Some things are worth dishing out more cash for, and can pay for themselves in a short amount of time.

But you could save hundreds, or thousands, of dollars if you forego the tempting, new and shiny edition for its just-as-durable used version.

Here are 15 things to consider buying secondhand:

Mandi Woodruff contributed to an earlier version of this article.

SEE ALSO: The 14 best money management tips from real people's budgets

Textbooks

Textbooks can cost upwards of $200 for some science courses, and for a pre-medical student with a full class schedule, that could mean dropping up to a grand on reading material — per semester.

When possible, renting, borrowing ,or buying books secondhand are the simplest ways to save.

A few of our favorites sites to save on textbooks: Amazon's Book Rental, Chegg.com, Half.com, and Swap.com.

Children's clothing

We wouldn't recommend going the used route on important items like car seats or strollers, but when it comes to children's clothing — which is likely to get wrecked by smashed carrots anyway — there's no shame saving.

Try browsing reputable thrift shops in your neighborhood or, of course, asking friends and family for handmedowns.

And if all else fails, try re-seller sites like Swap.com or ThredUP.

Cars

Everyone loves that "new car" smell, but hear us out on this one.

The minute you drive a fresh car off the lot, its value drops by about 20%. Imagine the value lost after just five years.

You'll want to be weary of hitting the used car lot before doing your research. Sites like Kelley Blue Book are great places to get an idea of how much a used car should be worth.

Whether you want to gain industry knowledge or pick up some new skills, there are plenty of resources online that will allow you to learn at your own pace without having to pay any fees.

From Glassdoor's job review database to Codeacademy's programming classes, we've rounded up our favorite free online resources for boosting your career.

SEE ALSO: 15 free online resources that will improve your productivity

Glassdoor

Glassdoor provides employee reviews of companies of all sizes with insight into what it's like to work there, as well as compensation data. You can use the info to prepare for job interviews or to negotiate your salary.

Discover job opportunities >>

Khan Academy

A Khan Academy account will get you access to hundreds of video lectures and exercises on a wide variety of topics, many of them narrated by the site's founder and executive director Sal Khan.

The site is especially useful if you want to learn specific topics rather than an entire subject, like how the stock market works and how to build a balance sheet.

Gain some practical knowledge >>

Coursera and edX

Coursera and edX may be competitors, but they're both worth checking out for their selection of in-depth courses from top universities like Stanford and UPenn.

Many courses are also highly practical rather than theoretical, like "Successful Negotiation" from the University of Michigan on Coursera or "Communicating Strategically" from Purdue on edX.

Explore Coursera >>

Explore edX >>

Travel + Leisure just released the 2015 winners for its annual World's Best Awards. 

Top Airlines in the World was one of the big awards. To determine the winner, Travel + Leisure surveyed its readers and collected data on a host of parameters including cabin comfort, in-flight service, customer service, value, food, and loyalty programs.

The long-running travel magazine also handed out awards for  best airports, cities to visit, hotels, and even best islands to checkout.

Pacific Rim airlines fared particularly well, making up 7 of the 10 award-getters. Here are the winners.

SEE ALSO: Emirates is attacking its competitors by evoking the Golden Age of air travel

10. Qantas Airways

9. All Nippon Airways (ANA)

8. Korean Air

Every leader's abilities are put to the test at some point in their career. How well they handle the ups and downs, the excitement and turmoil, proves whether they're truly a great leader, or just another wannabe. 

For its most recent Influencers editorial package, titled "How I Lead," LinkedIn asked some of the world's most successful executives, entrepreneurs, and industry experts to share their best leadership secrets and "surefire management methods" for getting through the good times, and bad.

Over 50 thought leaders shared original posts revealing how they lead in times of turbulence or growth. 

Here's what nine super-successful people had to say:

SEE ALSO: What 8 super-successful people wish they knew at 22

Richard Branson: Decisiveness is key.

The Virgin Group founder writes: "One of the most important skills any leader can learn is when to be decisive, and when to take a step back and look at the wider picture before making the big calls."

