Saturday's Sojourn...

It has been a while since I have done a Sojourn post, but since I am actually in Chicago I thought I would share a bit of where we have been, I think I will save the rest of the vacation for next Saturday.  It will also give me an opportunity to share some of the ways to get great deals on travel.

I guess its easiest to go in order, I received an email from my local airport (we are on a smaller terminal) saying they were offering deals out of here direct to Chicago for $99.00 each way, usually they are $130 or more so that cinched that we were flying.  If you like to travel its worth while to be friends with your airport on Facebook or subscribe to their emails, you can get advance notice on air fare deals that way.  I paid for the tickets using a card that earns mile on that air line as well, and booking it right through them got me double miles towards my next flight somewhere.

Next up was trying to figure out where to stay in the city for under the usual $300 a night.  Being out at the airport may save up front, but it costs a fortune in cab rides, and actually
can wind up costing more than spending the extra to stay in the
heart of the city where you can walk to everything.  I am a member of Snique Away, a great site that offers hotel deals, kind of like Groupon but for lodging.  They have great offers each week, so its always something new.  The deal that came up was for the Hotel Burnham, just a few blocks away from Millennium Park, and we got to save a third of the hotel price. Like all the Kimpton Hotels, it is a smaller boutique property that offers outstanding service, they allow pets but if you can't travel with your family friend they have a program called Guppy Love, you get a gold fish in your room that the staff takes care of for you, no need to do a thing, other than name him/her and enjoy the company.

We arrived early so we had plenty of time to unpack, meet up with another friend of ours who flew in separately and unwind before our night of wining and dining on board the Odyssey dinner cruise.  I purchased a $50 certificate from Restaurant.com during their sale for only $10, so we saved $40 and got to enjoy a great 3 course dinner while listening to live music and watching the Chicago night skyline go by.

Thursday we went on a Chicago Film bus tour, we purchased the tickets on Groupon so we paid 1/2 price for the two hour tour.  These are fun ways to see the city in a new way, and Groupon often has different types of tours and activities on sale if you watch for them.  It was fun to see the spot where they filmed one of my all time favorite movies,  Ferris Bueller's Day Off, of course I had to hum a little Twist and Shout for the rest of the day! As an added bonus we got to see the police cars and they are using for the new Superman move being filmed here, they all said Metropolis and were parked in front of Union Station, how cool is that?!?!  That left the rest of the day for shopping.  Ahhhh shopping, I do a lot of reward sites that pay you to read mail, click links and/or shop through them so I had and still have a lot of gift cards for Macy's, Bloomingdale's, Old Navy, Sephora, Williams Senoma, etc. so it was a fun day!

Friday was our princess pamper day, we all had a lemon cream Mani/pedi at Eshe Spa, a wonderful oasis in the city and a place I would put at the very top of my to do list again, what a wonderful group of gals we had help us!  They are a Spa Finder Spa and I was able to cash out from reward sites and my Discover cards points for Spa Finder gift certificates, the visit was totally paid for using hobby money or Discover rebates.  You can also get good deals on Spa Finder certificates at eBay. After that we went to have High Tea at the Peninsula Hotel, I was able to get a $50.00 Peninsula Dining certificate by cashing some of my points out of my American Express rewards account, so that was a great treat on a budget.  Ahhh what a day!

Today is double discount day at the Art Institute of Chicago, so today will be a day of culture and beauty.  If you have a museum near you that you enjoy check into becoming a member, many museums are reciprocal so you get discounts in many places.  I am a member of the Art Institute as well as the Field Museum and have used those memberships to get into and get discounts in Duluth, Minneapolis and St. Paul so far, I will have to see where I can visit when we go to Virgina for Christmas.  If you don't want to join check the museum's web site, they often have free days; usually once a month, and they will have it posted on their events calender.

It seems there is never a shortage of things to do in Chicago, this morning they were filming another scene from the new Superman move in Daley Plaza, right next to the hotel so I was able to get some fun pictures of that before we even left for the museum.  Next week the dining, the ball game, the chauffeured ride to the airport and so much more.

Have a wonderful weekend!

C.Q.

Saturday's Sojourn...

Saving along the way



Today I decided to look at vacations a little differently at let you in on some money saving ideas that will make it easier to go on a vacation with your family.

The first thing to tackle is the getting there. If you are driving make sure your car is tuned up and your tires are inflated properly, this is a huge gas saver. Also, you can check eBay auctions and gift cards sites like ABC Gift Cards for gas gift cards, there is usually a very small savings on these but any savings is good. If you are flying then make sure you check all the sites for the lowest fares, including the airline directly. Kayak, Cheap flights and Booking Buddy are great places to get deals. Most importantly, remember to include all your expenses in your calculations, here's what I mean; I am going to Chicago with some friends in a couple months and we thought about driving, the cost of gas from here to there is about $215.00 according to the AAA fuel cost calculator, plus the additional expense of parking at over $40 per day for 6 nights ($240) made the driving cost about $465.00. Our local airport ran a special offering one way tickets, non stop to Chicago for $99.00, so flying cost us a little less than driving and we don't have to worry about a car. Almost everything is with in walking distance to where we are staying so our transportation in the city is almost nil.  Also, be sure to check eBay for drink vouchers and airline gift cards, these can increase your savings even further.

The next huge expense is the hotel.  For our vacation I found a great deal right in the city using SniqueAway.  They offer 4 and 5 star hotels at very discounted rates.  This vacation will be my first time using them but the reviews on TripAdvisor are all favorable.  Another great option is Hotels.com, sometimes you can find rooms they want to book closer to your arrival date.  Remember to join the hotels guest rewards program if they have one as well, this may not earn you a free nights stay unless you visit a lot, but it will almost always get you free internet service in your room.  If you are a member of AAA be sure to ask when checking in or making your reservation is you get a discount with your card.

