A blog about things I find useful
frugalprofessor In the past couple of months, I’ve booked two different flights with Priceline Express Deals. Before doing so I scoured the internet for relevant info but largely came up short. Here’s my attempt to fill that hole in the internet. I have vague memories of Priceline’s commercials going back a decade. At the time, it … Read more
Obligatory trip report for my 2019 backpacking trip to the Wind Rivers. My other trip reports are found here: 2020: https://frugalprofessor.com/2020-wind-river-trip-report/ 2018: https://frugalprofessor.com/2018-wind-river-trip-report/ **** Key Stats **** Dates Traveled: Friday 8/16/19 – Monday 8/19/19 Route: We originally planned on taking the same 42 mile “figure 8” route as last year but ended up calling … Read more
As you can probably tell by now I’m a sucker for free money, but only if it isn’t too much work. In grad school, I had a tradition of opening up a new Chase checking account every 6 months, collecting the $300 sign-up bonus, then closing it. I would alternate between my name and my … Read more
The original post below written in 2019 has been superseded by a newer post written in 2024 here: https://frugalprofessor.com/bank-of-america-customized-cash-rewards-card-and-premium-rewards-review/ **************************** Original Post below **************************** For reference, here’s a link to all the articles I’ve written on the BoA credit card strategy. https://frugalprofessor.com/another-boa-efficiency-post/ https://frugalprofessor.com/an-audit-of-boa-credit-card-reward-efficiency-2019-q3/ https://frugalprofessor.com/one-month-review-of-updated-boa-cash-rewards-card/ https://frugalprofessor.com/best-credit-card-rewards-strategy-2018-edition/ (Lack of) Disclosure: I don’t make a penny on … Read more
Another month, another update. A few random comments. Good Reads/Listens/Watches I picked up the book Playing with Fire from the library, by Scott Rieckens (creator of the documentary I haven’t seen yet). TLDR: Scott and his wife were making $180k pre-tax in Coronado, CA and spending 99% of it on life (fancy cars, ocean-side apartment, … Read more
At the end of 2018 I wrote down the goal of visiting three national parks during 2019. Well…we did it. We did the trip with relatively little planning and zero reservations. I had a vague idea of where I wanted to camp and hoped for the best. Here are some notes. Stop 1: Grand … Read more