Learning from the natural world.

I have "recently" taken up gardening.  In reality, I have been doing more learning about gardening than gardening.  I planted a fig tree and a lemon tree a few years ago and I have yet to taste their fruit.  The avocado trees I planted both died.  I planted pineapples, they died. 

My gardening adventure has not been a total failure.  I have tasted the fruits of my labor a few times, just enough to keep me inspired to someday have a luscious and bountiful garden.  I like to blame my misfortunes on the hot Arizona sun.  For some of you who were not aware, we moved to Arizona in 2018.

Despite the struggles I have encountered while gardening, I have found it peaceful, educational, and spiritual.  Just today, as I was getting ready to plant a few things I came to this awareness.

My garden area was rock solid.  This was not our regular Arizona ground.  I had purchased luscious and loamy soil last year and "fed" the ground of various organic nutrients.  However, there was a season when that bed of soil was neglected.  Life became busy and as I have not yet figured out how to put together a drip line, I neglected to water it when the temperature here hit over 110 degrees Farenheit.  Then, it became cold in the water and I thought to myself, "there is nothing growing there anyways" and I simply ignored the ground.  So when I looked through the bedding for the first time in many months, I found that the soil had turned rock hard.  

I ran the water across it, however, I only succeeded in wetting the top 1 centimeter of the ground.  The rest of the water simply glided off.  I had to manually break up the soil and massage the water into the ground.  Even then some parts of the ground refused to absorb the water.

Even though the ground needed the water, it could not take it in.  The ground was "broken".  It had been "damaged" and "deprived" so that it was incapable of reaching forward to take in the very thing it needed to bring back its vitality.

I began to think about people.  There are many in our lives that we have written off as "damaged."  Or perhaps you consider yourself "damaged" and have given up.  It is not that you/we are unable to regain our health and vitality, it is that it takes time to process through the pain, neglect, and suffering.  It takes time for you to trust again.   We all need community, love, and relationships.  However, upon being hurt, we draw back and refuse to open ourselves again despite the fact that it is relationships that we indeed need for our health and vitality.

While I am an introverted, I am an extroverted thinker and I am not shy.  I can start up a conversation with just about anyone.  I also am challenged when it comes to small talk.  I could care less about the weather, sports, or the recent tv show.  However, I am genuinely curious and concerned about the wellbeing of the people that comes across the path.  Why do I care?  Because God cares.  What I have come to realize is that most of the people I have met from all walks of life have a deep longing for connection.  They feel lonely and desire to belong.  Yet, people put up facades that present as if they are doing fine because people are afraid of showing the brokenness within.  These are wonderful people with so much to offer but their "nutrients" are tightly bound up inside and due to the lifetime of hurts, disappointments, and shame, they are unable to take in what they need and release their own goodness.

I wanted to share these thoughts because although I am simply throwing it out into the world wide web perhaps this will resonate with someone enough to make an impact on one person's life.  Every ground we have an opportunity to impact in a positive way so that it can one day be soft and healthy is meaningful and worthwhile.   In the end, how do we want to be remembered and who will remember us.  Will our children remember us as a successful business person, or the best parent ever, and which matters more to you? to them?  

By thinking about the end, it helps to put the present into proper perspective...

Summer Movies and Summer Camps

The $1 movies, bowling bargains, and free tech camps abound this summer.  See my blog page about
Summer Camp and Activities for Kids (nationwide) - 2017 above.

Taking the pinch out of Christmas - OC and LA specific

For families with children, Christmas time is a magical and costly time of the year.  Especially if one parent has decided to stay home to raise the kids, money can be tight.  Here is a way a parent not employed outside the home can leverage their flexibility to create comparable economic value for their home.  What I mean is you can increase your budget either by bringing in more income, or reducing expenses.  This is where Mattel comes in.

Mattel is a large toy manufacturer.  Most of you will know the company.  For those of you who do not, think - Barbie and Hot Wheels.  Mattel is located in El Segundo, California and at their facility they have a large laboratory called "Imagination Center" where one can sign up to become a toy tester.  The testers they target are children under 10, but mostly under 8, and the moms of such children.  For participating in the test group, the child is given a toy and (sometimes) a gift card.  The test is usually an hour or so.  For the kids, they really just want to have the kids play and answer a few questions.  Sometimes they ask that the kids bring a friend.  Then, it becomes an interesting and fun play date adventure.

