Speaker 1: Episode one fifty Travel hacking for Beginners. Welcome to the
Speaker 1: Frugal Friends podcast, where you'll learn to save money, embrace simplicity, rights,
Speaker 1: and liver with your life. Here your host Jen and
Speaker 1: Jill Get there, go now, Yes, yes, Welcome to the
Speaker 1: Frugal Friends podcast. My name is Jen, my name is Jill,
Speaker 1: and we are talking about one of our favorite frugal
Speaker 1: hacks and it's one of our best kept secrets, I think.
Speaker 1: And we're divulging the secrets today. That sounds tantalizing. Yeah,
Speaker 1: no more secrets. Playing it all on the table about
Speaker 1: how we travel for virtually free because Travis don't like
Speaker 1: to pay for vacations. But when I tell him I
Speaker 1: paid for them all with travel awards, He's like, sign
Speaker 1: me up, let's go. Yes, what free food, free funds. Yeah,
Speaker 1: it's the only way I can get him to take
Speaker 1: a vacation. So this is for me and I want
Speaker 1: to share it with you if you have a partner
Speaker 1: who is similar. We're talking really basic travel hacking, so
Speaker 1: like your first year, you're just getting into it, what
Speaker 1: to do, where to go, all the nuts and bolts,
Speaker 1: and making it very easy to understand because some of
Speaker 1: it when you get to be a very complex travel hacker,
Speaker 1: you can make this really really difficult, and you can
Speaker 1: get into the weeds with spreadsheets. You can't care. I'm
Speaker 1: not going to do that. We don't. I don't have
Speaker 1: a spreadsheet. I have a note on my phone. That's it.
Speaker 1: That is the extent. But first, let's give a shout
Speaker 1: out to our sponsors, also brought to you by hacks
Speaker 1: working smarter, not harder. See how I also did that
Speaker 1: in a short fake spos. Okay, that's it. Lawyers and
Speaker 1: layers of meeting, working shorter, not longer, not longer. Let's
Speaker 1: do it. I know you are on a time crunch today,
Speaker 1: so we're getting through this all right. If you want
Speaker 1: to check out some of our other episodes on travel,
Speaker 1: you can check out episode seventy one where we talked
Speaker 1: about travel hacking with Lee Huffman, and he's one of
Speaker 1: those experts that can really get you into the weeds.
Speaker 1: It was a great episode, but I don't think it
Speaker 1: was as beagon her friendly as we want to purvee here.
Speaker 1: And we also have episode one nineteen Frugal Travel with
Speaker 1: Danielle Dezier. She helped us save money on travel outside
Speaker 1: of travel hacking like staycations and all kinds of stuff.
Speaker 1: Also relatively safe ways to travel, which was great. So
Speaker 1: definitely those two two caveats. Just before we get into
Speaker 1: our articles, for of all, I do want to say,
Speaker 1: if you've listened to Frugal Friends podcasts for any amount
Speaker 1: of time, you know that Jen and I are not
Speaker 1: opposed to credit cards. That is not our ultimate foundational
Speaker 1: message to avoid all credit cards. We do see benefits
Speaker 1: of it. We think that it compare with the frugal
Speaker 1: mentality and frugal journey. However, this is our own personal
Speaker 1: journey right. Personal finance is personal, and so if credit
Speaker 1: cards are not for you, this episode might not be
Speaker 1: for you. We are talking a lot about how to
Speaker 1: use credit cards to get free travel, free rewards, free
Speaker 1: free free through credit cards, but it needs to be
Speaker 1: paired with wisdom and self knowledge and understanding of what
Speaker 1: is best for us. So please just know that also,
Speaker 1: we are doing this in the midst of a pandemic
Speaker 1: when travel is very restricted. So we are hoping that
Speaker 1: part of this episode can be ever green, meaning that
Speaker 1: we have hopes that more travel will be available in
Speaker 1: the future and this will continue to be a helpful episode.
Speaker 1: But this still doesn't mean that this is irrelevant. A
Speaker 1: lot of the things that we can do with credit
Speaker 1: cards and building up points and our understanding of travel
Speaker 1: hacking will help us, will set us up well for
Speaker 1: the future when more and more travel is open to us.
Speaker 1: So those are my two caveats. Yeah, this is actually
Speaker 1: an aptly timed episode because you don't get these rewards fast.
Speaker 1: You don't like start this in a few months later
Speaker 1: taken all expenses paid vacation. You actually have to work
Speaker 1: up for it. It can take like up to a
Speaker 1: year to try and get like enough rewards to take
Speaker 1: the full vacation that you want. So we're doing this
Speaker 1: now in hopes that you have time to build your
Speaker 1: rewards points so that when travel is safer, when you
Speaker 1: feel more comfortable than you are ready. So that's kind
Speaker 1: of why we're timing it right now. That's the point
Speaker 1: of that. So without further ado, let's start talking about
Speaker 1: travel rewards. Our first article is from Millennial money Man,
Speaker 1: and it's called a Beginner's Guide to travel Hacking, So
Speaker 1: how to take your first free trip? And I wanted
Speaker 1: to start out with actually explaining what is travel hacking.
Speaker 1: So it's hacking is not really the most accurate term
Speaker 1: because you're not doing anything illegal or against the rules,
Speaker 1: against the terms of services. It's really optimizing whatever credit
Speaker 1: card offers you have, optimizing reward capabilities, so it's travel optimizing.
Speaker 1: But that's not as fun. It doesn't sound as cool, right.
Speaker 1: It's essentially just using credit card reward points, using specifically
Speaker 1: the welcome bonuses that are on travel credit cards, and
Speaker 1: accumulating those so that you can redeem them for free
Speaker 1: flights and hotels. That's all it is, is welcome bonus.
