I love credit cards so much!

[amalone1013]

This is what I was told about the Marriott offer via SM:
Alyssa, if you do a product change from your current card
to a Marriott® Premier Plus credit card within 30 days
after the statement on which annual fee billed. You will
receive a full refund of the annul fee. Your new annual
fee of will be charged three months after the product
change is done.


So it would seem I get the $85 back right away without having to pay it, then in January get charged $95... and I would assume that's when my new anniversary would be.

It's usually possible to book something with points, and then call and have your free night applied instead after receiving it, right?

 

[striker1064]

Not quite a week off per month but I get 208 hours plus I have 240 hours of carryover (that is the max annual leave we can carryover). I took 5 weeks off when I got married with 3 of them being in Australia. One of the small perks of being a federal employee.

Also a federal employee, but not yet at the 15 years to get 208 hours. I get 160/yr, so 4 weeks. Plus we get 104/yr of sick time. And can't forget the 11 paid holidays as well.

 

[tink1970]

It seems like the people that are expert witnesses (usually medical) make absolute bank and can go on vacation whenever they absolutely feel like it. You might have to go back to school though...

@tink1970 and anyone else in the Hurricane path please stay safe!

One of my co-workers finished law school a couple of years ago so she can do expert testimony. She was raising 3 children (her husband deploys a lot), working part time and attending law school full time. I HOPE she's making some money after all that!

Thanks...I'm a little concerned since DH will be driving west (home) after his last patient today AND my daughter is supposed to be flying in from Boston tonight. Once everyone is home I'll just medicate the dogs and wait.

 

[SouthFayetteFan]

It's so hard to read tone on a message board and I hope my comment about "dying a little inside" wasn't taken in any way other than how I intended, which was just to say I was a little jelly (definitely not sorry) at your nice stash of UR in a humorous fashion. I've always held great admiration and respect for your point accumulation plans and using those points in the way that works best for you and your family. I enjoy reading exactly how you redeem them and make your vacation goals a reality. Seeing the cost savings and value in black and white for each part always leaves me in awe. I am never as exacting #squadgoals

I also seriously doubt you'd go jet setting all around the world and leave your DW and her fear of flying behind. While we are on the topic of fear, please feel free to have a talk with the Plane Princess and see if you can convince him not to go snorkeling in shark infested oceans while I sit in a bungalow endlessly playing out the horror of his gruesome and imminent death. Anyhow, if my comment missed the mark on how I intended, I apologize. I think by now, the regular posters on this thread know I'm not judgmental of how anyone uses their points as I advocate that the best point redemption are the ones that work for us. Please be rest assured that I haven't had a sudden personality overhaul or anything. I don't feel sorry for @SouthFayetteFan for choosing his vacation plans anymore than he feels sorry for me choosing mine or my willingness to pay annual fees. Anyhow, I just realized my comment could have been taken in a way I never intended and wanted to make it clear how I intended it to be.

Oh no worries. You know I love you @calypso726 and @WVMomof3 and ALL of my friends here!! I took no offense at all - I just wanted to make it clear why I was considering cashing out my URs and why it might not make sense to others. If I didn’t have all of those SW points, I’d be transferring them there. If I didn’t have the Marriott points, I’d be saving them for hotels. If we were in a different family and travel priority situation it’d be different also.

I guess the general thing we have to remember here is we are all very blessed. For most of us here, the question with vacations isn’t “HOW” it is “WHERE”. And for most Americans the question is probably HOW...as in how do I afford it!

