Everyone in my family, except for those in my immediate family, live in England. Last week I went to visit and realized just how much travel can cost (especially with the dollar being so weak compared to the pound). Everything in England is priced the same price that you would expect to see in the U.S. in dollars, which means that if a bottle of soda is priced at £2.00 there, that is $4.00 in the U.S. (and that is buying the soda at a grocery store…NOT an amusement park)!

Just because you are on vacation or traveling for other reasons, don’t slack off on your budget. Yes, it may be a little bit harder to keep your budget and goals in mind if you are having so much fun on your travels…but you can still have fun and save a bit of money too!

Since I love to travel, I have found some of the following advice very helpful.

Some tips on how to save…so that you actually have some money to spend when you get home:

SHOPPING – Don’t. Now don’t get me wrong, I love shopping more than you can imagine…but sometimes it just gets a little bit too expensive. I know that many times the purpose of some people’s trips is to shop, then that’s fine and you have prepared yourself for what you will spend. But if your intention before you left for your trip was not to shop, I suggest limiting yourself. Make sure you are only buying things on your travels that you won’t be able to find back home; something unique or a souvenir to remind you of your trip.

CAR RENTALS – Make sure to be smart with this. If you are staying in a city your best bet is to use public transportation. Not only will you not have to pay for your car rental, but you won’t have to pay the extravagant parking fees either. If you do have to get a car rental, make sure to consider if you actually need the car rental insurance that they offer you or if you are already covered. Check out this Geezeo article for more information!

PETS – Check to see if there is anyone that would be willing to take care of your pets for you while you are away. Paying someone that you trust to come to the house and walk your dog or feed your cat will save you a lot of money since you don’t have to send them to the kennels. I know that my brother always offers to take care of his friends dog because he knows that it will save her a lot of money in the long run and it isn’t a hassle for him. Even one of your kids friends might be will to help you out for a little extra cash!

HOSTELS – I know not everywhere has hostels, but if the location that you are traveling to does, it is something that you should definitely consider. Sometimes in Europe and other locations, a hostel is almost as nice as a hotel but at half the price! I know that whenever any of my friends were traveling abroad they never stayed in hotels and always resorted to hostels instead. If you are going on a trip to see the sites, then how much time are you actually spending in your hotel room anyway?

PACK LIGHT – Nowadays, packing light is the only way to go. Flights will charge you for an extra bag AND for your bag being over 50 pounds. Check your bag if at all possible before you arrive at the airport…you don’t want to be stuck paying those extra fees just because you are a few pounds over that 50 pound mark. Also, traveling light will give you more flexibility in case you have to lug your bags around when you get to your location.

CARRY EXTRA CASH – I know this sounds like the opposite of what most people would tell you, but I have found that taking out extra cash while I am home will save me a lot of money on ATM fees when I am away (especially if you are traveling internationally). I am not saying to carry your cash on you at all times when you are on your trip, but you should bring some extra to avoid the fees and keep the extra in the safe while you are at your hotel. I know that this is definitely not everyone’s cup of tea to carry more cash, but I have found it helpful in the past.

Saving money on vacation is not always possible! And don’t let being worried about money ruin your vacation. But do be sure that you are prepared before you take the trip…you don’t want to come home and realize that you have overspent and now have to be frugal for the rest of the year.

Photo: Kevin Rosseel

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Travel insurance can cover everything from flight delays and cancellations to unexpected medical emergencies when you are away from home, all the way to rental car damages or lost baggage that may occur.

I was born in England, so besides my immediate family the rest of my relatives live in England. My grandparents can no longer visit us the United States because they are not able to get travel insurance. At their age, it is too risky to travel without travel insurance in case anything medically pertinent happens. The insurance companies will not give them insurance because there is an increased liklihood that something significant could happen.

At around the time of the SARS scare in 2003, my grandmother was hospitalized in Miami, Florida. Not only was she in intensive care, but because of SARS she was also in isolation. Having travel insurance saved her thousands of dollars that she would have had to otherwise pay out of her own pocket.

Travel insurance is not necessarily for everyone, but it is definitely something that everyone should consider when taking a trip.

With airline cancellations and travel delays always likely in the forecast, you want to make sure that you are covered for all of the unexpected. Although we would all like to believe that nothing unexpected is going to happen to us, there is always a possibility that something will.

