Money Monday: Credit Card Hacking

Let's talk about getting to travel for free! 

But first, I realized in last week's post that I kind of jumped into the middle of the saving topic without covering the basics! However, for those of you who have not seen some of my prior posts, I do think that if you are just going to do one thing, it should be to pay into your 401k (403b/RRSP etc.) at least up to whatever your employer will match. If you don't have an employer who offers this, there are other ways to save, but I will cover them in a future post! You can find posts about a lot of these subjects on my Tips and Hacks page, but also here are a few of my favorites.

Every Quarter Counts: Three Tips for Growing Your Wealth Early 
Saving My Latte For a Rainy Day: Saving for Retirement
Make a Dollar Out of Fifteen Cents: What I Splurge and Save On 
My Last To Do List: Trusts and Other Documents 

The second thing that I think is important is to pay off all of your credit card debt. I did a review of a friend's finances once and the two things that really stood out to me were that (a) he had multiple charges for some subscriptions that he hadn't even realized because he was not looking at his statements and (b) he was not paying off his credit card in full every month! This can really add up! 

For example, if you have a balance of $5,000 with 25% interest rate and you pay it down $100 a month ($1,200 total), by the end of the year, your balance will be unchanged, at about $5,056, and you would have paid about $1,256 in interest that year. If you pay it down $200 a month ($2,400 total), your balance would be about $3,700 and you would have paid about $1,100 in interest. You would have to pay $475 per month to get it down to $0 by the end of a year, and you would still pay about $700 in interest. That is a lot of money to pay to the credit card companies! Obviously there are emergencies, but I think putting money aside for them in advance is much more prudent. 

So before I begin this post, I have to throw out the disclaimer that you should not do this if you can't pay off your card in full every month. Now let's talk about credit card hacking! If you are unfamiliar with this, it involves opening a credit card to get the welcome bonus, using the points for free stuff and possibly closing or downgrading the card later. Personally I like travel related cards, and Chase has one of the best values for that, so let's talk about that first. Side note: to my foreign friends, I am sorry, but these are US centric cards. However, please feel free to go to the bottom and let us know what card you use or any tricks you have to get the best value for your money!! 

Travel card ($600 - $1,500 bonus value) / $95 annual fee. The Chase Sapphire Preferred is currently offering $300 Chase Travel Credit + 60,000 bonus points (please verify by going to their site). What does this mean? Basically this can be worth anywhere from $600 - $1,500, depending on how you use it. Once you spend $4,000 in the first three months, you will get 60,000 points, and when you purchase any travel related items through their portal you will get up to a $300 credit. This includes the obvious things like flights, hotels and car rentals, but also has activities and cruises. 

For the points, at the very least, they can either be used to get cash back or buy gift cards at around 0.01 per point (value of $600) or you can use them to purchase travel through the portal, which is usually about $0.015 (value of $900) or you can transfer them to airline or hotel partners, which is where you can get the best bang for your buck. For example, if you transfer these points to Hyatt and use them to book a hotel room with points, the value will be about 0.02 per point ($1,200). This card does have a $95 annual fee, but it also gives you a $50 annual statement credit for hotels booked through their travel portal, so if you use this, it is only $45/year. This card also gives higher points per dollar in categories like travel and dining out and has no foreign transaction fees. 

In conclusion, if you travel at least once a year, this card may be a great fit for you! And if you don't love it after a year, you can cancel or downgrade to a no fee card. Basically with the current welcome bonus, you could stop using it after you get the bonus and still get value out of it for approximately six years (or more). If you travel a lot, you may want to go with the Chase Sapphire Reserve which gives you extra perks like lounge access and TSA Pre/Global Entry, but comes with a higher annual fee. 

Cash back card ($200 bonus value) / $0 annual fee. If you don't really travel a lot or you don't spend a lot on travel related items, you can get the Freedom Flex card, which currently has a welcome bonus of $200 after you spend $500 on purchases in the first 3 months. It gives you 5% cash back for a quarterly rotating bonus category, which includes groceries, gas, Amazon and pet services, which if you max this out, could equate to $300 per year. It has no annual fee and a 0% introductory APR. There are tons of different cash back cards with different % for different categories, so a combo of best bonus + best % for what you spend on is the way to go! 

Hotel card ($500 - $1,000 bonus value) / $99 annual fee. If you travel at least once a year and stay in at least one hotel/motel per year, I highly suggest getting a hotel credit card. I think the current best bang for your buck is either the IHG Premier or the Hyatt card. Let's talk about the IHG card. This is good for hotels like the Holiday Inn, Intercontinental and Staybridge Suites (list here). The good thing about IHG is that they are literally everywhere, versus places like Hyatt and Marriott which are sometimes pretty few and far between (or very expensive). 

It currently has a 140,000 point bonus (please verify by going to their site), which they state is up to 4 nights free, but I just booked a Holiday Inn Express in Strasbourg for ~24,000 points per night, plus with this card you get the fourth night free, so my four nights cost me 71,000 points, so this could possibly be more like eight hotel nights (or more in places like SE Asia or South America). If I would have paid for this room, it would have cost me about $500, which means that if I can book another at the same price, the welcome bonus would be worth about $1,000. In addition, you get an annual free night's certificate, which is good for up to 40,000 point hotel, which could equate to a value of about $200. This card does cost $99 per year, but if you use your certificate for a $200 hotel, it still "saves" you money! Last but not least, you get automatic Premier Elite status, which can give you perks like upgrades, early check in, late check out, and possibly a snack or a drink. Once again, if you decide this is not for you after a year or two, you can downgrade to a no fee card with no ding on your credit, or you can cancel if you choose. 

One last thing I want to talk about is a card that does not currently offer a bonus so is not really one for "hacking," but could be a great option for people who pay rent and that is the Bilt Rewards card. Please note that I have not used this myself, so you will have to do your own research. However, my understanding is that you can use it to pay your rent with no credit card transaction fees, even if you normally pay by check (they will issue the check for you) and you will get one point per dollar spent on rent plus extra points for other categories on rent day (the first of the month). You also get points for travel and other categories and it has no annual fee. You can then use the points for free travel, to pay part of your rent or for gym memberships etc. FYI currently a RT flight to Europe in Feb would cost about 40,000 points. 

