When doing your taxes this year, Kiplinger advises us not to overlook these tax deductions.

Every year, the IRS dutifully reports the most common blunders that taxpayers make on their returns. And every year, at or near the top of the “oops” list is forgetting to enter their Social Security number at the top of the tax form — or making a mistake when entering those nine digits.

But think about it for a minute: Do you think that’s the most common mistake . . . or simply the easiest to notice?

One thing we know for sure is that the opportunity to make mistakes is almost unlimited, and missed deductions can be the most costly. About 45 million of us itemize on our 1040s — claiming more than $1 trillion worth of deductions. That’s right: $1,000,000,000,000, a number rarely spoken out loud until Congress started tying itself up in knots trying to deal with the budget deficit and national debt.

Another 92 million taxpayers claim about $700 billion worth using standard deductions — and some of you who take the easy way out probably shortchange yourselves. (If you turned 65 in 2012, remember that you now deserve a bigger standard deduction than the younger folks.)

Yes, friends, tax time is a dangerous time. It’s all too easy to miss a trick and pay too much. Years ago, the fellow who ran the IRS at the time told Kiplinger's Personal Finance magazine that he figured millions of taxpayers overpay their taxes every year by overlooking just one of the money-savers listed below

Health insurance can get complicated since there seems to be a lot of changes. Watch out for these notable changes next year and use these tips from Kiplinger to take advantage of them.

The National Business Group on Health conducts an annual survey of health benefits offered by many of the largest employers nationwide, and it always provides a first glimpse at health-plan changes for the coming year. The big headline is that employers expect benefit costs to rise by an average of seven percent in 2013 — on top of increases of about seven percent in both 2011 and 2012. Sixty percent of employers say they plan to pass along a portion of the increase in the form of higher premiums in 2013; in general, premiums will increase less than five percent. Large employers still subsidize a big portion of premiums, typically covering about 80 percent, leaving employees to pay the remaining 20 percent. The premium split for dependent coverage is usually 70 percent for employers and 30 percent for employees. Smaller companies generally pay a smaller proportion of costs.

Employers are making other adjustments to costs and incentives that may make a big difference in your expenses. Here are some changes to look out for and strategies for making the most of them.

Extra out-of-pocket expenses. Many employers are shifting additional costs to employees: 40 percent plan to increase in-network deductibles, 33 percent plan to increase out-of-network deductibles, and 32 percent plan to boost their out-of-pocket maximums. Also, 13 percent of employers plan to increase the co-payment for buying drugs at a retail pharmacy (with a smaller increase for mail-order prescriptions), and about eight percent plan to increase the coinsurance rate for primary and specialist care (coinsurance is the percentage of the bill you pay yourself). Compare overall costs — premiums, coinsurance rates and deductibles — when picking a policy. And be careful to choose providers and pharmacies that participate in your plan; otherwise, your deductibles as well as your co-payments could be higher.

Read on for more.

The first step to being ready for retirement is to start young. Kiplinger shares some steps you should take when you turn 30.

At last, you've gotten your career on course and are ready for your next big moves -- perhaps starting a family and buying a home. Before you get too far down that road, map out a long-term plan, says Jim Oliver, a certified financial planner in San Antonio, Tex. "Most people live the lifestyle they want without putting away enough to meet the goals they want later on. It's like having a budget for a trip and not allocating it. Before the trip is over, they run out of money."

Prepare for contingencies. If you haven't done so already, fuel an emergency fund with enough to cover at least six months' worth of basic expenses. That cushion can prevent you from raiding your retirement accounts after a layoff or keep you from borrowing your way out of a crisis. "Debt is the number-one problem that sabotages most couples," says Deborah Fox, of Fox Financial Planning Network, in San Diego.

Before you have children, contribute as much as you can to your 401(k), but don't neglect the Roth IRA, says Barry Korb, of Lighthouse Financial Planning. "It's costing you in taxes now, but down the road, that money is tax-free. Do it while you can afford it." Keep contributing at least 15% of your gross income toward retirement savings, says Nicholas Yrizarry, of Wealth Management Group, in Laguna Beach, Cal. Once the kids arrive, you'll likely have to pull back if one spouse leaves the workforce or to pay for child-care costs. Either way, "the reality is you can't do 15% of gross income because it's not there anymore."

