christmas

Black Friday Travel Deals

November 19, 2018 By Jason Kinney Leave a Comment

If you are like us, you love to travel. We are always on the lookout for the best travel deals. Black Friday and Cyber Monday are some of the best times to look for bargains. There are many different Black Friday travel deals, so I will tell you about some of my favorites.

Many of the airlines and hotel companies run great cyber deals for their flights and properties. The biggest key is to watch your email. Make sure you have signed up for email advertisements for the hotels you are looking for. I have a separate email address that receives these notices, so I can filter through them as needed.

Las Vegas Deals

Now you know it would be almost impossible for me to talk to you about travel deals without talking about Las Vegas. Las Vegas casinos love to offer deals around this time.

With preferring MGM Resorts, I usually try to book a large number of my stays during this period. In 2017, most of the resorts offered reduced rates and free food/buffets daily for each visit.

This also gave me the flexibility of canceling and rebooking if I ended up with a better-personalized deal as the date got closer through my Mlife player’s account.

International Travel – Cyber Monday

The resort in Mexico that Joni and I prefer to stay at runs major deals during this time of year too. During Cyber Monday and the days prior they will run a deal that will end up saving almost 50% on the cheapest rate that I could find during the year. The biggest thing is with booking so far in advance; you will need to check cancellation policies or be sure of your travel dates.

Airline Black Friday Travel Deals

Airlines also run Black Friday travel deals. My favorite airline, Southwest, also now has travel open through August 2019. This allowed me to book my Vegas Trips through most of the summer already. And with their no fee, cancellation or change policy, I can always modify if the number of points for the flights that are needed to drop over that period. I prefer booking out as far in advance as the cost for those flights back on Sundays tend to go up quickly the closer you get to the travel date.

Make sure you don’t wait for your Christmas travel till now though. The costs will already be through the roof. The last couple years when I have traveled over the Christmas week till New Years down to Las Vegas for the UFC fights I had booked already back in February of that year due to trying to lock in the cheapest costs.

Road Trip Tips you can use NOW

November 18, 2018 By Joni Kinney Leave a Comment

I love this time of year as we get to spend so much time with families. The rest of the year we may see each other, but the winter months tend to have more people make an effort to attend events. As the holidays quickly approach many families to travel to congregate together, but on the road traveling leads to needing some road trip tips.

Additionally, many people enjoy taking road trips for their vacations. Either way, we get it, after all, we often get asked why we travel as much as we do. We wrote this article in response: Why Travel? 5 Reasons You Should. If you find yourself on the traveling side of things, here are some road trip tips you can use.

Plan your Stops

If you are traveling for vacation, consider using a service such as Roadtrippers to help you plan your stops. The key to scheduling for fun is to schedule your destination stops but ensure you leave time each day to stop at things you find, or see that are of interest to you.

Pack a Survival Kit

Depending on when you are traveling and where you are going will probably determine some of what you pack. The things you need no matter what are basic first aid supplies, water, and extra clothes.

If you are traveling in warmer weather or to warmer destinations be sure to think about bug spray, sunscreen, towels, baseball caps.

If you find yourself traveling to colder destinations or within states where snow is a factor during the winter, consider packing appropriate winter things. Some of the things to consider are thermal blankets, jackets, mittens, and boots.

Buckle your seat belt

Everyone should know they need to buckle their seat belt while the car is in motion. But make sure you buckle it even when you get out of the car. This is one of my favorite road trip tips as no one likes to get burnt after the sun makes that buckle hot.

Organizers! Road trip tips

If you are traveling with kids, one of your best road trip tips will be using organizers for all those toys and activities. There are many options such as shower caddies or shoe organizers. Some stores even sell organizers just for this purpose. Find one you like and use it.

Use Charging Adaptors

Charging Adaptors are a little-known lifesaver. You can use them to convert your primary car plug into a regular plugin. This lets you plug in a power strip and charge up all those devices!

Use a Gas Card

Any road trip means fuel and Simple Miles; Airline Miles by Buying Gas. Use that to your advantage either get a Gas Card or use the credit card that gives you the best mile return for using it.

No one wants unexpected bumps and roadblocks along the way. We hope this list will help you on your next road trip with some road trip tips you can use.

