I’m taking you with us!

Yep, you’ll be able to follow us through the web with text, photos & possibly even videos as we explore Deutschland…

It’s on my goal list to take two international trips per year (Canada and Mexico don’t count per year – this time it’s to explore Bacharach, Rothenburg (Salzburg, too) and Munich.

It’s time to finally put my German to use (4 years of High School, and 2 years in College) – although this will be my first trip to Germany.

We’ve been to England in September 2007, and again, in March 2008.   In June , we had our Honeymoon that was 14 days of the Mediterranean – wow, it’s amazing!

One of the things I’ve worked on with my last few International trips is bringing as little as possible, however, being able to have everything I need with me – especially in terms of electronic gadgets…

As you see, I’ll actually be enjoying the long flight over the pond and back –

Here’s my checklist:

• iPhone – loaded with TV Shows & Movies I’ve been wanting to watch,
• Kindle2 – assure I have the latest books on my list downloaded,
• iPod Nano 2nd Generation – all new music synced,
• Canon Point-and-Shoot Digital Camera – for taking lots of photos,
• Flip MinoHD – super small, incredibly efficient, HD video camcorder (new this trip!),
• Macbook Pro – for bringing it all together – trip updates & keeping up with business.

All of this may sound like a lot, but it’s surprisingly not!

This trip I jumped on AT&T’s Wireless web site to upgrade my phone for International travel using their World Traveler service.

For $5.99/mo, I’ll have the ability to receive & make calls in most countries, and in Germany thats $.99/min.  I don’t plan on using it a lot – but it’s nice to have just in case.

The beautiful part is that you can enable and disable the service on your phone line right from their web site – and it takes effect immediately.   (They claim they’ll prorate the service as well, we’ll see!

Anyhow, follow along, I’m looking forward to hearing any suggestions you have if you’re an International Traveler, or have visited the places we’re going.

I’d also like to thank Buddy & Annabelle for their awesome suggestions for Munich & Salzburg.

There are unbelievable deals waiting to be had!

Here’s Melanie & I on our Honeymoon last year in Santorini (Greece)!

If you’re looking for the absolute best deal AND want to be notified if a better deal comes along, check these sites out:

1. www.Farecast.com
   Let’s you choose destinations and dates, then sends an alert if the price drops!
2. www.AirfareWatchdog.comSends alerts when prices fall for domestic and international flights, checks seat availability, and lists Web-only fares.  It also shows unadvertised and short-lived fares, as well as “error” fares (usually incorrectly entered fares by humans) which airlines frequently honor.
3. www.Yapta.com
   Goes a step further: it’ll help your get a refund if you buy a ticket and the price later drops.
4. www.FareCompare.com
   This compares more airlines than most & provides cheap getaway deals.
5. www.FirstClassFlyer.com
   Unpublished airfares, upgrade strategies, loyalty program loopholes – First Class Flyer masters the art of business & first class air travel!
6. www.Kayak.com
   Search 140+ sites at once!  Sort & filter instantly, and buy direct from travel sites!
7. www.Hotwire.com
   Allows you build a package with flight, hotel and car, gives consider savings across the board!

And here’s some bonus sites for you as well!

• www.HomeAway.com
• www.VRBO.com
• www.Roomorama.com

• www.HomeExchange.com
• www.InterVac.com
• www.ihen.com

• www.CouchSurfing.com

Having spent most of my life in Michigan, this time of year, I really appreciate:

• Biking in the park,
• Having lunch outside (especially at McGregor Cafe!), and
• Keeping the windows open all of the time.

What’s really blown me away lately is the pricing of Fort Myers Real Estate, it’s unbelievable!

If you, or someone you know, is looking to make a decent investement while the market is down & interest rates are at all time lows — it sure seems like now is the time!

Three years ago you could hardly find a decent house below $250,000, today, the median sales price is in the $125,000 range.

Take a look at these properties all in the $50,000 to $100,000 range.

If you’re really looking for a deal, though, I highly recommend RealtyTrac.com.

Here’s an interesting statistic, compliments of my favorite local paper, the Florida Weekly:

Existing home sales in Fort Myers were up 64 percent in November 2008 over November 2007, and the median sales price is down 53 percent!

Amazing times…

If you’d like to know more about the opportunities in, and around, Fort Myers, let me know.  I know plenty of people who are specialists in real estate in Fort Myers, Cape Coral, and the surrounding areas.

UPDATE 1/6: I totally neglected to put on of my favorite Real Estate search sites, Trulia.com, in this post.  Check out what’s available in Fort Myers via Trulia.com in the $50k to $100k range.

1) Keep all credit card balances under 30% of your limit.  For example, if your credit card limit is $10,000, never keep more than $3,000 on it.  The debt a person carries on a credit card is called the “utilization rate” and credit bureaus respond more favorably to low utilization rates.

2) Have at least three revolving credit lines.  Credit bureaus give higher scores to those with three major credit lines (American Express, MasterCard, VISA or Discover).  If you have open cards, and don’t use them.  Don’t close too many of them or it may hurt your score.

