Cheap Flights May Cost You More Than You Think

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Cheap Flights May Cost You More Than You Think

Who doesn’t want to get a flight for less? Unfortunately, you could end up paying a lot more than you expect for that rock bottom ticket. Here are a few things that can add up.

Baggage

Many airlines charge you for a second suitcase, but if you get your ticket super cheap, check that you actually get a suitcase included in the ticket price. Often, cheap flights will charge you for everything above a carry on.

Food

Meals aren’t necessarily provided on flights anymore and if you are flying cheap, don’t expect to be fed. Instead, bring along your own food or expect to pay some restaurant prices for low class airline food.

Taxes

The first price you see for a ticket might look great, but it doesn’t take much to double that with taxes. Unfortunately, not all deals will clue you in to the real price, taxes included.

Surcharges

Watch out for those tricky surcharges and fees. They can be for fuel or any number of other things, but it all has one end effect, higher prices.

Seat Selection

Want to decide where you are going to sit? That will probably cost you! More and more airlines are charging for the privilege of selecting your seats. If you’re traveling with a friend or family member and want to sit together, you may have to pay.

Deadly Car Rental Mistakes You Don’t Want to Make

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Deadly Car Rental Mistakes You Don’t Want to Make

Renting a car shouldn’t be a big deal, but if you’re not careful, it really can be. Car rental companies tend to be careful with their vehicles, but you still need to check the car out before you head out.

Everyone knows you need to check the vehicle for scratches and dents before you sign the papers, but did you know you should also check for safety features?

Lights: Make sure all the lights are working fine, including high and low beams, turn signals and fog lights. If any of these are out, it could cause an accident.

Seat belts: Check all the seat belts. Each one should pull out smoothly, clip into place and lock if the brakes are hit.

Gauges: All gauges should be working fine. Start the car up and idle it for a couple of minutes to make sure no dash lights come on and everything is normal.

Brakes: Test the brakes. While they should be carefully maintained, you never know what the exact schedule is. So test the brakes and make sure they let you stop abruptly if needed.

Mirrors: All mirrors should be completely adjustable. If they aren’t or if they are stuck, ask for help or request a different car. You need to see perfectly in order to drive safely.

Your safety shouldn’t be ignored just because you’re renting a car. Even though car rental companies tend to be careful about their maintenance, you should always check, just in case.

What No One Tells You About Online Loans

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What No One Tells You About Online Loans

No doubt you’ve heard of online loans before and you probably have a decent idea of how they work. You apply over the internet and find out if you’re accepted or not, then your money is sent to you. What you might not know is:

You will sign loan documents, just like you would at a payday loan office. This may be online, but your signature still counts, so defaulting on your loan is not an option.

Most online loans are short term. You may have to pay it back within a week or two, so double check the amount of time you have before your loan is due.

Loan fees depend on your state. Loan rates are determined by which state you live in, so it may change if you move.

APR can be through the roof, for good reason. Check out the APR on a simple online loan and you’ll find that it’s crazy high. Fortunately, there’s a good reason for that. Since you’re paying your loan back in just a short period of time, the amount is relatively low, but still allows the company to make some profit.

Whether you’re looking for a little something to keep you going or are in need of a business loan, going online might be your best option.

3 Secrets to Getting an MBA Online for Free

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3 Secrets to Getting an MBA Online for Free

Want a better education, but can’t afford the local university, much less the ones further abroad? This is a common problem with so many people working to pay the bills while attempting to gain a higher education. Fortunately, there are ways to get your MBA online for no cost, or virtually nothing.

  1. Check around. One university might be charging for their courses while another offers the same thing for free. Of course, you’ll want to know if the courses are the same value, so do your research.
  2. Qualify for as many courses as possible. If you can take the majority of the pre-requisite courses from a free university so that you can then sign up for the course and you’ll need minimal extras.
  3. Join a no-pay MBA community. These groups can help you find the best courses for low or no cost. In some cases, they may even help you find scholarships for online courses.

Since textbooks and materials are a major part of the cost, getting these virtually can help offset costs as well. Try buying through Kindle or Nook to save money, or purchased used. It’s easy enough to do the research and just a few minutes of your time could help you get an MBA online.

Apply for Credit Card Offers Like a Pro

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Apply for Credit Card Offers Like a Pro

Unless you know what you’re doing, it can be confusing to receive a bunch of credit card offers in the mail. Should you apply for all of them? None of them? How will this affect your credit score?

Follow these steps to look like a professional when it comes to handling credit card offers.

Decide what is priority for you. This might include:

  • Air miles
  • Cash back
  • Points to redeem
  • Other offers

Now sort everything that comes to you based on this. If you want to earn air miles, for example, then you can focus only on those types of offers.

Stick to one or two cards at a time. It might be tempting to load up on credit cards and their awesome offers, but this is actually bad for your credit. It can also land you in hot water if you don’t keep track of everything.  The idea is to get the benefits without getting further into debt.

Negotiate. Want the air miles being offered, but don’t want to pay the interest rate? Try calling the issuing bank to see if they can change the terms of the card. While you won’t always get special treatment, it never hurts to ask.

5 Celebrities Who Drive Hybrid Cars

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5 Celebrities Who Drive Hybrid Cars

Famous folks are watched by millions of people, so things like choosing a green car can have a big impact. A large number of celebrities drive hybrid cars. In fact, you might be surprised at how many do. Let’s take a look.

