Travel for cheap this summer

I'm obsessed with the Travel Channel. For the last three months, I've lived vicariously through Anthony Bourdain and Samantha Brown, following them around as they traipse to the far reaches of the earth in search of the best foods and cultures.

What's recently began happening, though, is I'll flip through my DVR (chalk full of Travel Channel shows at the moment), settle in excitedly to watch Anthony immerse himself in Provence, and an hour later I'll be whimsically depressed, cursing the day I ever decided to not be a host for a Travel Channel show. (Not like that was ever a clear-cut option, but you get the point.)

These days my budget doesn't allot for the wayward three-day weekend in Spain, or the month-long vacation-on-a-whim in the heart of Tuscany, but if I tone down my excessive tastes, I may yet be able to squeeze in a trip or two this year. Women's Day recently published a fabulous article, "Can You Afford to Go on Vacation", that has excellent pointers in planning a vacation on a budget. Among my favorite tips:

• Stay close to home and still have a great time (plus save on travel expenses) by opting for a summer getaway that you can reach with one tank of gas or less. Check out TripAdvisor.com/TankOfGas for destination options, then research sights and activities online. If a local bed-and-breakfast stay is on your agenda, look for one that’s part of the Free Gas promotion: Guests get a gas rebate or a gas card for refueling. Find participating B&Bs under “Special Packages” at BedandBreakfast.com.
• “It’s usually cheaper for families to rent a vacation home for a week than to spend seven nights in a hotel,” Gregory Karp, author of Living Rich by Spending Smart, tells WD. “You’ll get more space for the money and will save on food by cooking meals.” Go to HomeAway.com, VacationHomes.com or VacationHomeRentals.com
• Trading houses with another vacationing family is a growing trend. To make it work, take precautions: Get references. Agree on house rules. Have several phone chats to make sure you’re comfortable with them. Request home photos or videos. Lock valuables in a safe, or leave them with a friend. Have a neighbor check your home while you’re away. Learn more at HomeExchange.com.

Remember what happened in The Holiday? Yeah, that could be you. Hopefully Jude Law would somehow be a part of that package, too.

For the complete article and to learn more frugal travel tips, visit WomensDay.com.

Gas, once again, on the rise

Gas is nearing $2 per gallon -- again.

After the horribly high prices to fill up our Hyundai last summer, I didn't think gas would ever decrease in price again. (Yes, we drive a Hyundai. Thankfully, I had left my SUV back in California.) After all, if people (albeit a smaller amount) were willing to shell out over $4 per gallon, why would gas prices ever drop again? Well, then the whole demand issue came in to play, prices came down, we wiped the stress-induced sweat from our brow and happily drove our Hyundai at half the price.

But gas prices have reversed their downward-to-flat course and are now creeping back up toward $2. It always seems like when you least expect it, you're shelling out $40+ dollars at the pump and lamenting about the "good old days" when gas was only $1.50. Now is an even worse time for these lamentations, what with more people laid off than in recent history and struggling to save what little they can from unemployment.

So will the prices continue to climb? This time of year is generally when oil refineries perform maintenance on their plants, so we should take that into account, as they need to cover their costs, but as gas prices are rising, the price of a barrel of crude oil is sinking -- to the recent tune of about $35/barrel. Why the disparity?

"I think what you're seeing now is a backlash of a period, from the end of the summer until the end of the year, when refiners were selling gas into the consumer market at a discount to crude oil," Ben Brockwell, director of data pricing for OPUS, told CNNMoney.

Brockwell said refineries lost money last year, despite the surge in gas prices. The refineries in the latter half of 2008 were paying top dollar for oil, and then producing gasoline in a low-demand economy, he said. Now, refineries are producing less, driving up prices in even this low-demand economy, while stockpiling discount oil, he said.

The good news is that gas prices probably won't rise to the heights they saw last summer, the bad news is those extra few dollars to funnel into your tank will need to be accounted for in your budget. Here's to cleaner energy.

Hype over the hybrid

Let's get one thing straight: I love our planet. I like clean air and I don't want to die some slow, painful death, choking on thick carbon fumes that lay blanketed within our atmosphere.

And so it's in this way that I have no problem with hybrid cars. Okay, I may have a couple problems with the whole affair -- such as the body design of the Prius (ick), and the fact that the production and recycling of hybrid batteries is rumored to be wretched for the environment. Yet, all in all, I think the idea of hybrid cars is great.

But I've recently heard many people proudly brag about how much money they're saving by driving a hybrid vehicle. These staunch purveyors of a greener tomorrow may feel like they're saving behind the wheel of one of these bad boys, but are they really? What is the total cost of ownership of said hybrid versus an older, used car? I read somewhere the other day that the price of gas has risen 250% in the last 10 years! Obviously any savvy saver would want to lessen gas' rising blow to the wallet, but environmental impact aside (this is a personal finance blog, after all, and not a green one!), how much do you truly save by shunning the automobiles of yesterday in favor of sleek new hybrids that purr down the freeway at 45 mpg?

