Getting ready for spring break? Many families are heading out this weekend for a holiday as schools take their annual April vacation. I remember a year ago, after a long spate of sitting at my desk way too much, I was in dire need of a getaway but feeling conscious of a strict budget because we had some fun summer plans that took higher priority for the family funds.

In trolling around for deals, I realized that a credit card that I had been using exclusively for business expenses had racked up enough points for a week’s accommodations in Florida. With a quick click, we were on our way.

It was such a nice surprise to be able to take that trip without breaking my bank. Apparently I’m not the only one who tends to let those balances accumulate without paying much attention. Almost three in four Americans have forgotten about frequent flier miles or credit card rewards points that they’ve earned.

“For people who don’t take advantage of points, you’re leaving money on the table,” said Brian Kelly, author of “ThePointsGuy.com,” a website dedicated to teaching the ins and outs of maximizing the use of points for travel and other benefits.

Kelly worked with Princeton Survey Research Associates to find out how many people are actually taking advantage of points programs and how many are letting them expire. “I was amazed when I would go into a Starbucks how many people would use debit cards or cash,” he said in an interview. To Kelly, who is able to travel business class internationally because of his prolific use of points and spent just $2.50 on a ticket to Brazil last week, not taking advantage of a rewards program for even the smallest purchases is puzzling. Even if you don’t want to travel, Kelly reasons, “you should at least be getting cash back.”

Several analysts have reported that car sales are expected to rise this year, in part because there’s a sizeable group of people who need to replace their older vehicles. But how much is the “right” amount to spend?

If you’re looking to finance, you might consider the 20-4-10 rule: 20 percent down; financing that lasts no longer than four years; and principal, interest and insurance that doesn’t exceed 10 percent of your gross household income.

It’s a formula that can help change the way we think about how we define the affordability of a car, and potentially start to free up some extra cash for other, more important financial needs such as retirement or even the more basic emergency savings fund.

“How that change in thinking lowers your stress level is just amazing,” says Mike Sante, a managing editor at Interest.com, which recently completed a study that looked at car affordability. “It can make a tremendous change in your quality of life. This is where the money is for your savings.”

Americans are largely spending too much on cars, an asset that is often our second-largest household expense after rent or a mortgage and offers no potential for increasing net worth. For example, taking into account car insurance costs and the Boston area’s median income of almost $70,000 a year, Interest.com calculated that a typical Boston household can afford to spend up to $26,025 on a car. It would take a pretty good amount of self-control to avoid spending more than that, since the average new car with bells and whistles costs $30,550.

Feeling a pinch from the gas pump? No wonder. According to the American Automobile Association, gas prices rose every day from Jan. 17 to Feb. 20 – a 15 percent jump to $3.778 per gallon, the fastest run-up since 2005.

Not surprisingly, I’ve been hearing from a lot of folks who have “tips” for how to track, and maybe even help manage, the sticker shock. For example, there is an app called Gasbuddy.com that can provide you with a list of gas stations in the area and their latest prices so that you can compare prices before you fill up the tank. In some cases, you can save 20 cents or more per gallon, which can quickly lead to big savings.

I also liked looking at the gas “heat map” on their website, which shows where the highest prices are in the country in case you’re planning a road trip. Massachusetts was definitely on the warmer end, though nothing like California.

Mapquest has a similar function. At the top left corner of the map that shows up on Mapquest.com, you’ll see a series of icons. Click on the one for “travel services” and it will give you a menu that includes “Gas stations.” Click on that, and it pulls up a list of stations with prices.

Local retailer Cumberland Farms also recently introduced a new payment program called SmartPay Check-Link that the company says saves drivers 10 cents on every gallon of gas, every day. You have a choice of downloading the SmartPay app or picking up a plastic SmartPay card at a Cumberland Farms/Gulf location after registering for the program on the company’s website and syncing it up with your checking account. Each time you fill up your tank, the payment is automatically withdrawn from your bank account.

I recently spoke with Jim Kucharski, who works with auto manufacturers such as General Motors Corp. and Chrysler Corp. as vice president of Alliance Sales at Ally Financial. According to Kucharski, 2013 should be a good year for the auto industry because of significant, pent-up demand from buyers (both consumers and businesses) who deferred sales during the recession. In addition, the average vehicle on the road in the US is more than 10 years old, encouraging consumers to trade in this older fleet for newer models.

Ally forecasts that the auto industry may sell at least 15 million units this year, an increase of about 3-4 percent. The last time the U.S. auto industry sold 16 million vehicles was in 2007.

