We Need to Find More Ways to Spend Our Money

Tired of rising gas prices? I'd like to see a story where someone is gushing over paying nearly $4 at the pump. I want to see Mom's on CNN talking about how they can't find enough ways to spend their money. I want to see Careerists talking about how they need to cut back their schedule so they can go out and spend their hoard of money on expensive clothes and food. I want to see them buy a lobster and steak dinner with a lobster martini and then throw it away when it's not buttered enough.

Sorry. I just love how every story across the news wires now starts with "Tired of rising gas prices? Are you suffering at the pump? The gas and mortgage and food inflation crisis got you down in the mouth?"

So if you're feeling it at the pump, this travel alert won't help too much. Unless you already live around Europe and Britain. Reading this does make me wonder if train travel in the US has a shot at coming back. Not that it was ever thriving. But we use to take the train from NYC to Philly all the time before the prices rose to nearly $40 each way, per person. Then we tried the Chinatown to Chinatown bus. Then we decided we weren't sadists, so we just stuck to driving the old-fashioned, expensive, jaw-droppingly expensive way. Recessions are fun!

We're all escaping the pump... (cue scary horror movie music)

LONDON, ENGLAND-- Planning to spend time traveling around Europe and Britain? The Eurail Pass is the time-honored way for young people to traipse the length and breadth of Europe, but it is not valid in Great Britain. ACP Rail and BritRail are offering Youths (aged 16-25) who purchase any Eurail Pass, a 50% discount off the adult price of a standard class BritRail Consecutive Pass, BritRail FlexiPass, BritRail England Consecutive Pass or BritRail England FlexiPass.

The discount offer is valid throughout 2008. Once you have purchased your Eurail pass from an authorized agent, log onto www.BritRail.com and choose the "Eurail Pass" tab under "select BritRail Passes." The Eurail and BritRail Passes must both be in your possession at the time you travel in Britain and they must both be valid for travel, but you need not use a day of travel on your Eurail Pass to complete your journey in Britain.

BritRail Passes are available for as few as 4 days of travel through to a month, so the time you spend touring Britain is entirely up to you. 19,000 daily train departures to more than 2500 destinations make the BritRail Pass your passport to Britain's heritage cities, historic towns and quaint villages.

In addition to being comfortable and efficient, train travel is 'green': Trains emit 50% less Green House gases per passenger kilometer than cars; 25% of the gases compared to a plane traveling the same distance. The energy replaced by Regenerative Braking is enough to provide power to 11,825 homes for a year or to brew 2.6 billion cups of tea.

So traveling by train is definitely the best way to see Europe and Britain. It's quick, comfortable and environmentally friendly. With the Eurail Pass holder 50% discount for Youths, the 'all-access' standard class 4 Day BritRail Consecutive Pass costs EUR 92 / $145AU / Y15000 / $130US; the FlexiPass version is EUR 116 / $184AU / Y19000 / $165US. The discounted cost for a 4 Day BritRail England Consecutive Pass is just EUR 74 / $116AU / Y12000 / $105US; the FlexiPass version is EUR 93 / $147AU / Y15200 / $133US. This offer is not valid for residents of Britain or Europe. For more information or to purchase, please visit www.BritRail.com.

Jump on the Frugal Bandwagon

This morning I logged onto CNN for my morning news and was startled to realize headlines about families, single parents, and the country at large are all competing with headlines about war, celebutrash, and breaking news. Usually about the latest in sport scandals.

Although frugality and gas spikes and mortgage crisis all go hand in hand, it really just hit me this morning that the entire country is nervously waiting for their own private economy to implode on itself. While I understand frugality and worries are all very real, it's interesting how the news depicts it all. Ladies are skipping their monthly salon appointments, families are clipping coupons, and people are switching to cloth napkins!!! The news somehow wants to make it into a stunning and compelling news piece. Instead, I'm finding delight in learning new ways to be frugal.

I've always been frugal at heart, though some people confuse that with being cheap. I'm frugal and will find a way to save even $5 from my bills, but I'll also find a way to fund a European vacation. I make travel a priority (not above paying bills and eating), and I find ways to scrimp on both my travel bills and daily life to make that a reality. Frugality is also an outlet for creativity, in my opinion. I love figuring out what's free and cheap and take pride in knowing what a great value I've gotten in my chosen activity or purchase.

So with all this in mind, I was dreading lugging myself up to my favorite Brooklyn bodega and buying a $15 bottle of economy sized Tide just to lug back to the apartment along with our groceries. Perhaps it was out of sheer laziness, but I decided to find out how to make my own detergent. Surely it would be cheaper, and less heavy, than name brands like Tide.

Seems like everyone else on the Internet has the same idea, especially those with children and loads upon loads of weekly laundry. Here's the homemade laundry detergent recipe I selected:

Homemade Laundry Detergent:

1 Cup Grated Fels Naptha Soap
1/2 Cup Washing Soda
1/2 Cup Borax

I wasn't sure what the hell Fels Naptha Soap was, but I got the idea I needed laundry bar soap. I settled instead on a body soap called Pure and Natural, hypoallergenic, dermatologist tested, and $1.00 for three bars. Score. Worried I'd end up with a crazy suds-out batch of laundry, I again asked google if regular bath soap was okay. Google said it depended on who was writing about the laundry recipe. Some insisted on laundry bar soap, but I found plenty of novice laundry detergent makers out there that suggest the likes of Lever 2000. I figured I was safe.

