👋 Hey, Chris here! Turns out a podcast is a lot of work, so my apologies that this newsletter took so long to get back out there. But before I get on to this issue… a BIG thank you to everyone who has helped and supported me as the podcast has grown to over half a million downloads since launching just a few months ago. If you have any thoughts, feedback, questions or just want to say hi, please reply to this email.

⏱ It’s About Time…

We can sometimes forget that time is a currency on its own. You can always make more money, but unfortunately you don’t get that option with time. Once it’s gone, it’s gone for good. 

We can, however, find ways to minimize the time spent on those annoying or painfully mundane things which then allows us more time for things like dinner out with loved ones, rest during busy weeks, or simple moments of doing nothing on a Saturday afternoon guilt-free. 

What does buying back your time look like? 

Buying back your time can happen in a variety of ways. 

• Using Amazon Fresh or Thrive Market for grocery shopping or using a meal prep/delivery service to deliver fresh meals (here’s the ad I put on Craigslist to find a chef to deliver meals twice a week)

• Hiring a cleaning or landscaping service to come to your house on a regular cadence.

• Finding an au pair or nanny instead of using a daycare. This not only can save on travel time, but the savings are significant with an au pair.

• Hiring a virtual assistant for your business so you can have more downtime.

• Paying for a Point.me subscription for easier travel planning with your credit card points and airline miles.

There are services, apps, and freelancers for just about everything you can think of. Every one of those things has the ability to free up your time so you can start scheduling regular date nights with your spouse again (especially for you parents) or be able to put an extra four or five hours a week into that SQL bootcamp you signed up for. 

More importantly, what does it cost?

Price is not indicative of value because value looks different for everyone. When it comes to the cost of buying back your time, it’s really a question of what is this convenience worth to you?

There are plenty of ways to buy back your time that actually don’t cost anything. It can be about finding ways to be more efficient with your time. As Laura Vanderkam states, “Being mindful allows you to seize the time that is there. And if we think about how we’d like to spend our time we vastly increase the chances that we use it for things that are meaningful for us.” This could look like:

• Teaching children how to make their own snacks or do their own laundry so parents don’t have to stop one task to complete another. Laura Vanderkam details more of these in Episode 7.

• If you work from home, doing chores like laundry during the week so you don’t have to stay home and do it over the weekend.

• Limiting time on social media or on your phone in general. Patrick McGinnis spoke directly about this and gives tips on how to avoid time wasted on your phone.

• Learn how to become indistractable so you use your time efficiently in the first place. Nir Eyal shared his four steps to becoming indistractable in Episode 25.

Other things, like hiring a virtual assistant, have a significant cost. However, if hiring that VA means your workday is cut from 12 hours to 8 or even less, would gaining those hours back be worth the cost of their services? That trade-off between what you spend and what you gain is something only you can weigh and answer. 

There’s no right or wrong way to save time. We all live very different lives and how each of us maximizes the hours in our days should look different. As long as whatever you’re doing works for you and gives you the desired results, I’d say it’s a successful hack.

Do you have hacks to buy back your time? I’d love to hear about them! Respond to this email with your favorite time-saving hacks and we’ll feature some in upcoming newsletters. 

Need help finding ways to save time or steps to find out what you actually want to spend your time on? Check out these previous podcast episodes.

• The Four Research-Backed Steps to Be Indistractable with Nir Eyal

• The Science of Behavior Change with Kristen Berman

• FOMO, FOBO and How To Make Great Decisions with Patrick McGinnis

• Managing Your Time To Get More Done with Laura Vanderkam

💰 Latest Deals & Hacks

Here are a few of the best deals and hacks I’ve seen lately

• TOP DEAL: Want free companion flights for two years? Well it’s never been easier to have, because all three Chase Southwest cards are offering a huge 100,000 points signup bonus until 12/7. While you have to spend $12k to get the full bonus, the payoff is massive. Why? Because in any year you earn 110,000 Southwest points, you’ll earn a companion pass for the rest of that year AND the next year. That means you can select a specific a companion and any time you buy a flight on Southwest (even if you’re using miles) your companion’s ticket is free (except for the $5.60 in taxes/fees). I’ve been lucky to have companion pass in the past and it was incredible. Here’s a great article with all the details on how to do this. If you decide you want to do this, I’d really appreciate you signing up for the card with the link on allthehacks.com/cards.

