Travel and Transportation Assistance

  • Travel
    Travel expands your horizons, opens your mind to new possibilities, exposes you to new cultures and greatly enhances your understanding of other people. There are plenty of opportunities for undergraduate students, graduate students, volunteers and others to travel abroad or get to know the many wonders of our own United States.
  • Transportation Assistance

    When getting from Point A to Point B becomes a challenge, there are many resources at your disposal. Whether its getting to school in rural areas, shopping for the Holidays inspite of a handicap, or simply getting around town, you can find help here.

 

Having a Good Time for Less

Updated by Adam on Thu, 12/18/2008 - 10:44pm
  • Visit your local library. Not only do they have books, magazines and newspapers for you to enjoy, but free videotape, free DVD rentals, and free internet access as well.
  • Borrow videos, DVD's, or video game consoles from a friend or relative. We all have at least one friend with one too many DVD's.
  • If you have kids, enjoy community theater productions, city festivals, or other local events. The church down the street may be hosting a production of Sleeping Beauty, at no cost or a reduced cost.  You can also attend a college play or concert. These are usually inexpensive.
  • If you like going to the movies, be sure to go to a matinee showing instead of the more expensive evening showings. Also, don't go there hungry, or you may be tempted to spend $8 on that Coke and popcorn combo. Bring your own canned sodas and boxed/bagged snacks. It's polite to put them in a backpack or purse. Most grocery stores sell the same candies for half as much and can fit easily and discreetly into your pocket or purse. Half-can (4oz) sodas are also great for this. Bringing in hot foods does not, however, work very well. Believe me, you don't want to deal with hotdogs in your purse. I have tried it and it was not pretty.Going to a park with the kids can be an excellent -and frugal- outing
  • Visit museums, botanical gardens, or other tourist attractions in your area. They are usually inexpensive to enter and children under a certain age are often free.
  • Visit a National Park. All kids under 15 can get in free. Seniors can get a discount of up to 50% off parking and use fees. It also gets up to 3 other adults in the same car into the park for free, so be sure to bring Grandma and Grandpa along.
  • Organize group pet walks, where you and your neighbors can appreciate the beauty of your town or city, socialize, and get some exercise all at the same time.
  • Organize monthly neighborhood potlucks and BBQ's. When everyone distributes the costs, the cost of a meal goes down considerably and you'll find you and your kids will have had a lot of fun.
  • Check your local newspaper for discount coupons to area attractions.
  • Consider a vacation close to home. By taking a one-day trip instead of an overnight trip, you won't have to pay for a hotel room. Pack your own snacks and drinks to save on food costs.
  • Consider dropping some cable programming or premium movie channels. Remember to look at the big picture: A savings of $10 a month will total $120 for the year.
  • The same goes for that internet package you pay for on your cell phone, but neve or hardly ever use. Dropping the internet package doesn't prevent you from accessing the internet with your phone, you just get billed for use instead. If you access the web from your phone for 5 minutes once a month, you won't notice a very large difference in your bill. On the other hand, text-message packages can save you money. Be sure to have a text message plan that covers your usual usage for the month.
  • Invest in a few board games. You can usually get games for a good price at Wal-mart or the local thrift store, though not all the pieces may be present if you buy a used game. Add a little spice to the game by throwing in extra "rules." For example, you could require everyone to do a push-up every time they land on a certain kind of spot or roll two of the same dice number, etc. For little kids, chase them around, like in the game of "Tag" (This will also hopefully tire them out so they sleep better at night!). Teaching a child to play Poker or Gin will also teach them to think carefully, slowly, and critically. Playing Scrabble builds everyone's vocabulary skills, especially when you play in a different language.