Have you fallen asleep yet? No? Great, because one other thing I want to add is that if you do travel, many of these credit cards also come with added perks like rental car collision (LDW) insurance (normally $10 - $30 per day), travel trip delay or lost luggage protection, purchase protection, roadside assistance (~ $99/year value), TSA-Pre (~$100 value every four years), cell phone protection (~$75/year value) and more. These extras may cover the cost of your fee in some cases! 

Have you ever done any credit card hacking? Do you already have any of these cards? What is your favorite credit card and why? 

This post is part of NaBloPoMo. You can find the rest of my posts for this challenge here. You can find the list of participants and their information here. 

Purging 101: What Do I Do With This? And is it Worth it? (Part Two)

This is a continuation of yesterday's post about getting rid of all of my stuff! As many of you know, at the beginning of 2024, I decluttered my house and got rid of everything except for a few mementos, photos and some camping gear. I decided to do all the work myself and now am looking back to analyze whether or not it was worth it. After much research I ended up doing the following with the items listed below. 

Kitchen stuff. I sold some of the larger items on FBMP, but mostly I donated it to a local rummage sale, or gave it to Salvation Army. I did have some success posting some things in groups, like all baking items. Also bigger ticket items like my Ninja or Magic Bullet seemed to do better or sell faster in the long run.

$10 each or you can have the whole set for $40!!

Books. Unfortunately my local library is very picky about what they take and all of the Little Free Libraries were full, so most of my books went to Salvation Army. I also sold a few on eBay but they were not really hot ticket items. 

Random. It is interesting what people will buy. I sold unused printer cartridges and photo paper. I sold random assortments of photo frames and crafting supplies. I sold an antique radio to a woman who was going to use it in a play. I sold plants! Also, when I put out the free stuff, people took storage containers, even the ones without lids (I had set them out in groups), a roll of fabric, and a roll of Reflectex. I also gave a ton of stuff to friends and family, which really was my favorite way to get rid of things. I am sure they groaned every time they got a text from me saying, "Hey, do you want XXX?" but I felt a lot better knowing that some of the things went to a good home. 

Here are a few other places you can take things (for free): 
*these ones were especially difficult since none of them can be thrown in the trash. 

Household cleaners, paint, batteries, light bulbs, propane containers, aerosol cans, e-waste etc.: If the paint is unused and unopened (which seems silly), you can take it to Habitat For Humanity (Restore). You may also be able to return it to the place you bought it. If it has been opened, it has to go to the Hazardous Waste drop off with the other items in the illustration below. *for my local county. Please check your local location for confirmation of what they will or will not take. The cool thing about this is that you put the items in your trunk and you pull up, they take everything out, and you drive off. You never have to get out of the car! 

Take these* to Hazardous Waste drop off. 

Used motor oil: In my area, you actually can leave this on the curb for your regular pick up. Also many retailers who sell oil (like Walmart) or do oil changes (like Jiffy Lube) will take your used oil. Luckily I had graduated to paying someone to do this for me, so I did not have to worry about this. However, as a kid, my Dad used to make me change my oil, so I am familiar with the process! 

Used printer cartridges: Staples or Office Depot will usually take these. 

Used batteries: In my area, you could put them in a Ziploc and tape that to your recycling bin and Waste Management will take it on trash day. Otherwise you may be able to take them to Office Depot, or to the hazardous waste drop off. 

Electronics - Goodwill, if the item is still working (they are sometimes picky about this), and they may refurbish it and sell it, but check your local one, as some do not take them, or local e-waste pickup company, or if it is dead, you can take it to the same place that you take hazardous waste.

Now the summary that you have been waiting for. What was my time really worth? Ha. In the end, I estimate that I "made" about $45/hour for eBay, $25/hour for ThredUp and $47/hour for FBMP (*these are very ballpark numbers). However, if you add in the hundreds (or thousands?) of items I gave away, and the time it took to research that and sort them and pile them up and move them from place to place, it would significantly lower my per hour rate (remember the saga of the suitcase? Well I ended up putting in my driveway for free, and I probably spent a few hours going back and forth with people on that) and am guessing it would be closer to the $15/hour range, or maybe even less! 

Moral of the story? Some of the big ticket items may be worth selling, but the little guys may not be worth your time. Also FBMP takes more effort, but doesn't pay a whole lot more for the extra time. ThredUp was very little work and was things I would have given away for free anyway, so I feel like that was probably the least amount of brain power (which is a win for sure!) even though it consisted of the most items and paid nearly half as much. Also as an aside, if you are just sitting at home and have the time anyway, it's not a bad side gig! However, I think unless you want to have to be face to face with people and deal with a lot of flakes, I would pick eBay over FBMP for the ease of it. 

Also, as a last side note, if you are ever buying on eBay or FBMP (or Poshmark etc.), even if it is a Buy Now item, it never hurts to offer a lower price! Unless you absolutely NEED it now. However, as a seller, I would happily take an offer, as I was motivated to sell! 

Have you ever sold on eBay, FBMP or any other online retailer and if so, how did it go? What do you think your time is worth for these kinds of things (aka, would you pay someone just to not have the hassle)?? 

This post is part of NaBloPoMo. You can find the rest of my posts for this challenge here. You can find the list of participants and their information here. P.S. This is a draft I started in June 2023! Speaking of purging! 

Purging 101: What Do I Do With This? And is it Worth it? (Part One)

As many of you know, at the beginning of 2024, I decluttered my house and got rid of everything except for a few mementos, photos and some camping gear. While doing this, two things took me a lot of time. First, it took a long time to figure out where everything should go. I know, I could have just called a company to come and take everything and get rid of it for me, but that is not my way. I wanted to try to get some money for some of my items, and I did not want to PAY money to have someone else do what I could easily (HA. HAHA. HA!) do myself. 

Things to keep

If you don't mind paying to have this done, you can call a junk removal company. My friend in the Bay Area used this local one, who actually promises to recycle, sell or donate at least 80% of the items, which I find important. In fact, that is one of the reasons that I was so particular about finding where to take things; I did not want it to all just go in a landfill! However, in the end, it took me much longer than I had hoped. 

