dfrostnh

Wow! What a lot of terrific advice. We also do everything on credit card - gas, groceries, etc. By using a credit card, we simply pay for things all at once at the end of the month instead of at the time we make the purchase. We took a budget trip to the Caribbean, camping at Maho Bay on St John USVI. One of the ultra luxury small cruise ships unloaded their passengers for a beach party at the beach next to Maho. We brought a lot of our own food, too, but also enjoyed some local restaurants and a day trip to Tortola. Those cruise ship passengers paid a lot more for their day at the beach than we did. My other suggestion is there might be some exciting volunteer opportunities near you that might include reduced rate lodging. For example, a friend's family volunteers at a mountain bike race in VT. They have a blast and get reduced rates from the ski lodge where the event is held.
Just think, free lodging when you visit your grandchildren! BTW when we visited our son in a distant state for three weeks, we avoided expensive rental car fees by having him buy a second car. Dad sent him $500 towards the purchase of a car they were planning to buy anyway. He bought a 1984 car with only 86,000 miles on it. The kid is frugal, too! We camped one summer in a used camper and then sold it for more than we had paid for it.

rb_travelerxATyahoo

Another suggestion: when making major purchases, always ask if there's a discount for paying cash.

10 years ago I needed two (dental) bridges, costing far more than my dental insurance would pay. I asked my dentist about a cash discount, telling him I'd pay in full and seek reimbursement from my insurer, rather than him having to submit and wait. I figured he might give me 5-10% off. Nope. 25% ! Much better than any credit card payback.

Here's another endorsement for volunteer activities. You probably have organizations like Lung Association or MS Society that have overnight or multi-day bike rides and need volunteers. These type of activities tend to bring out the best in people, so you'll probably have a great time & meet many new friends.

Here's something else that could work for you: I moonlight once a week at a chain hotel, really just for the fun of it, but always glad to receive the extra paycheck! But I can stay at participating hotels of the same chain for $25. So guess how much I'll be paying for 2 nights in DC next month!

Jayne1973

My neighbor took a job as a reservationist with Delta just to get the free flight benefits. She and her family have traveled all over the world, paying only the taxes on the tickets. To top it off, when she retires (can't remember if it's 10 years or more to qualify) she and her husband fly free for life. She goes places like Paris and Brussels for spring break, and takes off at the drop of a hat to see friends all over the U.S. Now that's making the most of your job!

SergioL

Strikes me there's way too much focus on budgets and saving money when travelling. too much Rick Steeve infleunce on fodors. I'd love to read a post about how much money they blew on vacation ... just to feel, lol, less out of the mainstream. As we used to say here, if you can't travel first class, why travel. IMHO.

jbee

Sergio-
My DH and I do budget travel for weekend/short trips so we can blow it all first class when going to Europe. I don't see any reason to go first class on a 2 hr. flight (unless it's free), but 15- you bet!

We go big (overseas usually) every other year so it's not unreasonably expensive in comparison. Also, even though we go "first class all the way", I still like to get the best deal possible. (Plus, I said I plan on a budget, but I didn't say what the budget was.... )

Patrick

SergioL, how do you know, since you just now registered to make this your first post? Care to tell us what your previous screen names have been? You might have to break your answer into two parts if the list is tooooo long.

Patrick

So weird. I was reading the post about increased advertising on Fodors and replied with the above post. Why did it end up here?

turn_it_on

What about a night at a hot tub?

We've been to this place, www.hottubsresort.com, out by Raging Waters at the Puddingstone Reservoir. We went at night, it was very cool, the tubs are in gazebos sprinkled over the hillside. The hot water and the cool night air is awesome.

I haven't been here but there's also
www.splashspa.com, which is at 3rd and Crescent Heights (Fairfax area). They actually have theme rooms, like jungle themed, caveman themed, etcetera. Looks pretty cool, I've seen them featured on TV.

love
roxy

hugglynn

Wow, I didn't read all of these, but interesting that a lot of us do the same things...it must have something to do with traveler's lifestyle and type A personalities

I'll just add that instead of FF credit cards (which we 'have' had), we've been pretty true to Discover Card for years. 2% rebate, now given monthly right on the bill...special incentives at certain times, for example, from X to X 5% rebate at grocery stores and other rebate offers for restaurants or retailers which are valuable IF you are already planning to go here. My husband keeps track of what deals are going on...right now, we are using both a platinum Visa and the Discover card. DH literally puts a sticker on the back of the Visa that says "Pharmacy, Gas, Supermarket 5%" because it's worth 5% at those places. Discover is everything else.

He's also in sales...so many times he gets choices of bonuses or rewards from the companies he represents...or he earns points that he can cash in on prizes....he's been collecting prepaid Visa cards, restaurant gift cards, Marriott rewards and airline vouchers. It keeps us hopping several times a year. We have a FF flight later this year (from real miles earned), plus another voucher for airline travel coming and Marriott rewards--translation, FREE.

Another thing...when people ask you what you want for Christmas, birthday, anniversary...why not tell them a prepaid Visa card or gift certificate to a certain hotel chain or restaurant that can be used while traveling. We do this frequently. There isn't a lot that we need for others to buy for us, so this works out great!

Ebay....don't get me started, that's another side hobby....as are summer garage sales...and when we do upgrade an appliance, piece of furniture, we sell the old one in the paper by using the free classifieds.

We're like some others, too, and we rarely eat breakfast and lunch out when traveling--this depends on where we are of course, and also depending on if breakfast is included with a room rate. We do eat dinner out, and this could be expensive or not, depending on what we're up for.

Now...our dual incomes don't necessitate us doing these things, but it also doesn't necessitate throwing money away for no reason. It can also be a lot of fun in a weird sort of way.

karens

I just know I should keep my big mouth shut, but here goes:

Why is someone posting for the first time automatically a troll? And if you do suspect that, isn't the best strategy to just ignore them?

It is tiresome to read so many posts of so many who take the time to research others' replies.

There are those who then become psychologists and feel they can psycho-anaylze people and tell sooo much about them from a few postings on a travel forum.

Perhaps there are better ways to spend one's time.

I KNOW I am going to get flamed big time for this. This is just how I feel. I know it's annoying when it seems someone is trying to "bait" others by being purposely being mean or over the top, but the replies to such people can be just as petty.

Can't we all just get along?