The Best Travel Credit Card for Beginners

The Best Travel Credit Card for Beginners

April 15, 2025

I have NEVER seen an offer this good, especially for the best travel credit card for beginners! We open a new credit card about every three months, but if I were to only have one credit card, it would be the Chase Sapphire Preferred. It’s my favorite travel credit card because your points go far, their travel portal is easy to use, and you can transfer your points to many different airlines and hotel brands.

An Amazing Offer From The Best Travel Credit Card for Beginners

For a limited time you can earn 105,000 points after spending $5,000 on the card in the first 3 months of opening a Chase Sapphire Preferred. If you use the travel portal to redeem your points, they are worth over $1,300 in free travel. The annual fee is $95 and will be on your first month’s bill. Be sure to use this link so you can get the sign-up bonus when you apply. 

If you’ve been thinking about opening a new credit card, this is the one you want to pick. The usual signup bonus is 60,000 points. Sometimes it will go up to 75-80,000 points, but 100,000 points is almost unheard of. On top of that, they are doing another crazy thing until June 15, 2025. For stays at certain hotels, 1 point equals $0.02 in redemption value. So if you jump on this quick enough, your 105,000 points can become $2,100 if free travel.

Why the Chase Sapphire is the Best Travel Credit Card for Beginners

If you don’t have a specific trip in mind, if you don’t know where you want to go, what airline you plan to use, or a certain hotel in mind, the Chase Sapphire is great because of how flexible it is. The travel portal is very similar to Expedia.com, so you can use your points to book flights on different airlines, hotels from almost any brand, rent a car, or book excursions.

When we went to Disneyland, we booked a hotel through the Chase travel portal for around $300 per night. The current promotion makes it 15,000 points per night. The Del Sol Inn is right by the entrance to Disneyland and is actually a shorter walk than walking to the parking garage. The kid rooms have bunk beds, a microwave, refrigerator, an outdoor pool, and parking for $30 per night (it’s $35 at Disneyland).

You can read here about how to pay for your tickets to Disneyland using points. I’ve already told you how much I love Southwest, so if you need more Southwest points, you can easily transfer your Chase points online. Here’s a list of other transfer partners:

• AerClub, loyalty program of Aer Lingus
• British Airways Executive Club
• Emirates Skywards®
• Air France KLM Flying Blue
• Iberia Plus
• JetBlue TrueBlue
• Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer
• Southwest Airlines Rapid Rewards®
• United MileagePlus®
• Virgin Atlantic Flying Club
• Air Canada Aeroplan
• IHG® One Rewards Club
• Marriott Bonvoy™
• World of Hyatt®

Another favorite of mine is the World of Hyatt because they have many all-inclusive properties for fairly good rates. The best place I’ve ever stayed is the Hyatt Ziva in Cancun, Mexico. The food is incredible, the entertainment is wonderful, and the property itself is just amazing. They even have dolphins on sight, I loved watching them play every day.

Random Facts About the Best Travel Credit Card for Beginners

A couple of little perks that I enjoy that end up paying for my annual fee are a complimentary DashPass and a monthly credit. I don’t use DashPass very often, but I love that the Chase Sapphire Preferred gives you up to $10 off an order every month on DoorDash non-restaurant orders. I get candy, soda, or junk food for my kids at 7-11 because they have a “pickup” option, so I don’t have to pay for delivery or any extra fees. If you do this every month it ends up being $120of free food, which is more than the $95 annual fee.

Remember to use this link so you can get the sign-up bonus when you apply. Do not add anyone as an "authorized user." After you are approved, you can get another bonus by referring your spouse and they can also get a sign-up bonus. If you add someone as an authorized user they can't get a sign-up bonus for their own card.

Something else to keep in mind, is that your points are associated with your credit card. If you close your card, you lose your points. You’ll either want to spend your points before you close your card, or pay the $95 annual fee to keep it open. You could also call to “downgrade” your card to one that doesn’t have an annual fee, but you lose many of the perks that come with the Chase Sapphire Preferred.

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How to Host a Great Bunco Night

How to Host a Great Bunco Night

April 14, 2025

I've played a dice game called Bunco for a few years and I'd love to share with you how to host a great Bunco night. I love hanging out with my friends, it’s getting it scheduled that seems impossible. Having a recurring event already on everyone’s calendar is one of my very favorite things. Bunco is an easy dice game that’s fun to play and gives us an excuse to get together.

How to Host a Great Bunco Night - Where to Start

First, find 11 friends that you want to hang out with once a month. It’s nice if you live within 30 minutes of each other. Then, pick a day and time that works for everyone. Ours meets on the second Tuesday of the month at 6 PM. We have dinner together, so 6 PM is a good starting time if we want to be done around 8 or 8:30, depending on how chatty we are.

Once I recruit all my friends, I send an email to make sure everyone understands the commitment. I always host first so everyone can get an idea of how it will work. Print out a spreadsheet with the months listed so people can sign up for when they would like to host. The email template and signup sheet are in my Bunco PDF that you can purchase.

