Overall, 2010 was a good year. Here are some brief highlights.
- January: A trip to India. Hiked Kulanggad. Observed a partial solar eclipse after a long time.
- February: First ski lessons for kids.
- March: Ashwini turned 7. More skiing.
- April: Mexico vacation with the Desais. Fun, fun and more fun.
- May: V and I turned 40. Started a veggie patch. Started bicycling regularly.
- June: Another short trip to India for Deven’s wedding.
- July: 4th of July fireworks in Niantic. Beach visits. Summer fun. Started kayaking.
- August: Hiked up Mt. Washington with Manoj. Watched metamorphosis of caterpillars into Monarch butterflies. Adit started kindergarten. Ashwini is happy to have him on the school bus with her.
- September: Hiked up Mt. Marcy with Manoj (in New York’s Adirondack mountains).
- October: Apple picking. Family vacation at Acadia National Park in Maine. Ashwini taught me what acrostic poems are.
- November: Diwali. Thanksgiving. Seemed like Ashwini was at “Nutcracker” practices all the time.
- December: Ashwini’s “Nutcracker” performance. Nice holiday break. Adit turned 5; now he is officially a big boy.
Hope y’all had a good 2010, too. Wish you all a very happy and prosperous 2011!
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Amazon.com card rewards are quite good: 3% (3 points) on money spent at Amazon.com, 2% (2 points) on dining and gas, 1% (1 point) on everything else. Once the balance goes up to 5000 points, it can be redeemed as $50 cash or $50 in Amazon.com certificate. Getting the cash is definitely a better option. Here are my reasons:
- Cash can be used anywhere; with Amazon.com certificate, one is restricted to spending it at Amazon.com. Not a problem for us as we use Amazon.com for a lot of shopping.
- To pay for $50 in purchases at Amazon.com, instead of using Amazon.com certificate, if Amazon.com card is used, you collect 150 points or $1.50 in the rewards account. So, getting $50 cash back and spending it again at Amazon.com, you actually get $51.50 compared to only $50 with Amazon.com certificate.
I know it is counting and pinching pennies but, why give those pennies away when they are available to you without any extra effort.
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I saw many financial bloggers doing a post like this and liked the idea. So, here is a list of what can be found in my wallet.
- ID cards:
- my Connecticut driver’s license.
- American Red Cross blood donor card.
- Health insurance cards.
- Membership cards:
- AAA card: Don’t use it very much for discounts at stores but, use it at AAA stores for discounted passport photos and booking travel once in a while.
- Mystic Aquarium
- Connecticut Science Center
- Library card
- Multi-agency annual pass for National parks, monuments, national forests etc. Before they changed it, the annual pass for National parks had a really nice name: Golden Eagle passport.
- Credit/Debit cards:
- E*Trade Bank Debit/ATM card: I use it for infrequent cash withdrawals. Never use it as a Debit card. All my card transactions are on credit cards.
- American Express Rewards card: I am a member since 1991 and am very happy with the overall service from AmEx. I have used the reward points to buy a 48-inch LCD TV two years ago and am collecting reward points for something nice again. This is my default card. If I have no reason to use another card, this is what I use.
- Amazon.com card: Great reward program, they have. 3 points for each dollar spent at Amazon.com, 2 points for each dollar spent at gas stations and restaurants and 1 point everywhere else. One point is basically a penny that you can receive as cash or Amazon.com gift card. I use it to maximize the cashback.
- Upromise card: Connected to my Upromise account. I get additional cash back on Upromise eligible purchases at grocery stores, Exxon/Mobil gas stations and 2% additional cashback (on top of what the retailer offers) for online shopping till end of December.
- Discover card: I use it to capture the 5% cashback offers they have every quarter. I stop using it as soon as I hit the maximum allowed for the offer. Current 5% cash back is for using it at restaurants.
- AmEx corporate card: Have to use it for work-related expenses. Sadly, it can’t be connected to my AmEx Reward Points account anymore.
- Oh yes! I have twenty one dollars in cash. Most of the times, I have no idea how much cash I have in the wallet as I rarely use it, if ever. I also carry a single check if I need it just in case where I can’t use my credit cards.
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