22. When entertaining, remember that casual meals can be less expensive--and more relaxed--than more

Previous columns have highlighted how retirees can trim their housing airline flight tracker , day-to-day , and financial-services expenses. We've provided tips for saving on everything from groceries to insurance to cell-phone bills, and numerous members of the Morningstar.com community have contributed airline flight tracker worthwhile cost-savings ideas of their own.
Travel 28. If you frequently visit the same location, register airline flight tracker for fare alerts via an online travel site such as    Expedia    or Orbitz   to surface the best deals as they become available. Sites like kayak.com let you search multiple sites for discounted airfare and hotels. Use a site such as  hipmunk.com airline flight tracker to search for airfares based on price, departure airline flight tracker and arrival time, and "agony"--a creative analysis of painful layovers or overpriced options.
Christine Benz is Morningstar's director of personal finance and author of 30-Minute Money Solutions: A Step-by-Step Guide to Managing Your Finances and the Morningstar Guide to Mutual Funds: 5-Star Strategies for Success . Follow Christine on Twitter: @christine_benz and on Facebook.
30. Paying an additional $50 per flight for baggage-check fees can really jack up the cost of airline travel. Avoid extra costs by traveling light or sticking with airlines that offer free baggage check, such as   Southwest   .
32. Use a hotel-discount site like hotels.com to obtain good deals on lodging, or    Priceline.com    , which lets you name your own price for hotels. Betterbidding.com offers you insight into what you might get while bidding for hotels on Priceline.com (example, $35/night instead of $70).
34. When traveling overseas, make sure your credit card isn't charging airline flight tracker you a foreign transaction fee on purchases--most do, and it's an extra 3% on every purchase. Capital One cards do not charge this fee and a few credit unions don't, airline flight tracker either.
35. Do you dream about buying a vacation home? Renting a month or two a year via a site such as vrbo.com is bound to be much more cost-effective than maintaining your own home, and you'll be able to sample a variety of locations to boot.
37. Plan to hit several museums airline flight tracker within the same city? Many cities offer museum passes airline flight tracker that provide a discount on prime tourist spots; other cities, such as London , offer passes that entitle you to free admission airline flight tracker at certain locations.
39. Check out RoadScholar.org (the snazzy new name for what was formerly called Elderhostel) for a huge array of educational/travel airline flight tracker tours at often-reasonable prices. Your local park district or community college may also offer reasonably priced tours.
40. Take advantage of your flexible schedule to book last-minute flight and hotel reservations. The major travel sites--including expedia.com, Travelocity.com, and cheaptickets.com all offer an array of last-minute packages, as do cruise lines.
41. Consider renting a house or apartment from a rental site like vrbo.com or vacationrentals.com  rather than staying in hotels. You'll airline flight tracker save by being able to have at least some meals at home; you'll also enjoy more living space and a taste of how the locals live. Such arrangements are invariably more cost-effective than hotel stays when traveling with friends and family.
44. Travel to scenic locations in the off season. Jackson Hole, Wyo., and Vail, Colo., are as beautiful airline flight tracker in the summer months as they are in winter; Paris and Venice, Italy, are as beguiling in winter as they are in high season.
46. Shop a local supermarket (no matter what country you're in) for breakfast, lunch, and snacks and beverages; such markets often have prepared food for a fraction of what you'd pay in a restaurant, and they can also be great entertainment for foodies.
49. Don't rule out hostels. Many have private rooms with ensuite bathrooms, which can be a lower-cost alternative to a full-service hotel. Hostelworld.com is a great resource that will let you read reviews to weed out the apparent party hostels.
50. Consider airline flight tracker staying in a guest-house in a foreign country. Such lodging options are often cheaper than a full-service hotel, and they will afford you a much more culturally rich experience (such as getting to know the owner/operator, other travelers, and so on).
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Finding ways to be thrifty can be an important lever for retirees concerned about maintaining their desired standard of living in retirement, particularly given that inflation in the future is apt to be higher airline flight tracker than it has been during the past decade.
But retirement is about a lot more than just getting by. It's about enjoying the fruits of your many years of hard work--spending quality airline flight tracker time with family and friends, seeing sights you didn't have time to discover while you were still working, and simply doing what you love.
Happily, saving on travel and leisure costs during retirement doesn't mean that you have to queue up for sunset specials airline flight tracker at local restaurants or think of bingo in the church basement as a big night on the town (unless you want to, of course). Thanks in large part to the Internet, consumers of all ages have more ways to obtain discounts on dining, travel, and entertainment than ever before. And retirees have an important advantage over people who are still working, in that they might have an extra measure of flexibility that enables them to pounce on last-minute deals or take advantage of off-peak pricing.
Entertainment 1. Investigate season-ticket packages for favorite activities such as theater and opera. You'll airline flight tracker usually receive a healthy discount airline flight tracker versus paying for tickets on a one-off basis. And even if you're not interested in specific shows and concerts included in your package, the extras can make nice gifts.
8. Hankering to see a certain play or live show? Some theaters offer discounts airline flight tracker on tickets purchased the day of the event. airline flight tracker Goldstar.com also offers substantially discounted tickets to plays, music, and comedy shows as well as sporting events, at small to large venues throughout the country.
17. Plan to eat before you attend a sporting event, bring your own snacks, or tailgate with family and friends beforehand. You may still decide to spring for a hot dog or a beer, but you won't fill up on stadium food, which is usually unhealthy and inevitably overpriced.
18. Rather than buying clothes and souvenirs for grandkids airline flight tracker at the stadium (and paying the full markup), extend the fun of the big game over a few weeks by allowing each child to pick out a special item with the team logo at a local sporting-goods store or a low-price retailer such as   Target   the week before the event.
Entertaining/Dining Out 19. Sign up for daily deals on restaurants airline flight tracker and shows via sites such as groupon.com and livingsocial.com , or follow your favorite venues on social-networking sites such as  twitter airline flight tracker to be alerted to special deals.
22. When entertaining, remember that casual meals can be less expensive--and more relaxed--than more formal affairs. Think pizzas on the grill with inexpensive Chianti in tumblers rather than strip steaks and a big-name Napa Cabernet.
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