Pay $10 via Venmo @jesgriffin and fill out the contact form with “bunco” in the subject line and I’ll send you the PDF.

How to Host a Great Bunco Night - When You Host

The host sends an email the week before, and everyone RSVPs to her. If someone can’t make it, she just asks another friend to be a sub. They don’t have to be an official member of the group, they can just show up for that week. It’s fun to meet some new friends too.

You’ll set up three tables: a high table (with a bell and a feather boa), a middle table, and a low table. Have an area for “binky gifts” and an area for the “cash.” The table signs, score sheets, and tally sheets are in my Bunco PDF that you can purchase.

Make dinner for 12 people with drinks and/or dessert. It’s always a good idea to ask if anyone has any dietary restrictions so the host can plan accordingly. It doesn’t have to be fancy, some people just order pizza. It’s not a cooking competition, I promise that everyone is just excited they don’t have to cook.

How to Host a Great Bunco Night - It's Time to Play

Everyone brings $5 towards the cash prizes, and an unwrapped gift worth $5. Part of the fun is taking home a gift at the end of the night and the chance of winning a cash prize. All the rules and how to distribute the cash prizes are in the Bunco PDF. I usually review the rules at the beginning of the night in case there are any subs that haven’t played before.

Pay $10 via Venmo @jesgriffin and fill out the contact form with “bunco” in the subject line and I’ll send you the PDF.

At the end of the night, we gather up the bell, dice, feather boa, signs, pens, rules, extra tally sheets, and score sheets. We put them all in a bag to give to whoever will be hosting next month. Some people don’t have a card table or enough chairs, so the group has some to share if needed.

It’s really fun to rotate houses every month and get to know people through food and a silly game. It’s a great bang for your buck because you cook dinner once and then someone else cooks dinner for you once a month for the rest of the year. You don’t have to start in January, find 11 friends, and start next month!

You could also just host it one time with any number of people, it just works best in multiples of 4. Once we had a party at church with 20 tables, that’s 80 women if you’re not good at math. It was so chaotic, but it was a blast! Whatever you decide, you’ll never regret getting together with your girlfriends.

My full-color Bunco PDF is only $10 and includes:

• Email templates for inviting friends and the monthly reminder
• Signup sheet
• Table signs
• How to host checklist
• Bunco rules
• How to distribute cash prizes
• Score sheets
• Table tally sheets

Pay $10 via Venmo @jesgriffin and fill out the contact form with “bunco” in the subject line and I’ll send you the PDF.

Why I Love Capital One Venture Card Miles

Why I Love Capital One Venture Card Miles

March 24, 2025

I love that Capital One Venture Card miles are flexible and easy to use. Right now they are offering the best sign-up bonus I have ever seen for this card. They haven’t said when the offer will end, just that it’s available for a limited time.

The sign-up bonus is 75,000 points (worth $750) and a travel credit of $250. The minimum spend is $4,000 in the first 3 months, so as soon as you spend $4,000 on that card, you’ll get $1,000 worth of free travel. The annual fee is only $95 and it will be on your first bill. Be sure to use this link so you can get the sign-up bonus when you apply.

How to Redeem Capital One Venture Card Miles

Most travel credit cards are locked into one airline or hotel company, making it difficult to get the exact vacation you were hoping for. The great thing about the Venture Card is that you can use the miles on anything that codes as “travel” on your bill. This makes the miles very flexible and valuable.

You can use Capital One Venture Miles on flights from any airline, any hotel company, any rental car company, for a cruise, bus tickets, train tickets, and the list goes on and on. You pay for these things using your Venture card, then log in to your account, click on “view rewards” then “redemptions” and you just erase the purchase off of your bill using your points. 100 points will “erase” $1, so your 75,000 points is worth $750.

The $250 travel credit works a bit differently. You use it toward purchases made through Capital One Travel Portal. The Credit may be used in whole for a single purchase or in part over multiple purchases. Keep in mind that credits expire a year after you open your account.

My Favorite Ways to Use Capital One Venture Card Miles

Hotels and plane tickets are easy to get for points, but what about tickets to Disneyland? There’s even a way to get them for FREE using credit card points. You need to purchase the tickets with your Capital One Venture card from a travel website like www.arestravel.com. They also have tickets to Universal Studios, LEGOLAND, Sea World and more.

If you buy them directly from Disney, it will not be coded as travel. If you get Disneyland tickets from a travel website, you can erase them from your bill. You have 90 days from the purchase to erase them, so you could even use the purchase of the tickets to help you meet your minimum spend, then erase them once you get the points

When I’m traveling with a large group I love staying at an Airbnb, but they don’t offer any credit card sign-up bonuses. You know I’m not about to pay with cash for a vacation, so what’s a girl to do? Luckily, Airbnb codes on your bill as “travel” so you can use your Capital One Venture Card miles. Victory is mine!

