About 4 years ago, our family also took a nice vacation to Hawaii. We also used airline miles earne

So, I will begin this post by stating that not everything I share during this series hotels in maui will be a good fit for everyone.  There a lot of budgeting professionals that say you should only use cash and never credit cards.  I completely agree, but only if you do not have the discipline to use credit to your advantage.  There are a lot of benefits to using credit cards and if you are smart and are able to control your spending – why not take advantage of those benefits?
Over the years I have abused credit cards, hotels in maui I will be the first to admit it.  When I was a single mom I used them to make it to the next paycheck many times.  Not a good routine to get into.  Fortunately now, my husband and I are in a position hotels in maui where we are managing our money well (notice I did not say we are rolling in the dough, but managing what we have well) and we are able to make decisions that are smart, thought out and we have a purpose when we use our credit card.  We never spend what we know we cannot pay off when the bill comes.
I want to share how our family goes on vacation and flies for free.  Now some of you who know me may laugh, because you know my husband works for a major airline.  A common benefit of being employed by an airline is that you can fly for free when there are seats available on a flight.  Well, when I say we go on vacation for free, I mean we fly like "real" passengers with "real" seats, not stand-by.
Let me share a few of our vacation stories and then I will give you tips to earning hotels in maui your family some miles to take a free flight too.  Most recently our family went to visit my in-laws hotels in maui in Albuquerque during the International Balloon Fiesta {picture above at sunrise}.  We had four of us fly, round-trip from Seattle to Albuquerque for free using our miles.  My husband came along too, but we had him jump seat, flying in the cockpit instead of using more miles for his ticket.  {A benefit he can use since he is a pilot}.
About 4 years ago, our family also took a nice vacation to Hawaii.  We also used airline miles earned through purchases to get 5 roundtrip tickets hotels in maui from Seattle to Hilo.  We also were able to use some airline miles for our rental car.  I cannot recall the actual price on those tickets, but I would estimate they would have cost us $2500.
You will first need to really decide hotels in maui if you are disciplined enough to use a credit card to your advantage instead of it giving hotels in maui you access to overspend or purchase above what you would otherwise need.  If you cannot or are not paying this balance each and every month, the miles you earn are then costing you money by paying interest on that unpaid balance.  This results in absolutely no real benefit to you at all.
Shop for a credit card that will give you miles/points just for signing up. These offers come and go, so take some time and find the right card for you.  Our card of choice, The Southwest Airlines Visa.  The customer service we've received has been incredible and they go places that we want to go.  It's easy to see how many miles you need for a ticket, it is displayed right on the airline website.
An additional bonus is that if you do make nearly all your purchases using one credit card, it is very easy to keep track of your expenses and see where your money is going.  With our budget system using Mint, this happens automatically, which I love, but if you are using a different system this will be helpful.
Most airline credit cards have an online site which gives you mileage credit for purchases.  For example, instead of going straight to Old Navy, if I click over to the mileage shopping site and then click on Old Navy, I will earn miles for every dollar I spend at Old Navy.  Sweet!
As you are entering a new year, I would consider whether earning miles using a airline credit card is a good alternative for your family.  Like I said, it is not for everyone, but if you use it to your advantage, you can really hotels in maui benefit.
Susan Heid is the mom behind The Confident Mom where she loves inspiring Christian moms to make small changes managing their home and family life giving them more time, less stress and stronger family relationships! She enthusiastically wears the hat of mom, step-mom hotels in maui and foster mom to 4 awesome hotels in maui kids – ages 20, 16, 12 and 3; is married to her very own prince charming, loves coffee, cloudy days, and does think the bluest skies you've ever seen are in Seattle.
I couldn t agree more if you are undisciplined in using them, they are dangerous. As I shared in the beginning of the article, this system ONLY works if you are NOT spending more than you would otherwise. Using credit cards for spending you would already hotels in maui be making and paying for without carrying a balance provides for a lot of benefits if you are disciplined. I would be misleading anyone if I didn t make that clear, but also not serving everyone by not sharing this exceptional benefit which can be had by many families out there.
I think this is a great tip and one that those with families should check out if they in fact have the discipline. hotels in maui This way, they could enjoy trips that would otherwise not be possible and with minimal financial strain. I know though, that I am not that disciplined hotels in maui myself to take advantage of this perk. Maybe someday though!!
We use our Disney Visa credit hotels in maui card responsibly and the perk is that every year or every other year we are able to enjoy a free getaway to Disney hotels in maui World (we live in Orlando). It is the only time we bring our three children to the park since it is so expensive. We go at Christmas and with our park rewards we get five tickets to Mickey s Magical Christmas at Disney World, two nights at a Disney hotel and approximately $150 to spend on food and other perks.
I agree with these tips, for the most part. Absolutely people need to know their level of financial discipline. We too have taken many trips using airline miles that have made those vacations hotels in maui possible. My only quibble would be that I disagree you need to use the airline card for every purchase in order for them to add up. We don t use our credit hotels in maui cards for everything and we are still able to accumulate enough miles for them to be beneficial. In fact, for awhile hotels in maui we were using our credit card for groceries in the interest of accumulating miles but found we just weren t comfortable hotels in maui with how that was working in our financial management plan. We went back to buying groceries with cash and only use credit cards for larger purchases that we have discussed, thought about carefully and determined we have the money to pay for once the bill arrives. The miles still add up nicely!
We have a credit card that gives us cash back each year, we also use our credit cards for everything (that dosn t charge us to do so) even just milk and bread from the local dairy. And each year on the card anniversary the $40 fee goes out and some hundreds hotels in maui go in. We spend much more on the card than we need to to get the max payout so now have another card just the same in just my name. Once the kids are a bit older (2 under 2 at the mo) we ll look at airline miles too, tho you need a lot of points to fly anywhere from New Zealand Way better to do this if you have discipline hotels in maui than paying bank fees to use a debit card.
My husband and I have done the same thing, only our credit cards result in cash rewards instead of airline hotels in maui miles. As you said, you must pay them off EVERY month for this to make sense. hotels in maui I also tend to spend any cash I may have in my wallet for small, impulse items, but think twice if i have to use a credit card for a candy bar, so it saves me money in that way too!
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