Monday, June 9, 2014

5 Ways to Save For Your Dream Holiday

Photo credits to Daily Telegraph

Holidaying is one of the ways people use to rejuvenate, explore the world and to spend quality time with friends and family. Going for holiday is slowly becoming part of our lifestyles. Planning ahead is one sure way of making your holiday unforgettable without affecting your financial goals. The following are 5 ways to help you save for the holiday of your dreams.

Set Up a Holiday Savings Account
This account will provide you with the necessary impetus to save for your dream holiday. You should channel surplus income and any other additional income to this account. E.g. debt reimbursements and tax refunds. It is imperative that you avoid any temptation to touch the money in this account. However, you should shop around for a bank that offers a decent interest rate on savings.

Check the Internet
It is important to make use of the internet to find about special offers being given by airlines and travel destinations.  Conducting extensive research will ensure that you end up paying less for the holiday since it allows you to compare the prices of different travel companies. Some of the information that might come in handy include, currency exchange rates (if travelling abroad), how to avoid peak times (avoid traveling during school holidays and avoiding visiting destinations during their peak period) and booking travel tickets in advance so as to get the best rates.

Cutting Out On Expenses
Cutting on your expenses will ensure that you save a healthy sum of money towards your holiday. Assessing your expenses will enable you to look at various ways which can help you cut down your expenses. Tips for cutting down on expenses include; avoiding impulse buying, carrying lunch to work, avoiding shopping centers and culling out bad habits like gambling and drinking. Some of us buy newspapers and magazines that we rarely have time to read. You should cut down on such unnecessary expenses.

Piggy Bank
If you don’t have one, you should consider purchasing a piggy bank. A piggy bank will help you save all your spare change. The amount saved using a piggy bank may not be substantial, but this money can grow tenfold over a period of time. Once the piggy bank is full, you may pay the whole amount into your holiday savings account. You might consider changing the rules a bit and start saving small value notes to your piggy bank. People who have used this method have been surprised at the amount of money they have been able to save following this tip.

Extra income
One of the best ways to save for a holiday is to find other sources of income apart from your mainstream income.  This can be done in your own extra time. You might also consider clearing out your garage and basement. This will help you find all the stuff that you do not use. You can then hold a yard sale, do an online auction or sell the stuff at a car boot sale. The money should be channeled into your holiday savings account.






Sunday, June 8, 2014

5 Basic Essential Guides to Save While You Enjoy Travelling


Just before you make up your mind to travel anywhere, things that unnerve you include the location and the budget you have to arrange. In general, travel costs go upward, but you can hardly stay relaxed without having to plan your travel with the available budget. Will you just travel? Then, you are likely to run short of money. On the contrary, will you just save money? Then, chances are that you will be disappointed after returning from vacations. So, you need to know which suggestions can make your travel enjoyable while cost-effective.

Below are five cost-cutting tips that which are proven to help one’s travel dollars move farther:

Accommodation: A home/condo or a hotel room?

If you have got a family to accompany you, renting a condo or home and never a hotel room can be the finest cost-cutting measure you can take when planning a travel. It is often easy for travelers to rent a condo or home while staying focused on their budget. In addition to the elimination of the actual cost of lodging, you can easily save money if you can prepare some meals on your own as this small effort will help you amazingly cut back on the expenses of restaurant meals.

What and how should you eat?

We know food is one of the most fundamental needs, and the necessity is even more influential when we travel. Still, you have a number of budget shortcuts without having to feel deprived of your culinary imagination. So, just go through.

·         Stay at a place that offers breakfast for free.

·      If you are to drive a car, you can pack snacks, drinks and a cooler. Do not forget to have sandwiches for lunch since they can be healthful enough to give your kids (if any) an opportunity to avoid losing their pent up vigor.

·       You should split meals because your children are likely to get overexcited or tired not to eat much food at a time. Kid friendly restaurants are often willing to serve special requests made for extra plates.

·       Try to eat lunch with your family while staying in the room. In addition, you are less likely to like the dean and bustles of a common tourist destination. To address your taste for food, you can try a sandwich with peanut butter, fresh fruit and chips. Just wait to see how tasty and wonderful it feels away from your sweet home.

·         Avoid the mini bar in the hotel room.

·         Use refillable water bottles as those things will save on your costs of drinking water.

How to approach rental cars?

It is a must that you look for car rentals since the travelled destination can be far away from your home, you do not feel comfortable to take your personal car there. Instead of renting airport cars, you should go and try to rent a taxi cab off the airport area since airport car rentals come with taxes and surcharges which may double your expense on car rentals.

You should be on the lookout of the weekly car rental rates. It is easy to save anywhere between 25% and 30% if you know the rates for each day.