Read on for more.

College is a great goal for many students in their academic careers, but the thought of paying is not so fun. Kiplinger shares a few points to keep in mind when paying for college.

You've heard the stories about students who borrow $40,000, $60,000, $100,000 to get a college degree and discover upon graduation that the monthly payments are way too high to manage. And then there are parents who stretch to the breaking point to send their kid to a school they can't afford.

Unrealistic expectations, and the thrill of acceptance letters, can impel families to make decisions that may not only hurt their children's future but also impair their own. According to a recent report by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, 10 percent of new grads have monthly loan payments that consume more than 25 percent of their income, and default rates have soared since 2008. Even more depressing, the New York Federal Reserve recently reported that more than two million people ages 60 and older are still paying down student debt.

You — and your kids — can avoid that fate if you steer clear of the mistakes that trip up families when they’re paying for college.

Read on for more.

Retirement is something to look forward to in life, but the financial aspect is something to be aware of. Our friends at Kiplinger share some tips on retirement for women.

For women heading toward retirement, there’s good news and bad news. The good news is they’re likely to be blessed with long life. The bad news: they may not be able to afford it.

That, in effect, is the conclusion of a recent study by the US General Accounting Office. Despite the increase in women’s workforce-participation rates over the past two decades, the poverty rate in 2010 for women 65 and older was nine percent — nearly twice the rate for men, at five percent. And while six percent of widowers lived in poverty, 12 percent of widows were poor.

According to the GAO report, women have a tougher time saving for retirement in part because they take time out from the workforce to care for family members, and when they do work, they have lower earnings than men. Other studies bear this out: women who are 50 to 69 have about 20 percent less in retirement savings than men in that age group, according to a recent report by the ING Retirement Research Institute. Another report notes that while half of baby-boomer men have retirement savings of at least $200,000, only 35 percent of female boomers have that level of savings.

Women who are five to 10 years from retirement can take some steps to improve their financial readiness. Many of these moves can apply to women of all ages.

Read on for more.

We have good news for you: just because you didn't go to college doesn't mean you can't have a great job! This article from Kiplinger reveals the top 10 jobs that don't require a degree.

College isn’t for everyone. Sure, earning a degree will improve your income potential, but skyrocketing tuition costs are a deterrent for some. Others choose not to continue their schooling for a host of reasons, from family obligations to a desire to start collecting a full-time paycheck.

You can still find a good job without a college degree. According to the Georgetown Center on Education and the Workforce, 44 percent of high school graduates make better money than college grads. It's just a matter of picking the right career field.

To identify the 10 best jobs you can get without a college degree, we focused on two critical factors: salary and job growth. We started with the more than 300 professions that the US Bureau of Labor Statistics classifies as requiring only a high-school diploma or postsecondary nondegree (typically awarded by a trade school or vocational training program). We trimmed the list by filtering for jobs with annual salaries well over the national median of $41,444 and projected long-term growth rates above the average of 14 percent. Continue reading to find out the 10 best jobs you can get without a college degree!

Before you decide on a major or career, maybe you need to weigh all your options, especially in this economy where unemployment rates are high. Kiplinger compiles a well-thought-out list of the best majors.

Many Millennials grew up hearing that they should study what they love. While that's a nice sentiment, it's also landed countless recent grads in quagmires of student debt and unemployment. In today's tough economic climate, some college majors simply offer better prospects than others — and savvy students should want to know the difference.

That's why we came up with our list of the 10 best college majors for your career. We analyzed the unemployment rates and salaries for graduates of the 100 most popular college majors, using data from Georgetown University's Center on Education and the Workforce and PayScale.com.

What did we look for? Fields of study with grads — both recent grads within the past five years and those well into their careers — who enjoy an attractive combination of big paychecks and abundant employment opportunities. The undergraduate programs that we ranked can take from two to five years to complete.

Take a peek at our list of the 10 best college majors for your career.

