Should You Fly Or Drive? Calculator Helps You Decide

BeFrugal.com's calculator adds up fuel costs, time spent flying or driving, and the environmental impact

Is it cheaper to fly or drive? A new calculator can help you find out (xlibber and danorth1, Flickr).

by: Sharon Silke Carty

from: http://autos.aol.com/

As someone who routinely has to take long car rides from Michigan to New Jersey to visit family, I often find myself somewhere on Route 80 in the middle of Pennsylvania wishing I'd flown.

We live right at the border of where driving home seems reasonable. If we lived in Chicago – or even two hours away in Grand Rapids -- I doubt we'd ever drive back to New Jersey.

But we do. With three antsy kids in the back, a husband resistant to bathroom breaks (because each stop adds a half hour on to our already 10-hour drive), and spotty cellphone coverage along the route, it's easy to think flying would be easier. If it weren't for that pesky TSA, the checked baggage fee, and having to pay for five airplane tickets, flying would be a no-brainer.

Thankfully, there is now a tool for people who often debate whether or not it makes sense to fly or drive. BeFrugal.com's Fly Or Drive Calculator compares the time and cost of flying versus driving. It asks you where you're going, when you're going, what you would drive if you were driving, and how much you'd pay for a hotel if you had to stay overnight. It also adds in the cost of parking at the airport if you're flying, plus car rental costs.

And for folks interested in their environmental impact, it calculates the carbon dioxide impact for each mode of travel. It also tells you how many hours you'll spend in the car or in the airport.

These days, it's hard to balance the cost of gas versus the hassle of flying. BeFrugal's calculator helped me plan an upcoming trip to New Jersey – I think I'll drive. But I've got another trip coming up, this time to Cape Cod. According to the calculator, that trip would take way too long to drive, and wouldn't save me much money if I figure in that I'll have to stop and sleep somewhere after 12 hours of driving.

I ran some of my upcoming trips through the calculator, and here's what I found:

To my mom's house in New Jersey: Flying would take 5 hours, 7 minutes door-to-door, and cost $1,595 for five people. Our carbon footprint would be 4,279 pounds. Driving would take 10 hours, 54 minutes (not sure if that includes rest stops), and would cost $306.57. Our carbon footprint would be 1,294 pounds. Verdict: We'll drive

To a wedding in Plymouth, Mass.: Flying would take 5 hours and 32 minutes, and cost $414. Carbon impact is 1,216 pounds. Driving, on the other hand, takes 14 hours and 14 minutes, and would cost $389.78. Carbon impact is higher, given my car is a 2005 Buick Rendezvous, at 1,698 pounds. Verdict: That's easy. My plane ticket is already booked.

To visit a friend in Marietta, Ga.: Flying would take 5 hours, 23 minutes, and would cost $1,320 for five people (and no checked luggage). Carbon impact is 5,186 pounds. Driving would take 11 hours, 15 minutes, and would cost $327.30. Carbon footprint would be 1,395. Verdict: Again, the cost makes this a no-brainer. We'll drive.

To go skiing in Colorado: My husband sometimes entertains the idea that we'll all drive to our annual ski trip, instead of fly. Flying takes the whole day: The calculator says it takes 7 hours, 57 minutes door to door, and costs $1,755. Carbon footprint of 8,564 pounds. Driving, on the other hand, takes 1 14-hour day of driving, plus another 7 hours and 17 minutes on the road. Driving would cost $1,033, and gives us a carbon impact of 2,640 pounds. Verdict: Flying would be the best option for my marriage.

18 Firefox Add-Ons that Help You Save Money

posted by Mr.404
from: http://fourpastfour.com/

Let’s face it, times are tough and every penny counts. Instead of just money saving websites, here is a list of 18 Firefox Add-Ons that will help save you money on a daily basis.

