We’re looking back on the year, and what a journey it’s been! We’ve gathered so many useful and fascinating life hacks, hot tips and takeaways from the first 16 episodes of Merging Into Life, we thought it would be fun to recap some of our favorites.
We tackled some major milestones this season, from bringing home your first pet to planning a theme park vacation to purchasing insurance. With the help of our expert guests, we’ve answered the big questions to make it all easier for you, one episode at a time.
[1:21] – Is a new vehicle on the horizon? Here’s what to consider when buying a new car (and paying for it).
[7:22] – Big trips coming up in 2025? Here’s a life hack on the best time to fly.
[11:43] – Do your resolve to budget better in 2025? Here’s a helpful reminder from Fidelity’s Ashley Bove
[15:13] – Is getting in shape one of your resolutions? Runner’s World’s Runner-in-Chief of has some tips on how to incorporate running into your everyday routine.
With a show called Merging Into Life, we’re of course going to talk about life and travel and cars, so let’s start there because that’s where we started on our very first episode. Everyone remembers buying their first car. I sure do. It was a thousand dollars and I bought it off of Craigslist. But what I remember from this episode is Nicole Wakelin’s enthusiasm for all things vehicle.
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Ted Lyons: Everybody falls in love with a car and they get a little punch drunk when they go to the dealership because you probably drove in with something that maybe isn’t running so great. There’s a reason you showed up to the lot, so you just drove something that’s really nice and now you fell in love with it and you have to have it, and that’s where those rash decisions come. So the more information you have up front, the better. But are you driving the same type of car you did? Do you know what your insurance is going to cost? Is this car going to double your insurance and make it unaffordable? Have you looked at what repairs are going to cost on this car? Fixing a Toyota Corolla is different than fixing a BMW. And I’m not picking one over the other, it’s just a fact of life. Don’t show up to somebody’s house or a dealership or what have you without knowing what that car’s worth.
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Amanda Greene: Like Ted said, get educated. And of course, once you bring that vehicle home, it’s definitely in your best interest to take really good care of it. We did an episode called Everything You Need to Know About Car Repair. It’s funny, something that stuck with me was that we’re all supposed to run our vehicle for at least 30 seconds before we pull away.
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Peyton Knight: When you start your car when it’s cold, let it run for a good 30 seconds, maybe a minute. If you start your car, throw it in reverse right away, the engine’s running, but it’s not being lubricated for a good 30 or 40 seconds.
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Amanda Greene: So that’s not a just-in-the-winter thing, that’s an all-the-time thing.
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Peyton Knight: Correct. The engine is cold all the time. So if it’s 80 degrees out, the engine’s cold because the engine runs at 210, 220 degrees. So it doesn’t matter where you are in the country, the engine’s cold.
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Amanda Greene: That nugget came from Peyton Knight, owner of Knight’s Automotive Repair in Ledgewood, New Jersey. But something that I hadn’t thought a lot about until we covered it in our episode all about electric vehicles is that the 30 second rule doesn’t apply for EVs because there’s no need for things like transmission fluid oil or even gas. But don’t take it from me. I asked Matt Farrell, a tech enthusiast who spends his time looking at sustainable technologies and how they affect our lives. Here’s what he had to say about the amount of maintenance EV owners can expect to do.
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Matt Ferrell: Virtually nothing. Like I said, I’ve been driving electric vehicles since 2018. Obviously, windshield washer fluid, your tires might need to get replaced, things like brake pads, things like that are still part of the car that you have to keep an eye on. Like my last car I had for five years, the brake pads were almost like new when I got rid of the car, so I never had to deal with those. There’s no spark plugs, there’s no oil to change. Really, it’s just keep your car clean, make sure the tires are aligned, make sure they have good treads. It’s like the normal kind of stuff like that, but beyond that, there is virtually no maintenance on an electric vehicle.
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Amanda Greene: I have to say, that’s tempting. I was also curious about how often you have to charge up. Ben Sullins broke it down like this.
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Ben Sullins: The average range for a new EV is over 300 miles. And if you look at the Department of Transportation studies on household trips, how far people drive, there’s less than 7% of people drive more than 30 miles a day. So at 300 miles, average range, less than 30 miles per day, you’re going to be fine for several days. Anecdotally, my wife and I both have electric vehicles and we drive a fair amount, we got to take kids to school and go do all those kind of things and go to work and back, and so in that, with two electric vehicles in one place to charge, she charges maybe twice a week and I charge maybe twice a week. So it’s one of those things you can even have multiple EVs and still not even need to be charging every single day.
