Tag Archives: advice

Day 2473 – Southwest Credit Card And Rapid Rewards Tips

Posted on by
4

We absolutely LOVE Southwest, the credit card and rapid rewards program. Seriously. We are not paid to say this! Though, people have asked if owned stock in them. Which wouldn’t be a bad idea! I love talking about travel and saving money (check out yesterday’s post on cross country travel for more on that!)

I wanted to share a few things with you!

First, there is a promotion going on where you can earn a nice bonus of miles:
If you’re interested in getting the Southwest credit card, let me know your email address and I can send you some info. There’s a promotion right now where I get 5,000 miles for everyone who signs up and hits a minimum. If you spend $2000 in 3 months, you get 50,000 miles, which is enough for 2 round trip tickets. We’re big fans of Southwest. We’ve gotten to fly almost free ($22 in fees/taxes), almost all the way to Cali to visit Bret’s family 3 times because of the cards. (We have two accounts with them). We’ve used the card for a while now, I’m able to pay it off online immediately (I’ve seen credit cards where you have to wait until it posts to the account before you can pay). lol, how else can I say I’m not trying to sell you something, we really do love Southwest and their credit card.

Tips to get more miles!

If you don’t have it yet, sign up for rapid rewards through Southwest. It’s free. I tell people, think of this like a grocery store’s membership card. And the credit card is like the store credit card.

First, log in to Southwest.com and check out the following:

Companion pass
Click on Rapid Rewards
The first window should show Snapshot. This is where you’ll see how close you are to a companion pass. It does look like it’s cumulative, but it’s only in one year. I haven’t hit this yet, but if you get a new southwest card and get that 50,000 AND follow some of these tips, I wouldnt’ see why you couldn’t get to the 110,000 miles.

Promotions
While logged in still, click on the promotions tab, you’ll see current deals.

Rocketmiles
You can book hotels through here and apply them to your Southwest card. They may be double/triple. Your first stay will give you a bonus 5,000 miles (not sure if that’s a constant promotion or not). Each night will give you about 1,000+ miles. These hotels cost a little more, maybe $20-30 more than we typically spend, but when we’re getting essentially $1000 worth of miles, it’s no biggie.

Dining rewards
Sign up here, you can attach up to 5 credit cards (don’t think they have to be a southwest card, but I haven’t tested it out). The points won’t count until your cards are attached. You’ll see that you can write reviews and get more points. The first time you go has a huge bonus.

A whole bunch of tips here!

A ton more ways to get bonuses can be found here.
Click through the different areas at the top – Travel, specialty, home, etc. e-rewards is found under Specialty – it’s an easy/free way to earn miles.

e-rewards
This is an easy and free way to earn miles. This is a survey site. Once you get to $100 worth of “survey money” you can transfer them to your rewards account. Last time I checked, $100 = 1000 miles! I haven’t done this in a while, but when I was, it didn’t take long at all to get to $100. This is a great thing to do while watching TV or waiting in line.

Do you have any good tips for quickly earning miles?

Thanks to Tif for my favorite airport picture, ever.

day_00793b

Day 2472 – Cross Country Travel Advice Updated

Posted on by
4

A friend recently asked for advice on driving across the country. Since we’ve done this a few times and are planning a trip this summer, I was excited to share. As I wrote most of the following (edited slightly to make it direct to y’all), I realized I have a passion for this. I love talking about certain things and inexpensive travel is one of them.

An old blog post about the drive.

Tips on saving money using a Southwest credit card.

To my wonderful readers! If you’re interested in getting the Southwest credit card, let me know your email address and I can send you some info. There’s a promotion right now where I get 5,000 miles for everyone who signs up and hits a minimum. If you spend $2000 in 3 months, you get 50,000 miles, which is enough for 2 round trip tickets. We’re big fans of Southwest. We’ve gotten to fly almost all the way to Cali to visit Bret’s family 3 times because of the cards. (We have two accounts with them). We’ve used the card for a while now, I’m able to pay it off online immediately (I’ve seen credit cards where you have to wait until it posts to the account before you can pay). lol, how else can I say I’m not trying to sell you something, we really do love Southwest and their credit card.

I will write a post tomorrow with some tips on how to rack up the Southwest miles! Some are without having to spend money!

Information about getting cheap RV rentals. There are great deals, but they’re locked in by location and dates.

