Lessons in Cheap Travel from an Expert: Me! (Rerun)

We just returned from an amazing trip to Northern Europe and, surprise, surprise – it didn’t break our bank account. How did we do it?

Transferable frequent flier miles

When we fly, we usually use one airline so our frequent flier miles are easy to use. But, our first destination was Copenhagen and our favorite airline doesn’t fly to Denmark. Lucky for us, the airline was in the One World Alliance so we were able to transfer our miles to another airline to receive free flights – we only paid the taxes.

We earned extra miles just by eating out and shopping

Our airline has a dinning program so you can eat out at participating restaurants to earn miles. The program is free. You just need to register your credit or debit cards. The shopping program works great for us. When we shop online, we start at their shopping website. Then use their links to access popular retailers. Between flying, eating out, and ordering online our frequent flier miles really add up.

We used our hotel points

Our flight got us in to Copenhagen a day early, so we had time to explore and meet up with a good friend. We stayed at a hotel and our lodging points covered the cost of both nights. Even better, we used extra points to upgrade to a room with access to a hospitality suite that served breakfast and late afternoon snacks.

We used timeshare points for the cruise

As some of you know, we like to take cruises. So, when we found a cruise that visited the Baltic regions of Northern Europe, we were really excited. Neither of us had been, so it was a first. We were so happy to find that we could trade our timeshare points for the cruise. All we paid were the taxes and port fees. We sailed to Tallinn, Estonia; St Petersburg, Russia; Helsinki, Finland and Stockholm, Sweden.

Yes, it took a lot of coordination and advanced planning…

But, our travel, lodging and cruise were covered – we only paid taxes (which were minimal). Of course we spent money for some of our food, entrance fees to museums, the tours themselves and souvenirs. But we saved money by walking, taking public transport, or tour transports where the only cost was the tip for the guide.

So, that’s my experience and my expert advice. You can travel without killing your budget!

That’s several more countries checked off our bucket list. Where would you like to go?

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What will your retirement income be?

Remember these?

You used to receive one in the mail around your birthday. If you are younger than 50, you probably threw it directly into the trash. (It’s much more interesting the closer you get to retirement.)

Now you can just go online

To see your Social Security statement, go to www.SSA.gov (If you have trouble remembering it, just think “ass backwards” then “gov”). You’ll need to set up an account with the typical personal details plus security questions to verify your identity. If you want added security, you can take it a step further and use information from a prior year’s W-2.

Why do you want to see it?

To verify your earnings. It’s a lot easier to correct errors when they are new.

To help you plan how and where you will live at retirement. You can see how much you will earn when it’s your time to collect. Is it enough to cover your mortgage payment? Is it enough to continue with your hobbies or cover basic expenses?

To help you decide when to retire. You will be able to determine your Full Retirement Age (based on year of birth). Currently, you can take your social security benefits early at age 62 with a lower monthly payout or wait as late as 70 to receive a greater payout.

Protecting your account

You can add extra security by having them text you a unique code every time you want to sign in online. In a surprise twist, setting this up initially involves them sending you a letter in the mail. It’s a process that takes 5-10 business days, but once it’s done, you can rest a little easier. I recommend taking this extra step, since everyone’s had their information compromised at least once or twice in the last few years.

I would suggest that you check your Social Security statement annually – either a month or so after you file your income tax or around your birthday. The important thing to do is to check it.

Clutter: It’s time to let it go

Stuff.

It’s easy to come by and we all have too much (including me). But is it hurting you? It could be. Clutter is a budget breaker. I won’t go into details in this article, but trust me that having more makes you spend more. You’d think that once you had everything you’d stop spending. You’d be wrong.

Are you using that?

When you’re busy, things get messy. So how do you know if you have clutter or a mess? According to my friend Matt Baier, of Matt Baier Organizing, you should ask yourself whether it has a pulse:

Here’s an example of a living mess and an example of true clutter. If there is a playroom full of toys, all over the floor and they will be moved around and played with tomorrow, that’s a living mess. If, however, there’s a room full of toys and the kids have moved out and have kids of their own now, that’s true clutter. It has stopped moving. The heartbeat is gone. It’s dead.

Unfortunately, we had a lot of dead clutter.

Save it for a rainy day… I mean the project not the object

We needed to tackle our clutter, but I wouldn’t waste a sunny day on it – or even a whole day.

This is what we did on snowy weekends this past winter.

Scanned documents from the file cabinet, then shredded and recycled the paper (medical records, income taxes, etc.)

Digitized the notes, workbooks and CDs from conferences we attended – now it’s all filed in the computer and backed up.

We did a major cleaning of the basement. In our house that is where things get put that don’t have a place. Plus, living in a family home, we have stuff from our parents – photos and memorabilia that I wanted to preserve. It’s not all done, but it’s well on its way. We are tackling the basement one box and one shelf at a time.