1. InvisibleHand — This handy extension will act like its namesake and point you to better deals whenever you shop online. A discreet notification will pop up if the InvisibleHand extension finds a lower price in its database of over 100 different online retailers from the US, UK, and Germany. With information from major shopping sites like Amazon, Wal-Mart and Sears, InvisibleHand will help you find the best deals and save a ton of money in the process.
2. Listia – This is an auction site where everything is free; instead of cash, people use credits to get free stuff. You get credits for free when you join, or list items for auction that you no longer want, such as, old vhs tapes, cell phones, books, clothes, ect. The more stuff you give away, the more credits you get. Then use those credits to get new things for free. Use this firefox add-on to help sort through all the free stuff on Listia.com.
3. Offer Assistant — Tired of hunting down those discount and coupon codes when you shop online? The Offer Assistant is here to bring the offers to you! The extension helpfully includes any promo information regarding your item in your Google, Bing, and Yahoo! search results. Could it be any more convenient?
4. Advanced Travel — Traveling can get really expensive, and so people spend hours upon hours trying to find the best travel deals online. Advanced Travel makes things a lot simpler by displaying search results for the most popular travel websites. The extension’s engine reads your IP address to find out what area you’re in, and will alter the search results accordingly.
5. Ookong — Have you ever found yourself burning the midnight oil looking for the best prices for your Amazon.com item? Get some sleep and let the Ookong extension do the work for you. Ookong takes a look at an item’s price history, tracks any price changes, and tells you when the price drops. It’s like having a broker telling you exactly when the best time to buy is.
6. Woot Watcher — Woot.com is a quirky website that allows for major savings. The catch is, the site sells only one product for each day, in limited quantities. If you’d really like to get something you want at Woot’s rock-bottom prices, then, you need to watch the site religiously. This great extension does the watching for you, alerting you on the day’s product, price, and stock left.
7. Buy It Online — Ever found an item online you couldn’t wait to get your hands on? Didn’t want to waste any time browsing around for sites that might offer it at lower prices? This extension allows you to do that within seconds. All you have to do it right-click on the product, click “Buy it online”, and the extension will display several sites that sell it, too!
8. Savvy Circle Plugin — The Savvy Circle Plugin sends you an email whenever an item you have your eye on goes on sale. All you need to do is add the item to your Savvy Circle wishlist, and everything else will follow. With support for over 100 different online stores, you’re sure to save money with this extension.
9. ReminderFox — The fees on unpaid bills can add up, making your unnecessary expenses pile up into astronomical amounts. Do yourself (and your wallet) a favor by installing this extension. It acts like a to-do list in your browser, reminding you when important matters need to attending.
10. Lonely Planet — Looking for the best possible way to enjoy your trip? Save a few bucks by installing this extension. It’ll give you access to the Lonely Planet travel guides without having to buy the guides themselves. You can even plan a budget trip with the helpful information contained in the guide.
11. World Travel Guide — Are the Lonely Planet guides not enough for you? Blow your options wide-open as this Firefox extension gives you access to even more travel guides. It’s easy, convenient, and best of all, free!
12. Biet-O-Zilla — Did you ever find an incredible bargain on eBay, bid on it, only to have it stolen away from you just before the auction closes? This amazing extension helps you make last minute bids with ease. You’ll end up saving a ton of cash on your eBay purchases when you have the speed to get the best deals.
13. UpName Expired Domains Search — Working on an online business? The right domain name can have a significant effect on the traffic to your site. You can find top-ranked domain names for cheap by purchasing expired or deleted domain names. This handy extension searches all major domain sellers for these discount online gold mines, saving you the effort of tracking them down, and saving you money on a worthwhile investment.
14. Product Seeker Search — This Firefox search bar add-on is a boon to online shoppers. Simply enter a product into Product Seeker Search, and it’ll give you results for all the major retailers that handle that item. You can then organize results by price, product rating, and store rating to make sure you get the most bang for your buck.
15. PriceTrace Toolbar — Smart shoppers and bargain hunters alike will be drooling over this money-saving extension. The add-on gives you one-click access to price histories and price comparisons for over 40 major online retailers. The “Find Fillers” function will alert you of any special offers that you might qualify for while making your purchases. Best of all, the extension will inform you if an item you’ve had it track drops in price. What more could you want?
16. PriceBlink — If you like your Firefox extensions a little more discreet, then PriceBlink is for you. This browser plug-in works in the background, so you probably won’t even notice it’s there. Unless, of course, it can save you money. Whenever you go online shopping, PriceBlink will pop up if it’s found the same item at a lower price, or if it’s included in any special offers.
17. Dympol Discount Entertainment — Music-lovers can now keep their wallets nice and full with the discount offerings of dympol. Install the toolbar on your browser, and discount prices pop up in third-party music retailers like AmazonMP3. When you make your purchase at full price, cash-back rebates equal to the discount will automatically be sent to your dympol account. These funds can then be easily transferred to your PayPal or Amazon Payments account. You can use them to avail of discounts with dympol’s sponsors.
18. TimeTracker — As the old adage goes, “Time is Money”. The time you spend leisure browsing could be costing you, especially if it’s decreasing your productivity at work. Hold yourself accountable with the TimeTracker extension. It records how much time you spend leisure surfing, and can be set to ignore the time spent at work-related sites. Once you see how much time you’ve wasted on YouTube, Facebook and the like, you’ll find yourself actually doing some work for a change.