Not only is this a great way to collect some neat toys you know your children will want for Christmas but the gift card can help to buy additional presents.  Now, this next statement may offend, shock, or whatever the reader...but here goes.  If your child is young enough, they may not even know that they were given a toy.  You can discreetly put that toy to the side until a later time, such as Christmas or Birthday.  You will know the child likes the toy as he/she picked it out.  If your child is of school-age (6+), I don't even suggest you try it.  Nonetheless, you do have the gift card.

You must sign up to be a toy tester and respond to their email when they send out testing opportunities.  Here is the link.  http://www.mattelimaginationcenter.com/

Hertz Rental Car Drive Out of Arizona Special

Hertz is having its travel deal from Arizona again.  You rent a Hertz vehicle to drive one-way out of Arizona for as low as $7.99 a Day.  Although on the Hertz website it states that the pick up location is Phoenix - Sky Harbor Airport, Hertz location in Phoenix on Bell had the same rate.  In fact, if possible, you will get better pricing if you go to the non-airport location so as to avoid the airport surcharge.  Here is the direct link to the special - https://www.hertz.com/rentacar/rental-car-deals/arizona-travel-deals.   The special ends on June 18, 2017.

TRAIN RIDE!!

Hello!

I have just returned from the Dominican Republic!  We had a wonderful time and it was nice not having to lift a finger for nearly 2 weeks.  Truth be told, by the end it got to be a little boring.  No, we did not jam pack our trip with tours.  What is the point of going to an All Inclusive if you end up not using the All Inclusive features?  I intend to go back to the Dominican Republic but stay at a regular hotel.  Now that I have been there, I think I can manage without the "protection" offered to tourists by the resorts.

Now, for the real purpose of this blog.  I am now planning our Spring Break 2016 trip.  I have decided it will be a train trip from Los Angeles all the way to....not sure.  It will be somewhere in Oregon or Washington.  We will be taking the Coast Starlight train.  Now, I am still working out the plans but I just wanted to give you a heads up before you miss out on an opportunity come January 1, 2016.

Amtrak's current Rewards program will be revised come January 1, 2016.  Although their website states that it will be "better," I believe the true reason is because they realize the current program is not quite cost effective.   Since I am new to Amtrak travel and my research has only been on the Coast Starlight, my discussion here will only be related to the Coast Starlight train on Amtrak. 

The Coast Starlight train runs from Union Station to Seattle, Washington.  It takes just over 36 hours.  The train offers 2 categories of fares: Seats and Sleepers.  The Seats are Coach and Business Class.  The Sleepers are Roommettes (sleeps 2), Bedroom (sleeps 2 and has a sitting area), and Family (sleeps 4 - 2 adults and 2 children). 

I am going to show you why Amtrak is revamping their Rewards program.  Currently, the ticket prices for a trip from Union Station to Klamath Falls, Oregon for a single adult is as follows: Coach ($113 for Value, $221 for Flexible), Roomette ($309), Superliner Bedroom ($545), and Family ($788).  The website did not give me a Business seat price.  Perhaps they are all sold out.  As you can see, the sleepers are much more expensive than the seats.

Under Amtrak's Reward program, the number of points required for a seat is based on how many zones you will cross and the type of seat.  There are only 3 zones: Western United States, Central United States, and Eastern United States.  Imagine cutting the United States vertically into thirds and there you have it.  The Coast Starlight, because it is traveling north-south, it is considered 1 zone.  So, for a single zone travel, the number of Reward points you need is as follows:  Coach (5500 points), Business (6500 points), Roomette (11,000 points), and Family (25,000 points).  The amount of points needed for the Bedroom will be between the Roomette and Family Bedroom. 

Let's take a typical family of 4.  If a person wanted to use their Rewards points, they would have to redeem 22,000 points (5500 x 4).  That is like getting 2 Roomettes.  Or, better yet, spend 3000 more points and get the Family Bedroom.  There is a reason why you want to splurge and get into a sleeper, which is called "first class."  This is because meals are included in the price of the sleepers.  Also, folks in the sleeper will eat in the Parlour Car versus the regular Dining Car.  The food quality is better and it is made to order.  Also, folks in sleeper can participate in the complimentary wine tasting.  Now, if you are going to be on a train for 34 hours, you will need to eat and food alone will end up costing a family of 4 about $150 to $200 (remember, the meal prices on the train will be inflated). 

Now, if you are going to pay out of pocket and you do not care about sleeping in a chair with everyone else, you may not be tempted.  However, if you will be using points, you definitely should get the sleeper.