Speaker 1: If you have booked a flight on points, you have
Speaker 1: travel hacked. If you don't even know what that means,
Speaker 1: stay tuned. Yeah, yeah. Most hotels and airlines have some
Speaker 1: kind of rewards programs, so you can either stay with
Speaker 1: them and book rewards at a really slow rate and
Speaker 1: after you spend like tens and tens of thousands of dollars,
Speaker 1: you get a free night, or you can use their
Speaker 1: credit cards that are co branded with a bank or
Speaker 1: a bank's credit cards and get rewards points that get
Speaker 1: you there a lot faster. Sometimes it's a point for
Speaker 1: every dollar you spend and when you were going to
Speaker 1: spend that dollar on groceries or your phone bill or
Speaker 1: your internet anyways, why not try to get at points
Speaker 1: for places that you're going to go to anyways, or
Speaker 1: you hope to go to, like Southwest or Hyatt or Hilton,
Speaker 1: stuff like that. Yeah, So it is signing up for
Speaker 1: these rewards programs. It is identifying promotions that you can
Speaker 1: take advantage of a lot of the credit cards that
Speaker 1: we're going to be talking about. A big component of
Speaker 1: this is the sign on bonus or once you spend
Speaker 1: a certain amount, you get this chunk that is only
Speaker 1: available at the very beginning, and then you continue to
Speaker 1: build your rewards points from there and can use them
Speaker 1: for travel, for even restaurants, for hotels, you name it.
Speaker 1: One of my favorite tips on here though that I
Speaker 1: would say is the beginner tip and even a long
Speaker 1: term tip. It's the direction I have gone. You can
Speaker 1: veer far right and go a different direction, but it's
Speaker 1: just becoming loyal and being a repeat customers with the
Speaker 1: companies that you love. So identifying who do you typically
Speaker 1: fly with, or what kinds of hotels you typically stay at,
Speaker 1: or what do you where do you want to be
Speaker 1: typically staying and signing up with those types of programs
Speaker 1: or who's the credit card that you primarily you appreciate
Speaker 1: the way that they go about their rewards points. It
Speaker 1: makes the most sense for your lifestyle, and sticking with them,
Speaker 1: you have a whole lot more opportunity to get the
Speaker 1: free flights, get the hotels. If you don't have a
Speaker 1: bunch of different points in a bunch of different accounts
Speaker 1: and none of it really amounts to anything. That is
Speaker 1: the direction, however, for people who do get into the
Speaker 1: weeds with travel hacking is constantly jumping ship from credit
Speaker 1: card to credit card and kind of chasing those initial
Speaker 1: sign on bonuses. That's not what we want to do
Speaker 1: in the beginning, nor do I feel like that's something
Speaker 1: you have to do. If this is something you want
Speaker 1: to do long term, you can just find the really
Speaker 1: great airlines, credit cards, hotels that will offer you the
Speaker 1: benefits that you're looking for. So that's the direction I've taken,
Speaker 1: and I would recommend it as a beginner as well. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I personally did not have any brand loyalty before I
Speaker 1: started travel hacking, and I actually let the rewards points
Speaker 1: and the cards and the programs tell me which brands
Speaker 1: I should have loyalty too, so the hotel brand that
Speaker 1: had the best redemption value, the airline that had the
Speaker 1: best travel parks, stuff like that. I let the card
Speaker 1: tell me where to be loyal. It's a great way
Speaker 1: to go for me. I've been more loyal to the
Speaker 1: credit card that I have and can use points on
Speaker 1: a variety of different airlines. So personally, I'm not loyal
Speaker 1: to any particular airline, although that is a direction you
Speaker 1: could go, particularly if you plan to fly a lot. Yeah.
Speaker 1: So there are a few other things besides points that
Speaker 1: a travel rewards credit card can give you, and so
Speaker 1: these are all things to pay attention to if they
Speaker 1: are important. They're not always important to me, so I
Speaker 1: look at really the bonus points value. But some of
Speaker 1: these cards offer some Some of the airline ones offer
Speaker 1: free checked bags, priority boarding airline credits. Some of these
Speaker 1: cards offer credits for uber or lift, so if you
Speaker 1: find yourself taking those frequently, looking for cards that have that.
Speaker 1: Some offer no foreign transaction fees. Actually quite a few
Speaker 1: of them do, so if you go international, that's a
Speaker 1: really great benefit access to airline lounges. I know, Jill,
Speaker 1: that was a big reason that you got your card,
Speaker 1: so if that's important to you, have been great. And
Speaker 1: application fee credits for t S, A pre check and
Speaker 1: Global Entry, which we actually just signed up for using
Speaker 1: our card. We got it for free. It's not why
Speaker 1: we signed up for the card, but it was there
Speaker 1: and we're like, why not. It's free will and we'll
Speaker 1: have it for five years. I then also travel insurance.
Speaker 1: That's a big one. Like rental car companies will try
Speaker 1: and sell you rental car insurance or travel insurance for
Speaker 1: other places, and these cards, if you purchase things on them,
Speaker 1: offer some of them offer automatic insurance on those things.
Speaker 1: So if you are planning a certain trip where you
Speaker 1: know you will have to take an uber or get
Speaker 1: a rental car, or you have a long layover, you
Speaker 1: may want to lounge plan your vacation and then travel
Speaker 1: hack according to it. And that's going to kind of
Speaker 1: guide you and maybe which cards are best for you.
Speaker 1: We are going to give you a four to five
Speaker 1: cards strategy at the end, but beyond that you kind
Speaker 1: of have to look at these extra perks that may
Speaker 1: throw you over the edge. It is something to keep
Speaker 1: in mind, particularly for those who are thinking, yeah, I
Speaker 1: am going to travel in the future. But we're in
Speaker 1: the midst of a pandemic, So what do I do?