Avatar Week: 15 of the Most Expensive Movies Ever Made

chicagonow.com — I took a look back at production budgets on Box Office Mojo, then used the Inflation Calculator to see how much they would have cost in 2009 dollars.

click here for the full article: Avatar Week: 15 of the Most Expensive Movies Ever Made

21 Secrets to Save on Travel

Our insider's guide to snagging the deepest discounts on hotels, airfare, cruises and more.

By Stacy Rapacon, Reporter, Kiplinger's Personal Finance

The travel industry continues to smart from the recession, so deals abound. You just need to know where to look. Search no further than our 21 tips to save on lodging, airfare, vacation packages and cruises:

Book a bargain stay

1) Check TripAdvisor.com for 25 million property reviews from real travelers and professional critics. For details on cozy and often less-costly venues, go to BedandBreakfast.com.

2) Visit Hotels.com every Thursday for its new last-minute deals. While you’re there, watch for other rate sales and package specials.

3) Book directly through the hotel's Web site. Many places offer special online-booking and prepaid deals. You can also opt in to hotels’ free rewards programs and receive e-mails about special promotions and discounts.

4) Book blindly for rock-bottom rates. The auction-style booking pushed by William Shatner’s “Priceline Negotiator” in the popular commercials really can cut up to 50% off regular hotel rates (and 40% off airfare and car-rental rates). And Hotwire.com’s “Hot Rates” can knock up to 60% off retail room prices. With either, you specify your length of stay, preferred neighborhood and a guaranteed minimum star class. But you won’t know the exact hotel or location until after you pay – an especially big risk when visiting unfamiliar areas, particularly overseas. (Blind booking is a safer bet for car rentals; a sedan is a sedan is a sedan. But it’s a big gamble for flights because you won’t know exact flight times or airlines.)

5) Call your hotel to confirm an online reservation, especially if you made one at the last minute, and ask about any additional fees you should watch out for. Most hotels are especially willing to waive fees for frequent visitors or rewards-program members. Also, request a copy of your bill the night before you check out so you have time to dispute any extra charges.

6) Consider specialty lodging, such as condos, villas and vacation home rentals, especially when traveling with a big group. These options often offer more space and amenities for prices similar to or less than hotel rates. HomeAway.com offers the biggest selection of rentals, with more than 176,000 listings worldwide.

Fly for less

7) Use Kayak.com to quickly scan hundreds of travel Web sites for the best airfares. And don't forget to check Southwest.com; Kayak does not include the discount airline’s fares.

8) Sign up with airlines’ free loyalty programs to get the best bargains delivered straight to your in-box. Or visit Airfarewatchdog.com, where the site’s employees join airlines’ rewards programs to snag those promotional codes and special offers to share with you.

9) Plan your purchase at Bing.com/travel, formerly Farecast.com. The site’s “price predictor” forecasts whether fares on major domestic routes will go up or down. Enter your itinerary and it will return a list of airfares with a recommendation to either buy now or wait for a fare drop.

10) Try flying at less-traveled times; flights on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Saturday afternoons typically see the least demand and therefore offer the best rates.

