The Wandering Koi

So, our stickers finally arrived. I had a lot of fun handing them out around work. This was just version one, so we’ll see how we decide to approach version 2. I’m sure little koi will have some opinions.

I am thick into reservations at the moment. There are so many moving parts. Most hotels and airlines will open reservations 11-12 months in advance, but not all. Campgrounds are much more random in their timing. I think I have mentioned before that I keep a calendar with when reservations open up so I don’t overlook anything important. Can’t wait for the 2026-2027 academic calendars to come out so I can nerd out with a new planner.

I’m also now being much more careful about budgeting. August is a doozy (don’t tell Mr. Koi). I’ve set up an Excel sheet with projected costs, how much I paid in cash and how much I paid in points. I’ve been using the projected costs to mainly track how much I am saving by using points, but also a bit for planning real out-of-pocket costs. In just the first 2 months we are burning through over 600,000 points! I’m surprised the banks don’t think I’ve been hacked. I’ve spent every Alaska Airlines and Amtrak point I had.

Looking out for Rakuten, Rove Miles and Capital One shopping deals next week for Black Friday. There are reliably greatly elevated deals. Why not get some extra points for that spend you were already going to make anyhow! If you want to know if something you want to buy is likely to have a bonus next week, you can check out http://www.cashbackmonitor.com where they have a tracking history where you can see the history for bonuses over time for any given store you are interested in. Happy hunting!

For those of you who know us personally, let us know what you would like to see on this page or suggestions for our next sticker. I just post what’s on my mind, but now that stickers are out, I really need to get my act together.

Keep on swimming.