The second thing that took me forever was selling things. I had this entrepreneurial dream that I would sell all of my crap and make millions of dollars. This is why I am not an entrepreneur. The time it took to take photos, figure out prices, list and monitor (and sometimes haggle) probably netted me about $2.00 per hour. I will give a short summary about this at the end of this post. 

First let's talk about furniture. This is probably where I thought I could do the least amount of work to get the most amount of money. These things are large, I did not have too many of them and the price point is a lot higher than a pair of jeans or shoes. I had some good pieces, not in bad condition, no pet wear or chips or stains or cracks. I started by putting them on Facebook Marketplace. Ideally, I wanted to try to get a little bit back for this, but the work that is involved can be massive. Luckily, I was working from home two days a week at this point, as you really do have to have a certain amount of availability. However, I did leave quite a few items on my porch for people to pick up and I figured if they stiffed me, I didn't really care that much. P.S. None of them stiffed me. I ended up selling about 25% of my furniture. 

But what to do with the other 75%??? The places in my local area where you can donate furniture are VERY PICKY! Also, I would prefer to have someone pick it up, so I don't have to load it twice into a car. However, that was easier said than done. 

First, I scheduled a pick up with Restore (Habitat for Humanity). However, they basically rejected 75% of my things, even though when I filled out the form for the appointment, it said that they would take the items that I had. They will take new building supplies and like new household items, but "like new" means basically new. Also, I didn't have any of these, but if I did, I would have returned them to Home Depot for cash. They don't take anything that has patterns, has been painted, or has ANY tiny cracks or dirt spots (my couch had one tiny water stain on one arm). However, they did take my push mower (no motor, like the old fashioned kind) and my corded power tools (as long as they worked and were in a case etc.). They also would not take a kitchen table unless it had six matching chairs.

I ended up trying to get another company to pick up the rest but the wait times were horrible (pro tip: plan early, even if that means eating in camp chairs in the living room) and in the end I had to get Broski and his truck involved. We started by going to Salvation Army, but lo and behold, even though the website said that they took furniture, they would not take it, and so we ended up going to Out of The Closet, who is also picky, but not as picky as Habitat luckily! In the end, they took the rest of the large things, but Broski and I had to (a) make two trips (b) load and unload everything ourselves. 

Broski helping me give away furniture

Here is what I would do differently. I would start by taking what I could get for the furniture. I often would haggle and then the buyer would back out. I don't know what I was trying to prove, but I should have prioritized getting rid of it over making money. In the end, I gave it away for nothing so the $50 I was offered would have been better! Second, after I sold what I could sell, I would have put the rest on the curb with a "free" sign! I ended up doing this for a few left over items at the end and they went fast!! Even people driving by would stop and pick through stuff, which was surprising to me. I also don't really love having all of my goods out on display for the whole world to see, but believe you me, by the end, I could not give two flying trucks who saw my stuff; I just wanted it gone! I would definitely tell past me to get over myself and just put it on the curb. Then I would have donated (or trashed) what did not get taken, and saved myself the work. 

Free stuff! Going, going, gone!

Bulky trash. Speaking of trash, our garbage carrier (WM) let's you do one free bulky pickup a year, and they will take things like tires, mattresses, some electronics and furniture. I would have done this earlier, although I wanted to have everything sorted so I didn't end up with a bunch of trash at the end, so the timing was tricky. However, I think going through the garage and making a big pile early would have been better. Or if I wanted to do it at the end, I should have scheduled it sooner. I wanted to wait until the last minute, but only then did I learn that they schedule these a few weeks in advance, so I could not get it when I wanted it. I ended up going to the WM facility with a load in my car, which actually was not too bad. However, you do have to have a local address in order to do the disposal for free (you can dump for a fee otherwise), and I also had to schedule this (but could do that a couple of days in advance). 

Taking a load to the dump in my huge car.

Clothing and Shoes. Like the furniture, I did not want to just give it away, especially since I had some pretty high end pieces (I used to work in the fancy shoe department at Nordstrom, and some of my shoes were >$600 retail. I got them on sale though! I swear!). Why is it that if you spent a lot on it, you are more loathe to give it away? Or is that just me? Anyway, I put a bunch of them on eBay and FBMP, and same story as above, sold maybe 25% of them. We do not have a good consignment shop in my area (they want current styles, certain brands etc.) However, the good thing is that you can send a box to ThredUp, and they will try to sell your items and if they sell you will get a (measly) commission. I sent about six boxes to them in the end, and then gave the rest of the things to Salvation Army. 

Typical week's worth of donations

What I would have done differently. I was afraid to list things in multiple locations, but I should have tried to do that. I found that some things sold really well on FBMP and others were better to list on eBay so you can get a broader audience. Also eBay was way easier, as you just box it up and put it in the mail rather than having a person come over, or flake on you, or having a huge back and forth before they decide to buy. However, they do take a larger cut from you, but maybe it is worth it! 

Electronics. This one hurt a lot. I used to be big into photography, and still am, but I no longer use my DSLR or the four different lenses I had for it (and lights and flashes and diffusers etc.) But they all cost a lot and once again, I did not want to give them away for a pittance. So I tried FBMP and did not have a lot of luck, and finally got desperate and put them on Ebay and did not get a lot for them but I did end up selling everything camera related. I also disposed of many an old cell phone and laptop by taking them to the Hazardous Waste drop off. 

Sigh...tear...😢

...to be continued!!! In the interest of time (this got to be too long!), stay tuned for tomorrow, when I will go over a few more examples of where to take things and will also do the big reveal...what was my time worth?? 

Have you ever done serious decluttering at your house? What tricks did you use to get rid of stuff?  What's the weirdest thing you have ever sold? 

This post is part of NaBloPoMo. You can find the rest of my posts for this challenge here. You can find the list of participants and their information here. P.S. This is a draft I started in June 2023! Speaking of purging! 

