<p>I stayed at a motel 6 when I went down to find housing for grad school.That was a long time ago and I still remember it. DH almost took a job with Days Inn when we first married. I admit I am glad he took a different offer. Agree completely that being frugal is what helped many of us pay for our kids education and save for retirement. But I think we paid our dues.</p>
<p>Last week we went to visit a relative. Stayed at a nice Hilton. Got a AAA deal that included breakfast for up to 4 people. It was a wonderful breakfast (omelets to order, etc). Room rate: $69/night (it was $60 without the breakfast)</p>
<p>It is better to pay the tuition directly to,the collegeâŠor ,gift it to the PARENTS and they can pay the college. If the student receives a $20,000 âgiftâ, I believe it does have some implications the following year on the financial aid application forms.</p>
<p>I still am happy when I can fine nice, well maintained places for $100 or less, no mTter the brand. Sadly, many of our recent stays have been considerably higher, especially Yellowstone. Am glad we economize where we can. </p>
<p>These days, whenever possible, we stay at totally smokefree places. It really helps our allergies and having a healthier stay!</p>
<p>We are experts at finding good deals! There is a La Quinta near Tufts that is very nice and I have gotten great rates there at times other than college move-in or move-out. We try to take the dog with us when we travel rather than boarding her, so pet-friendly places work well. </p>
<p>We tend not to spend much time at hotels when we travel, so amenities (other than free wifi and a good breakfast) are not something we want to pay for. Would rather spend the $$ doing other things while on vacation.</p>
<p>Oh to clean out closets. To just clean out ONE closet would be amazing. So much useless stuff, so many moves.
I will use this thread as motivation to clean it out for retirement. Can sell some stuff and donate other things, getting a tax break, and applying it towards paying off debt. Itâs just so hard to get started on such a painful and miserable project. Hey, maybe if I put some of the proceeds towards a vacation, it will motivate meâŠ</p>
<p>Bus, join us in the bag a week thread! I found it very motivational. Just packed another bag to drop into the blue donation bin on my way to work tomorrow. :)</p>
<p>The bag a week thread? I guess Iâve seen the title, but never looked at it. I guess I need to take a peek. I got a lot of bags that need filling.</p>
<p>Prices are very variable, depending on when you book, any discounts you have, length of stay, promotions, who you book with, etc. Often Hotwire gives amazing rates that can be cheaper then trying to book directly with hotels. </p>
<p>You have to double check cancellation / prepayment policies tho, so you avoid penalties if plans change. It pays to search around a bit, especially if you have some flexibility on dates and hotels. Once, we stayed at a lovely Peachtree Hyatt in Altanta, for under $40 for our family of 4, including all taxes and breakfast. They also had a very reasonable kidâs menu!</p>
<p>My bro booked us a lovely hotel room via Hotwire near Claremont College for under $50 per night for our family of 4, including breakfast. When we checked in, they upgraded us to a suite for no additional charge! It was Ayres chain. </p>
<p>Were both of those deals through Hotwire or Priceline, HImom? Apparently those who use them frequently can get pretty good at figuring out what hotel they are likely to get.</p>
<p>DH used hotels.com once before he found out he wouldnt get hotel points for the stay. He didnt like that.</p>
<p>jym, weâre in very similar circumstances. S1 is getting married next year and weâve also decided to gift them $ to be used for whatever purposes they choose (S1 is very careful with money, so weâre not concerned with how theyâll choose to use it). We also have a rehearsal dinner to plan, but still have no idea how many people will be invited or where it will be, so the budget for that is still up in the air.</p>
<p>DH and I canât decide at what point to gift the money. Do we give it to them now, a year ahead of the wedding so they can use it to pay for wedding expenses (theyâre paying for the wedding themselves and donât want contributions from parents other than the rehearsal dinner)? Do we give it to them closer to the wedding, so it actually feels like a wedding gift? DH and I havenât discussed how much to give yet. Iâm sure we wonât agree, but we usually compromise well on these sorts of decisions.</p>
<p>Thanks to jym for asking about the monetary wedding gift. We are in the process of saving up for a likely wedding for our D in the next year or so and thought weâd do a check for slightly over $14k. Because we arenât routinely in the position of doling out this kind of cash, I didnât know ANYTHING about the $14k limit & taxes.</p>
<p>Basic question to any financially knowledgeable folks:<br>
If itâs a joint gift from both H & I, is a check written from a joint account but signed by just one of us considered âjointâ and therefore can be up to $28k (i.e., $14k from each) before taxes impact such a gift?
Thanks to all of you. I learn so much from this forum! Oh and congrats to jymâs S!</p>
Maybe tell them now what you are going to give them, so they can plan, but donât give it to them until the wedding, because sometimes stuff happens.</p>
<p>Congrats shelfell and curiouser!
Shelfell, What are the brides parents paying for, out of curiosity. Are you paying for the rehearsal dinner alone or are they contributing too (since you said the kids were paying for everything themselves except the rehearsal dinner). How much you spend on the rehearsal dinner may influence how large a gift you give. We are still chewing on this. Dont know what the engagement party will cost, but have a rough idea. Its a lot, but it was my idea, to have a party here for the east coast friends and family who wont come or wont be invited to the wedding.
We wont gift them the $ til closer to the event next year, but they too are careful with $ and fortunately dont need it at the moment unless they buy a house between now and then.</p>
<p>Curiouser,
Its my understanding you each get to gift $14K.</p>
<p>I think wrting two checks is safetest but from what I read one check from a joint account is usually accepted. If you do electronic banking, I doubt that they require you do two separate transfers, one from mom and another from dad. </p>
You could do that. Youâll owe taxes on the interest though.</p>
<p>You could gift it in two parts on Dec 31/Jan 1 if the timing works out. </p>
<p>Another option is to give it to them all at once, and file a form that lets you treat the gift as having been given in equal amounts over 5 years.</p>
There is a La Quinta near Tufts that is very nice and I have gotten great rates there at times other than college move-in or move-out. We try to take the dog with us when we travel rather than boarding her, so pet-friendly places work well. </p>