic downturn has changed a lot of things on international, national and even domestic levels. For the individuals struggling to meet both ends and stick to a job, the new mantra is saving. You want to save to repay your debts. You want to save to pay off your credit card bills, that just keeping getting bloated all the while. You want to save for your children’s education which also seems to get more and more expensive with each passing year. Lastly you want to save to ensure that the next economic downturn does not catch you off-guard like this one. All these are genuine concerns that indicate the “once bitten twice shy” philosophy. There are several avenues that you can look at to save money. Your utility bills are one such aspect.

In front of the huge home loan, or car loan or even your monthly credit card bills, your utility bill may not be something that catches your attention immediately. But if you think about it, it is an expense that you can look to decrease. Your water and power bills can be targeted for starters.

Dish Washing

Studies have shown that dishwashers help save more money than hand washing the dishes. There is no denying this point, but one needs to look at the perspective. For a regular family of four or more people, the total number of dishes churned out each day is significant and hence washing them in a dishwasher would require less effort, less water and hence less money. However, if you are a single person to two people, you probably don’t generate sufficient dirty dishes to use the dishwasher to full capacity. If you don’t maximize the number of dishes per cycle you don’t save money. So for such cases hand washing is better.

A very good technique of washing the dishes is to stop the exhaust of the sink and fill it up with warm water. Now you immerse all the dirty dishes in this water and let them stay there for sometime. Even if you forget about them for over an hour, it would not harm – in fact reasonably longer duration is better. Now you can wash your dishes with dishwasher soaps and rinse them lightly in the sink water itself. Then you can drain all the water and rinse each dish separately in flowing tap water. This is a good technique of washing dishes without wasting water or energy.

Bathing

Again studies show that bathing requires lesser water than shower. If you are someone who showers, you must switch to bathing. If you are not comfortable with bathing and prefer shower, then you can fit an environment friendly water flow cap. This can help you regulate shower flow based on your needs. Besides, you must make conscious effort to come out of the shower within 10 minutes. This simple act can save you lots of water and hence money. Besides, if you are someone who prefers hot water, the switch from shower to bath can save you water heating power too.

Personal Finance Management Tips for Students

Student life is that time when you are maturing and getting ready to shoulder responsibility. Well besides the obvious studies, there are some other survival skills that you must learn during this time. If you mess it at this stage you could repent it for a long time later. The first among those skills is managing your finance. A college or university student life is the transition from dependence on parents to complete independence. You would have your parents’ financial backing, but to meet your needs you would have to look to save money and earn from other sources.

photo credit: Symic

Planning Income

Save Money on Home Heating Bills This Winter

Saving and cost cutting seems to be occupying everyone’s mind now-a-days. Everybody is looking to budget their expenses, to cut down on their expenses, change their lifestyle, etc just to keep the expenses down. While focusing on your lifestyle, there are some simple utilities too that can help you save some money.  What’s more they don’t warrant you to change your lifestyle too. Heating is an important expense that swells during the winter months. You cannot do without it, but you can take some simple precautions to make sure that it does not increase your monthly expenses drastically.

photo credit: PinkMoose

1. Run some checks in your house to ensure that your insulation and heating systems are all in place and working properly. With better insulation, you have to expend less heat to warm up your house and it can stay warm longer. Check your doors for any gaps that could let the heat escape. Similarly check to ensure that your windows and fireplace are all in proper condition.
2. If you have a centrally heated house, plan the time durations when you want to start the heating. If you regularly spend some time of the day outside – like at office – running the heating systems at that time is useless. So adjust the timings to coincide with the time when you are at home. A programmable thermostat could serve you well in this regard.
3. Don’t heat rooms with no occupants like guest rooms. Turn out the radiators in those rooms. This itself can save you lot of power in heating.
4. It is common for us to run the heating system at high temperatures initially to heat the house quickly, later we don’t turn the thermostat down sufficiently enough. Decide on a temperature suitable for your house and set the thermostat to that temperature. If you carried out your energy audit properly, your house should retain the heat the system generates properly.
5. If you use a boiler to heating purposes, keep checking and servicing it regularly. An efficient boiler can save lots of money in heating systems. Look at the latest combi-boilers. These reuse the heat and save money.
6. Kitchen and baths are great places to generate heat. Don’t waste the heat generated in these rooms by switching on the ventilators. This heat can improve the warmth of your house. Especially if you have used an oven to cook a pizza or cake, keep the door open to let the warmth through. Besides, you would also have the aroma light up the entire house.
7. Look to do your laundry at lower temperatures. There are detergents available in the market today that work effectively even at lower temperatures. Invest in such detergents and you can save a lot in water and power costs.

Thus you see, there are many minor changes and checks that you need to do to reduce your heating bills during winter months. These don’t require any great sacrifice from you, as some other cost cutting and saving tips may. It is just a question of adjusting your heating systems to your timings and optimizing them.

Save Time and Money on Your Grocery Shopping & Meal Preparation

These are tough times and it requires some serious cost cutting from the families. As an important decision maker in the family you are looking at locating avenues where you can save cost. The special plans and all the frills with your television, mobile and Internet are obvious targets. You probably have also heard about credit cards and how you must pay the complete bill and all, but there are some other avenues where you can actually save a lot without making a major change in your style of living. All you need to do is follow a well designed menu plan and shop accordingly.

photo credit: j.reed

Plan your Weekly Menu – Save Time

• Lay out a plan for your next week’s menu first.
• Look at all the groceries you would need to prepare those meals.
• Go through your current stock to identify items that you already have or you can use
• Make a list of the remaining items that you need to buy.
• Go on a weekend and get all the groceries you will need for all the meals in the coming week.
• Stick to your plan and cook your meals accordingly.

This is a very simple approach that will save you time in preparing your family’s meals. If you are adventurous kind of person who likes to experiment with new styles and new dishes, plan them in advance too. If you follow cook books, it is even better as you would know exactly what to buy and how much to purchase. The above step does not limit your creativity, it only limits the number of trips you need to make to the grocery store to purchase stuff and the time you spend on deciding on the menu for the day.