So you are planning a vacation, and you have decided to drive there, not a problem.  Here are some quick tips that we have used in our recent trip to North Carolina.

1)  Plan ahead, pack your lunch and dinner and put it in a cooler.  Make sure to purchase some snacks to eat along the way, so you don’t stop and eat out.  This will easily save you some cash. 

2) Hotels - If you need to stay at a hotel, stop by the rest areas and find hotel coupons.  Nice hotels will put discount rates to fill rooms with those coupons.  BEAWARE: You might also want to shop online and book ahead of time if it is during a holiday.

3)  To Roll down the windows or use the A/C?  It has been proven that if you are on the highway to use your A/C!  Because with the windows down it produces drag on your car and reduces the miles per gallon.  In town however, roll down your windows.

4) Plan ahead activities.  Find a hotel with a pool to go to and use it!  (You already paid for it!)  Research fun activities that do not cost too much.  A little bit of research on the internet could find you great discount deals!

What are your tips?  POST A COMMENT!

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With gas prices sky rocketing now a days we need to find other ways to save money.  Are you sure you are getting the best deal on your auto insurance?  Here are a few tips to get the most discounts that you would never think about:

1) Additional driving classes, take a short defensive driving classes and get a certificate that is good for 3 years, this could save you up to 10% per year on you insurance!  There are also online course you can take.

2) The martial status question, if you are ever asked what your martial status is and you are divorsed, widowed, or legal seperated, make sure you say so, it is cheaper on your auto insurance to be any of these than if you are single!

3) Have kids and want them on their own policy to pay on their own while they live with you.  If they live with you, make sure to put a policy in your name and include them on it even if you will never drive their car!  This can save your child up to 80%!

4)  Use comparision web sites like insurance.com where they will instantly compare and you can actually purchase the policy online through their site.  They will search 15 insurance companies for you and get back the 4 lowest rates.  I have been very impressed with their web site and the awards they have been winning.  And they have very friendly licensed agents ready to help ( I had a question because I couldn’t believe how much money they saved me and I just called up to make sure and they helped me the rest of the way through the process and sent me my insurance information right away).

5)  Try to avoid sites that sell your information like insureme.com and netquote.com as you will receive many phone calls even though you might think it will all be online.

6)   Get the multi-car / multi-person discount if you have more than one car or driver.

7)  The higher the coverages you carry now, the less expensive it will be in the future to carry the same amount or upgrade.

8)  Watch using the “Road Side Assistant and Towing” every time you call, most insurance companies count this as a claim and will up your rate at renewal and future insurance!  If you feel you might need this a lot, try companies like AAA.

9) Don’t be suprised when they say they are running a credit check!  Most insurance companies are using your payment history (not too much your credit score) to figure in what kind of “risk rating” you fall into.  In research insurance companies have found that is most cases the worse your credit ranking the more claims you will submit and vise-versa.  This is not always true, but in the bell-shaped curve is has been proven.

10) Shop about 15 - 30 days before you policy is suppose to expire and buy then!  Do not wait until the day before.  The futher out you buy your policy the lower the prices might be.

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Budgets take time to come up with and finally sit down and work on it and figure everything out.  Here are some quick ideas on how to stick with your budget:

1) Always, and I mean ALWAYS have a “Fun” budget.  This can be anywhere from $10 / month, but have a small budget left over to go out and go to a movie or rent a movie (even better!)  This should be the LAST category to budget for, but if you do not have money to have fun with to stick to then you will just use money from other categories to go have fun with.  BUDGET FOR FUN!

2) Always UPDATE YOUR BUDGET!  Budgets take time and they will never be perfect.  Relook at your budget on the very last day of every month and see how you did.  Change the categories you fell short in and also the categories you have money left over in.

3) Create a goal!  If you stick to your budget, what makes you feel good?  It could be the idea that if you stick to it, you will be less stressful, you might be out of debt, or because you stuck to your budget you have money left over and want to go out and celebrate.  Whatever it takes to stay on track!

4) When thrown off the horse, get back on!  It will happen that sometimes you will get off budget, no problem, just get back on it and re-look at what you can do to make things up!

5) Get support from your household.  Hold a meeting and discuss about the budget and have everyone help out.  When everyone understands and is on board then it makes it a lot easier.

Just remember that not only people that are on a tight budget or need to get out of debt sit down and fill out a budget.  Business and companies do it all the time.  It is a must to succeed in life.  A company has to have one to know where expenses are going, so do the same.  Happy Budgeting!

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The NFL is getting ready to start up here soon, with the schedule just recently being posted and some people getting their betting strategies going. You can find free nfl picks online to help your season out and find which teams are the favorites and which team you really should put your money on. I am so excited for the football season to finally start back up again as it should be a very exciting season to watch with many great teams.

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How many times have you gone out and need a business phone number, or want to check the movie times and need to call 411?  Check your phone bill!  by dialing those easy to remember numbers 4..1..1  Its going to cost you anywhere from $0.75 to $7.50 a call!  There is an alernate source for information.  Make sure to write it down or program it into your phone.

1-800-CALL-411

OR

1-800-225-5411

Google Labs has also came up with a 411 phone service called Goog411.  Dial 1-800-GOOG-411 .  Click Here for More Information

How much has your 411 calls cost you?  Post a comment and let us know!

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There are a few ways that married couples can get discounted rates on their Car Insurance and save some money. Any money you can save, even a dollar, is one more dollar you can put to something else. Not all policies are the same, so you can not just go by the quote, make sure your policy includes everything you want, such as a rental car if you have an accident, ect (Which a rental might not be important if you have more than 1 car). Here are some great tips to getting the lowest rate possible.