11) Choose your destination based on the cheapest flight. For example, if you’re interested in a Caribbean vacation but don’t have a specific location in mind, you can use Kayak’s Buzz tool to search for flights to anywhere in the Caribbean and then pick the place with the lowest fare.

12) Dodge flying fees. To avoid charges levied for buying tickets in person or by phone, book directly with the airline's Web site or with one of the big three online travel agencies – Travelocity, Expedia and Orbitz- which recently dropped their flight-booking fees. . And pack lightly to dodge baggage costs. At FlyingFees.com, you can compare the baggage fees carried by 30 major airlines, and other types of fees charged by 20 major airlines.

Save a bundle on vacation packages

13) Online travel agencies Travelocity, Expedia and Orbitz are well known for their bundled bargains. But don’t forget to check packages offered by airlines such as United Vacations and smaller operators such as Apple Vacations for some of the sweetest deals.

14) Check the cost of add-ons, such as rental cars, show tickets, tours and museum passes, when booking packages with online travel agencies. Sometimes the agencies offer those extras at a discount.

15) Get one price on your trips with all-inclusive deals from resorts such as Club Med and Sandals.

16) Add travel insurance to your bundle. With Expedia's Package Protection Plan, for example, you're ensured a refund if you need to cancel or change plans. You'll also be reimbursed for trip delays, baggage losses and medical expenses. The package costs $40 to $89, depending on your destination. If you're not offered this protection when you book, or if you need more insurance than what you are offered, go to TravelGuard.com.

Cruise to savings

17) The best deals are close to the departure date -- just don't expect the really cheap tickets to get you a stateroom with a view.

18) Understand the different elements of a cruise, including theme, cabin types and ports of call. CruiseMates.com provides useful reviews and advice columns to get you started. But if you're a first-timer feeling overwhelmed, consider using a travel agent.

19) Visit CruiseCompete.com, where you submit your cruise preferences and more than 300 travel agents compete for your business.

20) Book your flight separately. Using Kayak or Bing.com/travel, you can often find fares that are lower than what a cruise line will package in for you. Make sure you allow enough time to reach the departure port; the ship won’t wait for you if your flight is delayed.

21) Sail into big savings with a repositioning cruise. Ships need to take these one-way voyages in order to relocate for the season. For example, ships that cruise near Alaska in the summer head south once fall arrives, and cruise lines invite passengers aboard for the ride at deeply discounted rates.

Can You Live Without a Car?

• Laura Sullivan

Photo: Code Arachnid

I’ll spare you the environmental lecture—Just imagine your life with out a car payment. Sounds pretty nice, right? Read on to see how you can make it a reality. Even better: you don’t have to wear spandex biking shorts.

Honestly assess the cost of a car.

Of course your ride really costs a lot more than the monthly payment automatically usurped from your checking account. AAA puts out a nifty little publication yearly (http://www.aaaexchange.com/Assets/Files/200948913570.DrivingCosts2009.pdf), and has been doing so since 1950, that helps you assess the true value of a car, factoring in fuel, maintenance, tires, insurance—all of those things that seem to sneak up and empty out your savings account. (The average total cost per year is around $8,000).

If you are more digital than analog, try using this calculator, too: http://www.commutesolutions.org/calc.htm

What most avid bikers and public transit commuters say, though, is that it is a quality-of-life issue more than a financial one—though the money saved doesn’t hurt. A heart-pumping bike ride or subway ride with a paper (minus the crushing rush hour commute in a dense place like New York) simply makes for a better start to the day than inhaling exhaust fumes from the car in front of you.

Another thought: if you are exercising by commuting, you could also ditch the gym membership, at least according to one study about “active commuting”. Basically the study showed that people who walk or bike to work are less likely to be obese and have healthier blood pressure. (The researchers said more study was needed in the field, and that working out on top of an active commute is even better than the commute alone).

Find a bike-friendly city.