Well first you have to look at the actual costs of the vehicles themselves. While hybrids tend to hold their value better than their gas-guzzling brethren, the initial cost of the hybrid is pretty high (think in the upper $20,000s). And that doesn't include all the interest that you'll have to pay back on the large car loan you'd have to take out. For comparison's sake, Love and I spent about $4,000 cash (including taxes) on our 2000 Hyundai Accent that gets about 30 mpg. In a nutshell, the longer you hold on to your hybrid, the more money you recoup on the overall cost of the car in the first place.

And so, chickadees, if you're in the mood to hop on the hybrid boat, consider how long you plan to hold on to your eco vessel. Many people I know tend to hold on to their cars for about 5 to 6 years, which doesn't necessarily recoup all the money you plopped down for the price of the auto in the first place. This problem is magnified by reports that the gas mileage posted by the EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) on many hybrids is more inflated than what it truly is. The New York Times, Wired Magazine, and Consumer Reports, among others, have said that hybrid mileage is actually 30% to 50% lower than what's generally promised, and to add metaphorical fuel to the fire, it's been reported by these same outlets that many hybrid versions of cars get almost the same mileage as their purely gasoline-sipping counterparts.

So a bit of false advertising may be the culprit, but as I said earlier, hybrids do tend to hold their value well, so even if you don't recoup the overall cost in the form of gas, at least you can take a smaller loss on the vehicle once you're ready to bid adieu.

But what is the real cost versus benefit? Let's say you're trying to decide whether to buy a new Honda Civic hybrid (sticker price: $26,000), or a used 2001 Honda Civic (about $7,000). You're okay with the high cost of the hybrid because you're sure you'll be able to justify it with all that gas money you'll be saving, right? Well if you drove 12,000 miles per year on $4 per gallon gas (the current national average), you'd pay about $88 per month in gas driving the 45-mpg hybrid. With the standard Civic you'd pay about $114 per month in gas. This all sounds fabulous until you realize that you just spent an extra $18,600 on the hybrid model to save you $312 per year on gas. In order to recoup the total cost of the hybrid in gas savings would take you about 59 years to justify the purchase. I don't know about you, but I like my cars like I like my heels -- meaning I get my use out of them and move on after a few years. (With the exception of this marvelous pair of Coach heels I own. I'd keep those for 59 years, but that's a different matter). Don't forget if you do decide to keep your hybrid that long, about every 10 years you'd also need to replace the battery, which I imagine would get pretty costly.

Air conditioning can also take its toll on the fuel economy of a hybrid vehicle, decreasing miles per gallon by 15% to 27%, according to the Idaho National Labroatory, operated under the Department of Energy.

Aside from the intrinsic resale value of hybrids (that is, until fully electric cars make their debut, which shouldn't be too far off on the horizon), there are also other perks that can save you money by investing in a green goliath. Some credit lenders offer special car loan rates for hybrid purchasers, and insurance companies such as Geico say they offer discounted car insurance. There was a time when the federal government was also offering savvy tax credits of up to $3,400 for hybrids, but unfortunately that only pertained to the first 60,000 of them made (i.e., Toyota and Honda buyers don't get the credit).

In the grand scheme of budgeters, though, recycling is always a good idea ... in many cases it can save you loads of money. Say one of your friends subscribes to Vogue and passes each issue on to you when she's finished. That saves you about $5 in newsstand charges to get your read recycled, right? Well the same logic applies to cars. Instead of buying a brand new car (hybrid or not) fresh off a factory line in a polluted area like Guangdong, buying a small used vehicle will not only ensure that its overall environmental footprint is lessened, it will also ensure that you'll be saving more money in the long run by buying a car with a cheaper upfront cost and comparable mpg.

I know many don't solely analyze the issue on a cost versus benefit basis alone. In fact many buy hybrids purely for the environmental benefits, which is great. But remember that just because you may feel like you are saving money, says Mark Shead at Productivity501.com, it may not always mean you are saving money. "Feelings are what marketing is about. What really matters is if you are saving money. Recognize that how you feel about something is probably a poor indication of its actual benefit."

Baby, you can drive my car

With gas prices up $4 a gallon, what's a girl-on-the-go to do? First off, kiss those $1.50-a-gallon days aurevoir, because they are never coming back. 

Now that we've taken a sip of that reality, have you planned how you will accomodate the dramatic increase? Back home I had two cars: a Land Rover and a Miata (since moving out here, my parents have sold the Miata, boo!). Now that I've come to grips with how I'll miss toodling around town in my Miata (I'm a convertible kind of gal), I'm left with the CA option of the Land Rover, a 2-ton behemoth that drinks about $100+ per fill and gets 13 miles to the gallon. 

