Let's talk bonuses, windfalls, and irregular income.

Last year, I'd started a couple SmartyPig Goals mostly to take advantage of their slightly higher than ING/Citi interest rates, and because I wanted to give their cash out options a whirl.

They offer the following withdrawal options:

A: redeem all the cash, transferring principal and interest, directly into your bank account;
B: redeem your entire goal into a gift card retailer that has partnered with SmartyPig which gives you between 2-11% cash back to your account
C: loading the cash on a SmartyPig Cash Rewards Card
D: Combination of the above.

When time came to smash open the Travel piggy bank, I did so with great aplomb recently to fund our upcoming Thailand trip.

At first, I only intended to go with Option A, but got greedy and decided to do a combination of A and B.  Knowing that I may well need a new business suit in the next year or so, I "stole" $200 for Banana Republic gift cards which nets 10% cash back, and another $200 for Amazon gift cards which earned 3% cash back. Neither set of gift cards may be spent anytime soon; locking hard-earned cash into store currency is only a smart move if that currency is then combined with stellar deals when the purchase is an actual need, not just a want.

In the meantime, the cash will be paid back to the travel fund from the expense fund since we maintain a strict separation of fun and seriousity around here.

My part of Tax Season came and went with surprisingly little fanfare, after a fashion.

I used a free code for TurboTax to file my federal tax return online after finding out that there were several complications with my family's information that has effectively left me out in the cold.  I was hugely frustrated, enough so that I couldn't even really talk about it.

It will cost a substantial refund but there is nothing to be done about it and dwelling on the lost saving or buying power does no one any good.

March 9th and 12th welcomed early, modest, refunds from both federal and state, and that whopping $700 will go toward the wedding and insurance payments, by halves.

Nothing like the lovely mistake Stacking Pennies made but survivable.

The shape I might have picked (David's Bridal), minus the coked out look.

In its place, hangs a far far far fancier specimen.  A proper garment, if you please.  My "fittings, and tryings-ons," were back in February, with all the grandiose moment of a new friend dropping in for twenty minutes followed by a handful of "whatcha think?" emails to a few good friends.  The interested actually replied. The busy or disengaged didn't bother. And thus, I have my wedding dress.

The story is better than that, actually.

At a dinner of PiC's friends/coworkers, the hostess quickly judged me and said, we're about the same size. If you don't really care, I've got a dress hanging in my closet ...

Two weeks later, she and her spouse dropped by with a huge foofy dress for me to try on. Lo, it pretty much fits me.  It's too long, as no four-inch heel wearer am I, but the owner is happy for me to have a seamstress take it up in length.

She also suggested taking in the sides for a more svelte look if desired if I was certain I wouldn't put on any more weight before the wedding. But, breathing and eating are far higher on my list than looking more svelte or removing a rib to fit into a dress after alterations. I am not that bride.

It has a train.  It has sparkles and ruching. It has all this other stuff I never would have picked considering the budget I was willing to pay. It literally forced me to HAVE a maid of honor instead of no one at all because I literally cannot do up the dress by myself.  But it's gorgeous in its own right, and came with the goodwill of a rather random friend of PiC's and it was so unexpectedly pretty and lightweight to boot that I have no qualms at all about wearing this with every bit of good cheer and a bit of excitement as anything I might have picked for myself.

PLUS: That woman saved me from the jaws of dress shopping.  And saved me the price of a dress on top of alterations.  I could nominate her for a special kind of wedding sainthood. Instead, I think I'm going to have to dream up a wonderful thank you gift for her, starting with cooking them dinner.

So I was really happy back then.  And then I let it sink in a bit, and I'm still happy about it.  Not just the savings, either.  The time (now to be spent trying to pick a photographer) and the money (now to clothe my groom) saved are huge, but the lack of anxiety about a subject I really don't like: what I'm going to wear - most excellent.

Collective karmic hugs for PiC's friend, please?

At $8.50 for a modestly-sized Pork Porchetta Sandwich, I silently promised myself that it would be awesome.  And anyway, it's all Friend's fault.  Having emerged once again, as he does once a quarter, or something like that, from the backwoods, he craves the oddest things that mean civilization.  This trip, the Sandwich was Civilization.

After queuing in the pelting rain, wandering off to examined the neighboring florist's purple and red anemones, bulbish strawflowers, and huddling in my hood, we finally pulled up to the actual truck itself where four congenial fellows were ripping apart various pork portions, grinning at the anticipatory patrons.