In addition to the demand generated from the replacement of old vehicles, the industry expects to benefit from almost 500,000 more lease returns this year compared to last year, which should result in either new leases or purchases, Ally said. A recent Wall Street Journal report said that design “refreshes” in the midsize-car market should help that segment to continue to lead the industry. Overall, more than 40 new vehicle introductions are expected in the U.S. this year, more than twice the number in 2012.

“From our perspective, we see tremendous demand by consumers and supply by lenders to handle consumers with a variety and breadth of credit capacity and scores,” Kucharski said. “Not only is the auto market growing, but the auto finance market is growing.”

Last year, my New Year’s Resolution was to go paperless. I succeeded, but not in the way that I expected.

I began the year trying several new online applications that aimed to help me organize tasks ranging from setting up a snapshot of all my bills and reminders to pay them, to creating a family system that would allow my kids to track their allowances and chores.

As I often discover (and re-discover) when I embark on an effort to create new habits, starting simple is best. As such, I found that a lot of these applications fell by the wayside, probably because I tried to integrate too many of them into my busy routine at once. Collectively they were too new, and therefore too difficult to master, in an efficient amount of time.

I ended up laying the foundation for my paperless life – and eliminating literally bags upon bags of clutter - with three simple steps:

1. Assign one email address as my contact for reminders from banks and bill companies, and then sign up for paperless statements.

2. Create a filing system on my computer to organize all documents, back it up twice with an external hard drive and a cloud-based storage system, and set quarterly reminders on my calendar to download statements.

3. Buy a desktop scanner that’s also portable for when I travel. As silly as this may sound, having the big all-in-one printer/scanner/fax machine that sits at the opposite end of the room was simply too much effort when I could more easily throw a piece of paper into the scanner to file online while talking on the phone or finishing an email.

2013 is going to be another good year for borrowers, and a lousy year for savers, as interest rates remain low amidst a slow-growth economy, Bankrate Senior Financial Analyst Greg McBride said in an interview.

McBride forecasts that the U.S. economy will expand by about 2 percent this year, tempered by an unemployment rate that will decline very slowly and gains in wages that will be “nothing to write home about.”

Those consumers looking to purchase or improve their homes or upgrade the cars will have a window of opportunity as borrowing costs remain low. Auto loans, for one, are at record lows and are still falling, making 2013 a favorable year from a financial standpoint for anyone looking to buy either a new or used car, McBride said

What’s in your wallet? Whatever it is, identity thieves still see it as the easiest way to get your information.

As concerned as we all are with an online or other technology-related data breach, the vast majority of identity theft happens from stolen or misplaced items such as wallets and pocketbooks. The second most common cause is a compromised license, Social Security card or other form of personal I.D. Burglaries rate third.

These top three causes accounted for 73 percent of cases involving identity theft, according to a study of 2011 claims data by Travelers Insurance. The thieves often acquired the personal information through less obvious means, from sorting through trash for bank statements to stealing pre-approved credit card applications in the mail. Only 10 percent of those surveyed could identify the perpetrator of the identify fraud made against them.

Excel spreadsheets are once again becoming my best friend.

As I begin preparing my annual Christmas shopping list, instead of my usual paper system tacked onto my bulletin board or stuffed in my wallet, I have decided to lay out my list of people, and purchases, in a few simple columns so that I can easily find and track all of the information.

At the end of last year’s holiday season, I realized that my budget should not only include those items I buy for gifts, but all the other items I end up purchasing because it’s the one time of the year that I actually take time out to shop. It’s the extra things that end up blowing my budget and bloating my credit-card bill come January.

It also helps me reinforce the fairness factor among my kids. We always try to make sure that we split our immediate family budget pretty evenly among them, but having a formula that automatically tallies up the amounts for me as I input each one makes it a lot easier to make sure that I am keeping my word.

Easthampton Savings Bank is one of 88 banks nationwide that is participating in this year’s “Lights, Camera, Save!” video contest for teens that’s organized by the Education Foundation of the American Bankers Association.

The contest asks teens ages 13-18 years old to create a video that educates themselves, and their peers, about the value of saving and using money wisely. The videos can’t be longer than 90 seconds and must be an original work by the student (including all music and images).

Last week we learned that much of this year’s growth in the balance of consumer loans came from borrowing for school expenses. As we head into the fourth quarter, Moody’s Analytics is noticing an additional trend: a rise in auto lending.

In fact, auto lending is growing at the fastest pace in seven years, according to a recent report by Moody’s Analytics. Total outstanding debt on loan and leases increased last month by more than $50 billion, or 7 percent, to $767 billion from year-ago levels, said the company, which provides research and other financial tools to help companies measure and manage risk.

“Auto lending is on fire,” Cristian deRitis, senior director of consumer credit analytics for Moody’s Analytics, said in an interview. “It’s pent-up demand that built up during the recession.”