10. Medical Assisting Services

Unemployment rate: 2.9 percent (Average for all grads with a bachelor’s degree: 4.9 percent)

Unemployment rate for recent grads: 5.4 percent (Average for top 100 majors: 7.7 percent)

Median salary: $51,000 (Median for all grads with a bachelor’s: $54,756)

Median salary for recent grads: $43,000 (Median for top 100 majors: $37,000)

Projected job growth for this field, 2010 to 2020: 31 percent (Average: 14 percent)

If you don't mind following doctors' orders, medical assisting is a pretty sweet deal. The average medical assistant with a two-year associate’s degree will enjoy far better job prospects than most grads and earn nearly as much money as a young B.A.-holder. Medical-assisting majors study office administration and basic clinical skills, such as transcription, coding, and lab procedures. They generally work in doctors’ offices, taking patient history, performing basic tests, and tracking insurance and other paperwork as needed.

9. Management Information Systems

Unemployment rate: 4.2 percent

Unemployment rate for recent grads: 7.4 percent

Median salary: $71,000

Median salary for recent grads: $51,000

Projected job growth for this field, 2010 to 2020: 18 percent

Not all computer majors are created equal, contrary to rumor and admissions-office hype. Computer-networking majors, for instance, see 8.2 percent unemployment and a $37,300 salary upon graduation. But management information systems majors can expect high starting salaries right out of school, and strong job and salary growth after that. The major prepares students to work in IT for big organizations — helping clueless technophobes fix their email, sure, but also building, securing, and maintaining a network for an entire company.

8. Construction Services

Unemployment rate: 5.4 percent

Unemployment rate for recent grads: not available

Median salary: $65,000

Median salary for recent grads: $50,200

Projected job growth for this field, 2010 to 2020: 17 percent

Construction services may seem an odd choice in a down economy, when building projects can grind to a halt. Still, there's enough demand for general contractors and construction managers to keep unemployment at a tidy 5.4 percent. Construction-services majors study project scheduling and construction law and go on to oversee projects ranging from office buildings to power plants. The workplace isn't as glamorous as a swanky office, but new construction services grads make more money than new grads in finance, general engineering and pre-law.

7. Medical Technologies

Unemployment rate: 1.4 percent

Unemployment rate for recent grads: 5.4 percent

Median salary: $58,000

Median salary for recent grads: $45,100

Projected job growth for this field, 2010 to 2020: 13 percent

Medical technologists are in serious demand — so serious, in fact, that some hospitals try to tempt recent grads with perks such as sign-on bonuses. In addition to the abundance of employment opportunities, medical-technologies majors can look forward to above-average starting salaries. In school, majors study chemistry, biology, and clinical laboratory skills; after graduation, they work in hospitals, doctors’ offices, and diagnostic labs analyzing patient samples.

Read on for more.

Thinking of buying a home? Kiplinger shares details on what it takes to become a home owner.

Tired of renting? It could be a great time to buy your first home. In many cities, home prices have bottomed and rents have risen. Mortgage rates are still superlow. In fact, homes haven't been as affordable since 1971. On the downside, in many cities buyers have fewer homes from which to choose and more competition for the best houses.

In Austin, Tex., newlyweds Mark and Ariane Corcoran bought their first home in March. They were renting in a popular downtown neighborhood, where they paid $1,200 a month for a 500-square-foot loft apartment, when they inherited enough money for a down payment. When they began shopping, they expected to buy a classic 1930s Austin bungalow. They found lots of prospects online but drove by most of them. "Agents are really good at taking photos that exclude what they don't want you to see, like the used-car lot out back," says Mark.

They put in an offer on a $225,000, 800-square-foot home. But after the home inspection, they realized that it needed $20,000 to $30,000 in renovations and repairs and that they'd quickly outgrow it. They walked away during the state-mandated rescission period (during which a buyer can back out for any reason and get back any earnest money deposited).

Ariane identified their next prospect within an hour after the listing appeared online. It was a newly built, 1,600-square-foot home with three bedrooms, 2.5 baths, and a yard for the dogs. The builder asked $270,000, the couple offered $260,000, he countered and they paid $268,000. They put down 20% to avoid private mortgage insurance and snagged a 30-year fixed rate of 3.75% from a credit union. Their monthly mortgage payment is $1,524.

