A female primary care physician opines on money, travel, fitness, and other topics to be determined
Early January is when people about their resolutions for the next 11 to 12 months. Usually there is talk of losing weight, saving more money, getting ahead at work.
Before I consider resolutions (or plans) for 2022, I would like to review some of the highlights of 2021. I find it is healthier for me to pay attention to things that have gone well, rather than always pointing out what needs to improve.
Continue reading “2021 Is In The Rearview Mirror”If you are reading this, then I don’t have internet access and/or wasn’t up to posting.
I probably was looking at a similar view, though.
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In May, I published a round up post of some of the links I have sent to Mr. PiN in the last year. I was pretty surprised at the number, and decided to split the list into 2 posts.
Many of the subjects are similar to what I write about on the blog, so I hope that you might find this collection interesting.
A few weeks ago, the PiN household returned from our first trip out of town since COVID hit. I had previously written:
I didn’t have much of a budget for this vacation–after over a year at home, I sort of didn’t care what it cost. Sometimes it is time to loosen the purse strings, and for the PiN household, this was that time; though I still like to get a good deal if that is possible.
It isn’t quite true that we didn’t have a budget: I gave Mr. PiN a rather high number as a limit to our hotel spending, thinking that our food budget couldn’t possibly be a big issue. (I haven’t seen all the credit card bills; I am not sure that assumption was correct!)
Nevertheless, even though we had a very high budget (for us) for our vacation, we both like to get a bit of a deal.
Below are some ways we saved money on our trip, and some thoughts on ways to make future trips affordable. As well as things that, to us, are worth spending more on.
I hope you may find some of these tips helpful in your own travel planning in the future.
Continue reading “First Vacation After COVID: Making Travel More Affordable”I have been keeping track of my exercise every Friday for over 2 years, and plan to continue doing so.
I started the Friday Firsts sections as a way of keeping track of some of my “firsts” as I dealt with the COVID-19 pandemic. Things seem to be settling down, but I will keep it for now–more as a way to be aware and thankful of what is happening in my life.
Being on vacation–my first travel in over a year–I paid much more attention to my firsts. I exercised a bunch, I think, but didn’t measure it carefully.
Continue reading “Fitness Log #142 And Friday Firsts”Lately, the PiN household has joined the modern, electronically connected world. By that, I mean, I have started forwarding articles to Mr. PiN that I think he would enjoy. Or that I want him to do something about.
I thought I might share some of the articles that I thought interesting enough to forward. After going through all the links, I will concentrate on the personal finance and travel-related articles I sent in the past year.
Continue reading “Monday Melange, May 2021”Lately, I have just about had it.
I don’t particularly like winter. I mean, it’s OK for a month or so. I like some fresh snow, Christmas carols, lights, happy memories. By the end of January, though, I’m ready for earlier sunrises and later sunsets and warmer weather.
This winter is even more annoying. The pandemic is rounding its 11th month. I’m tired of not seeing friends and family. Even though I love my house, I don’t want to be here anymore.
I’m watching my weight and shouldn’t eat treats; and I’m trying to clear out my messy house, so shopping for pleasure isn’t helpful either.
Grump, grump, grump.
Today Mr. PiN came up with a great way to keep me happy and engaged while we wait for the Earth to continue turning towards Spring.
Continue reading “My Winter Of Discontent”In this season of coronavirus, with no travel for six months, and none likely for many more, having spent much of my free time decluttering, I find myself contemplating the best souvenirs I have acquired over several decades of travel.
In other words, what were the best souvenirs I brought home from my trips?
Continue reading “What Are The Best Souvenirs?”I have been saving links to posts by other people for over a year. Some of these posts just struck my fancy at the time, others I find myself thinking about for weeks or months afterwards. I would like to share them with others, rather than hoarding them on my list of saved posts. I hope some of them speak to you as well.
I love, love, love stories about travel hacking. Not the low stakes stories of: I had to rush home for an emergency and saved a few hundred dollars on a last minute ticket using miles. No, I like the big shebang: look at this crazy thing I did for free (or nearly free).
Continue reading “Monday Melange: Travel Points”At the beginning of the year, I was really thinking about how to get more from my credit cards. I opened up a card or two, worked to get the welcome bonus, and was plotting how best to use credit card bonuses to reduce the cost of our multiple planned trips in the coming year.
I have some large medical bills coming up, the question becomes a little more pressing. If I have to pay out lots on money on my credit card(s), I would like to get the most out of it that I can.
Continue reading “What Are My Best Uses Of Credit Card Rewards?”