One of the vague dreams that I have for my life is to own a bed and breakfast in a nice summer-y location someday. I’d like to have a place to get away to for a few months out of every year, a place where I could spend time just getting to know new people and enjoying the nature around me. I haven’t ever worked to make that happen but it’s an idea I’ve always been toying with.

A mostly-unrelated thing that I’ve been thinking about lately is how to save money on travel. I like traveling to new places as well as visiting friends and family around the nation but it’s always so expensive. In researching different budget travel ideas, I keep coming across the idea of home swaps. Researching those led me to start thinking about a similar option which is renting out a room in my place to travelers interested in coming here.

That doesn’t have a lot to do with my own travel other than increasing my income but it does have to do with my old B&B idea. I may not have a B&B but I could start to see if that’s something that I’d like to explore further by taking in guests now and seeing what the pros and cons are in action. I live in a great space with extra room and could use a new steady stream of income so maybe this is an option. I haven’t made a decision about it yet but it’s something to toy with – a creative solution to many things in my life right now and perhaps even a glimpse into my future.

Tags: bed and breakfast, earn money, kathryn vercillo, Personal Finance, save money, Travel

People who are trying to save money will find that there are certain areas of spending that are smarter to cut back in than others. The most obvious thing that you should do is to track your spending and see where you spend the most; then cut back in those areas to significantly reduce your expenditures.

Most people will find that the two biggest areas of expense for them are the cost of their housing and the cost of their daily transportation. You can save a whole lot of money by moving into a smaller home and cutting back on your use of a car.

Of course, not all people will be able to cut back in these areas. There are some other things that you can look at to reduce spending by a lot. Reducing your vices, limiting what you spend on luxuries and spending time instead of money wherever possible are three more ways that you can probably save money in your life.

These seem to be the quickest places to start saving money if you work on them in my opinion. What do you think? Are there better places to start saving money in your life than these key areas? Where would you start with trying to spend less?

Tags: kathryn vercillo, money, Personal Finance, save money, spend less, spending

Everyone is talking about trying to save money these days. People are cutting back in all areas of their lives in order to adapt to the recession that we’re in. But the thing about money is that some people are just naturally better at earning it than others. There are some people out there who are leveraging the recession to their advantage and actually making money off of the fact that the economy is in a bad position.

For example, there are coupon queens out there who are earning an income for their ability to tell others how to save money. Through their blogs and lectures, they are getting people to pay them for advice on the things that they do every day to reduce their own spending. It’s a smart way to approach the recession and also an ironic one; they have people spend money on learning how to save money.

Other businesses are doing well because of the recession even they aren’t actually marketing themselves as being able to help people in this time. Businesses that supply churches with products (such as communion wafers) are seeing profits climb because more people are going to church in these tough times. It’s an interesting phenomenon; some businesses always have to thrive in any situation.

People who are having a tough time right now may want to ask themselves where they can make changes that can take advantage of the position that we’re in. If you can identify a way that the recession can be a money-earning asset in your line of work then you can ride the wave of these economic troubles and perhaps even make a profit doing it.

Tags: business, earn money, economy, income, kathryn vercillo, money, recession, save money

Remember when Mom or Grandma used to get out the Sunday paper and clip out coupons. She probably organized them in some sort of envelope or fancy organizer and then took them to the store with her when she did her grocery shopping. Although there are still people out there using coupons like this today, it really doesn’t make sense any more to rely on these printed types of coupons to save money.

Printed coupons just don’t have the benefits that they used to have for most people. For one thing, it has been shown that you can probably save as much or more money by shopping for store brands instead of buying name brands using a coupon. More importantly, the whole process of printing coupons (whether the manufacturer prints them or you do it yourself at home) is time-consuming and costly and it makes saving money in this way inefficient.

Online discount codes make sense in today’s society. Mobile phone coupons make sense in today’s society. But printed coupons just don’t make a lot of sense anymore.

Tags: coupons, Frugal Living, kathryn vercillo, save money, society, Technology

I occasionally get the opportunity to combine my interest in different topics through research and writing of one article. For example, I recently wrote about mobile coupons. This allowed me to research the topic of mobile phones as well as to write about the topic of personal finance, both of which are topics that I write on regularly and find myself interested by.

Mobile coupons are interested because they take something that’s been around for a really long time (coupons) and change it in order to adapt to modern technology. Mobile phones are now capable of advanced web searches and mutli-media message receipt which allows for coupons to be accessed and redeemed using only the phone.

Come to think of it, this allows me to touch on another topic that interests me which is green living. After all, if you’re not printing up a bunch of coupons then you are saving a lot of trees. Of course, there’s a balance to be struck because mobile phones do use energy which is a different type of waste but generally mobile coupons seem greener than traditional coupons as far as I can tell. Smart stuff!

Tags: discount, kathryn vercillo, mobile coupons, mobile phone, Personal Finance, save money, Wireless, writing

This isn’t the only blog that I write. I also write a few other blogs including Real Words which is my blog all about freelance writing and what it’s like being a web writer for a living. I recently added a post over there that’s all about the things that I do as a web writer that ultimately probably end up being a waste of money. For example, I often over-pay postage on things that I’m mailing out so that I don’t have to go to the post office and weigh out my packages.

You may be thinking that it’s not possible that I waste all that much money on extra stamps. You’re right. I don’t mail things out for work all that often and I probably waste less than a dollar each time. But isn’t it these little things that ultimately end up leading to a whole lot of wasted money in our lives?

