Kayak Moneysaving Tip

I use kayak.com for my flight searches as they truly do aggregate well and have the cheapest options. One tip, if you also use kayak.com, is to clear your browsing history and cookies and to search again. I just saved myself $120 on a ticket! Kayak.com increases the prices of tickets  with repeated searches as the system knows that you need that ticket and your willingness to pay is probably more than someone who is simply browsing for the first time. 

Some sites also charge you more based on your location and hardware. For example, Staples.com charges people whose IP address is in a remote location more (based on a business school case I did) because they know those people cannot quickly run to a nearby store. And, some companies charge you more on an iPad and less on a PC as iPads are usually owned by the richer people in a society. So, clear your history and use a PC if you can. 

Generic vs. Name Brands

If you want to slash your grocery bill dramatically, you cannot be brand loyal. Almost all stores carry a generic brand or a less expensive brand. You should try buying the store brand and test if the taste is the same as the brand you are used to buying. Some things just aren't.

I don't like sodas, but I sometimes as a mixer or on a random craving, it tastes great. However, even though I can't really taste the difference between Pepsi and Coke or Diet Coke and Coke, I can taste the difference between Coke and store brand cola at most places. I've noticed that Publix makes a good soda and don't mind buying their version of Sprite or Coke. However, you must experiment. If you don't try the other brand of hot dogs or cheese, you might not realize that it is the same or even better.

Tax-Free Holiday

Seventeen states currently have a weekend or a week where, before school begins, you can purchase clothing, school supplies, and some times other items tax-free. This is a great time to take advantage of clothing shopping for yourself as well whether you are a student or not.

See if you state offers tax-free shopping dates and figure out where they are:

Wiki - Tax Holiday

Free or Cheap Fitness Options

Here are ten places to find free or cheap fitness classes:

1. Check with the local gym for discounted community classes, rather than a membership
2. Check your local YMCA
3. See if your local or community colleges offer cheap fitness courses or free community courses
4. See if your city's park association has free fitness courses in the parks such as Yoga or Tai Chi
5. Rent a fitness video at the library
6. Hire a personal trainer with a group of friends, the discounted rate is usually a deal - negotiate it further down as prices are flexible
7. Negotiate with your HR for a free gym membership nearby so you can attend at lunch time
8. Sign up for weekly trials of gyms in your area, most gyms will give out free 7-day passes
9. See if you have a friend who lives in a community that has a gym on site that you can visit
10. Run around your neighborhood

Exercise to a healthier, wealthier you!

Local Blogs

A great way to find free events in your area is to find a great local blog in your area. Do you have one that you use? Post the link and the city in the comments.

Miami - Miami FL On The Cheap

New App - Entertainment Book

The Entertainment Book has now come out with an app, the Entertainment Book Companion. The app will tell you what discounts from the book are available near by!

Necessities vs. Luxuries

The only way to manage your expenses is to realize what are necessities and what are luxuries. For necessities, all you need is shelter, food, clothes, and some bathroom products.

Shelter means a roof over your head in a safe neighborhood, not a nice condo in a nice area next to your work. Food can be as minimal as rice, beans, some fruits and veggies, and the occasional meat. Clothes means a couple of outfits for work and something to keep you decent in other times. And, bathroom products are your basic shampoo, soap, toothpaste, etc.

If you are spending money on anything else, you are spending money on a luxury. I'm not saying that you should never buy clothes again or eat rice everyday. What I am saying is that if you are in credit card debt, cannot understand how you could possibly squeeze any money from your budget for retirement, or are living paycheck-to-paycheck and are spending money on luxuries, then you have no excuses as you are able to make a change and be able to save up an emergency fund, funds for retirement, and finally money for something fun.

Everyone gives excuses as to why they are buying 'luxuries' and why they are 'necessities.' I've said that the reason why I pay for a downtown apartment is because having a car would be more expensive. However, I've lived in the suburbs before and have taken a bus. I just don't want to get back on the bus even though I would save hundreds of dollars a months.

I've heard people say that they use coupons and, therefore, the ready made food is cheaper. However, unless you are like the people on Extreme Couponing, you are probably still paying more. The way to know is to see what is the average price per pound for veggies, rice, meat, etc. I've found that using $1/lbs of food is pretty accurate if you stay to the meat on sale, whole chickens, and chicken drumsticks. Therefore, if a 16oz package of a ready made meal costs $2, I know I'm paying double for the convenience.

For clothes, people use the excuse of their work to shop. However, after you have a few work outfits, you really don't need many more. See if you can remember when your coworkers wore the same thing as they are wearing today. Most likely, you will not be able to answer that question or guess if they own 5 shirts or 20. If you can't remember their wardrobe, most likely they can't remember yours either.

Bathroom products can be expensive, however, if they are bought on sale, they can cost next to nothing. The trick is not to be brand specific, which is a downfall of many. Try out the shampoo on sale and you will most likely not notice the difference.

