It’s easy to see all the big ticket items and make sacrifices but, more often than not, it’s all the little things that add up to take us over our budgets. So everyone sees the car sitting out front and decides not to trade in or downsize to something cheaper to run. Days may be spent searching round the local dealerships to find just the right set of wheels to last through the next year or more. Yet is the same time devoted to finding the best value auto insurance to go with it? Sadly, the majority spend only a few minutes to renew a policy with the current insurance company or use one of the online search engines to find a “cheap” policy. Shopping around to find the best value insurance is guaranteed to save money. Even if you do nothing more than raise the deductible, this has started the process. Now you should be looking at maximizing the discounts and bundling several policies together with the same company. Savings start around 10% when you place both auto and home cover with the same insurer.

Similarly, it’s easy to say that food on the table meets a need and you spend what it takes to keep the family from starvation. Except, of course, that’s an exaggeration. The majority of us eat a lot, and eating smaller portions is not only saving dollars, it’s also avoiding diabetes and heart disease. So the first question is where do we shop? Habit can take us to the same store every time. This can be costing us a lot of extra dollars. Shopping at local stores can save on gas but how do the prices compare? Look for stores where the grocery bill is always going to be cheaper overall. Then plan so that you can buy in quantity. If you prefer national brands, look for clip-out coupons or buy store brands or generics which are always cheaper. Never buy sale items unless you can store them or use them quickly.

It’s the same with clothes. It’s no longer cost-effective to work on a throwaway basis. Give up following fashion. Buy clothes of sufficient quality that will last and mix-and-match. You want a versatile wardrobe that makes a little go a long way. The other given is to avoid “false economies”. Often, you can buy something cheap only to find it falls to pieces after a week or so of everyday use. Buying quality is the best money saving tip for clothes. Now apply this general rule across the board. Plan ahead so you can always make the best value-for-money buy. That means spending a little time on the internet, searching out which brands give the biggest bang for the buck. Whatever you need to buy, there’s usually something of reasonable quality at a good price at a store near you. If you have to buy sight-unseen over the internet, always check the terms and conditions to make sure you can return the goods if they prove defective. Money saving through comparison shopping is the answer to budget control.

In days long ago, when we were footloose and fancy-free, we would all travel at the drop of a hat. Come the weekend or a holiday break, we would get in the car and drive somewhere different. When the cost of air travel dropped, flying somewhere warmer for a weekend break was normal. Airline routes crossed the world. Nowhere was too far away. One of the first mass market discounts was the so-called stand-by ticket. Because airlines can be left with seats unsold on the day of flight, they would sell the tickets at a reduced price to anyone who happened to be there.

Some money collected on an empty seat was better than no money. When word of this system spread, the young with a few dollars in their pockets would go and queue at airports, taking whatever flights were on offer just for the fun. For a while, this was under control and not too disruptive. But, as with anything involving money, it soon fell victim to a scam. People would buy full price open tickets for a particular route, nominating one date but able to change without penalty. On the day, they would queue early for a stand-by seat if they were in a good position in the queue, they would cancel their prebooked seats and, almost always, buy the seat at a discounted price. Later they would surrender the full-price tickets for cash. Because of this, stand-by tickets and the overbooking problems have disappeared.

So what are the foot loose to do today? The answer lies in number of online agencies that specialize in last-minute deals. There are two separate systems. One is left to the customer to react when time suddenly becomes available. The day’s offers are continuously refreshed and, depending on what time you hit the site, you may find some good offers left for the same or next day. The other system operates on a “club” system. When you sign up for membership, you get regular newsletters and special offers. Sometimes, the sale of charter tickets on a particular package have not gone well and the operator wants to fill places at discounted prices. Sometimes, a big group change their booking leaving multiple seats to be filled at short notice. However the opportunities arise, they offer great value opportunities.

If you are adventurous and enjoy travel to different places, often with a resort hotel at the other end, this is the thing for you. The cheap airfare tickets get you there, the rooms have been block-booked so you get a good rate on those too. So long as you have your passport, any necessary immunizations are up-to-date and you have the money, the world is yours. In fact, during the winter months, pensioners often spend a little of their cash on deals just like this when the weather is coldest. But, young or old, rich or poor, if you shop around, you are bound to find cheap airfare tickets available.

Let’s begin of with a few basics. All the airlines publish their fares. So, if you go to them directly, you know exactly how much you are going to be asked to pay. That said, there are “high” and “low” seasons where the volume of traffic rises and falls. Airlines do offer “sale” prices to maintain passenger volumes during the low seasons. Some increase their prices at the peak periods. Then you have the budget carriers. These offer basic carriage at a basic price. All this information is usually freely available and gives you the base price to work from. Then we come to the “special offers”. These are prices advertised in the local press or through the internet, promoting particular airlines or online ticket agents. They often invite you to use a code or keyword from the advert to “prove” your entitlement to the special price. The other source to identify are the “consolidators”. These businesses buy tickets in bulk from the airlines and so get discounts that allow them to pass on savings to their customers. In the US, consolidators tend to specialize in the international market. In Europe, consolidators sell tickets for all air flights both domestic and international.

Most people who are looking to travel are either on business or going on holiday. That means they will be in the market for a place to stay, a car rental and other elements that could make up a package. This gives you considerable freedom to negotiate. Start off with a hotel. Most sites that sell accommodation can be a little vague about pricing rooms. The best strategy is to get a quote, then telephone the hotel direct and find out what their best price is. For those on holiday, there are package deals and all-inclusive resorts. In the right climate, camping may be a good option, or you could try one of the home swap/exchange plans. And, for the sake of completeness, there are still one or two companies that use “ordinary travelers” as couriers. It’s hard to get on the lists but, if you like more random travel, this can be a cheap option.

So when you’re looking for cheap flight, particularly for international cheap flights, look beyond the price of the seat at all the other options for accommodation, car rental, travel insurance, and so on. You are looking for the best deal on the whole package. Identify the consolidators and start with them. They are most likely to have the cheap air flights advertised. Then it’s just a case of exploring how to pull everything together to save the most money. In fact, in it’s own right, it’s fun and, when you get to enjoy the end result, all the more satisfying.