Before you take the plunge, consider the answers to questions often posed by first-time buyers:

Will I qualify for a mortgage?

Lenders will scrutinize your "three C's"—credit history (your credit score as well as a deeper dive into your record of debt payment), capacity (income, savings and investments) and collateral (your down payment and the value of the property you want to purchase, as determined by an appraisal).

Lenders will verify your employment (job, school or military) for the past two years and try to predict how likely it is that you will keep your job. If you're weak in one area, strength in the other two areas or in a spouse's bona fides may compensate. Or you may need to beef up your credit score (see Improve Your Credit Score Before Applying for a Loan), establish a more stable income history or save for a bigger down payment.

Read on for more.

Saving money is always tough, but Kiplinger has some moves that will save thousands in a few minutes.

You'll be surprised how much you can pocket in so little time.

Want to save a thousand dollars without leaving the house? It's possible with these quick, easy tips on everything from credit cards to audiobooks.

Ditch that expensive airline credit card

What you need: Driver's license, credit card, and bank account numbers

How to do it: Annual fees for airline-specific credit cards can run as high as $95. With these no-fee travel cards, you earn points good on dozens of airlines, not only eliminating the fee but giving you a wider variety of airline choices. Apply for the Simmons First Visa Platinum Travel Rewards card or the PenFed Premium Travel Rewards American Express card. To get the PenFed card, you'll need to join the credit union, which costs just $15 for membership in Voices For America's Troops.

ANNUAL SAVINGS: $95
(based on one credit card change)

Lower the interest rate on your plastic
What you need: An excellent credit score — 720 or higher

How to do it: Go to LowCards and click on Low Interest Credit Cards. Then search through the offerings and apply. With a high credit score, you should get a card with a rate in the seven-percent-to-eight-percent range.

ANNUAL SAVINGS: $346
(switching from an average 14.17 percent rate to 7.25 percent, on a balance of $5,000)

Read on for more.

Banks seem to find a way to add extra charges to their online services. Kiplinger has put together a list of banks where there are no fees to cringe over.

As banks attempt to bolster their bottom line, many customers, especially at big banks, are getting stung by fees for formerly free checking accounts. The assault of new fees wouldn't seem so onerous if banks were paying more on deposits. But the average yield on savings was recently 0.22 percent and on checking accounts only 0.14 percent, according to the online bank-comparison site DepositAccounts.com.

However, these seven online banks (including one credit union that anyone can join) offer free checking accounts, charge fewer fees than big banks, and tend to offer higher rates. Because these banks lack dedicated ATMs, they usually reimburse you for other banks' ATM charges. You'll have to rely on direct deposit to put money in your account, although some banks allow you to deposit checks via your smartphone. As with traditional institutions, up to $250,000 per account is protected by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. or the National Credit Union Administration.

Related: Little Banks, Better Deals

Ally Bank
Website: ally.com

Ally lets you open its Interest Checking account with just $1 and promises 24/7 access to its customer-service representatives by phone, email, or online chat. The account has no monthly maintenance fee and offers mobile banking and free bill pay. Plus, it rebates all ATM fees nationwide. It also offers free person-to-person payments through Popmoney.

The account pays 0.4 percent interest on balances up to $15,000 and 0.75 percent on balances over that amount. By the end of the year, you will be able to use an iPhone, Android, or BlackBerry mobile device to deposit checks, transfer funds to accounts at other banks and pay bills.

Read on for more.

Who said being wealthy means you can't look for a good deal? Kiplinger shares how the superrich try to watch the wallet just like you.

Becoming wealthy and staying that way takes a certain level of discipline. Sure, an occasional splurge won't put you in the poor house, but frequent frivolous spending on things that aren't necessities can quickly put a serious dent in your wallet. The frugal habits necessary to achieve financial success and maintain it are often lessons learned early on.

Related: How to Be a Millionaire by Age 25

In this slide show, meet seven entrepreneurs, business leaders and famous faces, including Google's David Cheriton, Berkshire Hathaway's Warren Buffett, and Hollywood's Hilary Swank, whose modest living — from clipping coupons to clipping their own hair — has helped them amass and/or maintain vast fortunes.

