Like snowbirds, rental car companies’ move their fleets south for the winter. Instead of paying a fee to move the cars north, they offer special one-way rentals out of the state of Florida. This is a great opportunity to take in a Florida vacation for a fraction of the price, by combining a one-way fare to Florida through a low-cost carrier like Allegiant, or Spirit, with a one-way car rental home. 

We ranked the following offers starting with Alamo. We felt they offered the most flexible options and was the first to post complete program details. That said if you can earn points with one of the other companies, by all means, stack a cheap rental with points towards the next free rental or reward level.  

1. Alamo – Base Rate $9.99/Day

• Available on one-way rentals picked up at participating Florida locations and returned to a participating Enterprise location in the Continental US outside of Florida.
• Offer valid for reservations picked up between March 26-May 31, 2018 from the following participating Florida locations:  Fort Myers, Sarasota, Naples, Punta Gorda, Orlando, Disney Hotels, Daytona Beach, Melbourne, and Sanford.
• Offer valid for reservations picked up between April 1-May 31, 2018 from the following participating Florida locations:  Tampa, Clearwater, Fort Lauderdale, Miami, West Palm, Key West and Boca Raton.
• Offer rate as low as $9.99 base rate per day applies to an Economy through a Full-Size vehicle, as low as $19.99 base rate per day applies to Intermediate and Standard SUVs and as low as $24.99 base rate per day applies to Minivans.  Base rate excludes taxes, fees, and surcharges.

Although Alamo advertises a base rate of $7.99, lower rates are available, depending on the renal location. The program may also be available through select National Car Rental and Enterprise locations, however, it is not advertised. We list Alamo as #1 because it offers the most flexibility for outbound locations.

2. Hertz – Base Rate $7.99/Day

• Pending Confirmation: Their offer is usually a little better than Avis. We will update as soon as the program terms are published. Be sure to subscribe to this post for updates. 

3. Avis – Pending Confirmation Usually has a base rate of $10.00 Per/Day

We have no details, and nothing has been set, but with a rate that is often lower than Budgets advertised rate, we fell that whatever they offer will be better.

4. Budget Car Rental – Base Rate $14.49/day

• Valid for rentals April 1, 2018 – May 31, 2018, with BSD Code BCD code S374100
  
  
• Vehicle must be picked up at a participating Florida location and returned to a different participating U.S. location outside the state of Florida; excludes pick-up from Pensacola and Jacksonville

Participating drop off cities include: Chicago, Dallas, Denver, Houston, Indianapolis, Minneapolis, San Antonio, St. Louis, Boston, Buffalo, Hartford, New York, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Richmond, Washington/Baltimore, Atlanta, Charleston, Charlotte, Knoxville, Memphis, Nashville, New Orleans, Raleigh Durham, Albuquerque, Northern California, Portland, Seattle, Southern California

The base rate is higher than the other offers, with a short offer window. The one plus is the option of going coast to coast for a flat rate; which may work for college students heading home, or someone relocating. But the offer is available through Alamo for a lower price with a better vehicle inventory. 

Convert your old Cell Phone into a Home/Travel Security Camera

Ever wondered what the hotel maid does in your room when you are not there, want to know if the kids made it home from school okay or you just want to watch the house while on a long trip? I wanted to do the same while on a weekend trip leaving a mischievous senior citizen and a teen alone. I know about all the paid options, but I needed an alternative to the quick and easy $200 options. I also did not want the networked security system. 

My first thought was a dash cam, (we have several installed for the above teen driver), but that would require removing the cameras from the car, but it is a viable options depending on your monitoring goals. My next thought, phones. There just has to be an app that will let me turn old phones into a security system. As luck would have it, there are several free or low cost options. 

But in looking for a low cost, (free), option, I checked and most free aps should have the following basic options:

• Uses the phone/tablet’s camera to detect motion and record full video/audio.
• Instantly upload photos to a free cloud storage account if connected to a network of WI-FI. 
• Notifies you via email, text that recording has started or alarm has been triggered.
• Options to start an alarm after a period of time,with or without sound. For example, if you are using this while traveling, you may want to opt for a silent alarm in order to not alert the hotel staff. This would just let you know they are in your room.  