Some Things to Note About Capital One Venture Card Miles

Your miles are linked to your Capital One credit card account, so if you want to use the miles, you need to keep your account open. I usually close my card 11 months after I open it so I don't have to pay another annual fee, but if you haven't redeemed your miles yet, you would want to keep your credit card open.

Remember to use this link so you can get the sign-up bonus when you apply. Do not add anyone as an "authorized user." After you are approved, you can get another bonus by referring your spouse and they can also get a sign-up bonus. If you add someone as an authorized user they can't get a sign-up bonus for their own card.

Some people have asked if the Capital One Venture X card is worth it, and the short answer is “no.” I wouldn’t get it because it has a higher annual fee, $395 instead of $95. They will give you a $300 travel credit to help offset the higher fee, but the math just doesn’t make sense to me, pay $300 to get a $300 credit.

Other Perks From The Capital One Venture Card

If you want to skip security lines at the airport, you can receive a statement credit of up to $120 for Global Entry or TSA PreCheck. You can also enjoy a $50 experience credit and other premium benefits with every hotel and vacation rental booked from the Lifestyle Collection. I’ve never tried either of these options, but they sound great.

If you aren’t into travel you can also use your miles to pay for purchases on Amazon.com or use them at other online retailers that take PayPal. You can also redeem your miles for physical or digital gift cards. You can even get cash back, either as a statement credit or a check.

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How I Make Bread

How I Make Bread

March 21, 2025

I’d love to share with you how I make bread. For the longest time, I was intimidated by making bread from scratch. I thought it was difficult or required fancy techniques or equipment. I don’t know what gave me that impression, humans have been making bread for thousands of years. Jesus said "Man shall not live by bread alone," but sometimes I wonder if a woman like me could. If they could make it in Bible times, surely it can’t be that hard.

We hopped on the sourdough bandwagon for a while, but I didn’t like the pressure of needing to feed my starter all the time and bake bread so often. No one is the boss of me, especially not some weird blob of flour and water in my fridge. So instead, I have perfected a couple of simple recipes using instant yeast that you can make when you actually want to. Is anything better than the smell of freshly baked bread?

How I Make No-Knead Artisan Bread

I love a loaf of rustic, crusty artisan bread with big holes inside. Probably what we all think of when we think of a sourdough loaf. It’s so easy to make, it’s stupid. It’s literally just water, flour, salt, and yeast. You don’t need a mixer or even to knead it, you just need time.

I combine everything in a glass bowl in the morning, cover it with plastic wrap, and bake it while I’m making dinner. You can also let it rise overnight and cook it in the morning. It just needs 8-12 hours to rise. The secret is to bake it at a high temperature with a lid for part of the time. For best results, I use a ceramic dish with a lid like this one. You could also use a Dutch oven like this one.

You can add “everything bagel seasoning” to the top. WinCo sells it, or you can make your own. I’ve also added rosemary and thyme to the dough for herb bread that’s especially good with beef stew. You can add garlic and/or cheese to the dough. Or just leave it plain and slather some butter on there or dip it in some olive oil and balsamic vinegar, now we’re talking.

How I Make Crescent Rolls

I grew up making crescent rolls with my mom and I love making them with my kids. Not to be confused with croissants, the fancy French pastry that I made once in 2020, but never tried making again. Crescent rolls are very easy to make. Again, it’s just time that you need. They take 3-4 hours to rise, so you need to plan ahead. But I’m telling you, it’s worth it.

If you have a KitchenAid or similar stand mixer, that really comes in handy for sandwich bread and dinner rolls, including crescents. There’s no way I’m going to knead my dough by hand, just no. If you don’t have one, they are pretty pricey, but you can usually find them for sale second-hand on Facebook marketplace.

This recipe can also be used to make sandwich bread, just cook it in a loaf pan, and it works great. You can shape the dough into breadsticks or garlic knots. Just top them with melted butter, garlic powder, salt, and grated parmesan cheese. I also use the same recipe for pizza dough when we’re making homemade pizza. You don’t need to let it rise at all, so it’s a super quick dinner. I’ve also used this as the base for cinnamon rolls.

With a little planning, you can make delicious bread for your family or impress your friends at the next potluck. Your secret will be safe with me that it costs like $0.14 to make that fancy loaf of artisan bread. I promise you’ll feel like a domestic goddess when you start baking your own bread. Give it a try and let me know how it goes.

Southwest Airlines Companion Pass Promotion

Southwest Airlines Companion Pass Promotion

March 18, 2025

You don't want to miss the limited-time Southwest Airlines Companion Pass promotion. If you apply by March 31, 2025, you can get a sign-up bonus of 30,000 points and a Companion Pass good until 2/28/26. 

The Companion Pass is amazing because someone can fly with you for free on EVERY ticket you purchase. I guess you do have to pay $11.20 in fees for round-trip domestic flights, but that's basically free. You can apply using my link and you'll need to spend $4,000 on that card in the first three months to get the bonuses. The annual fee is only $69 and it will be on your first month's bill.

