illustration:http://www.joefloridainsurance.com/

As I am looking into affordable health insurance, I am suddenly face to face with all kinds of insurance issues.

I paid a monthly premium for about a year to have an extended warrantee on my car.  It never covered one penny of any repairs my car needed.  This week, for the first time, it will actually pay in full, less my $50 deductible, for a replacement window motor.

I’m about to exhaust my unemployment insurance, I just received notice that my home insurer will not cover me after this year, my friends are talking about long-term insurance and I am waiting for receipt of the replacement hard drive for one that broke, one that I actually purchased a warrantee for.

My husband is very anti-insurance industry in general, while I, especially with my computer and iPhone, feel a great sense of comfort that I have that cushion.  Like with anything, though, you and I like to know that we get the best coverage at the best price, the best value for our money.

So let’s get back to affordable health insurance, where the product is not stuff, it us.   Today, after a few minutes with a telephone rep from Blue Cross/Blue Shield of Florida, I learned that I was eligible for a plan costing half the amount of my current premium, with no deductible!  This one sounds great.  Let’s see how it develops.

How do YOU feel about insurance?  Necessary evil? Security blanket? Totally ridiculous?  Please post your comments.  What info can we find for you?

P.S. While looking for an illustration for this article, I came upon a site about Florida insurance and the best prices.   I’ll definitely check it out and report back.

P.P.S. This Sunday is the best day of the year for buying costume basics for next Halloween.  Maybe you can try one of the great costumes you saw this year.  HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

Thankfully, I just last week came upon an article which outlined a bunch of the best internet sites for finding low gas prices and getting the most out of your car. Here, compliments of www.DumbLittleMan.com and his contributor, blogger Abhijeet Mukherjee (www.Jeetblog.com) are a list of winners.

Fuelfrog
Fuelfrog tracks your gas mileage and reports back on your car’s fuel economy. You just need to enter the distance you traveled on your last tank, the price you paid, and the amount of fuel you added to your car.  Plus, you can even tweet your info to @fuelfrog!

CostToDrive
CostToDrive, calculates your driving costs city to city in the US. Give it the info on the two cities, your car’s make, model and year, and it will give you back the estimated cost based on the gas you use.

MyMileMarker
MyMileMaker is a site which can track the mileage and fuel consumption for your car.  It also generates distance and gas economy charts.  Just enter a few details on the site whenever you fill up your car’s tank.

Fuelly
Beyond tracking your fuel consumption, sharing data and seeing comprehensive reports on the money you’ve saved, Fuelly actually allow you to compare your data with other users of similar cars. 

GasBuddy
GasBuddy is a site which helps you find the cheapest gas prices in many US cities.  You can also check the gas price maps and historical price charts. A good, interactive site. 

MPGtune
MPGtune, among its other services, has a  primary function of tracking your vehicle’s MPG (miles per gallon or litres/100km). You can also find out about similar vehicles, and use the website to track their MPG.

GasHog
For iPhone users, an app the does everything the aforementioned web apps are capable of doing and also works on iPod touch.

And here’s a few more that I found:

Fuel Economy.gov

A government site, and they should know — and be honest about it.

Fuelgaugereport

The definitive report from AAA.

Plus,  you can get additional info (if indeed you need more) from Google, MSN, Mapquest, etc., even EBay!

Don’t let the high prices keep YOU at home this summer.  Just research, plan, and hit the road, knowing that all the money you save, on both gas and all the other things (which you are learning from reading this blog), allows you the luxury of travel.

For more ways to save on travel and entertainment, click here.