A great example of small bits of wasted money that add up quickly is the grocery store trip. I often purchase a pack of gum or a bottle of water that I don’t need or a snack for the walk home when I could just wait and actually eat what I went to the store to buy. Again, I’m only spending one or two dollars on these things but I go to the grocery store four or five times a week which means I’m wasting $20 or more on these little things each month which would add up to a nice chunk of change if I saved it all over the course of a year.

And that’s just one area of a bit of wasted money here and there. There are a lot of other little ways in which I waste amounts of money that seem trivial at the time but then they add up. These are the things we need to be aware of if we want to have a savings at the end of the year!

Tags: Frugal Living, kathryn vercillo, money tips, Personal Finance, real words, save money, spend money, spending, waste money

Being a SmartChick doesn’t mean that you always know everything that there is to know about a topic. In fact, being a SmartChick often means that you know that you don’t do. Instead of pretending that you do, you make sure that you figure out where to get the knowledge that you’re seeking.

For example, you may be interested in dressing like a celebrity. However, you don’t want to spend a lot of money so you’re looking to recreate celebrity looks for less. It’s okay if this is something that you can’t figure out yourself. You just need to know where to look for that kind of information or how to ask people to help you.

This definitely applies to certain style stuff for me. I don’t necessarily have any interest in recreating celebrity styles but I do have an interest in other fashion and style stuff. It’s not something that I naturally know or find easy to learn but I know where to look. There are online and in print resources for that kind of stuff. Plus I’ve got cool people in my life who can help me. (For example, the photographer of my recent photo shoot helped me with my makeup).

Often it is the ability to find the right people to help us to learn things that distinguishes the SmartChick from the average girl. We are resourceful. We meet people in many different ways. And we give back to those people with our own knowledge so that it’s not just a one-sided exchange. Yes, I may not know everything but I know that finding great smart friends is one of the most important things in life!

Tags: celebrity looks for less, Fashion, frugal blog, kathryn vercillo, know that you don't know, looks for less, save money, smart women, smartchick, style

Two of the topics that I write about most frequently are technology and personal finance. Specifically, I often write about mobile phones and I also often write about how to save money in your life. Every once in awhile I get to combine these two areas of interest in one article. That’s the case with an article I recently wrote about how to make your mobile phone last for a long time.

I know that most people upgrade their cell phones about once each year. Some people that I know get new phones long before that year is up. I, on the other hand, tend to hang on to my phones for at least a couple of years. Yes, I certainly have an interest in the latest new technology (and have been eyeing the Android phones a lot lately) but I also think that it’s a good idea to hold off on getting a phone until I really need one.

Every time that I have upgraded my phone, I’ve increased the cost of my phone bill. This means I’m not only paying for the phone but also paying more each month for the services on the phone. I’m fairly certain that’s going to happen again when I upgrade the next time because I’ll be adding a data plan which I don’t have now.

I’m not saying it’s not worth the money and convenience to get the new mobile technology. I just think that people who are trying to cut back on spending right now may want to hold on to their phones for a bit. What do you think?

Tags: cell phones, keep phone longer, make phone last, mobile phones, Personal Finance, save money, Technology

I’ve mentioned a few times already on this blog that I do a lot of my shopping online for a variety of different reasons. When I do so, I try to keep my costs down in any way that I can. I participate in swap sites that let me get things like books for free. I do some comparison shopping between different sites before making a purchase. And I try to avoid that so-easy-to-fall-into trap of impulsive buying.

But ultimately, saving money online (or off, for that matter) really boils down to being able to do the math. You need to be able to determine whether or not the deal that you’re getting truly is a good deal. If something’s “10 for $10″ but you only need one then it’s a waste to buy ten of the item to get the deal but oddly enough there are a lot of people who don’t realize that.

One area of online shopping where problems with math often arise is when it comes to shipping and handling fees. You can lower those fees if you’re smart about it but you have to be able to do the math. “Free shipping” isn’t always free and expedited shipping is usually, but not always, a bad idea. Then you get into things like bulk shipping and flat rate shipping and you really need to start looking at whether or not you’re getting a deal.

If you don’t want to do the numbers then that’s okay but you should be aware that you’re probably going to lose money if you’re refusing to do that math. Smart shoppers take the time to make sure that they know what they’re paying for what they’re getting!

Tags: online shopping, reduce shipping costs, save money, shipping and handling, shipping fees, shopping

One of the topics that I write about regularly is personal finance. Specifically, I write often about frugal living and the tips that I have for saving money even though you have to spend on a regular basis. As a freelancer writer who lives in one of the most expensive cities in the country, I regularly have to work at balancing my saving and spending to make sure that I end up without debt at the end of each month.

There are many different things that I do to make sure that this happens including sticking to a personal budget, tracking my own spending and generally just being aware of what’s going on with me and money. I also try to be really careful about shopping. This isn’t to say that I don’t shop but rather that I try to be smart about my purchases and to not spend impulsively.

Among many different things that I do to reduce my spending when I do shop is that I use promotional codes for all online shopping. I do a decent amount of shopping online because it’s convenient. And before I hit that purchase button on anything, I always check if there’s an online promo code. I especially use these when renting cars, ordering photos from Walgreens and buying things on Amazon since these are places I regularly make purchases and there are almost always promo codes for them.

I believe that the current economy is a great time to use promotional codes for a whole slew of different reasons. You can learn about my reasons in this week’s article titled Why Promotional Codes are Great in Today’s Economy.

Tags: Frugal Living, online shopping, Personal Finance, promotional codes, save money, shopping, spending, tips