I love Southwest because can usually find cheap flights and their website is easy to navigate whether you’re searching for flights using points or dollars. I love it because they don’t play any games with the points, if it’s available for cash, it’s available for points. Prices are released about 7 months ahead, but I like that because the pressure is off to plan trips too far in advance. 

My family flew from Salt Lake City, UT to Kahului (Maui), HI for 21,691 points each. Fees are only $11.20 for round-trip domestic flights, including Hawaii. The fees to Mexico are quite a bit more because they are international flights, but we’ve flown to Puerto Villarta, Cabo San Lucas, and Cancun for less than $150. 

Offers change all the time and for some reason, Southwest has three different personal cards and two business cards. It can be confusing, but take a deep breath and I'll walk you through it. When I'm deciding which card to apply for, I look at the number of points earned vs. the annual fee. The Plus usually is the best personal card because it has the lowest annual fee and the same sign-up bonus as the Premier and the Priority cards. For the business card, I’m willing to pay the higher annual fee, because there is a higher sign-up bonus with the Performance Business Card. 

How the Southwest Rapid Rewards® Plus Credit Card Helps You Earn A Companion Pass

The very best thing about Southwest is the Companion Pass. If you missed the March 31 application date or you want to have a Companion Pass for almost two years, you can get one by earning 135,000 points in one calendar year. 

First, you’ll want to open a business credit card in mid-October. BUT, make sure you do NOT meet the minimum spend until January. This will be the third month you have the card open. If you meet the minimum spend too early, your points will be added to your account in December and the plan won’t work. 

Next, you’ll open a personal card in January. If you get the sign-up bonus from the business card in January and the sign-up bonus from the personal card in March you’ll earn 135,000 points in the same calendar year. The coveted Companion Pass is yours, commence evil genius laugh.

Not only will you have buy one get one free tickets for the rest of the year, but you’ll also have it for the next calendar year. And you can use the 135,000 points to “buy” your tickets, so you won’t have to pay cash for your tickets for quite some time. 

You can change your “companion” up to 3 times a year. You used to have to call and wait on hold to do this, but now you can easily change the person who will fly with you for free online. I went to New York with my daughter as my companion, then I changed it to my husband for our family trip to Maui, and then I changed it to my sister when we went on a girl's trip to Florida. One year, my sister took each of her kids on a solo trip, what a fun Christmas present that was for them.

Do not add anyone as an "authorized user" when you are applying for a credit card. If you add someone as an authorized user they won't be able to get a sign-up bonus for their own card. Because it lasts for almost two years, I'll earn a Companion Pass and then two years later I'll refer my husband. Then he can earn his own. So every two years we alternate who has a Companion Pass. Yes, they will give you another sign-up bonus every two years, crazy I know.

Big Changes for Southwest

Southwest recently changed some of the long-standing perks that made them stand out, but credit card holders can still get a free checked bag. They are also doing away with open seating, but some people see this as a positive change. One last thing I love about the Southwest Credit Card is that your points are not associated with Chase or your credit card. I like to close my credit card 11 months later so I don’t have to pay another annual fee, but the points stay in my Rapid Rewards account so I can keep them even after I close the credit card. 

Here’s a Summary of The Best Southwest Credit Card Offers:

Southwest Rapid Rewards Performance Business (use this link when you apply)

• The sign-up bonus is usually 80,000 points (apply in mid-October)
• The minimum spend is $5,000 in the first 3 months (be sure NOT to meet this before January)
• The annual fee is $199
• Also apply for the personal card to get the Companion Pass for the next two years 

Southwest Rapid Rewards Plus (use this link when you apply)

• The sign-up bonus is usually 40-60,000 points
• The minimum spend is usually $4,000 in the first 3 months
• The annual fee is $69
• Apply in January after you meet the minimum spend on the Performance Business card

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What Is The Best Curriculum For Homeschooling?

What Is The Best Curriculum For Homeschooling?

March 16, 2025

The best curriculum for homeschooling is probably different for every family. Part of the appeal of homeschooling is the ability to choose what and how each of us teaches our children. I love all the choices out there, but it can be overwhelming. 

A great place to start is cathyduffyreviews.com. She has a nice summary of what the curriculum is like, how much the parent is involved, the religious perspective, the educational methods, and the approach. It was very helpful to read a little about each curriculum from the same person, which was hopefully objective.

I started homeschooling my three kids in 2020 and we’ve tried a few curriculums for all of the subjects. I like to mix and match for each subject because each company has its strengths and weaknesses. Why not find the best curriculum that each company specializes in? 

Our kids do individual grade-specific work for Math and Language Arts, and we do Science and History together as a family. For the combined subjects I just pick the grade in between my oldest and youngest. For example, last year my kids were in 4th, 6th, and 7th grade so we did 6th grade science and 5th grade History. I gave my oldest more challenging assignments and my younger one got to skip some things. We may not be able to do this as they get into high school, but it has worked well so far.

