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Something for Nothing: Places to Go for Free

Everyone is struggling with the economy these days. We all want to cut back on our spending, but we still want to take in new things, to learn, and to expand our horizons. One of the easiest way to do this is to locate museums in your area that either offer free admission or have free days when you can view collections without paying an admission charge. This can be especially helpful when you have a large family and admissions really add up quickly.

Here are some places that you can go for free:

In Los Angeles: The California Science Center is located in Exposition Park outside of the downtown area. Its wide variety of exhibits on Ecosystems, the World of Life, and Air and Space will appeal to a broad variety of people. The best part is that the Center focuses on hands-on activities where kids can learn by doing. The permanent exhibits are free, though there is a charge for IMAX movies.

If art is more interesting to you, the Museum of Contemporary Art has free admission every Thursday from 5-8 p.m. You can enjoy viewing works by well-known artists of the abstract expressionist period, photography, and others. This is a fantastic place to explore your inner Jasper Johns, and you can stop by right after work.

In New York City: Nurture your future Project Runway competitor by taking him or her to the Museum at the Fashion Institute of Technology, which is always free. View exciting fashions from the Institute’s collection.

The Brooklyn Botanical Garden has free admission on Tuesdays, and also every weekday during the winter. There is a huge and diverse collection of plants that includes a Tropical Pavilion, a Bonsai Museum, and a Rose Garden. Some of these gardens are kept inside a conservatory and can be viewed at any time of year.

Be sure to seek out free opportunities in your area!

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Walt Disney World survival tips

For young families, Walt Disney World is the Mecca, the Nirvana, the Mount Olympus of all vacations. Unquestionably, you’ll find countless things to do, see and enjoy, no matter your age.

But there are ways to make sure your Disney World experience is maximized for fun. Here are some tips to help you get the most out of the mouse:

Plan to spend about 5 days at the resort. There are four theme parks, each as large as Disneyland in California, and two water parks. You can prioritize your time at each according to your family’s preferences. Hint: Epcot, with its international theme, may be more interesting for junior-high and older than for little ones.

Avoid big events after dark. Some outdoor performances occur two or three times a day. If you wait to see the last one, you’ll be fighting a moving crowd of tired, cranky tourists. Trying to keep track of small kids in this setting, in the dark, produces more anxiety than you need on a vacation.

Try to keep your nutrition reasonable. Splurging on a treat once (maybe twice) a day is de rigeur, but make sure your kids are getting plenty of real food for the bulk of their diet. Nothing ruins a day like a hyper crisis caused by a sugar high, followed by a temper tantrum due to the resulting blood sugar crash combined with sore feet.

Break up your days. Even the most magical of kingdoms is exhausting for more than a few hours at a time. Spend your mornings at a park; then return to your hotel room for a rest or a swim. The almost-daily rain showers that hit central Florida in the midafternoon provide a good excuse to grab a quick nap. Then go back with renewed energy and have more fun.

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Alternative Holiday Plans

When thinking about a holiday vacation the immediate notion might be to escape the cold and snow of winter head somewhere to soak up the sun. While that might work for some families, for travelers seek to stay within a reasonable budget flying during a peak travel season might cause more stress over prohibitive costs that provide people with an escape from reality.

For northerners seeking a holiday vacation the answer does not always have to be trading snow for sand. Plenty of affordable and fun vacations do not even require getting on a plane or driving for hundreds of miles.

Few movies have endured as long as Frank Capra’s It’s a Wonderful Life. Jimmy Stewart’s iconic performance put the city of Bedford Falls on the map”even if it does not exist. While Bedford Falls might be a fictional city, Seneca Falls, New York claims to be the”real Bedford Falls”. While it is impossible to say for certain that Seneca Falls served as the model for Capra’s fictional town there are many similarities that allow the New York town to serve as a reasonable stand in.

Seneca Falls holds an annual festival to celebrate the iconic movie and provide visitors with a slice of holiday Americana. Whether attending the lighting of the Christmas tree, the It’s a Wonderful Life look-a-like contest or just enjoying getting away, this off the beaten path holiday option provides a affordable option for families. The events even cater to children by providing a train ride and free pictures with Santa Claus.

While it might not be a Florida beach, Seneca Falls provides plenty of inexpensive entertainment coupled with a great deal of nostalgia. Snow falling on pine trees will seem refreshing during the dog days of summer. Instead of retreating to the tropics, enjoy an off the beaten path winter wonderland.

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PayDay One For the Holidays

If you may be coming up a little short for the holidays, you can make your kids happy by using PayDay One. With PayDay One you can put cash in your bank account as fast as the next day and all you have to do is complete an online or phone application and find out within seconds! As long as you have an e-mail account, a regular source of income or a job, are 18 years of age or older and are a United States citizen, you can get cash to pay bills, use on a trip or buy your kids gifts for the holidays.

Sometimes we all come up short of cash. With unexpected bills such as medical issues or auto repairs, you never know when you’ll need a bit more to make ends meet. With PayDay One you have a back up plan. We can’t all predict when we’ll need emergency cash and that’s the scary part. With a back up plan like PayDay One, you’ll know that cash is there when you need it the most and you don’t have to worry about how you’ll pay that unexpected bill. You may even just need a little more cash to make the holidays brighter; they are there for that, too. No one will ask why you need the cash and that in itself can be a little more comforting.

Since they’ve been around since 2002, you also don’t have to worry about some fly-by-night company that may not be in business when you need them. Another thing to consider is that once you have paid off your first loan you can borrow again if you need to. That way you always have your little back up plan in place for any kind of emergency or just a little extra cash on hand.

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Ways Stay At Home Moms Can Shop This Holiday Season Without Going Over Budget

With the holiday season coming up, it can be very tempting to shop the day away. It appears to the public that almost every store out there has some type of sale going on that just has to be taken advantage of right away. This makes the urge for stay at home moms to spoil their children even greater.

Even if you have the urge to shop at all these sales it can be hard for a stay at home mother to afford this holiday season. Most stay at home mothers in this economy are saving every penny they can so that it can go to childcare expenses, household bills or medical expenses.

If you are worried about going to these sales and blowing all the cash that you’ve saved up, you’ll be happy to know that there are various ways that you can shop without accidentally dipping into the household savings account.

Here are some of the ways that you can shop without going over budget.

Use Prepaid Credit Cards. Prepaid credit cards, like Vision Prepaid, allow shoppers to be able to put a set amount on a card. Then when it comes to shopping, you can only spend that amount. There is no way to go over and it allows a shopper to be able to control the amount of money that is spent while shopping.

Only Pay in Cash. One of the ways that shoppers get into trouble is they put everything on credit and don’t keep track of how much they are really spending. If you only pay in cash then you can keep an eye on the money that you are spending and just how much you have left. That way you can set an amount aside to spend and when that money is gone, the shopping stops.

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