Take Only What You Need to Survive

Have you seen Spaceballs? If not, let me tell you a quick story. The characters' flying Winnebago crashes in the desert and they have to walk to try to get help and the main guy (Bill Paxton) tells the princess that she should only bring "what she needs to survive." Later as he is trudging through the desert with a heavy box, he looks inside and it is a huge hair dryer. He admonishes her and she states that it is her "industrial strength hair dryer" and she, "can't live without it!" 

I stole this photo from my own blog, circa mid 2000s. 

The first time I traveled abroad, I carried two huge suitcases. Granted, I was going to live in France for three months, but looking back, I now know that I did not need a fraction of the things I brought. Oh well; you live and you learn, right? 

In early 2024, when I decided to get rid of everything, I made a list of the things that I "can't live without." Obviously these are different for everyone, but my list was actually not as long as I thought it would be. Of course, I then had to whittle everything down from a 1,200 SF house with a backyard and a garage to...just a bike, which I explain a little in this post. When I created this post, I had two funny comments. One was from NGS, who asked me to break down all of the clothing items that I had in my bag, and then after I answered, Jenny piped up to ask me to confirm that I only had one extra outfit aside from my riding outfit. So I decided to break it down even more and go over all of the clothes that I've had in my clothing bag for the last several months. 

First let's talk about base layer tops! 

From the top, L to R: (1) a tank top I just recently stole from my friend's outgoing Goodwill bag, because I was tired of wearing active tops! It will be going back into the Goodwill back soon. (2) a Smartwool mountain biking shirt, well used! Also I have a story about this! 

Bottom row, L to R: (1) I started this trip with just this one salmon Smartwool tank top! (2) Along the way I picked up the green Icebreakers top. 

A quick note about these tops; all three (except for the top L) are made from merino wool. This stuff is NOT cheap. However, I got all three on sale and they do live up to the hype in that they (a) don't smell, even after days (weeks?) of wearing them, (b) are lightweight and (c) wick moisture and/or dry easily! This was so nice to be able to rinse them out at the end of the day and have them be dry by morning. The only negative I have found is that the thinner ones don't hold up too well to daily outdoor use, but I will talk more about this at the end of this post! So, I may be a convert...but I still don't know if I can stomach paying full price (around $100+) for a t-shirt. 

Now let's talk about jacket layers. 

Top row, L to R: (1) Patagonia Houdini windbreaker. I talked about this in last year's gifts for active people post. I love this windbreaker. LOVE IT. It is a great extra layer when needed, or can be worn over a t-shirt to block the sun. (2) Mountain Hardware Ghost Whisperer. This is so light and warm, but actually have not worn it a lot on this trip (thankfully!!) I often wear it when I am doing laundry, as it is my only clean item! 

Bottom row, L to R: (1) Outdoor Research Aspire. Not really the color I would have picked, but this jacket keeps you dry! There is nothing worse than riding or hiking in the rain, and this actually made it bearable! (2) Uniqlo zip up sunscreen hoodie. This is basically my "nice" outfit at the moment! Pair it with black leggings and I am practically ready for prom! 

Last but not least, accessories and pants. 

Left panel, top to bottom, L to R: all of the accessories! Arm sleeves, cycling gloves, buff, socks, bra, waterproof gloves, neoprene socks, beanie, lightweight gloves. And yes Jenny, I only have one pair of socks and no underwear! :) 

Right panel, top to bottom: (1) cycling shorts, (2) capri pants. 

What have I used the least? (1) neoprene socks, (2) waterproof gloves, (3) arm sleeves. I am happy about this, as it means that it has not been horribly cold! What have I used the most? I wore the Smartwool mountain biking shirt pretty much every day for about 40 days, then the Icebreaker shirt after that for about two and a half months. Unfortunately, the Smartwool top faded a lot, so I emailed them and they gave me a refund! So now I have a credit to get something else, which I am very glad about, as that shirt is not really fit for going out in public! 

And there you have it; that is literally what I need to survive. You can of course find the rest of the list of items I carry here. 

If you could only bring an under the seat backpack on a weekend trip, what are your essential items? Do you own any merino wool items? 

This post is part of NaBloPoMo. You can find the rest of my posts for this challenge here. You can find the list of participants and their information here. P.S. This is a draft I started in August 2023! Better late than never! 

Sweet As! Let Me Have a Quick Squizz!

My work colleague, G-Money, is a Kiwi, and in the office, he was lucky to have me, because nobody spoke his language. Luckily, I speak fluent Kiwi. Who here has seen the movie Airplane? I speak Jive! 

So he would talk, or ask someone to do something, and they would give him this blank look, and I would have to step in and say, "that means XYZ."  I finally created a G-Money translator and when we would hire a new person, I would include it in their welcome packet. You think I am joking? I am not. We even distributed it around the office from time to time when someone was having a lot of trouble. Here are a few things that used to get a lot of questionable looks when he said them, along with their translations. Some of these are also used in other countries such as the UK or Australia, but the US folks were stumped. Disclaimer: he also grew up in Malaysia and went to British school, so some of these may be more British that Kiwi. 

* Sweet as. No, not sweet ass, although it sounds similar. This means great, awesome, perfect, sounds good. 

* Rubbers. Obviously in the US, these are condoms, or maybe a pair of boots you wear in the rain. In NZ, they are erasers (as in pencil). 

* Diarize. No, not write in your journal. This is "to schedule" or "put on the calendar." 

* Umming and awing. What we would call hemming and hawing. 

* Rub it out. This one got the 20-somethings giggling, but it just means to erase the board. 

* Crikey-dick! Something you say when surprised, like "oh my goodness!"

* Made redundant. You may know this one, but in the US, we would usually say "laid off." 

* Chocka. Otherwise known as chockablock or full. 
* Bugger. Dang it, usually preceded by "oh" or followed by "that" or sometimes by "that for a dollar," as in bugger that for a dollar. 

* Two shakes of a duck's tail. That's right; despite having a lot of sheep, no lambs for the Kiwis! 

* Happy as Larry. The same thing as, "happy as a clam." 

* The wops. The sticks, the middle of nowhere. "They live in the wops." 

* Have a squizz. Take a look. Like, once you are done, I will have a squizz at it before we give it to the boss. 

* Keen. Interested. He would say, "are you keen to go out for a drink tomorrow?"