One of the two check-out folk asked for our order but seemed not to know enough English to do anything with the information, having gotten it. With their severely limited menu, I wasn't sure where I was going wrong.  They only had one sandwich on the menu. Friend and I turned to each other, perplexed, "Sandwiches? Two, please?  One with the cress and one with the arugula?"  Still blank.  One of the sandwich compilers quickly explained they were out of the cress, was the arugula alright?  "Well, sure! Two of the only sandwiches you've got then, please!"  She was still perplexed.  Her compatriot took over at the point, asking what we'd like, acting as if we hadn't just gone two complete rounds with the person two inches away. I suspect this is not an unusual situation. ;)

The sandwich was rather divine. Full of sweet and salty flavor, soft pork melted into the onion with crunchy bits, layered with the harder, more substantial slices of pork. We waited too long to eat the sandwiches so the arugula didn't stand out against the pork, but it didn't melt either, so it was fine.  It was heaped in the right proportions into a ciabatta roll they get from the bakery inside the Ferry Building. With the harder crust, the bread doesn't fall apart which is absolutely critical in a sandwich - I absolutely hate sandwiches and burgers where the wrapper collapses.

We took a small side of roasted potatoes as well and the rosemary salting - delicious. The potatoes were more like chunks, huge chunks.  Not a problem for this potato lover.

At $20 for a lunch for two, no drinks, it's a bit steep for lunching more frequently than as a treat but it's absolutely worth it as a treat. Come visit me so I have an excuse to go again?  ;)

It's not going to be because of the night owl tendencies that Monday morning is going to dawn a bit more darkly than Saturday or Sunday.

Dare I cop to burnout so soon?  Dare I admit that it's been a long hard slog since landing this gig and no matter how hard I work, there's always more piling on, more left to do, more that staff need from more, more expected of me, more, more and more?

Yes, we've got a vacation coming up but more often than not, the thought on my mind has been: what would I rather be doing? 

And I know this has been an excellent learning experience, albeit a painful one, so it's hard for me to say I want to do anything but this - that may just be the Tired As All Get Out speaking.

So instead, as I don't rightly have the answer to that for myself, what would you rather be doing?  Monday morning when you arise from your beauty rest, what would you ideally be getting ready to do for your daily bread?

PiC might possibly be taking advantage of the situation, or he might just be reminding me of a few good points that have my head back on the desk. Either way, my nightmare of four years ago is coming back to haunt me.

We currently own my new-to-us car that we purchased in cash last year when I moved up here for a great bargain for the mileage and year. It's a good old 4-door Acura, with seat warmers and a [crap] GPS [that I refuse to pay $100 to upgrade maps on because I cheap out on stupid things], and will last at least 150K miles.  It gets excellent highway mileage, so we've mainly used it for our road trips back to Southern California and for my tooling around town occasionally.

He owns a 2-door car, same age, also excellent condition, that gets good gas mileage, better than mine for street driving but worse for highway, and it's fairly non-descript so we use it to get around the city. We just don't like driving the "nice" car into the city, it feels too flashy.  The kicker here is that it's a manual transmission which I can't drive anymore as it causes too much pain.  Aggravating as it's limiting.

The problems are that he doesn't want the dog in my car: the seats are leather and a dog's claws would go through that like butter. Most importantly, we both prefer to transport dogs in kennels - it's safer for them in case of an accident, they would be better protected and less likely to be flung out of the car and that definitely wouldn't fit in either of our cars.

With those conclusions, he's decided that the time may have come to sell his trusty vehicle.  His choice, not mine. Mine could actually be sold for more than we bought it so I was willing, but he can't let go of the seat warmers. ;)   Selfishly, I'm glad because I would have done it, but would have been sad to say goodbye.

PiC's the car guy, so he's narrowed down the options: not an SUV but it has to be something big enough for both transporting dogs and passengers.  [I think... I think he thinks we're having kids? Or something?  Never mind that.]  It has to be low enough for a larger dog to get into fairly easily, it has to be easy to clean, it has to be within a certain price range, not that we have actually saved for a car yet ---SIGH--- and **heartburn**.

He's narrowed it down to ..... the ...... how many of you guessed this?


He's, after breaking my aesthetic heart a few times with the above, also suggested that perhaps the Pilot might be an option.  Le sigh.  And sigh again.  A new car?