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Amanda Greene: Ben is an EV advocate and a former data scientist, so he was really helpful in explaining the numbers behind EVs. Of course, if we’re going to tackle anything car related, the first thing we have to do is get our driver’s license. Many of us head out as soon as we can, but there is a growing number of teenagers who are putting off driving until they’re adults. So we brought in Linda Richie, AAA’s driving instructor extraordinaire.
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Linda Ricci: One of the biggest things is build up slowly. You might start in a parking lot, cemetery, maybe an industrial area where there’s some roadways but not too much traffic, and then go from there to a back road. Once you’re on the back road and you’re comfortable, move up again to the next level, which would be roads with traffic, maybe single lanes, maybe multi-lanes. And then once you’re more comfortable with that, now you move to a highway. And one of the biggest things, I would say, is practice daily. Even if it’s for 10, 15 minutes, at least it’s practice. And then you want to practice on roads that are very familiar with you and then unfamiliar to you.
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Amanda Greene: I really enjoyed Linda’s tips. As she said, new drivers are going to be out on the road with the rest of us soon. It’s better for all of us if they know what they’re doing. Speaking of hitting the road, we were fortunate to talk to Kim Rodrigues. She’s an avid traveler responsible for her blog, the K-Rod Collective. Kim’s thing isn’t just that she likes to travel, but like more and more people out there, she likes to travel alone.
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Kim Rodrigues: I started traveling by myself years ago, like 10, 11, maybe, almost 12 years ago, and I did it because I was tired of waiting on other people to see the world. I had this long bucket list and all these places that I wanted to see, so I just took the leap and did it myself.
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Amanda Greene: Kim talked a lot about how to stay safe, but she also talked about the joys of being able to do things at your own pace and how when you’re by yourself, you are more open to meeting people and making new friends. And isn’t that what traveling is all about? On that same episode, we also talked to AAA’s Jillian Young. She knows all the tricks and trends and says if you’re traveling by air, early morning is the way to go.
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Jillian Young: We actually looked at the busy summer travel season when we do see just so many flights between June, July and August in particular, and at the 30 largest US airports, the percentage of on-time flights peaked during the 6AM hour, and then it dropped every hour until 7PM, which had the worst percentage of on-time flight departures.
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Amanda Greene: Jillian also mentioned that if you hit any snags and you happen to be traveling alone, it’s much easier to rebook a flight. Just saying. So these tips are great if you’re flying, but lots of us like to keep it simple, and that can mean only one thing, road trip. In our episode, Road Trip Starter Pack, Lindsey Basara, who writes the toad trip travel blog, New England Chickadee, said something I’ve started applying.
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Lindsey Basara: Packing for a road trip is something that I continue to refine because there’s always things that I add to my packing list, but I am really big of a mindset where I want to pack more things that I’m going to actually use rather than forget something.
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Amanda Greene: I usually try to pack light, but when you’re on a road trip, there’s really no need. There’s less restrictions. We had AAA’s Adrian Petri here to talk about mapping out a trip. He had lots of good tips, but I think this says a lot.
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Adrian Petrie: Don’t spend all of your time in the car. It will drive you absolutely insane.
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Amanda Greene: That’s really good advice. It’s important to drive a distance that’s fun and comfortable for you and all the passengers. Okay, I have to admit, I got pretty excited for the theme park episode. I love Disney. My family loves Disney, and I got to talk to an incredibly knowledgeable guest who loves Disney. Felicia Troy, travel sales manager at AAA Northeast, helps people plan the theme park trip of their dreams, and I loved her approach.
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Felicia Troy: I think when we sit with people, we actually don’t really start with the meat and potatoes. We want to get to know you a little bit more. We want to find out what you like, what you don’t like, if you’re bringing kids, what they’re interested in, how old are they? What do they like to do every day? Because I think it matters. If you take the time to get to know somebody, you can plan something truly excellent instead of just being that order taker that’s like, “Okay, you want to go here? Let me get that for you,” And move on. We really try to get to know the person so we can fit you to the right trip.
