People Different From Us

I know in my head that my normal is just that- mine. However, I am still struck at times by how others' lives are different from mine. I encountered 2 such situations last week.

Situation #1

My boss noticed towards the end of the month that her debit card was getting ready to expire, and she hadn't received a replacement. She called the bank, and she was informed that a replacement had indeed been sent, but it must have been lost in the mail. They asked if she wanted them to send a new one, and she told them she did. What they neglected to tell her was when the order was placed for the new one, it cancelled her current card. She found this out when she went to pay for something, and her card was declined. What surprised me was she said that left her with no other way to pay for things except cash. This blew my mind. I have multiple banks accounts with debit cards and checks as well as a selection of credit cards that I could use. She ended up paying $30 to have her new card overnighted to her to get it faster. She then left work at lunch, drove to her house about 30 minutes away and back to get it from the mailbox when it arrived.

I ran into a similar situation with my debit card several years ago. I only use my debit card to get cash, and when I went to do so, it wouldn't work. Upon closer inspection, it had been expired for some time. I did contact the bank and get a new one issued, but it was not a big deal for me. 

Situation #2

My coworker is celebrating a milestone birthday next year. We we talking about how she was going to celebrate. She said "I always said I was going to get a G Wagon when I turned X. But they are $150,000." For those of you not familiar, this is a G Wagon. She's thinking of a trip to Europe or Singapore instead. I told her that $150K would be a lot of trips to Europe. This was interesting to me because while I like the look of nice cars, it's not something I choose to spend money on.

Morale of the story: Our normal is truly ours alone. It is fascinating how the lives of others differ from our own.

Tell Me You Don't Want My Money Without Telling Me You Don't Want My Money

Recently I got a flyer in the mail advertising a rather significant bonus if I opened a checking and savings account with a bank and met certain deposit requirements. It seemed like a good deal, so I ran some numbers and verified it was worth my time. When I decided to open the account, I was somewhat surprised at the branch's limited hours: Monday-Friday 9-5. This immediately made the project more challenging as, like many people, I have a job whose hours align closely with that. I decided to stop by Monday after work. 

I arrived around 4:20 and informed the teller I wanted to open a checking and savings account in the name of my trust. She told me "I don't know if we'll have time. It takes about an hour". In disbelief I asked "To open a checking & savings account?" She stated that was indeed the case. She then asked someone about the trust, the paperwork for which I had of course brought with me in case it was needed. That person informed me "This has to be sent in and approved before we can open the account. Would you like me to send it in for you?" At this point in my head, we had just hit strikes 2 & 3. The 1st strike was the very limited branch hours. The 2nd, related is to the 1st, is that due to the amount of time it takes you to open the accounts, I will essentially never have time to do so. And 3rd, too much hassle about my trust. I told the employees "It's not worth it" and left. By these 3 items, this bank had told me they didn't want my money, and my money has other places it can be. The funny thing is, I already have 2 credit cards with this bank (3 until recently), and the opening those accounts literally took minutes, all done online from the comfort of my house.

The Internet Does Have Its Plusses

You hear a lot about the negatives about the onternet. I will be the first to admit these definitely exist. However, it can both also be very useful. As first time homeowner, I have really appreciated the wealth of information available for a variety of home maintenance and repair. Here is a list of a few things I have used the online resources to learn to do:

1. Paint multiple rooms in my house. I had never painted anything before. I am very pleased with the results.

2. Repair a tub that would not hold water. This Old House has an excellent video that was extremely helpful. 

3. Fix a stopper that had come detached from the lift rod.

4. Replace that same faucet later when the spout broke at the base.

5. Diagnose and repair water dripping from the freezer compartment of my refrigerator.

6. Replace a faulty toilet flapper that was leaking into bowl.

7. Diagnose and repair a leak from the bottom of the tank on another toilet. This video was my go to. 

It is very confidence building to be able do to these tasks on my own. A piece of advice: always watch more than one person's video on doing a task. That will help you make sure the advice is correct, and you may learn different tricks and tips from each person. 

