The wedding was a three day affair in Cancun, Mexico from October 23 – October 26th, 2025 at the JW Marriott.

Pre-wedding days

Okay, we arrived Monday, October 20th and we spent two days in blissful harmony enjoying each other’s company solo.

On Wednesday, our families flew in and learned more about each other. We hung out by the pool and ate and drank and giggled. We all had dinner together.

Thursday

On Thursday, the official wedding start date, most everyone else arrived and settled into the hotel. I saw people at the pool I hadn’t seen in years and some I had seen recently. We swam (because I can do that now), we ate, we hung out, we caught up. I met some of Mark’s old friends whose paths I had yet to cross.

Thursday night, Mark and I hosted a welcome party. Waiters served hor d’oeuvres and drinks. Water drummers enticed the audience forward to make music and splashes. We ate, we conversed, we reminisced. I had an absolute blast.

Friday

The second day, a Friday, the morning started out at the pool again, greeting new people that arrived. I went and got my hair and makeup done because you can do that when you’re getting married. My sisters, mom, sister-in-law and mother-in-law all got their pretty on during this time as well.

I slipped into my lehenga and put on my earrings, my rings, my necklace, my bracelets, my nose ring, my nose to earring chain, my ring to bracelet chain, and my belly ring and waited by the hotel entrance.

Mark rode a horse to the top of the hill toward me while the guests danced around him for the baraat.

We hugged. Our families exchanged gifts. We made everyone follow us inside to the mehndi.

At this event, guests could get henna tattoos, eat Indian food, and drink to their hearts’ content. We had a fashion show for everyone to flaunt their Indian outfits; the winner received a massage to the hotel. We also did some Bollywood dancing.

I had a blast.

After the mehndi, I met a lot of my friends at the bar in the hotel. We drank and bonded. I met some family at a different hotel bar. We hung out and made new memories.

Saturday

The third and final day, a Saturday, I got my hair and makeup done too early in the morning, slipped on a not-so-traditional white dress that I told you about and my mother’s favorite earrings I’ve always admired, posed for about 1000 pictures, and then walked down the aisle of all my friends and family toward Mark.

We sipped some wine and broke a glass and walked seven steps and exchanged rings we already had and my cousin declared us married.

Saturday afternoon, we went back to the pool and had another blast out there. The weather was near perfect the whole weekend with only the occasional splash of rain.

Saturday evening, we hosted a cocktail hour. During that time, watercolor artist would take our guests’ pictures. There were drinks and our signature tamarind margarita that I drank two of. We walked into the reception as our new shared last name and then everyone closest to Mark and I reminisced about earlier days in the form of toasts. The DJ played music and we danced the night away. The painters painted. We did the hora. We ate and drank and caught up.

The after party was across the street at a bar where we shisha’d and drank and recollected and gossiped until 1:30am. We were in the lobby by 2 and Mark and I were back in our bathing suits in the hottub at 3am, sharing a lovely soak by ourselves, taking in the weekend.

On Sunday, we said goodbye to everyone over breakfast. And we stayed one more day until Monday with a few stragglers. Just breathing.

Finally, we flew home Monday night.

Perfection

It was, in a word, perfection on a stick. Sublime. The cat’s pajamas. I have no notes. The wedding of our dreams. Best week plus of my life.

I grew up thinking multi-day weddings were normal, so I felt entitled to one. Of course we’re going to have a henna party. I grew up in the USA watching and existing in its culture, so of course I wanted to walk down the aisle toward the love of my life.

I understand why people want to have a big wedding. It’s joyous. Everywhere I looked, I saw people I wanted to talk to, people from different stages of life. I saw all of Mark’s stages of life at the wedding, too, and it made us that much more closer. I know all the people in his stories and he knows all mine.

When do you ever get all the people who know and love you together in one place having a great time, vacationing together, and sharing happy times from the past, enjoying the happy time in the present, and planning happy times for the future? Never. Not when you’re alive, at least.

I was so darn happy all week, having so much fun. That was a depth of happiness I hadn’t yet experienced.

My motto was always Guests First. I read that in a book about wedding planning. All I wanted was for everyone to be comfortable and happy and spend time with us. I think the operation succeeded. It felt like I won everything that weekend. I married my best friend.

This is why I have money. Or, at least, this is why I have money. Relationships, travel, adventure, memories! Your “why” of life might be different, but that’s definitely mine.

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I was actively dreading my scuba lessons. I haven’t actively dreaded something since I quit working. It’s an unpleasant feeling that I don’t miss.

Water is my Everest. Swimming is terrifying. I’ve been trying to learn for years with moderate success. I took adult swim lessons, tried Youtube videos, bought a program, downloaded apps. My development did not feel proportional to my efforts.

I still can’t do the breast stroke to save my life. Literally.

But I had made some progress on the other swimming bucket list items, like treading water and jumping into the deep end of the pool and swimming the front crawl, so I thought maybe I could tackle scuba. You don’t need to know how to swim to go scuba diving. It’s a very equipment-intense sport.