Speaker 1: A lot of these travel rewards credit cards also offer
Speaker 1: all of these other perks, And I know the credit
Speaker 1: card I have has even shifted where it was heavy
Speaker 1: travel rewards. They said, Okay, we know we're not traveling
Speaker 1: a lot, so here's dining credit. Here's you can translate
Speaker 1: it into money on Amazon. You name it so well,
Speaker 1: I know we're talking about travel hacking. A lot of
Speaker 1: these credit cards also just have other really great rewards
Speaker 1: to them that are worth looking into. Yeah. Literally, that's
Speaker 1: what I spent all of doing instead of redeeming it
Speaker 1: for travel credit. They let you as long as the
Speaker 1: redemption was one to one and it wasn't like one
Speaker 1: to point seven five or something. I used it just
Speaker 1: to redeem on purchases. It was really easy. And so
Speaker 1: to break it down a little bit further, just depending
Speaker 1: on your point of entry into this concept, using your
Speaker 1: credit card points for travel hacking. Really, what that means is,
Speaker 1: as you've spent a certain amount of money on your
Speaker 1: credit card, with each credit card statement, you usually collect
Speaker 1: a certain amount of points. Some credit cards will differ
Speaker 1: on how many points per transaction or type of purchase
Speaker 1: they give you. So, for instance, if you are purchasing groceries,
Speaker 1: some credit cards will give you three times the points.
Speaker 1: If you are purchasing travel, some credit cards that are
Speaker 1: particularly a travel credit card might give you, yeah, three
Speaker 1: to five times the points. And sometimes it's just a
Speaker 1: one to one dollar ratio one one dollar one point,
Speaker 1: and then you start to see this little bank account
Speaker 1: of points increasing and increasing, and you can go onto
Speaker 1: the dashboard of that credit card and purchase what you
Speaker 1: want to purchase with those points, whether it be travel
Speaker 1: or hotels or anything else. They usually have their own
Speaker 1: kind of search engine that can help you find what
Speaker 1: you want to find a go where you want to go. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I don't really pay attention to the what's four x points,
Speaker 1: three X points to x points. We simply will get
Speaker 1: a card, spend on it for three months, get the
Speaker 1: welcome and then move on to the next card. For us,
Speaker 1: that's more efficient than trying to carry around three cards
Speaker 1: and using one for groceries, one for eating out, one
Speaker 1: for Amazon purchases. I like to keep it simple as possible,
Speaker 1: and it's much easier for us because we are a
Speaker 1: household of two adults. If you're single, your process is
Speaker 1: going to be a little slower. We can do easily
Speaker 1: four cards in a year, because that means we're getting
Speaker 1: I'm getting one, and then three months later he gets one,
Speaker 1: and then three months later I get one, So that's
Speaker 1: six months between credit inquiries. Where if you are a
Speaker 1: single person, you don't want to be getting a card
Speaker 1: every three months. You want to spread it out maybe
Speaker 1: four to six months. That's the safest route. Love that tip.
Speaker 1: That's helpful. Yeah, But why we're talking about it right
Speaker 1: now because this is a slow process. If you're getting
Speaker 1: multiple cards, it's going to take a little time to
Speaker 1: build up this bank that you want. All right, can
Speaker 1: we switch into your article, Jen, Oh my gosh. Yes.
Speaker 1: So the way that I do the outlines for the
Speaker 1: show is I will google the key term for the
Speaker 1: episode and see what Google has to say, and then
Speaker 1: I will choose the articles I like from there. They're
Speaker 1: usually all from the first page, and I there were
Speaker 1: a lot on there, and they were like ten thousand words,
Speaker 1: and they were very complex, and none of them had
Speaker 1: like a concrete strategy that I really, you know, like
Speaker 1: or used. So I would attribute my first credit card
Speaker 1: strategy to hearing about it on Choose f I. I
Speaker 1: know a lot of you are familiar with them their
Speaker 1: credit card strategy. They call it the Chase Gauntlet, But
Speaker 1: I mean, I love Chase and like, yes, most of
Speaker 1: these cards are co branded credit cards with Chase or
Speaker 1: just Chase credit cards, but also like other ones too,
Speaker 1: So that is why I wrote my own article and
Speaker 1: and it just lays out the strategy your first four
Speaker 1: to five cards. This is what I would do if
Speaker 1: I was starting over again. And so this isn't necessarily
Speaker 1: the order that you have to do it in. We'll
Speaker 1: talk about order throughout because that depends on the timing
Speaker 1: and your situation for which order you do it in.
Speaker 1: So we're gonna give you the four to five cards
Speaker 1: and you will decide based on when you're hearing this,
Speaker 1: which one you should go to first. So our first
Speaker 1: recommendation is the Chase Sapphire Preferred. You're gonna want to
Speaker 1: pay attention to all of those words because Chase has
Speaker 1: a lot of different credit cards. So it's the Chase
Speaker 1: Sapphire Preferred. And with this card you can earn fifty
Speaker 1: to sixty thousand bonus points after you spend four thousand
Speaker 1: dollars on purchases in the first three months after you
Speaker 1: open the How so, Chase points are great because you
Speaker 1: can transfer them to dozens of hotels and airline partners,
Speaker 1: so you don't have to be loyal to just one.
