I was in vacation in Japan. We ended our trip in Tokyo because my partner and I are into gaming and I knew we’d buy stuff. One thing we bought was bigger and a bit of a hassle to pack. I wondered how much it would have been if I had bought it online and shipped it. Turns out I lot of the newer stuff we bought we could have bought from Amazon Japan and shipped directly home for a reasonable rate (probably less than the cost of the overpriced duffle bag we bought).

Do you have any recommendations of who to trust? I’m in a good place in my career but mostly do everything myself. It’s very basic stuff but I think I could be doing better. I just don’t know what the next step is.

Maybe this isn’t a hobby but just hanging out. Video games, movies, road trips, or any type of activity without it being a big deal. No agenda or expectations. Just being social. I miss that from my younger years. Now everyone is busy, tired, and getting together takes a lot of prep.

I use a variety of cards but mostly rely on sign up bonuses to give me enough points to travel with. Without those I would use a cash back.

Right now I use Bilt a lot. It alows you to pay your rent and earn points. My rent is probably ~75% of my monthly expenses. Their transfer partners are very good if not the best of all programs. It also has 3x dining which isn’t a big spend for me but it’s still good. Otherwise I have a several other cards for niche categories.

I used to be really into points and used those points to travel a lot in the last decade.