365 Ways to Live Cheap (27 page)
344. P
ACK
F
OOD AND
B
EVERAGES
If you’re about to embark on a long car trip, you’ll always come out ahead if you pack a cooler full of beverages, snacks, and meals before you leave. Doing this enables you to stop at a park and enjoy an inexpensive meal instead of stopping at a restaurant along the way. It also allows you to dip into the cooler for a cold beverage instead of stopping at a gas station and spending your money on their expensive fare. You can do the same when returning home as well. Stop at a grocery store before you depart and stock up on food and drinks at low prices before you leave. You can even do this while you’re there— eat simple meals in your hotel room or at the campground instead of bearing the big expense of dining out. Doing this even part of the time can really reduce the cost of a family vacation.
345. E
XPLORE
Y
OUR
L
OCAL
A
REA
Instead of spending a lot of money on big, exciting trips, spend some of your vacations exploring your local area. Visit historical and cultural sites that you can reach and fully enjoy over a weekend. Instead of planning one megatrip, you can do three or four of these short trips in a summer and still save significant money. Don’t know what to look for? Get a map and draw a circle around your area that includes everything that’s two hundred miles away or less. Everything within that circle is worth looking into. Do some Internet searching on these states and counties. You’ll be surprised how many interesting things you’ll find, even in the most rural areas.
346.
FOR
H
OTEL
R
OOMS
, C
ALL THE
L
OCAL
B
RANCH AND
N
EGOTIATE
If you’re booking hotel rooms, don’t just pop onto a website and book a room at a hotel, particularly if you’re reserving well in advance. Instead, get the phone number of the hotel you’d like to stay at and call them. Ask to speak to a manager (as you’ll likely be unable to negotiate with the person who first answers the phone), ask what their rate is for a hotel room far in advance (providing the dates), then negotiate. Flat-out ask for a lower rate than that, and suggest you’ll try a competitor. Managers usually have the flexibility to adjust rates and thus you can often end up with a discount just because you did your footwork. This works particularly well in more rural areas where the hotels rarely fill to capacity. They’ll negotiate because they need the business.
347. D
O
N
ECESSARY
C
URRENCY
C
ONVERSIONS
B
EFORE
Y
OU
L
EAVE
If you’re heading to a country that uses a different currency than you, convert some cash long before you head out on your trip. Your bank may provide this service for you for a very low fee or no fee at all, and if that doesn’t work, there are usually currency exchanges available in most large towns and cities. Don’t ever use currency exchanges at airports, hotels, or tourist information sites. They universally have very high rates. You’ll get a far better deal if you do the legwork yourself in advance of your trip.
348. K
NOW THE
R
ULES
W
HEN
Y
OU
U
SE
Y
OUR
A
TM
C
ARD
W
HEN
A
BROAD
Your ATM card is usually the best method you have of getting a good exchange rate when traveling abroad. Call your bank well before you travel and find out about any extra fees you’ll be charged for using the card in your country of destination, particularly if you use the card as a credit card. There will probably be some fees involved, but if the fees add up to a significant amount or there are a lot of hoops to jump through, do some shopping around for a checking account at another bank that has better fees and service abroad, then put enough cash in that checking account so that you’ll have plenty on your trip. A bit of legwork now can save you a pile of fees and headaches abroad.
349. P
LAN THE
B
ACKBONE OF
Y
OUR
V
ACATION
A
ROUND
I
NEXPENSIVE
S
TUFF
Instead of just hitting tourist attraction after tourist attraction, space them out and fill in the gaps in between with more inexpensive activities. Find out about natural attractions and state parks in the area. Are there free museums, zoos, and other such things in the area where you’re going? Build up a long list of things to do in the area you’re visiting that have little or no cost by reading up on the area and the resources available there, both on the Internet and at the library. A long list of inexpensive activities means that there will surely be a few things that intrigue most of the people on the trip. Use this list as the primary tool for selecting activities on your trip, maximizing the inexpensive stops and minimizing the expensive ones.
350. A
VOID
T
YPICAL
S
OUVENIRS
It’s easy to just grab the typical souvenirs when you’re traveling. A quick stop in a gift shop and you have something ready to go. The only problem is that the typical gift store item is not only overpriced, but it’s also not something that would fill your recipient’s heart with joy. Instead, take a serious look at the area where you are and get something local that the recipient would particularly enjoy, and that includes you. Skip the gift shop. Instead, get a bottle of the local wine, hot sauce, barbecue sauce, jelly, or another local treat (which will be far cheaper than the typical gift shop item, anyway). Get a few simple postcards and drop them in the mail instead of worrying about some “perfect” souvenir. The real purpose is to show you care, is it not? For yourself, keep a travel journal. Write down your thoughts each day in a little notebook. That little notebook will bring back many more memories than a pile of T-shirts ever will.
351. U
SE A
D
IGITAL
C
AMERA WITH A
L
ARGE
M
EMORY
C
ARD
I
NSTEAD OF
F
ILM
Never travel without taking along your digital camera. Invest in a huge memory card and feel free to snap plenty of pictures. If you have a huge memory card, you can snap pictures of anything that looks interesting. Later, you can just toss out the pictures that didn’t turn out well and the rest will provide a wonderful record of your memorable trip. It’s also another brilliant substitute for expensive souvenirs. Instead of buying everyone back home junk that they really didn’t want, spend some time taking pictures of things you think people at home might enjoy, then send them those pictures when you arrive home, or post them on a website to share with everyone.