Lessons in a pool

I took private lessons in a nine-foot deep pool in Denver. I paid $75 for a Try Scuba lesson in September 2023, where you just put the gear on and glide through the water a bit. That was scary, but doable and I caught glimpses of fun.

Then I spent $550 for three days of classroom lessons and pool sessions in November 2023. These three days are how much training most people need. I received a 100% on the written test, but couldn’t do a lot of the excercises in the pool, like the giant stride entry into the water.

It all felt a little ridiculous.

“Step into the water.”

“I can’t.”

“It’s easy.”

“I know.”

“You’re in a wetsuit. You’ll float. You’ll bob right back up.”

“That’s true.”

I thought about quitting. I wrote this whole spiel in my head about reworking my bucket list — a living, breathing document — and removing scuba diving, and knowing your limits and all that jazz hands.

Isn’t this supposed to be fun?

But then I talked to my uncle who said I’d regret it if I didn’t try a little harder. I weighed that against what I remember my instructor saying.

“In forty years of scuba diving, more than five thousand dives, I’ve only seen one fatality. This person panicked, held their breath, and swam to the surface. Their lungs exploded.”

Oh. I panic in the water all the time.

So I paid another $150 for another three pool sessions a couple of months later in January 2024. Still anxious. I completed some of the requirements like taking out my regulator (breathing apparatus) in nine feet of water and putting it back in my mouth, but a lot of the exercises alluded me.

Ok. In April 2024, I paid another $50 to do another lesson and humbled myself even more. After many swim lessons and dozens of hours in the pool. I couldn’t do any of the exercises. My heart raced, my breathing was rapid, my eyes panicked. According to my instructor, anyway.

I felt pretty defeated at this point. I’d spent so much time in the water and I had crossed so many items off the “can you swim?” list. Mark swears I can swim well enough. But I still had this deep-seated dread around all things water.

So I took more swimming lessons and tried again, spending a lot of time in the pool.

It’s possible to be scared and brave at the same time.

I changed my thinking. Instead of the thought, “I have to go to the pool now,” I created the thought, “I get to go to the pool now.” Slowly, but surely, swimming became easier.

In December 2024, I paid $110 for two more scuba lessons in the pool and finally, something clicked. It didn’t seem as terrifying being underwater. It felt, dare I say, not terrible.

After that, I did Monday night pool practices with the scuba equipment for several months, acclimating myself further still, taking swimming lessons all along the way.

Scuba in the ocean

Then I had to do a real dive. In the wild. I did those with Mark and a private instructor in Bonaire in May 2025, spending $130 for myself.

Okay, it also cost the airfare and hotels, but I don’t include that because I would have gone there anyway.

In Bonair, you walk into the water for scuba diving. The equipment is heavy and it was intense. But it was also glorious and fun?

In total, I count $1,260 toward crossing this life bucket list item off. I mean ! $1,260! That’s a lot.

******

Expensive hobbies

On the one hand, I wanted to wait unti l was financially secure before I pursued certain goals. Don’t have expensive hobbies when you’re striding towards financial independence. It’s a lot easier to get there when your hobbies are free versus when they cost you hundreds in equipment and ongoing costs.

Looking over my bucket list, I see a few expensive possible hobbies. Skiing and scuba and sewing are the ones that stand out to me that I’ve waited to pursue until after I retired.

But on the other hand, I remember the book, Die with Zero. The author recommends taking on debt in your twenties to do things. If I had taken on debt to try skiing and scuba in my twenties, would I be struggling so hard now in my forties with these things?

Or even better yet, if I had learned these things as a kid, with no fear, like Mark did, would it be a non-issue? He skis and scuba dives regularly with no qualms.

But my mom said she had never even heard of skiing or scuba when she first had kids, so that was a non-option.

I don’t know what the answer is, but hey, I did it! It took me a long time and it cost me a bit of money, but I did it!

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Every once in a while, though, I like to test my truths. Is a timeshare presentation a waste of time? I believe timeshares are, but what about the presentation? You know you can get a pretty cheap vacation out of them if you can say no to the sales pitch.

The Timeshare Presentation

Mark and I used the Hilton Grand Vacations Timeshare. We bought the vacation deal way back in January 2024 for $129 each ($258 total) for four days, three nights somewhere. We had the choice of Orlando, Las Vegas, or Myrtle Beach. I wanted to visit South Carolina as I’ve never been to that state, but a tropical storm thwarted our plans.

So, we picked Vegas and finally went there in March 2025.

Scheduling this trip was super annoying. It took many phone calls and much time on the phone.

But, I’ll give them props. Once we got there, the hotel was very nice. We paid for a one-bedroom and it was huge with a bathtub and a kitchen. We loved the room. It was right on the Las Vegas strip, so we could (and did) walk everywhere. $258 for three nights in this room was a steal.