At any rate - no offense taken. I’m still holding out hope that some great use of URs pops up...Disney coming back, or a way to use points on AirBnB or VRBO...those would be huge for us LOL

 

[miztressuz]

Is there any job that gives you a week of vacation time every month? I have also been dying to get to Rome. I have the Marriott points and Delta points but I see no way of being able to squeeze it in in 2019. I was thinking of not honeymooning right after the wedding, but if we don’t do that I feel like it won’t be a honeymoon. SO and I have travelled so much together already and we will continue to do so. Also, I will probably need to take time off before the wedding to get things ready. lol this is giving me anxiety now lol plus SO wants to be at Disneyland on his birthday one year and he says we have to stay at the Grand Californian for Christmas and we need to do the Halloween party there. Oh, and now that we have World APs he can’t see how we went without having them before so I’m sure a bunch of small long weekend getaways will be happening next year lol I begged him to go on our first trip in 2016 and he was like I’m going to hate it, Disney is so stupid etc while we were on the trip he said we can get DVC and go every other year but he couldn’t do Disny ever year. Somehow now he is a bigger fan than me lol. We went in July, August and September this year and we will be back in December. We did Disneyland in January and August. lol

A week a month is highly unlikely, but would be totally awesome, the best you'd want to look for is firms with unlimited vacation time (as in there's no set limit). I think that's going to be hard in your field unless you attach yourself into an industry that's picking up that trend. From the folks that I know, even C level execs can max out at 6 weeks. But be prepared to be the low man on the rungs and have to slog it out for a couple years to put yourself into a good position later. Makes it that much sweeter later after you paid your dues and you know how much worse it could still be I think I'd rather have little time when I'm young and can handle the work load than reverse it and have to work so hard when I'm older with less breaks. (like now, I'm still cringing at the thought of having to go back to 2 weeks )

 

[Judique]

Here's a dp I've been waiting for.

Daughter's SPG card had an anniversary year of August. She has SPG Biz and Personal (and all the rest but only interested in those two.)

2 Free nights have posted!!! They posted effective Oct 2 and are good until Oct 2, 2019. One for each account, both cards have same anniversary.

None have posted for me yet but she sent me a screen shot via text message just now.

 

[palhockeymomof2]

Welp, I didn't get my contracts. I've now lost 5 of them.

Regarding PTO, I accrue 8.9 hours per pay period. We stop accrual at 300 hours. Our time is allowed to roll. I currently have 290 hours in my bank so it's a good thing I'm going to Disney next week!!! (I also have over 300 hours in my medical bank, our top limit).

So sorry you didn’t get the contracts...from what I’ve read .seems like the good ones go super fast....hopefully you’ll get the next one

 

[palhockeymomof2]

I have been reading this thread for a few weeks now and I have learned so much. Thank you for all the knowledge! I think I have made some rookie mistakes so far, but I am working towards free flights for my family of 7 to Disney in February. We are renting DVC and need to pay for it. Is my best bet using Plastiq? I've never used it before but am trying to meet spending on my new cards and need all the points I can get. Thanks!

Not sure where your renting from...but some places take credit cards or PayPal..

 

[babyready]

USO tix are showing on my CSR. To make matters more confusing now Universal is selling the AP I want with a free extra 3 month promotion. Some passes get a 6 month promotion. Not sure I’d get that if I upgraded so I’ll have to research if I should do that or buy the passes outright from Universal.

Thanks for posting this. I am also getting them on the CSR now as well.

However, I still can't order just one child ticket. I guess because you cannot book a child for any activity, you cannot book just one child ticket. Good to know now!

Am on the phone now. Thought things might go my way. The rep was chatting with her supervisor and then asked if she could transfer me so they could help me and then I got disconnected. Trying again. They did say, "we are using the same system you are, if you can't book it neither can we." Well, what is the point, then? Technically, my other tickets are non refundable but I think they are trying to see if they can get around that some how. Fingers crossed.

 

[WVMomof3]

There is a point where some of us don't think of Disney in terms of rides, but of the atmosphere in general and the relaxing nature (depends on how you do it!).



I'm right with you on those two but everyone was doing National Parks I was on the edge of my seat and still want to go, but need someone who wants to do a long roadtrip in a motorhome with me, lol.