As Knight Kiplinger wrote in his classic column The Invisible Rich, "the biggest barrier to becoming rich is living like you're rich before you are."

David Cheriton

Age: 61
Estimated net worth: $1.3 billion
How he struck it rich: An early private investor in Google
Frugal habit: When having dinner at a nice restaurant, he saves half of his meal for the next day.

In addition to knowing how to make a good meal last, the Stanford University professor — who played an integral role in the founding of Google — has also been cutting his own hair for the past 15 years and drives a 1986 Volkswagen Vanagon.

Cheriton's been pinching pennies his whole life. "Many of my frugal habits come from my parents, who grew up during the Depression and passed along the same careful habits," he told Kiplinger. "My rule is never spend in a way that I can't explain to my parents without apology or embarrassment. It's kind of a personal version of 'never do anything you don't want to see presented on 60 Minutes."

Read on for more.

College is expensive, but there are ways to cut down the costs for your student. Kiplinger shares a few tips on what is necessary for college and how to be more financially savvy.

The sticker shock when you first see the bill for tuition, room and board, and all those nebulous fees is bad enough. With the excitement and stress that accompanies the move to college, it's easy to let down your guard and pony up the plastic for a whole lot of other expenses. Sure, you want what’s best for your child, but you don't have to say yes to every item on his or her wish list.

Of course, not all students' needs are the same — students in engineering and medical studies, for example, may require new textbooks they’ll keep or a more powerful computer. But generally speaking, here are 12 expenses campus life doesn't really require:

New textbooks. More and more universities are offering textbook rental programs to help students avoid paying unfathomable new-book prices. Check to see whether your university offers a rental program, which is most often available for the school's core-curriculum and prerequisite classes.

Read on for more.

Is paperwork adding too much clutter to your home? Keep reading for seven tips on going paperless from Kiplinger.

If you have a smartphone, scanner, and computer, you have all the tools you need to banish paper clutter from your life. We've rounded up ways to digitize records and receipts, as well as cut back on paper bills and financial statements. The payoff: you can more easily organize your files, photos, and miscellaneous pieces of paper, and you’ll be able to access them with the click of a mouse or tap of an app. Plus you are likely to save money on paper and printer ink.

1. Scrap the small stuff

Get a handle on paper receipts with tools that save and categorize them. With the free Lemon app (available for Android phones, the iPhone and iPad, and Windows Phone), you just snap a photo of a receipt and add a label — for example, “Personal” or “Business.” Lemon arranges receipts based on your labels as well as the type of spending the receipt reflects (such as “Food and Dining”), and you can view a breakdown of the information on the app and at Lemon.com. If you don’t have a smartphone, you can email receipts to your account or enter information from receipts manually.

Shoeboxed, which manages receipts as well as business cards, caters to small businesses but can be helpful for personal finances, too. The online tool has applications for Android devices and the iPhone and iPad (you can email photos to Shoeboxed from any phone with a camera and email capability). Plus, it integrates with several outside accounts, such as Evernote and Google, so that you can export data into them. Send five documents per month to Shoeboxed to have a human verify, at no charge, that the data pulled from the images of the documents is accurate (receipts submitted through the phone app go through verification). You can have more documents verified with paid plans that range from $10 to $50 per month or $99 to $499 a year. But you can always upload documents directly to Shoeboxed.com and skip data verification to keep using the tool free.

Continue reading for the seven steps to help you go paperless.

Be smart about your credit score, because it can have huge impact on your life. Kiplinger shares everything you need to know about credit scores.

FICO isn't the only number in town. The score that counts is the one your lender uses.

1. There is no single number. The compilers of the widely accepted FICO credit score allow lenders to customize their system, so different lenders produce different scores. Plus, each of the credit bureaus — Experian, Equifax, and TransUnion — has a proprietary scoring model. As if that weren't enough, the credit bureaus together invented VantageScore a few years ago to compete with FICO.

2. Different scales, different scores. FICO scores range from 300 to 850. You'll need about 760 or better for the best mortgage rates, but a score of 720 should be sufficient to get you the best deal on an auto loan. About 10 percent of lenders now use VantageScore, which ranges from 501 to 990 and has corresponding letter grades from A to F. The best rates go to borrowers with scores in the A range (above 900). If you are denied a loan or given less than the best rate, then a lender must tell you the score it used, along with the corresponding range and factors that adversely affected your score.