3) Verify that your credit card reports your credit limit, many don’t.  This assures when your credit score is run, you’re utilization rates are proper.

Thanks to Laura at Benchmark for these!

Reading through the latest issue of ShopSmart Magazine, I found this gem, FreeShipping.org!

It gives you a couple list of free shipping coupons & also lists companies offering free shipping as well.

Enjoy!

…the price was $2.399.

After reading this in Fortune Magazine:

“The oil giant racked up $39.5 billion in earnings last year, the largest-ever profit in U.S. history.”  (complete information)

It feels like in the last month or two — President Bush called his boys and said “Okay, guys, take it easy, you’re going to have stop gougin’ at least ’til I’m outta office”…

How do you feel about how high gas prices got, and how they’ve come down over 40% in the last month?

…and now, for whatever reason, my body & mind say take action.

The seed was planted after I read the Four Hour Work Week over a year ago, and I think about it at least once a day –

I need to simplify my life.

I’m done with the responsibility of having things, I’m going to have what’s necessary and no more.

Tim Ferriss, author of the Four Hour Work Week, talks of a life where he sold practically all of his personal belongings and toured the world — and how incredibly liberating it was:

• not being tied to stuff,
• not having to worry about stuff,
• not being liable for stuff,
• reducing responsibilities,
• reducing expenses, and
• enjoying the world!

He states, and I agree, that we use 20% of the the stuff we own (it’s the 80/20 rule in action) — I definitely use 20% of the clothes I own, I play 20% of the video games I own, etc.

In the small changes I’ve successfully made in the last year toward the goal of stuff reduction AND the international travels we’ve taken, I see his points — and I’m committed…

• I want us to have one car,
• I want to bike, or walk, to work (we’re in the process of securing an office easily within biking/walking distance),
• I want to get rid of additional responsibilities such as my boat (don’t worry, if you come to Florida, our good friends at BayWater Boat Rentals will hook us up!)

With all of that in mind — my stuff is for sale!

My Caddie:

2005 Cadillac STS – Fully Loaded (details)

and my boat:

2001 23′ SeaRay Bowrider (details)

My Grandpa (and Dad) taught me from day one to maintain what you have, so the Caddie & Boat have had all of their maintenance when they were supposed to — and function great.

If you know anyone looking for a luxury car or nice boat, feel free to forward this along!

In the meantime, I’m reviewing everything I don’t need and using the power of the Internet to reduce & enjoy.

If you’ve got thoughts on this topic, please leave a comment below.  From the discussions I’ve had, I’m finding I’m not the only one who feels this way …

If you’re really looking to save money, and explore the world — Home Swapping may be for you.

Here’s a few web sites that were recently recommended from Budget Travel (one of our favorite travel magazines):

Digsville.com Members can rate each other’s homes after a swap. $45/year

Intervacus.com Specializes in listings of homes overseas. $95/year

Homeexchange.com Guarantees members will find a swap partner, or they get a year for free. $100/year

Homelink-usa.com Updates its database daily to ensure only current members are listed. $110/year ]]> http://www.charly2.com/thinking-of-home-swapping/feed/ 0 http://www.charly2.com/save-on-your-insurance/ http://www.charly2.com/save-on-your-insurance/#comments Sat, 11 Oct 2008 03:47:24 +0000 charly2 http://www.charly2.com/?p=6

One thing that’s certain with today’s economy, everyone is thinking about money…

Over the last 6 months, I’ve been on a mission to review and reduce all expenses, both personally, and for my business.  I aim for 10%, but usually get 20% to 35%.

It’s been very rewarding!

On a side note, I’ve found it interesting that many people don’t seem to make the connection that:

• Saving money,
• Making more money, and
• Spending less money

all go hand-in-hand, putting more money in your wallet.

A few days ago I e-mailed my car & boat insurance representative to recalculate my insurance rates — aiming to reduce them 10% (my latest insurance premium arrived 10% higher than the previous term).

My request was simple.

After bringing my boat policy down about 6%, and essentially ignoring my auto-policy request — I pressed for a second time to do whatever it took to reduce my auto policy 10%, the response I received was:

“I have a new auto program the first of the year.
[We'll] get back with you then if it is ok.”

This answer was completely unacceptable.

With the power of the Web, I decided to take into my own hands…

I’m incredibly happy I did — check this out!

Within 10 minutes, I had created my own quote on Progressive’s web site, and here’s the results:

2 Cars (Semi-Annual Term, Same Coverage):

• Allstate Policy:  $ 1,256.82/semi-annual
• Progressive Policy: $ 588.83/semi-anual

Total Savings: $1335.98 per year!

1 Boat (Annual Term):

• Old Allstate Policy: $524.04/year
• New Progressive Policy: $288/year

Total Savings: $236.04 per year

So that’s that.  I’m a Progressive customer, and enjoying the savings.

Want to get started?

Visit Progressive.com — you might be amazed, like I was, on how it knows the cars you have based on your mailing address.

Have you been doing things to save money?  Please share them by commenting below!