As for the presentation itself, I was pleasantly surprised. It wasn’t high pressure at all. We arrived at our appointment, ate some snacks, waited around for a video to start, watched a 20 minute advertisement espousing the virtues of travel, then we talked one-on-one with a sales consultant who gave us some numbers that don’t mean a whole lot.

A package worth 11,200 points each year will cost $54,990 over the life of the loan. The interest rate depends on your credit score. There’s also maintenance fees and rollover fees that you pay each year. He calculated the monthly payment to be $897 – $962. We would need a down payment of $6,935 and we would get 22,000 bonus points if we signed on today.

He listed a lot of other numbers that just made my head hurt and I honestly couldn’t tell you what these points will get you. Financing a timeshare seems like a terrible idea. Instead of financing one trip on a credit card, you’re borrowing for all your trips right now! It just boggles my mind.

We said no politely and that was the end of it. We didn’t ask any questions and we just said we weren’t interested in learning a new points-based system and those seem to be the magic words.

The agent “sensed our vibe” and the whole ordeal — from snack time to pushing the elevator button to get out of there — lasted about an hour total.

Besides the cheap hotel for three nights in Vegas, they also gave us 50,000 Hilton points (not to be confused with the timeshare points, which is a completely separate system). We used those points to cover a night in a hotel in Omaha, Nebraska (a $142 value) a couple of weeks later.

All told, with transportation to and from the airports and flights and the hotel, we spent $466.32. I don’t count food because we would have needed to eat anyway. We did visit the Sphere and watch the show inside, which was another $200.

So, surprisingly, I would recommend a timeshare presentation. It’s a good way for a thrifty vacation!

The actual timeshare

Just don’t buy the actual timeshare.

Questions to consider (that we didn’t ask because we didn’t want to the meeting to last longer than necessary):

1. How can I get rid of it? What’s the market for selling them like?
2. What happens when I die? Will my estate have to pay anything?
3. What are the monthly maintenance fees? Are there any limits on how high that number can go?

A timeshare doesn’t make any sense for me because I don’t like the idea of paying money to have less flexibility for my vacation. I don’t want to go to the same place and I don’t want to be tied to one hotel chain for the rest of eternity.

So, it’s not for me. Is it for anyone?

I don’t know. I imagine there’s ways to maximize the points on travel, but I have a hard time picturing a scenario where it turns out to be a good idea. Especially when you consider financing. What if we get sick of traveling in a couple of years? What if we want to go somewhere Hilton doesn’t have a timeshare? Of the list of countries, the only new one would be St. Maarten for me. There are so many uncertainties.

You tell me. Am I wrong to be so skeptical of timeshares?

The post I went to a timeshare presentation so you don’t have to…unless you want to appeared first on The Power of Thrift.

In 2024, I spent substantially more than in the past few years. It was on a lot of things. Trips. (Sri Lanka & India, Central Asia, The Dominican Republic, a few staycations, visits home to Chicago). Wedding expenses. (Wedding coordinator, Mark’s ring). A clothing subscription, nutritionist, contact lenses, chemical hair straightening, and gym membership I’ve told you about.

And with upcoming wedding expenses, I don’t think next year will be any cheaper. Eek! That’s okay. I’m not complaining, I promise.

Anyway, here’s last year’s chart.

So beautiful.

The green line is my average monthly projected passive income assuming a 3% rate for inflation and a 7% rate of return on my stocks. The red line is my average monthly expenses for the year. The equation I used for the green line is:

(Net Worth X .04)/12

Here’s 2024’s chart.

I spent $35,165.68 in 2024. Which seems like a lot.

The markets, inexplicably, are up right now. I’m a little nervous about the future of civilization and the world and thus stocks, but for now, it’s weathering.

My expenses went up at a steeper rate than my projected passive income went up. I’m still underspending from what I allow myself to spend, but at a larger percentage than in years past.

That’s my chart. I’m uncomfortable with how much I’m taking out of my nest egg, but also fine with it enough to not do anything to change.

Oh, except Mark and I changed the way we currently handled our finances. Previously, we had a spreadsheet we updated every month with the shared expenses we put on our personal credit cards and then we squared up via Venmo.

Now, we opened a joint credit card which we used for all “us” purchases and a joint bank account that we each contribute the same amount to, replenishing it when need be.

Actually, we opened up two bank accounts. One for everyday expenses and one for the wedding. We each also kept our personal credit cards and bank accounts.

I took over the spreadsheeting part of the numbers, monitoring it and calculating our net worth and projected passive income versus expenses each month. Our finances are complicated and the spreadsheet goes out to column AO. So far. Mark likes to get credit cards for the perks.

So, that’s the update on the money situation. I was always super curious what other people did, so I’m sharing what we do and how it’s evolving.

Do you guys still do a chart like this? I feel like maybe I don’t need it anymore.

Heart,
Anita

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I hated it.

The job itself was not hard, but stressful. I’m not used to getting up early (4:30am, so I could get in a workout before work). I’m not used to dealing with the public. And I’m not used to working such long hours anymore. Heck, I’m not used to working, period.

