As you slowly begin to figure out your schedule for the upcoming college fall semester and as you start to plan your work schedule around your school schedule, there’s a different kind of planning that’s likely on your mind. This planning involves getting ready for your next chance to travel.

Traveling– a chance to leave your home and see a different part of this world. A chance to meet amazing new people. A chance for once in a lifetime experience. A chance to step outside of your comfort zone. The only problem with traveling is trying to figure out how you’ll pay for it for a student’s budget. Don’t worry guys because below are a few tips to help you travel more, while trying to survive on a college student’s budget:

Try CouchSurfing.

What’s CouchSurfing all about? It’s pretty much a social network for travel hosting. You can interact with each other online and then figure out some sort of a travel arrangement. You can be a host, a surfer, or both. The cost is free either way. You shouldn’t expect to be charged anything for staying at someone’s place. However, you should be more than willing to offer to help out in some fashion (cleaning up the home, language lessons, etc.) with the person that you’re staying with.

It’s also important to understand that CouchSurfing isn’t just a chance to stay with someone for free so that you can bring your travel costs down. It’s an excellent networking opportunity to immerse yourself in a different culture/lifestyle than you would normally be apart of. This isn’t just a “free hotel.” From my friends that have tried this, I gather that it’s one of the most memorable trips that anyone can take. There’s also no guarantee that you’ll stay on a couch for sure. I believe that you can likely figure out all of the living conditions before you take off for your trip.

Consider the all-inclusive option.

Flights, meals, and entertainment can get really expensive. This is why sometimes my personal favorite option for a vacation is to pay a one time fee and travel to an all-inclusive resort somewhere down south. This is pretty much more of a chance to relax all day and party it up all night. All-inclusive trips vary in price depending on where you want to go. I’ve found some of the best prices with last minute bookings. The only risk is not getting the resort that you may have initially wanted.

Take advantage of family.

Don’t worry I won’t suggest you backpack and stay in hostels, simply because I’ve never tried it before. However, traveling is an excellent opportunity to get in touch with relatives (aka stay at their place for free). We all have close relatives and long lost third cousins around this world that we likely haven’t seen in years. When we traveled to Europe last year we stayed with family for free during the entire stay and we didn’t even cash in on all of the offers for stay that we had. Don’t hesitate to get in touch with family to plan a trip to visit them and their town.

Plan & save well ahead.

This seems like a no-brainer, but it’s often the most challenging aspect of planning a trip. After planning trips for my group of friends for the past 5 years, I’ve found that the two biggest barriers to travel are time off and money for trip. There’s no quick fix for the time off aspect because everyone needs to agree on a specific time frame ahead of time. The money part is relatively easy to figure out. I try to put aside $20 a week into my vacation sub-account with ING Direct. I urge all of my friends to try this. The few of us that actually do this, usually have enough money to go on an annual trip together.

Let’s have some fun now and here about any travel plans that you guys may have coming up!

Img src: bubbly toes

It has been fantastic the last couple of weeks and while my allergies are killing me, I’m excited that the weather is warming up. We’re heading over to California in June and we’re excited because it’ll be our first time there and we’re going to sort of travel (I’ll explain in a bit) with our friends. It’s going to have a work component to it for me, so I’ll be bringing either my netbook or laptop to take care of business.

The idea came up in February when a friend mentioned he was heading to Los Angeles for a conference. After talking a bit we realize it would be great to join them. I’ve been meaning to meet up with some collegues and friends in California and splitting some travel costs would be great. Planning ahead can help you avoid hidden costs of traveling.

They live in Virginia and we’re in North Carolina so our plan is to meet up in California and do some sight seeing together and then break up to explore the town.

In case you missed my New York trip a couple of years ago, here are some lessons I learned that make vacations a lot more fun.