Now, there are other reasons why you may not want to travel Coach.  First of all, Coach does not reserve you a seat.  Even if you purchase a "Reserved Coach Seat" and the website states that you are guaranteed a seat, it does not mean that you will get the seat without a little struggle.  You may have to scour the train for a seat to find that last empty seat.  Now, if that last empty seat is taken by someone else's personal belonging, you will have to cajole that person into giving the seat up.  While I am sure most would do so without a fight, there are some people who can be jerks and refuse to believe you that their stuff is taking the LAST seat in the train.  Worse yet, what if the 4 seats for your party are dispersed among several train cabins?  Moreover, there is no privacy or security in the main cabin.  You need to be vigilant of your belongings.

While the Business Class seats offer a better experience (more room) and access to the dining car (a $6 coupon for food and beverage), and access to the wine tasting (with a fee), when I considered how much more expensive the upgrade would be, upgrading to a sleeper accommodation, even the lowest one - the Roomette - seemed like the better value due to all the other benefits of sleeper accommodations tickets.

Now, what is the distinction between the Roomette versus the Family Bedroom or the regular Bedroom you ask?  Space.  The Roomette is very small.  The sitting area turns into a bunk for sleeping.  While in sitting mode, the two sides are so close together that the people sitting on each of the two sides will most likely be knocking knees (unless they are children).  It looked like (and sounded like) there would be more leg room in Coach seating.  However, if I was paying out-of-pocket, I would most likely purchaser the sleeper for the meals aspect and then seat in the communal observation car if I needed to stretch my legs out.

For our Spring Break 2016 trip, there will be 7 of us: our family of 5 plus my husband's parents.  So, 2 Family Bedrooms will cost (at this time) $2158 one way.  That is $4316 round trip.  Phew!  That is just for the train.  It does not include the hotel, the car rental, the food, and the entertainment.  So, you know I am not about to pay that!  With a little planning and scheming, I hope to cover the entire round trip train ride using Reward points.

First of all, Amtrak is featuring 2 credit offers.  If you get both credit cards, you will earn 32,000 points.  In order to receive the bonus rewards points, you have to spend $1000 for each card within 90 days of opening the card.  That is easy to do as I try to run all of our household expenses through a credit card.  In fact, I just learned (although it is not a new technique) how to pay expenses that one cannot typically pay with a credit card using (indirectly) a credit card such as the mortgage, the car note, etc.  I am not saying I will pay these debts with a credit card because I do not have the money to pay them.  Rather, I am saying I will run these expenses with funds from the credit cards to generate the bonuses offered by these cards - be they train miles, airline miles, or cash rebates - then pay them off with our monthly income instead of directly paying the mortgage with the monthly income.  Once I have set it up and feel comfortable with how it works, I will post a blog on it.

Amtrak also offers a Rewards sign-up bonus and a referral bonus of 500.  The catch is that you have to go on a train travel within X number of days upon enrolling in the Rewards program. Luckily, November is right around the corner and my kids' school has the week of Thanksgiving off.  I am planning a smaller train trip with my mother and aunt to Paso Robles.  I have to entertain the kids anyway, why not get help from the grandma and auntie-grandma and give them a treat as well.  They have never been on a train in the United States.  My husband will have to work so this and he needs to study for an upcoming conference so with the kids gone, he will have 3 days to devote to his studies leading up to his conference.  Just through the referral program I will earn 3000 bonus points.  Then, I will earn bonus points for the cost of the train ride, which I will purchase using the Amtrak credit card at 3 points per dollar spent (especially since I have to spend $2000 to get the credit card sign-up bonus).  That should give me another 1000 in points.  I will have about 36,000 miles to use for the Spring Break trip.  Then, through my regular spending, I should be able to get to 50,000 points in no time. 

While I am working on the above to cover the trip north, I will cover the trip south using the Rewards points I earned using the Chase Sapphire card which allows me to convert each Chase Sapphire point to an Amtrak point $1 for $1.  We will 40,000 points if we spend $4000 in the first 3 months from opening the account.  I can earn 3x each dollar spent for all things related to travel.  So, I have booked the hotel I will be staying at in our November trip with that credit card, as well as my husband's upcoming business trip, with that credit card.  So, we should be able to make the 50,000 points soon. 

Now, I mentioned earlier that come January 1, 2016, the Amtrak Rewards program will change.  However, if I can book the travel before January 1, 2016, my trip will not be affected.  I still have 3 months to make this happen.  Planning ahead made a difference yet again!

As for a place to stay, we will stay at our timeshare condo.  I know most cringe at the word timeshare but I have been very happy with our timeshare.  I bought our timeshare on the secondary market so I paid a fraction of what it costs normally.

