Couch Surfing

If you like to travel but also need to save money, here's an idea for you.

Ever heard of couch surfing? For those of you who have never heard of it, it’s a social media website revolved around travel. The idea is that you can “surf” around the world on people’s couches. It is a free way to meet people and travel at the same time.

Users create profiles on couchsurfing.org. You find a place that you are attempting to travel to, and then find users who are in that area offering up a couch to stay on. You contact the people via the website, and they let you stay with them for free.

In return, you can offer up your couch to people traveling through, but you don’t have to. When you create your profile, you can choose from several options. You can state that you are not able to offer up your couch, or that you do have a free couch and welcome visitors. You can also say that you have an entire guest bedroom for visitors, or that you don’t have a place for people to stay but would enjoy showing visitors around for a few hours. There are many options available to suit individual needs. Nothing is forced, and you can always say no. You aren’t required to do anything.

I’m sure the first thing any rational person would be concerned about is safety. Safety is a huge concern for the Couch Surfing organization. Users can read reviews on other users, ensuring that the people aren’t serial killers. People are brutally honest in reviews that they write about visitors/hosts, because everyone wants to have enjoyable travels. Obviously, you wouldn’t stay with someone who has no reviews, only a few reviews, or negative reviews.  There are profiles, a reference system, a vouching system, and a verification system.  

Couch surfing is a worldwide activity. My brother has been able to travel all over America, and even in other countries, with free lodging. He even traveled to Oregon over the summer with his wife and baby, and the entire family couch surfed the whole way there. It saved a ton of money in hotels, and also allowed them to make friends along the way.

For more information, visit couchsurfing.org

Netflix!!

Another way that I have learned to save significant amounts of money is through television. For those of you that live in your own house and are unable to access Taylor’s cable channels, you are very aware that the luxury of TV is quite expensive for the college wallet. Most internet/TV packages are at a minimum $80 a month. We were able to get a really good deal on internet by itself, so we did not need a combo package. Cable alone was so expensive that we were not able to afford it. In addition, there were so many start up fees and deposits and buying the actual box that also added up to an outrageous cost. My roommate had no desire for cable anyways, so I would have had to pay for it all by myself. We also would have had to sign up for a 2 year agreement, which is unnecessary for college seniors.

So how do I watch TV? I use Netflix. Netflix offers thousands of movies and TV episodes for $8 a month. Entire seasons of hundreds of shows are instantly available, anytime. The movie selection is so large that I’ve never been bored with the selection. Netflix is also constantly adding new shows and movies to their selection, so you will never grow tired of your options. My friends and I go through entire shows, starting with Season 1 Episode 1, ending with the finale.

I have my Wii hooked up to my TV, which streams from Netflix. I can also access it on my iPhone or from my computer. Anytime, anywhere.

Also, Netflix works on a login basis in order to access one’s account, so several of my friends and I share login information. Which means, accessing Netflix for less than $8 a month, depending on how many ways you split it.

There are no start-up fees. You can move houses or travel around and still have access to it without having to deal with an annoying cable company.

Granted, you won’t get to see the newest episodes of “Keeping up with the Kardashians” or watch Fox 5 News each morning. But if you are mainly interested in movies and already released TV Box Sets, Netflix might be for you.

You can sign up for a one month free trial at Netflix.com

How to save money: Marion movie theater vs. Muncie movie theater

One of the first things I noticed when I came to Taylor was that in order to go to a “town”, students had two main options: Marion and Muncie. The more time I have spent at Taylor, the more I have been able to distinguish differences between the two places.

My friends and I love to go see movies. Whenever we decide to go to a movie theater, we choose between Marion and Muncie. We usually look up movie times and see which theater is playing the selected movie at the more convenient time, and that is the basis for our decision.

Last time I went to the Marion theater, though, I learned something that will affect the rest of my movie theater decisions.

The AMC Theater in Marion has ticket pricing deals that are wayyy cheaper than in Muncie. Their matinees are $4 on Monday-Thursday before 6 pm. After 6pm, tickets are $6.  On weekends, movies are $8.

In Muncie, tickets are $10, and then more on the weekends, and even more if it is a 3-D movie.

So, if you go see movies on weekdays in Marion, you can save over $4 a ticket.

There are also several more pricing deals that the AMC Marion theater offers, which can be seen at http://www.amctheatres.com/Marion/. 

Save Money. Fly Standby.

I’m from Georgia, so when I want to go home for school breaks, I fly. It’s almost a 12 hour car ride…no thanks. Sometimes, I can find flights for around $100, but usually it ends up costing almost $200 per ticket. This gets pretty expensive flying back and forth for Fall Break, Thanksgiving Break, Christmas Break, Spring Break and Easter Break.

This doesn’t even include the price for airport parking of $11 a day while I’m home.

Point being, it gets pretty expensive.

I discovered something this summer that is going to save an incredible amount of money this year.

If you are a student between 18-22 years old, Airtran offers standby flights for $60-$70.

Here’s all you have to do:

1. Browse online and find a flight that you would like to be on.

2. Go to the airport and purchase a “standby” ticket at the ticket counter.

3. Go to the departure gate and tell the attendant that you are flying standby and that you are there.

4. Sit down and wait at the gate, and after everyone else has boarded the plane, they will let you on if there is an empty seat left.

5. If, for some reason, the plane is full and they do not let you on, continue to wait and they will do the same for the next flight.

I extremely weary of the whole “flying standby” concept and had no interest in it. Over the summer, my boyfriend bought me plane tickets to fly to Detroit to visit him. He purchased standby tickets, so I was forced to fly standby. I was super nervous at first. There were several other college students who were also flying standby, and we all made it onto the plane. They told me that they always fly standby and that they have always been able to get on the first flight they tried.

Both of my flights to and from Detroit went very smoothly and were only $65! After flying standby, I looked back at all the plane tickets I’ve purchased since I was 18 and am sick thinking about how much money I could have saved.

I was about to purchase my fall break plane tickets, and saw that round trip tickets will cost a little over $500. I decided to not purchase tickets and will be flying standby again.

Obviously, there is risk involved; you may not make your desired flight. But if you are not on a strict schedule where you need to pay extra for the security of the flight, flying standby is a great option that saves hundreds of dollars on flights.

Visit AirtranU.com for more information