Welcome back! This week we’re going to focus on something we all need to do — save cash.

True story: I’m about to head to New York City for the rest of the week for a wedding. When I was booking the trip I had many decisions to make: what airline to fly, where to stay, what car to rent (OK, that’s a total lie — it’s Manhattan!). Because I had no flexibility in my dates, I couldn’t use the cool sites that let me pick cheaper flights based on different dates. And hotels — forget about it. There are hundreds in Manhattan, but I was at a loss to find the best deal (not just the cheapest — I’ve stayed in those, and they aren’t pretty, believe me). I am a discerning traveler, however, and make my decisions taking both quality and price into consideration.

Enter Live Search Farecast. Check out how it tells you when to buy your ticket based on computer science that is about 40 grade levels above my head. It also helped me pick out a sweet hotel in midtown that also happened to be 60% cheaper than it is normally during this time of year. Bottom line? Not only did it help me decide, it gave me confidence in my decision. There’s nothing worse to me than buyer’s remorse. And Live Search Farecast took much of that away.

Now the only thing I’m worried about is if my Kindle2 will arrive at the hotel as planned.

Till next time,

Stefan Weitz, Live Search, Director