* Heaps. A lot. This was usually used when we ordered food and he would exclaim that someone else got heaps!

These are not even all of them! He would also say Kia Ora every morning, which is hello in Maori. Last but not least, my favorite one, and one that he said A LOT, was...sucking eggs! Before I explain, does anyone else use this phrase? It is basically the equivalent of "you probably already know this/did this, but just in case you didn't....." and is used when you basically want to double check that someone did not forget to do something obvious. Like you may say, "sucking eggs, but did you turn off the oven?" or something like that. It's almost like a little bit Capitan Obvious though, and is usually a bit insulting to the person being addressed, as if they are too dumb to have done the obvious thing without being asked. So we used to laugh about it, as you knew you were going to basically be insulted as soon as you heard the phrase get started. 

Another thing that is interesting is when you have people from different countries, states or areas, and we don't realize that the other places do things differently. Like when Elisabeth did not know that we in the US have to pay to have our garbage picked up (do you pay for garbage removal where you are from?). Or when Melissa talked about her streaming services in Australia, such as Stan and Binge, which I have never heard about (do you have these where you are from?). The thing is, if you have lived in the same place for a while, you do not know that other people have something different. Yet another reason why I think traveling can really broaden your horizons! 

For example, I remember going to Japan in the early 2000s and the place we stayed (with a friend) recycled EVERYTHING. I mean, they had like 8 different boxes for each different kind of thing. I was amazed! I think at the time we may have had a separate can for recycling, but to be honest, I am not really sure (and I was living in San Francisco where you would think they would be environmentally conscious). Even if we did, it all went into the same bin! Mind blown! 

Or when I lived in France, and saw that everyone eats with their fork in their left hand and their knife in their right and they would cut one piece and put it in their mouth, then cut another and eat it, and cut another, and so on, and never put the two utensils down. Where I came from we would have our fork in our right, and our left hand in our lap. If we needed to cut something we would put our fork in our left, pick up the knife with the right, cut everything, then swap back and spear the smaller bits with our fork (held in the right hand), putting our left hand back in our lap. I was told before leaving for France that if I did this there they would think I was playing with myself under the table! 

Or did you know that in China their lucky number (because it sounds like the word "wealth") is eight and the number four is unlucky because it sounds like the word death. So when you turn 44, you better watch out. Also the number 14 sounds like "must die" and the number 24 sounds like "easy to die." Also in India, I ate my nan bread with both hands until I realized I was being looked at, and found out that they wipe with their left hand. Faux pas indeed! 

Anyway, it is interesting to see how things are done differently and I love learning what the differences are. 

So tell me, in your culture or area or family, what things do you find normal that you have later learned are not done the same way by everyone? In your travels, what new thing or way of doing things has intrigued or amazed you? Which of the Kiwi phrases have you heard before, or used yourself, and which ones did I miss? 

This post is part of NaBloPoMo. You can find the rest of my posts for this challenge here. You can find the list of participants and their information here. 

What I Learned

I am a very curious person, or so I have been told. Some people like that about me, but I am sure that I annoy the crap out of others by asking too many questions. I just want to get to the meat of things, and if I have a problem to solve, I do not quit until I find the answer. This can lead to some pretty grim rabbit holes, and some frustration on my part, but the maximizer in me will oftentimes not let go. Many times, these searches or questions come because something goes wrong. Other times, it is my need for perfection that drives the search. I will give you examples of both. The first one on my list is the latter, and the second one on the list is the former. The third is one I learned a long time ago, but one that I find useful for blogging or journaling. So read on for what I learned, the computer shortcuts and blogging edition. 

Putting a hyperlink in a comment. I wanted to link a pair of shoes for Rick in Nance's blog about buying shoes for her husband, but I did not want that super long annoying link to show up; I just wanted a tidy hyperlink. I have done this before, but it is one of the things I promptly forgot afterwards. One thing that I am trying to do (#lifegoals) more is to keep track of things in an organized way so I can either find them later or use them again or not look up the same thing over and over (definition of insanity, right?) So now I (and you!) will have notes on how to do this right here: 

In the area you want the hyperlink, type this: <a href="PUT WEBSITE ADDRESS HERE">PUT WORDS YOU WANT DISPLAYED HERE</a> 

For example, you would type: why not hop over to <a href="https://www.travelspot06.blogspot.com">this excellent blog</a> for more information about coding? And what will show up will be --> Why not hop over to this excellent blog for more information about coding? FYI: This will work on both WP and Blogger blogs. 

Copy + paste clipboard. Sometimes I am commenting on blogs and when I click submit, I get an error and then sometimes I cannot go back and resubmit, so I have to type out the entire comment again and that is frustrating! So I researched how to get my clipboard (aka previously copied information) and it is super easy on a PC (sorry Mac users, you have to figure out your own issues). 

Just click the Windows Button + V, it will ask if you want to start saving your clipboard, say yes. Then what I do is right before I hit submit on the comment, I use CTRL-A, CTRL-C to copy the comment and then if I need to access it again later, I click Windows-V and there I have my list of saved items. To use it, just click on the one you want and voila! No repeating comments or other things. You can also pin ones you use a lot! This also works for clipped snippets (like the Excel clips pasted below!!)

A quick warning though: The Windows clipboard history is available until you restart your computer, except for any items you've pinned. The clipboard history only stores the last 25 items you've copied, and when you copy a new item, the oldest item is deleted.

Excel formula of the week. I love Excel; I use it for travel and packing lists and organization, collecting information, keeping track of things and obviously for adding up costs and doing budgets and things like that. The IF function is one that I use in various forms! You all may know how to use these already, and if so, yay! If not, here they are. And if these seem exciting, just wait until we get to nested IFs! Prepare to be wowed! 

SUMIF --> Used to sum by category when you have a list of numbers or costs etc. In the below example, I want to sum up costs by category. I am telling it to sum the list in column C if the category in column B matches the word in cell E3. 

COUNTIF --> in the same example, I now want to count how many of each category there are. So basically count how many in column B match cell E3. 

