Travel Party of 5 | Points & Miles for Family Travel

Family Travel Q&A - How to know when your kids will appreciate a trip? And MORE!

• Raya & Duane

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This is the tripod we have for our cell phones - comes with a bluetooth shutter.

Q&A Style episode today! We are answering questions like - What types of rooms do we book to make one hotel room work for a family of 5? 

Also, balancing family vacations with some adult time might seem challenging (because it is) but we're sharing our best tips for sneaking in couple-time during family trips, from booking suites and balcony rooms to utilizing hotel babysitting services and kids clubs. 

Also - how to take good family photos on vacation, creative ways to meet a minimum spend and more. 

Planning a trip that keeps everyone happy, especially in historically rich destinations, can be challenging. We offer insights on aligning travel plans with your kids’ interests and managing expectations when they seem indifferent. 

Plus, get creative tips for managing Christmas shopping and meeting credit card minimum spends—everything from FSA reimbursements to strategic big-ticket purchases. Tune in for what we hope are lots of tips and inspiration to make your family travel experiences both memorable and low stress. 

*Some links may be affiliate links - thank you for supporting our free content, we are so grateful for you!

Speaker 1:

Today's episode is a Q&A style with some of our most asked questions by both listeners and friends, and I hope you enjoy it. Tune in. Catch you there. Hi, I'm Raya.

Speaker 2:

And I'm Dwayne.

Speaker 1:

And we are your hosts of the Travel Party of Five podcast, where we share how we travel as a family of five around the world.

Speaker 2:

We will also share how we use points and miles to travel as affordably as possible and sometimes even completely free.

Speaker 1:

So if you're wanting to travel more with your family but you're not sure how, we'd love for you to listen in.

Speaker 2:

So welcome to our podcast, where we hope you learn a thing or two to get you closer to your next trip.

Speaker 1:

I'm just waiting for Dwayne to make fun of me for my intro. Catch you there.

Speaker 2:

I'm here, catch me so, so catchy.

Speaker 1:

Hi, welcome back to Travel Party of Five podcast. Happy Labor Day.

Speaker 2:

Yes, thanks for tuning in. Happy Labor Day.

Speaker 1:

Today is Labor Day. When this episode airs. We will be heading home from our stay in huntington beach. Why are you looking at me? Weird? Oh, I forget yeah, so yeah, we are staying at the hyatt regency, huntington beach, and next week's episode will be all about that, so I'm excited. Should be a good time.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, we've heard great things about that place. Family friendly yeah, super family friendly.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, and we might have some friends joining us for a day at the pool, so we're looking forward to that. So we've gotten some questions recently from like listeners and also from friends and on Instagram, and so I thought we would do a Q&A style episode. We've got five questions, I think five, and so let's, let's jump right in, I think. Oh, you know, I'm sorry. Let me do a quick reminder. This is the last week that our giveaway for podcast reviews is active, so it will expire on September 7. And and we will choose a winner, and if you haven't listened to the last couple of episodes, we're doing a 50 giveaway in exchange for podcast reviews. If you leave a podcast review and send us an email with a screenshot of it, you will be entered to win a 50 gift card to the store of your choice. And I'm just gonna say we've gotten a few reviews so far, which we're super grateful for.

Speaker 1:

But I still feel like if you are going to enter like your chances are good, so keep them coming we thank you for those that have already sent a review yes, we are super appreciative, appreciative of that yes, thank you so much okay, let's jump into the questions.

Speaker 2:

You want to read the first one yeah, I'm, I'm going to read all the questions. So the first question is what kind kinds of rooms do you book to fit a family of five?

Speaker 1:

Yes, this is a super good question, and we can both share our opinions on this, because they differ a little bit, but I'll tell you what's important to me when I'm looking at the rooms and, as a side note, our kids are currently 10, 7, and 4. In the next six months, though, they will be 11, 8, and 5. So our kids are younger. We don't have teenagers, but if you have kids that are similar ages, this is what we do. So, number one, when I'm looking at the rooms, when I see two double beds, that is my nemesis, yep.

Speaker 2:

Doesn't work.

Speaker 1:

I hate that. I die a little inside, and here's why I am a person who is flexible on a lot of things, but my sleep is not one of them.

Speaker 2:

No, it's not.

