Salty Zebra

Image Credit: Canva AI   I was thinking through recently what I want to write about here on the Salty Zebra Blog. A while back I started to develop rhythms of Travel Tuesdays, Wellness Wednesdays, and Potluck Saturdays, with Bible study filling in the rest. These were intended to inspire me, but eventually became a constraint instead. I felt like I had  to write about wellness on Wednesdays, but sometimes I didn't have anything on my heart to write about. So, I'm breaking out of the mold and just writing about something fun that I've been enjoying lately that, perhaps, you might too!  As I've written about before ( 1 , 2 , 3 ), I've been learning about how to use credit card sign up bonuses (SUBs) and other benefits to further my travel dreams and daily living. The key to this, as I've mentioned before and will mention every time I talk about credit cards, is PAYING OFF YOUR BALANCE EVERY MONTH! If you don't do this, you negate any benefits you get and can f...

  Shopping is more fun when you do it with someone. When I was a teenager, we used to go to the mall. Yes, in person, shocking I know! We'd hang out, get a pretzel in the food court, wander aimlessly through stores and never buy anything. And it was fun! These days I do 90+% of my shopping online, even for groceries. And you know what, my friends just haven't hit me up for a zoom call to shop together. I'm not sure why! Not gonna lie, I have considered livestreaming my Prime Day shopping, but I'm just not sure who would watch 🤪. So, I settle for talking about it on my blog here at Salty Zebra. Sometimes I talk about it at Bible study too and I get the biggest kick when my friend pulls out her journal to take notes!   One of the things I have enjoyed in the vacuum of shopping without friends is my AI friends filling in the gap. No, they don't share what's going on with their families or pray with me, but there is kibitzing! Yep, I had to look up the word " ...

  I am an Amazon Associate and when you purchase something through links in this post I will receive a small bonus. I will also receive a bonus if you sign up for an Amex card. This does not change your price at all, it just helps support what I'm doing on the Salty Zebra Blog.  Ok, so I started multiples posts for today, but none of them thrilled me. Nothing got me excited. Nothing made me want to write more and more and more. I prayed about it and then went about my business, messing around on my computer, learning more about points and miles, and then, BAM!!!! I got a super duper awesome opportunity and I want to share it with you too!   I've been learning this week about Amazon's Shop With Points program. It allows you to use your credit card points as cash on Amazon to purchase items sold and shipped directly by Amazon (not third party vendors). Now, normally I would never do this, except with my Prime Visa Amazon points because that's exactly what they're for...

 My family will tell you this is one of the most anticipated dates (I call it a holiday 😂) of the year for me! It's usually on my calendar in such a way that I avoid overlapping with any other events. This might confuse you if you know me well because, frankly, I'm not a big shopper. My daughter will tell you it's like pulling teeth to get me to a store with her. What I do love though is finding a good deal! And this day (ok, it's become days now) is one of the best times of the year to score deals. I try to accomplish all of my Christmas and birthday shopping for the year during this event. Imagine getting close to a holiday and not having to stress about gifts because they're already covered! That's the beauty of Prime Day!  The thing is, Prime Day is sort of an exclusive thing. Not everyone  can participate. You've got to be a part of a special club, Amazon Prime Members. Here's the good news, though: You can join the club too! In fact, it doesn'...

   One of the first things we did after my husband was laid off last month, was to sit down and take a good, hard look at our budget. For years, if not decades, we've set it up so that it was in tiers recognizing that one day we would not have the income we did then. These tiers were set up to indicate which things were more of a luxury and which were more of a necessity. Some of the first things on the chopping block were streaming services and restaurants, but not everything I originally thought we'd have to lose ended up going after all. While every little bit adds up, these things really were little bits, so next we needed to see where we could make some big cuts. Finally, the part of our budget that has always been more discretionary is the groceries. We had to find ways to get that spending down!   Just in case you're thinking, "Uh-oh, the Salty Zebra's memory really is getting bad! She wrote this post a few weeks ago already." Don't worry. Let'...