Donated some useful items. We found several old cell phones that we donated to an organization that gives cell phones to battered women. We cleaned out the books for a donation to the library.

We cleaned out the pantry and got rid of foods we no longer choose to eat. Some was donated to the local food pantry.

The bittersweet goodbye is mostly sweet

There are so many positives with decluttering. It’s not all heart wrenching goodbyes and worries about being caught without “that thing we were saving in case”. The house feels bigger and brighter. It’s a place where we feel more alive because we’re not clinging to the past or the future. We’ve benefited from sales and donation tax breaks. We feel closer to each other because we’ve processed our feelings and made plans for what we really want out of life.

We’ve found that we’re actually more ourselves without our stuff. And our spending is more focused on the things we really want – like travel.

See My Vision Board for 2015

I always make time during the holidays to take an assessment of my life.

How do I feel about my life in general?
Am I on track with my long term goals?
Did I complete last year’s goals?
What should I add to enrich my life?
Where can I cut back to simplify my life?

I use that to determine what I want to accomplish so I can set meaningful goals for the year. I am a visual person, so I make an outward expression of my goals with a vision board. I love giving an outlet to my creative side, and a large poster is a great reminder all that I want to achieve.

Here are my steps to creating a vision board:

List what I want to achieve this year in different areas of my life. For example, I might set separate goals for my business, my personal life, family relationships, fun and recreation, and spirituality.

Next the fun starts: I look for pictures that reflect the feeling behind my goals. I also look for words in large and colorful type face. The image has to resonate with me to earn its space on my board. I use magazines, newspapers and images that I’ve found online. Then, I cut them out (or print them) and set them aside.

Then I arrange, and rearrange, the images on the poster board until I’ve achieved an overall image that speaks to me.

Finally, I glue everything in place and display it.

Now, this is the end result for my 2015 vision board.

Start Flexing Your Financial Muscles to Make Your Dreams Come True

Welcome to our very first Blog Hop for 2015!

This month we want to help you start the year off with a fresh start featuring articles, how-to’s and resources that have helped each consultant, blogger and business owner on the hop in their own lives and businesses. Get ready to be inspired for a fabulous year ahead of you as you move along through the blog hop.

You may just be starting the blog hop or may have come from Deb Brown at Touch Your Client’s Heart on Natalie Bradley’s Blog Hop. If you get off track at any time, the full lineup below will help you move along from blog to blog so you make sure to see and learn from all of the articles featured here today.

Start Flexing Your Financial Muscles to Make Your Dreams Come True

It’s the New Year and you may have goals related to your appearance and business, but what about financial fitness? When you strengthen your “core” you’re improving your center of balance, and your money is the main center of movement for your lifestyle. If it’s in balance, everything flows from dream stage to the “I can do it” stage.

So how can you start flexing? Try these exercises:

You may not be great at them at first, but just remember how you felt in your favorite exercise class the first time you tried it – a bit slow, out of synch, not sure what came next. Now you love it, and you’ll love these too because they feel good and get you what you want most: a lifestyle that serves you.

1. Keep your credit score as high as possible.

First get your credit score for free (CreditKarma.com, Quizzle.com, CreditSesame.com). Then, take little steps over the next 12 months to increase your score. This is a new exercise, so take it slow. You can do one small thing each month to improve your score: pay extra on a debt; earn a little extra income; or, check your official credit report for errors. Just like training your muscles, your task is to nudge that score higher over the course of a year. Patience and diligence will pay off and your higher score will reap big rewards in respect and savings when you enter into a new financial agreement.

2. Live under your means.

Yes, I mean spend less than you earn. I know it’s hard when everything you buy feels like something you need – so don’t go cold turkey! Instead, each month look around and see if there’s one thing that can be replaced with something cheaper. Have you tried the library lately? They’ve moved beyond print. You can borrow the DVDs for Game of Thrones, or download an audio book. Some people are saving $1,000 per year by disconnecting cable TV and replacing it with services like Netflix, Hulu and Amazon Prime. You may be able to get cheaper car insurance or move your phone service to a “friends and family” plan. You might find out that you love using your pressure cooker to make amazing soups from leftovers, or that you love having a vegetable container garden.

There are a number of ways to save that actually enrich your life, giving you a bigger benefit, and making you feel the opposite of poor. To find your biggest budget leaks, I recommend tracking your spending for a month. I offer a tracker when you sign up for my newsletter.

3. Having savings for times of need.

Again, take it slow. Just like you won’t get fit in a day, you won’t have a big savings account in a day. It’s all about moving a little money over on a regular schedule. If you receive a paycheck, you can have it deposited automatically. If you’re an entrepreneur, you can schedule a monthly transfer from checking to savings. Out of sight is out of mind. It’s just like hiding the snacks in the back of the cupboard.