Speaker 1:

I just listen. I can go, go, go all day, but in order for me to be a happy person, I need to have slept the night before. Okay, that's my, that's my only requirement and coffee and coffee.

Speaker 1:

Sleep and coffee. Those are the things I need. Okay, so I am aware of this, when I'm booking Two double beds is not a good fit for our family. We can make it work if we don't have another choice, but if we have another choice, I'm going to choose that always. So, in the event we have to book a room with two double beds, we are going to request a pack and play and our, our youngest, will sleep in that. She's pretty small for her age tiny.

Speaker 1:

I do feel like in the next year she's probably going to get too big for the pack and play, but for now it works and she is used to it and she is happy to sleep in there. So she doesn't mind, she likes it. It's not a. And then we will likely also bring an air mattress for our oldest to sleep in, and so he doesn't love that, I'll say.

Speaker 2:

I don't love it either. I just hate hauling it around and then having to pump it up.

Speaker 1:

Are you meaning like on road trips, or even like we brought it once when we, when we flew, we just packed it in a suitcase?

Speaker 2:

Yeah, I just feel like it takes up space.

Speaker 1:

I mean, it is bulky but it's not that bulky. I mean I don't know, I'm not the one who blows it up, I mean it is, it comes in a box, it's yeah it just takes up space.

Speaker 2:

Not a fan, I mean it's helpful for us in our situation, but I don't like to do it.

Speaker 1:

I mean, it's also like an air mattress, it's a twin air mattress that we've had for a long time. Like I bet you there are better options and I just haven't even bothered to look. No, like I don't know. Um, but so our oldest, he doesn't love it, but I mean, I bring, I pack a sheet for it, you know, like it's fine, and I, just when he doesn't love it, I'm kind of like, well, like when I was 11, 12, my parents, we traveled in an RV and my parents made me sleep outside in a tent while they slept inside the RV in campgrounds.

Speaker 2:

So nice of them.

Speaker 1:

So I just, you know, when he's complaining about having to sleep on the floor in an air mattress in a cozy hotel room with the rest of his family, like I, my sympathy is low, you know so. And I mean, our middle could sleep on it too, but he's the smaller one, and so what usually happens is him and Dwayne will share a bed, and then I will sleep in a double bed by myself, which sounds a little selfish, I know, by myself, which sounds a little selfish, I know, but Dwayne can fall asleep at the drop of a hat, and I require a sacrifice to the gods to fall asleep.

Speaker 2:

And I don't need that much sleep.

Speaker 1:

That's also true. He needs less sleep than me and I like. Once I am woken up, it's really hard for me to go back to sleep. So double beds are my nemesis. I avoid them at all costs. But two queen beds works fine. The other thing we do a lot is a king bed and a sofa bed. So if there's a sofa bed then we'll do a king bed. Duane and and I will have the bed, and sometimes our youngest will sleep in the bed with us, and sometimes she does the pack and play.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, I don't really mind that situation.

Speaker 1:

I mean, I know, you don't.

Speaker 2:

No. I would prefer she sleep in the bed with us Raya hates it when one of the kids sleeps in the bed with us.

Speaker 1:

I don't hate it, I just don't sleep as good, yeah, so I have no problem, even though they kick and hit me all through the night, but yes it's not gonna last forever that's true.

Speaker 1:

I know it's perspective. Sometimes I need perspective. Uh, the other thing that sometimes you can do, if you can swing it, is you can get a suite. So when we stay at Huntington Beach which again we'll talk about on the next episode we actually did a suite, and the reason I did that was because that was the only thing available when I booked and so it was more points.

Speaker 1:

But I was kind of like, well, I guess we'll try this out, and I'm pretty sure that there have been regular rooms that have opened up on points since then.

Speaker 1:

But I just decided, well, I already used the points, so we're going to take advantage of the suite, and so it's a one bedroom suite, so it'll have, like it has like a king bed, and then in the living room it has a sofa bed, and so I'm anticipating the two kids will sleep, the two kids will sleep, the two boys will sleep on the sofa bed and our daughter will sleep in a pack and play next to it, and then we'll have the bed. So if you have the points and you can swing it, then do a suite, because you'll definitely get more space. That's actually a big reason. That we were trying to get globalist status is because part of what you get is, you know, upgrades to a standard suite if they're available. So if you're a bigger family and you travel a lot, I think the status makes sense. The other thing is if you're outside the us like we cram five people into a room in the us no problem no problem but if you're outside the us you just can't.

