<p>I figure the ultra-cheap dry cleaner can destroy 10% of my clothes, and I’ll still save money over the regular dry cleaner.</p>
<p>I don’t want to bother w/ EBay, but I’d love to find someone like Marian’s husband who likes to do so. I’d be happy to give them a percentage for the bother, and get a little spending money in the process. What would be a fair %, and how would I find someone?</p>
<p>is library.nu legal and safe with no virus?</p>
<p>I’d also look at all your monthly expenses. Especially look at your cell & data plan(s). Investigate pre-paid plans–there are some amazing ones out there. I currently have a plan with t-mobile in which I pay $30/month for about 1500 texts and/or voice minutes plus some data. H has a plan where he pays $100 every few years and $10 in other years for his plan @ about $.10/minute (he rarely uses his phone). We have the basic cable & pay less than $20/month; a friend doesn’t have any cable & just rents videos periodically. Our internet & phone together are combined for less than $60/month; there are cheaper, slower plans as well. These monthly expenses can really add up quickly. When our current cell phone plan expires, I plan to switch my personal cell phone to a pre-paid like hubby’s & have folks call me on my office or home phones only, except for emergencies. We may get D & S some pre-paid plans. Neither S nor H can take their phones in to their workplaces. It is amazing how much some folks pay for cell plans, cable, internet & other monthly expenses!</p>
<p>Bringing lunch/coffee/beverages & not eating out much really can save a bundle as well.</p>
<p>A lot of great ideas. When we tightened up drastically a few years ago, I just stopped spending money for anything except what we absolutely needed. It was not easy. I’m going to have to do the same this year, I can already see as I have just been hit with some big time expenses.</p>
<p>when traveling always look for “hidden city fares” (google it)…I can generally save 30-40%+ off most flights by finding hidden city tickets. It can a bit tedious sometimes but worth the extra research effort…for examples a few weeks ago I flew from the Bay Area to Chicago…most of the flights I could find were in the $450 range. By doing some research I was able to find a great hidden city fare…San Jose to St. Louis (with layover in Chicago) was $100 one way…so I just hopped off at Chicago and didn’t take the second leg. Then found a one way from Chicago to LA priced at $130 (with layover in San Jose)…again I took it and just hopped off at San Jose. Total price was $230 instead of $450. Just remember that for these flights you have to book them as one-ways and also can’t check bags :).</p>
<p>This can cause some problems for the traveler and I remember when it also caused them to remove ALL our luggage because they couldn’t be sure that the person who got off at the stop didn’t check a bag (this was in the 1970s–way before 9/11). Below is one cite that talks about some of the issues to consider with these hidden city fares. I have never tried them myself but can see how the savings could be tempting.</p>
<p>[[1-20</a>] Hidden City Fares](<a href=“http://www.faqs.org/faqs/travel/air/handbook/part1/section-23.html][1-20”>FAQ: Air Traveler's Handbook 1/4 [Monthly posting]Section - [1-20] Hidden City Fares)</p>
<p>There are no problems if you book things one way and don’t check a bag…the only problems/risks are 1) if you check a bag since it gets checked through to the final destination, 2) if for unforeseen circumstances the plane gets re-routed, and 3) if you book the ticket as a roundtrip fare with the same airline because they will cancel all subsequent legs if you dont show up for one leg. </p>
<p>I’ve been doing this for 8+ years (average of ~10 times per year) and have never had a problem. It’s a great arbitrage opportunity given the way airlines price their fares…</p>
<p>Thanks for the info. May be a useful thing to explore, especially for one-way flights that are otherwise extremely over-priced. How do you find hidden fares? I have no experience in this topic.</p>
<ol>
<li><p>I start by establishing the cheapest price (generally only look at direct flights since I hate having layovers) to my destination city. </p></li>
<li><p>I then identify which airlines have hubs in my destination city as those airlines are likely going to route flights through their hubs. </p></li>
<li><p>Then I go to those airlines’ websites to see what “specials” they are running that fly out of my local airport. </p></li>
<li><p>Then I plug in my one-way travel information for my correct dates for each of the “special” destinations and look to see which flights have a layover in the hub - my destination. </p></li>
</ol>
<p>It’s more of an art than a science as it does require you to plug and chug with a ton of different options…but spending the extra 1 hr in research can save you lots of $$$. I would say that on average I save 25-30% of the cheapest direct listed price to my destination by using these methods.</p>
<p>Thanks–will forward your thread to my S who LOVES saving $$$$ and would probably put in the work to do this well. I guess after you get used to it, you can get quite good, especially if you often have similar city pairs & favorite airlines.</p>
<p>yeah, I showed it to my S and he agreed that there is a lot of good stuff here. Thanks for all of the tips.</p>