I'm not 100% convinced.  While my preference is always to crate a dog in the car, I'll have to be the first to admit that I've not been consistent with that in the past and it's hard for me to commit to a new-to-us car straightaway based  solely on the new dog.  Seems heartless but there's a part of me asking, now wait a minute - is this really totally necessary right now?  Just because you're getting a dog doesn't mean you need a matching (yes I'm exaggerating about the "matching" part) car.

We're not in agreement yet, which means I haven't said yes yet, and he's not stopped looking yet.  It may be time to break out the negotiation dice to set parameters around when this would be reasonable.

------------
The Morning After's Important Details: I forgot to mention (thanks for reminding me Red!) that we're not actually looking for a real new car. Just a new to us car - we only buy used. I forget to clarify that because in "our language" new = used. 

And he's looking at newer cars model year 2009 for bargains[KBB $22K+, priced at $18K+] which is why I'm so balky. I don't want to pull that much money out at once, and really don't want a car loan.

After much deliberation, I've made my decision.  We're thinking a small ceremony, very small, followed by a big casual shindiggy foody thing where the formality doesn't matter so that plays a role in my decision as well. 

PiC has four groomsmen, one of whom is his best man, and I will have a maid of honor. As such, I'm renaming it the Groom's Party.

He doesn't want to be imbalanced but I think it's silly to not have his best friends stand up for him if he's always known precisely who he wanted just because I'm lame and don't have the numbers to "balance" them.

Besides, if the bride has 4 attendants and the groom has 1, everyone looks at the bride like she's a high maintenance such and such.  If the numbers are reversed, it's suddenly d'awww, and neat, and that's pretty cool. Whatever.  Grooms get away with almost everything.  Just go with it.  Besides, *evil grin* it'll be fun to have that weird visual dissonance, won't it?


And it's not just because I'm lame.  I've spent a lot of time thinking on this.  Too much time, in fact.  And will probably spend more time thinking about it. 

It's one of those things that seems like it should be a simple choice if it's right. And if it's not then I should just make the simplest choice possible because the convoluted one will probably make me and everyone around me unhappy.

For some people, I think the answer is obvious.  For me, it's just not.  I can't easily name the two, three or four closest girlfriends and ask them to do this thing *gesticulating wildly* and stand beside me on my wedding day.  I have multiple small circles of friends with whom I'm very close for different reasons.  How do I pick? And if I redefine "closeness" as "my go-to people" which is my practical side coming out, well, those are my dudes. That could be awkward? (Or hilarious... and their girlfriends could be annoyed.)  Also, my go-to people aren't interested in wedding planning. They're more like go on missions to aid people/quest for food kind of people. 

So then the typical construction of a bridal party might go something like this: the female siblings on either side are obligatory, cousins may be, childhood or college classmates may be.  A bride may have run out of fingers on one hand and moved on to the next and that's before she'd gotten to friends she was closest with at that point in life! There are all sorts of expectations and potential for hurt feelings and resentment wrapped up in the convention of picking the bridal party.

And in my experience, after all that spazzing over picking people to stand by your side and support you through a stressful process to get you to the wedding day, it may not quite feel worth it, having seen things from the back stage, as it were.

I've played the role of the bridesmaid nearly a dozen times now. My rule is if I'm your bridesmaid, you are my bride. And if you are my bride, I take care of you, along with fellow bridesmaids (is that genderist phrasing?). You are asking for support, probably two parties and maybe a silly-dress-wearing, during a time of great importance and transition in your life.  We are sharing an important time in our friendship and it should be joyful.  And it was awful to see other bridesmaids crap on that.

I have observed some bridesmaids choose to rant and whine behind the brides' back when they feel inconvenienced; they choose to remain unhappy instead of being honest to resolve conflicts; they choose to be disingenuous and force the bride to try to appease them instead of dealing with whatever stressful situation is at hand. And yes, the brides know when you're acting a fool behind their backs. They're not idiots.

Yes, we all know of the ever-vaunted Bridezillas and I've backed out of bridesmaiding for Those Brides. What I don't think people talk or know about are the bridesmaids who fail their task of just being supportive in a reasonable manner. The bridesmaids who are in it to look good in front of an audience, or for a free party and flings.  There are those 'maids and it's not as few and far between as the "But It Wouldn't Happen Here" crowd might think. My brides have been basically reasonable. Stressed, but reasonable. And yet, some of their attendants still found ways and means to crap on them.

