Fly with Southwest

My favorite airline is Southwest. Sure it's a really cheap airline, and they stop way too many times on certain flights. Here are the huge benefits though of flying Southwest:

- They allow you to change your flight online, with no penalty!

- If you cancel your flight, they give you a credit which expires in a year. Better than nothing (with most airlines)!

- They have web only deals; make sure to book early. You can also use "Southwest Shortcuts" if you are flexible w/ dates: http://www.southwest.com/cgi-bin/lowFareFinderEntry

- You can sit anywhere you want on the plane. This is great if you travel alone.

- They only fly ONE type of plane: Boeing 737 for the curious. What does this mean? All their pilots know how to fly it, so if they have to change pilots, they can do so very quickly. This happens a lot in the airline industry, and if you have a pilot who can't operate a particular plane due to a takeover, there's either a delay (to find another pilot who can) or the flight is completely cancelled. This is common for a lot of airlines that use a variety of different airplanes. Not with Southwest. Of all the years I've taken Southwest, I've never experienced delays (except due to weather).

I recently flew to Los Angeles from San Jose using Southwest, and I had about $60 in credit that I had been holding from 2 months ago, from a cancelled flight I made. I used the credit, and my flight came out to be only $30 total. I can't complain about that, especially since I made the flight arrangements at the last minute. Since the flight is only really 30 mins long (it takes 10 mins to taxi when taking off and arriving), it was a pretty painless experience overall.

Rental Car

I recently rented a vehicle for work reasons, but my company is very frugal so I wanted to find the best deal I could get. Apparently getting a SUV is the hardest to rent, but it was the size that I needed. I usually rent from Enterprise because they are friendly and pick you up for free. What I did first however, was go to retailmenot.com to find an online coupon. I was able to find one that took 25% off my rental price. Awesome. I then proceeded to get the light SUV for $60/day. I only needed it for one day. On the day of the rental, I called to have them pick me up. It took them 2 hours to pick me up because they were so busy, and half of their crew was on vacation. The manager felt sorry for me and gave me another 25% discount on top of my rate, and I could return it w/ 1/4 tank full of gas (it was already at 1/2 tank). On top of that, he ran out of SUV's, so he upgraded me to a cargo van (which was bigger than I needed, but at the same rate, I said ok). So all in all, I spent $44 on a cargo van rental where I didn't have to fill up the gas! What a deal. I know this may not happen to everyone, but I wanted to share my experience in case something like this happens.

Airport Parking

At most major airports, there are offsite long term parking alternatives that are CHEAPER than the in-house airport parking. If you can save money why not? You are just parking your car in a secured lot and pretty much the only difference between airport and non-airport is a 2 min longer ride on the shuttle bus.

Here's money you save and I myself was guilty of overpaying. SFO for 5 days was about $75 at Park N'Fly at San Francisco Intl. It's also $75 at the airport. BUT if you prepay online its only $53 at Park N'Fly. A HUGE savings of $23 dollars. The only reason I paid full price was due to a family miscommunication. The best part is Park N'Fly is in a more convenient location just a block from the freeway entrance. Good for when you want to get home ASAP after a long day travelling.

Some good stories I found on bankrate.com

from bankrate.com; some of their reader's contributions:

"I recently heard about Angel Food Ministries. This is for everyone! There are no income questions, etc. You pay upfront for a bunch of groceries and then on a certain day, you go to the church for pick up of your box. Churches across the country have joined up for this program and keep costs low due to volunteers. The costs are low because there is no overhead (like) grocery stores incur, such as paying for employees, advertising, rent, etc. Go to the site and just type in your ZIP code to see if there is one near you. Then, look at the month's menu. We are getting steaks, chicken, pasta, soup, eggs and a lot more for just $30. They have other add-ons that you can get when you order the main box. They also offer fully cooked meal boxes for seniors and vegetarian boxes. It is not a handout, but instead a great way for hard-working people to save."

--E. Donohue, Durham, North Carolina

Call your energy company to find off-peak hours
"I used to receive an electric bill from my energy company every month. I noticed that there (were) two rows in this bill -- one for off-peak usage and the other for 'on-peak' usage. I also noticed that the off-peak price is almost 40 percent of the on-peak price. When I called the electric company, they explained that they offer reduced rates for off-peak hours, which are from 9 p.m. to 7 a.m. on weekdays and 24 hours on weekends. Since I load my dishwasher every day, I started to run it only at off-peak hours during weekdays, and to wait till 9 p.m. is not an effort at all. I also started doing my laundry on weekends and in emergencies on weekdays, again at night."

-- Parul Goel, Metuchen, New Jersey

The first one may not be for everyone, but it may be a good alternative for those who want to save money on groceries.

The last one is good because I try to run the dryer on off-hours. I don't use the dish-washer; I wash dishes by hand, the old fashioned way.

Paying bills online for FREE

Do you still buy stamps at the post office? Do you still have envelopes? I can't remember the last time I mailed anything out to be honest, unless it was something I sold on eBay. But in terms of bills, I always pay them online. Even better, I have automatic payments so I don't even have to worry about them. Paying bills online saves you time and money. It's because you don't have to worry about getting the bills out on time (and you don't incur late charges), you don't have to worry about if you have enough postage. You are also saving the environment by being green too. You save trees if you opt for email only billing.

I can't think of a con when it comes to paying bills online. The alternative is to pay all your bills on the exact due date, or after a few days of the due date, and at a check-cashing place or liquor store? I think this is just a waste of time and more money. Sure, sometimes you can't get those bills out on time. You should always reserve enough money for your bills; nothing is more important than paying on time and in a timely manner. You have to realize that the more you put off bill payments, the richer the company is getting--of of your expense. You have to stop the cycle and realize you're just throwing money away to them. Keep up to date on your bills, and stay on top of them. This will insure you live a stress free life of worry about your finances.

Also, while we're on the topic of bill keeping, also take some time from this to weed out any unnecessary expenses or bills you would rather not have to pay. For example, you don't watch HBO anymore, so stop paying for that. You really could save on electricity if you bought a fan instead of using the A/C all day. Just the little things add up to a lot.

Credit Card Annual/Late Fees

1. Annual fees are a waste of money. There are so many cards out there, get one without an annual fee. Why waste $65 bucks when you don't have to.

2. If you already have a card with an annual fee, you can get around paying it by calling in and cancelling the card WHEN THE ANNUAL RENEWAL IS UP. I have done this myself on a couple of occasions HOWEVER, you need to be prepared to actually cancel your card. A smart sales rep with ask you 1) why you want to cancel. Be prepared to answer convincingly. Ex. "I don't use this card very much and I have too many other cards." or "I use my XXX card most of the time, the rewards program just isn't as good." Then, if this goes well, the customer service rep will ask you "If I waive the fee, would you keep the card?" Then you can waiver a bit but decided OK, I'll keep it!

Estimated time 5-10mins work, $65-$120 saved.

Community College?

http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1909623,00.html

Community college is another great overlooked American institution. Sure, community college is the butt of many jokes but from a return on education dollar, it's probably a great option for a majority of people.

1. Community college have direct vocational training, skills that apply directly for work, such as nursing or dental assistant.

2. Community college are a great place for students to prepare for 4 year universities. You can earn your general education credits for 2 years in CC and then transfer to a state university. This gives you the chance to find your interest and career path while paying alot less.

3. The govt needs to provide additional support for CC to retrain older workers and give young students.