It just wasn’t possible to do all the things I wanted to do with the hours I received on the planet during those days.

How I want to spend my day currently

Here’s my current resolutions chart
1. Work out
2. Swim
3. Put on lotion
4. Eat eggs and salad
5. Read 25 pages
6. Weigh myself
7. Write 250 words
8. Take a picture
9. Compliment Mark
10. Don’t buy anything
11. Talk to mom
12. Floss
13. Wear dress
14. Sew something
15. Go outside
16. Make sure the bathroom is clean
17. Don’t drink alcohol
18. Don’t go on reddit
19. Plank for some amount of time.
20. Don’t eat after eight. pm
21. No white food
22. Wash my face
23. Perform the evening tidy up

I know I have a lot of resolutions. I’ve been adding on every month and keeping the old ones. It’s been a fun challenge.

But, I’m digressing. Have you heard of the first rock in the bucket?

Prioritize the first rock of the day

So you have all these different rocks of things you want to do. You have to make whatever you can fit in the bucket. But you only have so much room. So you have to put the most important rock in first. What’s your first rock? What’s your main priority? The first rock is the only rock you’re absolutely guaranteed to fit in the bucket.

For most people, their first rock is work. When your biggest priority is work, you don’t have enough space for all the other rocks. It can take up the entire bucket. And that goes throughout life. The more space you allocate for work, the later you retire, the less time you have for everything else. Learning Spanish. Writing a book. Raising your kids.

During election weeks, my rocks were work, working out, and sleeping. That’s all I had time for.

But in early retirement land…

In my real life though, I have enough space for all my rocks and that’s what I love about my reality.

I think early retirement can make you a more well-rounded person. At least for me. I have a hard time leaving things at the office. Must finish the to-do list!

I think it’s good to get a job every once in a while to show you what you’re missing and to prove you don’t miss it. The paycheck was fun. Denver paid me $1,983.81 for the nine days I worked and for in person training and online training. Compare that amount to what the market “paid” me in that same time period and you’ll find a shocking difference.

Your money can work harder than you can.

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At least in the eyes of my parents’ gods. Not witnessed by anyone besides our parents. And the pandit.

We took the marriage as a sign to take a mini honeymoon. Our idea: a 100-person destination wedding in Punta Cana, Dominican Republic. We’ve both never been, so this was a chance to check it out. We figured it’s a big island and not terribly hard to get to for most of our guests, so it might work?

We went on a 5-night trip staying in two different hotels. I emailed a few places that did south Asian weddings and told them I was thinking of visiting and they offered me a bridal preview rate at their hotel. It was significantly cheaper than their listed rates. Possible travel hack if you’re getting married? You have to sit through a presentation and tour their wedding facilities, so it felt a little timeshare-y, but we wanted to see and know this stuff anyway, so it was okay for us.

They gave us all the perks. Unlimited dining and drinks. Club access. Exclusive pools. Our own butler. It was lovely.

We stayed in two hotels and toured two others. All of them were all-inclusive, fancy schmancy hotels.

Cost

Flights: $557/each
Chicago to Punta Cana: $209
Punta Cana to Denver: $348

Hotels: $627/each
Hyatt Zilara – $300 each for two nights
Royalton – $327 each for three nights

Ubers/rides to hotels: $47.10/each total for three rides

Tips: ???

While there, like I said, we stayed at all-inclusive resorts, so we didn’t have to pay anything extra for food or drinks. We tipped prolifically, but I didn’t track how much. That was cash.

Total: $1,231.10/person

After all that, we decided not to do the wedding in the Dominican Republic. The humidity in October was all-encompassing. It made everything but hanging out in the pool pretty tough. We hung out in the pool anytime we weren’t looking at venues, but I’m not sure that’s feasible for a wedding. We could change the date to more pleasant weather, but that would be very expensive.

Plus, the hotels were not intimate and I felt the spaces were too big and would dwarf my 100 guests. And the Dominican Republic requires a layover in Miami or Charlotte for most of my guests. That’s not convenient!

So back to the drawing board we go. Where should we get married? I’m thinking somewhere in Mexico. Here’s my wants list for my wedding.

1. Destination outside of the United States for four days, three nights
2. A south Asian wedding package if possible, but not necessary
3. Easy/cheap for my guests to get to from Denver, Chicago, New Orleans, and the Bay Area of California.
4. Not too big of a hotel

I crave your feedback.

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What should I wear?

Now that I kind of know how to sew, I understand why wedding dresses are expensive and I expected to shell out some cash. I wanted, even, to spend more than I’ve ever spent on a single item of clothing, for this wedding dress.

I just didn’t expect them to be that expensive.

The Willa dress by Savin London

Of course, I picked up my one-mile project and went to all the bridal stores in my neighborhood. I fell in love with a flowy wedding dress from Savin London called Willa. It’s white with a splash of color. Not super traditional, but I love it. It checks all my boxes and is 100% the dress I want.

This picture is NOT the Savin London Willa dress, just another dress I found pretty.