I didn't accept the job if I couldn't observe my rule.  I'd only ask the same.  But when's the last time someone was willing to be honest enough to say, "I'm sorry but I don't think I can be your bridesmaid because I think you're asking more than I can give?"  Seriously, blunt honesty is the biggest gift you could give me during any time of stress.

While I don't think that the people I might pick if I could pick freely would be those bridesmaids, I realize that there are other factors at play, including obligatory invites that force an unnatural dynamic and a process of picking, and not picking, that can produce unexpected results.

My conclusion then is that for a very small wedding, I don't truly need attendants, I need one person to help me with the dress and with some preparations and emotional support, and by keeping it to one person in the actual "party", I don't have to juggle the rest of the politics of choice.  It's choice avoidance, in fact.

There's a bit of me that's sad that I won't have a group of friends to support me throughout but being as far away as I am, perhaps I would not have really benefited from the group dynamic as much as I would have been stressed by having to be the organizer once again.


My choice, then, is to simply ask one friend, my oldest friend that I've known for many many years though we're not daily friends, to be there for me as my maid of honor.

She's -surprise!- expecting.  I didn't know this when I picked her so it slightly changes things in that we couldn't agree on what was more important.

Me:  Uh, no, you and the baby are way more important!  You don't have time for this!
Her:  Are you kidding? I need something to do that has nothing to do with the baby!  You know I'm going to travel wherever it is no matter what, so don't even.
Me:  Ok ok ok, we're just going to do combo everything, then. 

Our agreement is this: I am asking her, as my first choice, to help me with planning the wedding if she feels up to it, as much as she feels able and to be emotional support. If, at any point, she's overwhelmed or fatigued, she has absolute free pass to back out, she has only to tell me.  She doesn't have to make a speech if she doesn't have to, she can wear anything she likes, anything she's comfortable in. If the wedding is later in the year, she'll have an infant a few months old so I have no idea how she'll feel about clothes at that point.

For her part, she'll help with anything she can, and if I ever feel like she's either not "doing enough" (her words), or if the above traditionalist pressure causes problems and I have to unask her, she will completely understand and help from the sidelines or backstage. [For the record, no.  Not happening. But that she would consider the possibility and offer it up?  That's a friend, right there.]

I think that's the best compromise I could ask for.  And I think I can be at peace with this Groom's (Groomal? Groomish?) Party.

From whence the money comes, I have not yet planned but I still have some time yet.

Purely by chance, as if my fingers had life of their own, I accidentally found the perfect sounding dog to rescue.

This is well ahead of schedule.  We were not planning on bringing a dog home for a long while since we still wanted to travel a while longer, definitely have travel plans through summer this year, and have this little wedding deal to put together.

But I've been stressed.  I realize that taking on another responsibility in response to stress doesn't seem very smart. But dogs are my respite.  And I don't have a dog to even mentally hug anymore.  This year without a dog is the longest I've been dog-free since the age of seven. None of my de-stressing techniques are taking. It's basically torturous so I browse PetFinder once in a while and dream.  Then I found this guy and just went all REO Speedwagon.  

His profile is so perfect!  Our potential adoptee is a cross of three large breeds, older, mellow enough to be an indoor dog for the better part of a day (his foster mommy attests to this), energetic enough to romp with other dogs and go for runs, good in cars, good with strange dogs and mellow with strange people and veterinarians and groomers (important since my previous dogs either uniformly failed that test or embarrassed me at least a little.)  

PiC was disinclined to say me nay after reading the profile and looking at the picture. (And believe me, he's exercised veto plenty.)  We wrote to his foster mom to inquire about availability that very night.
 
The rescue agency is quite concerned about the futures of these dogs who are adopted out, rightfully so since some of these poor dogs are thrown back into the system when people who weren't ready to bring home dogs move on with their lives, or meet with unfortunate circumstances.


Some of the adoption form questions:

What provisions would be made for the dog if you had to move locally?/ Out of state?/ To a place where no pets are allowed?

Under what circumstances would you not keep the dog? Divorce/ Illness in family/ Moving/ New baby/ New job/ Allergy/ Housetraining problems/ Chewing/ Digging/ Shedding/ Barking/ Howling/ Dog grew too big/ Dog became ill/ Kids ignore/ Pets didn’t get along/ Not obedient enough/Other/Would not give up for any of the above reasons.