Speaker 1: In case you're wondering, this is a similar one to
Speaker 1: what I have that I was talking about, where I
Speaker 1: just build up points and you can go to a
Speaker 1: variety of different airline partners and hotel partners. Well, I
Speaker 1: think it would be helpful tell them the one that
Speaker 1: you do have, because it's the sister card to the
Speaker 1: Chase Sapphire Preferred. I have the Chase Sapphire Reserve, which
Speaker 1: is more expensive annually. I'm not going to sit here
Speaker 1: and recommend that as an entry point. I don't think
Speaker 1: it is for everybody. I got that card. I think
Speaker 1: in two thousand eighteen, and between two thousand and eighteen
Speaker 1: and two thousand and nineteen, I traveled a ton just
Speaker 1: in two thousand nineteen and went to like seven different
Speaker 1: countries and twenty eight different states, and so it was
Speaker 1: worth it to me to have that card. But how
Speaker 1: much money you have to spend and how which money
Speaker 1: it is annually is not worth it for everybody, so
Speaker 1: Chase Sapphire preferred. You have to spend four thousand dollars
Speaker 1: in the first three months. For most people, that's pretty
Speaker 1: easy to do, especially if you're putting a lot of
Speaker 1: your bills on it groceries. It kind of can become
Speaker 1: the thing that you purchase on and then you get
Speaker 1: those bonus points at the beginning that can really just
Speaker 1: jump start you for booking your travel. And when you
Speaker 1: book through Chase the Ultimate Rewards Portal, when you book
Speaker 1: your flights and hotels and all of that, your points
Speaker 1: are worth more, so you can get a bit of
Speaker 1: a discount. Sometimes I've even booked through Chases Portal, even
Speaker 1: when I'm paying out of pocket, just because they do
Speaker 1: offer a discount in that way, just because you have
Speaker 1: the cards. So even if you don't have the points
Speaker 1: to book on that, you're still getting a discount, which
Speaker 1: is great. Sixty points are worth seven fifty dollars towards travel,
Speaker 1: so even just with that bonus, you've got a good
Speaker 1: jump start. The card does have an annual so you
Speaker 1: do want to consider subtracting that from the reward, but
Speaker 1: so many perks beyond what we've just listed out that
Speaker 1: it is worth looking into. I love it. I've got
Speaker 1: the next tier up of the credit card, and I
Speaker 1: can't say enough good things about it. Yes, this is
Speaker 1: the one we started with. Travis and I each got one,
Speaker 1: and it is kind of the industry standard for travel hackers.
Speaker 1: This is the one you start with. It's just so flexible. Again,
Speaker 1: you don't have to have any brand loyalty yet. You
Speaker 1: just get those points and get the feel for it.
Speaker 1: And so one of the other reasons why people start
Speaker 1: with Chase before like a Capital One or a Bank
Speaker 1: of America or MX is because Chase has a rule
Speaker 1: that is unique from all other card issuers, and it's
Speaker 1: called the five five rule. So you will not be
Speaker 1: approved for a Chase credit card, no matter how great
Speaker 1: your credit is, if you have opened five credit cards
Speaker 1: or more in the last twenty four months, So you
Speaker 1: have to stay four or less. And that's another reason
Speaker 1: why opening that's one every six months essentially is you
Speaker 1: stay at that four over twenty four months and then
Speaker 1: you're safe. No other credit card issuer has that. So
Speaker 1: when you reach your four Chase cards or Chase co
Speaker 1: branded cards, you can still get a bank of America
Speaker 1: or a Capital one or whatever. But that is a
Speaker 1: specifically Chase rule and we'll put a link to the
Speaker 1: points guy dot com their guide to the five rule
Speaker 1: if you want to know more about that. But if
Speaker 1: you're doing this sustainably and long term, then you'll never
Speaker 1: run into an issue with the rule. That is good
Speaker 1: to know. It's a good reason to do this one first.
Speaker 1: And to be clear, we're not getting paid from any
Speaker 1: of these credit cards. No, no, no, no, solely giving
Speaker 1: you information. There's no affiliate links or anything here. M
Speaker 1: uh So. The next one is not a Chase one,
Speaker 1: but it is the Capital one Venture. And Chase has
Speaker 1: so many partners that it's very flexible to transfer out
Speaker 1: your Chase Ultimate Rewards to a number of other travel
Speaker 1: companies their reward programs, but they aren't partnered with everyone.
Speaker 1: So for those things you can't get through the Chase
Speaker 1: Ultimate Rewards portal. I like the Capital one Venture, So
Speaker 1: whether it's for a cruise or an Airbnb, what Capital
Speaker 1: one Venture does is it erases travel purchases. And last
Speaker 1: year we actually got the Capital one Venture in January
Speaker 1: and thought we were going to be traveling um, but
Speaker 1: we didn't, so they actually said, hey, you can erase
Speaker 1: any purchases like any take out a lot of other things,
Speaker 1: so we were able to get a lot of other
Speaker 1: things erased. We still used those miles, but again, and
Speaker 1: it has a fifty to sixt K bonus depending on
Speaker 1: when you're listening to this, and you only have to
Speaker 1: spend three thousand dollars on purchases in the first three
Speaker 1: months from account opening. And I'll tell you the day
Speaker 1: that you sign up for the account and get approved.
Speaker 1: That's account opening. You can also go to credit carma
Speaker 1: dot com and look at your credit report and your
Speaker 1: accounts and it will tell you the day that you
Speaker 1: signed up and got approved, so you know it's three
Speaker 1: months from that day. Also, your billing cycle will tell
Speaker 1: you when the on the second billing cycle that's the
Speaker 1: end of the three months. So three thousand in three months.
Speaker 1: It's just a thousand dollars a month, and each point
Speaker 1: is one cent, so whether your bonus is fifty K
Speaker 1: or sixt K, that's five or six hundred dollars. In travel.
Speaker 1: The card has a nine annual fee, so that's same
Speaker 1: with the Chase Sapphire Preferred, but this one comes with
Speaker 1: global entry so we actually we paid for Global Entry
Speaker 1: and then we paid for it on our Capital one
Speaker 1: venture and it automatically detected it and within twenty four
Speaker 1: hours had erased the purchase. So that's just super easy. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I didn't have to submit anything. So if that's something
Speaker 1: you want in the Capital one venture is really great, excellent.