Unfortunately, buying good quality material is expensive and the skill it takes to make such a complicated dress isn’t cheap either, so the Savin London dress is pricey. I spent countless hours online searching for a cheaper duplicate, but only came across scammy websites.

But this Willa dress! It’s so gorgeous. It’s so hard finding an outfit that feels like a wedding dress, but with a bit of color. I wanted the color as a nod to my Indian heritage. Brides in India wear red.

So I lusted over this dress for weeks. I thought about “saving” money from what I’m “allowed” to spend and cutting back on everything else. I considered it. Honestly, I really had to talk myself out of it, even. It doesn’t fit my brand. I’m Thriftygal! I can’t spend $8,600 on a dress!!! Can I? I about blew my mind when I calculated the opportunity cost of keeping that money in VTSAX instead. $8,600 doesn’t even include alterations!

I could absolutely afford it. But I couldn’t stomach paying such a large sum for an outfit that I would wear only once.

Eventually, I found a used version of the dress online for $3,320 plus who knows for shipping plus who knows for customs fee as it’s currently in Ireland. With alterations, it would be another who knows how much. I don’t even know if I can alter this already-altered dress properly. My mother thinks used wedding dresses are gross and stupid.

Season by Madi Lane

I expanded outside of a mile radius of my house and found another beauty for a quarter of the price. At $2,399, it was still the most expensive article of clothing I’d ever buy, but it seemed like a bargain next to the Willa dress. It’s lovely, maybe 80% of what I want.

It’s Season by Madi Lane. White dress with a pop of color. You can tell my taste. It’s pretty, but it didn’t capture my heart the way Willa did.

Again, the next picture is not the Madi Lane, just a picture to break up the text.

Andrea & Leo Couture Dress A1133

The final dress I found was a prom dress, but it was white with a splash of color. It didn’t have the word “wedding” in it and didn’t have a feminine name assigned to it, so it wasn’t priced in the four digits. I found it online and went to visit my sister in San Jose to try it on at a store, paying $20 for the appointment.

The return policy on the website to get it in my size was rather sketch, only offering store credit to return it after deducting the “free” shipping. But if I get it, I don’t plan on returning it, so maybe okay?

The fabric felt cheap and the shiny bits were glued on, but nobody is going to be inspecting it that closely, right? It’s a lovely dress, perhaps 60% of what I want. For such a pricey dress ($400 is still the most I’ve ever spent on an article of clothing), the construction wasn’t great. Seams didn’t line up and lay flat. I found myself making a lot of excuses for this dress.

Not the Andrea and Leo Couture dress.

So below are the three dresses and the game. One picture is a $8,590 Willa dress by Savin London. Another picture is the $2,399 Season dress by Madi Lane. Another picture is the $420 Andrea & Leo Couture prom dress from the internet. Which one’s which? Can you guess without looking them up online? I’ll give you the answer in the comments when I wake up.

Dress #1

Dress #2

And dress #3

Which one did I end up picking? I actually don’t know yet because I haven’t made a decision.

Oh, and this is just one of the outfits I’m going to be wearing. It’s a three-day event with Indian clothes as well.

And I have to consider a veil ($2,100 for the Willa veil). A tiara, maybe. Or something to put in my hair. I’ll probably need shoes. Jewelry.

Oh man.

Another thing to keep in mind, too, is that I can probably sell the dress for about half when the wedding is done. Well, maybe. I’m pretty short and small, so size-wise my pool of potential buyers is pretty limited and these dresses aren’t to everyone’s taste, shrinking the pool even more.

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The only movie I found about central Asia was Borat, which I found amusing, but also kind of insulting. I could see why the Kazkakhs didn’t want to be associated with it and how it’s probably not an accurate representation of their country.

We also stuck Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan and Tbilisi, Georgia onto our trip even though they are very hard to spell. We ended up choosing the bolded cities above for no particular reason.

Here’s our bucket list for that trip.

1. Take the fast bullet train in Uzbekistan

First class seats on the fast train costs a whopping $19 to go from Samarkand to Tashkent. It zips you right along! A 4-hour car ride turns into a 2-hour train ride. They give you free tea and pastries on the trip as well.

2. Splurge on airfare

Turkish Airlines just started a new direct route from Denver to Istanbul. We wanted to reward this move and buy business class seats.

I’ve flown business class before when I worked as a lawyer and my law firm was paying for my flight. It’s every bit as fabulous as you think. If I had infinite money, I’d spend it on business class seats every flight.

Turkish Airlines wanted $3,817 each for 24 hours of roundtrip comfort. I don’t know if it’s worth it. It’s so luxurious, but it’s also a significant percentage of my yearly budget! For one day! Eek.

In the end, this was something we decided not to buy. $3,800 was more than either of us were willing to shell out apparently. We ended up spending $3,317 on all of our flights for both of us.

That’s the thing about Lean FI. You won’t be able to afford everything. And that has to be okay. If I had worked a few more years, maybe I could claim Chubby FI and splurge on business class flights with less guilt. But maybe not. I absolutely can afford it right now. The gap between my red and green lines are pretty big at this point.

