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Two months, ten countries–one carry-on

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Small tourist collects things in a suitcase for travelWe’re heading off for a European sabbatical soon, and we know from previous trips that dragging along a lot of luggage is a bad idea. If you’ve ever tried to roll a heavy bag down a cobbled street, or had to haul it up five flights of stairs because your quaint rented flat had no elevator, then you understand.

But we’re going to be gone for nine weeks, exploring cities, beaches, caves and countryside. Packing just shorts and flip flops isn’t an option.

Getting everything I think I need into a carry-on has been an interesting challenge. It’s kind of like writing blog posts and 400-word columns for Bankrate and DailyWorth after having written mountains of 1,800-word pieces for MSN. You lay it all out, and then you edit, edit, and edit again. And then maybe you sit on it and squish.

Here’s some of the best advice I’ve found about packing light:

It’s worth it. No checked-bag fees, no long waits at baggage carousels, no lost luggage. The time, money and back strain saved are all well worth the effort of figuring out what to leave behind.

Everything should go with everything. So far, I’ve got the wardrobe down to one pair each of khakis, capris and shorts, in addition to the jeans I’ll wear on the plane. Five tops, two jackets, one sweater and one lightweight dress, plus a scarf or two, will allow me to create about 25 different outfits.

Think double-duty. My lightweight robe works as a swimsuit cover-up. My sandals work at the beach or a nice restaurant. My running shoes are low-key enough to work as casual dress shoes. Speaking of shoes:

Ease up on the footwear. They take up huge amounts of space. I’m trying to limit mine to the sneakers, a pair of black leather walking shoes and the flat-soled sandals.

Don’t bring what you’ll find there. I’m skipping most toiletries and hair appliances (which need adapters and converters to work over there, anyway). The hotels will have what we need and if they don’t, there will be shops.

Embrace digital. Not too long ago, every trip with the kiddo would mean packing a DVD player and DVDs along with books and games. I’d have a stack of novels and guidebooks. Hubby would bring much of the New York Times bestseller list. Now it’s all in our iPads.

If you’ve traveled long and light, I’d love to hear your trips for what to bring—and what not to bring.

UPDATE: We left for Europe with three carryons–and came back with two of them, plus two larger pieces of luggage. (One of the carryons, stuffed full of purchases, went home early with our niece.) My hubby’s penchant for buying big heavy art books, my daughter’s love of souvenirs and my flea-shopping habit quickly doomed the idea of traveling that light.

We should have consulted Will’s aunt, a retired travel writer, who roams the world with a medium-sized spinner. It’s big enough to bring what she needs but small enough for her to handle it without help.

Take a year to Get Rich Slowly

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Fixing material in the red plastic boxesJ.D. Roth went from being over $35,000 in debt to having over $1 million in the bank. He documented his journey at the excellent Get Rich Slowly site, sharing what he learned about frugality, investing and smart money decisions.

He also wrote a very good book, “Your Money: The Missing Manual.” But The Missing Manual series has a definite format (like the For Dummies and Idiot’s Guides). I’ve been looking forward to reading what J.D. could come up with on his own.

It was worth the wait. J.D. and fellow entrepreneur/blogger Chris Guillebeau just debuted the Get Rich Slowly course. For $39–75 cents a week–you get:

  • An email every Monday that features the best lessons from the blog.
  • A 120-page guide called “Be Your Own CFO”, that in my view is the highlight of the course. (J.D. agrees, calling it “the best work I’ve ever done.)
  • Supplementary downloads, including a revised version of my Roth IRA guide.
  • Interviews with people with a bunch of money thought leaders, including Jean Chatzky, Gretchen Rubin, Tess Vigeland, and yours truly.

I’m not getting paid or compensated in any way for recommending J.D.’s course. I just think it’s a great way to step up your game when it comes to money, and maybe your life.

Check it out at MoneyToolbox.com.

AT&T customers, check your plan!

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Internet shopping by cell phone - concept illustrationWhen I heard last month that AT&T was dropping prices for its wireless plans, I thought our family could save a little money. I was startled to find we can save a whopping $60 a month and get a plan with twice as much data.

AT&T cut its prices to compete with T-Mobile and the pay-as-you-go companies that have been offering a lot more data for a lot less. But AT&T isn’t going to foist the savings on you–you have to seek them out. Fortunately, that’s as easy as going online to check your account (a savings offer should show up on your screen) or you can just call the carrier from your phone and ask how you can save.