According to MSNBC.com, about 67 million Americans spent $1.3 billion on travel insurance in 2006. This amount is a 20% increase from what was spent in 2004.

Traveling with a family makes cancellations and medical costs much more expensive. Sometimes, travel insurance may even have a family package that will bundle your children with you for free.

There are many companies that offer travel insurance and the policies may differ from company to company. At InsureMyTrip.com, you are able to compare different companies’ plans and costs to one another. Another thing that is offered is an overview of what all of the companies may offer you. Make sure to pay close attention to detail, because often there are things that are not covered such as trip cancellations due to a divorce.

Although the cost of travel insurance may seem like a large investment at the time, you may save a lot of money if something goes wrong with your trip. If you are making a large investment in a vacation, you should make sure that you are covered just in case. It would be a shame for you to lose all of your money just because you may not have been covered.

Travel insurance however is not for everyone. If your trip is short or does not include a long investment, sometimes the cost of insurance is not worth it. Make sure to check out all of your options and seriously consider what is right for you. Even though your credit card may have insurance that would cover an airline cancellation, it would not cover the rest of your expenses if you never made it to your destination.

Photo: Scott Liddell

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From Barbeques to fireworks to parking at the beach, the 4th of July has always been a holiday of spending and celebration. This year however, people may think twice before dropping so much money on flags and food.

Last week I thought I had seen a drop in gas prices around my area (and by this I mean a little under $4 per gallon), however, this week gas prices seem to be sky rocketing again with the 4th of July weekend!

People love to hold BBQs and attend firework presentations, but this year consumers may cut back their spending with gas prices being on the rise. Not only will people think twice about traveling so far, but they may even cut back on their extravagant grilling and stick to the simple hamburgers and hot dogs.

According to a National Retail Federation survey, “59.4% of consumers say increased gas prices will impact their spending for the holiday, up from 42.1% of consumers who said so last year.”

The 4th of July celebration is huge for major cities across the United States. Boston, being a historical city, sees a large rise in tourists around this time each year. According to a recent Boston Globe article, the 4th of July draws around 160,000 out-of-state tourists to see the Boston Pops perform, the fireworks, and other attractions throughout the city. These tourists bring millions of dollars in profit to the city ranging from spending on hotels, tourist attractions, restaurants, bars, etc. Will Boston see a drop in these numbers? Or will people continue to flock to the city for the celebrations?

Even the retailers might see their sales struggling this 4th of July! Every commercial I see on TV is for the 4th of July weekend sales, this year is no exception. Hopefully the retailers have used their advertising budgets well and will see their sales stay consistent and not drop.

The decision is really up to you! Everywhere I go people are excited about the 4th of July so I personally haven’t seen such a drop in spending, but obviously people are considering this in their budgets.

So this year, will you spend less on your 4th of July weekend? Or will you find reasons to celebrate and ignore those rising gas prices?

Picture: Andrea Church

Valentine’s Day isn’t much more than a hallmark holiday. At least in my opinion! And no…I’m not a single girl who would love to have a boyfriend on Valentine’s Day, I have a boyfriend — I told him not to spend the money on gifts/chocolate.

Too many girls expect their boyfriends to spend a lot of money on jewelry and flowers for them for Valentine’s Day, but in my opinion…I JUST finished paying off my credit card bills (and so did my boyfriend) from Christmas, I don’t really have the money to put forward on expensive Valentine’s Day gifts.

I could go for a nice dinner and a single red rose…oh, and don’t forget a card. If nothing else, I told my boyfriend he had to get me a card (and if he didn’t want to fork out at the most $5 for a card then he could make me one). I just don’t see how spending a ton of money on this holiday that marketers created in order to drive sales is worth it. I would rather have someone tell me HOW they feel…than try and do it through a gift.

Besides the link in the Valentine’s Day Flower Savings blog below (which by the way was great a great post for those who are looking to buy flowers!) flowers can cost guys from $50 - $200 on Valentines Day! Thats crazy! They die in about a week anyway! I think its a great idea for guys to find ways to save on Valentine’s Day. I mean, if you have a girl that expects you to spend a lot of money — then at least try to find the cheapest way to spend a lot of money (if that makes any sense to anyone but me).

