Cheap Airline Tickets For Moms

 If you are a mom you need to save as much money as possible. Using the air miles offered credit cards are one way of getting cheap airline tickets. However there are also other ways. 

Here is the big secret to getting cheaper travel. Airlines are delighted to serve you if you have to travel on a fixed date in the next seven days.  That’s because they figure you’re a business traveler who will pay full fare, even if that means dishng out twice as much money as you normally would.

You can’t beat the system every time, but some of the tactics that leisure travelers use to find discounts can increase your odds of landing a reasonable fare.  

One way to beat the system is to fly out of an alternative airport.  This airport might be a 30 to 45 minute drive from your preferred airport but the trouble may be worth it. For example, flying into Baltimore instead of Washington, D.C., or into Oakland instead of San Francisco can save you up to 50%  in the price of an air flight. 

See if your destination has a similar alternative by using one of the many discount airfare sites that are out there.  Some of the fare comparison sites, such as BestFares.com, will search for alternative airports automatically once you type your destination and preferred times of flying into their data base. 

Sites offering comparison-shopping engines can dramatically speed the process, though they may miss some fares and turn up others with unsuitable restrictions.  There is not much need to surf several fare comparison sites simply because they all get their information from the same big database. So the bargains that you will find on any of them will basically be the same. 

The big clue here is to not waste time surfing them all as you are looking at duplicate information. It might seem that other websites have better bargains but that is because the information about rates times and taxes etc. might be configured a bit differently. If you have flexibility on one of your travel dates, consider including a Saturday stay.

Although some airlines are experimenting with doing away with this practice, most tend to reserve the lowest fares for itineraries that include a Saturday night stay.  By booking your travel in this way you can save as much to 50%. If you can’t change your dates, consider changing your flight times. Most travel sites have an “anytime” option for your preferred flight times, and that might turn up cheaper flights at less popular times of the day. Or, you might consider trying to book your travel on  auction or discount sites such as Priceline.com. 

However if you don't like uncertainty these methods are for you. You won’t know your precise flight time or airline until after you purchase your ticket.  This is the only drawback if you are trying to hustle a ton of kids to the airport. There is nothing worse than a bored kid standing around in an airport!

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How To Make Your Medicine Cabinet Safer

Your medicine chest looks like a place where candies are stored to most kids. The fact that most medicines for kids taste pretty good also doesn't help. This is why it is important to clean it out as often as possible and put harmful medications under lock and key if you can. 

You should get rid of left-over or half use prescriptions as well as over-the-counter or prescription medicines that are past their expiry date.  If your kid doesn't finish his or her medication you should probably be throwing it out anyway.  It is dangerous to have old prescriptions around unless your pediatrician specifically told you to keep them. 

To make it a little safer you should also get rid of all the medications that do not have child resistant caps or packaging.  Even better yet don't keep any kind of medicine chest or medicine storage in your child's room at all! 

There are also some medications that you may have on hand that are not recommended for use by doctors or the American Pediatric association.  A good example is syrup of ipecac as the Academy of Pediatrics no longer says this is a good item to keep in the home. It used to be used to induce vomiting in kids that were accidentally poisoned. 

You should also get rid of any old mercury thermometers and trade them in for the newest sensor digital thermometers. The old fashioned ones can break and expose your kid to mercury and mercury vapors.  S

urprisingly the Academy of Pediatrics also recommends getting rid of hydrogen peroxide. We typically use it to disinfect cuts or wounds but apparently instead of helping to heal hydrogen peroxide may actual damage healthy skin cells. Try not to keep any aspirin in your medicine cabinet. Both very young children and adults are at risk of developing Reye's syndrome if they even take just one pill.  This is not a matter of overdose!   It is also common knowledge that you shouldn’t give your child, or even your teenager, aspirin unless there is no other option and you are stranded at a cottage. Start with half a pill if you have to and watch for any reactions (such as a rash.) 

When you are done cleaning out your medicine cabinet you should not just throw everything in the trash.  Don't flush them into the toilet either. These medicines are getting into our groundwater (especially the antibiotics.) As we are consuming antibiotics unnecessarily through water sources we are becoming more and more resistant to them. This can result in flesh eating diseases such as MRSA and illness from ordinary bacteria like staph. 

One way to keep your kid out of the medicine chest is to never give him or her the idea that is okay to go in there in the first place. Never say to your teen 'go get it yourself.' You don't want to end up with a Little Lindsay Lohan on your hands who has no idea about how to handle drugs.

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