Speaker 1:

The occupancy laws are different yeah, it's much more strict so you need two rooms.

Speaker 1:

So every place we stay in europe and japan next year, we have two rooms booked at each hotel. As a side note, the way we did that is one under my name, one under dwayne's, because that will allow us to get the brand explorer on his account as well, because once he gets to five the status is on my account, but once he gets to five he can get a free night. And so that's the thought process there. And then, as far as extending the status to both rooms, my plan is to email the hotel and just ask them, and if not, I have some what's called guest of honor things that I can apply to your reservation, I believe. So it's a we'll have to wait and see kind of a thing, but I don't know.

Speaker 1:

I hope that was helpful, that's how we fit a family of five, and those are the types of rooms we book.

Speaker 2:

Yep, Okay. Second question how to do family vacation with adult time when you have small kids?

Speaker 1:

Oh yeah, this one is the. I mean, these kind of go a little bit hand in hand. I feel like, um, I don't know what are your thoughts on this.

Speaker 2:

I don't know what are your thoughts on this. Me, when you, when it says adult time, I just think of something else.

Speaker 1:

But I okay. So this was asked by a good friend of mine and I think that I think that she meant like going out, like being able to go out to dinner, you know, with like on a date night, almost without the kids. That's how I interpreted her question, uh.

Speaker 2:

I just, I mean, I don't think we we don't ever plan to go out by ourselves while we're on vacation with the kids, right, I mean.

Speaker 1:

I mean, no, we, we don't. And so well, okay, so we did remember when we went to Hawaii.

Speaker 2:

Well, that's different because I had my.

Speaker 1:

My parents are there, my sister lived there well, and then the second time my parents came with us yes, yes so Duane likes to say that what's the best thing to bring on vacation?

Speaker 1:

grandparents yes, um. However, and I guess I would say the bonus here is, if you can get them into points and miles, then you can get some referral points from referring them to cards and then you guys can take a family vacation together and make lots of fun memories. My parents used points to book their flights to Hawaii. Last time we went from cards that we referred them to. So it makes it, I think, more accessible. Right, not everyone is going to be in a financial situation to be able to to spend that kind of money, but if you have points it's different. But I do also recognize not everyone has like a close family dynamic and so sometimes that's just not an option, you know. So I think here's some other tips that I would use.

Speaker 1:

Number one you can book a suite and have separate space. If you can't swing a suite, you can try to at least book a balcony room and after the kids go to sleep, you can sit out on the balcony. You can have a bottle of wine. You could order room service dinner if you wanted. You can sit out on the balcony. You can have a bottle of wine. You could order room service dinner if you wanted and kind of have your quiet time out there, so you know you're separate but you're not leaving the kids. You also can ask the hotel if they have a babysitting service. Some of the nicer hotels will give you some options. You also could use carecom to find someone or like local facebook groups. That's not something we would be no, that's not so I just want to be transparent.

Speaker 1:

That's not something we would do, but I think everyone has varying levels of comfort with this kind of thing and not I don't think a lot of hotels have that like babysitting service. Well, I don't think they don't have a service.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, the Kempton we were just at had a kids center.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, kids club yeah.

Speaker 2:

Kids club. You can drop them off.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, so that's actually another option is a kids club and have like a day date, right, like it doesn't have to be at night. Send your kids to the kids club and go have lunch together, like you could do that. The other thing and this is kind of how we approach it is I'm curious your thoughts on this, but I think if you want alone time with your partner, you should book a couple's trip and not bring your kids.

Speaker 2:

I mean yeah.

Speaker 1:

And I think, like when we go on vacation, we are not trying to cram everything into one vacation, because we know like, oh, we, we took a trip to the grand caymans and we had that time for us without the kids, yeah, and I think that's why we're we don't mind, you know, going to costa rica or, uh, huntington beach or wherever we're going, and like not having that time yeah, you know, yeah, we're, yeah, we're all about experiences for the kids and yes instead of materialistic things yeah, and so I think maybe that's part of it too, and like, using points and miles is what allows us to do that yeah without the points and miles.

Speaker 1:

Like I get it?

Speaker 2:

if you're spending cash out of pocket to go on one.