Speaker 1: The next one on this list is the Chase Inc.
Speaker 1: Business Preferred. We're back to Chase. How could we not.
Speaker 1: We couldn't stay away for long. So this one is
Speaker 1: for you. If you have big purchases coming up. New
Speaker 1: cardholders can earn one hundred thousand points Chase Ultimate Rewards
Speaker 1: points by spending Brace Yourselves fifteen thousand dollars within three
Speaker 1: months of opening the accounts. That's why I said, if
Speaker 1: you have big purchases coming up, this would be something
Speaker 1: that you'd want to consider. Talk about a big jump
Speaker 1: start in those points. So you're probably thinking, because I
Speaker 1: was too when I read Jen's article, Um, do you
Speaker 1: have to have a business? What if you don't? This
Speaker 1: is Chase Inc. Business Preferred. You can earn money outside
Speaker 1: of a W two job, so whether you babysit or
Speaker 1: sell crafts, or you drive for Lift or Uber or
Speaker 1: just anything that you do outside of your W two
Speaker 1: job can be considered your own personal business. You can
Speaker 1: apply for the car just under your personal Social Security number,
Speaker 1: which is how you would handle taxes at the end
Speaker 1: of the year, so it doesn't have to be profitable,
Speaker 1: you can it can still be considered a business and
Speaker 1: you can consider this card. Honestly, as I was reading
Speaker 1: through your article, Jen, I was thinking about all the
Speaker 1: renovations that are coming up for Eric and I that
Speaker 1: this would be a great thing to consider. So if
Speaker 1: you are in the middle of renovations or just another
Speaker 1: big purchase that you could put on a card, this
Speaker 1: would be for you. If not, there is no need
Speaker 1: to press yourself to spend fifteen thousand dollars to get
Speaker 1: a hundred thousand dollars and or hundred Nope, already happening
Speaker 1: for you. But yeah, you don't have to have an
Speaker 1: LLC or a registered business to get this. They do
Speaker 1: not check. And honestly, I have actually signed up for
Speaker 1: several Chase Ink Businesses cards because I do have a
Speaker 1: business and it was easier for me to get approved
Speaker 1: for it when I put in my Social Security versus
Speaker 1: when I put in my E I N. When I
Speaker 1: put in my e N, I have to send in
Speaker 1: like a piece of paper from the I R S
Speaker 1: and all that. But when I put in my Social
Speaker 1: Security number, it was like, yeah, you're approved. So yeah,
Speaker 1: your business doesn't even have to be profitable. Uber still
Speaker 1: is unprofitable. Yeah, I'll tell you that Uber end Lift
Speaker 1: both neither are profitable, and they're still considered businesses. Yeah,
Speaker 1: all right. So next, these next cards are Chase. So
Speaker 1: everything on here except for the Capital Adventure is Chase.
Speaker 1: And this is where we kind of split off where
Speaker 1: you would head in your direction of your first year,
Speaker 1: and the way you split off actually would determine whether
Speaker 1: you want to get the Capital one venture first or wait.
Speaker 1: And so your next one would be a co branded
Speaker 1: hotel or airline card. So at this point you have
Speaker 1: to decide do I want to do a hotel maybe
Speaker 1: I'll drive more, or do I want to do an airline,
Speaker 1: maybe I'll you know, stay with friends stuff like that.
Speaker 1: So decide whether you want to do a hotel or
Speaker 1: an airline. I normally recommend doing a It depends on
Speaker 1: the time of year that you are starting this. So
Speaker 1: here we go. This is going to get a tiny,
Speaker 1: dainy bit complex, but stay with me. I'm here, So
Speaker 1: I'm going to start with the airline first. My recommendation
Speaker 1: for airline card beyond a shadow of a doubt is
Speaker 1: the Southwest Card, the Southwest co branded card with Chase.
Speaker 1: That is because Southwest has the coveted Southwest Companion Pass.
Speaker 1: It is the best perk in all of travel rewards.
Speaker 1: It is magical. So the Southwest Companion Pass allows you
Speaker 1: to bring a companion on any Southwest flight that you
Speaker 1: fly for absolutely free. You just have to pay eleven
Speaker 1: dollars each way for taxes and fees. You can't get
Speaker 1: around that. So you can only get a Southwest Companion
Speaker 1: Pass by taking one hundred flights, but you'll pay at
Speaker 1: least fifteen thousand in flights alone. Or you can get
Speaker 1: it through Southwest credit cards. And this can be a
Speaker 1: one card endeavor or it could be a two card option,
Speaker 1: and I have used and do recommend the two card option.
Speaker 1: The first if you are only trying to do it
Speaker 1: on one card, maybe you're you got that capital adventure
Speaker 1: and you're trying to stay below your is the Southwest
Speaker 1: Rapid Rewards Premier Business credit card. So that will require
Speaker 1: you to spend twenty five thousand dollars in the first
Speaker 1: six months of account opening. That is unreasonable for most people. Yeah,
Speaker 1: but the bonus, right, So the bonus on that is
Speaker 1: a hundred thousand points, and then after spending twenty five dollars,
Speaker 1: you'll get another twenty five thousand points and there you go.
Speaker 1: There's your companion pass. The two card method, which would
Speaker 1: put you at cards four and five and mean you'd
Speaker 1: have to wait on the Capitol one would only cost
Speaker 1: you fifteen thousand dollars over nine months. You have nine
Speaker 1: months to do it, so you have to start with
Speaker 1: the personal Southwest card and then also get a Southwest
Speaker 1: Business card. It's a different one from the Premiere, so
Speaker 1: you would start with the Southwest Rapid Rewards Plus that
Speaker 1: is their lower tier personal card, and then spend twelve
Speaker 1: thousand within nine months of opening it. Only two thousand
Speaker 1: of that has to be in the first three though
Speaker 1: the other ten is the first nine months. Then once
Speaker 1: you hit that twelve thousand spend, then you sign up
Speaker 1: for the Premier Business credit card. So that would only
Speaker 1: require you to spend three thousand on purchases in the
Speaker 1: first three months, and after that you have over a
Speaker 1: hundred forty thousand just in the bonus points, and so
Speaker 1: you've got it. But the caveat with this is that
Speaker 1: to get the most out of your Companion Pass, you
Speaker 1: have to time the opening of the first card correctly.
