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Archive for June, 2012

Cashback payday - $842!

June 27th, 2012 at 04:59 pm

Funding my "shopping in Japan fund"....

I cashed in my cashback bonus from Discover and Chase freedom, it was $842 between the 2 of them.
And tomorrow I'll try to drop off a bag of coins in the TD Bank penny arcade.

Dave Ramsey would say that no one got to be a millionaire on credit card rewards. Maybe not, but this money is nothing to sneeze at.

Should I use Hyatt certificates or pay with money?

June 20th, 2012 at 10:22 pm

Because Kyoto did not have a Marriott, and we already re-financed our mortgage and can take a slight dip in a credit score, we opened a Hyatt CC and got 2 certificates for free night (these initial certificates are valid for any category, unlike the yearly ones that have limitations).

But, the Hyatt in Kyoto is only $240 a night, and it may seem like we are not maximizing the value of the certificates.
Perhaps we should hold them (they expire in one year) for something more expensive?
But that would compel us to another vacation (which we would probably take anyway, but this may influence our choice of destination).

The optimal use would be Maldives, but we can't there go on this trip to Asia, and it is too far and air fare too expensive to go from US this year, since we are already flying to 5 destinations for 7 total weeks of leave by August...

Perhaps Hyatt in Beaver Creek (near Vail). Ski season prices are around $580 per night. We would go somewhere during the ski season, I just was not sure it will be Colorado again.
On the other hand we could save the money now if we paid only for 1 night instead of 3. I am not sure what is a better strategy overall.