Speaker 1:

I get it. I get that you can only take one vacation a year and I get why you would want to have both the family time and the separate adult time like a hundred percent yeah, we've said this on a previous episode, but one year we took the kids to Disneyland, disney World sorry, yes. In Orlando.

Speaker 2:

Stayed at a Disney resort Yep For a week, and I mean we spent.

Speaker 1:

It was $10,000.

Speaker 2:

Over $10,000. It was so much money and that was the only trip we did that year.

Speaker 1:

And our two boys fought the entire time and it was so stressful. That's a side note. And yeah, it was the only trip we did that year.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, so yeah, we get it.

Speaker 1:

We do get it and yes, so points and miles gives you the freedom to take more than one trip. Again, as long as you have a support system at home that can care for your kids Again, I do recognize not everyone has that Even if you had to fly to drop your kids off in a different city and then go from there to your trip, like that's also worth it to me, I think because then you just don't feel so much pressure to cram it all in one vacation.

Speaker 1:

So that's my answer, all right. Question number three yes, how to get any photos on vacation? Oh, okay, um, I have two methods for this. One is really cheap and one is not cheap, so I guess let's start with the cheap. Um, buy a tripod for your iPhone, and we have a really good one and I can link it in the show notes because I really like it. It is. It holds it like I have a. What do I have? A 13 max, what are they called?

Speaker 2:

Max pro.

Speaker 1:

Is that what I have? A 13 max pro yeah, okay, the big one.

Speaker 1:

It fits my phone totally fine and it unfolds really fast. So it's not one of those where you have to unfold each section of each leg one by one, which is so annoying to the point where it makes me not want to use it. This is not that. It unloads in 1.4 seconds maybe, and I'll link it in the show notes. So get a tripod for your iPhone and then, oh, and it has a clicker like a Bluetooth clicker, so you can take the pictures and be in them at the same time. So, and then I would just Google, like how to take good iPhone photos at the beach or in the forest or wherever you're going to take the pictures. So this is exactly what we did in Costa Rica. We use a tripod, we got dressed up, we went to the beach and I did that. I took, I googled how to do it and it actually had. You take it on like a darker exposure and then do some editing to brighten it up, and I think they're really beautiful pictures.

Speaker 1:

Came out really great and I did some on portrait mode and some not, but I mean the photos came out very nice, like I would not hesitate to frame these photos. Very nice, like I would not hesitate to frame these photos. The only downside is that when I am the mom and the photographer, my kids don't listen at all, and so that's annoying, because then I'm constantly the one correcting them like look at the camera, blah, blah. We even have a photo of our youngest, sweet little daughter giving the double middle finger, just like m&m okay, in a photo, and I didn't even realize it until I was looking back at the photos later and I was like, oh my gosh it was pretty funny to see for the first time this photo has now made it around our entire family and, like my sister, has it as her lock screen on her phone because it is hilarious, but like, bless their hearts.

Speaker 1:

The other thing you can do is also you can take a video and you can screenshot from the video. If you don't have a fancy clicker and then okay. So the expensive option is there is a website called Flytographer. Okay, wait, I'm sorry, I need to interrupt for one second. So we are recording this podcast and we see on the ring camera that our kids are suddenly outside and we watch them set up a table and chairs in our driveway and Dwayne just goes out there to see what they're doing. And what are they doing.

Speaker 2:

They're trying to sell pictures that they drew. I mean, I don't even know what pictures.

Speaker 1:

I love it so much and so we are just kind of watching them on the ring as we record. I mean, they're not far Like they're, you know, 20 feet from us.

Speaker 2:

But in the driveway it's pretty funny.

Speaker 1:

And you know they didn't ask for permission because they know we would have said no, I assume so well, just because it's 110 degrees outside they're going to get hot.

Speaker 1:

You know, sometimes our kids just need to learn on their own. They're going to get hot soon enough. Um, okay, okay, family photos question. So I'm going to talk about the. I shared the cheap option that we've done and this is the expensive one. It's and I mean expensive is relative, right. So there's a website called flytographer and you basically go on there and you can put in the city that you're visiting and it will give you photographers local to that area you can choose from and you can book a session with that you're visiting and it will give you photographers local to that area you can choose from and you can book a session with them.