Speaker 1: So the Southwest Companion Pass is valid in the year
Speaker 1: you qualify for it and the entire following calendar year.
Speaker 1: So that means if for some reason, you could spend
Speaker 1: eighteen thousand dollars in January of one year and get
Speaker 1: the Companion Pass, then you would have it for almost
Speaker 1: two years, like almost a full two years. Not many
Speaker 1: people are going to do that. So you want to
Speaker 1: sign up for that first card, that personal card, between
Speaker 1: November and March of whatever year you're starting this. You
Speaker 1: want to make sure because the first card you're going
Speaker 1: to get is that Personal Plus, and that first bonus
Speaker 1: is two thousand. They do this on purpose. If you're
Speaker 1: wondering why did they split up the things, it's because
Speaker 1: of this right here. They want to make it harder
Speaker 1: for you to qualify for the Companion Pass. You have
Speaker 1: to make sure you do not spend two thousand dollars
Speaker 1: in November or December, so that that bonus hits in
Speaker 1: the first calendar year, because all a D twenty five
Speaker 1: thousand of your points must be gained in one calendar
Speaker 1: year January one to December thirty one. And there's a
Speaker 1: small caveat if you're doing this on points, you actually
Speaker 1: only have till your December the end of your December
Speaker 1: billing cycle. So if the end of your December billing
Speaker 1: cycle is like December three, you only have through December
Speaker 1: three to get all your points essentially. So that's why
Speaker 1: you say, sign up for that Southwest personal card no
Speaker 1: earlier than November, preferably December, depending on how much your
Speaker 1: expense is in and make sure you cross that two
Speaker 1: thousand dollar spend mark January one or later. And then
Speaker 1: after that you can go as quickly as you can
Speaker 1: to get the rest of the spend on the personal
Speaker 1: and then the business and then as soon as you
Speaker 1: make the spend, you get the companion pass. Well done, Jen,
Speaker 1: I'm still here. And also we got linked to your
Speaker 1: article as well. For those of us who are visual,
Speaker 1: do you understand that I did? But I think unless
Speaker 1: I was planning on doing this, I probably would have
Speaker 1: tuned out. Okay, all right, great, I'm glad, So if
Speaker 1: you are not in the November to March window, then
Speaker 1: with another card, So that would be I would say
Speaker 1: Hyatt or Hilton are my choices for hotel cards. I
Speaker 1: am now a Hyatt loyalist because of the insane redemption
Speaker 1: rate you get with Hyatt Points. I have a Hyatt card.
Speaker 1: I transfer most of my Chase Ultimate words to Hyatt.
Speaker 1: Their redemption can't be beat and I'm not going all
Speaker 1: out with Points, so I don't have the time or
Speaker 1: energy to get there with Marriott or whatever. So that's
Speaker 1: why I love Hyatt. The only reason that I would
Speaker 1: go with Hilton is because American Express has a Hilton
Speaker 1: Honors that has no annual fee. And if you are
Speaker 1: trying to build up your credit, especially if you don't
Speaker 1: own a home, then you don't have that credit history
Speaker 1: length a mortgage can give you, You're gonna want to
Speaker 1: have a card or a few cards with a very
Speaker 1: long established history. So that would be if you are
Speaker 1: are new to credit and working on your credit history,
Speaker 1: maybe don't have a mortgage, then get a card with
Speaker 1: no annual fee like the Hilton Honors American Express they
Speaker 1: have a few, so choose the one with no annual
Speaker 1: fee because the other one is expensive. But this is
Speaker 1: a good way to build your credit without paying the
Speaker 1: bank to do it. You do not have to pay
Speaker 1: the bank to build your credit. Don't pay interest, don't
Speaker 1: pay annual fees more than once. We cancel all of
Speaker 1: our cards before the second annual fee hits. That's just
Speaker 1: something we do. We have established credit histories, and our
Speaker 1: credit doesn't really dip when we do that, so that's
Speaker 1: something we do. But and the Hilton a m X
Speaker 1: has really great benefits to You get a hundred thousand
Speaker 1: dollars Hilton bonus points after just a thousand dollars in
Speaker 1: eligible purchases in the first three months, and you get
Speaker 1: a hundred dollar statement credit after your first purchase, So
Speaker 1: it's really great in addition to being no annual fee. Fantastic.
Speaker 1: That's it. This is great content for people who want
Speaker 1: to know where do I start? How do I do this?
Speaker 1: Here you go, and we will link this article in
Speaker 1: the show notes because this is very low hanging fruit,
Speaker 1: very tangible stuff. Yeah, but you know what else is
Speaker 1: low hanging in tangible? Oh? We that's right. It's time
Speaker 1: for the best minute of your entire week. Maybe a
Speaker 1: baby was born and his name is William. Maybe you
Speaker 1: paid off your mortgage. Maybe your car died and you're
Speaker 1: happy to not have to pay that bill anymore. That's
Speaker 1: build buffalo bills, Bill Clinton, this is the bill of
Speaker 1: the week. Hey, hey, Jill. My name is Megan from Atlanta,
Speaker 1: and I was calling because my bill of the week
Speaker 1: field extra epic and worthy of sharing. I have been
Speaker 1: paying my student loan for almost seven years, and as
Speaker 1: of today, the payment cleared and it is paid in full.
