Useful Travel Planning Resources

Planning a trip? Here's my roundup of useful travel planning resources:

(1) Making Reservations:

• Voyij.com (aggregates deals from other sites, e.g., Kayak, Priceline, Hotwire, etc.)
• 10 Ways to Cut Your Travel Costs This Year (NYTimes)

(2) Travel Planning:

• GetSetApp: Comparing the cost of travel by air, bus or car
  
• Frugal Traveler's Review of Travel Websites
  
• Frugal Traveling Strategies
• Buy Now or Later? Planning for Summer Travel

(3) Exchange Rates & ATM Fees

• Exchange Rate Surcharges and ATM Fees for the International Traveler

(4) Trains

• Germany's DB Bahn English Book Site

(5) Taxis & Cabs

• World Taximeter: International Taxi Fare Calculator
  
• Resources for Calculating Cab Fares & Booking Cabs

(6) Hotels:

• Hotel Rewards Cheat Sheet (NerdWallet.com)
  
• 7 Strategies for Hotel Upgrades (CNN.com)
• HotelChatter's Annual WiFi Report (find out which hotels offer the best/free wifi, which hotels offer the worst wifi before you book your hotel stay)
  
• Hostelling International New York (cheap lodging in New York City)
  

(7) Air Travel

• Resources for Planning Your Air Travel
• Tips On Finding A Comfortable Coach Seat Without Upgrading
• Saving Money On Your Summer Air Travel
• How to Get The Best Seat on the Plane

(8) Packing

• Fly Safe, Fly Smart: Pack Like the Pros
  
• One-Page Checklist: Packing Everything into One Bag

(9) Useful Information:

• Live Train Map for the London Underground
• Traveling? Find the Best Spots in New Cities with these Tools (Lifehacker)

Resources for Planning Your Air Travel

My round up of useful air travel planning resources:

(1) Airfares:

• Whatever You Do, Don't Buy an Airline Ticket On... (Wall Street Journal)
  
• What is the best day to buy cheap airfare? (ABCNews) FareCompare's Rick Seaney shares his 10 things you should know to get the best flight deals -- Highly Recommended
  
• Airline Ticket Surcharges for Peak Domestic Travel – Avoid the Most Expensive Days(FareCompare) -- Highly Recommended
  
• The Frequent Flier's Guide to Finding Cheap Airfare (Lifehacker) -- Highly Recommended
  
• Booking a Flight the Frugal Way (NYTimes.com) -- Highly Recommended
  

• Hipmunk.com - a new flight search engine that provides search results in easy-to-read charts -- Highly Recommended
  
• ITA Matrix Lets You Find Cheap Airfare, Plus Advanced Routing Codes, Minus Ad Clatter(Consumerist.com)
  

• Cheap Airfare Links & Bookmarks (MyMoneyBlog.com) - useful list of links
  
• Fly for Less (Kiplinger.com) -- good advice on how to land a cheap air fare
  
• Voyij.com (aggregates deals from other sites, e.g., Kayak, Priceline, Hotwire, etc.)
• Frugal Traveling Strategies
• Delta Airlines Fare Chart
• United Airlines Fare Chart

(2) Airline Fees:

• A Staggering Look at Baggage Fees (Hipmunk Blog)
  
• Your Complete Big-Ass Guide To Annoying Airline Fees (Consumerist)
  
• Airline Baggage Fees (DansDeals.com)
  
• Useful Table of Airline Fees (Kayak.com)

(3) Searching for Best Seats:

• How to Get Exit Row Seats (includes chart of airline policies)
  
• How to Get The Best Seat on the Plane
• Tips On Finding A Comfortable Coach Seat Without Upgrading

(4) Packing

• Fly Safe, Fly Smart: Pack Like the Pros
  
• One-Page Checklist: Packing Everything into One Bag

(5) Tracking Your Flights

• Live Flight Tracker: Flightlite

(6) At the Airport:

• Security Checkpoint Secrets: How to Dodge the Lines at Top US Airports(Frommers.com) -- Highly recommended!