Another Instance of "The Right Tool Makes All the Difference"

 Last week I had another instance of the right tool making all the difference. I am having some people over in couple weeks, and my windows were looking pretty gross. When the sun would shine in, you would see how dirty there were. Some lovely birds had also decided they needed to use a couple of them as a bathroom. I had mentioned this upcoming task to my mom, and when she was at my house recently she said "Your windows really do need cleaned." Thanks Mom.

Once I decided to undertake this task, I knew I wanted a tool to assist. I bought this squeegee from Walmart, and Sunday before last I got to work. Wow, did it make life much easier and faster. I have a one story house, and I was able to clean all the windows without using a ladder. In addition, since I have casement style windows, I could do the insides and outsides with the windows in the open position. It is amazing how much of a difference it makes. I sometimes just gaze out the windows and admire how nice they look. I would highly advise procuring a similar tool for the next time you clean your windows. 

The evidence does not support your assertion

 Last week we did two days of interviews for some positions we are trying to fill. Each day we encountered someone who told us something about them that was supposedly one of their virtues while we possessed facts that showed otherwise.

Day one, we were waiting for the candidate to arrive. Her time came and went, after 5 minutes I told the hiring team I could either try to contact her or we could wait a few more minutes and call her a no call no show. They asked me to call her. When I started with my speech of "Hi this is Blogger with XYZ. You had an interview scheduled at XX:YY, and we were calling to see if you were going to attend", she said "I'm at the guardhouse." What I wanted to tell her was "you should be in your interview right now", but I restrained. Once she finally arrived into the facility, I was expecting her to apologize for being late (just like the interview team should apologize to you if they are running late) and offer some kind of reason why. She did not. What took the cake was when we asked her in the interview why we should hire her, one of the reasons she gave is "I'm on time." I wanted to ask "For what, because you weren't for this interview?" After the candidate left, the interview team talked about how completely unaware she was. I also told my recruitment teammates this story as I knew they would appreciate it.

The next day, we were again waiting for a candidate whose interview time had come and passed. Someone who works at the facility but wasn't in the interview helped us out by contacting security to see if he had arrived. The answer was "he just got here." A couple minutes later we see him literally running through the parking lot towards us. Did he mention anything about being late? Of course, he did not. In his interview, he mentioned he lives "just around the corner," "I get to work 20 minutes early and wait in the parking lot", and as the candidate the day before, stated one of the reasons we should hire him is because he's on time. This story provided further entertainment value to both the interview team and the recruitment team.

Life lesson: when you're giving reasons someone should hire you, don't use reasons that they have evidence to know are not true. 

Don't make life difficult for those who make your life nice

While we were on vacation last week, we saw a municipal employee emptying the trash cans, then carrying bags up a large number of stairs to haul them off. We asked him about this as at every other beach we've been to, the trash is collected by a truck that drives along the beach. He said that is how they do most of them, but there are 26 locations in the area where we stayed and the next town over where they are not allowed to do that. We got the impression they are too bougie to allow that. We told him how badly we felt for him as the bags are heavy. Also, it's Florida, and it gets very hot in summer. He said it was not pleasant. This made me so irritated. People emptying the trash help your beach stay nice. Why on earth would you make their job harder?

I was reminded of when we visited Palm Beach, Florida several years ago. Heavy construction is not allowed "during season". When is "season" you ask? Why, the winter, aka the most comfortable time for construction workers to labor. But, that might disturb the ritzy folks for whom all this stuff is being built.

A little common sense advise: don't make life difficult for those who make your life nice. It's not logical and it's not being a good human either. 

The Value of Wise Counsel

This week my coworker and I somehow ended up on the topic of finances. She said several years ago she decided to surprise her boyfriend by putting him on the deed to her house after they were living together. She said he hadn't asked her to do it, she wanted to because she was in love. When she told her financial person this plan, she asked her "Are you married?". When my coworker said "No", the financial person said "You aren't doing this." My coworker said she was taken aback, but she followed the advice. When she and the boyfriend later broke up, she was so thankful she did. 

