Thu, Dec 8, 2022, Credit card strategy for Seattle

 So now that I have a little more mental breathing room (and I got my work done for the week), I started giving more thought to travel hacking/ award travel.

I know it's popular in FIRE but after joining FIRE I wasn't really trying to spend money and I don't travel with much regularity. 

Plus I wasn't trying to dabble with credit cards outside of getting the cash rewards and immediately cancelling them. Even last year felt like a little bit of a wobble because had I not opened those cards for the cashback bonus, I unlikely would not have been able to jet off to Seattle quite as easily.

So this year, now that I'm actually planning my life out for a year and it includes travel. I was starting to feel overwhelmed so I wrote it out a bit. 

The key for me is not to think too far ahead for optimizing strategies, which is where I get lost in the weeds. I just focused on the next trip and up to the plans for next year.

So I knew I wanted:

1 card for airline travel - to get the free checked bag

1 card for 0% intro APR - because I plan to cash flow the trip as I am being paid (another post, maybe*), and lodging is pricey

I actually started clicking around a bit earlier this season and then more so last night. I was on reddit but starting to get lost in the acronyms and short codes.

So that's why I started with those objectives above.

I'm also limited by the fact that my nearest airport is a regional airport that only flies American and Delta.

Thus for my airline cards, my options are:

- AA Barclays (since I already got AA Citi's promotion within the last promotion cycle)

- Delta Skymiles card

This morning I looked into it and AA Barclays I get the impression might be harder to get, but because the spend is just any purchase for $60k bonus miles and it's already on AA, that's my first choice.

Delta is a close second because it's a low spend for 60k miles AND it's 0% intro. 

So with just those 2 cards alone, I would meet my goal.

- Airline card for free checked bag

- 0% intro Card

- and a fat sign-up bonus in miles (where I usually go for cashback)

My default for the 0% intro card was Fidelity cashback card since it has a $150 sign up bonus and 2% cashback on all purchases. 

Well my clicking also led me to:

- Chase Sapphire for their ultimate rewards which seems to be extremely popular with travel hackers

- Citi Premier

The issue I had with those is that I'm inexperienced using points for travel and it seems you have to go through a portal and transfer points to partner airlines. Considering I only have 2 airlines to choose from, I found this limiting. And I can't really check flights to see if my tiny airport would show up on their partner airline without creating a log-in. So that kind of deterred me.

Right now, the most sensible plan would be to apply for both the AA and Delta card for the bonus miles.

From what I can see so far, I have enough AA miles to travel at least 1 way for Trip #1. So it would be nice to have one of these cards to fund the other leg of the trip and accumulate more miles and get a free checked bag.

Again, I have a feeling I might get declined for AA Barclays, so in that case, I might still get the Fidelity card and/or the Chase or Citi card. But if I get a high enough limit on Delta Skymiles, the Fidelity card becomes less important since Delta is 0% and that's what I needed Fidelity for.

So if I get Delta and not AA Barclays, I'll try to apply for Chase Sapphire or Citi Premier. Both have big sign up bonuses, but I need to do research so see if one actually has miles I can use for travel. If not, I should still be able to get fat cashback bonus, which will be nice.

**Yesterday (or maybe the day before) I was also fretting about cashflowing my trip. Ideally, it would be easier to just save up the $20k for travel and spend from there. But there isn't enough time to do that by May with my regular pay.

So after siting down and estimating my paychecks, I think what I'm going to do is...

After maxing out 401k in Q1...

For April and May paychecks: just hoard that money in a Seattle Reserves account (this is mainly to help assuage anxiety about having money if someone falls in love with me and I decide to extend my stay); goal is with leftover bonus money to have 15k-20k+ saved.

Given my estimates, from Jun to Oct, I should be having a netpay (after recurring living expenses) of about $4k/mon x 5 months = $20k, which is the amount I budgeted for Lifestyle Expenses in 2023. And it just so happens to coincide with my trip dates. So that should help soothe the mental rumblings about overspending, and also the contradictory concern of not having enough on hand if I need to extend my stay for Love.

I just have to get comfortable with having that Reserves account sitting in Cash, but I'm actually okay with it because the savings rates are at least a little higher than they've been. If the market is really low, and I am tempted, I can always dump it into my taxable account since I will have already maxed out my 401k. So I can just reduce my contributions. So that's another lever.

But this tentative plan seems to meet all my needs/objective at the moment.

- Saving my default $36k/yr

- Having a plan to pay for my planned trips without overspending

- Having a back-up plan to pay for an extended stay for Love (and the accompanying permission to spend the money because the Reserves exist for this reason)

- And a back-up for that plan if the market is too tempting

These are the world's problems that are solvable, friends! I'm kind of excited to dip my toe in award travel; it is the tiniest of toes. I love planning for only good things instead of 10 million contingency plans for bad things. #softlife

Oh, as an added lever, if I do end up staying around NC for Nov and Dec, I can up my contributions back to 50% and take advantage of more tax-advantaged savings. Win! 