In times of turmoil, growth, or crisis, he says, there will be more decisions to be made and less time to make them. "There will also be an almost irresistible temptation to make these decisions as quickly as possible. A leader must be calm, confident in his choices, visible to his team and their customers, and in control of the situation." 

Branson says a good leader never rushes in and jumps to rash conclusions before knowing all the facts — they delay judgment and first try to see the whole picture clearly. Then, he writes, they contemplate quietly.

"After looking at all the stats, speaking to all the experts and analysing all of the angles, then take some time to yourself to think things through clearly. Take a walk, find a shady spot, or simply sit and think for a while. Don't delay unnecessarily — but don't rush either. Get that balance right, and you are far more likely to make the right call."

See his full post here.

Mary Barra: Good ideas don't have a hierarchy.

Barra may be CEO of General Motors, but she's acutely aware that some of the best ideas don't come from the corner office. "No matter your industry, ideas can come from anywhere — from the line, the retail floor, or at your engineering center," she writes.

Because people have different roles within the company, they have different perspectives, Barra explains — and those alternate viewpoints can be invaluable. By getting the entire team's input, she's able to ensure that "solutions are evaluated from every angle." 

Read her full post here.

Max Levchin: Your number one job is to get the best out of your team.

Levchin, cofounder of PayPal and current CEO of Affirm, Inc., says in the early days of PayPal, he "avoided managing a team for as long as possible." He was a coder; he wanted to code. In the years since then, though, he's learned a number of lessons about management.

Principle among them: Above all else, your job is getting people to do their absolute best. "A great leader knows how to identify and navigate around the team members' weaknesses and capitalize on their strengths," he explains. And part of nurturing a stellar team means standing by them "through the best and worst of times." The best leaders, Levchin says, push their teams, cheer on their teams, and look out for their teams — in times of upheaval and in times of growth.

Read his full post here.

Well-to-do families in the northeast start thinking about summer camp long before the final school bell rings. And well they should: not only do exclusive sleep-away camps fill up fast, they also cost a pretty penny. 

Here, we've put together a list of the most expensive sleep-away camps across New York, Maine, New Hampshire, and Pennsylvania. Most are in Maine, near a lake, and offer everything from waterskiing to polo.

For some perspective, the costs of these camps are roughly equivalent to a semester at a state college. Not a single camp checks in under $11,000.

Meredith Galante contributed to an earlier version of this story.

SEE ALSO: This Sleepaway Camp In The Adirondacks Costs $11,400 A Summer And Is Practically Impossible To Get Into

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Camp Winaukee is a boys' camp on Lake Winnipesaukee in New Hampshire. It costs $11,100 for the summer.

Camp Winaukee prides itself on being one of the country's preeminent sports and adventure camps.

With 2.5 miles of shoreline surrounding the largest lake in New England, there’s plenty of room for water sports. Activities at the camp include canoeing, kayaking, outdoor adventure, ropes, arts and crafts, and theater.

Camp Wildwood is a boys' camp in Bridgton, Maine on the shores of Woods Pond. It costs $11,200 for the summer.

At Camp Wildwood, activities include archery, beach volleyball, swimming lessons, polo, and more. Kids are split up into groups based on age to make for an even playing field. 

Campers can also look forward to canoe trips, white-water rafting, and pizza parties for those with the cleanest bunks.

Lake Bryn Mawr Camp is a girls' camp on the side of the Bryn Mawr mountain in Honesdale, Pennsylvania. It costs $11,250 for the summer.

Lake Bryn Mawr campers adhere to a strict "Angel Code," which supposedly governs their actions at camp as they swim, play tennis, tumble in the gymnasium, make arts and crafts, and learn cooking.

Special events at the camp include the "Miss Firecracker Contest," a camp-wide Olympics, and a week-long event called the "Color War."

Russian chemist and photographer Sergei Mikhailovich Prokudin-Gorskii was one of the first to use color photography in the early 20th century in Russia. 

In 1907, the photographer decided to systematically document the Russian Empire and was given a specially-equipped railroad car darkroom by Tsar Nicholas II for the project.

To create his images, he used an oblong glass plate through three different color filters of red, green, and blue, projecting them in slides on top of one another to create a full color image.