3. Do a credit checkup. You can monitor your credit yourself by requesting a free report once a year from each of the credit bureaus through www.annualcreditreport.com. But the free report won't include your credit score; you'll pay about $8 to get the credit bureau's proprietary number. The majority of lenders (especially mortgage lenders) use FICO scores, however, so if you're in the market for a loan, then that is the one you want. At www.myfico.com, you can get your credit report and a FICO score from Equifax or TransUnion (but not Experian) for $20.

Read on for more.

Going off to college or grad school? Kiplinger provides great strategies to prevent drowning in student debt.

Does this sound familiar? Consumers clamor to buy a desirable commodity. To make the purchase easier, the government makes loan money available. Buyers rush to borrow, increasing demand and pushing up prices. Buyers borrow even more, creating a vicious cycle until . . .

Shades of the housing boom — only this time the scenario is playing out with student loans. With more than $1 trillion in federal and private student loans outstanding, the news media have suddenly discovered the issue, and observers are warning of a student-loan bubble.

In my opinion, the real problem is that student loans represent a double-edged sword. The very loans that are supposed to help students pay for college also contribute to driving up costs, and that encourages students to borrow even more.

A lot of people have suggested solutions to this conundrum. But in the meantime, students and families are faced with a practical problem. How do you make the most of student loans, if necessary, without getting in over your head? It's a subject we've covered extensively here at Kiplinger — in articles such as "Lighten the Burden of Student Loans" and "How to Limit Student-Loan Debt." Given the sudden surge in interest, my advice bears repeating: the best way to get out of the student-debt trap is to avoid it altogether.

• Double down on saving. Every dollar you save is a dollar you won’t have to borrow or rely on student aid to provide. State-sponsored 529 college-savings plans are one of the best ways to save (see our choices for the top plans).

Read on for more.

Now that school's over, grads need to start thinking about paying off their student loans. Kiplinger provides some strategies.

Congratulations to the members of the class of 2012 on their upcoming graduation. Unfortunately, many of them will be leaving college with more than just a diploma — they'll have student-loan debt.

According to the most recent data from the College Board, the average debt per borrower who attended a public college was $22,000 in 2010. And the average debt per borrower who attended a private college was $28,000.

Those of you with federal student loans won't have to start paying them back immediately. You have a six-month grace period if you have a Stafford Loan, and you have a nine-month grace period if you have a Perkins Loan. Use this time wisely, though, to find out what your loan payments will be each month and explore your options if you can't make those payments.

Start with the calculators at Student Aid on the Web, the Department of Education's site for federal loans, to see what your estimated loan payments will be under the standard repayment program. If you don't think you'll be able to afford the monthly payment under this plan, then here are other repayment plans for which you might qualify:

Consolidation. Available through the Federal Direct Loan program, consolidation lets you combine all your loans into one and extend repayment to as long as 30 years for lower monthly payments but at a higher total cost. For more information, visit the Direct Consolidation Loans site.

Read on for more.

When you have to make monthly payments on something, you better make sure you're doing everything right. Kiplinger shares insurance mistakes that are draining your wallet.

Insurance can help protect your finances in case of an emergency. But you shouldn't pay more than you have to for this protection. Whether you're buying a policy for the first time or have had coverage for years, you can keep insurance costs under control by avoiding these 10 common mistakes.

Setting Low Deductibles

With low auto and homeowners insurance deductibles, you often pay more in premiums than you can recover in claims. Low deductibles also encourage you to make small claims, which could cost you a claims-free discount or prompt your insurer to drop you. Boosting your homeowners deductible from $500 to $1,000 could reduce your premiums by 25 percent; increasing your car insurance deductible from $200 to $1,000 could save you 40 percent. Add some of that savings to your emergency fund to cover the extra out-of-pocket expense.

Failing to Ask For Discounts

You won't get credit for some discounts unless you let your insurer know that you qualify. The list varies from company to company but often includes installing a home alarm system, adding storm-proof shutters, taking a job with a shorter commute (or not commuting anymore), carpooling and even working in certain occupations.