Tip 1. Get several quotes from multiple insurance companies online. Some insurance companies even represent more than 1 insurance company, so with one call you can get multiple quotes at one time. Make sure to find out if there is a married couple discount. If you have multiple cars ask if you can get a multiple car discount.

Tip 2. Look at each other’s driving record. If one person has a DUI or multiple traffic violations get quotes for separate policies and also a couple policy and compare which is cheaper.

Tip 3. Always keep the agent that you are making a deal with on their toes, by not always accepting the first quote they give you. Ask what that quote includes, and see if you can get rid of some features that you do not need for a lower quote.

Tip 4. Pay your policy in 6 month or 1 year. Most insurance companies charge more if you pay monthly.

Good Luck and Happy Saving!

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The debt for young people is rising, more than ever before as younger people are getting more and more credit card offers in the mail.  This is what got me in trouble.  While in college I was a student with not very much money, a part-time job and credit card offers piling in the mailbox everyday.  I lived on campus and even there you signup these little pieces of paper to get a free $2.00 T-shirt with you school logo on it and sure enough a few weeks later you have 5 - 12 credit cards ready to go in your mailbox.  This alone put in me behind early in life, just to suffer to dig myself out later on.

Teach your children the value of money and how credit cards and ruin their future if not used properly.  I would do this early on, by teaching them that money does not grow on trees and that the “urge to buy” something that costs more than you have is a bad idea and to let it go for 24 hours and think if you still want it or not.

Have your children work for their money, by doing some easy chores around the house, pick up a paper route, help neighbors.  Do not just hand them money when they need money, this will teach them bad money handling skills later in life and you will see the credit cards mounting up.

Any other suggestions?  Post a Comment!

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So you know there is a great deal coming up, right? or you want to purchase multiple items such as food items, but you only get one paper. No problem. Many people do not even think about look on Ebay! You can bid and get multiples of the same coupons (usually in 20s) sent to your house in a few days for only a couple of bucks. Most of these coupons will save you $20, $30 or more. If paired up with the right deals can get you multiple items for FREE! Just go on Ebay and go to the Coupon Section (Direct Link to Coupons) and search or browse for which coupons you would like to find. If you are not registered on ebay yet, Registration is Free (click here direct link).

I use Ebay a lot when I can not find coupons that I am looking for.  Plus not all coupons are sent to everyone in the country!  You can live in Florida and there is a coupon in Ohio for $4.00 off of your dog’s dog food brand and it is on sale for $3.99 (this happens a lot sometimes), but you don’t have a coupon.  No problem just go to the pet food coupon (direct link there! ) section and you can find those coupons!

Good Luck and Happy Bidding!

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I worked for a mortgage for a little while and with all the foreclosures increasing around the country I feel some people might need some help.  There is a great web site called creditloan.com that has a lot of information on it. Use their learning center to find great articles. Anything from Auto Loans to Tax loans.

California, Ohio, Florida and Michigan ended up having the most cities with the highest foreclosure rate in 2007. Many people 1 to 2 years ago were sold by their mortgage broker or loan officer a fixed adjustable mortgage. A lot of people liked the loan because they “qualified” for a “loan rate fixed mortgage.” Many of them did not really know that the fixed rate was only good for 2 years, then jumps up to a higher adjustable rate sometimes as high as 17%! This could almost double your monthly mortgage payments and the rate could change monthly. What makes it worse is that the economy is not in a good condition, so refiancing for many people into a true fixed rate is too late because of low credit scores.

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We live in a world where debt is not only acceptable, it is the norm. Almost everyone you meet has debt of some kind. So, in a society that views debt as a way of life, how can we control our debt instead of allowing it to control us? Here are some things to help you with debt prevention and management.

The first thing to do when considering your debt is to make a budget. It is important to have a plan for your money so that you will know exactly where all of your funds are going. Many people believe that a budget will be constricting and not allow them any freedom. Really the opposite is true. A budget allows you the freedom of having peace of mind knowing that all of your bills are paid and the money has been allocated ahead of time for these expenses.

Knowing where to start when making your budget can be overwhelming. The best place to begin is to make a list of all of your income. Once you have listed your income, make a list of all of your bills. Be sure to include things like cable, internet, cell phone, electricity, water, credit cards, loan payments, and any others that you might have on a monthly basis. Things like trash that are normally billed on a quarterly basis should also be included by dividing the normal bill by 3 to get the monthly total. Once you have listed all of your bills, consider living expenses. Things like gas, groceries, laundry, personal care, entertainment, and spending money should all be budgeted into your plan.

It is also important to have a savings plan. This is key to help you prevent yourself from getting into debt. Set aside a certain amount each month into a savings account. It can just be for general savings, or you could set a goal to save up for a big purchase. Saving with a goal in mind motivates many people to stick to their savings plan. They know that at the end they will be able to purchase the desired object without going into debt.

If you already have debt, it can be advantageous to take some steps to help manage it. If you have a high amount of credit card debt, it can be wise to consolidate it into one loan. If you are a homeowner, using the equity you have accumulated in your home is often the wisest way to restructure your debt load. You can roll all of your debt into one loan and make one payment that has tax advantages. It is wise to talk to your financial institution about all of the options they have for you.

Another way to manage existing debt is to consolidate your debt into one payment using an unsecured loan. Although the rates will be higher than a secured loan, often it will be lower than your credit card rates and the payment will be lower as well. This will allow you to pay off your debt in a specified time period while paying less interest over the long run.

There are many practical ways to manage the debt you already have while preventing yourself from getting in any deeper. Make a logical, practical budget and consolidate your existing debt in order.

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