Blog Posts by All You Magazine

While it made for a funny movie in Home Alone, avoid holiday travel fiascos with these tips.

In Home Alone, holiday travel turned into a nightmare for the McAllister family (twice!), but it doesn't have to be that harried.

Related: How to Make the Gas in Your Car Last

If you plan to travel around the holidays, chances are that you're already thinking about airline prices, redeeming your miles and traffic patterns. It's enough to make your eyes glaze over. We caught up with travel industry insiders at companies like Expedia and Hertz so you can plan this year's holiday trip like a seasoned travel agent. Just think about all of the holiday shopping you can do with the time and money (and sanity) you'll save--you'll be shocked at how simple some of these tips are!

Related: 7 Free Mobile Apps That Make Traveling Easy

Which travel days could save you 10 to 15 percent this Christmas?
With Christmas on a Tuesday this year it will save money if you can extend your vacation by arriving earlier, particularly Wednesday or Thursday before and departing after the 26th.

Get some well-deserved shut eye with these tips!

Experts recommend we get seven to eight hours of snooze time per night. To solidify slumber for yourself try out these simple lifestyle tweaks…

Related: How to Fall Asleep

Set the right temp: In order to drift off, your body experiences a drop in temperature. Keeping your room between 65 and 70 degrees can help induce the decrease. Any warmer or colder and you might notice that you feel restless. Adjust your thermostat until you find the temperature that works for you.

Related: Perk Up! 3 Energy Boosting Tricks

Say so long to stacks of stuff: Sleep docs say clutter can be an anxiety-inducing reminder of tasks you still have yet to get to-which can keep you from fully unwinding and slipping into rejuvenating sleep.

Related: 5 Benefits of Sleep

Punch your pillow: Okay, don't punch your pillow but give it this test: lay it over your extended arm. Does it have a slight fold or does it hang there like a saddlebag? If it collapses, it isn't doing its job of

Avoid getting stuck in a line like this

One of the more unexpected results of Hurricane Sandy is lengthy lines at the pump. In order to save time (and your sanity), follow these tips to stretch the gas in your tank. It's easier thank you think!

Related: 10 Ways to Preserve Your Phone's Battery Life

1. Ease up on the pedals
Don't accelerate quickly or use a heavy foot when driving and try not to ride your break pedal, either. Both of these habits reduce your fuel-efficiency.

2. Use cruise control
Traveling at a constant speed is more fuel-efficient than fluctuating, so if you're driving on a road that lends itself to using the cruise control take advantage of the situation.

3. Obey the speed limit
Driving faster may you get you there quicker, but obeying the speed limit will help you avoid long lines at the gas station because higher speeds require more gas.

Related: 15 Ways to Save on Gas

4. Travel lightly
A lighter car will yield better fuel-efficiency, so clear out your trunk

Halloween Candy

After the trick-or-treating is over, figuring out what to do with all of that leftover candy is a daunting task. The last thing anybody wants is all of that sugar sitting in a basket somewhere just waiting to be eaten-talk about derailing any sort of healthy lifestyle. And if you do leave it sitting around, who's going to keep the kiddos away from it?

Related: Get Cash for Candy

If you want to be green about it, we have some sweet ways to put that candy to work by recycling it with these tasty recipes.

Snickers CheesecakeSnickers Cheesecake
Crust:
• 24 chocolate sandwich cookies (such as Oreos)
• 4 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted

Filling:
• 3 8-oz. packages cream cheese, at room temperature
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 3 large eggs, at room temperature
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1 teaspoon lemon juice
• 1 tablespoon cornstarch
• 3 regular-size Snickers bars, cut into 1/4-inch slices
• 1/4 cup caramel sauce, optional
• 1/4

Spicy Pumpkin Soup

Who else is affected by Hurricane Sandy? As per the president, our governor and our mayor, we've been urged to stay indoors. Before we locked ourselves in, we've hit the stores and put together a pretty impressive food stockpile to weather the storm.

Related: Sweet Secret Ingredient: 3 Ways to Cook with Honey

And now that our pantries are robust with soups, sauces and other canned goods, we're wondering what to do with all of the non-perishables. But just because you're dealing with not-so-fresh ingredients, that doesn't mean you have to sacrifice quality and flavor.

Related: Cooking With Coffee

Hooray for these pantry recipes to gourmet-ify (we know that's not a real word) your Hurricane Sandy menu. (Jot 'em down in case the power goes out!)

• Smoky Chipotle Meatloaf
• Peach-Berry Crumble
• Fruit and Nut Granola Bars
• Spicy Pumpkin Soup (pictured)
• Overnight Peaches and Cream French Toast
• Wilted Spinach with Chicken

Collapsible Eco Lunch BoxTrying to break the brown bag lunch cycle? We hear you! Feast your eyes on these cute lunch boxes.From stack-able, nesting, and collapsible varieties as well as everything in between, we scoured the bento box market to bring you the best (and most affordable!) options so you can say "adios" to your brown bag. Now that you have a fabulous new lunch box, inspiring food ideas won't be far behind.

Related: Savings Idea: Bento Box Lunches

Made From Silicone
Pack your lunch in this Smart Planet EC-34 Large 3-Compartment Eco Silicone Collapsible Lunch Box ($12.99 at Amazon.com, pictured above), and after you've eaten, wash it, fold it up and throw it in your purse. It's also microwave and dishwasher safe.

InnoBaby.com Bento BoxNot Just For Kids Although these Packin' SMART Lock & Lock Stacking Bento Boxes ($14.99 for two vessels at InnoBaby.com) were made to house meals and snacks for kids on-the-go, who's to say you can't use it for your lunches? The stackable containers lock together in place for

AllYouWith Halloween only a week away, it's crunch time for costume-picking. Need inspiration? Want to know what people are likely to dress up as (so you can make sure you don't have a copycat moment)? Look no further. Here's a list of Yahoo!'s most searched for Halloween costumes of 2012.

Related: Popstar and Rocker Halloween Costumes

Top 5 Most Searched Celebrity Costumes

1. Katy Perry

2. Nicki Minaj

3. Lady Gaga

4. Marilyn Monroe

5. Elvis Presley

Related: Pinterest Roundup: Creative Halloween Costumes

AllYou

1. Minnie Mouse

2. Bane

3. Cat Woman

4. Wonder Woman

5. Katniss Everdeen (wig pictured above)

6. Power Ranger

7. Alice in Wonderland

8. Little Red Riding Hood

9. Poison Ivy

10. Harley Quinn

Related:Cute Halloween Costumes for Dogs

T op Searched Halloween Costumes

1. Pirate

2. Monster High

3. Ninjago

4. Zombie

5. Minnie Mouse

6. Batman/Dark Knight

7.

AllYou

Bargain hunters know to go online to score discounts-especially this time of year. But there's a good chance that even seasoned Web shoppers are dropping more cash than they need to every time they click "Check Out." Follow our guide to sidestep hidden fees, avoid spending mistakes and instantly bolster your holiday budget. Watch out for these 5 common traps.

Related: A New Way to Haggle Online

Filling your cart to meet shipping minimums
HOW IT HAPPENS: Many e-tailers promise free shipping, but read the fine print and you'll often see that you have to spend a certain amount to get it. It's tempting to stock up on more than you need in order to nab the discount.
AVOID IT: First visit freeshipping.org to find stores that offer no-cost shipping without minimums. If you're willing to pick up purchases yourself, shop at a website that allows you to ship to a store for free-sometimes on the same day. Sears, the Container Store and Walmart (which now allows customers to