Creative Travel on Less Than $300

Just because you’re eager to get away doesn’t mean you’ll need to spend a fortune. Sometimes a weekend-long scenic hike is all you need to unwind. Check out 10 LearnVest ideas for weekend getaways that cost less than $300:

Head To A Bed-And-Breakfast.
We far prefer a solid B&B to a pricey hotel. In our experience, the rooms at a B&B are more uniquely decorated, and can cost as little as half of what we’d pay at a hotel. Recently, we found a B&B room in Portland, Oregon for $79. Compare that to $164 for the same type room at a hotel. (Plus, we get breakfast!)

Cruise Last-Minute Deals.
If you live near a port, sign up for last-minute cruise getaways from CruiseDirect. We found a three-day cruise from Miami to the Bahamas for only $43 per day!

Go Business Casual.
Opt for a business hotel in a nearby city for the weekend. Since they cater to the business crowd that usually stays during the week, weekend stays are sometimes as much as 50% off. Search sites like Starwoods.com or Hilton for hotels in specific cities…

Broadway, Movies, the Opera — for Free (or Almost Free)

Going to opera and the theater feeds the soul, but drains the purse. As a result, LearnVest brings you some budget-minded ways to enjoy the performing arts:

1. Join a Membership Group

In cities that support a major opera house, there is often the option to join a young subscriber club, often called a “BRAVO! Club.” For example, the Seattle Opera’s BRAVO! Club is available for people between the ages of 21 and 39. Membership costs $65 per year and provides discounted tickets (as much as half off!), special member events, and complimentary wine and coffee during intermission. To give you an idea of their usual prices, tickets for the upcoming show of Falstaff in the Dress Circle cost at least $140…

Cheapen Your Ski Time (in a Good Way!)

Ski season is here, but while skiing is a blast, it’s not exactly a cheap sport. Below, LearnVest’s tips on how to enjoy the slopes and save :

Get A Lift Ticket At Your Desk.

Our favorite site for this: Liftopia.com. We scored a pass for Jiminy Peak in Massachusetts for $29 (50% off). Savings: $29.
Fill ‘Er Up.

Some gas stations in ski-weather states offer deals, like the buy-one-get-one-free offer from Shell. Savings (if you ski at Monarch Mountain in Colorado): $46…

How to Get Prescription Drugs on the Cheap

Too bad sickness doesn’t notice when your health coverage runs out. When you’ve got a stubborn cough or an illness that just won’t go away, it doesn’t matter if you’re having financial trouble or if you’ve been out of work for the past year. You’ll still need medication if you hope to get better, and that medication doesn’t come cheap.

The average cost to fill a single prescription was $69.91 in 2007, according to a report by the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation, an amount that adds up quickly for families with multiple children getting sick at multiple times throughout the year. And in 2008 alone, the average increase in manufacturer price for brand name prescription medications went up 8.7 percent.

Since the recession began, however, a number of programs have begun to fill the void for cash-strapped families and individuals—offering free or reduced prescription medications to those in need. With so many programs available, it’s not so much a matter of finding a program as it is finding the program that is right for you…

5 Affordable Warm Winter Getaways

According to a recent poll on winter travel trends, more than half of the people responded that they planned on hitting the road—or the air—between December and the end of March. After all, ‘tis the season for gift-giving and splurging—as long as you’ve been good and spent the previous 11 months saving money and not wasting it. So, if you’ve been saving, here are a few fantastic destinations to help you ring in the New Year, escape the winter and, of course, take advantage of some great deals.

Going to California

No, not the chilly northern part of the Golden State where the weather is reliably unreliable. Head straight to the sunny, Mediterranean-like Hollywood (there’s a reason why the original movie moguls moved to southern California to build their empire). Stay at the luxe Sheraton Universal Hotel, which recently underwent a $30 million renovation, for only $239 per night. You’ll feel like an A-lister. Enjoy the free breakfast and chill out poolside with the would-be starlets; then use the money you saved from the free breakfast and go window-shopping—emphasis on the window part—at nearby Rodeo Drive…

All They Want for Christmas

The Black Friday shopping rush may be over, but if you’re like millions of people you’re probably still struggling with what to get the most difficult friends and family members in your life—your hippie aunt, your banker brother, your unemployed best friend. Choosing the right gift can be tricky business. Spend too much, and you’re flaunting your wealth. Spend too little, and you’re seen as cheap.

As you enter the home stretch of holiday shopping, let the recession be your guide: Recession-themed gifts are cheap (we’re still in an economic downturn, after all), they’re timely (what better exemplifies 2009 than the recession?), and they’re usually good for at least a chuckle—just so long as you have a little fun with it. After the jump, we’ve put together a roundup of our favorite cheap, chic, gift-giving strategies perfect for this holiday season…

Saving Strategies Part 72

With unemployment in the double digits and the holiday season kicking into high gear, saving money has never been more important—or simpler. And these days, sometimes the easiest way to save money is to simply ask. Really. Here are some tricks that we are thankful for, this holiday season:..

Swapping is the New Shopping

For the past month, I’ve had to close my eyes every time I pass the window of J. Crew because I am absolutely dying for an oversized, button-down boyfriend sweater – but it’s so not in my budget! But I got one in the end – and I didn’t pay a dime for it!

How did I do it? By swapping.

Swapping is the new shopping – only better! Why shell out your hard-earned cash for something when you can just swap something of yours for the item you desire.

Not only do you get cool new stuff, but it doesn’t cost you a thing…

Preparing for the Next Downturn

If there’s one thing we learned from this recession, it’s that economies tend to be cyclical. Stock markets crash and rebound, unemployment rates go up and down, and real estate prices can decrease just as quickly as they increased during the boom years. Unfortunately, there’s very little we can do about it, and an economic downturn is likely to happen again.

With an ounce of prevention, though, there are some things we can all do to put ourselves in a better position the next time around. After all, sudden job losses might not have been so crushing had we all had enough money in savings to carry us through the downturn. And spiking credit card rates might not be quite as big of a deal right now if we hadn’t been carrying such a large debt load prior to the recession’s beginning last fall. If only.

No matter what mistakes we made this time around, it’s never too early to start planning for the next economic crunch. Consider this your emergency survival guide to a solid financial future, no matter what’s happening on Wall Street…

Cost-Cutting at College—Separating the Good from the Bad

Tuition costs are rising and financial aid funds are scarce, but that doesn’t mean you should sit back and watch your college dreams go up in smoke.

Since the recession began last year, thousands of tips and tricks have been published listing ways to make college more affordable. From small shifts (like buying used textbooks rather than new) to big changes (like moving off campus to save on housing), there’s no doubt that the thousands of published ideas could save students money. But whether many—or any—of these ideas are actually feasible for the average student is another story entirely…