This is a guest post from my husband’s blog:  www.garyfarnam.org

Most of us like to get away from time to time, even if it’s just for an overnight or weekend trip.

Just keep in mind, there are big savings that many people don’t take advantage of when planning even the smallest of trips.

You can use email and website technologies to do more with your money on something you were going to do anyways!

How Can I Save Money On Hotel Stays?

1. Sign up for that hotel chain’s newsletter-Find your favorite hotel’s website and sign up for their weekly/monthly newsletter before you book a hotel stay. By doing this, you’ll always know what hotel deals are upcoming and you can take advantage of them. This seems so simple, but again, so many people do not take advantage of the free information!
2. Sign up for that hotel chain’s Rewards program-Many hotels have some sort of point earnings program. For example, if you stay “X” amount of nights between these dates, you’ll earn a free night’s stay. Those little free night’s stays can be a great getaway for later on!
3. Credit Card Rewards-A lot of credit cards also reward you for hotel stays. You can find the best credit card rewards online that offer cash back for stays, or offer you points. Those points can be traded in later for great rewards. Just be mindful of the interest on those types of cards so that your savings don’t get easily sucked up in fees.
4. Other Rewards Programs-another great way to maximize your ability to do more with your money is to be a part of a points program such as MyPoints. With MyPoints you earn “X” amount of points per dollar spent on your hotel stay/travel arrangements. The points are good toward the MyPoints gift card program where your points can then be traded in for $10, $25, and even $50 gift cards to some of your favorite retailers, both online and offline. When you stay at any of these hotels or use any of these services, you could be racking up big points towards great gift cards (I’ve cashed in for several so far):

• Best Western
• Candlewood Suites
• CarRentals.com
• CheapTickets
• Choice Hotels
• Comfort Inn
• Comfort Suites
• Crowne Plaza
• Fairmont Hotels
• Holiday Inn
• Holiday Inn Express
• Hotel Indigo
• Intercontinental Hotels and Resorts
• Le Meridien
• Marriott
• Mercure Hotels
• Motel 6
• Novotel Hotels
• Quality
• Sheraton
• Sleep Inn
• Sofitel Hotels
• Staybridge Suites
• W Hotels
• Westin
• Wynn Las Vegas

AND, you also can earn points through booking services, air travel and car rentals:

• Priceline
• Expedia
• Orbitz
• Travelocity
• Hotels.com
• Alaska Air
• Avis
• Bed and Breakfast
• BestofVegas
• Budget
• CarRentals.com
• CheapTickets
• Delta Airlines
• Dollar Rent a Car
• Enterprise
• Fox Rent a Car
• Funjet Vacations
• HotelClub
• jetBlue
• LAN Airlines
• Luxury Link
• Mexicana
• Southwest Vacations
• United Airlines
• Virgin Atlantic

Sign up for MyPoints today (it’s FREE):

This is a guest post from my husband’s blog:  www.garyfarnam.org

If you bought a new computer because your old one was slow or just plain outdated, you can still use that old hard drive (provided that the reason for buying a new computer wasn’t because of your old hard drive).

Even if your new computer is a laptop, you can turn your old hard drive into an external usb hard drive now by simply purchasing a hard drive enclosure kit for less than $20, and, get FREE SHIPPING!
3.5 Hard Drive Enclosure

Why re-use your old hard drive?

You can turn that old hard drive into an external hard drive that can be used as a backup. Trust me, I meet lots of customers with regrets of not having a backup of their favorite photos, music, etc.

Note: There are different types of hard drive enclosures for different types of hard drives, so make sure you get the correct enclosure for yours. If you need help identifying the type of hard drive you have, ask a techie friend or check out this tutorial: Hard drive enclosure tutorial

This is a guest post from my husband’s blog:  www.garyfarnam.org:

Think about some of the products you buy, or the places you shop, eat, etc.

Now think about how many of them most likely have a website, with a free newsletter…

This can equal savings for you as a consumer because many companies will send coupons, discounts, and more via your email that you might not get otherwise.

If you don’t like the idea of your inbox being cluttered with this sort of thing, but would still like to take advantage of the savings, just create another email account through free web email services such as gmail, yahoo, etc.

Many people take advantage of valuable coupons in the Sunday paper, but signing up for newsletters is an overlooked resource for saving money.

You’re going to spend your money on that brand or at that place anyway, so why not stretch your dollar? Search the web for that product name, or business, and enjoy the savings

Check out the newest coupons this week at Accessory Geeks

This is a guest post from my husband’s blog:  www.garyfarnam.org:

There are many reasons a person might need to create a spreadsheet. It could be used for tracking inventory, a business spreadsheet, or even a spreadsheet to help you keep track of your bills and your budget.

Many computers today come with a Microsoft Windows Operating System, and a free 60 day trial of Microsoft Office. And, if you’ve ever exceeded that 60 day trial, you know that to purchase a copy of Microsoft Office will usually run at least $100.

You could go a less expensive route, and purchase Microsoft Works (usually around $40), which has a spreadsheet, a word processor, and a database.

But did you know that you can create your spreadsheet for free online and you don’t have to download any software to do it!

Check out my eHow article on how to do so: http://www.ehow.com/how_6111315_create-spreadsheets-online.html

The following is a guest post from my husband’s blog:  www.garyfarnam.org for Tech Thrifty Thursday:

Many of the people I talk to about starting their own website or blog think that they can’t afford it.

So my first question is, “Can you afford $1.99 per year for your domain name and $4.99 a month for your web hosting?”

If so, then you CAN afford a website or blog using godaddy!

What is “web hosting”?

Whenever you go to a website, such as this one, bear in mind that the files for that website, such as the main page, etc, all live on a server somewhere (computer). A company that “hosts” the website for you, is called a “web host”.

What is a domain?

A domain is a web address such as garyfarnam.org or google.com. You can only buy a domain if someone else doesn’t already have it. It’s best to buy a domain and a web hosting account together as you can many times get great discounts, like what I mentioned above.

All you need now is a FREE website template such as Wordpress, which is available from godaddy once you set up your new account.

We have personally been using godaddy for years and haven’t had any issues and have had great customer service experiences with them.

So now that you know that you CAN afford a website or blog, the only thing left to do now is signup and share your information with the world!

Need more help or have more questions? Feel free to send me an email at gary@garyfarnam.org.

Linked to: My Coupon Teacher