To get started 

You will need a smart phone running Windows, iOS or Android. If you do not have an old off contract smart phone, buy a prepaid Android or Windows phones off eBay, or through your local big box store. Most phones will run $20 - $30; with a few sales that can place basic smart phones as low as $10. Just skip the network activation.

What are you goals

The following are considered the best security camera apps by the operating system with free basic service with some type of paid option. This is a good start, but you should do your own research to determine what will work best for your situation:

Salient Eye (Android) 

• Captures pictures on motion detection
• SMS and email alerts (optional)
• Push notification alerts (optional, requires registration and remote control app: remote.salient-eye.com)
• Sounds alarm (optional) - Example, you want to monitor activity in a hotel room, or to use as baby monitor
• Scheduler - pre set the days and hours in which the system will start and stop automatically
• Auto active of led light (=Flash) on low light conditions
• Photos are available immediately online (optional)
• Start/Stop/Take picture remotely (optional, requires subscription on the remote control app: remote.salient-eye.com)
• Keeps working when screen is turned off
• Password Protection
• Works up to 10 hours with no power supply (on battery)
• Very easy to setup and use

Manythings (iOS 6.0 or later)

• Rasy set-up - simply install the app on both phones. 
• Live video streaming - CCTV functionality to see what’s going on in real time. 
• Motion activation - camera will automatically record on movement.
• Cloud-based DVR - past events are automatically backed up to the cloud. 
• iPhone, iPad and web viewers - gives access from anywhere. 
• Motion activated alerts - receive alerts on movement use as a driveway or burglar alarm. 
• Talk functionality - for two-way audio communication.  
• Facebook Live Broadcast (optional) - choose to share your live feed with others over Facebook.
• Secure - private feed, share or download important clips from the app. 
• Adjustable motion sensitivity - ensure you only capture significant events.  
• Motion detection zones - only monitor the areas you need to. 
• IFTTT integration - for home automation and enhanced alerts. 
• Connectivity - use over wifi or your spare phone’s data connection. 
• Stills only mode - for time lapse and still capture. 
• Clip chart - share and view the best clips from manythingers around the world.  

Security Camera (Windows 8.1  & 10)

The app is free with limited cloud storage, but offers a paid subscriptions starting at $1.50 a month.

• Use your Windows Phone as a Cloud Security Camera.
• Record image snapshots to the cloud.
• Set image resolution and upload frequency.
• Continuous recording or motion-triggered recording.
• Offers paid Cloud Surveillance service.
• Live view or playback from any devices or web browsers.

Best Alternative to Google Adsense

Founded in 2011, PropellerAds has grown into the #1 challenger to Google Adsense. The free, easy registration and set up makes this the best alternative to Adsense.

• Global coverage and great eCPM rates
• Automatic optimization 
• Easy to setup revenue-boosting ad units
• Can be used as a stand-alone option, but is fully compatible with other networks.
• Payments via Paypal or wire transfer in the US; but provides the following option: Payoneer Prepaid, Mastercard ®, Payoneer Global Bank Transfer, ePayments, EPESE and Webmoney.

Click here to get started

La Quinta Returns Military Rewards™

For exclusive Military Rewards Support Call 1-855-4MILREWARDS or 1-855-464-5739  Military Initiative  Click here  to download the PDF.

Gift Card Exchange

CardCash 

Received a gift card you never plan to use, exchange it for one you will use, or sell it for cash. 

So what is the catch? You will not receive full value of the card, but if it was not a card you planned to use, this is a good alternative to letting it go to waste, or worse, attempting to re-gifting it.