Read on for more.

Tipping in general can be tricky. Tipping when traveling? Even more complicated. Kiplinger breaks down the proper way to tip on a trip.

Relax — you’re on vacation. Use these six tips to establish a tipping plan that eliminates stress and faux-pas.

1. Include gratuities in your vacation budget. As you estimate how much to save for your next trip, be sure you figure in all of the tips you'll be expected to leave along the way. "Preparing takes away those awkward moments of not being sure who, when and how much to tip, so you can just enjoy your trip from beginning to end," says Diane Gottsman, national etiquette expert and owner of the Protocol School of Texas.

2. Tip the right people. Certain service providers in the U.S. rely on tips for the majority of their income. "Going against the grain and leaving less than what is normally an accepted tip can really hurt that person," says Peter Post, author of Essential Manners for Men (and great-grandson of Emily Post herself).

One service provider you'll certainly want to thank with a tip is the hotel housekeeper. And because different people may be cleaning up after you each day, you'll have to express your monetary appreciation daily. Each morning before you go out for the day, leave $2 to $5 with a thank-you note or in an envelope labeled "housekeeping," so it's clear that the cash is meant for them.

Other people you might tip as you travel: the skycap, shuttle driver, concierge and hotel valet.

Read on for more.

Planning a vacation? Don't miss these 10 travel saving tips from Kiplinger.

Memorial Day marks the beginning of the summer travel season. So if you're planning to hit the road this weekend or to take a vacation over the coming months, then here are tips to help keep costs under control.

Save money on the road

Download free travel apps. You can save time and money by downloading mobile applications. For example, you can use your smartphone to comparison shop for the lowest gas prices in your zip code with a free app such as GasBuddy. Here are more free travel apps you should consider downloading.

Avoid unnecessary rental car fees. If you rent a car to avoid putting miles on your own, then make sure that you don't pay more than you have to by saying no to the add-ons rental companies offer. See How to Avoid Unnecessary Rental Car Fees for the extras you should avoid.

Save money when flying

Check fares often. To find the best price on a ticket, you need to check fares often because they fluctuate throughout the day, says George Hobica, founder of AirfareWatchdog.com. Seat availability also varies during the day. For example, Hobica says an airline might have just one seat available at the lowest fare at 10 a.m., but it will open up more cheap seats later in the day.

Sign up for fare alerts. Don't have time to check airfares every day? Sign up for alerts from airlines and travel sites — such as AirfareWatchdog.com and FareCompare.com — so you'll know if prices drop.

Read on for more tips for air travel and hotel savings.

Do you have what it takes to buy a home? Consider this exhaustive guide from Kiplinger.

Tired of renting? It could be a great time to buy your first home. In many cities, home prices have bottomed, and rents have risen. Mortgage rates are still superlow. In fact, homes haven't been as affordable since 1971. On the downside, in many cities, buyers have fewer homes from which to choose and more competition for the best houses.

In Austin, TX, newlyweds Mark and Ariane Corcoran bought their first home in March. They were renting in a popular downtown neighborhood, where they paid $1,200 a month for a 500-square-foot loft apartment, when they inherited enough money for a down payment. When they began shopping, they expected to buy a classic 1930s Austin bungalow. They found lots of prospects online but drove by most of them. "Agents are really good at taking photos that exclude what they don't want you to see, like the used-car lot out back," says Mark.

They put in an offer on a $225,000, 800-square-foot home. But after the home inspection, they realized that it needed $20,000 to $30,000 in renovations and repairs and that they'd quickly outgrow it. They walked away during the state-mandated rescission period (during which a buyer can back out for any reason and get back any earnest money deposited).

Ariane identified their next prospect within an hour after the listing appeared online. It was a newly built, 1,600-square-foot home with three bedrooms, 2.5 baths, and a yard for the dogs. The builder asked $270,000, the couple offered $260,000, he countered, and they paid $268,000. They put down 20 percent to avoid private mortgage insurance and snagged a 30-year fixed rate of 3.75 percent from a credit union. Their monthly mortgage payment is $1,524.

Before you take the plunge, consider the answers to questions often posed by first-time buyers. Read on for what to ask yourself.