• Have a budget for your vacation. I learned with that trip, that budgets are your friends. Staying on budget means you’ll have a guilt free trip and no credit card bill to haunt you when you get back.
• Have a day to go back to your favorite spots. If you know you’re going back the next day, then you can cut down on impulse buys.
• Ask around for lodging. Using the internet last year, we got a room for $200 in Staten Island, 35 minutes away from the Ferry. This time, we stayed at an apartment in Brooklyn (our own floor) for $65 a night, one block from the subway.
• Look for local spots to eat. You can get some incredible food for a good price if you look for hole in the wall spots.

Planning the Itinerary

We’re still planning the itinerary, but we like to keep it open for some spur of the moment things. I wanted to ask if anyone knows if Los Angeles has a decent bus system. Is it better to go ahead and rent a car? I wouldn’t mind using the public transportation system if it’s pretty efficient. We used it when we went to New York and DC and it allowed us to relax while someone else drives around in traffic.

If we go ahead and rent a car, we’ll probably go and use Priceline again to find a deal. Last trip we managed to pay around $120 to rent a car for a week. I use their bid feature quite a bit and have found some awesome deals.

Priceline’s bid option for hotels is something that we use to find some steals. I tend to look for the 4 or 5 star and start off by bidding low. I got a wonderful deal on our hotel at Orlando for $30/night plus tax and it was in a convenient location to everything.

Eating Out Without Going Broke

We tend to have our breakfast at the hotel and buy some snacks. We prefer rooms with a fridge or kitchenette so we can reduce some of our food expenses. We love going out to restaurant for lunch and maybe catching a local spot for dinner. At some point, I really want to try out In-N-Out Burger and if all the hype is true.

Your Take

What about you? Are you planning a vacation soon? Any tips on places to visit in L.A.?

Did you know that almost half of Americans suffering from depression do not get treatment? That’s a huge number and for some they may not get treatment because they don’t know where to turn to for information.  I wanted to share a resource to help some people.

Be supportive

National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) is an organization to help those who have mental illness and those who want to support the community. The website a lot of information for those managing through and for caregivers. Some mental illnesses that NAMI has information on are:

• Bipolar Disorder
• OCD
• Depression
• Schizophrenia
• Borderline Personality Disorder
• Eating Disorders
• PTSD

Being informed is an important step, but if you have a loved one who needs help, there are other things you can do.

• Encourage them to seek help. It may be difficult for some to realize their condition. Without pestering them, try to get them to get professional help to address their specific needs.
• Have realistic expectations. Try to be balanced and help your loved one see their positive aspects.
• Be supportive and stay in touch. Keeping in contact can be a huge help and a source of encouragement during difficult times.

As I’m learning more about mental illnesses to help a family member during a difficult time right now, I realize I have to make some adjustments. Not realizing the severity of the situation, I was quick to get upset at the behavior. I’m hoping that I’m becoming more patient and understanding as we work through this.

I sincerly hope that National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) is a resource you can use.

Photo Credit: qthomasbower

It’s Friday and I’m home waiting to get our relatively new HDTV fixed. It’s no charge, but I’m a little upset since Proscan took weeks to get this organized, but hopefully this will be over today. I’m sure some are tired of me tweeting about it.

Since I’m at home, I decided to get some cleaning down. I don’t enjoy cleaning, but I hate a dirty place more, so I just wrote out my to do list and I’m knocking it out piece by piece. Oven cleaning is still nasty; I wish the had some less harsh than that spray.

Don’t worry, I will not leave my husband out on the fun. He has the joy of cleaning the fridge. Next on my list is cleaning up some clutter, so naturally I’m taking a break to write about it.

Since the plan is to move in 2 months or so, I wanted to make the move easy. As you may have noticed, I tend to use moves as an excuse to remove a lot of clutter and junk. Here are some ideas from my last post on cleaning up along with some additional thoughts.

What can you do with your unwanted goods?

1. Have a garage sale. This option can put a few extra dollars in your pocket, which is always handy during a move.  An alternative to this choice is putting items up on E-Bay or Craigslist and having people buy the items.

2. Donate. I personally like this option.  I’ll look at what options they have around here. I’d like our clothes to directly go towards a shelter.