IFERROR --> Now that I have my counts, I want to calculate a per day cost. This all well and good but if I remove the word Motel, now I have an error (#DIV/0) for Motel because the count is zero. To fix that, I put the words IFERROR before the formula and then tell it what phrase or number I want it to return if there is an error. In this case I am being silly, but usually I just put 0, or "", which will return a blank. 

Once that formula is done, here is the result. Isn't that fun! 

Oh you want one more you say? Fine! I also love the shortcut ALT = (ALT and equal key) which is used to sum up a column instead of typing out =SUM(H3:H9). Just put it where you would normally put the formula and you are good to go! Okay, admit it; did your eyes glaze over? Or are you excited to share your favorite Excel tip with me? 

Do you use any of these tricks? Or do you have any other shortcuts you use while blogging or commenting? Do you have any fun Excel tricks you want to share? If you are a Mac (or cell phone) user, do you know where to find your clipboard? 

This post is part of NaBloPoMo. You can find the rest of my posts for this challenge here. You can find the list of participants and their information here. 

Travel Planning: Getting The Most Out of Google Flights

Planning travel can be fun, and over the years it has changed (remember calling each airline to ask for pricing when you wanted to book a flight?) However, now we almost have too many ways to do it!! So I am going to tell you one main tool I use and how to get the most out of using it. Obviously flights and accommodation are usually the highest cost items, so in this post I will talk about what I use to find cheap flights, and that is Google Flights. 

Google flights is part of the Google Travel suite, and you can also use it to find hotels and vacation rentals. However, I will just talk about flights for now. Before I start, one of the best ways to get good prices on flights is to use points! However, I will be talking about that on my Money Monday post next week so stay tuned! Let's assume you don't have any points. Here are a few ways to maximize your experience and minimize your cost for flights. 

First, if you have any flexibility around your destination, you can put in your home airport and put "Europe" or "Anywhere" in the destination field and then you can pick depending on price. I use this a lot, as you can easily get from one place to another using regional transport or trains once you are there (which I will discuss more below). 

Next, it may make sense to put in multiple airports in either the to or from field. To do this you just click the plus and add any airports you want to check. In my case, I could go from SFO, but it may make more sense to fly from LA (LAX) for some destinations. If it is a significant difference, you can get a cheap flight on Southwest or whatever the local carrier is and possibly save money without sacrificing time. If you have a lot of time, you can even use further locations and you may even be able to have a couple of fun days in a new place! You can also check "San Francisco area" instead of San Francisco and it will automatically search from San Jose, Oakland, SFO etc. 

Doing this for a trip to Berlin, it was $400 less to go from LA, and a Southwest flight from Oakland to LA is only about $200. If you don't have the time or the patience for this, I understand! However, if you do, it could work out well. Also if you live in a small town or city, it may make more sense to choose some larger cities and then get to the airport on a separate flight or drive. 

I recently looked into flying from SFO to South America. From SFO to Buenos Aires it was about $500-$900 one way on Avianca, but if you go from Miami, it is $300, and you can get a flight from SFO-MIA for $90 on Frontier or $84 on Jet Blue (including one carry on). That is a savings of ~ $110 - $510 each way depending on which one you choose! Sure, it may take more time, but you could go a couple of days early and experience Miami too. 

Speaking of carry on, when I search for flights, I always put a few things into the filters. First, put your luggage in; this will edit the price for airlines like Frontier, where if you do not put this in, the flight looks cheap, and then you add your options (choose seat, luggage, etc.) and it is not as great of a deal. Just beware, as this will add the cost of baggage for some, like Frontier or United, but not for others, like EasyJet. 

I also sometimes deselect some of the connecting airports. If you have ever transited through Chicago O'Hare or Washington Dulles you will know what I am talking about, as some airports are a pain to go through, especially for international flights. 

Speaking of that, for all flights, but specifically for international ones, a couple of other things I watch for are layover time and connecting airport. If you have to go through customs, I would suggest a minimum layover time of an hour and a half, just in case. I once had a 50 minutes in Frankfurt and even though I only carry a backpack (no rolling luggage) I was sprinting and sweating to get to my flight on time. I don't know why they do this, but I would check that closely! 

For connecting airport, here is the rub. Let's say you are flying from Berlin to San Francisco. If you transit in Frankfurt, you will have to go through the European exit customs in Frankfurt, so you will need extra time there. If you fly from Berlin to JFK and then to San Francisco, you will go through the European exit customs in Berlin, and the US entry customs at JFK. This can pose a problem as well, as you may have to retrieve your luggage and put it back through security at this point, so you will need extra time. This is yet another reason to only travel with carry on. Personally I would rather transit in Europe and skip a US layover, and go through customs when I get to SFO, so I plan my flights accordingly. Or even better, I buy a non-stop flight. Sometimes the extra cost is completely worth the decreased hassle factor. 

Speaking of non-stop flights, just as with the departure city, sometimes it makes more sense to get a non-stop flight to whatever major city is cheaper, for example, SFO to Frankfurt, which can be cheaper and saves issues with transiting and customs, and then taking a regional flight or a train or a bus to wherever you want to go. At the time of this writing, round trip flights in January from FRA to either Marseille, Krakow, Barcelona or Seville cost around $200. 

Last, but not least, if you have flexible dates, you can look at the price or date graph, and you can toggle the "track prices" button to get emails when the price changes. 

Actually, THIS is last, but I never book through Google Flights or Expedia or Orbitz; I always go to the specific website for the airline. I also don't book one leg with one carrier and another leg with another, as I have done this in the past, and when one flight is delayed or canceled, it can be a rescheduling nightmare. The good thing about Google Flights though is that you can click through their site to book the flight on the carrier website once you have decided which flight you want. 

I think that is everything! Let me know if you have any questions or want more information. If you are new here and you want to see where I've traveled so far, check out my Around The World page! 

Also, tell me: What website or method do you use to find good deals on flights?

This post is part of NaBloPoMo. You can find the rest of my posts for this challenge here. You can find the list of participants and their information here. 