(7) Flight Cancellations:

• 3 Reasons You're Doing It Wrong When Your Flight Is Cancelled (Hipmunk.com)
  
• Airlines Play The No-Fault Card (New York Times Practical Traveler) - excellent article on your options in the event your flight is cancelled.
• 10 tips for avoiding delayed/cancelled flights and what to do if all else fails(airfarewatchdog)
  

(8) Getting Bumped:

• Fly Safe, Fly Smart: An Expert's Guide to Getting Bumped (Frommers.com)
• How I scored 4 free flights last year - all without using frequent flyer miles(MoneyCrashers.com)
  

(9) Airline Customer Service, Lost Luggage & Filing Complaints:

• Fly Safe, Fly Smart: What To Do About Lost Luggage (Frommers.com)
  
• If an airline loses your luggage, get compensation (Consumerist)
  
• How to Deal With Lost Luggage (FoxNews)

(10) Airline Customer Service & Filing Complaints:

• Fly Safe, Fly Smart: How to Complain to the Airlines (Frommers.com)
  
• On Your Side: Phone Numbers & Emails of Executives
• When all else fails: Filing a complaint wih the DOT's Aviation Consumer Protection and Enforcement Office
  

(11) Miscellaneous

• Fly Safe, Fly Smart: How to Beat Jet Lag (Frommers.com)
  

See also my previous blog postings:

• Saving Money On Your Summer Air Travel
  
• Frugal Traveler's Review of Travel Websites
  
• Buy Now or Later? Planning for Summer Travel

.

Live Flight Tracker: Flightlite

Flightlite is a live flight tracker that allows you to track in the air flights around the world. This is a very useful website to find out whether a flight you are waiting for, has taken off and en route as scheduled. All you need to do is enter the flight number or airline name into the search box and flightlite will either track the specific flight you entered or show you a list of the flights you can track if you enter the name of the airline.

Link: Flightlite

Selling Your Used Electronics For Cash

Do you have old electronic gadgets that are gathering dust in your closet?

Don't want the hassle of selling these old gadgets on eBay or Craigslist?

Several websites have sprung up, offering the convenience of buying your old electronics for cash:

• Gazelle.com
  
  
• Nextworth.com
  
  
• Buymytronics.com
  

Check with all three sites for quotes before deciding as pricing do vary between sites.

In addition, do visit WorthMonkey.com to find out the street value of your old electronics, so that you have an idea whether you are getting a good price for your old electronics.

If your electronics are too old, consider recycling or freecycling it instead of dumping it.

My Frugal Living Tip #14: Make Your Own Seasonings & Spice Mixes

One way I save money is to make my own prepared seasonings and spice mixes. Rather than buying branded seasoning and spice mixes such as McCormick, I spend anywhere from a quarter to a third of the price of prepared mixes by buying the ingredients and mixing my own. There is also the added advantage of fresher mixes.

The internet is filled with many recipes for do-it-yourself mixes. If you don't have the patience to hunt down individual recipes, Cheap Healthy Good Blog has compiled an extensive collection of recipes: Save Money On Seasoning: MYOM (Make Your Own Mix).

Link: Save Money On Seasoning: MYOM (Make Your Own Mix).

Like this article? Read the other entries in my Frugal Living Tips Series.

Shelf Life & Expiry Dates

How long can you keep milk in the refrigerator? Is it still drinkable or do you have to throw out that milk carton? Can you save money by using products that are past their expiry dates? What do terms such as "sell by," "use by," "best by," really mean? What does a frugal person do with products that happen to be past the "used by," "best by," etc. dates?

Here is a roundup of useful resources to explain the confusing jargon that manufacturers use and the expiry dates of most products:

• Shelf Life Advice
  A very useful site to find out the shelf life of a particular product. Enter product in search box to find out its shelf life and storage information.
  
  
• Food Expiration Dates: What Do They Really Mean? (Yahoo Green)
  
  
• Expiration Dates (OrganizeYourLife.org).
  A near-exhaustive and very useful list of how long you can keep food, household, beauty and cosmetic products.
  


• Do Food Expiry Dates Really Matter? (WebMD.com)
  An informative discussion about the confusing mix of terms used by manufacturers on their products.
  


• The Secret Code of Beer Expiration Dates (Consumerist.com).
  How to decode the mysterious codes that breweries use on to indicate how old your beer is.

Outsourcing on the Cheap: Fiverr.com

One of the more intriguing things that I came across in my websurfing is Fiverr.com, where freelancers offer all kinds of services for $5.00. You got it, just $5.00. Anything from technology gigs, writing and translating to business and social marketing, and even crazy and bizarre stuff to goofy stuff.

Many of the services are clearly worth more than $5.00. As I see it, it's a win-win situation: I get something done on a shoe string budget and the service provider gets publicity and experience, as well as cash to tide things over.