The Best Curriculum For Homeschooling - Science

I love BJU for Science. We’ve used the textbooks for three years now. They have different topics for every chapter, and different scientific fields every 2-3 chapters, so the kids don’t get bored. If I’m honest, I can’t do a whole year of the same type of science, it gets old for me too. 

They have a colorful worksheet that goes with the reading every day, easy experiments in every chapter, fun ideas for projects throughout, and tests if you like to see if your kids are retaining the information. They incorporate the Bible often and I just can’t recommend it enough. They offer videos, but we like to take turns reading the textbooks together out loud. 

Here’s the table of contents for BJU Science 6:

The Best Curriculum For Homeschooling - History

Since I love BJU for science, this year we tried it for history, and we loved it as well. They call it Heritage Studies and it’s a good mix of history, geography, and social studies. Last year we did the Story of the World, my son especially loved it, but it wasn’t quite as open and go as I like. It really is a story that needed me to do lots of prep to make sure they were learning the things I would like them to know. 

I prefer vocabulary words and concepts throughout, so BJU provides a more traditional style that I’m looking for. They also go back and forth from world history to American history about every other year. 

Here is the table of contents for Heritage Studies 5:

The Best Curriculum For Homeschooling - Math

We love Teaching Textbooks for Math! The kids watch a short video every day that is about 5-10 minutes long. They are cartoon-style videos with a pleasant male voice, the kids enjoy them because they aren’t too cutesy or too grown up. They work through 5-10 practice problems and 22 review problems from all the lessons they’ve done so far. Their work is corrected as they go so if they don’t understand something we can work on it right away. Since I have three kids in three different grades, it was very difficult for me to keep up with correcting their previous math textbooks. I like the immediate feedback of the computer correcting their work.

Teaching Textbooks seems to be a bit on the easy side if your kids do well in math. We took the placement tests and all my kids went up a grade. It starts in 3rd grade and if you follow their sequence, kids will only be in Pre-Calculus by their senior year of high school, which is similar to the “normal path” in public school. My son is planning a career in the STEM field, so we ended up switching to Shormann Math for 7th grade. The videos are more lecture-style and quite a bit longer, closer to 30-40 minutes. The interface is not quite as user-friendly, but he still enjoys it and says he wants to stick with it.

The Best Curriculum For Homeschooling - Language Arts

We used IEW last year and really enjoyed it. They are video-based and Mr. Pudewa is great! He’s funny and you can tell he cares about kids and loves to teach. The videos are 20-30 minutes long on Monday and Tuesday, then they work on writing an essay the rest of the week. It’s quite rigorous, but it’s only 24 weeks, so you can take more time if you need to. He rotates between narrative and informative pieces, so the kids stay engaged with the materials. Last year my kids did the Structure and Style for Students: Year 1 Level A all together and it worked out great, they were in 4th, 6th, and 7th grade. The curriculum also has different levels of Fix It! Grammar where the kids “fix” the grammar in one sentence every day.

Even though we liked IEW, it is a bit repetitive to have to write an essay every week, so this year we tried EIW. Who comes up with these names and could it be more confusing? Sorry, back to the curriculum. There are short 5-minute videos about every other day, and the kids have a workbook they work on every day. We didn’t love it or hate it. It’s a nice mix of grammar and writing, but I supplemented it with Building Spelling Skills. My son who’s in 7th grade is also using the Literature curriculum, and it’s fine. They seem to finish quickly and I’m not sure if it’s quite enough material, so we will be going back to IEW next year.

We belong to an amazing co-op with other local homeschool families, so my kids can do many of their electives there. My house is littered with arts and crafts projects in various stages. My son loves to code in his free time, and there are plenty of opportunities for home ec and gardening around our house so we don’t have any formal elective curriculum. I made a resource with other popular curriculum options, so fill out the contact form with "homeschool curriculum" as the message and I'll send you a free PDF.

What Is Travel Hacking and Other FAQs

What Is Travel Hacking and Other FAQs

March 14, 2025

My quick definition of travel hacking is opening new credit cards to get a large amount of points that you can use for travel expenses. There’s more to learn, but if you can remember new cards equals lots of points, you’re on the right track. Some people think you can just open one card to earn points, but that’s not a hack. 

My husband and I have opened 32 cards in the last eight years, but you can start with one and go from there. We’ve earned 2,674,774 points and gone on at least 18 trips, almost for free. We still have to pay fees on our flights, and some other things, but it's a fraction of what we would normally spend.

What Does It Take?

Travel hacking isn't for everyone. You need a decent handle on your finances and shouldn’t hate keeping track of financial details. You don’t have to have a comprehensive budget, but you should have an idea of how much you spend in a month and you should be willing to check your accounts regularly. Here's a checklist to see if this could work for you and your family:

• You can easily pay off your credit card bill IN FULL and ON TIME every month.
• You are somewhat organized and can track when you opened cards, so you can close them before the annual fee next year.
• You spend at least $1,700 per month that you could charge to a credit card.

