Jill Russo Foster

Planning Our Fall Vacation

What to do in each port? That’s a difficult question. So much to do and so little time.

If it’s a new place, sometimes we just want to take a tour to get an overview. That’s the case for the first and last stop of this cruise. We are taking a cruise line shore excursion to see the coast and in another city we are doing a whale watch.

Yet another city, San Francisco with a two day stop (we have been there before), what to do? Our original thought was to go to Yosemite for the day. We even worked out the details to make it work for us. But now the wildfires may derail this plan.

For us, the research is critical to saving money. First, what do we want to do? To start, we look at the cruise line shore excursions for ideas. If we find something that appeals to us – great! Then the research begins. What other companies offer this excursion? The research piece begins with for these other companies:

Is there a cruise guarantee? Do you get your money back if the cruise line doesn’t come into port?
Will they guarantee you will make it back tot he ship in time?
Will they pick up and drop off at the pier or very close by?
What are the companies reviews like (both on the website and with outside companies)?
What is the cost and what does it include?
Are there discounts?

These are important questions that we need the answers to.

Some of my favorite websites are Trip Advisor, Viator, Cruise Critic and more. I should tell you that Cruise Critic is the best. You join the chat room for your specific cruise and this puts you in touch with others sailing with you. This is a great resource, as we have shared private tours many time by joining others (and sometimes we have booked the tour and are looking for others to share with us).

All these are factors in determining what to do in port.

Planning Our Fall Vacation

Those of you that are regular readers, we have an upcoming vacation for the fall. I am going to take you through the planning this week, to see how we save money.

Our airfare, hotels and cruise are booked and paid (a while back). We always fly in a day or more before a cruise (never want to miss the ship). Since we are arriving late the night before, we are staying close to the airport.

Getting to the the ship in the morning, we have several options:

Back to the airport and take the cruise transfer
Make our way on our own
Alternate transfer

Our choices was the alternated transfer. This was our thought process, we have never been to this city and wanted to see some of it. We didn’t want to get to the ship too early and wait there to board. We found a cruise transfer tour company that will pick us up at the hotel and give us a 3 hour tour of the city and drop us off at the pier.

The savings for us:

No rental car needed
Tour company will take luggage on tour
Hotel pick up with pier drop off

Yes, this is more than the transfer alone, but we have never been to the city (I don’t count changing planes here years ago a visit). This way we will be familiar with the city before we spend the weekend after the cruise.

Teens and Money

Last week I had the honor of teaching a Teens and Money class at Norwalk Community College – 5 afternoons of teens in grades 9 to 12.

We discussed money management, credit, credit cards, banking, car buying, paying for college, budgeting and more. Teaching teens is a passion of mine. This is something they don’t seem to be getting elsewhere.

Here are two of the teen comments:

I definitely learned a lot about money and how to pay for college and a car.
I liked the hands on simulations, like the dilemma packets we were given free range with, so that we could play with the elements of rela life situations in a safe setting.

Make sure to talk with your children about money and finances, so they can make educated choices based on knowledge that are right for them, making them look at their choices both the pros and cons.

If you are in the area, I will be teaching a shorten version of this class on Saturday, October 20 at NCC. To register, call NCC at 203-857-7237.

The Cost of a Pet

We adopted Willow this past weekend, so I wanted to rerun an article about the cost of pets.

I am passionate about travel, but it doesn’t compare to how I feel about my dogs. Brownie has been a member of the family for seven years now. We rescued her at about 8 weeks when she was only 12 pounds, a far cry for her 70 pounds now. We love her just as much as any of our other dogs.

But owning a pet can be a budget breaker. Pets are expensive. You need to consider their day to day costs – food, supplements and services – which can range in price from affordable to “how am I supposed to pay for that?”

The Initial Costs

According to peteducation.com, the first year can cost between $500-$6,600 depending on how much you’re willing to spend.

You have the simple comforts and necessities: bed, leash, collar, food bowls, toys – these aren’t too expensive individually, but can add up when you’re buying them all at once.

Then there are your legal requirements, like puppy shots, license and tags.

You may also want to consider having your puppy neutered and micro-chipped. Thank goodness where we rescue the cost of puppy neutering is included, so it’s not an extra cost for us. If you rescue, ask to see if you can save too.

Finally, depending on the dog’s personality or medical issues, you may have other expenses. Brownie went through the teething stage, as puppies do, but she wasn’t interested in inexpensive items like shoes or pillows. She chewed the molding around the door so that we needed a carpenter to make the repairs. That was expensive.

The Costs Going Forward

According to the Pet Education, the annual costs can be anywhere between $300-$2,500.