This scenario illustrates the value of 2 things to me:

1. Having wise counsel

2. Being willing to listen to wise counsel, even when it's not what you want to hear

This combination can save us all much heartache in life. 

"And get off my lawn"

 I have made it a habit to double check my receipt before I leave the grocery story. This way if there is an issue with a digital coupon, price, etc. that I missed during checkout, I can fix it right away. Sure enough, when I looked at my receipt Monday, there was an item that wasn't given the digital coupon price. I went to customer service and explained the issue. The employee asked me to show her my account online, which I did. When she asked me if I had the app, I told her I did not. She said the app has some features that are easier to access than on the website. I told her "I have reached the point where I don't want one more app, one more password, and get off my lawn.". She cracked up. She told me she was doing to use the "get off my lawn" part. I told her that's not original to me, but she is welcome to it.

2024 Goal Prograss

 As I wrote last year this time, I do New Year's goals instead of resolutions since that is more action oriented to me. Here's how I did this year.

Item 1- find a volunteer role. This is hopefully in progress. The pension system in which I participate has a board of overseeing members. They accepted nominations earlier this year. This seemed like a good fit as A. I am a personal finance nerd B. This is managing some of my retirement money and C. I am looking for opportunities to give back. I applied and will be appear on the ballot when the election takes place early next year. Hopefully, I will be one of the people selected by the members to serve on the board.

Item 2 was making some repairs (new batteries) and band adjustments to some watches so that they were usable. I bought a watch repair kit to assist in this goal, and the watches are now functional.

Item 3 was having charms attached to my charm bracelets. It had been a LONG time since I had any added, so there was quite a pile. There were enough that I got a volume discount from the jeweler who soldered them. 

Item 4 was completed yesterday- down to the wire! Earlier this year I realized that I hadn't been rollerblading since I moved (6 years ago). Where I used to live had a great spot nearby. I hadn't found a place here (probably since I hadn't looked). I was able to locate an area that looked promising. I tried going there a few weeks ago, but the access road was closed for construction. The weather yesterday was good, so I tried again. Success! It was really awkward at first since it had been so long, but I was much more comfortable by the end of my skate. Am I great skater? By no means. But, I can generally stay upright, and I really enjoy it. The spot I found worked really well, and it's on my way home, so I plan to go more frequently once the weather stays warmer.

Items 5 & 6 involved seeing friends I hadn't seen in a long time. Friend A lives 2 hours away and we hadn't seen in other in 7 years. I know, shame on us both. We ended up getting to see each of 3 times this year! It was great. Friend B lives 11 hours away. In August she had some last minute free time, so she flew here and spent a few days. We had a wonderful time.

2024 was a very successful goal year. Wish you and your family a happy, safe, health, & prosperous 2025. 

 

Things we only appreciate in hindsight

While we are in the midst of things, we don't always appreciate how they will benefit us long term. I have been thinking quite a bit recently about two scenarios like that in my life.

At my first job in HR I worked for a company that was ISO certified. One of the things that meant is we had a robust document management process. There was a database where all company documents were logged, you had to track every place where a document was distributed so that you could update it when revisions were made, and our document management process was subject to audit by our certifying body. I remember thinking what a pain this all was. However, many years later, I understand its value. 

At my company we have no centralized records database that I know of or any training on document control. And it shows. I have looked at our company's intranet and found multiple versions of a form. In HR, we receive and accept outdated versions of certain forms. In my ISO life, it was drilled in our heads to never save a local copy of a file for future use. If you turned in an obsolete version of the form, it was promptly rejected, and you were instructed to submit the current version. I also see this in my department's ongoing efforts to write SOPs. There is just a lack of knowledge about how to track revisions to documents. People don't know what they aren't taught.