While a free upgrade coupon might be something good, but you need to cautious since these models that are larger often get less than decent gas mileage which will eventually take you heavy toll on your pocket. For further advantages, you should also check your insurance coverage before traveling since many policies offer rental-car coverage.

Be an opportunist in case of any coupons:

Coupons are said to have been the means to save money on costs of food, lodging, or attractions. You should look for them everywhere... at motels, convenience stores, in local dailies, online etc. before you have one, you should carefully go through the fine print to know about the applicable terms.

Should you spend your day staying away from the funs and attractions?

Of course not! You have travelled miles to enjoy the vacation. So, do not deprive yourself of the amusements. However, you should be thoughtful. You know you are spending money for the hotel’s swimming pool. Just use it. Spend your day at a nearby museum or a beach. Disney or other major attractions usually have shopping areas close to them. So, you can enjoy the day with your children while providing them with an inexpensive day full of fun and activities.


So, after all these, what do you think? Do you think you are just missing something and only saving money? No, you are getting the both out of your travel but in an affordable manner.

Wednesday, June 4, 2014

Explore while you're young.: Fund raising activities

Explore while you're young.: Fund raising activities

Fund raising activities

Are you raising fund but your mind can't give you enough ideas?
Check out some of my just-discovered fun activities that can help you raise funds and save.
Some activities can be used as personal earning machine and some are great as group or organizational fund raising events.

Fund raising
credits to Central Republican Women

1. Bet and guess - Fill a jar with jellybeans, chocoballs, peanuts, M&M's or whatever you like and have people pay to guess how many there are in the jar...

2. Human auction - Got a "campus crush" orgmate? Hmmm. You can ask him to be auctioned. The highest bidder can get to have a lunch with him/her.

3. Sell cute candies, cards, fortune cookies, etc.- Deal with businesses or traders that can provide merchandise you can sell. You can do concession. Be sure at least half of the money raised goes to your cause.

4.  Battle of the Bands - Invite bands to perform. Book a venue and advertise with posters, flyers, and radio announcements. Hold a mini concert in which the audience chooses the winning band. Charge an entrance fee.

5. Fasting for a cause - Organize and invite people to join you fast for 12 hours or more. Each participant pays a certain amount as a deal bet/pledge.

6. Balloon Pop - Before filling a balloon with air or helium, put a note inside. Have a certain number of the notes worth a prize. Have people buy balloons and pop them in the hope of getting the prize.

7. Hug-for-sale - Advertise a hug for a dollar. Have people buy a hug for a friend. After a member of your group gives the hug to the designated person, give them a small card with a message from the person who sent the hug.

8. Monopoly/Chess Match - Have a group of students play a Monopoly/Chess tournament. Ask each team/player to give pledge.

9. Movie day - Sell movie tickets. Match it by selling Snackers' Nachos and Puffs. 

10. Eating Contest - Have a pie eating, hot-dog eating, or ice cream-eating contest. You can charge people to participate, bet or to watch, or you can make all participants obtain pledges.

11. Calendar/Organizer Sale - Create a calendar highlighting the projects and members of your organization, and sell it to students and their family members.

12. Kilometers of Coins - Gather donations of coins (pennies, dimes, or quarters) and lay them side-by-side until they stretch out to be a kilometer long. Alternatively, surround your gym, library, or parking lot with the coins.

13. Fake tattoo - Find out if any members of your group know how to apply henna (Indian hand art), which can be applied to people in your school for a fee.

14. Lemonade Stand - Make lemonade, post signs, and sell it. Add some cookies or whatever.

15. Cake-to-order - Look for a cake designer and ask to make you your logo cake or any trending unique design cakes. Auction off cakes.

16. Choose the Torture – Create a list of fun "torture" like crazy nail polish, eccentric hair dye, etc. Have donors pay a certain amount per “torture” request to inflict on someone who is willing to take it. You can also give a portion of the fee to the "torture victim".

17. Sell ballers - personalize a baller design that is related to your cause.

18. Bail Me Out – Handcuff two willing fundraisers and let them lose when they raise “bail”.

19. Make the Grade – Have students get pledges for “A’s” and “B’s” at the beginning of a quarter and collect the donations after report card time.

20. Reverse Raffle – All potential sponsors get a raffle ticket and sell it back for a certain amount to avoid getting their name drawn to do something embarrassing.

Monday, June 2, 2014

Piso seat sale for 2015

PISO PISO again!!!

Booking Period : 2 June 2014 - 8 June 2014
Travel Period : 5 January 2015 - 31 July 2015

Contact 0910-611-9414 or 0925-544-3587

Piso seat sale 2015

International and domestic flight promo!
For flight details, follow this link.