I love credit cards so much! v2.0 (see first page for add'l details)

[DisneyMandC]

So I got the notification from YNAB this morning that YNAB4 will no longer be supported on Macs starting 10/31. I'm already having issues with YNAB syncing on my iphone, not sure if that's related at all, but it hasn't synced since 10/20. So I guess I'm trying to figure out if going forward do I switch to web-based YNAB and pay for it, which really irks me, or go to Mint. Mint isn't zero-dollar budget based right? It's just kind of an input your money type deal?

 

[Haley R]

Can we share? I will bring the Tootsie Rolls

Haha yes for sure!

 

[Haley R]

I don’t think candy corn OR black licorice is as awful as those circus peanuts. Do they still make those? Gross.

Omg those things are disgusting!!

 

[Haley R]

I’ve been checking every morning for months for a brunch or dinner at Palo for our cruise and this morning I was finally able to get a dinner!! Our cruise is in 9 days and I’m still hoping we get a brunch because I’d rather do that but the dinner will be great too. Dh said “this right here is why I married you. Haha jk but only slightly”.

 

[amalone1013]

I’ve been checking every morning for months for a brunch or dinner at Palo for our cruise and this morning I was finally able to get a dinner!! Our cruise is in 9 days and I’m still hoping we get a brunch because I’d rather do that but the dinner will be great too. Dh said “this right here is why I married you. Haha jk but only slightly”.

Yay! And ha, that sounds like something my DH would say too. We were trying to get into Beaches and Cream a few days before they closed for their refurb and DH told the hostess that I could sit on his lap if that would help her fit us in somewhere

 

[punkin]

DD applied for a CIP using my link. Got a 2 week message. We used educational services as a business since she tutors.

 

[havaneselover]

I’ve been checking every morning for months for a brunch or dinner at Palo for our cruise and this morning I was finally able to get a dinner!! Our cruise is in 9 days and I’m still hoping we get a brunch because I’d rather do that but the dinner will be great too. Dh said “this right here is why I married you. Haha jk but only slightly”.

Yay! What a treat. If you can, do both. (I actually prefer dinner.)

 

[Haley R]

Yay! And ha, that sounds like something my DH would say too. We were trying to get into Beaches and Cream a few days before they closed for their refurb and DH told the hostess that I could sit on his lap if that would help her fit us in somewhere

Lol that’s funny. I love beaches and cream. We’ve eaten there twice and liked it both times.

 

[Judique]

I've been wondering how it works....the only thing holding me back is it's shared gigs...and DS tends to run thru gigs too fast,and then I'll have to pay more.....I barely use any -always on wifi or just turn on data when I need it- however the price is right.

We've started out with by the gig for $12 per gig and that is working out for us. But I'm mostly using my phone at home and daughter sits at work at her desk 9 to 5 with wifi available to both of us.

I went to the store and asked many questions. It's worked well for us but everyone has different needs. You also need to maintain internet with them. We have basic cable and upgraded internet, for about $125 a month. (It was lower, about $95). So, if you want to do away with something, you are dealing with your cell on top of that. The lowest internet is 29.99 from them here - I think our internet plan is about $80. DD plays games - that's why she gets to pay it.

I won't deal directly with Verizon. I'd probably pay double not to deal with them, I dislike the company so much. But, Xfinity uses their towers and the cell service is good so what can I say?
To me it's a great plan for seniors! I prefer to use my laptop - I have a small HP Envy - and a phone is for talk, text and a few pics. Younger people use data on phones - I rarely do.
I've just checked the website and some things have changed, but the $12 per gig seems to still be there.

 

[Haley R]

Yay! What a treat. If you can, do both. (I actually prefer dinner.)

If we’re able to get brunch we’ll probably just do that one. We need to start saving some money for baby stuff so I don’t think we’d want to pay for both.

 

[Judique]

I think AmEx is trying to tell me I need to up my fashion game with offers for Tory Burch, Prada and Jimmy Choo. What will $750 get me at Jimmy Choo- 1/2 of a pair of shoes?

