Posts Tagged ‘Family’

Frugal Family Vacations

Everybody loves a nice, relaxing, vacation. The family vacation gives us a chance to focus on family and spend some quality time together. Unfortunately, sometimes the family vacation can be costly. Especially, if you have a large family.

Including a vacation in your plans can be a challenge on a tight budget. For those of you who want to get in that family quality time, yet don’t have the finances for an extravagant vacation, here are some frugal family vacation tips. Since the goal here is to get the most fun for your money, let’s talk about some frugal and low cost vacation ideas and tips that could be right for your family.

1. Camping: A great low cost option for families that enjoy the outdoors. Don’t worry, you don’t have to sleep in a tent. There are lots of state parks that rent cabins for a very reasonable fee. As an added bonus, when you are registered at a state park, you gain free entrance into all state parks.

2. Beach It: If you want to beach it, be sure to check out all your options for lodging. Sometimes a large family can do better by renting a condo or home for the week rather than staying at a hotel. Remember, you can save a tremendous amount of money if you can prepare your own meals while on vacation. A good portion of a families vacation budget can be literally “eaten up”! Even a little kitchenette in a suite can save you big bucks. If you’re campers, you can almost always find a campground near popular beach areas and get maximum savings on lodging.

3. Low Cost Lodging: Don’t forget your best resources, friends and family. Ask around to see if anyone has visited an area you plan to go. You may get lucky and have a “friend that has a friend” who maybe has a vacation spot they wouldn’t mind renting to you for a lesser fee. Sometimes people won’t rent out their vacation spots for various reasons, but don’t mind doing so if the tenant is a trusted acquaintance of a friend or family member.

4. Visit Friends and Family: Plan to visit friends and family that live far away, or even those that live close, and you rarely find the time to visit. In today’s fast paced society it’s not unusual for family and friends to lose touch. You’ll save money and get to catch up on what’s happening with friends and/or family that you haven’t visited recently. This will be fun for everyone and reinforce family togetherness.

Whatever you decide to do, if you’re traveling a great distance be sure to check all your travel options. With today’s soaring gas prices it’s not unlikely that you may be able to get there faster, and cheaper, in the air. Hey, maybe there’s a conspiracy here?

If all this just doesn’t fall into your category of “fun”, and you just have to have that exotic resort vacation, then at least be sensible about it. There are many great deals on vacation packages and off season rentals. And, oodles of travel agencies just waiting to tell you about them.

This is one area where do-it-yourself isn’t always the most practical advice. Travel agencies are privy to a lot of travel information, especially seasonal discounts, that you and I don’t have knowledge of. Do Your Research at least for goodness sake. You won’t be kicking yourself later when you come across that great deal you missed out on!

Check out your local travel agencies, as well as some of the many online agencies. Don’t forget, if you’re an AAA member you’re eligible for travel discounts. Before finalizing any plans, be sure to know your rights. What happens if you have to cancel? What is the deadline to cancel? Will you loose your deposit or is it refundable? Know your options.

Remember, the most important thing about family vacations is to spend quality time together. Have fun, and have a safe and happy frugal family vacation!

Travel Insurance To Cover The Whole Family

If you are traveling, alone or with your family, it is essential that you get adequate risk cover for everyone. Travel insurance is a must since it covers you for all exigencies during your trip. Having said that, there are some important things that need your attention.

If you are traveling with your family, you should take a family travel insurance plan that covers your spouse and children. In case you have an extended family, you can go for either the extended family plans or the group travel plans. These work out to be far cheaper than individual coverage plans. However, the actual policy that a travel company offers would depend on the number of members traveling with you.

In case you have missed out on an extended plan, do read the offer document carefully and check if your family members are included in the plan. Since the insurance companies look out for ways and means for offering less for more, it is up to you to ensure that you have adequate insurance and that you have seen and checked the fine print in the offer document, something that most of us miss to do.

To ensure that you are getting value for your money, read the exclusions, restriction clauses carefully. Some of the common exclusions are sporting risks like bungee jumping, mountaineering etc, recurring treatments, particular age groups and specific cases of pregnancies. The standard policies also exclude use of alcohol and drugs, any terminal illness not reported at time of taking the policy, self-inflicted injury, AIDS etc. If you are a sports freak, please have a look at the extreme sports insurance cover. Though the premium will depend on the activities included and the provisos, it will cover you while you enjoy your favorite sport. However, check for the exclusions here also.