Brownie’s annual vet check-up and shots cost about as much as a car payment and are due every summer along with her license. That’s not including any extra trips to the vet for illness, injuries, etc. All these need to be planned for.

Your homeowners / renter insurance can increase depending on your dog’s breed.

Lastly there is caring after your dog’s emotional and physical well-being. Do you need to have a dog walker while you’re at work or to board your dogs when you’re traveling? More costs.

Lots to think about. Besides just selecting the right pet for your family, make sure to plan the financial part, too.

Is A credit Freeze Right For You?

Here is Connecticut we have been experiencing a heat wave (although the weekend was great), we have another 90+ days ahead!

So in an effort to stay cool, let’s take about credit freezes. Have you done this?

If you don’t plan on needing credit in the near future, you may want to consider this. A credit freeze is one way to help protect your identity from being stolen. You freeze your credit reports (yes, all three credit reports), so that no one can access your credit report (not even you) to open new accounts.

The reason why I say not needing your credit in the near future, is because there is a cost to freezing and unfreezing your credit report. So if you have plans to open a new credit card, finance the purchase of a car, buy or refinance a home in the near future, this could be costly.

Here is a great article from AARP walking you through the steps of a credit freeze.

Overdraft Line of Credit Saves The Day!

Do you have an overdraft line of credit associated with your checking account? We’ll we do. Sometimes it’s a life saver – literally!

This week I paid our mortgage as I always do, but something happened. I must have selected the “other” checking account and I didn’t notice it. Now you know that I check our bank accounts at least weekly, just to keep tabs on what’s going on (we don’t use a credit monitoring).

Well imagine my surprise to see the mortgage payment coming out of that checking. One of the worst things you can do is to bounce your mortgage payment and yikes this could have happened. But thank goodness it didn’t. Our overdraft line of credit saved the day by covering the overdraft. So the mortgage payment is paid and all is well there. I noticed it quickly, so we transferred the funds to pay back the overdraft and all is well.

If you don’t have overdraft protection on your checking account, you may want to think about it. It saved us this time.

Home Maintenance

If you are a homeowner, you will understand. Yes, there are many advantages of home ownership and I love being a homeowner most of the time (except summer). To me, summer is the time for being outdoors and having fun.

spring cleaning

But along with the advantages comes the maintenance. Yes, the upkeep – doing the maintenance now so that you don’t have a bigger issue later. We do most of our own so that takes up time (time away from the summer fun), but it’s a part of home ownership.

Here is a great checklist of summer maintenance suggestion for your home.

Travel Made Easier

You know we love to travel. Personally, the $85 I spent to get TSA Precheck was well worth it. It is so much easier to not have to take out your toiletries, electronics and/or take your shoes off. Note, that not all international airports recognize this status. Although, recently in London’s Heathrow airport and they did stamp my boarding pass on connecting flights and I was pleasantly surprised.

We actually had to wait weeks to get an appointment with the local (30 minutes away) office of IdentoGo. Then you wait more time to get your TSA Precheck number. Yes, it’s well worth it to not have to take off your shoes.

But by later this year, it will be easier. IDEMIA, the company will be offering the interview process through select Staples locations to start – 50 locations to start. How convenient will that be? When my renewal is due, this should be so easy.

There’s More To Spring Cleaning

Spring cleaning used to be a chore to me. I would take a weekend and tackle everything, then be totally exhausted. Now, I have changed and put myself first. I do things over the course of the year, so I am not exhausted and it’s not so much of a chore. I tackle project by project and it feels better to me and not as overwhelming.

My latest project was sparked by an article I read in AARP’s magazine. It occurred to me that I haven’t done this in a while. One more spring cleaning project done. I thought I would share this with you as well. AARP’s Spring clean Your Smartphone.

Money, Life and Savings

A reader asked me about how to save to purchase a home, when your money doesn’t allow much for savings.

That’s a great question. But not an easy one to answer.

We all know that saving should be a priority. But we have monthly obligations. So here are so general steps to achieve what you want (in this case a home).

Track your spending – many people overlook this step. Trust me this is the most important step in achieving your goal. Write down every penny that you spend for at least a month. Track everything from the rent payment to purchase of the newspaper.
Weekly (or more often) take your tracked numbers and put it in to a budget.
Analyze where your money is going and make a plan to spend less. Even saving $5 a week will add up.
Automate your savings goals and pay yourself first. You will learn to live off less if you don’t see it available in your checking account. You may want to unlink your checking and savings (or have them with separate banks).
Lastly, look into home ownership programs in your community.
Check out to see if you qualify for an Individual Development Account to save for a down payment.

While it’s hard to save money each and every month. It a necessary step in life to achieving your goals.