Research your travel

Of course, everyone is aware of widely used travel sites such as Travelocity or Expedia, but you may get more bang for you buck from other less known sites. If you are not sure about the destination, but want to get out of town on a short notice, check out Travelzoo which publishes great travel deals that can be searched by location, type of vacation, etc. You can also sign up for their Top 20 travel deals emailed weekly. Another site Skyauction allows you to bid on airline tickets and hotel rooms, among other deals. Just make sure to review all the details of the auction - especially the small print - before bidding. One of my other favorite sites to check out is Kayak which allows you to see the lowest published fares from numerous airlines on the same webpage. For international travel, be sure the check the website of that country's airline as you may find cheaper packaged deals (air + hotel) than if you purchased those separately on your own. Other sites to review are FareCompare and AirfareWatchDog.