But seriously, if you want to spend the money on Valentine’s Day by all means, please do! I just don’t think the holiday should be based on spending a lot of money. Yes, I would like to go out to dinner, but I think that is costly enough to buy two people dinner at a restaurant that the rest can be put on hold. Find a different day to buy me a gift…or do something random for me!

This is my opinion…others may think completely differently!

Happy Valentine’s Day! :o)

Ladies, look away. This is for those of us who have want to buy flowers for that special someone but don’t see the point in feel like $90 dollar roses don’t adequately show our appreciation for that special someone. Keep the money in your pocket to pay off your debts but still get her a beautiful bouquet of two dozen red roses.

Amazon Flower Deal
(no affiliate link)

I believe you can select any roses, but I chose the two dozen roses. Add them to your cart, complete shopping, and then at the point your would enter your credit card look at the right. The flowers are only $12 dollars TOTAL! Talk about a slick deal. The flowers are for delivery on February 14th so your special someone should have no idea. Obviously, this deal probably is only for TODAY or the week so act quickly. One of the best reasons to read Geezeo everyday.

For more savings tips, check out our Geezeo group: Couples and Money! Happy Valentine’s Day!

The celebration of the New Year is one of the oldest traditions around…yet people have learned how to make good bank on the holiday as well. My friends and I have been looking for weeks to try to find a place to spend New Years Eve now that we are all 21 or older and can all go out together. We choose the Liquor Store for our location in Boston to bring in the New Year! But it really was a difficult decision for all of us to decide on! We’re college students…so of course we don’t have a lot of money. Christmas just passed and it feels like Spring Break is looming right around the corner! All of this sucking a ton of money out of our wallets. So, the Liquor Store charges $50 just to get in on New Years Eve for the celebration…not really all that much is included, but it was a decision we all had to make, and check our budgets for! I mean none of us wanted to be out of money, but at the same time…we all wanted to have a night we could remember our Senior year of college before we entered into the real world of work and jobs and routines (ughh)…

As we were looking for places to go though, prices ranged from $30 - $200! I was really amazed at how much money bars and places like hotels make on this small little celebration. People rack in so much money just for one night where the whole world celebrates together. I was amazed though that really nothing was included with this $50 they are charging us! PLUS…they told us that we should go to pick up the tickets beforehand…which requires an additional trip into Boston.

haha, one of the reasons we did choose to go to the Liquor Store for New Years is that we thought we would have a good laugh at everybody that gets onto the mechanical bull…and it would put some memories into our New Year as well!

Much consideration went into our decision to spend the $50 just to get into a bar…but in the end, for all of us it was definately worth it instead of spending our New Years Eve walking around Boston and trying to find a bar to get into. Luckily since I go to BU, I have an apartment in Brookline so we don’t have to pay for a hotel…which is why I was glad we decided not to go into New York City for New Years and spend even more money!

Has anybody else realized that New Years can be a huge rip-off…but at the same time a ton of fun!? Did other people find themselves checking out their budgets in order to tell if they would even be able to afford this night out…share your New Years experiences with the rest of us! I’m sure there’s all something we can learn about how to save a little bit of money here and there!

This holiday I’ve decided to give a small gift of stock to two children of a deceased friend.

The children are ages 5 & 9 and live in another state. I don’t bring this up to brag (the stock purchases are quite small). Rather, I would like to ask for your ideas. How should one give in the context of a family friend giving a financial gift? I want to give without strings attached but I would ideally like the gift to be a learning experience, too. Like I said, the actual financial gift is small. The greater gift is the practice and development of saving, investing, and giving charitably until the account is turned over to them at age 18.

My thought is if the child is personally involved until age 18 it will increase the likelihood that my small gift would be used wisely. (Though, I’m giving it knowing it could be spent on cartons of cigarettes and lotto tickets at age 18!)

Here’s what I’m thinking of writing in a way a kid could understand (after a description of what a stock is):

I would like for us to work together to save and invest for your future. For starters, you’ll need money for college.

Here is your end of the bargain: I would like you to save $50 between now and your next birthday. Half of this total you will invest in your stock account. The other half you will give away to someone who needs it more than you. You will send me your $25 and proof that you’ve donated $25 to a good cause. You choose the cause. You can donate to people, animals, or our environment. You can tell me why you chose it when you send me your $25.