I would recommend getting an America the Beautiful pass. It’s $80 for a year and gets you in to pretty much all of the national parks. From what I’ve read, it’s good for you and another person AND everyone in your car. So, I could put down my name and Bret’s and we’d both be on the pass. Then we can take people in if they’re in the car. I don’t know much more than that, so check out the website. Since we’re looking into driving the northern route this summer, we want to see Rushmore and Yellowstone, just the two parks almost pay for the pass itself. Since we live in Maryland, we’re so close to SO many National Parks that would count (Fort McHenry, Gettysburg [I believe], etc.), so it makes sense.

Choice hotels tend to have good deals, last time I looked into them, especially if are a choice hotels member (it’s free) and you can book them at least 10 days (though, I don’t recommend booking hotels that far in advance on a road trip, you have NO idea what will happen on the road). OR, if you have a southwest card, you can use Rocketmiles to book your hotel. You pretty much always get 1000 miles on top of the points you earn for the hotel itself. They tend to range about $20-30 more than most hotels, but 1000 miles is like spending $1000, so it works out well! The first stay gets you 5000 miles.

I just found some great deals on Amtrack. You can take a train from San Francisco to Baltimore for about $300. We’ve thought about renting a car and then taking the train back….or maybe getting a flight close to where we want to go and then driving the rest. Maybe Chicago and then drive from there to the other places.

Some tips – If you’re driving, ALWAYS stop when you’re tired. Even if it’s just for a little bit. Having a cooler and food with you is GREAT. There are more tips on that first link. Though, I will say, we’re NOT going to sleep in the back seat this time. We’re going to sleep in the passenger seat….don’t think it’s too safe, really.

Oh! Little known fact, the states in the south are really bad at taking care of snow! So if you’re driving in the winter, know what the weather is. We were stuck in Texas for 10 hours because of ice. My internet wasn’t working well, but I was able to call my mom and she finally figured out what was going on by calling the highway patrol. So I would get the highway patrol numbers for all of the states you’re driving through.

If you camp, look into parks versus big name campgrounds. We regularly camp at a state park and it’s only about $20 a night. Or there are mini cabins, at our state park, for about $55. So that’s something to consider too.

If you sleep in the car, Walmart parking lots are good as are big name gas stations like Pilot and Loves. DO NOT go to the bathroom in a small dinky gas station. lol, there was one place we stopped at in Tennessee or Kentucky and I swear, it was like I was walking through someone’s house. Ha ha, I don’t think we stopped at a no name place after that!

I would also say, figure out the places you HAVE to stop, then the places you’d like to stop and then the, it’s ok if it doesn’t happen. So, know what’s absolutely important and build the trip around that.

Highlights in our travels:
San Antonio, Texas
Monterey, California
Grand Canyon, Arizona
Russells Truck & Travel Center, 1583 Frontage Road 4132, Glenrio, NM 88434 (lol, YES, a rest stop!)

Do you have any questions about cross country travel? Let me know in the comments!

day_00900

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Did you like what you read? Here’s some ways you can support us and this blog!
Join our Facebook group, Planning an Epic Road Trip on Any Budget
Join the Journey With The G’s email list (bonus – you get my Epic Road Trip Budget spreadsheet)
Buy my book, Planning an Epic Road Trip on any Budget.
Buy my book, Trusting God With 2 Cents: 22 Days To Becoming A Successful Christian Business Owner.
Shop on Amazon (no additional cost to you, this gives us a percentage of what you order).
Check out our resources page.
Subscribe to our YouTube Channel

Day 2470 – “Can You Go Into Bars?” “Can You Hang Out With People Drinking?” And Other Common Questions About My Sobriety

Posted on by
Reply

I’ve shared my story about struggling with alcoholism before. It’s common knowledge that I don’t drink. I want to say at the start that everyone has a different experience with sobriety, alcoholism, etc. This is just MY experience and what it’s like for me. Don’t take this post as a “oh my friend doesn’t drink, so this will apply to them!”

I, thankfully, experience almost zero temptation and struggle with drinking. The only reason for this is God’s work in my life. This is not a will power thing. It’s all God.

Ok, let’s jump right in!

“Can you go into bars?”
Yes! I love hanging out with my friends and bars are a great place to do it. Happy hour specials can be fantastic! It’s a cheaper bill for me either way! 🙂 I will say, there are some times, especially when I went to Padonia Station/Ale House a few weeks ago, that I think about memories (ha ha, or non-memories) of my drinking experiences. I joked with one of my friends there, oh yea, I remember throwing up in that bathroom and that one. Fun fact, I was driving home from Padonia Station the night I was arrested for a DUI. So, I will say, there are SOME times that I think about these things. But it doesn’t make me sad or make me want to not go to a bar. It makes me SO thankful that God did not leave me where I was. Thankful that God had mercy on me during those times and kept me safe.