I guess I can see how the more you go, the more relaxing it would be. When we go I am stressed trying to do and see everything in one trip to make it the best possible. I do think in the future I can see us going for an annual pass and making more frequent trips. Just have to graduate the kids out of the house first so they don't think they get one too. lol

I thought I wanted to do a motorhome trip for our trip though the parks in Utah and Arizona. Until we were driving on those roads and I was glad for a minivan and hotels. Out friend met us in Moab and went on to Yosemite with a 5th wheel. They were delayed for hours on their way home due to high winds. They had to pull over until it was safe to continue.

 

[MKTokyo]

Is there any job that gives you a week of vacation time every month?

I am in the museum field, but not "official" yet because I am still in school. I would very much like to be done with school. But, if you want a good position in this field, you can't stop until you have a PhD, and realistically, you're not going back for one later. Better to just plow through.

I do have a fellowship at the institution where I will likely be working when I graduate, unless I make an egregious mistake & destroy something So, I don't know about vacation time, but I can say that my colleagues frequently jet off to interesting places to do interesting things, take their families more often than not, and it all counts as "work" A lot of people end up going back to these places on vacation after they get an overview of them, too.

 

[shairpdrh]

Welp, I didn't get my contracts. I've now lost 5 of them.

Sorry to hear about your DVC offers. I think we got the 5th or 6th one we made an offer on. I was definitely looking for a deal (so it was worth it to wait for the right deal), but the process is so frustrating. Good luck!

 

[SouthFayetteFan]

@SouthFayetteFan if Disney is your main focus maybe you should consider buying DVC. Least look into the resale market I am sure you are the type that could score some awesome deals. That way you could cash out the UR's to pay for that and still use for Disney in a way. Huge market to rent out points and you could use cash from that to pay for the Cruises.

I’ve looked into it before - for some reason I just can’t bring myself to do it. I feel like at some point my vacation preferences will change and I could be stuck with it. I know we could rent the points but it’s just one of those things that I’m not sure I want to deal with lol.

 

[WVMomof3]

Oh no worries. You know I love you @calypso726 and @WVMomof3 and ALL of my friends here!! I took no offense at all - I just wanted to make it clear why I was considering cashing out my URs and why it might not make sense to others. If I didn’t have all of those SW points, I’d be transferring them there. If I didn’t have the Marriott points, I’d be saving them for hotels. If we were in a different family and travel priority situation it’d be different also.

I guess the general thing we have to remember here is we are all very blessed. For most of us here, the question with vacations isn’t “HOW” it is “WHERE”. And for most Americans the question is probably HOW...as in how do I afford it!

At any rate - no offense taken. I’m still holding out hope that some great use of URs pops up...Disney coming back, or a way to use points on AirBnB or VRBO...those would be huge for us LOL

I am definitely a little jelly of the points balances!

Airbnb and VRBO would be great redemptions! This is another problem I have with Europe, the tiny hotel rooms! We definitely would be renting VRBO or Airbnb when we go and would be great to use URs for that.

 

[SouthFayetteFan]

I am definitely a little jelly of the points balances!

Airbnb and VRBO would be great redemptions! This is another problem I have with Europe, the tiny hotel rooms! We definitely would be renting VRBO or Airbnb when we go and would be great to use URs for that.

I obviously have no insider knowledge here - but I do hope that Chase is continuing to evaluate the ways to use URs! With the rise of Airbnb and VRBO it would be nice if the “ultimate” reward point could live up to its name with an awesome redemption option for those avenues!!

 

[NewbieMom]

I have been reading this thread for a few weeks now and I have learned so much. Thank you for all the knowledge! I think I have made some rookie mistakes so far, but I am working towards free flights for my family of 7 to Disney in February. We are renting DVC and need to pay for it. Is my best bet using Plastiq? I've never used it before but am trying to meet spending on my new cards and need all the points I can get. Thanks!

I was just researching this for our points rental as well. If the owner you are working with is willing to take a check, Plastiq is a possibility. The owner we're working with didn't want to deal with a check or giving out her mailing address. We decided on Venmo, which charges a 3% fee using a cc. But note that Venmo has a pretty low $ limit you can send and our points rental hit that ceiling, so we had to pay the rest via paypal and cover the 3% fee there also.