Today, more than 2,000 of his images are preserved by the Library of Congress. We’ve put together a collection of some of his most striking images.

Want to see more incredible photographs from the past? 16 stunning photos of the south of France in the 1960s

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Prokudin-Gorskii took this photograph of Emir Said Mir Mohammed Alim Khan, the last emir representative to rule the Emirate of Bukhara in Central Asia, in 1911.

Source: Library of Congress

Here, we get an early 20th-century view of Tbilisi, the capital of Georgia, which was previously known as Tiflis in Russian. Located on a plain formed by the Kura River, the city was annexed to the Russian Empire in 1801 before becoming the capital of an independent Georgia in 1991.

Source: Library of Congress, World Digital Library

By the time World War I arrived, Russia was in a stage of rapid industrialization. Prokudin-Gorskii was interested in documenting the economic life of the empire, capturing photographs like this one, taken in 1910, of a family mining-operation in the Ural Mountain region.

Source: Library of Congress 

If you spend a lot of time in your vehicle, you know that comfort is a high priority.

Simply put: You want the ride to be pleasant and not torture for your body.

A seat that causes discomfort or even a bumpy, noisy ride can make the drive very unpleasant.

These cars listed below stand out in terms of ride comfort, cabin quietness, and front-seat comfort.

We've excluded small cars, sports cars, and convertibles, which by definition don't major in comfort.

Click through each vehicle name to reach the model page to see how they rate in other factors such as performance, safety, and reliability.

SEE ALSO: Here are the nominees for 2016 North American Truck of the Year

DON'T FORGET: Follow Business Insider's Lifestyle page on Facebook!

Audi A6 Premium Plus

Buick LaCrosse CXS

Chevrolet Impala 2LTZ

China's construction boom has been one of the biggest drivers of economic growth in the past few years.

And although most of that has been original infrastructure, China also focused its attention on building replicas of world-famous tourist destinations.

Many of the original "world wonders" are considered cultural status symbols that reflected an empire's soft power. Consequently, some analysts believe that it's about more than just pretty tourist spots for China.

"The ancient parallels for these copycat projects suggest that they are not mere follies, but monumental assertions of China’s global primacy," Oxford University scholar and archaeologist Jack Carlson wrote a few years back.

A nearly full-scale copy of the Great Sphinx of Giza, which was built by the ancient Egyptians of the Old Kingdom circa 2500 BC, is now standing at an unfinished theme park in Chuzhou, Anhui province in China.

Source: Sacred Destinations

In the Beijing World Park, there are replicas of the Washington DC's White House and Lincoln Memorial, as well as New York's Statue of Liberty.

Source: China Guide

Other fun things you can find in the Beijing World Park include the Sydney Opera House and the Sydney Harbour Bridge. In total, there are over 100 world famous attractions in the park.

Perhaps the strongest reminder of the hardened US-Cuban relationship is the 60,000 retrofitted metal relics clunking around the streets of the stagnant island nation.

Havana's stunning 1950s-era "coches Americanos"— or "máquinas"—are often referred to as the "Galápagos of the car industry" since they have been meticulously preserved by their owners during the 55-year-long trade embargo.

Branded in Cuba's surreal time-warp image, these cars provide crucial income for locals while servicing the island's tourists. Here are a few of the most beautiful vintage cars we saw on our recent trip to Havana. You can read more about Business Insider's week in Cuba here.

SEE ALSO: We sent 3 reporters to Cuba for a week, and it was a wild adventure from the moment they arrived

In 1955, Cuba was the top importer of North American-manufactured cars, with nearly 125,000 Detroit-made automobiles bustling around the island nation.

That all changed in 1959, when Fidel Castro and his revolutionaries took over the country.

"The Cadillac does not provide jobs for anyone," Castro said during a speech to the Cuban people in July 1959. "The Cadillac does not increase the wealth of the country. It diminishes it."

Source: On Becoming Cuban: Identity, Nationality, and Culture.

We all have a remarkable capacity to make ourselves happier.

Each of the little things we do to boost our mood — from reading an adventure story to keeping a gratitude journal or even gazing up at the stars on a clear night — can add up to greater overall satisfaction.