Money Monday: Easy Ways to Save or Make Money

You know I like a good bargain just like the rest of you, and I am frugal to a fault in some people's eyes. However, I don't think that I give up quality in many cases, and I do prioritize quality in others. For example, I don't need to pay an extra $50 for a hotel with free breakfast when I would rather hit the streets and buy breakfast along the way or have a snack of peanut butter and a bagel in my room. Or, I don't need to eat three meals out when traveling, when I can just as easily eat a bagel and peanut butter in my room and then splurge on lunch. I guess the key is that you have to be willing to eat a bagel and peanut butter! Here are a few other ways to save without sacrificing happiness. 

Be aware. This is the number one thing in my opinion. This kind of goes along with culling your subscriptions, which I talk about below, but I think that you should take a look at what you are spending each month or quarter or year and then change what needs to be changed. Even if you think that nothing needs to be changed, I think it is important to know what you are spending your money on instead of just letting it all go out the door without thinking. This is easy enough as a lot of our banks will let us add external accounts so we can track our spending, but I use Fidelity's Full View. This is free for customers, and if you are not already a customer, you can open a cash management account, which is what I did. 

Open a high interest savings account. The reason I opened a cash management account at Fidelity is twofold. First, they reimburse all ATM fees, so when you are traveling abroad or are going to be in small towns where you may not find your regular bank, you can withdraw money with ease. I rarely withdraw cash, but when I do, it is nice to just be able to get out a little bit and not worry about the $9+ fees that my brick and mortar bank sometimes charges me each time. I was often getting out more (too much) cash because I did not want to go back again for another withdrawal.  

The second reason I did this is also due to their high interest rate. You can either leave your funds in cash, which will get you about 2.44% as of the time of this writing, or you can buy a money market fund, which is currently yielding about 4.50%. If you have money sitting in a checking or regular savings account, I highly suggest you move some of it to a higher yielding account. If you don't like Fidelity, there are also high yield savings accounts online like Marcus or Citizens which also will give you a better rate (FYI: currently my main brick and mortar bank checking account has 0% and my savings has about 0.03%, vs. the high yield accounts, which are around 4.0% - 4.5%.) It literally takes two minutes to open and maybe one or two days to transfer the funds over to a new account. 

Change your phone plan. People, we are past the era where we need to be paying $75 or $80 per month for a cell phone plan. There are so many plans out there now that are cheaper, and they are not worse quality! I personally have Google Fi (this is not a sponsored post, but if you click this link, you can get $60 off) and I have had it for years now and I do not miss my expensive AT&T plan! I was paying $80 per month, and now I pay about $80 for myself and two other people. Before I added the family members, my bill was about $30/month. Google Fi also triangulates between T-Mobile and US Cellular, so it will pick up the one that has the best service and use that. Also, it works internationally with little to no extra charge. When we traveled to Mexico, a friend of mine who had Verizon paid $10 a day to have international roaming, therefore adding about $100 to his bill that month. I paid NOTHING. 

I don't know all about the other plans, but I think Mint Mobile has a deal for $15 a month with unlimited data. Also, the All The Hacks podcast did a more thorough review of all of them if you want to learn more. However, the bottom line is that you pay per GB if you don't use a lot of data, or you can get unlimited data if you need it. Most of us are at home or work most of the day, where we have WiFi, and when that is the case, you do not use any data. I use less than 1GB of data every month. 

After reading this post by CCR, I am adding an addition to this in that if you are traveling internationally, even if you have the expensive Verizon plan, you do not need to pay the $10 per day international fee. Most newer phones now support e-SIM cards, which means that all you need to do is download an app (I use Airalo and if you use my referral code KYRIA0085, you will get $3 off your first purchase). From home you can load up some GB of data and then as soon as you step off the plane, your data will work. Easy-peasy. If you have an older phone, you can also get a real SIM card at most airports or city centers. You can then download things like maps, podcasts and audiobooks so that they can be used offline, use any streaming while in WiFi land and you will barely use any data on the road.

Speaking of referral codes. Before buying most things or signing up for anything, I check Reddit to see if there is anyone offering a voucher or a referral code for it. (I also use cash back apps, which I will discuss in a future MM post). A lot of the time, you will get a discount and probably the person referring you will get something too. Sometimes it can be as high as $60 off, like my Google Fi code, or sometimes it is a % off, or a discount on your first purchase, like Airalo. And I am sure you yourself have referral codes for things you use; you can post them on this site and if someone clicks on it, you may get a bonus too. I have received statement credits on my Google Fi account of $600 (the max allowed) by doing this! You can find my referral codes on my travel tips and hacks page if you are interested in getting a discount or giving me some extra points for something you were going to get anyway. :)

Cull your subscriptions, or alternate them. I know that it is easy to just set it and forget it, but do we really need to have four or five different streaming subscriptions at the same time? What if you make a list of which shows you like on each platform and then alternate one every two or three months? This does require a little organization, but it is worth it. Also, see above; maybe your library app has the show you like! Also, often the channel itself will show the show for free; for example, ABC has the option to watch past seasons of Grey's Anatomy right on the ABC website for free. And who doesn't love Grey's Anatomy? 

Additionally, things like Amazon subscriptions can pile up (hello TP and cat food, I am looking at you!) and so it is worth reviewing them every quarter to see if you really need more of the items on your list. I make a point to review my credit card purchases every month to see if there is anything out of whack, but if you don't have time for that, I think at least once a quarter is a good idea. Even if it is something like a credit card fee on a card that you meant to cancel, you can call them and often get it removed retroactively. And...if even once a quarter is too much, there are apps like Rocket Money or Pocket Guard that will do the work for you, and will even suggest or negotiate better deals for things like your cable or phone bill. (disclaimer: I have not tried either of these apps myself) 

During NoBloPoMo, this will be a once a week feature, so stay tuned for next time, when I talk about credit card hacking! Also, if there is something you want to learn about, or any questions you have, let me know! 

Do you keep track of your spending? If so, what tips do you have? What phone plan do you have, how much data (non WiFi) do you use each month, and how much do you pay per month? Do you have a high yield savings account? 

This post is part of NaBloPoMo. You can find the rest of my posts for this challenge here. You can find the list of participants and their information here. 