 

[amalone1013]

Vacation time is not a small perk. At my prior firm, I got 22 days plus 10 holidays, plus "shut down" time around Christmas and July 4th. BUT I was so busy, that I couldn't take more than a few days off at a time, and wound up working some on pretty much every vacation. I was constantly getting notes from HR that I needed to take time off or lose vacation days (we could only accrue up to 22 days a year). Also, I worked most weekends, with no comp time or anything. My husband had "unlimited" vacation time, but was so busy that there were only 3 days in a 3 year period when he didn't work for at least part of the day (three days of a 5 day Disney trip - he only worked the first and last day we were there). Needless to say, we didn't travel a lot during this phase of our life.


Now, I only get 15 days in my current job (plus 10 or 11 holidays and unlimited sick time), but I work far fewer weekends, and when I'm on vacation I rarely have to do anything for work. I did try to negotiate for more vacation time, but my company holds the line on that one - you can negotiate to start with 15 days (instead of 2 weeks, if the position is senior enough) but that is the max when you start for anyone below c-suite. If I stick around for 10 years, I'll go to 22 days a year. Its also use it or lose it, with no rollover.


Now that DH has left his evil job, it is much easier for us to do a few short trips a year, plus one good family vacation.

This. All of this. The only good thing for my job is it can only be done when at work, so I'm not bothered at home or when I'm on vacation, unless someone calls in sick.

I get 17 days of PTO (5.24hrs per period), 4 personal holidays I can use how I'd like, I can earn up to 3 more days, and 9 paid holidays. I max out at the 17 days (technically 136hrs) and would just stop accruing if I hit that, but it's not use it or lose it at the end of the year. The 3 add'l days and personal holidays are treated differently and not counted in that pot, but they are use it or lose it plus they are not paid out if you leave like the PTO hours.

This year, I have:

• Used my 4 personal holidays
• Used my 3 additional days I earned from last year
• Used 113hrs of PTO (14 1/8 days)
• Had 4 paid holidays, but I worked on 1 of them, plus I would have worked 1 more of them except I asked for time off
• Worked 12 weekends plus two Saturdays, so 26 extra days total, plus I missed 1 weekend when I was on vacation

So I've technically had 23 paid days off, but I have worked an extra 26 days… plus 286hrs of OT either for extra work or covering when someone is on vacation. And we have 6 more weekends to go this year, though I have scheduled off for two of them...

 

[babyready]

Well, no dice on ordering a child ticket from UR. They tried really hard, so I have to give them credit.

The alternative option would be to order an adult ticket for my four year old. I would probably actually consider it except we are wanting to upgrade to an annual pass when we get to Universal and I am scared that we could mess it up. Although, APs are the same price whether child or adult so maybe not a big deal?

What do you guys think? Would you take the chance? Any other complications that you can see that I am not thinking of?

It is only a difference of 717 UR, so that isn't really a big deal, it is the ability to upgrade or any other problems I might run into.

 

[mamathompson]

I was just researching this for our points rental as well. If the owner you are working with is willing to take a check, Plastiq is a possibility. The owner we're working with didn't want to deal with a check or giving out her mailing address. We decided on Venmo, which charges a 3% fee using a cc. But note that Venmo has a pretty low $ limit you can send and our points rental hit that ceiling, so we had to pay the rest via paypal and cover the 3% fee there also.

The owner actually prefers a check but would accept PayPal. I was thinking the fee on Plastiq would be less so that seems to be the way to go. Thanks for the help!

 

[amalone1013]

DH weirdly keeping all that stuff in his wallet paid off. I wanted to buy this new Jim Shore Enchanted Tiki Room figure, but it was coming up as sold out this morning. I got an email that there were more available, but I didn't have my AP to get my discount (they wanted a copy uploaded when ordering or faxed within 24 hrs). But DH had his in his wallet still!