Speaker 1:

We are going to use this for the first time next month in Kauai. We already have it booked and I'm very excited because I don't want to be the photographer every time for the kids because I just they don't listen all the time and it's stressful and I'm not trying to stress on my vacation. So I do think it was around four hundred dollars for an hour session, but you get 30 pictures and that also includes a travel fee for the guy or for the photographer. So I booked it. I'm excited and we are also going to do the same thing in Paris and in Japan.

Speaker 1:

What's funny is I already tried to book the Paris one, actually, and then I got a thing saying it was too early because I mean, it's literally like seven months away, but I'm trying to meet a minimum spend on a card, which we'll talk about at the end and so I was just trying to book everything I could book, but I'm excited to have those memories, yeah, which we'll talk about at the end. And so I was just trying to book everything I could book, but, uh, I, I'm excited to have those memories.

Speaker 2:

Yeah. And like sure There'll be great.

Speaker 1:

I think there'll be great and I'm like what I'm most excited for which just sounds so silly and like I don't know whatever is a photo of our little daughter, who will be five at the time, in a dress in front of the Eiffel Tower, like twirling. That's what I'm excited for. I'm excited for all the photos, but like that is the one that I'm excited to like look back on when she's a teenager and she doesn't like us anymore, you know, to like remember when she was young and sweet. So, anyways, I will link the tripod that we have in the show notes and I will also put a link to Flytographer if you guys are curious and want to check it out. I think it's a really great way to get some affordable family photos, and I mean, again, it's not cheap, but I think if you were going to hire a photographer in your area, it probably costs that or more. So, okay, what's the next question?

Speaker 2:

so this is a long question. It says how do you know when your kids will appreciate something like? I want to take my kids to europe or even the us, the east coast of the us to see history, stuff, but how do I know when they will really appreciate it?

Speaker 1:

so I'm not wasting money so when I okay. So I want to know your thoughts on this, because I purposely left mine off of the outline that you have, because I don't want my thoughts to sway your thoughts, and so I would like to know yours first, because I'm curious.

Speaker 2:

I feel like I have a different thought on this so I mean it says how do you know when your kids will appreciate something? I mean I think at some point in their life they're going to appreciate it. It might not be at that moment in time, but yeah, that's, true you know, I mean, at one point in their life they're going to look back and be like oh man, that DC trip was pretty cool, actually, I mean, even though right now they're like whatever history.

Speaker 2:

yeah, you know, yeah, yeah yeah, I mean, you know one day in class the teachers are going to be like oh you know, raise your hand if you've been here. And they're going to raise their hand. Raise your hand if you've been here, they're going to raise their hand.

Speaker 1:

The teacher going to be like oh, you've been to a lot of places, you know yes, yeah, that I think that's a good point, because there's definitely things that I did not appreciate as a kid, that I do now. I'm sure the same for you.

Speaker 2:

Oh, I mean yes.

Speaker 1:

I feel like I even remember you saying is this true? Did your parents go on a bunch of trips like to Korea and stuff, and you didn't go and you, like, regret not going?

Speaker 2:

Yes, I mean, most of the time it was for work. But I mean, the biggest regret I have is, first of all, I grew up in Japan and I took Spanish in high school Like an idiot. You know, if I would have taken Japanese I'd be fluent, you know. But yeah, again, I was young and dumb.

Speaker 1:

Okay, so here, okay. So here's my thoughts on this question. Number one I do try to plan some of our trips and travels around our kids interests, whatever that may be at the time, be at the time. So, like our oldest loves Jaguars, like the cat Okay, like the big cat, and so one trip that we're considering for 2026 is Belize, and in Belize they have a Jaguar sanctuary.

Speaker 2:

I don't Belize you.

Speaker 1:

Oh my gosh, so will he still be into Jaguars at that point? I don't know. It's not something we've booked. I really haven't even done any research on it. But that's one thing. So I think, instead of making your kids, you know, be grateful and appreciate the things that you want them to appreciate, I think planning trips around the stuff they are already interested in is one way to kind of combat this right. The other thing, I think, is that, like, that's a lot of pressure to put on a kid, and I think you're just likely to be disappointed if you're weighing the success of this trip on them, appreciating whatever it may be weighing the success of this trip on them, appreciating whatever it may be.