“Can you hang out with people drinking?”
Yep! If anything, I may be a bad influence to those who are drinking….I get drinks when they need them…this is especially true if I’m driving. Again, not everyone has the same experience with drinking. Some people can actually control themselves and not make a mess of things. I am not one of those people! So, I’ll just drive the ones that can! 🙂

“Are you tempted to drink?”
I would say, there might be a little temptation here and there. Bret has a box of wine in the fridge right now and I’ve had the passing thought – “I’m an adult, I can decide to drink a glass, I’d be fine.” But since I’m sober when I’m thinking this, I realized, um, no, I’d not be fine. My biggest weakness was after that first glass, I’d HAVE to have as much as possible. So, any time I feel a slight temptation, God very graciously reminds me of what I gave up.

“Will you ever drink again?”
No. I have no intention of drinking again. There is absolutely no reason for me to do so. I can celebrate with friends with a can of coke just as much as a shot or glass of wine. I can go to Ireland and tour the Guinness factory and not have a drink (one day soon, I’ll share about my first brewery tour – which was actually the brewer of the last beer I drank). It was making this decision that finally sealed my sobriety. Every time I would “quit” before, I would find an excuse to drink down the road. So, no, no more alcohol for me.

Are there any questions I didn’t answer, let me know in the comments and I’ll do another post!

And for lack of a photo that really fits, here’s a “shine” that I do drink. 🙂 (oh my, I crack myself up)

image

Day 2469 – Another Anniversary Passed That I Missed – Debt Free For THREE Years!

Posted on by
2

I’ve blogged a lot about getting out to debt (Tips For Saving Money And Paying Off Your Debt and How We Paid Off 30K In 3.5 Years OR I Can’t Believe Bret Tweeted How Much Debt We Had!, to name a few.) On Monday, we celebrated officially being out of debt for three years. There have been a few times we’ve had to carry a balance on our credit card, but never more than a month or two.

Take us as an example, it’s possible, it can happen AND it can last! We’re just a little excited about it…

day_01993

Day 2465 – Meal Idea – Purchased From Aldi And Big Lots – About $1.00 A Serving

Posted on by
Reply

I purchased almost all of these ingredients from Aldi’s and Big Lots. The frozen veggies were purchased from Mars during a sale.

One thing I love to do is make a big old pot of something and eat the left overs for the week. My most recent creation turned out REALLY well. I didn’t add spices, so Bret did add some spicy sauce and some spices. I sometimes use this big old pot of stuff as an excuse for junk food like Velveeta Shells and Cheese. Today I tried out corn pasta, which was actually pretty good!

Here’s my recipe and the nutritional info.

– Corn Pasta – $1.25 at Big Lots – whole bag
– Hunt’s Tomato Sauce – $1.00 at Big Lots – whole can
– Variety bag of frozen veggies – ~$2.00 at Mars Super Market (I think I got this and the follow frozen veggies for $1.00-$1.50, but for our purposes, since I can’t remember, I’m estimating high) – whole bag
– Frozen green beans – ~$2.00 at Mars Super Market – whole bag
– Frozen sweet peas – ~$2.00 at Mars Super Market – whole bag
– Hormel Chili – ~$2.00 at Big Lots – whole can
– 1lb Ground turkey – Aldi – ~$4.00 – whole pound

1. Brown Turkey
2. Prepare pasta per package
3. Heat all veggies
4. As things are finishing, pour in a giant mixing bowl – I put the chili and pasta sauce on the bottom so they would heat as hot ingredients were added.
5. Mix it all together

Notes:
– I’ve started to freeze about 65-75% of what I make so we don’t get bored and so it lasts a while.
– While totaling the nutritional facts, I was very disappointed in the sodium and carbs. I’ll more than likely nix the chili and tomato sauce next time for other ingredients
– I didn’t have the receipts for the frozen veggies, chili and turkey, so I just estimated.

Final cost overall – $15.11, $1.08 per serving

Nutritional facts:
Servings – ~14

Calories – 276.5
Fat – 4.6
Saturated Fat – 1.3
Cholesterol – 26.4
Sodium – 396.4
Potassium – 107.1
Carbs – 39.6
Fiber – 6.2
Sugars – 6.3
Protein – 16.3

IMG_2487[1]

IMG_2496[1]

IMG_2499[1]