In October, I finally had a break from work and was able to escape to Guatemala for a few days. I flew Spirit Airlines direct from Fort Lauderdale, Florida to Guatemala City — 2 hours and 15 minutes! A lot of people give Spirit a hard time but I had a great experience. (Just plan ahead for your luggage and make your purchase in advance. I knew I’d have an extra bag coming back — SHOPPING — so I purchased that online when I bought my ticket. I think maybe Spirit Airlines is easier for people who are used to EasyJet and RyanAir where you always have to pay for everything. If you’ve never had to worry about this stuff before, Spirit will frustrate you.) I really loved Antigua in Guatemala and would recommend it for a quick weekend getaway from the US if you need one! Also this month, I started gearing up to buy a place to live in early 2020 so expect more on that next month. Here’s what I loved in October…
CreditKarma.com: Per the above, I’m planning on buying a condo next year so I’m uber-focused on getting the best mortgage I possibly can. CreditKarma has been great for monitoring my credit score. I get little alerts every two weeks or so, whenever there’s an update.
Flipp: I don’t know what it is about grocery shopping in America, but everything feels so expensive. I’ve started monitoring my monthly grocery spend — my goal is to keep things under $350 a month — and using Flipp. Flipp puts all your local grocery circulars in one place so you can see what’s on sale. It’s been amazing so far…I’m seriously saving $15 per shop. On my last trip to the grocery store, I scored 2-for-1 olive oil and shampoo/conditioner. This adds up over time! (I think of everything as a plane ticket. $15 savings a week x 52 weeks = $780! That’s at least one and possibly two international plane tickets.)
Head lamp: While I was in Guatemala, I practically lived in my head lamp. I had a lot of early flights and transfers which required long walks in the dark to get to where I needed to go. I also stayed in one eco-friendly hotel in Tikal where there were shared bathrooms — I had to pee at 4 am and my head lamp was a lifesaver!!
Anti-theft purse: I’ve long been a fan of anti-theft purses. My old one bit the dust years ago so before I left for Guatemala, I bought a new one on Amazon. It really helped me feel safer in a foreign country while I was traveling alone. The bag has slash-resistant construction and straps and locking zippers to deter thieves. I also really like the distressed feel to the bag and the multiple strap options.
Zacapa XO: I did a Zacapa rum tasting in Antigua and fell in love with Zacapa XO. The gals at duty free in Guatemala City tried to convince me to buy two bottles for $120 but I just bought one for $85. Of course, I’m totally bummed now that I didn’t buy two because the duty free gals were right! Most Zacapa XO in the US retails for $105 to $120. This is a very smooth, easy-drinking rum. It doesn’t have that “tastes like fire” thing that most rums have for me.
Lifestraw: Maybe you’re sensing a theme here. WHEN I WAS IN GUATEMALA…I drank a lot of water. I carried my trusty Lifestraw with me so I didn’t have to buy any bottled water. Luckily, most of the hotels I stayed in had filtered water systems in place so I wasn’t filtering straight tap water. But still, I really love my Lifestraw! Although I was bummed that the carabiner broke so I couldn’t just hang it off of anything.
Carbiners: Luckily, Amazon sells replacement carabiners! I actually bought a few extra. You never know when they’ll come in handy. Good for attaching things to things, you know?
Easy-to-read luggage locks: My eyes….my eyes. They are not so great anymore. I have to throw out all my old luggage locks because I just can’t read them anymore. These luggage locks with clear white on black text are the way to go. (My old locks were black on silver.)
Super Pumped: OK, this is really poorly written — the guy totally needs an editor — but it was a compelling page-turner about Uber’s development. Interesting insights into both the Uber-Apple relationship and tech bros. Remember how Apple threatened to ban Uber from the platform? The story is actually pretty interesting and you may even sympathize with Uber a bit. But then if you’re like me, you may sorta wonder “What if they had just had an honest heart-to-heart with Apple about what was happening??”
LegalZoom: Krista is incorporating!! Yes. The devil is in the details but I went through the process with Legal Zoom online and it was really painless. Why didn’t I do this sooner? Now i just have to wait for the State of Florida to make me official! So far, so good!! If you need to set up your own LLC or S-corp, I recommend it!
Honey: I installed Honey around the same time I installed Flipp and it’s already saved me $34.90 by applying a discount code to my Legal Zoom purchase. Not bad for a FREE plugin? Basically, Honey is a plugin that alerts you when the site you’re shopping on has discount codes available. Again totally thinking about all this in terms of plane tickets! If you haven’t joined Honey, please join now through my link!
I have more that I’ll save til next month because I am still experimenting with a few things! Until we meet again…