I just don’t want it enough.

Mark and I each got a row of three seats to ourselves in coach. I slept ten of the twelve hours of the flight going to Istanbul. The flight back was…less pleasant.

3. Experience central Asia

Everything is so boxy in central Asia. There were very few decorations on the walls in our Airbnbs and very little color.

Everyone is very friendly and exceedingly honest, though. We gave the wrong change more than once and the merchant gave us our money back each time. The area feels very zen with people sweeping leaves constantly. We always felt safe.

4. See parts of the silk road

Samarkand, Uzbekistan is the ultimate silk road city. The silk road is where the Chinese shuttled their goods west way back when. The markets were huge and seemingly never-ending. We got lost in there. I’ve never seen so many eggs in one place in my life.

5. Go on day trips from the cities.

We ended up driving from Bishkek to Almaty to avoid airfare. It saved us about $150 and we were able to leave at a more convenient time. Plus, land border crossings are kind of interesting.

6. Try interesting sounding food

We ate plov (rice dish) in Uzbekistan and Khinkali (dumpling dish) in Georgia and oromo (noodle dish) in Kyrgyzstan. And by we, I mean Mark. I’m not eating horse meat. The food was okay. They didn’t use many spices. I even lost a couple of pounds on this trip, but I will say that the pomegranates and strawberries were beautiful and delicious. We try to go to an Indian restaurant in every country we visit and that’s always fun.

How do I plan a trip?

So, how does one plan a trip? One being me.

Seed of inspiration

Like most things, start with the why. Inspiration can strike from anything. Area you want to visit? Time of year you want to go? Activity you want to do? Cheap flight? Cool hotel?

For this trip, I started with the time of year. September is my birthday month and I like to spend some of it out of the United States.

Weather

What’s a country that has nice weather in September? We don’t mind going during the shoulder season or off season, but we do like when the weather is nice.

The internet tells me Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and Georgia are lovely countries for visiting in September.

Safe?

Does the State Department of the United States consider them safe? If yes, you’re good to go! If not, I’d pick another.

The State Department wants me to exercise normal precaution in all these places. Excellent.

Activities

I like checking out viator.com to see what activities there are to do in the area.

Kazakhstan has some beautiful hiking. We could do a day trip to Tajikistan from Samarkand. Maybe some hot air ballooning from Tashkent. Georgia has some interesting caverns.

Flights

I use skyscanner.com to monitor my flights. It tells you when prices go up or down and you can snatch them when they’re down if you’re booking far enough ahead of time. I started planning this trip five months beforehand and bought flights intermittently when they were on sale. I saved about $175 by using skyscanner this trip.

Accommodations

After flights, we have to decide between Airbnb and a hotel. Airbnbs are much cheaper, but hotels just feel easier. Airbnbs are more modest, but have more space. Hotels are simple to find and check into and come with amenities like a gym and a pool. Maybe a hot tub or free breakfast. If we’re coming in very early or very late, we like hotels. If we’re on a special diet and plan to cook a lot, we like Airbnbs. When we need a laundry stop, Airbnbs are good. When we’re spending extravagantly, we go for resorts.

Here’s a tip. Search on hotels.com, but then when you find a hotel you like, go to the hotel’s official website and book directly with them. It cuts out the middleman and can save you hundreds. Plus, if anything goes wrong, the hotel is much more likely to help you. This tip works well for independent hotels and not big chains.

Miscellaneous

Other questions to ask: What’s the best area to stay in? How do you get to the hotel/airbnb? If you’re visiting more than one city in a country, what’s the best way to get around?

It’s helpful to find out if there are any ride sharing apps in the place you’re visiting. Apparently Yango is their version of Uber. We took it a lot and it was very cheap. Do not take rides from the taxi drivers that approach you. You’ll likely get scammed. The taxi drivers wanted ten dollars to take us to our Airbnb in Samarkand. Yango wanted one dollar.

Finally, make sure to check if you need a visa or any vaccines for that country. I needed a visa for Uzbekistan, but none of the others.

So many fun things to research.

As always, I carry my Google Fi phone that works pretty much everywhere, connecting to the local network automatically for $10/gigabyte. I pay for unlimited data internationally for about $45/month in a group plan.

I also use Global Entry and speed through immigration and we use lounges for the airports to save on food. We also use the Charles Schwab debit card that reimburses us for ATM fees and is usable worldwide.

Cost

Flights: = $1,693.86/person
Denver -> Istanbul -> Denver: $1,021
Istanbul -> Samarkand: $220
Tashkent -> Bishkek: $98
Bishkek -> Almaty (via car): $37
Almaty -> Tbilisi: $210
Tbilisi -> Istanbul: $89

Accommodations: $269.91/person
3 nights Samarkand (Airbnb): $79.88
2 night Tashkent (Airbnb): $64
2 nights Bishkek (Airbnb): $71
3 nights Almaty
2 nights hotel: $22.03 (credit card points. Value of $268)
1 night yurt: $156.75 (didn’t end up using because Mark got sick)
1 night Airbnb: $34
3 nights Tbilisi (Hotel): $0. We used credit card points, but the room was worth $543 for those days.