Speaker 1:

I mean, it's almost safe to say again in the moment they're not going to appreciate it kids are going to be kids yes, I agree, you know years down the line they're going to be like oh, wow, yeah, we travel. We tell our kids like we travel pretty often, yeah, and like they're, they just kind of look at us like okay I mean, our kids have been on more airplanes and you know some grown-ups that I know, you know oh, yeah, yeah, I mean, and literally every time I think that the kids are gonna love something, they're like meh, so it's like okay, I would like.

Speaker 1:

Okay, here's what I would love when we go to j next year. We're going to visit Hiroshima. Did I say that right?

Speaker 2:

Hiroshima.

Speaker 1:

Okay, I did not. So good, I would really love for our oldest to appreciate the gravity and the historical significance of this time in history and this area and of course I will do my best to explain it to him and all of them beforehand. But ultimately he's going to be 11 at the time that we go and I just don't know if he can fully comprehend it at that age. And that's okay, but that shouldn't keep us from going.

Speaker 2:

Because we're also going for us.

Speaker 1:

No, because again in history class, when he's in in 10th, 11th grade, and they talk about it, he's gonna be like I was there, yes, yes, and it's gonna like he's gonna be like, oh yeah, I remember like seeing that, you know, and I just think, as parents, like we love to travel and like half the reason that we go on these trips is for us, because we get to do things that we enjoy as parents, and I think it's important for our kids to understand that and see that, okay, on trips we don't just do kids stuff, we also do stuff mommy and daddy want to do, because that's part of like a healthy family dynamic.

Speaker 1:

And you know, if the kids don't love it all, that's fine, but like we're still going to do it because we want to. So I think my overall answer to this is that I cannot control what my kids get out of us traveling. I know what I hope they get, which is like a growth mindset, how to problem solve, critical thinking, like an appreciation for cultures that are different than ours and an open mind. Like those are the things I hope they get. But at the end of the day, I cannot control their experience and trying to do so is setting myself up for disappointment. So I mean, I know that's not like technically an answer.

Speaker 1:

I mean it is but it is yeah, so oh, and also the. They said like how do I know my kid will appreciate it, so I'm not wasting money. If you use points and miles, you're wasting a lot less money, which makes it a lot easier to be like oh okay, you didn't love that, that's fine, let move on. Okay, I think. Is there one more question or two?

Speaker 2:

One more question, okay, what are some creative ways to meet the minimum spend?

Speaker 1:

Oh, yeah, oh yeah, this is my question. I added this in full transparency. No one asked us this, but this is what I was googling earlier this week. I think we might have mentioned it last week that I got an Amex Business Platinum and the signup spend is $15,000 in three months. That is outside of our normal spend. It's more than we would normally spend, but we need the points to go to Japan. So I'm trying to figure out how we can do that without overspending. So I was Googling and I'm just going to share some of the ways that I found, some of which will work for us and some won't, but I'm going to share them all and hopefully it's helpful for someone. So you can pay your taxes on a credit card. There is a fee, but I generally think the signup bonus value offsets that fee or outweighs it. So if you're self-employed and you have quarterly business taxes, you can pay those on a credit card. This one I did. You can overpay utilities. So we're in Arizona, our utility bills are incredibly high in the summer, and so I have overpaid our utilities for the next two months, basically, and I literally just did that by going to the website and adding double the payment that was due, and so now we have a credit.

Speaker 1:

Basically, number three early Christmas shopping. Just today I was asking the kids, like, what do you want for Christmas? And I'm going to start buying some of that as a tangent off of that, the thing that I do for Christmas shopping. If you have a daycare FSA through your job, this is how I have always done it. And I said this to a friend the other day and they were like, oh my God, that's actually a really great idea. So I'm going to share it here.

Speaker 1:

And I said this to a friend the other day and they were like, oh my god, that's actually a really great idea. So I'm going to share it here. I use the daycare FSA money, the money that you get reimbursed for paying for daycare, which I think is $5,000 maximum each year. I save part of that for our Christmas budget. So every year our Christmas budget is already covered by the time. You know, october, november rolls around, so I can easily buy the Christmas gifts and then reimburse myself from the daycare FSA. You can buy something for someone else and they pay you cash. I asked my mom the other day like, hey, do you guys have any big purchases to make and she was like sadly, no, we don't hey, do you guys have any big purchases to make?

Speaker 2:

and she was like, sadly, no, we don't. Well, I mean, I also have fsa because we have different providers. So I you, you've taught me this to pay with a credit card and then submit it for reimbursement oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, you're talking about your um health care fsa. Yes, yes, sorry, yep, but yeah. So when I go to the doctor or dentist or whatever, I use a credit card and then I just submit that for reimbursement.