Here is my end of the bargain: I will match your $50 savings. This means I will contribute $50 to purchase more stock. My $50 plus your $25 will equal $75 more in your account. Plus, you will have helped someone else by donating $25 of what you earned and saved. Remember: I will only match your $50 if you can show me that you’ve saved $25 and given another $25 away. I will take care of the stock until you are 18. When you are 18 you can use this money for college or continue to save and invest it.

I know I could pitch in $100/year for my friend’s kids. I also realize this gift isn’t particularly exciting for a kid or even make sense to the younger child. (That’s why I also sent a box of candy!) But I’m hoping with practice and encouragement from the other adults in their lives I could help them develop some good saving, investing and giving skills.

Any advice from others who wish to instill good financial habits in kids — particularly in a situation where the kids aren’t yours?

Have you seen those greeting cards that play music when you open them?

Here’s an idea that tops talking cards that AND fits into our criteria:

1 - Gifts that can fit into almost any budget (remember, you can set your holiday budget here!)
2 - Gifts that you can get without getting in your car (remember: we dislike parking lots)
3 - Gifts that will make even the coldest Scrooge on your list feel good, and you feel good for giving them.

So what’s the card-topping gift? A charity gift card! Rather than presume what charity your gift recipient might like to contribute to, you choose a lovely card and give an amount that is comfortable for you. Your recipient gets the card and has the pleasure of choosing the worthy charity.

Here’s a site that does just that: CardsThatGive.org

If you’ve missed our holiday series so far, here are some highlights:

Gifts for (or to honor) your cute social studies teacher

The gift that keeps *taking*

How to control your holiday spending

Holiday budgeting — easy ways to save!

Gift of Giving Back

One last tip: read up on the charity you’d like to contribute to by heading over to CharityNavigator.org.

Happy giving!

The Holidays are in full force and of course, no matter how much people claim they won’t get caught up this year…everyone is already! Many peoples budgets have been thrown out the window and people say they will “save after the holidays”…haha, in some ways — I agree because I am certainly caught up in the holiday giving spirit this season. I guess having a little bit more money this year due to having two jobs, I am more able to spend more money. But I really like giving gifts, its so fun and obviously people really appreciate it! But as I looked at my bank account this morning, I realized I should slow down a little bit…so I was looking of ways to control my holiday spending and found a great article on MSNBC!

One of the ideas that they suggest to control holiday spending — is to NOT shop for yourself. This one I need serious help on! You buy a gift for one of your best friends, and all of a sudden you think that you would like the same thing. Remind yourself that you will be receiving gifts too — so just wait it our a few more weeks until you reach the point of gift giving!

Buy gifts that really matter — I know we’re trying to save here, but buying people a lot of little useless gifts that don’t really matter to them isn’t going to make an impact on them, instead they will just end up not using them. Buying one thing for the price of all those smaller ideas you had. At least then you know they will be using it!

Don’t get new decorations! haha, I’m a sucker for this trick too. I go into stores and see all of the pretty decorations, adn somehow I convince myself that I really do need new ones to decorate my apartment. Reality check — I really don’t! Use the old ornaments and decorations you have…I’m sure they are good enough. And if you really feel the NEED — buy yourself one or two new ornaments or decorations…not too many!

Check out the rest of their ideas here….some of them are really great! And extremely useful while trying to save and keep your budget under control!

Today, as I got into my elevator at my apartment there was a piece of paper hanging in there that said “Dexter Holiday Party” (Dexter is the apartment complex I live in)…I also siad that it was a charity event. I know that everyone tries to save as much as possible around the holidays, but giving a little bit back to others I think is also really important. Think about it, while you are trying to save…there are people who may not have enough money to get buy on the holidays.

The charity fundraiser at this party tonight was for a canned food drive and toy drive! And I thought to myself…why not just empty out our shelves of cans, and bring them downstairs to this party! We have plenty of cans on our shelves (most that we can even remember what they are anymore) that we should give them to someone that they would really matter to! Also, if you have the time…I would suggest going out and buying a cheap toy and donating it to a Toys for Tots or something. I know sometimes days get busy and you can’t seem to find the time…but even finding old clothes out of your closet that you aren’t going to wear anymore could really help someone out around the holidays!

A little bit of time and an even smaller amount of money could really improve someone elses holiday! This is how I feel at least…so if we all just gave a little bit more at the holidays, it might make all the difference!

HAPPY HOLIDAYS EVERYONE! :o)