  1. Leonardo DiCaprio. This celeb is known for being green and nothing shows this better than his love of hybrid cars. He’s been seen in a few different ones, including the Fisker Karma.
  2. Ben Affleck. This famous actor and director needs a safe car to drive his brood around in and since celebrities tend to love luxury cars, his hybrid of choice is a Lexus.
  3. Josh Duhamel. Along with his wife, Fergie, Josh enjoys drying hybrids. Not just any car will do, though . . . his preference runs to the green SUV type vehicles.
  4. Ryan Gosling. This eco-friendly young celebrity can be spotted on road trips in his hybrid Toyota, which he loves to travel in.
  5. Shenae Grimes. The star may be hip in 90210 on television, but in real life, she’s even cooler. The actress drives a Toyota Prius and gets great mileage.

With so many celebrities choosing to go green, it makes sense that everyday folks can, too.

 

Don’t Make These Cloud Hosting Mistakes!

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Don’t Make These Cloud Hosting Mistakes!

While cloud hosting can be pretty great, a few simple mistakes can ruin the benefits of it all. Make sure you’re ready and don’t make these mistakes.

  1. Not securing your information. While the cloud can be safe, that’s not always the case. Make sure you choose your cloud service provider based on their security measures. Find out what they are going to handle from their end and then implement your own security measures from your side of things.
  2. Thinking about short term benefits only. If you’re hosting your site in the cloud, you can expand the amount of space required, depending on your needs. However, most companies think only of the immediate benefits and fail to plan for the possibility of becoming popular.
  3. Changing everything at once. Yes, the cloud is awesome, but that doesn’t mean you should switch your company’s website and everything else over to it immediately. Take your time, come up with a plan and gradually move things over to the new system to avoid problems, which could lose you all your years of progress.

These are just a handful of the most common problems that are faced when trying to make the transition to the cloud. Your company can greatly benefit by switching to cloud hosting, but a slow, well-planned move is best.

Cash for Cars: Not as Sleazy as It Sounds

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Cash for Cars: Not as Sleazy as It Sounds

Need cash fast? Cash for cars and payday loans are often lumped into a not-so-kosher category, even though they don’t necessarily belong there.

Getting money for your car isn’t anything bad. In fact, if you can sell your car, why not? The main reason people feel that cash for cars is a scam is because sometimes it is. That doesn’t mean you have to be duped, however!

To avoid getting scammed, you should look for a reputable car dealership. Find one with plenty of good reviews and honest prices. You can find out just how good their prices are by checking online to find out how much your car is worth before approaching a dealership.

Just because you are offered a slightly lower price doesn’t mean you are going to be ripped off, however. Keep in mind that the dealership has to make money, too and you’re giving up a percentage of the price for convenience. Without this option, you’d have to find a buyer for your car yourself, which can take much longer.

Cash in hand is a pretty big benefit, so it makes sense that more and more people are opting to find dealers that will buy their car from them. It’s fast, and it’s relatively easy. With a little research ahead of time, it doesn’t have to be a scam.

Kick Ass Hybrid Cars Everyone Should Own

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Kick Ass Hybrid Cars Everyone Should Own

When you think of hybrid cars, what comes to mind? Probably humming electric engines, nothing too powerful, and green, green, green. These days, though, some hybrids are really taking things up a notch.

Porsche 918

Not much is cooler than a Porsche, but a Porsche hybrid really takes the cake. With a 4.6 L V8 DOHC and variable valve timing, this isn’t any old car. In fact, looking at the Batmobile-style features from the outside, you’d never guess that this car is actually a hybrid. The Porsche 918 is kicking butt and taking names.  Did we mention it’s a convertible?

Dodge Durango

While the Porsche is pretty awesome and looks cool, the Durango is a sturdier vehicle that is ready for business. With a 3.6L Pentastar V6 DOHC, the Durango isn’t necessarily the most impressive vehicle on the market, but that doesn’t stop it from shaking up the competition quite a bit. This SUV style luxury car is one that you won’t forget easily.

Cadillac ELR

When you’re talking about luxury cars, Cadillac is a brand name that will always show up. This is particularly true when it comes to hybrids. The ELR is a sleekly finished ride that keeps things simple with a 1.4L Ecotech in-line 4 DOHC, but that doesn’t slow it down in the competition. This is one styling car.

Hybrid cars can be just as cool as other vehicles.  The trick is to select the right one.

Cloud Hosting for Dummies

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Cloud Hosting for Dummies

You may have heard people talking about cloud hosting, but perhaps you’re still not sure what it is. Not surprisingly, with the way technology moves and improves, many people don’t really know what cloud hosting is.

The concept is surprisingly simple. It has completely changed the way we compute forever. Instead of storing everything on your computer, your data is stored on a network of computers. Despite the futuristic sound of it all, cloud computing has been around for a while.

Now, you can use this technology to host your website, which actually has some serious advantages. Instead of relying on your data being on one server or computer, which could go down at any point, it’s shared between a number of different computers. The end result is that your site will stay up, even if one or more of the computers is down.

The cloud is not just an airy fairy concept, it’s a physical thing that helps you provide stability to your users. Many website owners prefer to choose the most stable option, particularly for online business and this is it. That being said, there are some downsides to cloud hosting, so stay tuned for further information on that side of things in the future.

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