The second example is my company's applicant tracking system (ATS). When I started, our entire recruiting process was tracked manually. Yes, it was a nightmare. I was one of the people who helped implement the ATS 7 years ago. I immediately saw the benefit as we were able to automate so much of our previously manual work. However, something I didn't understand at the time is how much the experience would help me with understanding how the system works, and consequently, being able to troubleshoot glitches. Just today, one of my newer coworkers said "Task A won't work right. Can you look at it?". Since I know how the parts of the system work together, I was quickly able to locate the issue (that was caused by someone outside of our team) and tell her how to work around it. Once she did that, she then said "I can't figure out how to do Task B" that was part of the workaround. I was able to email her instructions on how to do that. Was implementing the ATS tedious and time consuming? Definitely. Has it benefitted me in ways other than recruitment automation? Also a yes.

We never know where life will take us in the future. Who knows what task that we find annoying today may greatly benefit us tomorrow?

Resignation via cake

 We had a first at work this week- someone resigned via cake. On Monday she brought in a cake that said "My last day is Jun 14. It'z (sic) also my bday. Happy birthday to me".  I loved it. 

Reflections on 5 years as a homeowner

Five years ago today I got the keys to my house. I'll share some thoughts I had as I reflected on that and my five years of homeownership.

When I think of 5 years ago today, a few things come to mind:

- Being so antsy to get the call that I could pick up the keys. We had closed on 12/28, but possession was 15 days after closing (the seller was moving out of state, and I assume that's why they wanted the extra time.)

- My disgust that I had to clean the refrigerator before I felt comfortable putting food in it. It was gross, and there was even cat hair in it! I was highly irritated as cleaning refrigerators is not fun, and I had just cleaned the one in the apartment I was vacating (it did not have cat hair in it).

- The satisfaction of ripping out carpet. The main floor had carpet in 3 of the bedrooms. I am not a big carpet fan, and this carpet looked disgusting. I knew there were hardwood floors underneath, so I put on a mask (they had cats, which you probably already guessed, and I am allergic to cats) and got to work. It was gross as you realize how much "stuff" lingers in carpet, but it felt so good to get it out. The floors all had some damage, but it was way better than the carpet. I lived with the wood as is for over a year as I did other projects that were more important to me. Here are before and after pictures of each room.

- Sleeping that first night on an air mattress on one of the bedroom floors. I got the keys on a Saturday, and the movers were scheduled for Monday. I remember hearing new sounds as I lied there (every house makes different sounds). I never again slept in my apartment.

Reflections on the past 5 years of homeownership:

• I am so happy I bought this house. It is great home, in a fantastic location, in a wonderful neighborhood
• I am so thankful I bought when I did. I had looked at houses off and on for 10 years. This was the 3rd house on which I had an accepted offer. The other 2 fell through after inspection. It was definitely worth the wait. Since I bought, prices and interest rates have went up significantly. My house is now worth about $100K more than what I paid for it. I didn't get a screaming deal when I bought. I paid what I think was a fair price. The fact that my house has basically earned me $20k/year is like having a well paying part time job without working. Also, I was thankful many times during the pandemic to be living in my house and having yard and not stuck in my apartment.

How is the house different from when I bought it?

The house was move-in ready when I bought it, for which I was and am very thankful. I have made several changes, most cosmetic. Some of the most impactful ones:

• Painted 3 of the bedrooms
• Painted one bathroom, including the ceiling
• I had never painted before. I am pretty proud of how it all turned out.
• Patched what felt like a million nail and screw holes
• I have become quite excellent at patching small holes in plaster
• Almost every door on the main floor and the surrounding trim had been painted. I stripped them and applied polyurethane. This took several months, but it was worth it.
• I changed the door hinges on the interior doors of the main floor from brass to oiled bronze  
• I stripped, painted, and/or stained the baseboards in every room of the main floor except the kitchen and dining room
• I had the hardwood floors refinished in the 3 rooms where I removed the carpet. They look amazing. The pictures below are the rooms in the same order that they appeared above.

• I had an electrician make several small changes: Adding GFCIs to the bathrooms and outdoor outlets, adding some switches, changing outlet covers, and swapping light fixtures.
• By far the most expensive thing was replacing the HVAC 2 years ago. I knew this was coming at some point as it was over 15 years old when I bought the house and the a/c was slightly low on freon (which was fixed by the home warranty company). When the a/c ran for an hour one day and the temperature didn't move, I knew the time had likely come. The HVAC tech (who is great) said I could possibly limp it through the rest of the summer. I bit the bullet and had it replaced after getting multiple quotes. I am so glad I did. In 2021, we were not yet in the "shortage of everything" and "massive inflation" phases. I got a unit quickly, and supposedly it was an upgraded unit at no additional charge (this was borne out based on the quotes.)

