I’m working toward my travel goals:

• enough money in my travel savings account to cover the deposit of a (hopefully) future British Isles cruise
• enough frequent flier points on Southwest to cover a return trip to Vegas*

How did I do in the third quarter of 2017?

*Spoiler alert: We’re going earlier than planned!

Money earned

total: $152.67

Details:

• $66 from Groupon purchases made via Ibotta in Q2 that posted in Q3
• $12 of which was from bonuses
• $22.90 of which was from answering surveys
• total earned with no money outlay: $34.90
• remaining funds earned by purchasing groceries, etc., via Ibotta app

To join my Ibotta team, click here.

Year to Date:

Q1: $48.85
Q2: $106.97
Q3: $152.67

total Year to Date: $308.49

I’m one-third of the way to my goal of $900 in travel funds set aside for the deposit for our British Isles cruise that we hope to take in 2019 (or beyond) in celebration of our 25th wedding anniversary. Slow but steady…

Frequent Flier Points on Southwest

July – none
August – Rapid Reward Dining: 310
September – Rapid Reward Dining: 104

total Rapid Reward Dining: 414

Not too shabby for a quarter that included no actual flights.

Vegas, Baby!

We weren’t planning on going to Vegas in 2018 due to wanting to be home with our elderly lab, Ned. Plus I wanted to save up enough frequent flier points so that my Southwest roundtrip flight would be free.

 

Change of plans!

 

Now my husband is going to Vegas for work in January. Thanks to our niece, Alyx, who will be watching Ned, I’m able to go too.

 

But what about that shortage of frequent flier points? Thanks to the $100 voucher that I received from Southwest, my roundtrip flight was close enough to free to make it worth it.

• Pittsburgh to Las Vegas: redeemed 9,630 Southwest Rapid Reward points
• Las Vegas to Pittsburgh: leftover funds on a Southwest gift card that I’d received last Christmas + $100 voucher = I paid the balance of $34.63

Not free as I’d hoped, but close enough.

Let’s make the most of our vacation days!