Cheap Is Good

I save the oldest hole-y underwear for trips, wear them twice (inside out and seams in), and toss...

save hotel-size plastics with toiletries and reuse (with Dollar Tree shampoo and soaps) and recycle the containers when they break...

pack my own homemade coffee cake and cut veggies and cheese and crackers for the plane ride...

check free and reduced-price admission days for museums and sites around the nation and world before booking a trip....

check hotel consolidators and Trip Advisor and Hotels.coms and at least 10 independent and chain hotel websites before booking....

and that's just for starters.

Yes, my children and husband are probably shaking their heads (or hiding them in shame). But we have been able to travel to many places (Paris, Greece, the American Southwest, national parks) and see many things because I'm cheap. My parents were children of the Great Depression. I'm a child of the (2000s) Recession. Put that together and you get the Reduce, Reuse, Recyle, or Do Without School of life--proud of not using more than one person needs to, and maybe not polluting the planet much.

But I KNOW I'm not the smartest person on this planet. Get reminded of that every single day in the Washington, D.C., area, where lots of smart people come to make their mark. I love Hints From Heloise, the American advice column where people share their tips for economical or practical living--things like reusing toiler paper rolls to store scarves, or plastic bags for things that I am sure God did not intend them for, and She would be appalled.

Lots of travel websites give advice on cheap tips. I want yours, and will publish them with with your email, spreading the gospel of Dirt Cheap Travels far and wide. You know you've got great ideas. Share them. Cheap is good! More travel is good.

THE CHEAP TRAVEL LIST begins here. It's April 15 (tax deadline day in the U.S., when people are either deciding where to travel to spend their refunds or starting to think about a Cheap Trip because they have to pay $ in and have no $).

Send them to me in Comments (below). Here's a photo to inspire you (from a plane at the Marine Corps Museum in Quantico, Va., always free):