Although summer is still months away, my husband and I are planning our vacation. Maybe it’s just because we are cold, but it’s fun thinking about summer adventures. A couple years ago we drove from Colorado to South Carolina, and had a blast. This year, we are planning to go the other way: California. Now that we’ve decided on a destination, we are taking the next logical step and locating a place to stay. We plan to stay in the same area for a week, so the best place for us, and maybe for you on your trip, is a vacation rental.

Vacation rentals are private properties that owners rent out to travelers. Some are houses, some condos, some… others (we found a listing for a very cool retro trailer on a landscaped lot- too small for us, but really neat!). There are advantages to having a rental property. One, they often cost about the same as a decent motel (our South Carolina rental was in a gated community on a championship golf course, but cost less per night than the local Holiday Inn). Two, you have your own space: no housekeeping service coming in while you are gone. Three, they usually come with a full kitchen. When you cook most of your own meals you eat healthier and save a lot of money! Four, variety! You can get a cute little cottage, a sleek and modern loft, or a 6 bedroom house on the beach for a family reunion. Here are some tips from VRBO Customer Support for finding a great rental:

1. Check a lot of sites on the internet. Some good ones are VRBO (Vacation Rentals By Owner), HomeAway, VacationRentals.com, AlwaysOnVacation.com, and Vacation Rentals 411. There are many others, so just google “vacation rentals (city I’m interested in)” and see what you get. Many sites have rentals all over the world.
2. When you contact an owner, see if he or she has a policy of completing a rental contract. If not, look elsewhere. According to the people at VRBO, “without a signed rental agreement, please DO NOT consider the rental to be yours.” I was recently interested in a property that was a great price in a great location. The owner told me to send the full amount plus cleaning fee to her, then she would email me to let me know how to check in and out. RED FLAG! When I inquired about a contract, she suggested I look elsewhere for someone who does things more formally. BIG RED FLAG! You bet I’ll look elsewhere! (Incidentally, this fiasco is the reason VRBO Customer Support sent me these tips.)
3. Ask the advertiser for referrals from both previous renters and anyone who services the property (pool service, landscape company, etc.). A legitimate owner shouldn’t have trouble producing them. (The property owner I just mentioned didn’t send me those, either.)
4. BEFORE YOU SEND MONEY: Have a written contract including the total price and dates of your stay. Get the physical address of the property and verify its existence. To do that, use Google Maps, public tax records, or have a friend in the area drive by.
5. When you do pay, use a credit card if you can. Your credit card company offers you certain protections against fraud. If you can’t do that, use your card to fund a PayPal account to send the money. If the owner won’t take either, know that (if the property isn’t legitimate) your money is at risk once they cash the check. NEVER SEND A WIRE TRANSFER!
6. On most sites, there is a date that tells you how long the property owner has been working with the website. The longer the better (but don’t rule out new properties if everything else seems legitimate.)
7. Some websites offer low-cost insurance that will cover you if the property is not as advertised. I have never gotten it, but if it helps you feel more relaxed about the rental it’s worth the cost.

Don’t let all this scare you off, though! Your vacation will be worth the effort! I’ve found vacation rentals to be more comfortable (imagine sleeping in a different room than your kids), more affordable and more fun than motels. And don’t be discouraged if you have to make several inquiries to find the one that’s just right for you and an owner who will do things the right way. A good property owner will make the process easy for you. So take a look at some of the sites listed above and start dreaming up your next big vacation!

We all love a good party, and what better reason to celebrate than our child being a year older?  But where are the backyard parties with a few games, balloons, and a homemade cake (I’ll admit several of my cakes could be on the Cake Wrecks blog)? Many of today’s birthday celebrations have grown into elaborate events.  This year, we decided something had to change!

In the past few years our weekends have included a birthday party about three out of four weekends a month, and if the frequency isn’t overwhelming enough, certainly the surrounding venue, entertainment and number of gifts are!