Borax was surprisingly easy to find, as well as Arm and Hammer Washing Soda. Not much is easy to find in Brooklyn including the Kraft pasta kit my Mom always used, normal salad dressing, or brand names other than Utz. So I was wildly impressed I wouldn't have to hit up 3 or 4 stores to find what I needed. In any case, make sure you select the washing soda from the detergent aisle at your store and not regular baking soda. Otherwise you'll have a mess on your hands.

Next, I cleaned out an old bottle of Tide (with memories of lugging it down the street just a few months prior), ready to make my detergent with the suggested 2 to 5 gallons of hot water. But then I saw how goopy the online recipes looked, half-gel, half-powder, and completely like being slimed circa Ghostbusters. (But not Ghostbusters III, I really didn't care much for that one).

I then realized I could just opt for homemade powdered detergent instead, which seemed much less of a hassle and mess to me. So I got out my blender and threw in the bar of soap, which grated with ease. I then mixed in the Washing Soap and Borax, but by then the blender was so gooped up with shredded soap, it did nothing but buzzed angrily at me. Most recipes call for use of a real food processor, but I live in Brooklyn with limited counter space and I'm not up for spending money on a food processor to make my own laundry detergent.

I poured the mixture into a large zip lock bag and sort of jiggled it around so everything would mix together after my blender went dumb. I then had the foresight to write Laundry Detergent on it and 1 TBSP per Load. I know by the time I do laundry again, I'll have no idea what I'm doing. Either that or my hubster will dump in the whole bag and go to town on just one load, saving us nothing.

The verdict? Came out great. I really didn't notice much of a difference from the Tide I was using before. It didn't smell like anything at all, so next time I might drop in a touch of lavendar or lemon to the load to give it that Tide fresh scent we know and love. Next, I want to make my own fabric softener. That furry bear Snuggles is really getting on my nerves and a drain on my wallet.

The Breakdown:

Prep Time - 3 minutes, a marginal difference from just pouring a cup of Tide.

Use - 1 tablespoon per load (2 for heavily soiled loads) for approximately 35 loads total.

Cost - Approximately $7 upfront, but I can easily make about 9 more batches with the Borax and Washing Powder and spend about $2 for more soap. Overall, a projected cost of $.03 a load compared to Tide's $.35 a load.

Will doing $.03 loads of laundry enable me to pay for my Scotland trip this fall? No, but it'll save me lugging economy sized Tide around for a 1/3 of the cost, all while saving the environment. I say that's a day well spent.

You too can make your own detergent... and go to Scotland!

Ship Your Luggage, Skip the Airport Hassles

Growing up as the daughter of an airline pilot, I grew accustomed to living out of exactly one suitcase while traveling. As a result of flying stand-by and never knowing if we would get on a flight, we were never allowed to check baggage. Nor did I ever want to. The thought of being separated from my Strawberry Shortcake suitcase, lost to the lords of baggage mishaps, was really just too much to bear.

These days, I rarely fly stand-by anymore since I got kicked out of the system of being a dependent of an employee. Now my stand-by status is the equivalent of winning the lottery when you're dead broke. Slim and stressful. And while I don't enjoy lugging my suitcase through airports and connections, I enjoy checking my bag even less. By the time I've reached my destination, the last thing I want to do is wait in line, praying my bag has arrived, hoping it's not damaged, and tacking on an extra 30 minutes to an hour on my journey.

Just looking for my boxers...

The rest of the world seems to feel the same way these days. Traveling with anything except a change of underwear is hardly worth the effort of TSA screenings, pat-downs, losing expensive luggage, airport extra-luggage fees, and those dreaded quart sized bags. The travel industry has taken notice and developed luggage shipping services including Luggage Free and Luggage Forward.

Customers pack up their gear and shipping labels are mailed to them and a two to four hour window for a pick-up time is scheduled. Bags being shipped to or from a hotel are easily arranged by the concierge service. Larger luxury items including skis, bicycles, and golf clubs can also be shipped.

Of course every service has its price and Luggage Free runs about $4.15 per pound with delivery by 3:00pm for 1 day service. With a little advanced planning, 5-day service runs as little as $1.65 a pound with delivery by 7pm. Thus a 30 pound suitcase will run about $49.50 to ship for one-way, 5 day service.

But mailing luggage isn't a new idea. Back in my video editing days, my boss frequently FedExed his clothes and toiletries on business trips right to the hotel. He would write it off as a business expense and enjoy the airport without the hassle of luggage. But unlike going straight to FedEx or UPS yourself, services like Luggage Free do all the prepping of your bag, wrapping it, delivering it to the vendor, provide door to door service and are insured for up to $1,000, with unlimited additional coverage available.

So just how often do travelers lose their luggage and suffer checked-bag mishaps? In 2007, the Department of Transportation discovered that the airline industry misplaced 7 bags for every 1,000 passengers. And all those millions of bags often end up in a sea of lost items at the Unclaimed Luggage Center in Scottsboro, Alabama....


Watch a fideo on frustrated travelers look for lost luggage in Wisconsin...