But happiness doesn't come easy. We have to work at it. 

Here are some of the things that psychologists and social science researchers have found that have the power to lift your spirits and keep them high. Take a look:

UP NEXT: 17 'healthy habits' you're better off giving up

SEE ALSO: 35 science 'facts' that are totally wrong

Write down 3 things you're grateful for.

Keeping tabs on the things you feel lucky to have in your life is a great way to boost your mood.

In a recent study from psychologists at UC Davis, researchers had 3 groups of volunteers keep weekly journals focused on a single topic. While one group wrote about major events that had happened that week, the second group wrote about hassles they'd experienced, and the last group wrote about things they were grateful for.

Ten weeks later, those in the gratitude-journal group reported feeling more optimistic and more satisfied with their lives than those in any of the other groups and reported fewer physical symptoms of discomfort, from runny noses to headaches.

Go on a hike or gaze up at the stars on a clear night.

Awe is a powerful — even awesome, you might say — human emotion. And a handful of recent studies have found a link between experiencing a sense of awe — that feeling you get when you look up at a starry sky or out across a wide open valley — with feeling less stressed and more satisfied.

People who've recently had an awe-inspiring experience are also more likely to say they feel more curious about the world around them and to act more generously toward others.

Move to Switzerland.

Ok, moving to Switzerland might not make you happy, but people who live there are some of the happiest in the world, according to the 2015 World Happiness Report, a ranking compiled by an international team of economists, neuroscientists, and statisticians to measure global well-being.

One of the report's key findings, based on decades of neuroscientific and psychological research, suggests that keeping the brain happy relies on 4 main factors, which include staying positive, recovering from negative feelings, spending time with loved ones, and being mindful.

"These findings highlight the view that happiness and well-being are best regarded as skills that can be enhanced through training," the researchers write in their report.

Travel + Leisure just released its annual World's Best Awards, which surveys thousands of readers to come up with a comprehensive list of the year's best hotels, islands, airlines, and destinations.

This year, for the second time in a row, travelers voted Kyoto, Japan, to be the best city in the world.

Kyoto — Japan's imperial capital for over 1,000 years — is full of incredible temples, parks, and markets that make it a favorite with travelers.

These photos show why Kyoto was named the world's best city — twice.

SEE ALSO: The 10 best cities in the world, according to travelers

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Kyoto is home to incredible temples, like the Byodo-in Buddhist temple, a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

One of the most breathtaking temples is the 14th-century Kinkaku-ji (Golden Pavilion), which has a shiny gold facade that reflects beautifully in the pond it sits on.

Travelers love the thousands of scarlet colored torii (shrine gates) that lead 2.5 miles up a mountain to the main Inari shrine: Fushimi Inari Taisha. As Inari is considered the patron of business, each gate was donated by a Japanese business.

Last week, the US Patent and Trademark Office approved an application from Boeing's Robert Budica, James Herzberg, and Frank Chandler for a laser-and-nuclear driven airplane engine. 

With airplane makers constantly on the look out for new and more efficient ways to power their products, this laser engine is the latest idea cooked up by the engineers at Boeing.

Modern airliners such as the Boeing Dreamliner are powered by multiple turbofan engines. These engines deploy a series of fans and turbines to compress air and ignite fuel to produce thrust. 

Boeing's newly-patented engine provides thrust in a very different and rather novel manner. According to the patent filing, the laser engine may also be used to power rockets, missiles, and even spacecraft.

As of now, the engine lives only in patent documents. The technology is so out-there, that it's unclear if anyone will ever build it.

Here's how Boeing's new patented engine works.

SEE ALSO: The 10 top international airlines, according to travelers

Boeing's new jet engine works by firing high-power lasers at radioactive material, such as Deuterium and Tritium.

The lasers vaporize the radioactive material and causes a fusion reaction — in effect a small thermonuclear explosion.

Hydrogen or helium are the exhaust by-products, which exit the back of the engine under high-pressure. Thrust is produced.

San Diego Comic-Con is this week!

From July 9-12, over 130,000 fans will head out to the San Diego Convention Center dressed as their favorite pop culture icons, to get exclusive swag, indulge in pop-up exhibits, and for the chance to rub elbows with the stars of some of their favorite movies and TV shows.

