I spent about $100 once on soil, plants, lumber for a raised bed, etc. to wind up with about $10 worth of a few veges. No green thumb here.

It's healthier if you're in a region that has contaminated water, or parasites, like in Mexico, * for example, and other regions in countries around the world that are otherwise developed around the world.

lol, i love the last line

Yeah I might rent, but I know I'll never have to replace a roof for $20,000 or pay any maintenance. Notwithstanding, investors screwed way too many people out of affording a home. It truly is the American dream now because you have to be dreaming to think you can afford one.

And you generally end up with a middle finger in your bum after it pokes through the cheap paper

Actually, I've always wondered about that, but had no way of testing it out!

This is a hobby for some elderly folks. Perhaps reliving an old past time joy of finding coins on the ground. I once found a $20 bill on the sidewalk. I was just walking, going about my day. I wasn't straining to meet quotas and multi-tasking. A minimum wage job, for the amount of work that you end up doing with little downtime, other than your required breaks, does not lead a great quality of life and the pay does not equal the time and efforts. IF I could make the same amount just walking and looking at the ground as I do at my current job I'd choose coin hunting. And the coins aren't taxed.

When it’s done right, it’ll usually cost a lot less in the long term than when it’s done cheap.

It's really hard to keep up with self-care when you are deeply depressed.

I don't know where ur staying. I work at quality inn and we can't even match those sites nevermind beat them.

I just go to the hotel websites, I always have. Or I just call.

Going through third party sites creates more opportunities for something to go wrong (see that article a few days ago about the he patient hotel worker). I much prefer to book directly with the company, whether it's for a hotel, flight or car.

I've been told more than once that buying direct can't match the prices on booking.com: makes no sense, but there you have it.

You can do the same with flights. And some airlines don't sell through 3rd parties so you never see what they are offering of you only look at 3rd parties. Been a long time since I had to fly but at least 10 years ago southwest didn't sell 3rd party. I would check them out directly and they almost always beat out the 3rd party booking sites

One thing on the other side - if you work for a big corp, check what their policy is with private use of their booking systems. I work for a massive corp and as long as I pay for it with a private card am permitted to use their booking agreements for personal use. I get hotels and hire vehicles, flights etc way way cheaper than I’ve ever managed to get privately. What’s also good is the standard of customer service is usually way higher too (our hire car provider has special phone numbers and booking desks for business for example) because as far as the company sees it’s you company booking not you.

When the hotels get overbooked, they kick the third party websites. I had that happen to me in Orlando.

Same for air fares. You can often get cheaper flights directly with the airline.

Everyone, don't get overwhelmed by the 79$ a night. We have no idea where they are staying. It could be Afghanistan for all we know (no offence Afghans, it's just the war.) If your spending time in a less affordable country don't look for this price. Besides there could be bugs in these hotels.

I use booking.com to find good places to stay, then I call the hotels directly looking for deals. Every time I've been able to find a better price.

I usually check both sites. If it is a couple of dollars I book through 3rd party so all my stuff is in one place.

Also you usually can't cancel as easily or make requests as well. Plus you don't get loyalty points from the hotel chain. Pick a chain and stick with it, you can get so many perks it's absurd and you're more likely to get chill service if you need to make last minute changes. I switched from comfort suites to tru by hilton like 2yrs ago and even though i don't travel as much a i used to, i already get free nights and random perks.

Calling the hotel absolutely does NOT guarantee you your requested room type, especially when the agents see you booked through a third party like Expedia or Orbitz.

I always compare the hotel website to those websites. The websites are always cheaper and l have always gotten the room l paid for.

This is so true. I have even seen hotels and car rentals the exact same. Also, if something goes wrong you have to go through that 3rd party to do anything.

Since AirBNB got so awful, I've been using booking.com more to travel in Europe, and I always check the accommodation's own website: at best it's the same and sometimes unfortunately far more on the hotel's own site than on booking.com.

I read this all the time, but I always check both and never once has the hotel site been cheaper, and I have always gotten the room I booked.

Booking with me direct (I have a holiday let in France) will always be cheaper than the websites -- because they charge booking fees, they charge hosting fees etc etc. No booking fee when booking direct, and since I don't have a hosting fee deducted I knock that off as well.

I workin this field and this is false

That way the hotel don't have to pay a cut to the web service. Good for ma and pa motels.

I went to school for hospitality and for an assignment we had to call a hotel and find out their rates for a certain scenario. I asked how much a room was $350/night or some such and said okay, the agent then said okay, okay I can do $99. I was baffled as I knew people that stayed there for $350. From then on, I always call to make reservations and I always get them for a great deal without doing anything. Something about my voice maybe?

This has worked for me on a few occasions where I have been upgraded free or got a cheap deal. The only time that it's worked though, is on the day that you want to stay. The hotel knows that their room is 'perishable' meaning that they can't sell that room for tonight after tonight. Their goal is to sell every room, every night. Even if they give you the room at cost, they can still make money from you with secondary spending - in the bar or room service, for instance. So if you ring up and haggle with them a bit, they usually relent. I've had anything from a 30%-40% reduction in price to a free breakfast. The flip side is that if all the hotels are booked up, you're sleeping in your car. Thankfully, I've never been in that situation.

I use those sites for browsing options, then go direct to book.

I've gotten screwed once too often by 3rd party sites. Now, I use them for research and then book directly with hotel chain. Yeah, I may pay more doing it this way, but I don't have to go through the 3rd party of something goes wrong.

The last time I booked through an aggregate site we pulled up to the hotel and it was now being used as a homeless shelter!

It probably depends on the time of year (season) whether you get a good price on a hotel or not.

I've heard stories about how people booked rooms through 3rd parties that didn't even exist. It's also really difficult to cancel.

These hotel sites used to save you a ton, but they got bought out and now that they're all saved by the same company, and everyone's on to it, I usually do better just calling the hotel directly.

I would say this can be true if you're travelling with a large party or with kids as the hotel may be able to book you more efficiently into rooms.

Totally don't agree with that. Just recently we were looking for a long stay in the same city we live in. Booking pages, in some cases, had at least 30% lower prices than the actuall hotel prices stated in their website or while called. We also had one instance, where there was a mixup with the booking and the place we rented was not prepared at that time. The only thing that saved us in a smaller town with limited places to stay was because we have booked it on the platform and they were able to find us new place in like 20 mins.

Many hotels only book through 3rd party sites now.

You can always get a quote from the booking site, then phone the hotel and ask.

i’m curious, i haven’t really heard of these. what do these third-party booking sites do??

Or in my case, doing the dishes by hand vs. not doing them at all (no dishwasher, and no space to install one).

I hope the photo isn't their idea of good quality tools...

Or better gloves?