What would you do with the dog if you could not keep him or her? Return to rescue/ Take to shelter/ Give away/ Sell the dog/ Other

On FB's post, Can you survive on an extreme budget and make tough choices?, I ran across Insomniac Lab Rat's comment that rang old bells for me:

"I didn't find the game to be THAT realistic, because I felt that most of the times I played I had horrible "luck", and most people won't experience that many bad things in such a short time span."

My response was turning into a saga so I took it back home.  I understand it seems unrealistic but it is real - I'll explain below. It is a bit of a personal bugbear, but I really like to point out the difference between luck and life happening and how they look remarkably alike.

This is what happens: When you're in such a low or tight a situation that you have no cash flow, every single demand on your money is a choice that leaves another demand unanswered. You have all the same basic needs: food, shelter, medical, education, insurance, social obligations as others, but severely limited resources. Your daily question becomes: how do you cover six square feet of area with only three square feet of material?  Everything that comes of luck, plus everything that naturally would have happened anyway and over time becomes defined as "bad luck."  That redefines your landscape.

As a player of the game Spent, what you are exposed to is that greater frequency of what appears to be bad luck but it's really not.  You are experiencing all the demands of real life in the way that someone who has zero outside resources would experience: the illness that is inconvenient for most but disastrous for someone without sick leave and can't afford to lose the pay, the commitment that takes away the cash you needed for that other bill, a $25 late fee because you didn't have last month's bill money, the extra rise in Bill C that makes Bill D impossible to meet this month.  They're annoying to the average person with an extra $100 cushion in pay per month. Impossible if you just don't have cash or credit. 

Probably the less realistic bits of the game are that it doesn't provide any of the truly creative resources you might be able to draw upon if you could figure them in real life.  And that's about right for a majority-case sort of game.

When you have an adequate cash flow, when you have any cash flow, you can absorb some smaller needs, and then only the significantly unexpected, or the "bad luck" stands out.  When you have no cash flow, every single thing is bad luck.  That's why, a few years ago, I wrote about why I didn't attribute our family situation to luck any longer - it was choices, it was circumstances, it was short and long term developments that happens to everyone that comes up. 

When we were living that way, scraping penny to penny, life really did seem to kick us, up or down, like that and I watched my mom start calling everything bad luck. In 2008, I first noticed the trend to blaming the circumstances of our lives on luck. A year later, I realized the toll that making choice after debilitating choice took on her, and our relationship. It feels like being stuck in a channeling trap to ultimate failure.

After having been a real life player in a game of Spent, I know that you take those hits, over and over and over.  You make those choices and hope, you make those choices and pray that you get from point A to point B, from point B to point C and you try to find ways to do things different every time to make it better but there are constantly setbacks, every week and every month.  Right here on this blog, you'll see my commenters note that it's like a two-step, one step forward, two steps back.  

It really wasn't luck, though. 

Though there was a time it certainly felt that way after I'd finally just sold our third vehicle at a loss, and then my dad totaled the sedan.  My commenters made me laugh, though.  "Death, Dismemberment, Disembowelment, Dysentery" indeed.

Yes, there are times I shake my fist at luck. But Luck happens, good and bad. Just be prepared for it, no matter what it is.

Heave a sigh of relief with me, my friends, SDCC travel planning is complete.

In a remarkably backwards approach, I've finalized the last part of our plans for Comic Con by booking the departing flights.

Stage 1: PiC was good enough to oversee the hotel booking after my annual overture produced bad news.  We discussed the parameters: the budget, how far I was willing to be located from the Convention Center, shared the news with our lodgings companions and verified that it was in line with their budgets.

Result: We have a place to stay. We'll be kicking in grocery money to my beloved once and always host family for dinners with them.

Stage 2: PiC arranged the return flights which had to be paid for in cash rather than award flights, unfortunately, since they were hard to come by. Everyone and their cousins and their cousins are flying out on Southwest that same day, it seems.  I should have gotten on that sooner. Next year.

Result: We will be able to come home.

Insert some naggery for days to be requested off, drivers designated, and flights to be booked to Travel Companions.  Because it's not Con unless I'm driving someone crazy-bemused with my planning six months out.

Stage 3: I revived those expired Southwest award flight credits for a lovely $50 and paid another $5 to actually book the outbound flights. I'm heading out as early as I can stand to be upright. More calls were made to verify pick ups.

Result: We will be going to Con. CON!!

Now, it's time to eagerly await programming so I can highlight all the Must See panels, the special eventing and the floor plan. I can't wait!! 