You got it, and don't forget Salvatore Ferragamo.
I do have 2 offers on one card for Cole Hahn - I think I need some old lady shoes.

 

[Alexle2007]

If we’re able to get brunch we’ll probably just do that one. We need to start saving some money for baby stuff so I don’t think we’d want to pay for both.

Brunch is so delicious! Crab legs, desserts galore....Yum!

 

[Judique]

Looks like mobile required 2 months, home doesn't specify that if I'm reading it right.

You are reading it right, if it's the same offer as Bank of America - 'must pay first bill of 39.95 or more'.

I didn't actually read the 'home' one until just now.

 

[calypso726]

How old is she? My daughter wants to see it too. Might be why she's lobbying to see her Aunt in NJ over Thanksgiving and beg to go into the city. Sugar is a "fun" spot she might want to go to instagram. Serendipity was a place my sister took us too that she might like (I think it's open still, LOL).

She is 14. She’s a good kid and I know will be thrilled no matter what we wind up d

So wait, color me blonde and confused.....you are using your AA miles or your BA miles? I fly AA often (down to NC) and will be doing moreso when/if I buy my beach house. Please teach me your ways oh wise one

When I go on a short haul flight like Miami to New York I will book the flight with BA, using BA miles (Avios) but I actually fly on an American Airlines plane. This is utilizing a partner booking. I can only do this if AA shows that a saver award is available for that flight. BA miles/Avios are best used for short haul flights. Their award chart is distance based. If JAL (also a partner with BA and AA) has partner availability to Tokyo I would use my AA miles not BA Avios because Tokyo is far and would cost me way more Avios than it would cost AA miles.

Now, the return flight was not available as a saver award so I could not book it with BA. AA’s anytime award price was 90k miles per person. They must be on crack. I could fly to Tokyo in JAL first class for that amount of AA miles. So, I booked the return flights with 112k Amex MRs and will get 35% of those points back since I hold the Amex Plat biz card.

 

[bernina]

So I got the notification from YNAB this morning that YNAB4 will no longer be supported on Macs starting 10/31. I'm already having issues with YNAB syncing on my iphone, not sure if that's related at all, but it hasn't synced since 10/20. So I guess I'm trying to figure out if going forward do I switch to web-based YNAB and pay for it, which really irks me, or go to Mint. Mint isn't zero-dollar budget based right? It's just kind of an input your money type deal?

i can’t really answer on mint as I only use it for random accounts that seem to have issues with YNAB. I use paid YNAB and I really like it. I never used the old version of YNAB so I can’t compare. For me it’s super simple and less than 5 minutes a day to reconcile. I didn’t get it for the budgeting aspect but I really do feel like it’s helped me save money just by making more intentional decisions. I used to have a spreadsheet that was like a checkbook register on crack to track all of my accounts but YNAB has saved me hours each week so for me it’s a win. I’d say give the paid version a try, I’m sure they’ll refund if you don’t like it. Their customer service seems pretty good.

 

[striker1064]

So I got the notification from YNAB this morning that YNAB4 will no longer be supported on Macs starting 10/31. I'm already having issues with YNAB syncing on my iphone, not sure if that's related at all, but it hasn't synced since 10/20. So I guess I'm trying to figure out if going forward do I switch to web-based YNAB and pay for it, which really irks me, or go to Mint. Mint isn't zero-dollar budget based right? It's just kind of an input your money type deal?

Fellow YNAB4 holdout here, and I think I also recently received a no-support email (although I don't own any Apple products so that part doesn't affect me).

I looked into Mint a long time ago and that's my understanding of how it works. You also link your accounts to Mint and it imports your transactions as they post. I didn't like that because I like our budget to be reflected on a real-time basis, so that ultimately killed Mint for me. I'm not sure if it's different now though.

I guess at some point we are going to the subscription YNAB, which hurts my heart.

 

[LB002]

Travel insurance question:

We have an AK cruise booked for next summer. We plan to add 1-2 weeks to explore OR/WA state before the cruise, depends on work schedules, flights, costs, etc.