Overall, wow, how five years have flown. I have been very happy with my ownership of this home.

2023 goal progress

 I am not a New Year's resolutions person. I heard this week that less than 10% of people keep their New Year's resolutions. This doesn't surprise me as I see them as aspirational. I prefer to set goals for the year. Just the act of writing it down makes me committed. Since today is the last day of 2023, I will report on my goal progress for the year.

The first two goals are similar- eat down the pantry and freezer. This time last year both were full to almost bursting. I am proud to report excellent progress on both. I am going to continue to focus on this next year.

House DIY: this consisted of several small house items that needed attention. These were all accomplished. 

Finish the Unfinished: this was another categorical goal with several subgoals. It consisted of buying some small replacements parts for various things as well as some other house projects. I am happy to report these were all completed.

Better sleep hygiene: this is a fancy term for being better at going to bed at a consistent time each night.  I did better some nights than others, but overall I would say I have improved. One thing I have definitely noticed- it's much easier to get to bed earlier when it gets dark at 6 PM vs. 10 PM.

Redeem free food offers: I had received quite a food free food offers, and I wanted to make sure I didn't let them expire. I also had two offers with no expiration dates. I did well on this goal. I still have the two with no expiration dates, but they are obviously not urgent/

Overall I am very pleased with the results of my 2023 goals. I am current pondering what my goals will be for 2024. Hopefully I have as good of results with whatever I choose.

Dear companies: It is not 1923 any more

 Several times recently I have come to the conclusion that some companies refuse to modernize their practices to reflect the current times.  This is my PSA to them: It is not 1923 anymore. I will provide 3 examples to illustrate my point.

1. I wanted to make a change to one of my investments. What were my options to make this change? Use the investment company's allegedly secure website? Nope, not a choice. Contact customer service? Oh no, they can't process this type of change. My choices were to send a fax (technology of the 1840s, literally) or send a request via USPS. Really? It's 2023. Since like most people I lack access to a fax machine, I mailed in the form. This is absolutely ridiculous. I don't think this requirement had anything to do with security either. It's about money. The change I requested resulted in me receiving money with no fee instead of the investment company getting a cut. Thus, I think they want to make it as difficult as possible for this change to be made.

2. A family member was helping another family member request life insurance benefits for a deceased family member. What were the options to file the claim? Why USPS of course. What were the options to receive payment? ACH (aka direct deposit) like many of us receive our paychecks and how the federal government has offered tax refunds for years? Of course not. The only option is to receive paper check, again via USPS. Not only is this much slower for the beneficiary, there is the chance the check could be lost or stolen. Again, I think this requirement is all about money, specifically float.  Every day that the insurance company holds onto the money, they are earning more return on your premium dollars. 

3. Employers unwilling to face the present recruiting reality. I am a recruiter, so I see this frequently. It includes things like not adjusting your pay scale to reflect what has happened in the talent market in the last few years. Another area is remote work. So often employers "want" their employees in the office for vague reasons they really can't articulate. "Collaboration" and "brainstorming" are two that come to mind. In life, we don't always get what we want. A lot of these same employers would probably also like to pay all their employees minimum wage, but they know that won't attract the talent they need. Guess what? Remote work may be the exact same way, depending on the job. Some jobs simply must be onsite 100% of the time due to the nature of the work. However, if there is a way you can do it, try to offer at least some telework in your jobs. One of the things employees value is choice. Some would love to work remote at least part of the time, and some will want to be in the office all of the time (we saw that at my employer early in the pandemic). If you want to attract talent, you have to offer the things the talent values.

In summary, companies must adapt to changes in the market if they wish to survive and thrive.