Transportation (Train ride, ubers): $121.05
This consisted of train rides in Denver and Uzbekistan and ride-sharing apps everywhere else.

As always, I don’t really count food because we’d need to eat wherever we are.

Total: $2084.82

I would save so much money if I didn’t like to travel. But then what’s the point of having money?

The post Central Asia Bucket List: Two weeks in Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, and Kyrgyzstan. And Georgia. appeared first on The Power of Thrift.

I initially crossed off life bucket list item #2, learn to swim in 2015 because I “panic swam” a half lap and comfortably went snorkeling in Jamaica. That seemed like a huge step for me, someone who couldn’t put her face in the water previously.

I was looking at my life bucket list again though and realized I could absolutely not go scuba diving (life bucket list item #39) because I was still terrified of the water and hated going to the pool and the beach and on boats and over bridges. Swimming is scary. Deep water is paralyzing. As a child, I would lock myself in the bathroom to avoid swimming lessons. I don’t know where the fear comes from, but it’s there and it wasn’t going anywhere.

Fortunately for me, Mark loves all things water. Fine, okay. It’s good to tackle your terror, right? Do something every day that scares you. Or some other such bullshit.

So, I uncrossed this item on the life bucket list and decided to re-evaluate it in a more prolonged, systematic way.

First, I wrote a list of what it means to be able to swim.

Can you?

1. Jump into the deep end of the pool (scary!)
2. Tread water for five minutes
3. Swim two laps using the backstroke
4. Swim two laps using the freestyle stroke (hard!)
5. Swim two laps using the breaststroke
6. Touch the bottom of the deep end of the pool (terrifying!)
7. Jump off a diving board (impossible?)
8. Go scuba diving

I started working on this bucket list item in April 2022 when I started taking adult swim lessons (again) and I crossed the final item off my “can you” list in August 2024 . I’ve been working on this post, taking notes and musing on my progress (or lack thereof) all along the way.

After writing the list, I started going to the pool regularly. I took adult swimming lessons more than once, from more than one place, paid for and watched and practiced Total Immersion, the program Tim Ferris recommends. For exercise, I tried water aerobics, deep water aerobics, and water zumba. Forcing myself to just hang out in the water, I went jet skiing and snorkeling and paddleboarding and tubing and to water parks.

It was harder than it sounds.

My progress wasn’t linear either, one day I could do something and the next I’d be afraid again. I regressed constantly. It took a lot of time. So much time.

1. Jump into the deep end of the pool

Mark helped me jump into the deep end of the pool, by having me jump from the bottom rung of the ladder first and then gradually making my way up to the surface. I was able to jump into five feet of water by August of 2022. It took me months to get comfortable doing so. In July of 2023, I made myself jump into this five feet, two inch deep end of the nearby pool nearly every single day.

I know depth doesn’t matter after you can no longer touch the bottom, but it still scared me. Eventually, I jumped into a pool that was twelve feet deep. The next time I’m on a boat, I want to jump into an unknown depth of water, a feat I once thought unconquerable, but now feels doable.

2. Tread water for five minutes in the deep end

I thought I already knew how to tread water, but when I tried to do it for five minutes, I couldn’t get past the 90 second mark. I was tiring myself out so quickly because I was using so much energy freaking out. So I learned better technique, different kicks and ways to cup my hands. Completed: June 2023. This is a skill I kept losing and having to relearn. I think I have it now. Maybe.

3. Swim two laps using the backstroke

I could already swim backstroke, but I needed to calm myself enough to be able to do two laps without stopping. I tend to “panic breathe” when I’m in water and that exhausts me. So, I watched some videos on Youtube and corrected my form and calmed my nerves. I completed this goal in August 2022. I was able to complete this goal early on because you don’t have to put your face in the water for this stroke.

4. Swim two laps using the freestyle/front crawl stroke

This step of learning freestyle took the longest, but it also made a lot of the other steps possible. I read a bunch on freestyle techniques, watched all the Youtube videos, took swimming lessons repeatedly, used different apps, went to the pool regularly trying to imprint muscle memory into my body for the correct way to flail my body.

Eventually, my flailing turned into swimming!

It was a long, frustrating process and I’m not going to pretend like it was easy. There were so many days where I felt sure I would never be able to learn to swim, that I would never be comfortable in the water, that it was never going to get easier.

It took a concerted effort. I went early to my swimming lessons and stayed late and I practiced on my off days.

For me it was the breathing that was the hardest. I automatically held my breath anytime I was underwater, which is what you’re supposed to not do. You’re supposed to exhale out when you’re underwater. It seems so counterintuitive and it took a long time to correct that habit. I went from holding my breath to breathing out with my mouth. Really good swimmers (not me) breathe out through their nose while underwater. I still occasionally find myself slipping back into my old, bad habit of holding my breath.