Just remember to ask yourself next time you shop if you are buying a luxury or a necessity.

Don't Skimp on Things that Matter

I'm looking for a new used car and yesterday I needed to run a CarFax report, however, CarFax no longer has an unlimited option. Therefore, I decided it would be best to run another report for $3.75 from CheckThatVin. However, that report only let me know that the title was issued 4 times and the title is clean. CarFax usually gives service information, the amount of owners, accident details, etc.

Therefore, I ran another report for $6.99 because it was supposed to be comparable to CarFax, however, that had similar information. I did find out that the car was never in a collision, but I knew I could get more information.

I wanted to see the service records and ended up going with CarFax nonetheless. Therefore, the first two checks were a waste of time and money since I ended up with the company I knew was good in the first place. I wanted to know as much as I could before I spent a large amount of cash on a used car.

Moral of the story: don't skimp on the things that matter like used cars.

Library Benefits

I recently joined the local library because it's now a 5 minutes walk from my new apartment. The obvious benefits of joining a library and using it is to borrow books for free. However, I did not realize that libraries provide much more for their communities.

I'm guessing every library is different, but mine has started a new program where you can 'check out' a museum pass for ten popular museums in the city. The museum admission fee is waived with this pass.

Also, this week I picked a flyer that advertised free admission to a history museum that is across the street on the opening day of a new exhibit. On that day, if you RSVP, you may also attend a happy hour sponsored by local restaurants. The happy hour is free and will have beer, wine, and appetizers.

Joining the library has been paying off greatly so far.

Netflix

If you find yourself renting movies at the store on pay-per-view, you should consider investing in the cheapest plan of Netflix. Now that you can watch hundreds of movies by streaming online, it seems like the way to go. You can also get the usual current movies from your queue. What's not to love about it?

Comparison Shopping

If you are looking to buy something, even if it's small like light bulbs, you can do a comparison search on Google Shopping. There of course are many other sites like Price Grabber and Nextag, however, I feel that the Google Shopping website is advanced enough now to service basic needs.

For example, I've been looking at mirrors for a long time. I found some for $10 at Ikea. However, after doing a Google Shopping search for wall mirrors, I found a mirror from Linen's and Things for $5, used 20% off coupon and received free shipping. Mirrors by the same company and of the same size went for over $50 on other websites. Not every deal is this good, but if you know what you want, you can walk away with great savings.

Shipping - FedEx

If you are shipping something via FedEx, the cheapest way would be on a business account. You can easily create an account yourself at FedEx Open an Account Website. Not only are you saving money by creating an account, you are also saving your address and credit card information in the system, which allows you to use FedEx easily next time.

Drinks at a Dicount

If you've been out recently to get a drink, you know that drinks and nights out can get expensive. There are several ways to lower that bill.

1. Find happy hours using apps such as 'Happy Hours'
2. Searching for free events in your city. For example, Chicago has a great website and app called Open Bar. However, since they seem to be on a hiatus for the summer, you can Google your city and free open bar and I'm sure you will get several results.
3. Sign up for emails with downtown associations. Usually when new places open, they serve free or inexpensive food and beverages.
4. Get daily deal website coupons
5. If you have a large crowd, bottle service might be the way to go in a club. Check the prices first since they can start at $100 and go up to thousands. However, if you have 10 people, it's cheaper to split a bottle then getting individual drinks. It will also usually earn you free cover saving $10-$20 at the door per person.

Buying Groceries

One way to save money on your grocery bill is to buy everything fresh and cook from scratch. Packaged food is usually a lot more expensive even with deals and coupons. However, packaged food is often easier and are a great way to go for a busy night.

There is an easy way to tell if you are getting a good deal or not. See what you usually pay for fresh food per pound and apply that pricing to packaged food. For example, most of the fruits, vegetables, and meat that I buy are around $.99/lbs, maybe $1.19/lbs. Therefore, I look at the packaging I buy and if 16 oz of something is about a dollar, then the package is a good deal.

You might spend $1.99/lbs on fruits, veggies, and meat on average, so, for you a 16 oz package of something should cost around $2, an 8 oz package should be a round a dollar and so on.

10 Ways to Cheaper Movie Tickets

Here are some ways to get cheaper movie tickets:

1. Buy them on daily deals sites such as Living Social or Groupon
2. Buy them through your AAA office
3. Use the coupons in the Entertainment Book
4. Join the rewards programs for the movie theaters such as the AMC MovieWatcher Rewards
5. Buy tickets through Fandango using coupon codes, search "Fandango coupon codes" in Google to find
6. Buy tickets on eBay
7. Buy Fandango gift cards on eBay
8. Buy them in bulk and at a discount at Costco
9. Buy them through a discounted site such as BulkTix.com
10. See your HR office, as sometimes, you can purchase discounted tickets at a corporate rate through them

Discounts off the Listing Price

If you are looking for a place to rent, remember that the asking price is almost never the lowest price the realtor or the landlord is willing to accept.