Wed, Dec 7, 2022, Bubble guts and freedom

 For the second day in a row, my stomach has felt rumbly. I think it was one of three things I ate or maybe all of them. I had a McDs biscuit which caused a faint rumble. Then had Mexican for lunch and they have questionable fat that they use and their guacamole is "creamy." Then I decided to top it off with donuts with questionable dairy content.

I've been able to enjoy Macdonald's over the last couple years with only mild distress and only recently started expanding into their buttery biscuits. I've also had those donuts and that Mexican food with some success. Yesterday was not the day.

It probably didn't help that I had just had big GI distress a week ago. I told myself I was giving up eating questionable things, but apparently that was a lie. I got rid of the A2 milk and the Oatmilk that was in the fridge that I never tried but apparently some of my old faves are doing my dirty. 

I can probably forego future donut adventures for the time being, but will likely challenge myself to McDs breakfast in the foreseeable future. As for the Mexican fajitas, I don't eat there often and can either do Chipotle or if I don't want to drive that far, try the meal with the pulled chicken (but the veggies are still questionable) and without the "creamy" guacomole sauce. 

Anyway, I've been lying on the couch not really able to concentrate on anything. I vacillated between being glad I finally got Counselor Mark to feel my woes of being single and black in America. But kinda regretted it later. Why did I need him to validate my experience so badly. Like, please feel my pain and understand it. Does he really care? Does anything change for him or me? Doubtful. I think I'm around so many Loud Lucys, I get confused with the need to be heard. My default has been just to stay silent vs hitting them over the head with my thoughts but every now and then, this happens. 

Sometimes I want to think we are all connected and the things we say and do affect each other even though we like to pretend they don't. But other times I like to work under the narrative that there are no consequences. Who knows.

Then I got to thinking about budgets again. I really like how easy it is to just let my extra money go into my 401k then hang around in my savings account. So I was trying to figure out how to best budget for next year - where I have enough to fund my Summer in Seattle, but also have enough to extend my stay if I meet someone, while not letting too much hang out in savings. 

I thought I was pretty set with allocations until the student loan deferral for 2023 announced. 

The easy thing would be just to adjust my contributions to account for the extra $800/mon (student loan) + $500/mon (tithe), but somehow my brain can't compute. 

I guess I'm not ready to let go of the cushion I just got attached to. I think because there's still an unfinished thought of staying 9 months in Seattle? I mean less so, but there was an old part of me that was waiting for some extra money to make staying in Seattle "full-time" a reality. So eventhough logically, my counselor and I decided that the summer bird idea offers me a lot of flexibility, I'm not entirely sold on the idea. I am turning 39 after all, and boy oh boy! 

So yeah, I probably will end up making a few contingency plans financially because that's how I do. So while my savings goals are still in flux, the default of $36k remains unchanged. That is achievable if I live in Seattle for 9 months next year or not.  It's just a matter of shuffling extra savings into 401k (which requires pre-planning) or dumping the extras in taxable account (no pre-planning) at the end of a defined period. 

Also, I saw on Amtrak that they are discounting fares 20% off if you book 7 days in advance. I feel like when I first tested the pricing, this wasn't the case. That's why I felt I could book day of. But now I don't know. I thought about trying to see if I book for next Saturday at $62 and ride this Saturday, if they'll still let me board. In this moment, it just feels like what was supposed to be a cheap last minute trip is slowly stacking up.

I think I'm just tired of spending money! 

My Personal Mission Statement

 I've been trying to craft a mission and vision statement for my life. I'm sure I had one in between all my words, but I think I might add it to the home page as well.

I'm sure it's always been there just never fully realized. My circumstances haven't changed. And my perspective hasn't changed dramatically. I'm just reacquainting myself with life as it is as opposed to today being a training ground for a different tomorrow. 

The few examples I saw on the internet where very inspirational and had do-gooder vibes. Bump that.

My Personal Mission Statement (as inspired by Dr. Pat's book 'Getting to I Do')

Current: To love myself in a self-centered way and to protect my physical, mental/emotional, and financial wellbeing. 

Future: To be a feminine energy complement to my husband; to share self-centered love with my husband; to prioritize the relationship (over the individual); and to respect my husband's thoughts as he cherishes my feelings.  All the while, I am deep-rooted in self-centered love for myself while I continue to safeguard my physical, mental/emotional, and financial wellbeing. 

My counselor says you can use your anxiety to prep for the future, but after you've done all you can, the rest of the anxiety is wasted 100% on a problem that has less than a 100% chance of occurring. Yes, so even though the stats are grim for a single black woman in her 40s to end up in an interracial marriage, it's not 0%. (Think less than 10% of a 30% subset of the general population.) It's certainly not cause for hope, but it's no more cause for worry or extra anxiety. It's cause for sadness and despair, maybe. 