Tax refund money from 2007 waiting to be claimed, but time is running out - Don't Mess with Taxes

If you're reading my blog, I trust you don't need Kay's reminder to pick up your tax refund from three years ago, right?

Gasoline Costs Putting a Crimp on Life - Funny About Money

Funny's on a $100/month gasoline budget. My parents are spending about that much on average, and our prices in the Bay Area are rising just as rapidly as Funny's.  Are you experiencing similiar gas pains? (Heh.) 

The bite clearly did not cause a fatal wound. Shame. - The Namby-Pamby

Just too funny. As long as you don't realize that these are people around us....

SEP IRA Funded! - Well-Heeled Blog

Well Heeled has figured her maximum contributions from the 2010 freelance income to an SEP IRA. Well done!

Roasted Chicken with Dijon Mustard - Smitten Kitchen

We made this recipe late last night and I forgot the heavy cream. It was still fantastic.

Jambalaya - Our Best Bites

This recipe is next up on deck. We're eating well this weekend.

My Credit Card Got Hacked - Surviving and Thriving

What a massive pain.  Donna has to deal with credit card fraud while traveling in the UK.


Talk Doesn’t Pay, So Psychiatry Turns to Drug Therapy

Yet another sad way that health care buckles under financial pressures. I wouldn't presume to say that psychiatrists provide better talk therapy than psychologists but if someone is prescribing drugs to treat a medical condition that is related to stress and mental issues, I would much prefer that the talk therapy was provided by the same health care provider. Continuity of care is important.

Death Row Organ Donations

Christian Longo writes an Op-Ed piece in defense of his desire to donate his organs after his execution.  His petition was denied without elaboration. I could understand there have to be concerns about the morality of accepting donations from prisoners on several points, as well as viability concerns but I would still be interested to know more of what went into the decision to deny the claim.

Bahia Bustamante, Argentine's answer to the Galapagos

This sounds like the ideal honeymooning destination to me - penguins, petrified forests, and majestic seascapes as far as the eye can see.  210,000 acres of peace and nature, and 3 meals a day.

PiC and I are going on our first honest to goodness vacation this spring.  It may or may not coincide with ye olde Springe Breake.  Having never been on one, I wouldn't know what a real one comprises but this isn't a plan to cram several years of drunken debauchery into one hoopla filled trip.  Though you never know what might happen .... ;)

Crate and Barrel's running an Ultimate Wedding Contest with all kinds of sparkles:


But you know, I'd need them to really put a hook on this.  I'd need them to make me want this.

Tell me I get to keep the remaining budget that I didn't spend.

Then I'll be in this sucker. Otherwise .... eh.  That's a lot of hoopla.  I suppose one could come away with a boatload of loot, but still, hoopla.

Partially on a whim, I'd embarked on an UnCash spending strategy for 2011.

I'd wanted to stop making unplanned purchases this year, or rather, have a contingency plan for most basic and probable spending needs to redeem points for gift cards and avoid spending real money.  I'd harken back to the college days, (ah yes, when I could only shop at Borders funded by Discover rewards money!) redeeming American Express Gold Card Membership Reward points, Thank You points and other reward points for a small stash of gift cards. It's a small stash, after all, because earning those rewards requires spending cash in the first place. 

I've always done this to some degree, but have mostly fallen behind the eight ball.  It's time to pull the straps back up on this strategy and see how well I can do with picking up the gift cards first, then spotting the sales!

Besides, with the as-yet unbudgeted wedding, even though PiC and I still haven't come to any decisions yet, stashing cash just makes sense.  Even as low-key as we're going to go, no photographer's going to take points for payment.  (Are they?) 

So far, I've collected:

$25 - Victoria's Secret
$75 - Spa Certificates
$50 - Banana Republic
$50 - Amazon, via Swagbucks and other miscellaneous deals.
$50 - Starbucks for PiC 

The key problem with this tactic, of course, is the limited types of gift cards offered by the rewards program.  But quite honestly, I'm not going to invest a massive amount of time and energy into this.  I already know which cards pay out the highest percentage per dollar spent per spending category, that's always going to be the first priority to maximize. Redemptions will then follow on as every program has at least one useful option, even if it's not an immediate need or want.  This is a long-term strategy anyway, so it won't fill in all areas of spending, especially not high-spend areas like gas or groceries, but it can occasionally supplement.



My thanks ..... 

to Andy at Saving to Invest for hosting this week's Carnival of Personal Finance and for including my post Generational Poverty. Be sure to submit to next week's Carnival.