Personal Finance Advice

A woman that I know casually from church recently lost her husband. He died after a long illness at the young age of forty-two. Any way you look at it, it’s a tragedy. However, there is one bright spot. The husband had a large life insurance policy in place and, since the couple was frugal [...]

My friends often comment on how lucky I am to be able to travel as much as I do. While I’m certainly lucky in many respects, the truth is that I have created the “luck” that allows me to travel as much as I do. Most of my friends believe that I spend a great [...]

I came across the results of an interesting survey on vacations. The survey asked respondents in the U.S. and Eu ropean countries how much they wouldspend per person on vacation in 2010. The categories ranged from “Nothing and staying at home” all the way up to “More than $2,472″ per person. In the lowest spending [...]

If you’ve ever wanted to travel extensively but aren’t sure how you could afford to be on the road for months at a time, work share arrangements might be the answer you’re looking for. When you work share, you receive either free or discounted lodgings or meals in exchange for your labor. The work you [...]

I was recently helping a friend with her family’s vacation planning. They desperately wanted to go to Disney World, but felt like they couldn’t afford it. “It’s just so much more expensive than other places,” she said. I asked her what they were going to do instead. “Well, we’ll probably go to Cedar Point, instead. [...]

Just about every time we go on vacation, someone gets sick. I think it’s because we’re all off our normal routines and we’re exposed to a lot more people. We eat food that we don’t normally eat, we stay out later and get less sleep, we’re around large crowds of germy people, and we are [...]

A lot of times when you go shopping on vacation, it isn’t only those on the trip with you that you’re shopping for. You’ll probably want to get something for your friends, classmates, and family members who are back home. But how do you shop for other people plus yourself without breaking the bank? There [...]

I recently described my frustration in dealing with a reservationist at a higher-end hotel chain. The reservationist was seemingly incapable of determining the best rate for which I was eligible. Unfortunately, my problems with the reservationist were only the tip of the iceberg of difficulty with the hotel. Our problems started with inconveniences that we [...]

One of our favorite things to do is travel. There are so many places we want to see, I doubt we’ll ever make it to all of them. However, despite the fact that we want to see so much, we are not willing to incur debt to do it. People ask me how we afford [...]

When traveling outside the United States, there’s a good chance you’ll need certain vaccinations in order to fully protect yourself from illnesses that are more common in other countries than they are here. These vaccinations may be ones that you would probably never need if you didn’t leave the United States (like typhoid and yellow [...]

There was a time when I thought a weeklong vacation to Hilton Head would be outrageously expensive — either that or I’d have to stay at a less-than-desirable hotel 15 miles from the beach to make it affordable. In my seemingly never-ending quest to find the best deal on everything, I serendipitously stumbled upon something [...]

When you take a vacation away from home, you spend enough to get there (especially with the higher gas prices this year) and to stay there (even if you camp) that you might not want to spend a whole lot on attractions. Thankfully, most areas have at least a few fun and interesting things to [...]

We are friends with a couple I’ll call the Joneses. The Joneses are exactly what they sound like. They are the ones on the block with the latest cars, toys, and gizmos. Despite that, they are nice people and we’ve been friends for years. Each year we go on vacation together to a small resort [...]

I have always enjoyed camping, first in a tent and then in a mini-motorhome. We’ve always found it to be an economical way to travel. It’s always been cheaper than flying or driving, staying in a hotel room, and eating out three meals a day. Campsites have historically been inexpensive and food is a non-issue [...]

I’ve been researching prices for a cruise later this year and I am astounded to see how much prices have risen since we cruised last year. After speaking with some travel agents, I’ve learned that this is largely due to increases in the prices of fuel and food. The cruise lines have to pass on [...]

Somewhere along my most recent three-week vacation, I started to compare it to last year’s three-week road trip. I began to make a list of the little things that make a big difference when it comes to the price, cost, or value on vacation. Here are 20 lessons that I have learned. 1. If you [...]