Most of the protests to going car-free have to do with hometown: It seems to make sense to be carfree in bigger cities with the cache for bike lanes and congestion that demands public transportation. But, surprisingly, the League of American Bicyclists conducted a comprehensive study of American cities, small and large, (http://www.bikeleague.org/programs/bicyclefriendlyamerica/pdfs/bfc_master_list_web.pdf), and square-footage, sheer size, doesn’t have much to do with bikeability. The #1 bike-friendly city in America, Davis, California is just 10.5 square miles, while the #2 bike-friendly city, Portland, Oregon, is 134.3 miles. Cedar Falls, Iowa? Tulsa, Oklahoma? Probably not at the first to come to mind when it comes to living without a car, but they’ve both recently made the bike-friendly list.

Population is also not a factor. Davis had 62,593 people in the 2008 Census, while Portland had 557,706. New York City, one the League’s list but not incredibly bike friendly, clocked in at over 8 million.

Communities are also pushing hard to promote biking, so check out the tax-dollar and charitable programs in your area. In Champaign, Illinois the Bike Project (thebikeproject.org) fixes up old clunkers and sells them on the cheap. They also offer a free class to teach people how to fix their own bikes to keep them on the road. A bike sharing program has started up in D.C. Public bikes are locked up in high traffic areas around the city. Swipe your card to unlock one, cruise for as long as your like, then drop it off at any of the docking points and you will be charged by the hour.

Choose your neighborhood wisely.

Buying or renting within a few miles of work may seem far fetched to some people, especially those in sprawling Sunbelt cities like Atlanta or Houston, but new zoning laws are looking to reverse that trend, for better or worse. Tax breaks are given in Atlanta and many other cities for new developments that are “mixed use,” meaning that homes and businesses are under one roof.

Also, a study published in August called Walk the Walk (http://blog.walkscore.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/08/WalkingTheWalk_CEOsforCities.pdf) shows that the so-called walkability of a city increases home values. Walkability here is defined by the social and shopping destinations that you don’t need a car to get to. The study ultimately found that, “Houses with the above-average levels of walkability command a premium of about $4,000 to $34,000 over houses with just average levels of walkability in the typical metropolitan areas studied”.

Consider going half-car.

No matter how many pains you go to trying to find the right place to work and live, there are going to be things that you don’t want to lug on the bike or bus, like, say, a Christmas tree or your weekly load of groceries. Clever car sharing companies, like Zipcar, are looking to capitalize on exactly that need for carless people. (http://money.cnn.com/2009/08/26/news/companies/zipcar_car_rentals.fortune/)

The idea is elegantly simple: Become a Zipcar member. When you need a ride, use an iPhone app or computer to find that closest Zipcar to you, which you reserve online. When you approach the car, touch your membership card to the window and the doors unlock automatically. The keys are inside, as is a gas card, and you are charged one flat rate per hour, about $8, depending on the city. Park the car in your hood and the process starts over.

As of January 1, 2009, Susan Sheehan of the University of California at Berkeley found that 24 car sharing programs in the United States has 309,437 members, definitely qualifying it as a trend that extends beyond one brilliant business idea. (In Canada, 15 organizations had 46,802 members).

Marijuana No Laughing Matter, Mr. President

Norm Stamper

Retired Seattle police chief, member of Law Enforcement Against Prohibition

Posted March 28, 2009 | 05:57 PM (EST)

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The president's busy. He's got important things to do, like rescuing the economy, saving jobs and mortgages and industries. But we ought not to let him off the hook for his frivolous dismissal of a widely popular question he faced in Thursday's Online Town Hall.

At the top of the televised event, the president announced that of the 3.5 million votes on the thousands of questions received in advance, one topic "ranked fairly high." It was whether legalizing marijuana would improve the economy and encourage job creation. He responded: "The answer is no, I don't think that is a good strategy to grow our economy." He then asked rhetorically what the question says about "the online audience."

Get it? His in-the-flesh audience got it, chuckling politely at the allusion to a Stoner Nation plugged in to the "internets."

The problem for Mr. Obama is that marijuana reform was at or near the top of the list of all questions in three major categories: budget, health care reform, green jobs and energy. Our leader doesn't seem to understand that millions of his interlocutor-constituents are actually quite serious about the issue.

Which is not to say that drugs, particularly pot, doesn't offer up a rich if predictable vein of humor. Cheech and Chong's vintage "Dave's not here!" routine is still a side-splitter. As Larry the Cable Guy would say, "I don't care who you are, that's funny right there."