If you have read these terms and conditions carefully, it will help you if you need to file a claim. Since the insurance company looks for smallest of the reasons to disqualify your claim, it is in your interest to know what is covered and what is excluded and also the correct procedure for making a claim. Be sure that you send a completed claim form along with all the relevant receipts including medical reports, police reports etc to ensure that your claim is processed in your favor. Since the insurance company will look out specifically for false and misleading information, the exclusions and also the paperwork submitted with the claim, it will help if you have read and understood all the procedures beforehand.

Misfortune can strike anyone. Even a seemingly innocuous activity like camping can turn dangerous since you are staying outdoors and there may be wild creatures in that part of the country! Hence it is better to be safe than to be sorry afterwards. If you are a frequent traveler, you can opt for an annual plan. And if you travel once in a while, you can take the temporary policies that cover you for the duration of your travel. Whatever the case, it is prudent to be insured and wise to know the details of your policy.

anime ita Paranoia Agent 08 Happy family planning parte 1/3

anime ita Paranoia Agent 08 Happy family planning parte 1/3

Salamat Dok Father’s Day Family Planning Highlights 061910.wmv

Dick Lamm on public policy and family planning

Former Colorado Governor Dick Lamm discusses public policy and family planning. This is from a panel discussion with Professor Al Bartlett and former Colorado Governor Dick Lamm at the October 2009 ASPO-USA Denver, Colorado symposium on peak oil. For more information and additional panel videos, see www.AlBartlett.org . Also see www.ASPO-USA.org .

Desperate Housewives: More on Wisteria Lane’s New Family

Recently, Desperate Housewives buzz was all about the new family moving into Wisteria Lane, with Nathan Fillion (One Life to Live, Firefly) and Dana Delaney (Kidnapped) appearing in the new season of the hit show. Details about the characters they will be playing were not spilled, only that Fillion will be playing a gynecologist, Delaney will play his older wife, and a yet unnamed actress will be playing their teenaged daughter.

Today, TV Guide has released an extensive profile of this new family, and it turns out that they are keeping some dark secret.

For starters, Nathan Fillion’s character is named Adam. TV Guide asked him about his character, though he only said that him being a gynecologist will play a significant part in a storyline.

“One might extrapolate [that] if there is an OB-GYN around, someone may have need,” Nathan Fillion said, refusing to add to that, or entertain the idea of having any illicit affairs with any of the women on Wisteria Lane.

Dana Delaney’s character is named Katherine Mayfair, who lived in Wisteria Lane 12 years ago with her daughter Dylan, and aunt, Mrs. Lillian Sims (Ellen Geer). Together with her husband Adam, she is to return to Wisteria Lane, presumably to take care of the ailing Mrs. Sims.

TV Guide reports that Katherine is a darker version of Bree (Marcia Cross). Like Bree, Katherine likes perfection and taking control of other people. The whole neighborhood will start loathing her, including Bree.

Desperate Housewives creator Marc Cherry said, “I always wanted to come up with a character everyone loves to hate,” and that he patterned Delaney’s character after J.R. from Dallas and Amanda from Melrose Place. In addition, Katherine’s flashbacks will be showing more of Wisteria Lane’s dark past.

Originally, the role of Bree was offered to Delaney, however, she felt compelled to turn it down.

“I’d just done Pasadena, and it seemed too similar,” Dana Delaney said to TV Guide. “It’s very rare in life you get second chances. I’m really flattered and honored.”

Dylan, 17, will be played by Lyndsy Fonseca of The Young and the Restless and Boston Public. Contrary to earlier reports, Fonseca’s Dylan will be a “goody-goody,” after being trained by her overbearing mother.

“My mom keeps me on a rigorous schedule and a short leash,” Fonseca said of her character. “Almost like a dog.” Dylan also suffers from memory loss, thus leading to speculations that she might have experienced something traumatic as a child. She was once best friends with Susan Mayer’s (Teri Hatcher) only daughter, Julie (Andrea Bowen), however, she doesn’t remember anything now.

In addition, Cherry shed some light to the mystery surrounding the family by saying, “They had to leave Chicago because something unsavory happened in Adam’s professional life.”

For more resources about Desperate Housewives: More on Wisteria Lane’s New Family or for the full story of Desperate Housewives please review this link http://www.buddytv.com

Young Chinese couples face pressure from “4-2-1″ family structure

Young Chinese couples face pressure from “4-2-1″ family structure
Since China started implementing the family-planning policy in the 1970s, the first generation of people who are the only child in their family is starting to come of age in China. Now more than 30 years after the policy was implemented, their parents are aging.

Read more on People’s Daily