Link: Fiverr.com

Exchange Rate Surcharges and ATM Fees for the International Traveler

The summer travel season is coming and for folks who are traveling abroad and planning to use their credit cards or ATM cards, Lowcards.com has an excellent article, Credit Card Tips for the International Traveler, which explains how the credit exchange rate surcharges work, and the rates currently charged by the various financial institutions, as well as ATM-fees for cash withdrawal from foreign ATMs.

Link to article: Credit Card Tips for the International Traveler

See also my other postings on credit cards:

• More on Credit Cards
  
• Dealing with Credit Cards
• Careful Use of Credit Cards
• Credit Cards and Frugal Living
  

Preparing and Filing Your Taxes

It's tax filing season. Here is a roundup of useful resouces for preparing and filing your taxes:

• How to File Taxes For Free: Free File and Free Tax Software (GenXFinance.com)
  Excellent advice on finding ways to avoid paying a preparation and filing charges when you e-file your taxes. In my case, I have used TaxAct.com, which gives you free federal e-filing regarding of income level (I don't qualify for income-limited tax filing products). TaxAct.com does nag you to upgrade, but you can always click "later." As someone who is leery of putting tax data online, I am glad that TaxAct.com offers free download of their tax software that you can install on your computer. No, I don't get a cent from endorsing TaxAct.com, I'm just a long-time satisfied customer. As for my state taxes, I use my state's free e-filing. It's barebones but it works.


• Open Tax Solver
  Open Tax Solver (OTS) is a free program for calculating Tax Form entries and tax-owed or refund-due, such as Federal or State personal income taxes. The complete version of OTS for the 2009 tax year has been released. It contains the updated US 1040 with Schedules A, B, C, and D. It also contains the State Tax form updates for California, New York, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, North Carolina, Massachusetts, Ohio, and Virgina.


• 10 Most Overlooked Tax Deductions (WalletPop.com)
  


• The Audit (Examination) Process - The IRS explains what triggers an audit.


• Paper Records: What to Keep, What to Toss (Kiplinger.com) -- good advice on what paperwork you need to keep, especially for the IRS


• Saving Grace Period for Flex Accounts (Kiplinger.com) -- How to make the most of money left in your flex account.

My Frugal Living Tip #9: Make Your Stuff Last Longer

When people ask me what is my one overriding tip for saving money, I tell them that I try to make my things last as long as possible. When I don't have to spend money replacing broken or worn out stuff, that's money that can be saved or invested.

The challenge that many of us face is how to make stuff last as long as possible. Lifehacker's Top 10 Trips and Tricks For Making Your Stuff Last Longer is a good place to start.

Read the other entries in my Frugal Living Tips Series.

Car Buying Resources

Looking to buy a car? Here's a list of resources for you to consult before stepping foot at a car showroom:

• 10 Ways to Buy A Car Without Getting Ripped Off (OutOfYourRut.com)
  
  
• Car Dealer Scams to Avoid (Forbes). What to watch out for the next time you're in a car dealer's showroom. See also In Pictures: Car Dealer Scams to Avoid and Tech Options To Forgo.
  


• Beat the "Four Square" Dealer Rip Off (Consumerist). A very detailed breakdown of how a car dealership manipulates buyers with the four-square worksheet.


• Showroom Turncoat Comes Clean (Car & Driver Magazine). Learn the tricks that car salesmen use on unsuspecting customers.
  


• Car Dealers' Tricks to Watch Out For (Car & Driver Magazine). More car salesmen's tricks of the trade.
  


• Car Shopping on the Offensive: 8 Aggressive Buying Tactics (Car & Driver Magazine). How to outsmart the car salesman.
  


• Deceptive Car Salesman Tactics For Popular Cars (My Money Blog)


• Fueleconomy.gov - useful site to check out how thirsty your new car is going to be.


• More than you ever wanted to know about buying a car (Broward College) - a Car Buying 101 site. Great for the newbie.


• Car Shopping Generates Many Questions (Washington Post)


• Smart Car Shoppers Ask to See Invoice (Washington Post)
  


• Dealing and Wheeling (Washington Post)


• CarBuyingTips.com


• TrueCar.com


• US News & World Reports' Rankings of Cars & Trucks
  


• 2010 Cars: Where the Deals Are (Kiplinger.com). Kiplinger Magazine's advice for finding deals for cars in 2010.


• Guide to Getting the Best Value (Kiplinger.com). Kiplinger Magazine's rankings of the best values in cars.

Resources for Doing A Background Check on Yourself or Others

Ever wanted to do a background check on others? Or doing one on yourself?