Eventually, I realized I had to learn to swim like I learned how to sew. I had to do it on my own and figure it out, struggle through, by myself. Classes are good for the concepts, but for it to really click, you have to do it yourself. You have to work through the discomfort and confusion. It was hard, distressing, and scary, and you just have to do it. You can be scared and brave at the same time.

I was also fundamentally misconstruing what this activity was.

“Is swimming freestyle fun?”

Mark: “You’re like a baby who is learning to walk asking if running is fun. No! It’s exercise. Just like freestyle.”

Oh, that’s why it’s so tiring.

I completed this goal in August 2024 and it was so satisfying to come here and strike through the words marking completion of said words.

This article is getting long. Part II to come.

*Oh, yes, we’re engaged! Did I not tell you? Mark asked me to marry him and I said f*ck yeah!

The post Life Bucket List item complete! #2 Learn to swim appeared first on The Power of Thrift.

1. Expensive contact lenses

I’ve never been able to figure out a thrifty hack for contact lenses. With the eye exam, it’s an expensive necessity. I don’t remember insurance ever covering this. Do they? I easily spent $300 – $500 on contact lenses plus exams for monthly disposable contacts every year.

This year, I spent extravagantly and bought daily disposable lenses. They’re so wonderful, but they’re not cheap.

But worth it! I can fall asleep on the couch and just throw my contacts out at the end of the day. It’s bliss having crisp, clear eyesight every day. My old contacts would fog up and gunk up, I think because I’m allergic to Curtis. It drove me insane. New contacts are much better. They never get old enough to accumulate any debris.

When in early-retirement-seeking mode, I would buy the monthly contacts and wear them for two months or more to make the entire order last two years. This habit was probably not great for my eyes.

For a year’s worth of dailys and an eye exam this year, I paid nearly $1,000. This does not include glasses.

2. Chemical hair straightening

Many years ago, I visited my college roommate in Brazil and she took me to a salon and requested a Brazilian blowout for me, a chemical hair straightening service. It was the bomb. And cheap because I was in Rio de Janeiro. I think I paid $80. It makes my hair go from oh so very much maintenance to none. None! I don’t have to straighten my frizz every few days.

I recently got a French blowout in Denver. It’s the same concept as a Brazilian blowout, but more expensive and lasts longer. Supposedly.

The service cost about $600 with tip and lasts approximately six months until the hair at the top of your head grows out enough to be noticable.

When I was trying to retire early, I spent about $50 every six months on a haircut and straightened it with my flat iron a couple of times a week by myself.

3. Nuuly

Nuuly is a clothes rental service. They mail me six pieces a month for $106 per month. I borrowed outfits for that wedding I told you about, a festival to watch the solar eclipse in Texas, Jazzfest in New Orleans, and lots of other events.

It’s actually quite fun because they have 00 Petite which fits me! It makes shopping more enjoyable knowing clothes won’t run big.

When I was running towards FI, my clothing budget was about $10/year and just for new underwear. All of my clothes were hand-me-downs from my lovely sisters.

4. Nutritionist

I’m trying to get a six-pack of abs and I recruited this nutritionist at this gym close to my house to help me. It was pricey with a $350 initiation fee and $600/month thereafter. I’m not sure it’s worth it. I get two meals a week from myfitfoods.com, two visits a month to a nutritionist, some blood work. Encouragement, maybe. Accountability. I don’t know.

The first week she had me write down everything I consumed. The second week, she started tweaking my diet. Each meeting, she’d give me advice. Then she started writing workouts for me. I’ll tell you more about this in another post. If it works. I’ll probably tell you about it even if it doesn’t work because that’s how I roll.

The nutritionist is on top of the $165/month gym membership I have.

When I was working, my law firm either had a gym and personal trainers in the building that I could use for free (in Chicago) or would subsidize my gym membership (Sydney). A nutritionist wasn’t even on my radar at that point.

***

I’m one to hate subscriptions. It’s a mindless drain on your finances, but I have almost $1,000 in recurring monthly charges in my life right now. Seeing that number in print makes me want to lower it.

When can you take your foot off the pedal a little?

Sometimes I’m frugal for frugality’s sake. It’s a virtue. Buy less stuff. Realize the most important things in life are free. Relationships. Time with people you love and who love you. Experiences. Money can only make you happy up to a point.

And sometimes I’m not thrifty. There are different stages of life and I think, looking back, you really only have to scrimp and deny yourself until you get your first $100,000 saved. That’s a big enough cushion that it’s not going to kill you or your dreams to spend an “unnecessary” $600. Just my opinion. I waited until I retired and was living with a boyfriend and had no rent before I went hogwild, but I probably could have purchased these things sooner. Just, you know, don’t have too many of these types of splurges.

What do you think? When can you ease off the pedal a little?

The post Things I never would have bought while working toward early retirement (but I buy now) appeared first on The Power of Thrift.