I don’t want to to scare you, but without a savings, you are one step from financial disaster when the next unexpected expenses occurs. Having a savings account is a lifestyle and it’s one you want to work your way into.

Turn these steps into regular exercise and you’ll have healthy finances to support your dreams.

The next stop is Kim McDaniels at iBiz Design Duchess on Natalie Bradley’s Blog Hop! Thanks for visiting and I hope to see you again next month!

Natalie Bradley at Natalie Bradley Consulting
Cari Vollmer at PassionIntoProfit.com
Wendy Bottrell at Lifestyle Transformation
Janet Slack at Solopreneur.Biz
Vicki Heise at Live Your Healthy Life
Rochelle Togo-Figa at Speaking Breakthrough Strategist
Lisa Ivaldi at InsightClarityGrowth.com
Robin Hardy at Integrity Virtual Services
Sandra Gardner at Tall Red Poppy // Marketing, Magic, & Design Sanctuary
Deb Brown at Touch Your Client’s Heart
Jill Russo Foster at JillRussoFoster.com <<– you are here!
Kim McDaniels at iBiz Design Duchess
Sharon Lewis at Questiam Leadership Development
Chérie Ronning at Chérie Ronning, Consultant-Mentor-Speaker

Jill’s Financial Tracker and NearlyFreeTravel

To Receive Jill’s Financial Tracker and her bi-weekly newsletter (only 26 issues a year) AND register for her free Travel Class in February, follow the link below:

In Nearly Free Travel: Lessons in Travel from Jill’s European Vacation, Jill shows you how she plans her trips and ups her miles & travel perks – without actually flying! This is Jill’s latest free class and it starts in February. You’ll also receive her bi-weekly newsletter and her Financial Tracker.

Sign me up for Nearly Free Travel!

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Get Your Vision Board Ready for 2015

In December, we take the time to sit down and reflect on the year, acknowledge the accomplishments, and plan for our future. We accomplish so much each year by setting intentions and goals. One way we do this is through our vision boards.

You can have your own vision board – all you need are pictures, scissors, glue and a board. I like to cut photos out from magazines or newspapers. You can also print them off the internet or use your own. If you don’t want the mess, you can use Pinterest, Oprah’s O Dream Board (when it becomes available again), or a free Photoshop alternative. Personally, I like creating the board with my hands and having the actual physical board to look at during the year.

Here’s an example of a board that combines work, fitness and travel goals:

What will yours look like? I’d love to see it. Send me a picture or link when you have it done.

Stay tuned and you will see my board for 2015 in the next newsletter.

Stop the Unwanted Calls

Are you as annoyed by unwanted sales calls as I am? The phone rings right when I want to relax, enjoy dinner, or watch my favorite show. The phone rings again when I’m in the middle of folding clothes, vacuuming or have my hands in soapy dishwater. I answer, expecting family or friends, and hear a recorded voice – so irritating.

It’s not just my land line. It’s happening on my cell phone, too.

We’ve been on the Do Not Call list for years. Once you’re on the list for 31 days, you’re supposed to receive fewer calls, but too many telemarketing firms ignore the rules. I report those rule breakers to donotcall.gov. It’s a small act of revenge, but it makes me feel better.

I also use my telephone provider’s block list, which works great as long as I have the number of the company that called me. But, I may not have the correct number thanks to spoofing.

In fact, a telemarketer was spoofing my own 800 number! I know this because someone in California contacted me and requested to be taken off my call list. But, I don’t have a call list. I have as much business as I can handle right here in Connecticut.

To be honest, I’m not sure if they believed me. I might not have believed them if the situation were reversed. It’s not easy finding the source of unwanted calls, so I feel for them. I have tried to find the real company behind some of the most irritating robocalls (Heather at Card Services, anyone?), and got nowhere.

About those robocalls…

I just found about, and registered at NoMoRobo.com thanks to my friends at LeBlanc Communications. It’s a free service, and your phone provider must participate. We just signed up, but it seems to be working. I’ll let you know how it goes.

How do you manage unwanted calls?

Don’t Let Money Ruin Your Romance

In honor of Valentine’s Day, I want to talk to you about love and money. I have known many couples who were in love until they found out about the other person’s money habits.

Your money incompatibility doesn’t have to end the relationship. If this is the one, you can make it work. You just have to ask the right questions.

This is what you need to know about each other:

Financial Issues: Income, assets, expenses, debt and credit. Understand what is going on with each other’s finances. Are there debts and back taxes? Are the savings accounts available to use jointly? Should some of the assets be merged or sold off, and if so which ones?