Speaker 1: I am so excited about this. My husband and I
Speaker 1: have been trying to become debt free for the last
Speaker 1: fourteen months and we are getting closer and closer every day.
Speaker 1: And as of next month, we are also qualified to
Speaker 1: apply for the Temporary Expanded Public Student Loan forgiveness for
Speaker 1: my husband's student loan, which would essentially forgive almost fifty
Speaker 1: thou dollars, and if that goes through, which it should,
Speaker 1: we are only about two dollars from being debt free
Speaker 1: at that point. So I'm so excited, and I'm so
Speaker 1: thankful for your guys. Podcasts is kind of getting me
Speaker 1: that motivation every Friday. Um, I'm loving guys so much.
Speaker 1: Thank you who. I promised my husband that I was
Speaker 1: going to be quiet during this podcast recording, like I'm
Speaker 1: not going to scream this time. I'm gonna be so
Speaker 1: much more quiet because we've got company. But oh, Megan
Speaker 1: from Atlanta, this is Megan deserves your boisterousness. Is at
Speaker 1: getting rid of a student loan. There's nothing like it.
Speaker 1: There's there's no better way to get back at your university.
Speaker 1: Oh my god, I am done with you everything, everything
Speaker 1: they've done to you. I love the education and the debt. Congratulations,
Speaker 1: Megan Man. That is that's freeing. So I hope that
Speaker 1: you have gotten through. Because this was a few months ago.
Speaker 1: We're a few months behind on bills of the week,
Speaker 1: so if you've sent one in, we haven't played it.
Speaker 1: That's why. So, Megan, if you're listening to this, if
Speaker 1: you haven't left the show because you're sad that we
Speaker 1: didn't play your bill, If you're still listening, let us
Speaker 1: know in the Frugal Friends community on Facebook, how much
Speaker 1: closer you are to total debt freedom. We're so proud
Speaker 1: of you, so exciting, and I'm so glad that we
Speaker 1: get to spend every Friday morning with you. If you
Speaker 1: all want to submit your bill of the week. Visit
Speaker 1: Frugal Friends podcast dot com, slash bill. Leave us a bill,
Speaker 1: whether it's as epic as Megan's was or just something
Speaker 1: else random related to Bill. You know how we roll.
Speaker 1: We'd love to hear it. Maybe your sadness when the
Speaker 1: Buffalo Bills did not go to the Super Bowl. M
Speaker 1: I was really hoping for Buffalo Bills like memorabile. Yeah,
Speaker 1: but then I'm like, oh, maybe they made it. It's
Speaker 1: gonna be on sale now. I still haven't checked though
Speaker 1: to see. Yeah, it's not the Buccaneers of the week.
Speaker 1: So yeah, I live into MPa and I don't even
Speaker 1: want a buckshirt. I want a Bill shirt. That's very
Speaker 1: telling of me. Anyways, now it's time for lightning. Did
Speaker 1: you promise you wouldn't have a loud lightning round? So?
Speaker 1: I promised I would do nothing loud. I'm going to
Speaker 1: talk quiet. I talk like this. He's like, this isn't
Speaker 1: how you talking? Like? Will this time? I will this time?
Speaker 1: Because we have company and they're trying to sleep. I
Speaker 1: think they're up there. They are not trying to sleep,
Speaker 1: should wake up? They are? Now, Yeah, you're doing them
Speaker 1: a favor alright, So we're going to talk about the
Speaker 1: travel hacks that we have personally done that we are
Speaker 1: most proud of. And mine's easy. I Jill, I thought
Speaker 1: yours is going to be different, but maybe I'll have
Speaker 1: to share yours. Yeah, I know, I always forget, but
Speaker 1: I think I've got a good one. But keep going,
Speaker 1: all right. So mine is five days at all Inclusive
Speaker 1: resort in Mexico. M That was great, your first getaway
Speaker 1: since having a baby. Oh my gosh, it was a dream.
Speaker 1: And it was December of two thousand nineteen, right, So
Speaker 1: like that was it? That was the only Yeah, do it?
Speaker 1: Then it wasn't going to happen, all right. So we
Speaker 1: had the Southwest Companion Pass and a bunch of Chase
Speaker 1: Ultimate rewards after we had been doing this for we
Speaker 1: had been travel hacking for a year and a half
Speaker 1: at this point when we had enough to book this trip. So,
Speaker 1: like I said, this is not something that happens overnight.
Speaker 1: I think we were we were at least six months
Speaker 1: in before we took our first trip, and we were
Speaker 1: a year and a half in before we worked up
Speaker 1: to this. So we had our Companion pass, so we
Speaker 1: got our flights from Upa to Cancoon, Mexico, twenty two
Speaker 1: dollars for each because we each have to pay. I
Speaker 1: paid for the flights with my points, and then Travis's
Speaker 1: was free, So twenty two dollars each way for taxes
Speaker 1: and fees. Paid for the transportation from the airport to
Speaker 1: the all inclusive resort, which was like five bucks each way,
Speaker 1: and then the entire four nights, five days for nights
Speaker 1: was covered. It's a Hyatt all inclusive resort, the highest Zalara,
Speaker 1: and it was twenty five thousand points per night. And
Speaker 1: so we had the Highatt credit card where we've gotten
Speaker 1: I think sixty thousand points fifty or sixty. And then
Speaker 1: we had Chase Ultimate rewards. We transferred some of those
Speaker 1: over so we got a hundred thousand Highatt points and
Speaker 1: so every night was covered, and so food, drink, entertainment,
Speaker 1: cabanas by the pool on the b each And that
Speaker 1: just makes it all the more lovely to know we
Speaker 1: didn't pay for any of this. We got this with
Speaker 1: the purchases we already had to make in our daily life.