With a landlord, you should negotiate like you would at a bazaar. Let's say a place is listed for $1,300/month. However you want to pay $1,150? Say that you would like to pay $1,050 and move up from there.

However, when a realtor is involved, you typically can ask what is the lowest price that the landlord will take. If the price is too high, ask if the realtor thinks that the landlord will accept your desired amount. Since you have no access to the landlord, it becomes more difficult to negotiate lower than what the landlord specified to the realtor.

The usual discount to aim for is 10%, however, if the apartment is listed for $1,275, for example, you should be able to take 10% off and round that down to $1,000.

Medical Tourism

Hopefully, no one will ever have to think about medical tourism, however, it's important to know that it exists if you are uninsured, or are under-insured. Medicine, surgeries, etc. has become so expensive in USA and Europe that the only choice left might be to travel abroad and have that same surgery for a fraction of the cost.

To find the best place for your needs, type in the condition, and the words cost and medical tourism into Google.

e.g. - "heart valve replacement medical tourism cost" - With this search, I find out that in the US this surgery could cost up to $200,000, while in India it seems to cost around $10,000.

I can't suggest which company you should use, as medicine is so personal. However, if you read the articles online, you can find out that the medicine and results in many of the cheaper places compare to that of the western world. Therefore, it's something that's good to know about even if you do not need the services right away.

Internet Rates

People pay an outrageous amount to have access to the internet. However, high speed internet should cost no more than $20/month. The trick is the willingness to switch once a year or so. If you are currently paying about $40/month for internet (average price), you can save $240/year by cutting that bill in half. Therefore, to switch internet providers once a year, you will be saving $240.

All you have to do is find a cheap internet by typing in "high speed internet" into a Google search. The top three results that popped up for me today are Verizon for $14.95, ATT for $19.95, and Comcast for $19.99. Then, call the current internet company and ask to cancel your service. When they ask why you are cancelling, say you are going with company X because they have a promotion for the next 12 months for high speed internet that costs $19.99 or X/month. The company will most likely offer you the same deal for the first 12 months because they don't want to loose you as a customer. After the 12 months, call again and quote your researched prices and if one day they say that there is nothing they can do, switch to that lower priced internet and start calling them once a year until they no longer want to lower your rate. If you make this call once a year, you can routinely save $240/year.

If you have a bundle, think if you really need that home phone. If not, then you could probably find basic cable for around $40-$60/month. You will have to call your cable company once a year too. If you still need a home phone, see if Vonage or a company like it, is cheaper. You might end up with 3 separate bills, but spending 30 minutes once a year to set up automatic billing is worth saving hundreds of dollars.

Personal Finance iPhone Apps

After reviewing the apps for a months or so, here is my list of the useful personal finance iPhone apps:

1. Mint.com - see what happens to all of your money
2. All your banks such as Chase, which even allows you to take a picture of your check to deposit instead of visiting an actual branch or an atm
3. PayPal - Monitor your account and send money to friends easily
4. Investment accounts such as ShareBuilder to monitor your holdings
5. Zillow.com - useful if you are looking to rent or buy or are just interested in the prices of the houses around your location
6. LoanCalc - See how much sooner you will payoff any loan if you increase your minimum payment
7. Pay Off Debt Lite - See what percentage of your debt you have paid so far since the beginning to motivate you to pay more
8. Credit Card accounts such as Amex to allow yourself to pay your bills from your phone
9. ScoreAdvice - See what you can do with your credit score to improve it
10. Ask Dave - Although I don't always agree with what he says, he does have some good advice, this is an app with clips of his radio show
11. NPR News - the Money Matters radio program releases some great shows on personal finances
12. Local stores such as Walgreen's app to see what's on sale this week
13. Daily deal apps such as Groupon to see the deals of the day
14. News websites such as CNN money to keep up with the current personal finance news
15. Coupon Sherpa - coupons for retail stores near you, although coupons seem to be available for only a few stores
16. GasBuddy - will help you find the cheapest gas near you
17. Kayak - to find the best travel deals
18. Around me deal apps such as AAA Discounts (must have AAA membership) state discounts available using your current location
19. Bar code scanners such as ShopSavvy will help you find the best deal online or in stores
20. Key Ring - if you forget your loyalty card, you can scan the card on your Key Ring app instead
21. Check-in apps like Yelp that allow you to check in to a restaurant or a shop and  receive a discount or a freebie

If you have other personal favorites, let us know in the comments.

Bookfinder

Do you read a lot of books? You should be renting these from the local library as they are free. However, often times I find it easier to buy a book and keep it for however long I want and then when I no longer want it, resell it. If you like to buy books, you should try to find the cheapest that you can find, it's not always Amazon. One website that compares books and always gives me the cheapest choice is Bookfinder. Try it out for your next book purchase.