Mind Saving Monday

Can’t decide between pants and shorts? Pack both with this two-in-one product! For the best of both worlds, buy a pair of convertible pants. I have a pair of black, tan and brown pairs and they are perfect for travel. Put them on in the morning when you need pants and zip off or roll up the legs for shorts in the afternoon.

They are also great for traveling to different climates and not needing to over pack. Road trip through France? No problem, you’ll have pants in the Alps and shorts on the Riviera.

Mind Saving Monday

Ever forget where you parked your car at the airport after leaving it there for a week? Well here are two tips that may help.

1. If you have a digital camera or camera phone: Take a picture of your car parked in the parking spot, make sure to include a post or sign in the picture. Also take a picture of the nearest locator marker. When you get back from your trip, just pull your camera back out and you can’t get lost!
2. If you still take pictures old school, use a paper tag on a key ring (like the ones they use when you get your car serviced). Use the tag to write down your locator marker and attach it to your keys. Store your keys in a safe location and when you return you will have your keys and car location in one handy spot.

Thrifty Thursday

Coupons, coupons, coupons.

Coupons are a great way to save on vacations and still enjoy them. On our last trip to Florida a few weeks ago, I used coupons for just about everything. My two favorite places for coupons? The internet and my hotel lobby. For all of my pre-booked stuff I used the internet to search for coupons. Sites like Retail Me Not are great to see the best coupons like airlines and rental cars. If you know where you are staying or what you are doing you can just do a search for "XYZ coupons". For anything you buy online, if you see a place for a coupon code or discount when checking out go search for one. Also, don't forget any membership cards like AAA or AARP.

Here is a run down of our savings for 2 people on our trip to Florida:

Coupons found online or in my wallet:
5% off the rental car through Advantage rental car. The coupon online was the same as using my AAA card.
Savings: $8.10

We got a huge savings online for 3 nights at the Homewood Suites by Hilton using a coupon on Retail Me Not and paying in advance. Non-refundable, but worth it.

Savings: $155.70

We also picked a hotel with free daily breakfast and they served dinner 2 nights. Although we were only expecting appetizers, it was full dinner so it saved us extra money on not needing to eat out. With the red eye flight we arrived to Florida early in the morning and the staff was wonderful enough to check us in early and invite us to breakfast on our fist day, saving us more money. They were fantastic. Full breakfast for 2 for 4 days = approximate $80 savings. Dinner for 2 for 2 nights including beer & wine = approximate $60 savings.

Savings: $140.00

For the flight, it actually worked out better to book through Expedia. We were able to get a flight that worked better with our schedule and got to use a coupon of course. At $851.60 for 2 tickets, this was our biggest expense, but a 15% off coupon I found online, I saved quite a bit.

Savings: $127.74

We knew that there was two activities that we were going to do ahead of time so we bought those tickets in advance. This saved us money and time not having to wait in line once we got there.

For the Busch Gardens tickets, I found a $15 off per ticket when buying online and you get $2 off parking when buying in advance.

Savings: $32.00

The Universal tickets were discounted also. We bought the 2 day multi-park tickets and found a discount online for $25 off each ticket, plus a free commemorative "Harry Potter" ticket and a coupon book. I have to admit though we never found out how to get the coupon book.

Savings: $50.00

I used my AAA for lunch and shopping at the Hard Rock Café, saving us 10%.
Savings: $9.82

In our hotel we found coupons for two other places that we visited.

One was a restaurant that we had been dying to try because we see the commercials in CA all of the time but don't have any. CiCi's Pizza. The coupon was buy one meal and two drinks and get one meal free. We went for dinner on our last night and loved it so much that we went for lunch again the next day (after picking up a second coupon at the hotel).

Savings: $12.76

The other coupon we had at the hotel was for Wonderworks, a fun interactive museum down the street. The coupon was $2 off per person and we bought the $4 guide book that included a coupon for a few bucks in game tokens, plus we got to keep the book as a souvenir.

Savings: $4.00

Total Savings: $541.12. Just by using coupons.

As an added bonus, I used the points on my Capital One credit card to pay for our hotel room when we got home. An added savings of $330.30.

So really we saved $874.42 on this trip to Florida!

Travel Tips

Buy a composition book. You can usually pick them up pretty cheap on back to school sales. Staple a few envelopes inside and you have a perfect travel journal with pockets to hold museum tickets and mementos for cheap.

Buy convertible pants. The kind with zippers that turn into shorts. These are great for places that are hot during the day and cool at night or if you need to wear pants in a church or if you just want two different looks.

Get a collapsible hamper for trips like cruises or if you are staying in one hotel and you are doing laundry. They usually fold flat and take up very little room in your suitcase. It also makes transporting your laundry to the laundry room a breeze.

Speaking of laundry, if you are going on a cruise pack your quarters in a baggie and use them for laundry. Cruise ships often run out of quarters in the laundry room. Don't forget to pack your dryer sheets either, they are costly in the vending machine.

Also, try to collect free samples of laundry soap or buy the travel size (3 oz or less) to bring with you. This will also save money. If you are checking luggage (which I don't recommend) you can fill a plastic water bottle with laundry soap. If it's the liquid kind make sure to put the bottle in a baggie too. You don't want soapy clothes.

Packing Tip

Never over pack! Not sure what amenities your hotel or cruise ship provide? Ask! First check their web site or any confirmation paperwork you have. If you can't find it there e-mail or call them. This way you don't fill your suitcase with unnecessary items like shampoo, shower gel or blow dryers.

I stayed at a hotel in Venice, Italy that said the rooms were supplied with a hair dryer. Well, what it should have said is there was one hair dryer at the front counter that you could borrow. Just one for all of the guests. I was glad it was a small hotel and it always seemed to be available. I chalked it up to lost in translation, but it worked.

Back to school shopping means travel shopping

Do you ever think about your college days and life in the dorm? Does it remind you of the size of a cruise ship stateroom?

While most parents are stocking up on dorm sized accessories and schools supplies for their kids, I'm stocking up on my travel necessities...

Here are my top 10 back to school/ travel buys:

1. 10-Shelf Hanging Fabric Shoe Rack (hangs in the closet)
2. Pop-Up Hamper
3. Compact Fabric Steamer
4. Over the Door Organizer - 24 Pockets for shoes and accessories (I hang it in the bathroom for storage)
5. 18 Pocket Hanging Shoe Bag (hangs in the closet)
6. Composition Books (great travel journal)
7. Backpack (great on a hike or touring a city, also good as a carry on bag.)
8. Books (on travel, foreign languages, history)
9. Pens, Pencils and paper, notebooks. (all good stuff to have)
10. Printable labels (make your own address labels)

Keep and eye out on your Sunday sale ads to see when these go on sale. When they are cheap, stock up on them. Happy Shopping!