The last quarter of 2019 was a tough one. Many things good and challenging happened. Fortunately we have plenty of financial cushion to weather storms. This year I hope to get a least one article out each month to provide updates and give you new ways to save money.
Tough
- Short term disability (STD)
- I did not realize that during maternity leave your income could be covered under STD and therefore did not elect for it when choosing benefits. I guess I figured it would be a preexisting condition and am a cynical American. This means foregoing $1000s in STD payments.
- Macbooks
- I speculatively purchased two MacBook Airs at a great price. However it became very difficult to sell them so I had to keep lowering the price. I ended up taking a $250 loss. Better than sitting on them and losing even more though. I guess I can no longer say they are the gold standard.
- Cars (yep, they are expensive)
- We have two cars despite rarely driving either. The check engine light went on and we had to replace a $400 sensor. Looks like it fixed the problem and it is good to go until the next issue.
- The other car also got a check engine light and I noticed it won’t go above 50mph. Haven’t taken it in yet, but hopefully not too expensive of an issue. If I learned anything from this car it is to ALWAYS get an inspection before buying.
- Ticket
- Two years ago I was driving in Milan/Bellagio and apparently I got a ticket for driving through a ZTL. Apparently this is quite a common thing for foreigners to do and you get a ticket in the mail. Unfortunately, I was living in Lisbon at the time so they mailed my €95 ticket to my former address. Well, I didn’t receive it and then just a few months ago I was made aware that it had gone to collections where it ballooned to $500. I researched it a lot and people were saying pay/don’t pay for various reasons. I ended up paying as I did commit the infraction and am highly risk adverse and hate to have things outstanding against me.
- Amazon
- Amazon was the Q4 bonus category for Discover, so I decided to add the card and add $1500 to my gift card balance. I added all the information of the card and clicked buy, but it charged the default card! So instead of getting 5% ($75) I got 1500 points. I chatted with Amazon customer service and they said they couldn’t do anything. Pretty terrible experience.
- I somehow subscribed to Kindle Unlimited and didn’t realize it for 5 months. Didn’t even read a book, what a waste.
Good
- Baby
- Best thing that happened was having a healthy baby! Really changes my perspective on life and now I feel the responsibility of caring for someone. Also, it opens the door to writing about baby related topics like diapers, saving for college, and traveling with a baby.
- One of us gets paid leave and the other gets unpaid. We are in a spot where we have saved enough that we can take all the leave without getting two paychecks for a few months. Spending time with the baby is a new, great experience.
- Bank bonuses
- I received an easy $300 from Bank of America for opening an account and doing $4,000 in direct deposits.
- Chase ended up reversing its decision of denying my bonus which meant 60K Ultimate Rewards, almost enough for a one-way business class fare to Asia. I thought I jumped through all the hoops by transferring money from my IRA. However, the fine print said that retirement accounts were excluded. Fortunately the banker wrote a note in my account that I planned to bring IRA funds and led to them changing their mind.
- Flights
- I booked a summer trip to Asia entirely on points. One way in business class and the way back in economy, but with a baby bassinet! The baby’s ticket costs a decent amount though since you have to pay 10% of the regular fare which meant $300 on the JAL flight to Singapore.
- Facebook Portal deal
- I got the best deal on this. I paid $130 for a $280 device by going to Staples and price matching the Bed Bath and Beyond price. Then I used my ink credits and gift cards to go even lower.
Conclusion
You win some you lose some. Having a baby is a blessing and not much more can top that, but still so many things went well. It is unfortunate that the tough things cost us points and money, but we can always make more of those. How did your decade end?