352. U
SE THE
“P
EAK
-E
ND
” R
ULE
One particular trait of human psychology is known as the “peak-end” rule. Our memories of something are defined by the peak of that experience and also the end of that experience. In other words, when you think back to your vacation in a year or two, you’ll likely just remember the best thing you did and the very last thing you did, along with a few other scattered bits. So, when you plan your vacation, instead of jamming each day with amazing things, just plan one peak experience, the real centerpiece of your trip, and one great experience near the end of the trip, perhaps on the next-to-last or last day. Fill the rest of the trip with inexpensive options and also relaxation, and you will create an incredibly memorable vacation without shelling out the cash for nonstop and exhausting memorable activities.
353. A
LIGN
V
ACATION
T
RIPS WITH
V
ISITING
F
AMILY AND
F
RIENDS
When you’re traveling, particularly on a long road or train trip, devise a plan that enables you to stop and see family and friends on the long legs of the trip. Not only will this usually amount to a free night’s sleep while traveling, but it’s also a perfect opportunity to touch base with people you may not get to see very often. It’s often worth it to plan your travel in an unorthodox way just to make it to visit family and friends. The opportunity to catch up is personally worth it and the free night of sleep makes it financially worth it.
354. D
ON
’T O
VERLOAD A
V
ACATION WITH
S
CHEDULED
A
CTIVITIES
When you’re planning a trip, it’s often tempting to pencil in tons of things to do on various days because there’s so much you’d like to see. This often results in expensive tickets purchased in advance, lots of pressure to stay on schedule when you arrive, and a sense of wistfulness when you see things you wish you had time to explore, but don’t. Instead of planning tons of activities in advance, just plan one or two and leave the rest of the trip entirely open, so that if you’re out and about and stumble upon something interesting to explore, you can just detour at your own desire. Not only is this a less expensive method for planning a trip (as exploration and discovering new things is often the cheapest part of a trip), it’s also much less stressful and more fun. Don’t make a tight schedule, instead, just bring along a big list of inexpensive ideas that can fit in anywhere.
355. V
ACATION WITH
O
THERS
If you’re still worried about vacation costs, plan a vacation trip with another family, so that many of the costs for various activities can be split. Thinking of renting a cabin somewhere? Invite another family to come along and split the cost. You can also split the cost of car rentals, boat rentals, and other expenses that might come up during a trip, plus a well-chosen traveling companion can increase the enjoyment factor of a vacation.
T
EN
T
ACTIC
$
FOR
S
TAYING
C
HEAP
356 Figure Out Exactly What You Saved
357 Automatically Sock Away That Savings
358 Handle a Raise Intelligently
359 Handle a Windfall Intelligently, Too
361 Think about Why You Want Something
362 Remember That Time Is Money
363 Keep Trying New Cheap Tactics
364 Share Your Experiences and Frugal Tips
356. F
IGURE
O
UT
E
XACTLY
W
HAT
Y
OU
S
AVED
Whenever you use a tactic in this book to reduce your expenses, it’s worthwhile to figure out exactly how much you’re saving by using this tactic, as it can directly affect your budgeting for the month. Eliminated your coffee addiction? Figure up how much you used to spend on coffee. Dropped a subscription service? How much did it save you this month? If you have a good grip on your spending and know where your money is going, each frugal tactic you use will free up some amount of money that you can use for something else. Perhaps you can add it to your debt snowball if it’s a recurring savings, or you can snowflake it if it’s a one-time savings. The real benefit, though, is psychological. By figuring up how much you’ve saved by making a good choice, you’ll directly translate your action into real dollars and cents, something that you can tell others about and something that you can be personally proud of.
357. A
UTOMATICALLY
S
OCK
A
WAY
T
HAT
S
AVINGS
Many people wonder what to do with their careful planning once their debts are paid off. The next step in living a life of financial freedom is not to start spending that money, but instead to start saving it. When you’ve paid off your mortgage, don’t start spending that money; instead, start automatically saving that mortgage payment, or dabble your toes in investing. Eventually, that money will build up into something that can enable you to change your life. Maybe you’ve always dreamed of going back to school or trying another career. Perhaps the next time you buy a car, you can just pay cash for it instead of taking on a car loan. If you stick to your money-saving principles and sock away that money instead of spending it, you’ll eventually have personal choices that you never dreamed of.
358. H
ANDLE A
R
AISE
I
NTELLIGENTLY
When you get a raise at work, it may be tempting to celebrate and to use that money as a personal reward to buy something nice for yourself. Instead, think about the times where you were barely making ends meet and were scared of facing the next bill. Instead of using that raise to buy more stuff that you were happy not having before, use that extra money to get rid of your debt a little bit faster or to save for a big purchase, like an appliance or an automobile. Don’t be tempted to spend more just because of a little bump in your income.
359. H
ANDLE A
W
INDFALL
I
NTELLIGENTLY
, T
OO
What about a big bonus check or a nice inheritance? Surely, that’s something you can use to live the high life, right? Think of it this way: A windfall is an opportunity to undo the mistakes of your past, not repeat them. When you receive a windfall, put it in the bank immediately. Buy a certificate of deposit at your local bank with the entire amount so you can’t touch it. Then think carefully about what you can do with it. While it might be tempting to think about all of the fun you could have with the money, in the end you’ll just be right back where you are right now, with the same problems and the same worries. Instead, consider using that windfall to eliminate any debt you might have, or sock it away in an investment somewhere for your children’s education or for your own retirement. Sure, you might not get to have that fun you’re imagining, but you’ll no longer worry about that debt you’ve built up. Maybe you won’t have to worry about how you’ll pay for college for your kids, or how on earth you’ll ever be able to retire and enjoy life. Instead of just spending it wildly, put that windfall to work for you.
