Churning Credit Cards: Starwood Preferred Guest Card

May 2, 2013 By 54 Comments
Churning Credit Cards for Free Vacations

I’m seriously considering a winter vacay in Aruba, peeps.

A few months ago, I wrote about our churning credit cards in 2013.  We are still at it full force, folks.  I wanted to take a few minutes to explain what we are up to and why.  (If you read these amazing deets and decide you want the same sweet-ass deal for yourself, please feel free to show some blogger love and sign-up using my affiliate link, which will throw a little coin our way!)

The Awesome Details

I got Starwood Preferred American Express card in January of this year.  In order to earn 25,000 SPG points toward hotel stays at any Starwood property, I had to spend $5,000 on the card within 6 months.  This was easy.  All I had to do was put our groceries, gas, and miscellaneous spending on the card and pay it off a few times a month.  I also put our vacation spending on the card and was able to hit the $5,000 spending requirement by the beginning of May.  Boom.

Now we are doing the exact same card under Greg’s name.  Of course, I am an authorized user on the account so that we can put every penny of our spending toward the SPG points.   According to my spending projections, we should be able to spend $5,000 by the end of October and Greg will have earned the 25,000 SPG points. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Frugality and Saving Money, Personal Stories, Travel Tagged With: , , , , ,

Planning Ahead: The Advantages of Life Planning

April 10, 2013 By 57 Comments

 

Planning Ahead: The Advantages of Life PlanningI have a confession to make. We are planners. We love to plan out our life. We need to know what is coming around the corner. It makes us feel safe. It makes us feel secure. It makes us less stressed. That is why it drives us nuts when things we want to schedule aren’t available yet. I mean, why can’t we book a cruise for 3 years from now? How come I can’t book a room in Vegas for my 40th birthday – which is still several years away? And it is driving us nuts not knowing when the next book in the “A Song of Ice and Fire” series is going to be released! (Did you hear that GRRM? You’re killing us Smalls!)

OK, so maybe we take planning ahead a bit too seriously sometimes. However, planning ahead can greatly benefit your life. Planning ahead for your retirement is key if you hope not to be eating dog food when you retire. Failing to make it to your sister’s wedding because of your failure to ask off of work is probably going to be a big downer. So, while we may take life planning to a whole new level of craziness, here are a few ways that you “normals” can use planning ahead to your advantage. [Read more...]

photo by: cathyse97
Filed Under: Budgeting and Income, Frugality and Saving Money, Travel Tagged With: , ,

Our Majestic Adventure

March 5, 2013 By 63 Comments

 

Our Majestic AdventureObviously, everyone knows that we went on vacation earlier this month.  We’ve talked about it nonstop and even wrote a review of the hotel we stayed in.    In case you forgot, we did our first “all-inclusive vacation” at the Majestic Colonial Resort in Punta Cana, Dominican Republic.  Blah, blah, blah.  We know you’re all sick of hearing about it.  However, we wanted to share a few of the cooler stories from our trip. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Personal Stories, Travel Tagged With: , ,

8 (Surprisingly) Cheap and Beautiful Travel Destinations

March 4, 2013 By 47 Comments

 

The following is a guest post by Angie Picardo from NerdWallet. If you are interested in guest posting at Club Thrifty, please see our guest posting guidelines.

 

8 (Surprisingly) Cheap and Beautiful Travel DestinationsThere is so much information online today for researching travel destinations that it’s not too difficult for you to make excellent vacation choices on a budget. The places you can go — without breaking the bank — may surprise you.

 

But where do you start? First, how you search makes a big difference, and looking at the climate and atmosphere of a place is a good way to start your research. For example, YouTube has many videos made by travelers so you can get an idea of what it is like to visit many places.

 

Next, really do your research — there are some great travel deals out there. A good travel tip for those looking for bargains on airfare is setting an alert for the lowest fares using sites like Kayak and Air Watch Dog. You can also search for air fares using Google Flight, which offers a basic search function covering many airlines for fare comparisons. Tuesday afternoons have been pinpointed by some studies as the best day to buy cheap airline tickets because it is the day of the week when the most seats are available. Traveling on a Wednesday or Saturday can also be cheaper. Flexibility with days and times also can reduce fares. For example, early morning and late night flights are often better deals, and traveling on flights with stopovers or plane changes can reduce costs too, though they are less convenient. In addition, shopping for deals far in advance and looking for discounted hotel and flight packages can help also. Of course, traveling lightly is cheaper, because some airlines try to gouge passengers that carry extra or overweight bags.

 

Fun Fact: For international flights you could try flying as a courier for a package that requires a human attendant. These discounted, or even free flights, are generally available only for one person though. There are courier agencies to sign up with and you can try contact airlines directly. In addition, there are many volunteer programs that allow you to travel for little to no money.

 

Without further ado, here are some beautiful travel destinations that you may be able to check off your bucket list without breaking the bank! [Read more...]

Filed Under: Frugality and Saving Money, Travel Tagged With: , ,

Majestic Colonial Punta Cana: A Review

February 26, 2013 By 67 Comments

 

Majestic Colonial Punta Cana: A ReviewLast year, my husband and I finally dug ourselves out of consumer debt. Excited, we started planning the “honeymoon we never had.”  I searched for locations all over the world and read countless articles and reviews for resorts in Europe, Mexico, and the Caribbean. Somewhere along the line, I got intrigued by the idea of an “all-inclusive vacation” and narrowed  down my search to the Caribbean. While I had my heart set on vacationing in Aruba, I ended up deciding that it was just too expensive. For about half the cost, we could vacation elsewhere in the Caribbean.

 

Enter Punta Cana

Once I narrowed down my search to the Caribbean, I started to focus on the Dominican Republic.   And, once I decided that we wanted to visit Punta Cana, we ultimately decided to vacation at the Majestic Colonial.  What sold me were the countless positive reviews on TripAdvisor, the beautiful pictures, the option of “adults only,” and the in-room jacuzzi. We booked our trip through Expedia.com, and we were on our way!

 

Our Majestic Colonial Experience

Let’s start at the beginning. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Personal Stories, Travel Tagged With: , , ,
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