This does not add up

My neighbors had their 3 child earlier this year, and they are now looking to move in the spring as they need more space. I got an update this week about some of the houses they have been looking at. They are at least $300k. For reference, they paid $150K for their current house in 2018 (the power of online property records). In this same conversation, it was mentioned that they were 2 days late on one of their 2 car payments, and they have pushed out a needed home repair of $800 because they don't have the money right now. I was thinking in my head "You can't afford the lifestyle you have right now, but you're looking at a house that's twice as much and interest rates are much higher than when you bought". It does not add up to me. 

Bison Bison Everywhere

On our trip to North & South Dakota, my mom & I were thrilled to get to see bison at 4 different places:

• Badlands National Park
• Wind Cave National Park
• Custer State Park
• Theodore Roosevelt National Park

Since we've gotten back, I feel like bison are everywhere. CBS has had 2 recent stores about bison:

• Yellowstone Bison Revival
• American Prairie: Restoring Bison to Northern Montana with a Patchwork Nature Preserve

My local library also had this new book on bison that I really enjoyed. I definitely feel I have bison on the brain.

All 50 states visited

Last month my mom and I vacationed in North & South Dakota. In addition to seeing beautiful scenery and great wildlife, we each accomplished a life goal: visiting all 50 states. I am still in a bit of awe that I've been able to do this. Our original plan had been to fly into North Dakota and then fly home from South Dakota. However, that quickly changed when my mom came across the "Best for Last Club".  We knew we wanted to be a part of this great club. When we checked in at the visitor's center in Fargo, there was a couple there who had also just completed their 50 states, and we even got to meet the lady who was the creator of the club (she has also been to all 50 states). Here is a picture of my t-shirt. It is definitely going in my clothing rotation for future vacations.

Here is a list of FAQs that my mom and I have experienced regarding visiting all 50 states.

1. How long did it take to accomplish this? My whole life. 

2. How long have you been working on this? I think this is probably really what people mean when they ask #1. A few years back, my mom and I were talking, and we realized that based on how many states we had each already visited, seeing all 50 states was definitely achievable. My mom traveled quite a bit with her parents as a kid as well as with my dad. I had also been privileged to have visited quite a few states by that time. Starting in 2017, we starting taking a 2 week trip each year with the express purpose of marking new states off the list.

• 2017: Hawaii (and California for me)
• 2018: Utah, Idaho, Wyoming, & Montana
• 2019: Alaska
• 2020: None
• 2021: Maryland, Connecticut, Rhode Island, & Vermont
• 2022: Orgeon
• 2023: North & South Dakota

3. What counts as visiting a state? Our rule was you had to be on the ground. So, flying over a state doesn't count, but being on a layover at the airport does. That is how I marked off California- LA airport on the way to Hawaii. I did see a little bit more of the state last year when we drove into California from Oregon, but the airport was enough initially to move it to the "visited" category.

4. What is your favorite state? I can't give you 1. I can do a top 5. There is just so much to see.

5. (When we told people we were going to visit North & South Dakota as our last two states): Have you been to (insert any of the other 48 states)? My mom and I both got this. If we only have 2 states left, then by extension, we have visited every other state. 

I feel very thankful I have gotten to visit all 50 states. I would encourage you to count how many states you have visited. My niece and nephew (14 & 11) can tell you. They've tracked it for several years, and they'll get to add 2 new ones this week. What's your state count?

How your purchases reflect your priorities

The sermon this weekend at church was centered on Matthew 6:21 "Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also." (NIV). Once we get beyond a subsistence level of income, how we spend our money is a reflection of what is important to us. If someone looked at our spending without knowing us, what would it appear our priorities are, and how does that align with what we say our priorities are?

I had had a thought along these lines Friday when I was driving home from the pool. I am a water person- whether it's a lake, river, ocean, or a pool, if it's safe to do so, I want to be in/on that body of water. As I was heading home, I reflected on how the gear I have reflects my love of water.