This Is The Story of My Life

One of the 36 questions that Elisabeth, Belle and I answered when I was visiting was to tell your life story in four minutes in as much detail as possible. I thought that there was no way I would need four minutes, but lo and behold, I guess my life is long enough (and full enough) that I actually did not even come close to being finished! For me, the issue was not that I did not have enough to fill four minutes, it was that I was shy of speaking out loud about myself for that long. 

And this, I guess, would be the number one thing that I should tell you if you are just getting to know me: I am shy. Not to confuse the two, but I am also an introvert. As I mentioned in this post, I am a social introvert. I do like being around people that I am comfortable with, but I do need to recharge alone, even when the company is fabulous. However, getting back to the shy part, I still am hesitant to talk about myself, I hate being the center of attention, and I get tongue-tied when I am put on the spot. Writing it out is way easier and much more comfortable. You can read it and judge me and I will never know, and I don't have to look at anyone's expressions or worry about what they are thinking about me. 

So let me tell you my story. Let's start at the very beginning, which is a very good place to start (name that tune!). My parents met in a small California mountain town, the birds and the bees happened, and I was accidentally conceived (PS the rhythm method DOES NOT WORK). They had only been together for mere months when this happened. Not only that, but they were just babies themselves; my Dad was 20 and my Mom was 22. My Dad went on a finding-himself road trip to Canada and my Mom probably sat at home and fretted that he would never return. Spoiler alert: he did return and eight months later, at his parent's house, my Dad decided to try to deliver me at home. Typing this out, I wonder what my Mom was thinking; was she really going to let a 20 year old kid do a home delivery with no experience!? For her first baby!? That sounds very 70s to me. However, I was stubborn from day one, or day one minus one, and after hours of nothing happening, they went to the hospital and I was delivered happy and round-headed via C-section, on Mother's Day! 

Mumsy, several years later

When I was growing up, my parents owned their own business in the small California mountain town. It was a summer resort nestled in the mountains next to a river that had cabins, RV spaces, camping, fishing, inner-tubing, rafting, kayaking, a gas station, a general store, a restaurant and a bar. This meant that (a) most of the money we made went back into the business, (b) my parents were on call 24/7, (c) any vacations we had were usually during the winter. And since (a) my parents are frugal and (b) most of the money went back into the business, these were very budget vacations. For example, we had a super old RV that broke down all the time and we would drive it to Yosemite, Death Valley, Big Sur or The Grand Canyon. We would park in a Walmart parking lot or on the side of the road and sleep, and we would wake up early so that we could see the sunrise (I hated this, but of course am now a big fan of sunrises. Go figure). We would play cards and eat sandwiches in the back. My little brother would be a pest and I would ignore him by reading a lot. Actually this was the only way to ignore everyone in those days!

A typical day at the beach: lots of beer and playing with Broski

I suppose this started my love of travel. This also started my love of figuring out how to get the best bang for your buck and also created a resiliency in me for budget friendly travel, sometimes known as roughing it. I also worked for my parents from as early as I can remember. I started by rolling quarters or crushing cans or pumping gas and I made $0.25 per hour. You can read more about that here. I saved these quarters and when I was 11, I used to go stay with my aunt and uncle in the Bay Area and we would go school clothes shopping and I would buy myself school clothes with my hard earned cash. However, for the most part, I saved that money for later. Also despite, or maybe due to, working in a customer service oriented industry, one of my favorite things to do was to be alone and read. I would hole up in my room reading, even sometimes when my brother and cousins were all out playing. However, I would never pass up a trip to the beach and we went nearly every day in the summer. 

I consider myself lucky because growing up, my every day life was most people's vacations. One of the other 36 questions was what you would wish was different about your being raised, and my answer to this was hard, as most things that I didn't like at the time I realize now have shaped me to who I am now, and I am happy with that. Thanks Mom and Dad! You guys were a pain in the ass when I was younger, but I understand now! 

Lucky we had winters free!

In the interest of time, let's fast forward a bit to college, where I worked at Nordstrom to pay for college, but still made it a priority to save for both retirement and for travel! My first trip abroad (excluding Canada) was to France, and I did everything wrong. Since then, I have been back to France several times and have traveled to almost 60 countries, oftentimes by myself. In the 25 years to follow that trip, I have taken a sabbatical or quit my job six times to move or travel abroad (I talked more about this a little in this post). Luckily, for about ten years, I worked a contract job and could kind of come and go as I pleased, which really made it easier to travel without having to be afraid of starting completely from scratch when I got back. Additionally, the contract job was around the US, so I would live and work in a place for several months at a time. Doing this gave me the opportunity to live in Florida for eight months, Louisiana for about six years on and off, Missouri for a few months and Iowa for about eight months. I liked getting to know these places not just as a tourist, but as a resident of sorts. You can find more about where I have been on my Around The World page. 

The social introvert strikes again: making friends at the cricket in Adelaide, Australia. 

During this time, I became a runner, and have completed many road and trail races, from 5k to 100 miles. I also spent a lot of time backpacking, and one of my favorite things each year was the annual summer backpacking trip, often in the Sierra Nevadas, but also in places like Colorado, Wyoming, Idaho, Oregon, Peru and Europe. One of the places I want to go back to is Mt. Everest base camp, as my trip got cut short (but that is a story for another day). 

Donner Lake, Marin Headlands, Dolomites,
Wind River Range, Tetons, Redwood Park (Oakland)

I recently realized that there are many mountains to climb (and cities to see, and people to meet and sunrises to see) and not enough time, so at the beginning of this year, I quit my ten year long Bay Area job in finance, sold or got rid of all of my things including my house, and set off by bicycle to see more of the US and Canada, which is what I am doing now. After I finish this trip, I plan to start traveling the world again, most likely as a slow traveler, where I will stay in one place for about a month a a time. 

Marshall Beach, Golden Gate Bridge and Marin Headlands

And now you are all caught up! Tune in tomorrow when I will be talking about some ways to save or make money with very little effort! Now it's your turn!! 

Do you have any questions for me or do you want to know more about any one topic? What is one word you would use to describe yourself? Tell me three things about yourself that I may not know! 

This post is part of NaBloPoMo. You can find the rest of my posts for this challenge here. You can find the list of participants and their information here.