Speaker 1: It's why we do like credit cards, if you don't
Speaker 1: go into debt by having them there's incredible benefits. Yes,
Speaker 1: so that whole trip was under a hundred dollars for
Speaker 1: the week. So I don't have a travel hack that
Speaker 1: particularly stands out to me. That's not to say that
Speaker 1: it doesn't exist. My brain is just not always working.
Speaker 1: Just consistent free hotels, car rentals, and flights on nearly
Speaker 1: every trip I go on has been my experience. Although
Speaker 1: I will say, and this might be a little uh
Speaker 1: you mentioned it in the articles, but one of the
Speaker 1: things I love about the credit card that we have
Speaker 1: is a travel insurance that it provides. So anytime I
Speaker 1: book a flight or a hotel or a car rental
Speaker 1: on that card, I don't ever have to worry about
Speaker 1: clicking that yeah add D nine to ensure this trip
Speaker 1: or any other dollar amount. Because the credit card covers that.
Speaker 1: They do ensure any of my travel, and I have
Speaker 1: taken advantage of it. So for me, this is where
Speaker 1: frugality intersects because I don't want to spend money unnecessarily.
Speaker 1: I don't want to spend money on fees that are unforeseen.
Speaker 1: There was an experience in Washington State where I got
Speaker 1: two popped tires on a rental car. There was an
Speaker 1: experience in Idaho where I got another pupped tire on
Speaker 1: a rental car, and also an experience where I had
Speaker 1: to cancel Airbnb, and airbnp is notorious for not having
Speaker 1: good cancelations, the one reason I don't book with them.
Speaker 1: Hotels have much better cancelation policies. However, because I booked
Speaker 1: with my credit card, I was able to be fully
Speaker 1: reimbursed for all of those incidences, particularly with Airbnb. Chase
Speaker 1: went to at for me and got me all my
Speaker 1: money back. I mean, it was a bit of a
Speaker 1: thing I had been updated on that you were. You
Speaker 1: were fighting that for so long. It was a six
Speaker 1: month battle, so I'm not going to say it was
Speaker 1: enjoyable by any means, but Chase got my money back.
Speaker 1: Airbnb wanted nothing to do with me. Chase was the
Speaker 1: one who was like, all right, we're back and forth
Speaker 1: with them. We got your your money here. It is
Speaker 1: so to me that has been an amazing travel hack
Speaker 1: that I get through my credit card and the amount
Speaker 1: of money they've given me back just by all of
Speaker 1: these faux pas that have happened in these different states. Yeah,
Speaker 1: it's worth it tenfold. Yeah, I love that. It's definitely,
Speaker 1: when you have something that you need refunded, a credit
Speaker 1: card is much easier to do that with a credit
Speaker 1: card than it is a debit card, for sure. So
Speaker 1: I hope that this has been helpful to you if
Speaker 1: you want to start travel hacking, if you want to
Speaker 1: incorporate that into your frugal lifestyle. Again, you don't have to.
Speaker 1: If this all sounds maybe too much for you, if
Speaker 1: you're paying off debt and you're like, I can't worry
Speaker 1: about another thing, then save this episode, listen to it
Speaker 1: again later. We didn't start travel acking until we were
Speaker 1: debt free, so this isn't something that you have. You
Speaker 1: don't have to do everything at once, but it is
Speaker 1: a great way to get stuff from big banks without
Speaker 1: paying for it. Take back control of the money. You
Speaker 1: paid a lot of money and interest on your student loans,
Speaker 1: on your cards, on your other credit cards. Stop doing
Speaker 1: that and start taking it from the banks through you.
Speaker 1: Take advantage, all right, So thank you again for listening,
Speaker 1: and thank you for your kind reviews. They do support
Speaker 1: the show, so if you can't support us monetarily, then
Speaker 1: leaving a review is the next best thing, and right
Speaker 1: now it's the only thing. So definitely leave a review
Speaker 1: kind of like this one from Cecilia p just happens
Speaker 1: to be five stars. She says frugality made fun and
Speaker 1: she as many emojis with the money mouth. She says,
Speaker 1: we have been on a debt free journey for the
Speaker 1: last six years and have paid off a hundred and
Speaker 1: fifty thousand in consumer debt. We are in our last
Speaker 1: debt of thirty five thousand my student loan and was
Speaker 1: about to give up on our journey. I lost all
Speaker 1: my motivation in and then found this podcast while searching
Speaker 1: for inspiration. I cannot thank you enough. You girls are
Speaker 1: a lot of fun and I feel like I'm listening
Speaker 1: to girlfriends talk while cooking and cleaning and having no
Speaker 1: spend days. I have learned and found my motivation to
Speaker 1: continue to get to the finish line. Thank you. I've
Speaker 1: got goose bumps. Wow. Thank you, and that's I'm so
Speaker 1: glad for the review and also thrilled that this has
Speaker 1: been a motivating piece for you and you feel supported
Speaker 1: and encouraged in your journey. I can't ask for more.
Speaker 1: Thank you. Thank you for sharing that with us, and
Speaker 1: to stay for you. We'll get there. That one fifty
Speaker 1: dollars will be gone. My good to do it, and
Speaker 1: we also want to thank our friends who share these
Speaker 1: episodes on social media. When you share the latest episode
Speaker 1: and tag us on Facebook or Instagram, we add you
Speaker 1: to our monthly drawing. For every five tags and reviews
Speaker 1: we get each month, we give away a copy of
Speaker 1: the Frugal Friends workbook. So keep leaving us reviews on
Speaker 1: iTunes or Stitcher. Take a screenshot before you send it
Speaker 1: and send that screenshot to Frugal Friends podcast at gmail
Speaker 1: dot com, and don't forget to tag us on social
Speaker 1: at Frugal Friends Podcast. See you next week, ye. Frugal
Speaker 1: Friends is produced by Eric Sirianni