I try to make it a point to call our communications providers once or twice a year to see if we can get a better deal. I wished I’d called this one a little earlier, because I was only able to backdate the changes to the beginning of last week (the start of our current billing cycle).

Changing plans does not extend your service term or add any additional termination fees, an AT&T rep assured me. So if you’re under contract to AT&T, go save some money!

Tips for a great (and affordable) road trip

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Majestic Vista of the Grand Canyon at DuskMy daughter and I just got back from a 1,300-plus mile road trip so I could attend a business conference in Phoenix. Along the way we checked out Joshua Tree, Prescott, the Grand Canyon, Sedona, Montezuma’s Castle and the Tuzigoot National Monument. The trip back included stops at the Salton Sea and the amazing Living Desert zoo and botanical gardens near Palm Springs.

Her dad and I took several road trips before she was born, exploring the West and Southwest. They were among our most memorable (and cheap) vacations.

I was pleased to find road trips can still be a frugal way to travel. Our motel rooms typically cost less than $100 a night; even at the Grand Canyon’s comfortable Yavapai Lodge, we paid just $140 to sleep in two queen beds not far from the South Rim. Meals were rarely more than $20 for the two of us, and we spent less than $150 on gas thanks to my 36-mpg-plus Chevy Volt.

So here are my best tips for a memorable road trip that won’t cost a fortune:

Bring the right supplies. Snacks, breakfast makings and a cooler can save you a lot of money on the road. I bring oatmeal (which you can make in a mug, adding water heated by the motel coffee maker), peanut butter for the kiddo, fruit, milk and crackers.

Spring beats summer. At least in the West, the crowds tend to be thinner and the weather less scorching. Since schools schedule their spring breaks at different times, you’re not traveling at the same time as every other family in the freakin’ universe.

Use Yelp. Or TripAdvisor. I found good, affordable places to stay and eat thanks to user reviews. The best find was The Views Inn in Sedona, a clean, comfortable spot with a nice breakfast and an eager-to-please manager. Being willing to stay on the outskirts of town rather than in the center can save you $100 or more a night (or $200, when it comes to Palm Springs in high season).

Ask the locals. Yelp is also good for finding great cheap eats, but asking locals for their recommendations is a great way to start a conversation.

Give the kid a camera. We figured out years ago that our daughter stays much more engaged when she can capture what she’s seeing. Yes, she winds up with 16 pictures of lizards scuttling through the desert, but so what? I have many, many more of her grinning in front of various national monuments.

Catch the ranger talks. I didn’t think “Men, Mules & Mining” at the Grand Canyon would be particularly riveting, but I was so wrong. The stories and accompanying slides were fascinating. So was the geology talk the next day at the Yavapai Museum of Geology. Most of the rangers we encountered were good story-tellers and great about keeping kids engaged.

Set limits on your driving time. When our daughter was an infant or a toddler, driving four hours a day was a lot. Now she can tolerate more, but I found myself pretty weary at the end of an 8-hour travel day. Which may explain why I blearily clipped a dead elk some other unfortunate driver had previously killed on the road to the Grand Canyon. No damage to us or the car; wish I could say the same for the poor elk. In any case, next time I’ll probably limit drives to four hours, tops.

Download an audio book. There are only so many rounds of 20 Questions an adult can, or should, play. Fortunately, we had the third book in the Hunger Games trilogy to keep our minds occupied for much of the trip home. Your local library has tons of audio books you can borrow (in CD version or via digital downloads).

Bring emergency supplies and tools. We never needed the water or trail mix I always pack in the trunk, but I always feel better knowing they’re there.

3 steps to less money stress in 2014

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PoiseIf you’re stressing about holiday bills and other year-end expenses, the following suggestions might help you have a better 2014:

Try a no-spend month. The first time I led a “no spend” experiment at MSN nearly a decade ago, readers reported saving hundreds of dollars. But the bigger benefit was their increased awareness at how often they buy stuff unnecessarily—because they were bored or stressed or simply didn’t take the time to find a spend-free alternative.

The rules for a no-spend month are pretty flexible, but generally you stick to buying only essentials. For us, that means replacing the milk or toilet paper or anything else we’re about to run out of, but otherwise making meals out of what we already have stocked. We put on temporary hold any eating out, trips to the movies and shopping trips; plus I stay away from deal sites for a month. I’ve even adapted the rules to deal with business travel, since I often have a trip or two planned during the month: I spend if it’s a legitimate business expense, such as meals or lodging; otherwise, I make do.