Some people are tempted to use their credit card to pay their rent or mortgage, but if it will charge a fee, use another form of payment. Don’t pay extra fees just for the credit card points. If you can’t meet the “minimum spend” with your normal living expenses like groceries, gas, bills, and shopping this might not be for you.

Who Should Avoid Travel Hacking?

If your style is more, “fly by the seat of your pants” when it comes to money or if paying your bills on time isn’t your jam, travel hacking may not be the best idea. You may end up paying more fees and become frustrated with the process. I don't want people to go into debt or make unwise financial decisions just to get credit card points. If any of these describe you, you may not be a good candidate for travel hacking:

• If you use credit cards to make it from one paycheck to the next.
• If you have trouble paying off your bill IN FULL every month.
• If you have trouble remembering to pay off your bill ON TIME every month.
• If you struggle with staying organized and/or keeping track of details.
• If you have a poor credit rating. You can still try to apply, you just may not be approved. Many of the credit cards that offer good sign-up bonuses require good credit scores.
• If you are about to apply for a large loan such as a mortgage and can not withstand a 3-5 point decrease in your credit score, this may not be for you.

Do You Use One Card For Your Daily Expenses?

Never! The way to earn a substantial amount of points is to open new credit cards. Even if a card is offering 5-10x bonus on your spending, it’s never going to add up to as much as a sign-up bonus. Say you spend about $2,000 per month, with the price of groceries and gas, that’s not too hard to imagine. Say you get 2 points per dollar spent (that’s a pretty decent average). You would only get 48,000 points in that year. If instead, you opened a new card every 2 months, you could get up to 300,000 in that same time spending the same amount of money. 

Comparing Points Earned the "Normal Way vs. Travel Hacking"

Where Should I Start?

There are so many options out there, it can be hard to know where to start. Here are my three favorite credit cards with the most flexibility.

• Capital One Venture (use this link to get the sign-up bonus)
• Chase Sapphire Preferred (use this link to get the sign-up bonus)
• Southwest Rapid Rewards Plus (use this link to get the sign-up bonus)

How Often Should I Open a New Credit Card?

• We open a new card about every 3-4 months, but you can decide how often you'd like to open new cards. Maybe you want to start with one and see how it goes.
• Chase will only let you open 5 new credit cards in 24 months. Travel Hackers refer to this as the Chase 5/24 rule.
• You and your spouse can both do this, so it's actually 10 cards in 24 months or a new card every 2.4 months. As soon as you meet a "minimum spend" for the new card, it will give you your sign-up bonus. It's not benefitting you anymore, so you can move on to the next one.
• There are more cards than just Chase. Capital One, American Express, Citi, and other banks offer great sign-up bonuses.

I know it seems like there’s so much to learn, but I promise you can do this. Post your questions in the comments, I’m here to help! 

If you liked this post, you may also like:

• Traveling Hacks - How to Travel for Free (Almost)
• Southwest Airlines Companion Pass Promotion
• Why I Love Capital One Venture Card Miles 

What Can I Cook For Dinner Tonight? (with free PDF)

What Can I Cook For Dinner Tonight? (with free PDF)

March 13, 2025

Why does it seem like every single day I’m asking “What can I cook for dinner tonight?” Whatever I choose, one of the kids will inevitably say “Ugh, I hate that!” And if I’m honest, it doesn’t sound that great to me either. So I end up making grilled cheese sandwiches again. Or I get a hot and ready pizza because it’s not any cheaper to make dinner myself. 

I love cooking for my family, it’s deciding what to cook that’s the real challenge. There is a better way. It starts with a guided brainstorming session and a plan. Then you won’t dread the question that we all have to answer every single night: “What’s for dinner?”

Find Some Good Cookbooks

I wanted to make a list of go-to dinners that are easy to make that most of my family won’t complain about. Many people find recipes online, but I hate how long it takes to scroll through all the sites and stories about your grandma and all the variations and I just can’t. When I do find one I like, I can never remember which one I actually ended up using, so I can’t find it when I want to make it again. 

I prefer a cookbook with real pages I can thumb through to get inspired. There’s something about a well-loved page smeared with soy sauce or butter stains because I’ve come back again and again to this tried and true recipe. I found that most of the recipes I love came mainly from two cookbooks.

Real Simple is great because it’s divided by season and the title is not wrong, they’re easy and delicious recipes. It has beautiful pictures, so it's very easy to get inspired. They are a bit on the gourmet side, but nothing too weird.

Betty Crocker is a classic that I grew up with and the recipes have stood the test of time. I use it most often when I'm baking, but there are some good dinner ideas that I use as well.

Natasha’s Kitchen was recommended to me by a friend and I’ve been eyeing it for a while. Her website has a bunch of recipes I’d like to try, so let me know what you think.