Once you have arrived its time to have some fun, one of the best things I have found to do is see if there is an Entertainment book for the area you will be visiting, these are filled with discounts and can save you hundreds.  Also be sure to check in with at the Tourist Information area, most every place has them, from big cities to little towns and they can be a source for some great coupons and information on specials in the area.  If you have a general working idea of the area you are going to visit then you can shop ahead at Restraunt.com for some great discounted meals, just be sure to read the small print, some require a purchase of a certain amount and others may expire.  You can also check on eBay and places like Gift Card Rescue for discounted gift cards, just make sure you don't get a card larger than you can use or it will go to waste.  If you are headed to a larger city be sure to check out CityPass, they offer a discounted price for all the largest attractions in the area.  I have also found that doing a simple Google search on Tourist Discounts for ______ will net you some pretty amazing results.

Do you have a money saving tip? I would love to hear about it.

Have a great weekend! 

C.Q.

Avoiding the pitfalls...

There are times in every one's life when we look back and say something like "oh I wish I hadn't done that!"  Here are some thing that may help you avoid that headache of regret in the future.

This is one every student knows, never pay full price for text books, you can buy a little older version that is still new or a good used copy and save a ton of cash, check out Alibris to buy at a lower cost.  But here is something many students don't know, you can actually rent text book!  Check out eCampus for all the details on their rental program.

Planning a vacation soon? If you are going to be renting a car be sure to check the rates between companies as well as the difference in cost between renting at the airport vs the city vs a suburb. Almost every airport has a separate tax that you will be charged in addition to the rental fees, likewise many cities also have individual tariffs, such as Bloomington's Mall of America tax as well as the new tax to build the baseball park. If you check in an outlying suburb you can often save over $100 a week, even with the bus or cab fare that's money in your pocket for something much more fun.  If you are looking at flying some of the airlines charge a fee to be one of their premier members and then you get to use the lounge and you get miles built up as you fly with them, instead of paying the fee for becoming a premier member consider a Visa or MasterCard that ties to the airline, usually the annual fee is less and many of them will allow you use of the sky lounge as well as being able to earn miles for everything you purchase, not just when you fly.

Planning on giving a gift card this holiday season?  Many time people think its best to give a credit card's gift card, like American Express or Visa, however most of the major credit card companies charge a fee just to purchase the gift cards.  Instead consider giving a gift card to a specific retailer that won't charge an upfront fee or give cash. Also be sure to be on the lookout for discounted cards as well, Costco sells them to members at a slightly discounted rate and you can also purchase some good deals on eBay and Gift Card Rescue.  If you're a member of someplace like Market America you can earn cash back for your gift card purchases.

Small convinces can cost a LOT of hard earned cash, everything from baby formula that comes premixed for three times the price to pre-sliced deli meat, it all adds up.  If you are willing to do a little work you can save a ton of cash over the course of a year.  Doing things like making your cookie dough from scratch, making extra food for dinner and freezing some for meals at work and slicing your own bread and meat will far out weigh in cash what you spend in time.

Along the same lines is to avoid the wacky ideas, things like the hands-free soap dispenser so you don't have to touch the germ ridden soap pump, thinking this threw you can see why this is just a crazy marketing ploy, if you washing your hands, then whats the problem?  If you work in a Hospital or take public transportation frequently you may want to use the hand sanitizers out there, but as a general rule they are over kill, just remember to keep your hands washed throughout the day, if you do need to have something to kill germs you can always find inexpensive pocket sizes at Target and Walmart, you don't need to spend big bucks for a name brand, they all have the same germ killing ingredient.


Hope you all have had a great week and are enjoying the weekend.

C.Q.

Its in the cards....Part two

As I promised yesterday, today is the continuation of reward cards because the list was rather long.

There are some considerations with all reward cards:

* Is it free? Although most are free, some rewards programs charge membership fees to enter. If you're considering one with a fee, make sure you've weighed its benefits carefully and will be able to get out of it what you paid to be a member.

* How easy is it to earn points? Earning points shouldn’t be complicated. Find out how much you need to spend in order to earn a point. The easier it is to earn, the faster you get your reward.

* Do the points take to expire? In some programs, the points you earn will expire after a certain date. Before you sign up, find out how long points take to expire. If you have a few sites that have expiration dates it’s a good idea to put a reminder in a calendar so you won’t forfeit them.

* What can I earn with my points? It’s important that the type of rewards you can redeem with your points are of value to you, if you get a free steak but are a vegetarian then that’s not going to be of value to you. Personally I don’t fly so the rewards for miles don’t interest me, however a lot of the miles can be converted to other items, be sure to check if you can interchange things you don’t want for things you do want.

* How do I track my points? Your points should be easy to track either online or by phone.

I hope that these will help you on your quest for the perfect holiday gift this season!

AMC Movies

Regal Cinemas

CVS

ACE Hardware

True Value Hardware

Auto Zone

Tops Grocery store

Staples, Inc

Office Depot

Block Buster movie rental

Max and Erma's Restaurants

Blackwoods Restaurants are local to Northern Minnesota and there is a one time $10 fee which you get back at the time of purchase as a gift certificate.

TGI Friday's Restaurants

Lawry's Restaurants, there is a $25 enrollment fee but you get a $25 gift certificate back right away.

Lettuce Entertain You has a wide option of places to dine, here is the full listing of their restaurants.

iDine

Kimpton Hotels

Marriott Hotels

Wachovia

I am having some problems with the Blogger program so tomorrow I will post some additional reward sites as well as discount cards, which are different because you get the savings up front instead of having to wait for a reward.

C.Q.