Hooray for AAA!

Let me count the ways we have saved money with our AAA membership on our Missisippi road trip...

No. 1: Hotels. We're traveling for over two weeks and every night we get 10 percent off the cost of our hotel room. This will save us some $150 over the course of our trip.

No. 2: AAA Discounts iPhone app. This handy new free application pinpoints services offering AAA discounts near you. When we were in Memphis, the application alerted us that we could save on admission to the Mud Island River Park. Our family of four got $3 off the total admission price. Every little bit counts when you're traveling on a budget of $150 a day.

No. 3: Maps, TourBooks, and TripTik routings. We loaded up on all of these before taking off on our trip--and because we're AAA members all of these were free. The TourBooks are helping us track down sites and attractions and the maps are helpful when the GPS gets it wrong. And I'm an especially big fan of the TripTiks, which offer up detailed, accurate turn-by-turn directions. Before going on the trip, we printed out several for routes between all of our hotels.

Not a AAA member? Become one by clicking here: aaa.com.