Make a Recipe Bank

For my brainstorming session, it helped me to think in terms of protein. I wanted to find five recipes that used four different proteins: beef, chicken, pork, and seafood/other. Then I tried to think of categories like Mexican, Asian, Italian, etc. My family likes to eat flavorful foods from lots of different cultures. But if your family enjoys more traditional all-American recipes, no judgment here. I want you to find something that gets you excited and that you would look forward to eating. 

Having 20 recipes is a great starting point. My recipe bank is always a work in progress. Sometimes I find a new recipe I want to try, so I add to it. Sometimes meals don’t go as well as I hoped they would, so I cross them off. I have my recipe bank printed on my fridge so I can mark it off when I make each dish. Once all the recipes are marked off, I start over.

Leftovers Are Key

The next secret is making a plan to only cook three nights a week. Leftovers are a girl's best friend because you get a delicious home-cooked meal without the work. If your family isn’t into leftovers, just encourage them to give it a try, it’s not going to kill them to eat the same thing two days in a row. It will save you time and money too. 

Some nights are busier than others, so even if you cook two nights in a row, just plan to have leftovers the next two nights. But definitely plan to cook enough food that your whole family can eat the same meal for two nights. For example, I work late on Wednesday nights, so we usually have leftovers that night.

 My Meal Plan For The Week

Make a Plan For The Week

I like to plan on the weekend, so my week starts on Monday. Then I go grocery shopping for the week all at once. If you cook three times a week your 20 recipes will get you through almost 7 weeks. If you only have recipes you love, you’ll always be excited to cook. This has been a game-changer for me. 

Fill out the contact form with "meal plan" as the message and I'll send you a free PDF. You can print the Weekly Meal Plan, laminate or frame it to use it again and again. There's also a Recipe Bank you can print and fill up with all your favorite recipes. I hope these tools will inspire you and help you stay organized. Drop a comment with some of your go-to dinners that your family loves.

Let's Go To Lagoon, Cheap Tickets and Discounts

Let's Go To Lagoon, Cheap Tickets and Discounts

March 07, 2025

My kids are always enticed by the big amusement park they can see from the freeway. If I'm going to take my kids to Lagoon, cheap tickets and discounts are a must. For my family of five to go, we'd have to pay over $525, which is a big chunk of change for just one day of fun. It really is such a great time that I end up giving in and we go once a year. Don't worry, you know I've found some ways to get tickets for less.

Lagoon, Cheap Tickets for Homeschoolers

Homeschool families get one of the best deals and can save almost 50%. There's a Facebook Group specifically for discounted Lagoon tickets for homeschoolers, the downside is that it's only on certain days. This year you can go on May 9, 15, 20, 21, or 22.

Tickets are normally $99 at the gate, but if you go with the homeschool group they're only $55, including tax. The lady who runs the group has very detailed rules, so be sure to read through them if you'd like to go. Another nice thing is that parking is free, so you can save another $20. 

More Fun for Not Much More Money

If you don't homeschool or you can't go to Lagoon on May 15, the Get Out Pass is a pretty good deal. I love it because it's only $10 more than the price of a Lagoon ticket and you get to go to Lagoon and a bunch of other fun places. Splash Summit has become a family favorite for us, and we probably never would have discovered it or other cool venues if we didn’t have the pass. It activates when you use it for the first time and then you have a year to go to anything listed on their website. 

To get the most value from my pass, I planned out an activity to do every week or two. We ended up getting $2,150 worth of fun. If you use my coupon code Griffin2, you can get your tickets for $109.95 (regular price $169.95). Be sure to check "Lagoon Included" and I recommend using the "Gift Voucher" option because then you can decide when your 365 days of fun will start.

Free Season Passes to Lagoon

If you’d rather get season passes, there's a way to get them for free. Season passes are $229, so for my family of five, we’re talking about spending over $1,100. No thanks! Lagoon typically relies on teenagers to work for them, so they struggle to find people to work while school is still in session. 

To attract parents they offer 4 season passes or 16 single-day passes if you work 7 shifts and at least 45 hours. It’s not a bad deal. You can even earn 2 more season passes or 4 more single-day passes if you work 4 additional shifts. There are certain days that you have to work, so check out all the details at lagoonpark.com. I have a couple friends that have done it and they say it's actually pretty fun.

Other Lagoon Discounts

During the summer they usually offer a deal like "purchase 2 regular single-day passports for the price of 1 after 2pm." I like to plan ahead, so I've often already gone to Lagoon by the time I remember that they do this. They also offer big discounts for groups of 25 or more people, so if you get a group a friends together you'll get about 23% off, you can find details on lagoonparks.com. 

The website says that Bounce Back has been discontinued, but I think they just changed the name and you can still go a second time for $30, at least you could last year. If you want to go more than once or twice, the season pass is still probably the best deal.