• CapitalOne JUST announced a new premium travel card a few hours ago (the VentureX) to compete with the Amex Platinum and Chase Sapphire Reserve. It’ll have a 100,000 point signup bonus, give you access to the new CapitalOne lounges (DFW open now, IAD/DEN to come soon), and earn 10x on hotels/rental cars, 5x on flights (all three needing to be booked in their portal) and 2x on everything else. It has a $395 annual fee, but offers $300 in statement credits towards travel booked through CapitalOne. I’ve been considering opening up a CapOne card since they started letting you transfer points to airlines and the huge VentureX sign up bonus might push me over the edge, however… I strongly prefer booking directly with airlines and hotels and already get 2.25x on everything else with the Freedom Unlimited, so I don’t think this card would be “what’s in my wallet.” TPG covered the launch in more detail here and you can sign up and get 100k points at allthehacks.com/venturex.

• Thanks to All the Hacks listener Kunal for sharing a great hack for getting a maintenance/service plan for your next vehicle: you don’t have to buy it from the dealer selling you the car or even from the same state. Kunal got quoted almost $3,000 for a 3 year plan at his local California dealership, but he randomly called dealers in different states to look for a better deal. He ended up purchasing the same service plan for $1,600 and he still gets his car serviced at the dealership that quoted him almost twice as much. Thanks Kunal!

• Finally, aside from the Southwest cards, there are still so many cards with huge signup bonuses like the Amex Platinum, Citi Premier and Hilton Aspire & Surpass. If you’re interested in boosting your points and miles balances, definitely take a look at the Top Signup Bonuses at allthehacks.com/cards. Signing up for a cad from these links does help me out, but if you can find a better bonus elsewhere, please signup there. I want you to prioritize maximizing your points :)

🎙 Recent Episodes

Each newsletter I’ll highlight a few recent episodes, as well as a favorite from the archives that you might have missed.

Upgrade Your Travel with The Points Guy

Brian Kelly (aka The Points Guy) joins Chris to discuss travel in a post-pandemic world, the best credit cards to have and sign up for, getting the most out of your points and Brian’s favorite travel hacks and destinations.

🎧 Listen to Ep27 w/ Brian Kelly

The Four Research-Backed Steps to Be Indistractable

Bestselling author Nir Eyal joins Chris to discuss the hidden psychology that drives people to distraction and how becoming indistractable will let you take back your time and start making traction on the things that matter to you in your life.

🎧 Listen to Ep25 w/ Nir Eyal

Practical Money Hacks

"Money Hacks" author Lisa Rowan joins Chris to talk about lots of money hacks your might not know about, including grocery store hacks, deals on prescriptions, finding and claiming your missing money and getting things repaired for free!

🎧 Listen to Ep10 w/ Lisa Rowan

🙏🏼 I’d Love Your Help

Your support would mean so much to me and I’d be very grateful if you would help out in any of the following ways. If you’ve already done these, thank you so much!

• Leave a rating and review of the podcast in the Apple Podcasts app here.

• Subscribe to the podcast in Apple Podcasts, Spotify, PocketCasts, Google Podcasts or other platforms.

• Share this newsletter or the podcast with your friends/followers or anyone else you think would enjoy it.

• Share your favorite hacks or deals with me so I can include them in a future newsletter or episode (just reply to this email).

• Let me know what topics/guests you’d like to see on a future show.

💬 Parting Thoughts

Thank you so much for reading the relaunched newsletter! How’d you like it?

Loved | Great | Good | Meh | Bad

Your feedback will help make it great, so I’d love to hear your thoughts/suggestions. If there’s a topic you’d love me to dig into in an upcoming issue, please let me know!

Thanks for reading!

Chris

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Today, I’m grateful for the support of our partners: UpgradedPoints.