• Swimsuits (I'll just say several and leave it at that)
• Rash guards (Also several. These are your friend if you spend lots of time in/on the water. They prevent you from burning without the hassle of sunscreen)
• Swimsuit coverups (a couple)
• Beach towels (only 2 but looking to buy more)
• Water shoes- 2 pairs
• Prescription snorkel mask (if you wear glasses/contacts and spend of lot of time swimming, do yourself a favor and get one. I paid about $50, and it is life changing)
• Snorkel
• Annual pool pass for my local pool
• Life jacket
• Inflatable kayak 
• Prescription sunglasses

I did not spend a lot of money acquiring all these items- I am always on the hunt for a deal. However, the sheer number of items on the list would lead you to believe that water time is very important to me.

What does your spending say is important to you?

On the opposite end of the spectrum

The week before last I did mock interviews with several students from a local college. Overall, they did well and gave me hope for the future of the workforce. My bigger impression, though, was how I am on the complete opposite end of the workforce spectrum. They are young and eager, and I am ready to be done working. One of them asked me a question for which I gave an excellent company-representing, HR solid answer, while in my head thinking "I do not care about this topic at all". 

To those of you getting ready to enter the workforce- bless you. We need you.

To those of you who are ready to exit the workforce- I feel you 100%. 

Alaska on the Cheap(er)

 After we visited Hawaii in 2017, I wrote a post about things we did to make our trip more affordable. I thought about doing something similar after our 2019 trip to Alaska, but I never did. A couple months ago my mom asked me for some travel information for a friend who's going to Alaska this year, so I decided it was well past time to write this post. As with our trip to Hawaii, our goal was to have a great time at a reasonable price. The things were did were very easy, and they made a big difference in our budget. We had a great time, and nothing we did made us feel at all deprived.

- Like we did for Hawaii, we got an airline credit card to earn enough miles for our round trip tickets to Alaska. This time it was the United Airline card. I don't recall the spend requirement, but it was $3000 in 3 months or less. The annual fee was waived the first year. If you are interested in the card, try to wait until they offer at least 65,000 miles, which they do occasionally. In addition to the miles, it comes with the following perks:

•  First bag checked is free 
•  It will reimburse you if you get TSA pre-check or Global Entry. If you get this card, definitely at least do Pre-Check. It makes airport security much faster and easier. Global Entry includes Pre-Check, but appointments can be hard to get.  
•  Two airline club passes are included. This provided invaluable to us when the second leg of our outbound trip was delayed when the entire airport was closed due to a thunderstorm. In addition to lots of space to spread out and free good and drinks, the lounge had its own dedicated in person customer service staff. We talked to someone on a later flight who was on hold with United for something like 7 hours. I stood in line for a while in the lounge customer service line, but nothing like that. 

- We are national park people. While we didn't visit all 8 of Alaska's, we did see 3. Denali & Kenai Fjords are easily reached, but Glacier Bay is only accessible by boat or plane. I was out on the boat option, and airlines tickets were expensive. Again, credit card to rescue. I got the Alaska Airlines card. I think the spend requirement was around $1000 in 3 months, and the annual fee was not waived.  However, it was well worth it. I got enough miles for my mom and I to both fly to Glacier Bay. We paid only $11.20 each (mandatory fees) instead of $392.59 each. We also each got a checked bag for free.

- When I was researching our trip, I read about the Alaska TourSaver book. It is on sale right now for $69.95 (regular price $99.95). We paid the regular price, and it was completely worth it. We did a buy one, get one free fare on the Alaska railroad from Anchorage to Denali (We took the bus back. I saw this recommended as obviously what you see is different on a train versus traveling by bus, and I would do the same thing again.). At the time, they also offered a buy one, get one Major Marine Kenai Fjords cruise. My mom and I both agree this was our favorite thing we did in Alaska.

As with Hawaii, you can spend buckets of money going to Alaska. The year I went, I was talking to someone else who was planning to go the same summer. She said she and her husband thought it was cost them about $10k. I about fell over. We were in Alaska for 2 weeks, and we spent not even anywhere close to that. We did several not inexpensive items and I even bought some jewelry, and it still was only about double what we spend we do a week at the beach in AL or FL, and we do those on the cheap too. Some planning and research can make your dream trip more in reach than you may realize.