As for car rental, AAA members are entitled to a free day (regular member) or 2 free days (gold member) of car rental (I believe) each year they renew.  If all goes well, I am hoping to spend very little on the car rental as well.  I have not yet begun researching car rentals but if I do and I find some insider tips or tricks, I will share what I have learned.


There

$1 a day rental car (one way) from Arizona - ROAD TRIP!!!

Hello Everyone,

Hertz is currently advertising a $1 per day rental out of Arizona to any of the following states:  Illinois, Missouri, Indiana, Kentucky, Ohio, Oklahoma, Michigan, and California. 

What a fun way to save some money.  Either fly into Arizona (assuming you are not from AZ), pick up your Hertz rental, explore AZ and do a little roadtrip back home.  Or, in the alternative, do a road trip from AZ to your destination (in one of the above mentioned states) then fly home.

This offer is valid now through May 31st, 2015.  The applicable code is RQ ICFLT1.  Or, click here as I have linked the site.

Budget Series - Pt 6: Using Credit Cards to Leverage Your Expenses

There are some expenses that you just cannot avoid.  You need to pay your utilities, phone bill, groceries, etc.  These all can be paid on your credit card.  These expenses are things that you would have paid by cash or some cash equivalent (e.g., check, money order, etc.)  Instead, if you use a credit card to pay these expenses then immediately pay the credit card off, you have effectively given yourself a "discount" on your regular expenses as well in the form of a rebate.

However, this is something you should NOT do unless you have your spending under control.  Please be warned that once you charge the above expenses on your credit card, you will be tempted to spend the money in your checking account for something else.  In fact, that is why in my earlier post in this budget series I advised using actual cash separated into weekly or biweekly allotments for your allowance in order to help in "resetting" your financial default and keep your spending in line.

For those of you who have now reigned in your spending and are keeping within your budget, find a credit card that gives you the rewards that are the best fit for you. 

For example, when our family was in the market to buy a new car, once we decided that we would be buying a GM car, I signed up for a GM credit card that gave us a generous percentage back on all of our eligible purchases in the form of a voucher for the purchase of a new GM car. 

When I was planning our family trip (the trip to the Dominican Republic, see blog post Vacation Planning Strategies) I opened up a credit card that gave me a generous sign-up miles bonus (which jump started me on my goal of getting my 5 airplane tickets using miles.  Then, all ran all of my purchases and expenses through that credit card until I achieved my goal.

Currently, my goal is to get "assistance" in paying for the hotel to the Dominican Republic.  Through my vacation planning strategy, I secured 2 rooms at a 5 Star all-inclusive resort (including room service) with a kids club and $400 in hotel credits (for massages and such) for $2810 (total for 2 rooms, 5 people, and 9 days).  To reduce this "hotel" bill, I have secured 2 credit cards from American Express, one that will give me $200 if I spend $1000 in eligible purchases in the first 3 months and it is with a 0% interest rate on the purchases for one year.  The other promotion is a $300 statement credit if I spend $1000 in eligible purchases in the first 3 months and 0% interest rate for this purchase for 9 months. Also, the latter credit card gives me a premium 3% back in statement credit for all purchases made directly from a hotel.

When I reserved my hotel room, I only put down a deposit.  There is still about $2000 that needs to be paid off.  Thus, with the statement credit, if I pay off the balance owed on the card, I will get another $74.98 back.  Thus, from the $2810, I have shaven off an additional $574.98 by using the credit card programs to raise money to help pay for the trip.  In total, I am only spending $2235.02 for the hotel portion of this trip, and $0 for the plane tickets.  (In the spirit of true disclosure:  While the plane tickets are $0, I do have to pay taxes, fees, and government charges, which is still several hundreds of dollars).

Now, you will hear many nay sayers saying it is bad to open and close too many credit cards and that it will affect your credit.  However, keep in mind that this is about planning.  When I opened my GM credit card, it took us at least 1.5 to 2 years to spend enough for the car.  Also, when I opened up my airline miles card, it took me about the same amount of time to save for the airplane tickets.  Now, since it does take over a year (usually), you have to make sure you do not end up paying for this planning in the form of credit card membership fees.  Most of the credit cards I have opened did not have any membership fees or the company waived the fees.  I definitely take the fees into consideration.  I chose to keep open my airline miles credit card because I need an open account in order to get the added perk of getting to check-in a bag for free.  While there was a fee, the company's department that tries to talk people out of leaving (retention department perhaps) offered to waive the fees if I made $1000 in eligible purchases in the next 3 months.

Now, I do not know what your household expenses look like but for us, we easily spend $3000 per month on items such as groceries, gas bill, water bill, kid's various activities, restaurants, birthday gifts/special event gifts, etc.