Now in its 48th year, one of the biggest draws is getting into one of the two main venues, Hall H and Ballroom 20, where panels for some of the most-anticipated movies and TV shows take place.

Big announcements are expected from Warner Bros., 20th Century Fox, "The Walking Dead" crew, and more over the next few days.

Business Insider will be on the ground to take in the entire scene.

What can you expect to hear from SDCC 2015?

Here are the biggest panels we're excited to see.

Some new footage of "Sherlock"

When: Thursday 7/9, 3:45 PM PST

It's been well over a year since the third season of "Sherlock" aired.

If you've been impatiently and anxiously awaiting the fourth season to return in 2016, the panel should hopefully deliver some footage of what to expect along with some long-awaited answers after the cliffhanger season 3 finale. 

Did we miss you "Sherlock"? You bet.

The "Game of Thrones" panel

When: Friday 7/10, 2:30 PM PST

Is Jon Snow alive or isn't he?

Surely, we won't get any answers to the season five ending; however, the cast and crew will probably divulge on some behind-the-scenes stories and give hints at what's in store for season six.

Maybe we'll even get an update on when the next book, "The Winds of Winter," is coming out.

The "Hannibal" panel

When: Saturday 7/11, 5 PM PST

The critically acclaimed NBC series was recently canceled. Netflix and Amazon have both turned it down for a fourth season. 

With hopes for the show's future dwindling, this could be one final hurrah for Fannibals to unite. Who knows, maybe there  even find out if their beloved show will live on for a fourth season elsewhere.

At the least, there will probably be some fond memories shared by the cast and creator Bryan Fuller.

The S&P 500 gained a meager four points in the first half of 2015, effectively delivering a 0% return for investors.

Goldman Sachs's David Kostin, however, sees better gains ahead.

"We expect S&P 500 will return 6% during the next 12 months (4% price, 2% dividends)," Kostin said.

In a new report, Kostin identified the 40 stocks in the market offering the most upside relative to Goldman Sachs analysts' price targets.

We've ranked the 13 stocks with possible upsides of over 35%. Find them below, listed from least to most potential.

13. Mead Johnson Nutrition

Ticker: MJN

Industry: Non-Cyclical Consumer Goods and Services, Baby Food

Price as of June 30: $90.22

Upside to Target: 35.2%

Executive's Outlook: "We look forward to another year of solid sales and earnings growth, despite the tougher global macroeconomic climate,"Kasper Jakobsen, president, CEO, and director 

Source: Goldman Sachs

12. Cabot Oil & Gas

Ticker: COG

Industry: Energy, Oil and Gas Exploration and Production

Price as of June 30: $31.54

Upside to Target: 36.3%

Executive's Outlook: "Cabot delivered an impressive operational performance in the first quarter, highlighted by the 15 percent sequential growth in daily production volumes over the fourth quarter of last year,"Dan O. Dinges, CEO

Source: Goldman Sachs

11. Vulcan Materials

Ticker: VMC

Industry: Basic Materials, Construction Materials

Price as of June 30: $83.93

Upside to Target: 37.0%

Executive's Outlook: "Although demand for our products remains well below normal levels, the gradual recovery in construction activity continues across most of our markets," Tom Hill, president and CEO

Source: Goldman Sachs

It's that time of year again.

Investment bank Allen & Co. is hosting its 33nd annual, week-long conference in Sun Valley, Idaho — the so-called summer-camp for billionaires— and many of America's wealthiest, most powerful businesspeople in media, technology, and sports have swarmed the scene. 

We've grabbed photos so you can see which power players made it out to Idaho this year.

SEE ALSO: The summer camp for billionaires, which kicks off in Sun Valley today, has yielded some blockbuster deals

GoPro CEO Nick Woodman looks pleased as punch to be there.

As does Susan Wojcicki, the CEO of Google's YouTube.

Hi, Yahoo cofounder Jerry Yang!

The CEOs and founders of Europe's tech startups don't spend all their time in the office — they also get to travel to award conferences in exotic place and and atten fancy parties.