Nothing's changed as far as my outlook on a long life, but it's a re-realization of what I'd always known to be true but wanted a reason to believe somehow it would be different for me. I was reading some article on Huffpost about a woman in her early 40s who finally gave up on love. I half-expected the I 'gave up...and then.' She shared all of the sentiments I have displayed on this very blog, and I thought wow... this happens to white people too! Wow, I have no reason to despair.

Then she shared two pictures in her post of her and her black friends who were in the same boat. 

Tues, Dec 6, 2022, Four errands in 2 hours

 So I woke up a little bit better than yesterday. Had more of a spring in my step. The morning wasn't as frigid. I think instead of 30s, it was in the low 50s with promise of a warmup. That helped. It must've.

I had plans based on this warm weather to accomplish some things. And I did!

Accomplishments

- Took items to shred to the dump ($5)

- Completed my remaining money order ($1k)

- Bought some fruit ($5)

- Got some donuts ($5)

- Got a breakfast sandwich ($3)

I feel good! My house is officially clean for next year. And I took a look in the scary closet, and it looks like the cleaning service really straightened up in there. So that is awesome! I rolled out the nested suitcases so that I'll be more inclined to take out the carryon for my trip. 

Looks like my project got pushed out a little. This is good, sort of, but it's kind of just dragging on. But mostly good. 

Had some reflections on my drive about town. Just realizing that this is retirement. This is a low cost retirement community. There is a hospital, a Walmart, some parks. That was the basics of a default retirement landscape.

The more I read about Single Moms by Choice, I feel a little less cheated. I reread someone's blog who also felt like they got sold a bag of goods. I can relate, sister! I can relate! 

Just like not everyone will make 6 figs, or own a home, or not be out of prison, or have kids, or even have a happy marriage. Not everyone gets romantic love. Yes, even skinny white people. It sucks, but that's just life.

Even though I probably still will, I don't need to overturn every stone to look for this pre-destined life, or search and research to find "my way," or second guess or  look to assign meaning to the circumstances of my life. Categorically this has made me feel unhappy, depressed, disappointed. Unhappy people make unhealthy choices. Or is it the other way around. 

Life can be simple. Do that. 

It's remarkable to me how manual building a home is. It looks like this complicated thing, which I'm sure the pre-work is. But it's manual. I see these men with ladders and hammers and nails.  (In case you're wondering, I have front row seats to new construction being built a few feet from the end of my driveway). 

I've been thinking of going somewhere during winter shutdown at work. Somewhere warmer. But nearby. Direct flights only. Maybe Aruba or Mexico. Somewhere easy. 

Some more 2022 Reflections, Accomplishments, Goals

 I keep thinking I've logged these things but that might just be middle of the night ruminations.

Loose goals for 2023

Physical: TBD

Financial: save $36k in 401k (more possible, but at least that)

Emotional: Therapy for a year; focus on self-care (includes things like therapy, and not worrying so much about spending, or "good" decision making, and choosing to outsource things like pest control and housecleaning...)

Accomplishments

It's probably better to do this monthly or quarterly as I only can remember the recent ones.

- House is clean!

- Realizing I can squeeze a few more dollars into 401k with a 50% contribution at the end of the year AND making the change!

- All my trips to Seattle

- Not dying until I was absolutely sure! It was touch and go for more than one part of the year

- Therapy

- My work projects

- Appreciating and taking advantage of my work flexibility

- Work trips

- Not making any enemies at work

- Not hating anyone new

- Joining local meetups

- Softball

- Continuous assessing and realigning of personal and financial priorities

- Working on figuring out what's next

I should craft a mission or objective statement in this family of one. What do I believe? What do we aim to do?

- Investing in my mental well being next year with the increased FSA

- Rearranging my office

- Listing things on Craigslist (eventhough they didn't sell)

- Some of the automated financial systems I have in place that really take some of the guesswork off my plate

That's all for now.

Not feeling particularly insightful. Just feeling kinda grey and moody. My mood feels like the way the sky looks. Overcast. Tomorrow I plan to finish my MoneyGram transfer, take the papers to the shredding location, and maybe get some fruit. I will get some Mexican takeout for lunch. I have been feeling hungry and realized I haven't had a BM since I had some GI distress over a week or so ago.

My spending has finally settled down. Boy this grey day is bringing me down. I'm glad I got rid of all the credit cards. I'm loosely hoping to spend no more than $500 in Maryland. That includes train tickets. I'm taking my emergency credit card. Not that this is an emergency, but I've already swept the extra cash from most of my accounts so there's no extra money sitting around. It'll be easier to just use the card since there's only a $500 limit on it and just pay it off when I get home. There's a few dollars that will be replenished on my allowance card for December so there's a chance I might go over the $500, but all will not be lost. 

I just know I better put the train ticket on the credit card since $120 would probably wipe out my allowance card until the 15th. It'll just be a backup while I'm in Maryland and in between fill-ups on my allowance. 

I'm kind of glad I decided to stay in today. I'm feeling so groggy, I undocked my laptop and brought it to the futon so I can recline a little. This futon is really uncomfortable, I really don't think I need to keep it. I will try to resell it, but may end up giving it away for free.