Wait Before Spending Money On Travel & Tour

Well, I have spent money in a non-optimal way for travel and tour a lot of times and I guess many of you (my readers) will find it true in your cases as well. I like travelling although after last year's car accident we reduced our travelling significantly from once/twice a month to once a quarter or less.

Today, I wanted to list a few spendings that I believe I didn't do right and would have done in a different way if I would have the knowledge and experience that I have now. Those are  -

1. I bought some partial bay cruise deal from a Fremont Mall worth $35 or $40 I forgot. It would save me only $50 or so probably for 8 tickets and I would have to use that within next one and half years. I never used it and am not sure if I am still within that time range and approach them or not.
2. I bought a deal from Anaheim with 2/3 night's stay for Anaheim. I am not getting time to use them but I hope to use it soon within next few months. It was some trial invitation for timeshare from a company and I already paid approx $150 or so. The offer was really attractive though.
3. Once I bought a Florida package deal for around $150 and then cancelled it. However, although I did everything needed for valid cancellation, I never got money back from them. It was the worst experience for me and costed me around $150 or so.

I know now that it's better most of the times to use sites like priceline, hotwire, expedia etc to but good travel deals instead of getting tempted with unorthodox offers.