Luckily for us, Europe's leading names in tech enjoy documenting and sharing their lives on Instagram, giving us a sneak peek into the startup world. 

We ranked some of Europe's best tech Instagrammers according to how good their photos are, how regularly they post, and what they post snaps of.

25. Tunepics CEO Justin Cooke. WHY? Cooke's app is actually an alternative to Instagram, but he still shares photos of his daily life around London.

Crazy #sunsets in winter along the river with the skateboarders in the dark...

A photo posted by Justin Cooke (@jc7777) on Jan 2, 2015 at 2:57pm PST

24. Rentify CEO George Spencer. WHY? Spencer's Instagram shows daily life in the Rentify office, as well as interesting photos of properties in London.

A photo posted by George Spencer (@officiallygeorge) on Jul 4, 2015 at 7:11am PDT

23. Prezi CEO Peter Arvai. WHY? Arvai loves to Instagram photos of tasty meals.

My Chinese me is soo happy!

A photo posted by Peter Arvai (@peterarvai) on Apr 22, 2012 at 1:49pm PDT

NOW WATCH: Mark Cuban explains why downloading Snapchat is a huge mistake

Tech needs more women.

Now, that concern has become the mantra for Jewelbots, an NYC-based customizable-by-code accessories startup, which sees the deficit as an opportunity for young girls interested in tech.

"Girls love expressing themselves through customization," says Sara Chipps, now co-founder and CEO at Jewelbots, which started last fall.

Chipps, and her COO Brooke Moreland, a fashion enthusiast-turned-tech entrepreneur, plan to raise $1.5 million by this fall to engage young girls in computer science.

Right now, the US is seeing the lowest number of women studying computer since the mid-’80s, when more than 37% of computer science degree recipients were women, according to the National Center for Education Statistics. In 2012, a mere 18% of computer science graduates were women.

If the trend continues the US could face an even bigger problem in 2020, when the Bureau of Labor Statistics estimates there will be 1.4 million new computer science positions and a lack of graduates in the field to fill the demand.

On Wednesday, July 8, Jewelbots, which only launched last fall, began a Kickstarter campaign for the smart jewelry at the core of their company. The campaign will run until August 4th, with a fundraising goal of $30,000. Donations come with perks, including bracelets, 50% discounts and private coding classes with the founder of Girl Develop It. 

“Media separates femininity from technology and engineering," Chipps told Business Insider. "Being girly and being an engineer is exciting."

The start-up has also opened registration for a series of Bring Your Daughter to Hack Weekend events. 

Hackathons were held in both San Francisco and New York City with sights on Washington, D.C., to host the next event of its kind. Among the sponsors were Microsoft, Andreessen Horowitz, and littleBits. All proceeds went to Girls Who Code, a non-profit geared towards closing the gender gap in the technology sector. 

We stopped by the hackathon at the Stack Exchange in Manhattan to see Jewelbots' vision of a future with more women in coding.

Meet Chipps and Moreland, who worked together at the 4-year-old startup, Fashism, before it closed in 2013. Chipps, who had the idea for Jewelbots, is former CTO of the FlatIron School for students in web development and co-founder of Girl Develop It, a non-profit that connects women interested in web and software development with resources.

More than 110 coders as young as five years old and their parents gathered to hack away at wearable technologies, tinkering with circuits and programming hardware.

Each participant received an Arduino GEMMA kit to program to use on wearable technologies and access to a littleBits set which enables beginners to tinker with hardware.

You'll always be allowed a few life mulligans, but by the time you've hit the big 3-0, you should have sorted out most of the reckless habits we tend to fall into as young 20-somethings.

This is especially true for money matters, considering you're close to entering — and need to prepare for — your peak earning years.

While most of us have a general idea of what it takes to succeed, we sometimes let ourselves — and a few money lies — get in the way.

Don't let these 15 lies hold you back.

Mandi Woodruff contributed to an earlier version of this post.

SEE ALSO: 13 tips to save up to $1,000 in 30 days or less

So long as my job pays well, it's OK if I hate it.

The job market may not be what it used to be, but by age 30 no one should be toiling away at a job that leaves them stressed out and dissatisfied with life. Sometimes your just have to say no, and have the confidence to quit.