Money Type: Are you a Spender or a Saver? If you know, you can use your joint goals to meet in the middle on common ground. If you’re habits are extreme, you might want to keep separate bank accounts. That way, one of you won’t feel pinched while the other is in a constant state of sticker shock.

Long Term Goals: What do you want from life? Do you want to be married or single? Do you want to be a homeowner or rent for the rest of your lives? Do you want to have children? These questions need to be answered so you can save towards the same goals.

CFO (Chief Financial Officer): Who is in charge of the money? Is it one of you or both? Will you split the responsibilities by category or do everything jointly? Knowing will keep “that’s mine” arguments to a limit.

With this information, you can decide if you want to keep your finances together or separate. Joining your bank accounts together with someone who has ignored debt or back taxes may mean your money is at risk (even if it’s not your obligation), and in the end, puts you both in the same deep hole with no way out.

Finances can be the doom of relationships. Being informed and making proactive choices is the best way to make the relationship work.

The Worst Things You Can Do With Your Money

This is my personal top five list of the worst things you can do with your money

no-1 1. Pay ATM fees (or for that matter, any bank fees) – There are banks out there that won’t charge you just for the privilege of having a checking account. You shouldn’t be paying a monthly maintenance fee or ATM fees. Ask your banker how to eliminate the fees. If they can’t, or won’t, move your money to a better bank.

2. Pay interest or finance charges on credit cards – Paying interest or finance charges is a complete waste of perfectly good money. It might have been a great deal when you swiped your card, but when you add interest, you’ll end up paying more than it was worth. If you currently have credit card debt, try moving it to a card that offers zero percent interest on transfers for the first 12-18 months. Once you are out of debt, pledge that you will not pay interest or finances charges ever again.

no-1 3. Sign without reading the fine print – Never sign anything that you don’t read. If you read it and don’t understand it, then ask questions or do your own research to understand it before going forward. I speak with so many people who just signed an agreement thinking they got a great deal, and then were blindsided hidden fees and additional charges. Were they really cheated? No, they just read the price in the big print, and not the details in the small print.

4. Pay for unused services (or things) – Are you paying a monthly fee for services you don’t use or could get for free? If you’re actually using them, that’s fine. But if you not, you could use that money for something that will actually make you feel good. I cancelled my magazine subscriptions because I wasn’t reading them. If you pay a credit monitoring service, you can do this for free with very little time investment. Are you paying for online services instead of using the free version? If so, are you actually making the most of it?

no-1 5. Duplicate Spending – Have you bought something at the store only to find out you already had one in the back of the closet? That is duplicate spending. You can resolve this by getting organized and getting rid of the clutter. If you know where to find something, you can easily access it before you go out and buy a duplicate.

In the comments, let us know where you stopped wasting your money!

New Year’s Urge to Purge

New Years Day and winter go together where I live. It’s hard to get that “fresh start” feeling when the windows are sealed shut and the garden is dormant. If I lived in Australia, I might spend New Year’s Day planting seeds – instead, I find myself checking closets and drawers and getting the Urge to Purge.

Nothing says “last year” like unused things. Magazines, electronics, household goods… items that have been upgraded, replaced, tried but disliked, expired – these misfit goods find homes in cupboards and drawers all around my house – and probably yours, too.

I’m actually very good about keeping “stuff” to a minimum and my home clutter free. If an item is unusable, it only takes a second to throw it away. But… there are things that I just don’t want to toss; they may be useful to someone. How can I get it from my house to theirs without a lot of trouble?

It’s Easy to Give It Away, Sell or Donate:

Use CraigsList.org and FreeCycle.org. There’s no charge and you won’t have to ship your items. People will come pick them up. You can sell them or give them away. I have sold everything from toothbrush heads to a car.

Use local consignment stores. Consignment shops sell the item for you and take a percentage of the sale – but you keep ownership of the item. For example, you might agree to leave it there for 90 days, and they’ll take a 50% cut if it sells. If it doesn’t sell, you can take it back home and try to sell it another way. Others might offer to buy the item directly from you to resell themselves. You may be familiar with popular chain consignment stores, like Play It Again Sports and Once Upon a Child but most towns also have small mom & pop consignments that sell everything from clothes to appliances.

Donate items in good condition to an organization or charity. You can choose the usual places or find a local charity that serves a need that’s important to you.

We personally use some of the resources listed on my resource page. We donated a laptop through the Cristina Foundation, we bring our used CFL light bulbs to Home Depot, our eye glasses to One Sight, and our old towels and sheets to the local animal shelter. We also used a trade in program when we needed a new printer – knowing that our old one would be recycled. These are just a few examples, it would take too long to list all the ways we pass on items that can be used or recycled.

Check out the resource page on my website for more suggestions. If you have any resources that you use that would help others, please let us know and we will add them to the list.