Reader Email: Can you travel and not have to pay an arm and a leg?
I’ll start with accommodations.
When I worked for a marketing company, we would have to book hotels for our employees who were attending trade shows. I discovered Priceline.com.
You bid on a room in a zone in a city. Let’s say it’s Dayton, Ohio. You pick the area of the city, the number of stars for the hotel and bid a price. Go low. You will probably be rejected but you creep up with your price and there will be some point where the price will be accepted and you’ll get a room. The name of the hotel and the location will be revealed to you at the end. You do have to submit a credit card before this point and you are committed to following through.
By bidding on Priceline, I’ve gotten rooms for $79/night at 4-star hotels. But when you called the hotel directly, they quoted a price of $189/night. Savings were always significant.
As long as you’re not too particular about where you stay in that part of the city, you can score some good deals. I have called the hotel after booking and made further requests for small fridges, cots and whatnot. Depends on the hotel as to whether you get it. Most of the time, they allowed the request.
Another great site is ratestogo.com
I did a search for hotels here in the Niagara Falls area and you can get rooms at the Great Wolf lodge for less than half of their going rate. The advantage of Rates to Go is that you know the hotel you’ll be staying at before you pay.
From a reader in Florida:
Where do you get nice clothes and not pay designer prices?
Once, while visiting my mother, she told me that her niece had visited the day before and looked very glamorous. My mom was in a nursing home at the time and said that the doctors had all admired how she looked. My cousin had found a new store to buy clothing and but my mother couldn’t remember the store’s name. Just before I left, she remembered and exclaimed, “VALUE VILLAGE!”
Yes, you can buy decent clothing at a thrift store. My cousin had a chic black leather skirt and vest with a red scarf and hat. She even wore it at Christmas to oohs and aahs. I have bought dresses (half price day, of course) and worn them to weddings – as a guest.
Think off-season. There are good finds for winter coats in the summer (everyone seems to ignore them). I have gone into a Goodwill store in the fall in an upscale neighborhood and found summer clothing with the tags still on. I have also found really good men’s clothing in these neighborhoods as well. Seems like their wives clear out their closets frequently and you can find some pretty new duds.
A good tip in secondhand clothing stores – check the size higher and lower than your usual size. Often the clothing is wrongly racked or a big/small version of the size noted and you will find something that fits you in the next size. The size larger people will pass it by as it’s too small and the smaller ones will ignore it because it’s too big. Men don’t seem to have this problem as their clothing is more sensibly sized. But women’s sizing can vary quite a bit.
Crunch up the fabric and see how it “lets go”. If it’s still crinkly, chances are you might look like a bag lady after a few hours. You can always use spray starch and crisp it up. Visit stores that carry higher-end clothing so you get a feel for better fabric.
I go to consignment shops when I’m looking for something a little dressier. Some are hopelessly overpriced. You just have to scope them out until you find one that is priced right for what you are looking for.