But there's nothing comical about tens of millions of Americans being busted, frightened out of their wits, losing their jobs, their student loans, their public housing, their families, their freedom...

And show me the humor in a dying cancer patient who's denied legal access to a drug known to relieve pain and suffering.

Having just returned from Minnesota whose state lawmakers are entertaining a conservative, highly restrictive medical marijuana law, I can tell you what's not funny to Joni Whiting.

Ms. Whiting told the House's Public Safety Policy and Oversight Committee of her 26-year-old daughter Stephanie's two-year battle with facial melanoma that surfaced during the young woman's third pregnancy. The packed hearing room was dead quiet as Ms. Whiting spoke of Stephanie's face being cut off "one inch at a time, until there was nothing left to cut." She spoke of her daughter's severe nausea, her "continuous and uncontrollable pain."

Stephanie moved back to her family's home and "bravely began to make plans for the ending of her life." The tumors continued to grow, invading the inside and outside of her mouth, as well as her throat and chest. Nausea was a constant companion. Zofran and (significantly) Marinol, the synthetic pill version of THC, did nothing to abate the symptoms. Stephanie began wasting away. She lost all hope of relief.

Joni's other children approached their mother, begged her to let their sister use marijuana. But Ms. Whiting, a Vietnam veteran whose youngest son recently returned from 18 months in Iraq, was a law-abiding woman. And she was afraid of the authorities. There was no way she would allow the illicit substance in her house. As she held her ground, her grownup kids removed Stephanie from the family home.

Three days later, wracked by guilt, Joni welcomed her daughter back. "I called a number of family members and friends...and asked if they knew of anywhere we could purchase marijuana. The next morning someone had placed a package of it on our doorstep. I have never known whom to thank for it but I remain grateful beyond belief." The marijuana restored Stephanie's appetite. It allowed her to eat three meals a day, and to keep the food down. She regained energy and, in the words of her mother, "looked better than I had seen her in months."

Stephanie survived another 89 days, celebrating both Thanksgiving and Christmas with her family.

Shortly after the holidays, Stephanie's pain became "so severe that when she asked my husband and me to lie down on both sides of her and hold her, she couldn't stand the pain of us touching her body."

Stephanie died on January 14, 2003 in the room she grew up in, holding her mother's hand. A mother who, as she told the legislative committee, would "have no problem going to jail for acquiring medical marijuana for my suffering child."

Following Joni Whiting's presentation, it was all I could do to hold it together during my own testimony. Such was the power of this one woman's story. And of the sadness and rage roiling inside me as I reflected on the countless other Stephanies who are made to suffer not only the ravages of terminal illness and intractable pain but the callousness and narrow-mindedness of their leaders.

When I finished my testimony, a local police chief, a member of the committee, angrily accused me of disrespecting the police officers in the room--who'd shown up in force, in uniform, to oppose medical marijuana. Wearing a bright yellow tie with the lettering "Police Line, Do Not Cross," the chief charged me with placing more stock in the opinions of doctors than of Minnesota's cops. Guilty, as charged. Who are we, I asked him, to substitute our judgment for that of medical professionals and their patients? Who are we, for that matter, to deny the will of the people.

There's much value in humor, even during times of pain and tragedy. So long as the joke is not at the expense of the suffering.

It's been a bad couple of weeks for the president. His Leno comment about the Special Olympics while self-deprecating and not malicious was certainly tone deaf, followed soon after by his casting gratuitous aspersions at serious advocates of marijuana reform.

But Barack Obama is a decent and honorable man, compassionate and wise. I can't believe he would do anything other than what Joni Whiting did if, God forbid, he faced similar choices within his own family. I can't believe he doesn't realize the political value of taking a more reasoned, courageous stand on drug policy reform in general. Or of at least providing honest, thoughtful answers on the issue.

Perhaps we should show him what's in it for him? Perhaps we should make certain that in every future "town hall" the president is reassured of the seriousness of the legions of voters working to end cruel and ineffective drug laws.

Git-er-done!