We all know the obvious ways of saving on gas, such as carpooling, or walking when a car isn't needed. (Us fashionistas have been guilty on more than one occasion of opting to drive across a shopping center parking lot instead of walk because we've been in stilettos all day.) But what about not-so-obvious gas-saving ways? For instance, did you know that by leaving your windows open while speeding down the freeway, you reduce your gas mileage by 10% because of the air drag? To break that down in dollar signs, if it costs you $60 to fill your gas tank now, that would be $6 you literally throw out the window! To be a Brunette on a Budget is to drive on a budget, too, so try these tricks next time you're at the wheel to get the most out of your gas tank:

• In this day and age, there is no need to allow your engine to warm up. Cars in the last couple of decades have been built to run shortly after they're started.
• Try to consolidate how many stops you make when you're out and about. Stopping and starting the engine continually is a dreadful waste.
• Yes, the car next to you at the light may look like it wants to race, as it revs its engine, but this isn't Meet the Parents, and in the end, you'll have the last laugh when the light hits green and they blast off with their pedal to the medal. Both engine revving and "jack-rabbit starts" are sure fire ways to drain your wallet. For all you smooth operators out there, remember to accelerate slowly from a dead stop and don't press the pedal down more than 1/4 of the distance between it and the floor.
• Believe it or not, what time of day you buy your gas can affect how much you spend. When you buy gas during the coolest time of the day (either in the early morning or late evening), you'll be buying it when it's at its densest; because pumps measures volumes (and not densities), you'll be getting more for your money.
• If you see a hill coming up, step on it sistah! You save gas by accelerating before you're on the hill rather than when you're climbing it.
• If you're one of those drivers who fancies huge, deep tread tires on your vehicle, beware! Not only is it lacking in lady-like demeanor, but the deep tread creates a sure-fire way of wasting gas.
• The faster you drive, the more gas you burn. I've heard that driving above 40 mph forces your ride to overcome much wind resistance. Of course, we can't always drive 40 mph everywhere, but remember this gem when you're going 60, 70, or even 80 mph. Driving 55 mph, for instance, saves you 21% in mileage over going 65 to 75 mph. (If you're going to follow this rule, though, please drive in the far right lane -- no one likes a slowpoke!)
• While you're driving, rest your perfectly pedicured tootsies on the ground, not the pedals! Apparently even the slightest amount of pressure puts a mechanical drag on your car's inner workings, which not only wears them down, but demands more fuel usage overall.
• Why take the rough road when you can take the smooth one? Dirt and gravel roads steal away as much as 30% of your mileage. Stylish girls should never be driving on dirt back roads, anyway.
• If it's been days since you cleaned out your trunk last, now is the perfect time to start. Nix any old rubbish in back, since extra weight wastes gas, especially when driving up hills. I have to admit I'm guilty of this. My trunk is replete with a random Emeril Lagassi 40-lb CAST-IRON SKILLET (it was a wedding present; I love making fajitas!), along with pairs shoes and heavy car tools Love uses for fixing our ride.

Moral of the story is gas is on it's way up, kiddies, so buckle up and save smartly!

A pain in the pump

As I'm sure you're well aware of, crude oil prices are on an ever-rising ascent with no drop in sight, which means gas is quickly becoming a pain in the pump. Forget being offered coupons these days: with the average price of gas across the country rising to rest slightly above $4 per gallon today, it looks like oil is becoming the new currency -- in the form of gas cards -- that companies are using to lure consumers into their web.

Hotels.com is rewarding guests who book a minimum three nights through them with a $50 gas card; many smaller banks are offering the same deal to customers opening checking accounts with them. Is golf your thing? If you buy certain drivers from Callaway Golf Co., it's likely that you'll be rewarded with a $100 gas card for choosing them. "Free gas" is becoming the new benchmark for giveaway goodies that companies, well, give away.

I'm all for it! With all the talk of hybrid cars and their ilk, most of the country (including my Hyundai) runs on good old-fashioned gasoline, so when companies offer to essentially fill up for you, I say lap up the offers -- but with one caveat.

Don't get lured into buying more than you normally spend just because your purchase comes with something "free." It's an easy trap to fall into, but just ask yourself, as you're handing over your check card or cash, "Do I really need this? Or am I just buying it because it comes with perks?" Those incessant Borders Rewards coupons that continually flood my inbox are a perfect example of this mentality of buying. Do you really need that dvd box set of every season of Seinfeld right now, or are you just impulse-buying it because you've got a 30% off coupon in your back pocket? (By the way, try Amazon.com, I guarantee it's cheaper.)

That being said, if you are in the market for a new set of clubs, or need to find a hotel to stay in, let the wooing of the free gas cards begin! If you have to spend the money, you may as well earn some back -- especially when these offers probably won't be around for the long term. According to Carnegie Mellon University marketing professor Baohong Sun, the free gas card trend should fade by the end of summer.