Set up savings buckets. Think about the year ahead and the big, non-monthly expenses you’ll face. For us, that typically means property taxes in April and December; vacation expenses in March (spring break) and August; back-to-school shopping in July; life insurance premiums in October and holiday costs in November and December. Divide each expense by the number of paychecks you have until the cost is incurred, and start putting that much aside each payday in a designated bank account. (Most online banks allow you to set up designated “subaccounts” to keep the money separated.) Once the event is paid for, adjust your transfers to reflect the remaining period until the expense rolls around again. For example: you have three months, or about six paychecks, to save for a spring break trip. If you expect to spend $3,000, you’d need to put aside $1,000 a month or $500 a paycheck. Starting in April, you’d adjust the transfers to reflect the fact you have 12 months to pay for the next trip, so you’d put aside $250 a month or $125 per paycheck.

Obviously, savings buckets work when you’re not living paycheck-to-paycheck. If you’re spending every dime you make on monthly expenses, you won’t have anything left over for the inevitable extra expenses that come along. If that describes your situation, read “Why you need $500 in the bank” to start.

Drop one bad habit. We’ve all got them. A lot of them cost money and some are bad for our health to boot, like smoking, drinking too much or eating junk food. Whatever your vice, consider kicking the habit, or at least doing without it for a month and seeing what that does for your bank account (and your body).

It’s all about balance: balancing our desire to live for today with the needs to pay off the past (debt) and provide for the future (savings). Incorporating all three goals in our financial plans can help us achieve the balanced, less-stressed life we want.

Zero waste: our progress so far

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Garbage dumpA few weeks ago I wrote about how the “zero waste” movement had inspired me to look for ways to cut back on the garbage our family generated. I’m not aiming to eliminate all the waste. I’m looking for ways to be a bit gentler on the planet while, hopefully, saving money and not adding inordinately to my workload. Turns out there are plenty of ways to do that.

Here’s what has happened so far:

The composter’s in place. I bought this beauty for $20 from the City of Los Angeles, and got a worm bin for an additional $5. (The worm bin is basically a plastic tote with a few holes drilled in the top.) Then I bought an attractive little bin to sit on my countertop for another $20. Nope, the little bin wasn’t at all necessary, but it’s easier to use than the large plastic peanut butter jar with a screw-top lid it replaced…and it looks a heck of a lot better sitting out in the open. My husband’s an artist, and he’s taught me to consider aesthetics at least occasionally.

The little bin holds about 12 cups of food scraps, vegetable peels and other kitchen waste, and I empty it into the composter at least every other day. That’s a lot of garbage being redirected to a better use.

This is also getting me to think more about ways to cut back on kitchen waste, particularly on food that’s not getting eaten. That’s meant more consistent meal planning and using up leftovers, which helps reduce our grocery bill.

The reusables are getting used. I bought a reusable plastic cup with lid and straw from Starbucks and keep it in the car along with a commuter mug. So far, all the places I’ve asked—Jamba Juice, coffee joints, even fast food restaurants—have been fine with letting me use my own cup instead of one of their disposable versions. This doesn’t save me any money (well, maybe 10 cents at Starbucks) but it doesn’t cause much inconvenience, either. Ditto for the reusable shopping bags, which now live (mostly) in the car rather than scattered throughout the house.

I’m giving props to my city. I had a vague idea that Los Angeles was recycling more stuff than in the past, but the list has gotten amazingly long—way longer than in many other communities I’ve read about. In addition to the usual suspects of glass, paper, aluminum and plastic, LA recycles:

  • Styrofoam containers
  • Wire and plastic hangers
  • Drink cartons (for juice, wine, milk, heavy cream…you name it)
  • Plastic bags (including grocery and dry-cleaning bags)
  • Aerosol cans (with the plastic tops removed)lastic toys
  • Plastic toys
  • All aluminum, tin, metal and bi-metal cans
  • Clean aluminum foil
  • Clean film plastic

I’m still looking for ways to reduce the volume of what we discard (more on that in a later post), but for right now I’m pleased that a lot more stuff can go into the blue recycling bin and a lot less into the black trash bin. Again, no big savings that I can see, but also no inconvenience encountered.

If you’ve found ways to reduce waste and save money, I’d love to hear about them!