Speaker 1:

Yes, that's also a really good way. Super simple, yep. And yes, you can pay your car insurance annually instead of monthly. If you do pay monthly Sadly, I already did this earlier this year monthly, sadly, I already did this earlier this year so that's not an option available to us, but it is a really good way to get a couple thousand dollars, I think for most people. We have two cars, so you also.

Speaker 1:

I've also heard some people can pay their home insurance like on a credit card instead of, you know, paying it monthly in your mortgage. That sounds stressful to me and like something that I don't want to take the time to figure out how to do. So probably not going to do that, but it is an option. Something else you can do is gift cards on some credit cards, but you cannot. You cannot do this for Amex cards.

Speaker 1:

It's frowned upon and it even it's like listed in their terms and conditions that to meet the minimum spend, you can't buy gift cards. Otherwise, I would buy like a thousand dollars in gift cards and use those for groceries or whatever Costco. That doesn't take Amex, but you can do that for other cards, like Chase cards, for example. Another way to meet a minimum spend is something called buying groups, and I don't want to spend time on this because I don't think these are beginner friendly, but they do exist, and if you want to know more, you can Google it. Explaining them sounds fully insane to me, like when you say it out loud, but there are some that are legit, and so I would just say proceed with caution.

Speaker 1:

Basically, you are buying something and mailing it to someone and then they pay you for it. It just sounds illegal, but it's not. It's just a lot of items that you buy have purchasing limits, so like you can only buy one, two or three of them, so they they wrangle the power of a lot of people and so if everyone buys three and sends it to this group, then you know they have what they need. So, anyways, you can also buy things you've been putting off buying. So this might be something that we do, like we need air filters. We have three air filters in our house and actually we have four. They all need filters. They're expensive, so I've been putting that off, but I'm probably going to bite the bullet and buy those.

Speaker 1:

We also need to get some new luggage for our trip next year. I've been looking at some different brands so I might buy those. And then the other thing is I like to buy excursions for our upcoming trips. So, for example, I tried to buy our Paris photographer but it was too early, so that was a bummer. But I can buy experiences on Rakuten or, I'm sorry, on Viator through Rakuten, which, if you missed our shopping portal episode, go back and listen to last week's, because lots of good info there about shopping portals and earning points and miles through those without having to open up a ton of cards.

Speaker 1:

Something else that I might do is child care. Ask if you can pay ahead. So our kids are in before and after school programs and so I've considered saying like, hey, can I pay you for the rest of the year, or something. And then the last thing is wait till you have a big ticket item to open a card. So one thing that I will be putting on this Amex card is Invisalign, which I will be probably buying next, next week, and it will be fully reimbursed to me from my HSA, uh, which is exciting, and but it's like, it's like $2,900 or something. So it'll get us a good part of the way there, good chunk, um, and it'll be reimbursed from our HSA or my HSA, so that's good money spent.

Speaker 1:

I would say so if you are like me and have been trying to find some creative ways to meet your minimum spend. Those are the things I've come up with. If you have other ones that I missed, please send them to me on Instagram, because I need them, because so far we've spent $4,000 and we have 11,000 to go how much time?

Speaker 1:

um, we probably have two months left, so it's probably doable, but I'm trying to get it sooner rather than later because I need the points to deposit in time to buy the flights in the next two months.

Speaker 2:

So that'll be the card we use on next week.

Speaker 1:

Yes, it will. Yep, Okay, that's all the questions, right.

Speaker 2:

That's it.

Speaker 1:

Okay, I hope this was helpful. If you have additional questions, the best way to find us is on instagram, at travel party five. I manage that and I'm pretty responsive on there, so send us a message. We would love to include your question in a future episode and I will also answer it when you send it to me yes, so you don't have to wait and don't forget about that giveaway oh yeah, $50 giveaway.

Speaker 1:

Uh, raffle to enter to win. Leave us a review and send us a screenshot at travelpartyoffive at gmailcom. And hope this was fun. Hope this was a good episode. If you'd like more q a's, let us know and we will catch you on the next one with a fun Huntington Beach recap.

Speaker 2:

Thanks for tuning in.

Speaker 1:

Have a good one, bye.