Ideas to Save Money at Lagoon

You can bring your own food, and even alcohol into the park. So we like to pack some snacks, meals, and now that I know, I may have to literally BYOB. It's common practice leave coolers on one of the picnic tables under an awning and I've never had a problem with anyone messing with our stuff. 

Parking is $20-30, and a season parking pass will set you back $85. When we go, we like to park across the street at Station Park and ride the free shuttle that runs every 30 minutes. Just be sure to check to UTA website for when the last shuttle comes back, because sometimes its before the park closes. One time we missed the last shuttle and had to cram in with our friends to get back to our car. Always an adventure with the Griffins, it's all part of the fun! 

Leave a comment with your favorite ride, I really love the Cannibal even though I feel like I'm going to die every time I ride it.

Traveling Hacks - How to Travel for Free (Almost)

Traveling Hacks - How to Travel for Free (Almost)

March 03, 2025

I love a good life hack or shortcut, but I especially love it when a life hack will save me money. I’ve discovered a traveling hack that will allow you to travel almost for free. We’ve used this trick to visit to all-inclusive resorts, Europe, and go on some pretty epic road trips. How do we do this without spending much money? Three words: credit card points.

Traveling Hacks Using Credit Card Sign-Up Bonuses

Many people have a credit card that earns them points, but saving enough points for just one plane ticket requires a considerable amount of points and can take years. Ain’t nobody got time for that. The secret is opening a new credit card to get a sign-up bonus. This will give you a large amount of points in just a couple months, instead of having to wait so long to accumulate points. This is what some people refer to as “Travel Hacking.”

How Does It Work?

1. Open a new credit card that provides a substantial sign-up bonus if you spend a specific amount of money within a designated time frame, this is known as a minimum spend.
2. Use this credit card to pay for all of your daily expenses, including gas, groceries, bills, and even offering at church (if you're into that).
3. Pay your card off in full and on time each month.
4. Once you meet the minimum spend, you will receive your sign-up bonus points. Utilize your points for free flights, hotel stays, excursions, car rentals, Disneyland tickets, and more.
5. Return to step one and open another credit card, this is how you can really rack up the points. You can refer your spouse to get even more points.
6. I like to close the card 11 months after opening it to avoid incurring another annual fee.

Some of My Favorite Travel Credit Cards

Capital One Venture (use this link to get the sign-up bonus)

• Sign-up bonus is 75,000 points (worth $750) right now they’re offering an additional $250 travel credit (this is the best bonus I’ve ever seen for this card).
• Minimum spend is $4,000 in the first 3 months
• Annual fee is $95
• Use points to “erase” any travel purchase. The travel portal makes it easy to remove travel purchases off your bill using your points.

Chase Sapphire Preferred (use this link to get the sign-up bonus)

• Sign-up bonus is 60,000 points (worth $750 in the Chase travel portal)
• Minimum spend is $4,000 in the first 3 months
• Annual fee is $95
• Points can be transferred to many hotels and airlines

Southwest Rapid Rewards Plus (use this link to get the sign-up bonus)

• Sign-up bonus is 30,000 points and a Companion Pass (buy one get one free plane tickets on EVERY ticket bought with points or cash) until 2/28/26
• Minimum spend is $4,000 in the first 3 months
• Annual fee is $69 
• Southwest is one of my favorite airlines for domestic flights as well as flights to Mexico, the Caribbean, and other tropical locations.

Some Things to Keep in Mind

• You usually have to pay the annual fee up front on your first credit card statement.
• DO NOT put your spouse as an authorized user because you can refer your spouse to receive a referral bonus (usually 10-20,000 extra points).
• When you're applying for a card, PLEASE use my referral links so I can get a bonus too:)

Travel hacking has become somewhat of a hobby for me. It’s so fun to figure out what card I want to open next so I can plan another free vacation! I hope you can also enjoy the process and travel almost for free.

If you liked this post about Traveling Hacks, you might also like:

• What Is Travel Hacking and Other FAQs
• Southwest Airlines Companion Pass Promotion
• Why I Love Capital One Venture Card Miles

Nice to meet you!

Nice to meet you!

February 22, 2025

Hello, my name is Jessica Griffin. I am a mom of three who loves Jesus and saving money. I married my high school sweetheart and we live in northern Utah with our crazy dog, Buster. I work part-time as a pharmacist and I homeschool my younger two kids. My motto would probably be something like, "Work hard now, so you can play later." I love doing all the work of planning all the things, so I've decided to start a blog to share my ideas. 

My life isn't just about saving money; it's more about evaluating if something I spend my money on will really add value to my life. Can I find a way to do what I want to do for free or at least a good deal? This means I'm always looking for ways to have fun with my family and friends, eat delicious food, and go to cool places while spending less money. 

I also try to be intentional with my time and I love to develop systems to make my day-to-day life easier. Come along with me as I share what I've learned about travel hacking, some of my favorite recipes, home organization tips, party planning ideas, homeschooling stuff, gardening, and other random family fun. Griffin, party of 5, your blog is ready.