Money Tips Network

If you're planning a road trip or flying somewhere, booking a car rental may top your list of things to do. But while you may need a set of wheels when you're away, the daily cost of a car rental can add up quickly and eat into your vacation budget. (See also: How to Budget and Track Expenses for Your Vacation)

There is no such thing as a free car rental. But with these simple tricks, you can snag a car rental for less.

1. Rent From a Smaller Company

Big-name car rental companies, such as Hertz and Enterprise, may have earned your trust over the years. But like most things we buy, certain names come with a bigger price tag.

The professional association to which I belong meets the second Tuesday of the month. Afterward, many of the members in attendance hit a nearby Italian bistro for a buy-your-own dinner.

Last week, I exited for home alongside another long-time association member, George, who had a train to catch. I asked if he’d commuted downtown just for the meeting, and he said he hadn’t. “I had a meeting with a company down here earlier, and it looks like I’m picking up a new client,” he crowed.

Though hale and hearty, George is the very picture of a guy bearing down on that traditional retirement age of 65. I told him I admired him for being on the new business trail. And if you don’t mind my asking, I added, “How old are you?”

“I’m 76,” he responded.

Most people dread the need to call customer service. We hear countless horror stories about telephone runarounds or, on the other side of things, customers with unreasonable demands. But of course, there are customer service stories that do end well. (Right?)

What was your best customer service experience? What do you think is key to getting what you want — or resolving an issue to the customer's satisfaction? Have you had any truly terrible experiences?

Tell us about your best customer service experience and we'll enter you in a drawing to win a $20 Amazon Gift Card!

Win 1 of 3 $20 Amazon Gift Cards

We're doing three giveaways — here's how you can win!

This article is by staff writer April Dykman.

Experiences make us happier than “Stuff.”

That’s the current line of thinking, which quite a few studies support. Here’s an example from Livescience.com:

If you’re trying to buy happiness, you’d be better off putting your money toward a tropical island getaway than a new computer…The results [of a Cornell University study] show that people’s satisfaction with their life-experience purchases — anything from seeing a movie to going on a vacation — tend to start out high and go up over time…The findings, based on eight separate studies, agree with previous research showing that experience-related buys lead to more happiness for the consumer.

Money Magazine recently shared the top five money resolutions people have for 2014 as follows:

1. Simplify my finances

2. Save more for retirement

3. Pay down debt

4. Donate more to charity

5. Create and stick to a budget

Here's where I stand on these:

In Naked With Cash, seven anonymous Consumerism Commentary readers publicly track and analyze their finances on a monthly basis. For almost a decade, I tracked my own finances on Consumerism Commentary; now I’m sharing the benefits of public accountability with the participants. I’ve partnered with financial planners who will offer some guidance along the way. Read this introduction to learn more about the series.

Anonymous S is a 24-year-old engineer earning $67,000 a year plus bonus. He also builds websites on the side for an hourly fee of $20 to $35. Read his bio here. Anonymous S is on Team Roger, with Certified Financial Planner Roger Wohlner.

Kristin Wong

Since October, I’ve spent only about $25 a month on electricity. Impressive, eh? Well, maybe I shouldn’t toot my own horn quite so loudly. Because last summer, I spent an average of $130 a month on electricity. Since then I’ve made an effort to reduce my energy usage, and it looks like it paid off. [...]

Your electric bill: so much Billshit, so little time from personal finance blog Bargaineering.com.

This blog was posted by Kristin Wong

The following is the latest post in my "Reader Profiles" series. Each post in this series details the financial situation and challenges of an FMF reader. The purpose of this series is to help us all identify with people like us (in similar situations -- not all will be, of course, but eventually I'm sure you will find someone like you here), get to know the frequent commenters on the site, and hear some financial wisdom/challenges from people other than me.

If you're interested in contributing to this series, then drop me an email. The series seems to be very popular with readers and I need a steady stream of new ones to keep it going.

This post comes from Halina Matt at our partner site Zing.

It’s pretty much universally understood that the first thing on everyone’s mind midwinter is vacation. Whether it’s due to cold-weather blues or holiday hangover, packing up your bags and getting far, far away for a little while can be very tempting during the frigid months. If this sounds familiar, you’re in luck. Booking travel between mid-January and mid-February can often mean big savings.