Comment below and tell us your favorite Road Trip Tips!

How to save $1,000 by Christmas

October 18, 2018 By Joni Kinney Leave a Comment

The thought of saving money for Christmas, birthday’s or gift exchanges makes me cringe. Not because I don’t want to do it, but because I know I need to. Planning a holiday budget is an important part of budgeting. I put together a free 5 Easy ways to Save Money Fast guide just for you, make sure you sign up to get your copy!

First things first, let’s talk about budgets. Having a budget is crucial to being successful with your finances. And there are many tools you can use to help you along the way. If you are mobile-driven like I am, check out The 5 Best Budget App (s) to Make Your Life Easier to see which tools are best for you.

Now let’s dig into how we set this up, so we can be successful. Here are some easy tips on how to make a Christmas budget you can stick to.

Plan Early – Christmas Budget

Planning your Christmas Budget early is probably apparent, but the earlier in the year you start preparing your Christmas Budget, the more time you will have actually to save.

Make a plan and do it early in the year. At the beginning of each year, we sit down and write out every birthday and holiday gift we know we need a gift for.

Then we add in a couple extras for friends or people we might have forgotten about. Birthday gifts get added to this list as well including things like Easter Baskets and Halloween treats for us.

Determine Savings Amount for your Holiday Budget

Once you have an idea of what you are going to spend, determining how much you need to save is relatively easy.

Take your total amount, divide by the number of weeks left to that event and divide the numbers.

So if you need to Save $1,000 and you have ten weeks to do it. You will need to save $100 per week to make your budget.

Make it part of your household budget

Now that you know the amount you need to save for your Christmas budget, you need to put that into action. Add a line item to your household budget for gifts.

Ensure that you are saving the amount you’ve allocated towards gifts and that you set it aside as you do with groceries, clothing, etc.

If your household budget doesn’t allow for this line item, you will need to make some adjustments to either fit it in or determine gift giving is not something you can do right now.

Does budgeting work?

Having a detailed spending plan for your Christmas Budget is so important.

Having a budget for every dollar you spend is a sure fire way to meet your monthly financial goals. Know where your money is being spent, so you are controlling your finances not allowing your finances to control you.

If you haven’t received your free 5 Easy ways to Save Money Fast guide now is the time to enroll and get your money savings tip guide.

The Best Christmas Playlist for Inspiration

October 7, 2018 By Joni Kinney 1 Comment

When you talk to people you realize that the holiday’s often inspire us in different ways. I enjoy curling up with a good book, some warm apple cider and a friendly fire peacefully burning, and listening to some great Christmas tunes. When I look around at the hustle and bustle many of us find ourselves in during the holidays, it makes me want to spread joy and happiness and Christmas music seems to do that for us. Everywhere we go we hear familiar melodies, and you can’t help but smile. So to help get you in the holiday mood, I’ve assembled a quick Christmas playlist of some of my favorites. Please share this list with your family and friends too!

Christmas Playlist:

Have yourself a Merry Little Christmas – Coldplay
Angels we have heard on high – Josh Groban and Brian Mcknight
Do you hear what I hear? – Deas Vail
O Holy Night – Celine Dion
Santa Looked a lot like Daddy – Garth Brooks
A Soldiers Silent Night – Father Ted Berndt
Baby, it’s cold outside – Norah Jones and Willie Nelson
White Christmas – Matt Wertz
Let it Snow! – Frank Sinatra
Santa Baby – Madonna
All I Want for Christmas is You – Mariah Carrey
Walking in a Winter Wonderland – Matt Wertz
Underneath the Tree – Kelly Clarkson
Mary, Did you Know – Kenny Rogers
Santa I’m right here – Toby Keith
Gold and Green – Sugarland
Run, Run Rudolph – Luke Bryan
Where are you Christmas – Faith Hill
Let it be Christmas – Alan Jackson
Christmas Cookies – George Strait

I hope you enjoyed my Christmas Playlist, now tell me what some of your favorites are so I can add them to the list for everyone! Feel free to check out our Patriotic Playlist too!

Feel free to contact me and give me additional ideas on what you would like to see on a future playlist. I would love to hear from you!