3. Trash/Recycle it. This an easy, but wasteful option for some items. I’ll save this for paperwork and unusable items.

De-Clutter Game Plan

Here is what we have to deal with in the next few months.

Old  software and video games: There are still a number of games we no longer play in the office. There is still Windows 95, Windows 98, and Windows Me hanging around. We have some games from 11 years ago like Decent: Freespace and Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit. I will say that my husband does a great job taking care of his old games.

Movies/Videos (VHS): We don’t have a VHS player and since I have my Start Trek Voyager series on DVD, I should get rid of the duplicates on video.

Old computers: I really hate calling out people, but this is all my husband. Our office closet has become the graveyard of some old computers.  Supposedly they have information on their hard drives that are important, but that hasn’t been done in almost 3 years of marriage. Hmm..actually that was a lot of fun to call him out.

Old magazines laying around: I tend to grab magazines for trips to read. They’re being thrown away.

Clothes: Besides being ripped, some clothes are just too small. Donating all the cloths in good condition and using some torn shirts as cleaning rags.

Paperwork: I’m going to go through the file cabinent this weekend with my husband and we’re going to clean out unnecessary records. If you’re looking at what to keep and what to toss, Dolans has a list.

Your Take

How about you? What clutter do you have lying around? How often do you clean/get rid of  old items?

Review of Our First Community Watch Meeting

We just got back from our apartment complex’s first community watch meeting. Lately there has been some car break ins (including my husband’s car) and we wanted to see what we could do to minimize this happening again. I picked up some helpful tips and thought it would be useful to share what the police officer went over with us. Please be aware this is what was told to us in our city. Please check to see if your city has the same services.

Did you know that some police districts have crime analyst who have records on crime in an area? I wasn’t aware that we had this valuable resource available. You can call crime analyst to get information such as pulling up record of calls and what the nature of the calls were for; each district in our city has one.

Police officers can be a great resource.

I also found out that you should call your local police station about a free home security evaluation. It’s a great opportunity to check out your house from a professional.

Car Break ins and Graffiti issues

With the car break ins we have seen, the officer reminded us to keep valuables out of sight. He also suggested to us to hide belongings before we reached our destination. Some thieves watch parks for example, to see where people place valuables before they get out of their cars. After they pick a group of vehicles and break in the cars quick and then leave. GPS is one of the hottest items being stolen.

Even if it’s just graffiti and you don’t see who did it, police shoud be called in to get a record taken and analyzed.
Community Watch Group Tips

• Best times for community watch weekday nights, as many people will be out of town on weekends.
• He encouraged having food available to get participation. Having more people there is a huge asset and can motivate others to watch out.
• Please get to know your neighbors at the meeting and when you’re at relaxing at home. It goes a long way as people are more likely to call if they see something suspicious.
• Be alert to what’s going on; err on the safe side and call the police.
• You can be anonymous with your 911 calls, just let the dispatcher know when you report. You can also request that the officer call you with his findings. Just be aware that this isn’t a priority and it may take a bit while they get back to you.
• Keep track of details to help officer identify people (what were they wearing, approximate height, etc.)
• When you call  911 please be aware of that the calls are prioritized. Some people gt upset at officers, but they have a protocol to follow.

Home Security Tips

The officer encouraged us to follow the tips given to us in the community watch packet. Some of these seemed like common sense, but they are good reminders.

Please respect hose who protect and serve in your community.

• Always check doors/windows to make they are secure
• Keep outdoor lights on at night!
• Keep tree limbs and hedges from blocking doors and windows.
• If you go out of town, have a neighbor gt your mail or have the Post Office temporarily hold it.
• Secure all outside storage doors when not in use.
• Report suspicious behavior to the police.

What Should You Look Out For With Your Community Watch Group?

• Someone screaming or shouting for help
• Someone looking in windows of houses and cars
• Anyone being forced into vehicles
• Underage children unauthorized people by/in pool
• Misuse of community areas

Do you have a community watch group in your neighborhood? What tips do you have?

Photo Credit: abbynormy and Darin Barry