We were inspired by a young woman who wrote about turning her back on a lucrative job on Wall Street when years of 14-hour work days made her overweight, burnt out, and miserable.

"I'm a few months into my new job [as an asset manager for a nonprofit] and it's made my life richer. I'm making an effort to breathe, smile, eat healthier and have positive thoughts about my future," she wrote.

"I took a pay cut of about 30% to change positions, but I don't think that I should be applauded for making the choice to accept less pay – I don't view it as a sacrifice."

If I turn a blind eye, somehow my finances will figure themselves out.

The worst things to do in your early 20s is to ignore financial red flags when they arise.

Check your bank account, no matter how fearful you are of how low the number might be; don't leave your credit report untouched; and take advantage of work benefits, such as the 401(k) match.

If you're broke, you might as well know it and own it. It's the only way you'll ever truly be able to do something about it.

I should get married because it's the 'next step.'

Tying the knot by 30 seems to be the trend these days, but there are few people who can actually afford the absurdly expensive cost of the average American wedding.

Why kick off your lifetime union with a massive pile of debt that will only cause stress and inevitable arguments down the line? If you're truly in love, chances are The One will still be around by the time you're both financially fit to face those bills together.

"Impulsiveness in general is typical when you're younger, whether it's impulsive decisions to buy the car, go on the vacation, or even marry the wrong person," certified financial planner Michael Egan tells us. "That's a big one actually. You need to make sure your spouse, if you're going to be sharing your life with them, has a similar stance on money to you."

Every city has that destination: the one hotspot where you need to book a room or house at least a year in advance because the entire city transports itself to a more beachy or lakey place to sip rosé and put their boat shoe clad feet up.

These places are famous for a reason, and have been for a long time.

From Hilton Head to Galveston Island, here are some of the top getaways around the US. 

SEE ALSO: 55 awesome things to do in the US this summer

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Atlanta, GA: Chattanooga, TN

Only two hours from Atlanta, Chattanooga is a favorite destination thanks to its prime position among the Appalachian Mountains and by the Tennessee River. Nicknamed the "Scenic City" (so you know you can't go wrong here), Chattanooga is ripe with river cruises — from steamboats to speedboats — as well as relaxed river rafting, fishing, hiking, mountain biking, and tons of family-friendly attractions like the Chattanooga Aquarium, the Chattanooga Zoo, the Reflection Riding Arboretum and Nature Center, and the Tennessee Valley Railroad Museum. 

Boston, MA: Edgartown, Martha’s Vineyard, MA

This former whaling town, which is full of maritime history, is about as New England as it gets. The most high end of the island's three laid back towns, the swanky resort caters to wealthy Bostonites wearing Vineyard Vines with its high end shops and expensive restaurants, but also draws history buffs who can check out the legions of lighthouses and many stately mansions built by captains during the height of the whaling boom.

Chicago, IL: Lake Geneva, WI

Urbanites from both Chicago and Milwaukee flock to Lake Geneva during the summer, and have been doing so since wealthy barons built their second homes here in the 1850s. Thus, the area is dotted with opulent historic mansions, built by the likes of the prominent Wrigley, Montgomery Ward and Sears families. The popular resort even became the site of Hugh Hefner's first Playboy Resort in 1968, which, though it closed in 1981, continues its legacy as the Grand Geneva Resort.

In the summer, water sports like paddleboarding, kayaking, parasailing, waterskiing and wakeboarding dominate (there's skiing in the winter), but landlubbers can enjoy miles of hiking and biking trails, horseback riding, or staying dry aboard speedboats and paddle wheel steamers.

If you are in Washington, D.C., and fancy a dip in the ocean, look no further. 

You could swim right in the heart of the city — in a pool of nearly one million translucent plastic balls that have been set up as an exhibit in the National Building Museum.

Special thanks to Noah Kalina, who supplied the photos.

The 10,000-square-foot exhibit — called the Beach — spans the hall of the National Building Museum.

The museum collaborated with Snarkitecture — a Brooklyn-based design studio — to build its largest-ever public installation.

It opened on July 4.