The travel insurance is the same cost for 1 week or 3 (I'm only insuring cruise and excursion costs. Everything else will be booked with SW or otherwise easy to cancel and paid for with points).

Is there a downside to buying the coverage for the 3 week potential range of the trip if we may only travel for 2 weeks?

 

[Alexle2007]

I am pretty sure the answer is no but Hyatt doesn’t offer the 5th night free when booking with points like Marriott and Hilton, correct?

 

[DisneyMandC]

i can’t really answer on mint as I only use it for random accounts that seem to have issues with YNAB. I use paid YNAB and I really like it. I never used the old version of YNAB so I can’t compare. For me it’s super simple and less than 5 minutes a day to reconcile. I didn’t get it for the budgeting aspect but I really do feel like it’s helped me save money just by making more intentional decisions. I used to have a spreadsheet that was like a checkbook register on crack to track all of my accounts but YNAB has saved me hours each week so for me it’s a win. I’d say give the paid version a try, I’m sure they’ll refund if you don’t like it. Their customer service seems pretty good.

Yeah I go back and forth on YNAB. It would be easier just to transfer my stuff, but then again I no longer really use YNAB for the more intense zero-sum budgeting type stuff. It's honestly more for me to keep track of my CCs and MSRs and bank accounts. So maybe Mint would be ok?

Fellow YNAB4 holdout here, and I think I also recently received a no-support email (although I don't own any Apple products so that part doesn't affect me).

I looked into Mint a long time ago and that's my understanding of how it works. You also link your accounts to Mint and it imports your transactions as they post. I didn't like that because I like our budget to be reflected on a real-time basis, so that ultimately killed Mint for me. I'm not sure if it's different now though.

I guess at some point we are going to the subscription YNAB, which hurts my heart.

That doesn't bother me too much with Mint since I actually like to manually put my transaction into YNAB. It makes me feel more accountable lol.

 

[LynnTH]

A travel hacking DP and success story:

I am vying for Auntie of the year award from my niece. I’m her only aunt so I should have this in the bag. But one must make an effort for appearances sake.

My oldest niece told me she really wanted to see Beetlejuice and asked if I would find out when it was coming to Miami so she could start begging her mom to take her. She is obsessed with the musical and is dying to see it. I had the unfortunate task of informing her that it was only playing in New York. Unbeknownst to her I asked her mom and my brother if it was ok to take her to New York for a weekend to the the show as her Christmas present if I could swing it. They agreed it would be fine.

I saw that AA had saver award flights in first at 25k mikes one way to NYC which meant that I should be able to book them with BA Avios for less points since they are distance based so 16.5k miles one way. When I checked the BA site it said there was no availability in any class. That made no sense. I called BA and explained that I wasn’t seeing availability that should be there. The agent insisted that they could only book what was on the website and the availability would not be any different. So, if I didn’t see it there she couldn’t book it. I care more about getting what I want than about being right, so I changed tactics. I told her it was quite possible I was doing something wrong then and asked if she could check on a specific flight for me. She reluctantly agreed. I swear this woman was a right contentious (insert whatever expletive amuses you). Naturally of course, she was able to book the flights that were not on the website with Avios. So, it pays to call the airline when things don’t make sense online.

My next step in my Aunt of the year campaign was to find a hotel because sleeping on the street would not make a good impression. BonBlah to the rescue! I used two of my 35k FN certs at Townplace Suites in Times Square. They offer free breakfast too.

Last, I got us front row center seats! My DN has only been on a plane once. This will be her first flight up front in the boujee seats, her first visit to a lounge (Centurion) and she has never been to New York. I plan to make it as memorable as I can for her. I think lunch at Ellen’s Stardust diner is in order. No idea where to take her for dinner, suggestions are welcome.

I am planning to theme this Christmas gift to the nines and wrap it in back and white striped paper with green and purple bows. I’ll be checking Pinterest for creative ways to gift wrap a flight, hotel and Broadway show tickets.

You will certainly get Aunt of the year. How awesome of a gift. She is going to be so excited. It sure is fun being able to have points to do this type of thing.