A few of the activity based birthdays we have recently hosted or attended include:

• Gymnastics
• Petting Zoo
• Ponies/Rides
• Clowns
• Pump It Up/Bounce House Gyms
• Dance Classes
• Karate
• Craft/Pottery Classes

To simplify this year we tried something new.  We contacted other families in our six year old chicks’ class with January birthdays to see if they had interest in a combined party.  They were thrilled!  We ended up planning a combined party for four girls at once. With a single location at a local gymnastics center, we are able to simplify and celebrate at the same time.  The biggest issue, after deciding a location, day and time, was how to handle gifts.  The whole idea was to try and minimize the number of events and not have four separate parties with all the gifts and hullabaloo that goes with it.  Since donations have become somewhat common for gifts, our minds went towards something positive in lieu of personal gifts for each child.  So, with four six-year olds from the same school, I thought it would be nice to invite the families to purchase a book for the school library, which definitely has room for some new books.  The kiddos get to celebrate together, and the consumption is not at an all time high.  Rather than four different parties, at four different locations, with four times the gifts, we end up with one venue, one party, and “gifts” that have a true community feel and support everyone at the chicks’ school (and its nice for parents’ budgets, too!).

The party is this weekend. So far, the reception from other parents and the school library has been very positive, so it should all work out great.  If you have any ideas for how to break away from the regular party “formula” and do something positive and creative, be sure to let us know!

Over the eleven years of our marriage, my husband and I learned you must take a conscious effort to budget your money. You need to know what your expenses are and what your savings need to be. This is not an easy process. We went to a financial planner to help us understand the different types of savings we need and how much we need to save every month. These days with the internet, there are also websites to help you manage your money. One website that I believe is very helpful and FREE, is Mint.com.

If you are really serious about managing your finances properly, but do not know where to start, Mint.com is extremely useful website. This website can help you create a budget, save for retirement, pay off debt, etc.

You can check out their website for great budgeting ideas, but for the full value you need to sign up. When you sign up you need to disclose your personal financial information to get the most out of Mint. Mint seems to be a pretty secure website and carries the secure seals of both VeriSign and TRUST-e.According to Mint.com, they “provide bank-level data security for the transaction information” they store.  And, you register anonymously because Mint.com doesn’t need your name or any personally identifiable info.

After you complete the sign-up process, Mint.com analyzes your financial information. The analysis is extremely informative and extensive. Once your account is up and running, Mint.com also downloads and categorizes your balances and transactions automatically on a daily basis, making it very easy to see graphs of your spending, income, balances, and net worth.  You can store information on all of your accounts in one place and have access to their balances whenever you want to via their website or the Mint.com iPhone app.  They also provide very powerful but easy to use budgeting tools.  Mint.com can help you uncover areas where you could be saving more money in your daily life by comparing your current accounts to the best financial products out in the marketplace.  All of the tools are so easy to use and the graphs are simple and easy to understand.

Aside from the great free services you can get at Mint.com, they also have a blog called MintLife. It’s a fabulous blog filled with informative articles on personal finances, investing, trends, and their Mint Life Guides.  The articles are always written in plain English so that anyone can understand them easily.  And they have the best infographics illustrating some of the complex financial topics in the news today.

I believe that Mint.com can truly help people move towards a financially secure future.  When finances are under control, it eliminates a lot of stress in your everyday life. We can all use less stress.  I wish you all the best in getting this area of your lives in order.

Last week, my son’s LeapFrog Leapster game cartridge stopped working. I called their toll-free number and they agreed to send me a new one, if I mailed them the old one. I just saved $24.00.

About 4 months ago, my Scrubbing Bubbles Automatic Shower Cleaner stopped working. I found their toll-free number on their website and called them. They asked for the model number and agreed to send me a coupon for a free one. I just saved $2.

Every little bit of money helps when you are on a budget. How do you save money these days? Do you know of other companies with similar policies? Leave a comment and share them with us.

By the way, here are the customer service numbers if you happen to need them:

Leapfrog: 1-800-701-5327

Scrubbing Bubbles (SC Johnson): 1-877-506-7352

And, if you want a coupon to save $7 on the Scrubbing Bubbles Automatic Shower Cleaner Starter Kit, here’s the link to it.