Here is how it works:

• Enter merchant name and card balance for a quick exchange offer. In seconds, see how much you can get in exchange for your gift card! 
• Enter card number, pin and the basic personal information. Once your order is placed, your card balance will be verified behind the scenes to ensure the fastest and most secure process possible.
• Your eGift Card will be emailed to you in a printable format once your order has been approved. Approval time generally takes 1-2 hours but can take up to 24 hours.

The program is now available; click here to get started.

 

My Experience With Carvana.com

Update - Car is a hit with the family - Message me below for a Carvana Coupon Code for $500 off your purchase

We purchased our 2006 Saturn Ion 2 in the fall of 2005. This was a great deal on a demo vehicle, and the car has served the family well. It has proven to be a reliable car for 10 years and 210,000 miles, but with a long commute and a teen driver, it is time for a new ride.

 My plan

2014 Model Year or Newer	Car would still be under the OE Warranty with low miles.
Less than 10,000 mile
35+ MPG Hwy	Good gas mileage
Under $15,000	at an affordable price

Our most recent purchase was a 2007 Saturn Ion 2 with 11,000 miles purchase at our local CarMax in 2010. It was a much different process than the daylong event at a dealership; roughly 2 hours from start to finish. So I started my search at the traditional dealership websites to establish a baseline, then moved to CarMax. Within a few hours I was able to narrow my selection down to a few cars, but on a whim I checked one more site, Carvana.com.

 The site is very clean compared to the typical dealer site. i could quickly sort vehicles by model year, mileage and price. Within a few click, I was able to register for an account, and save several cars in my garage. The only problem I could find with the site was an inability to touch/feel the cars. Luckily, we are short drive to our local CarMax, so we visited their lot. roam the lot. We took photos, made notes, and came home with a short list of four cars. 

Unfortunately, while we were gone, two of the cars in are garage were purchased, so I took the next step on the site. No problems, I felt comfortable with the vehicles available, so  took the next step and applied for financing through Carvana. After applying, all the vehicles now displayed my interest rate, down payment and monthly payment. This was not an estimate, bu the actual amount I would pay.  I could even play with the term, down payment and monthly payment, to find vehicles within my  budget. Understanding the needs of online car shoppers, the site offers a 360 degree view of the inside and outside of the vehicle, they also point out imperfections, and provide a vehicle history report from AutoCheck by Experience.  

360 degree view if the car

Here is the deal. 

We found a 2014 Chevrolet Sonic LT with only 1,139 miles for  $13,200.This is well below Kelly Blue Book fair market price for our area, so I began the purchase process, only to stop midway to think about. 

My car on Carvana.com

After a nights sleep and a drive in the country, I could not find a valid reason not to complete the purchase. $13,200 plus tax, tag and title for total of $13700. Even financing, well below the base price through area dealers. No $399 doc. fee. or dealer prep fee, just the price.  In addition to the 34,861 miles remaining on the GM Bumper to Bumper warranty, I also have a 7 day/400 mile test drive and a 100 day 4100 mile warranty through Carvana.


The purchase process is straight forward, with step by step instruction if needed. I drew my signature on a pop up screen prior to completing the documents, and then applied the image of my signature at the end of each section with the click of a button. I then set my deliver time for Saturday 9/12/2015. The next day I received a confirmation call from Carvana making sure the delivery time would work for me, and confirming if I wanted to transfer a title or apply for a new one. 

Now I wait

I will provide an update Saturday regarding the delivery process and to confirm if the vehicle is as described in Carvana's listing.

Delivery Day
My car was scheduled for delivery at 7:00 pm, but I received a call from the delivery driver, Nick letting me know he was 40 minutes away, and if I wanted the car early. 
 

Within :35 minutes he was unloading my car. Which arrived as listed on carvana.com. I still had a few more forms to fill out, and I had a slight hangup with the GEICO website, but Nick patiently  waited for me to update our insurance policy. This process was extremely simple as I just snapped a photo of the updated info, and sent Nick a text. Before leaving he explained the return polity, letting me know I will receive a call within 6 days to make sure I am satisfied with the purchase. 

Just based on service alone, I doubt I will ever purchase a car through a local dealer again.