S and DIL live cross-country, so we fly out to visit them in May or June. Yesterday I booked 2 RT tickets for less than we paid in 2015 and 2016. We had travel certificates from United for issues with our trip last year, which brought down the price of the tickets even more - our 2 RT tickets were less than we paid for 1 RT ticket last year.
Because we got our new USAA credit card that will give us 2.5% cashback and NO annual fee, I was embolden to call CapitolOne and ask the Customer Service Rep to waive my $59 annual fee. She stalled but eventually did as a one time courtesy because I told her otherwise Iād have to close that card. We may close it anyway and just put everything on the USAA card. I had paid the fee for several years but because I had a viable option, it seemed worth trying to see whether it would be waived upon request.
Can you tell, I hate paying annual fees for credit cards? The one card I do pay annual fees for is the Chase Sapphire Preferred Card (we got 75,000 points for signing up, so weāre still ahead even with the two years weāve paid fees). Itās $95/year but provides primary CDW insurance when you rent cars. It also provides free travel insurance, which makes me more comfortable with a layer of protection. It also gives us UR points which D uses to fly at the last minute with no extra charge, buying her and us a lot of flexibility for her to spend time with us.
@HImom If you have USAA Auto insurance, itās already going to cover you for CDW on a rental car in the United States. It is also common for many credit cards to that liability.
Thanks for your thoughts, @doschicos. We donāt have USAA auto insurance, except for our D who has it in CA. Our policy is with our local insurer, whom we are very fond ofā3 cars with max policies for 2 drivers @ $1,000/year.
I donāt WANT CDW from MY insurance, which would likely increase my premiums if we have an accident, I want it on the CC. Most credit cards have the CDW as SECONDARY; Sapphire Preferred is one of the few that has the CDW as PRIMARY (meaning you donāt have to prove you tried your personal auto policy first).
I actually have had luck calling Citibank and asking them to waive my $95 fee, for several years now. They wonāt actually waive the fee, but if I spend 100 in a month or something like that, they credit me $95. Works for me.
Iāve had success with many other cards but not this one. I did charge 5 figures on it, so they did get quite a bit in fees from the vendor. Oh well, we did get a generous signing bonus and D does make great use of their UR points.
Iām not a Citi fan.
Anthropologie has 40% off sale items in store and online this weekend. D2 and I did some damage there Friday after lunch while we were waiting for the rain to hit San Diego.
Hereās a question for you good buy shoppers -
I am THINKING I will retire in about 3 years (this is a moving target).
When do I stop buying work clothes?
This year Iām trying hard not to buy things just because they are on sale. However, I realize my body shape is changing, and I may need to invest in new work pants.
I think āit dependsā on clothing purchases. I mainly bought a lot of professional clothing at the beginning of each major job and then would just add pieces as I needed and found good buys.
Now that Iām only working part time, I still use SOME of my dressier outfits when I attend conferences and meetings, go out to nice meals, and testify at hearings.
I admit I mainly dress more casually day to day now that Iām primarily working from home.
@1214mom Iād just buy on an as needed basis. There are always sales on, it seems. Youāll find once housetop working, you wonāt need much of the work wardrobe any longer so better to apply that money towards your portfolio, IMO.
*you stop
sorry my autocorrect is goofy.
Just buy lots of nice pajamas!
@oregon101 Where? I am looking for some good deals this weekend.
@1214mom This is what I would be buyingā¦http://vermontflannel.com/flannel-pants.html
How much different are your work clothes that you wouldnāt wear them another time? Would sweaters that you might wear to work still work with a nicer pair of jeans when not working? Maybe you can look for components of your āoutfitā that would be versatile for when you retire too. More casual dresses that you can dress up with jewelry now but wear more casually when you retire.
It would not make me a happy camper to know that I had to wear the same clothes for the next three years without getting anything new. But we are all different that way.
Ok, a funny ābrag.ā I just got a text from my 20 yo son, letting me know he got 6 pounds of ground turkey breast for less than $20. At our store they had a ālesserā quality on sale 3 lbs for $9.99, but since they didnāt have that, he got them to give them the better (less fat content) quality for the same price. Neither my H or my other child would bother doing this, but this son has been well trained my me, and is very value conscious.
Even though I only work very part-time and mostly from my home and can choose what I wear, I still buy new clothes from time to time, as desired, particularly if there is a good sale and/or there is an occasion to dress for (being a speaker at a conference, special event, etc.) I enjoy having different clothing from time to timeāmuch of it is pretty versatile and can be used for a range of settings nicely.
I think this is across the board (not just Prime) but Amazon is offering $8.62 off a $50 or more purchase today with the code BIGTHANKS at checkout - I got an email about it through my Prime but I see itās on the loading page banner.
According to my insurerās statement, I was billed about $85K for 2016 medical and Rx expenses. My share that we paid was just over $3k plus premiums and all the airfares & travel expenses to see some of the providers I needed to see. My insurer paid about 50% and the rest was written off. I guess this was a good buy as we could not have afforded the care without insurance.
Amazonās BIGTHANKSā¦hmmmā¦three of us have tried various items (no gift cards, no digital, no Alexa, etc.) and none of us have been successful. When trying to apply code, this pops up:
The promotional code you entered cannot be applied to your purchase.
Will let them know weāre not impressedā¦