LifeHacker has an excellent post, Doing A Total Background Check On Yourself, with links to all the reporting bureaus that track every aspect of a person's life.

It can be scary, yet enlightening experience to find out what others are tracking about you.

Link: Doing A Total Background Check On Yourself

Resources For Calculating Cab Fares & Booking Cabs

Afraid of being cheated by cab drivers when you're traveling?

Here are useful resources for calculating cab fares and booking cabs in major US cities:

• Taxifarefinder.com
• TaxiWiz.com
• TaxiMagic.com

My Frugal Living Tip #8: Useful Resources for the Frugal Consumer

Roundup of useful resources for the frugal consumer:

• Amazon.com's Textbooks Trade-In
  No-hassle way of unloading unwanted textbooks and getting some money for it.


• Freecycle.org
  The granddaddy of recycling stuff you no longer need by giving them away to others within your community. Read my earlier blog post about Freecycling.
  


• Kashless.org
  Takes the Freecycle idea one step further to provide a one-stop site for getting free stuff. Besides member submitted offerings, it also aggregates postings from the "free stuff" section of Craigslist and also partners with Recycle Bank to offer a rewards program.
  


• Measy.com
  Excellent one-stop online search tool for researching products before you buy. Allows you to limit by price, brands, needs, etc.
  


• Toolzdo.com
  Allows you to swap, exchange or give away stuff with other folks in your community.
  


• Groupon.com
  Social networking meets bargain hunting. Lets you hunt for deals with a twist: you must find enough friends/strangers to join you in order to meet the deal's minimum number of folks who sign up for it. Great way to make friends, renew friendship and save money in the process.
  

Read the other entries in my Frugal Living Tips Series.

Comparing Cell Phone Plans

Are you confused when you try to compare cell phone companies' plans and offerings? Then you would want to consult BillShrink's Ultimate Cell Phone Plans Comparison.

It's not perfect but it's a good start.

Link: Ultimate Cell Phone Plans Comparison

How to Search For Bargain Deals on Amazon

Amazon lists lots of deals every day. How do you find out what they are? Boston Gal has posted a helpful guide on searching for bargain deals on Amazon.

Happy bargain hunting!

Tips On Finding A Comfortable Coach Seat Without Upgrading

It's high season for summer travel and airlines are enticing would be travelers with all sorts of fare sales to fill empty seats. I have previously blogged about "saving money on your summer air travel."

It is one thing to save money by finding the cheapest air tickets, it is quite another thing to find a comfortable coach seat without paying extra or upgrading, in view of the fact that airlines are shrinking legroom to squeeze more seats into planes.

I swear by www.seatguru.com to help me figure out which seats are the most comfortable (e.g., lots of legroom). After finding the seats I want, it's time to figure out how to book those seats. In order to do just that, I have learned a great deal from the following resources:

• Window or Aisle? How to Increase Your Odds (New York Times Practical Traveler)


• The Shrinking Airline Seat (Independent Traveler)
  


• How to Get The Best Seat on the Plane (Frommer's)


• Getting Comfy in Coach (Condé Nast Traveler)

See also my previous blog postings:

• Saving Money On Your Summer Air Travel
  
• Frugal Traveler's Review of Travel Websites
  
• How to Get The Best Seat on the Plane
• Frugal Traveling Strategies
• Buy Now or Later? Planning for Summer Travel

Tips on Buying Organic Food

Many people want to buy organic food for its health and environmental benefits but balk at the higher prices. On the one hand, going 100% organic in one's grocery shopping would strain the grocery budgets of many households in today's depressed economy. On the other hand, it is possible to buy organic food without busting one's finances.

If your finances are tight and you have to be highly selective in your grocery shopping, the trick is to buy organic for those produce that are at highest risk of exposure to pesticides or chemical residues, while buying conventional produce for those at lowest risk of chemical contamination. The Consumerist has a helpful article, "When Is It Worthwhile to Buy Organic?" that, among other things, lists the so-called "Dirty Dozen" with the highest pesticide/chemical residues. These are the items that you should buy organic.

Resources:

• When Is It Worthwhile to Buy Organic? (Consumerist)
• Shoppers Guide to Pesticides (Environmental Working Group)

Tips on Buying Milk

How do you decide which is the best milk to buy? What is value for money? What are the differences between 1% and 2% milk? Between cream and half-and-half? Between powdered and fresh milk?

Two articles -- "How to buy the best milk" (Cooking Light) and "A Family's Guide to Buying Milk" (Mambo Sprouts) offer you tips on how to decide which milk to buy for your family.