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Amanda Greene: Our episodes about travel are so helpful, plus there’s a certain romance in a new place. But another thing that’s top of mind when we’re having all of these adventures is safety. There are different kinds of adventures in life. For some, it’s parachuting, for others, it’s rock climbing, but nothing beats the rush of bringing your baby home from the hospital for the first time. Adelle Zocher has helped hundreds of families with this one. Adelle is a public affairs specialist with AAA Northeast, and she knows just about everything there is to know about installing car seats.
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Adelle Zocher: The best seat is always the seat that works best for the family, fits their price range, fits their vehicle, can be installed and used correctly every time.
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Amanda Greene: Another episode that changed how I do things is the one about identity theft. There was so much good stuff about how to spot a scam, multi-factor authentication and what to do if you’re part of a data breach. But the thing that really stood out to me is Robert Siciliano’s advice.
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Robert Siciliano: The best thing that consumers could engage in or should engage in is credit freezes. Today, you can apply for Credit Freeze online or over the phone through the three major credit bureaus, Experian, TransUnion, and Equifax, and essentially lock down or freeze your credit in such a way where going forward, you have an access to all three credit bureaus, you have an account at each one, username and passcode, and you can go in anytime and temporarily thaw your credit.
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Amanda Greene: I did it. I feel so much more protected. But we also have to retain a healthy dose of skepticism and vigilance because as Mike Bruemmer, vice President of Consumer Protection for Experian, said…
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Mike Bruemmer: 90% of all the data breaches occur not because of software, not because of hardware, not because the hackers are so smart, it’s because humans are vulnerable and they make a mistake.
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Amanda Greene: One of our most popular episodes so far this season was Budgeting 101. In it, Ashley Bove explained the 15 50 5 rule. Your essentials like housing, food, and car should be no more than 50% of your budget, 15% of incoming money should go toward retirement, then put 5% away for an emergency fund. This leaves you with 30% to spend however you like.
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Ashley Bove: And if you are in a place where you hate that feeling of, I don’t know where my money’s going, I am stressed, can I afford this? What if this happens? Just having that cushion and knowing that mentally you’ll be in an okay space if you do this is worth everything. And that motivation after the first month or two should be enough to really push that budget to stick.
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Amanda Greene: Ashley is a workplace financial consultant with Fidelity Investments, and that budgeting info will come in handy when you decide it’s time to start looking for your first home.
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Steven Vieira: It takes a small village to bring you through the process. Typically, a lot of people start with the real estate agent, but what my recommendation would be is really to start on the lending side first and maybe even look personally at your own monthly budget. So what fits your monthly budget before you even approach the lender and ask them what you think the bank will qualify you for.
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Amanda Greene: That was Steven Vieira, director of Mortgage Sales and Operations at AAA Northeast. In that same episode, we have some great advice about how to choose the right home for you. But let’s say you decide to rent rather than buy, we still have you covered with tons of info about how to move, choose reputable movers and decorate. Measure before you buy. The episode about getting your own insurance for the first time was really helpful. Emily Buckley, assistant sales manager at AAA Northeast, made a fantastic point.
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Emily Buckley: The thing with insurance is we buy it so that we don’t have to use it. It’s protection in case the worst case scenario happens.
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Amanda Greene: So whether it’s car, home, life or boat insurance, basically anything you can operate or live in can be insured. And I guess when it comes to insurance, we shouldn’t forget our pets. So of course, we dedicated an entire episode to them. We covered a lot, like choosing your very first pet.
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Dr. Anne Hohnehaus: Well, I think that is the question they need to ask, what is your lifestyle and how can a pet fit into that? So if you are someone who likes to go away on the weekend, can you take that pet with you where you’re going on the weekend? Or if you’re someone that works from home all the time and can walk a dog whenever you need to, then a dog might be a great pet. And then let’s not just think dogs and cats, but we could also think about kind of more non-traditional pets, which might be something in an aquarium that needs probably less day-to-day maintenance. Although having been a fish tank owner for some time, cleaning those things can be a challenge. Or some small mammal like a gerbil or a Guinea pig. Those are easy pets to take care of. And so that lifestyle question is a very important first question for the first-time pet owner to wrestle with when they’re making a decision on a pet.
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Amanda Greene: That was Dr. Anne Hohenhaus from Ask the Vet Podcast. Pets make us happy because they’re cute and give us unconditional love. Another thing that is a natural mood booster? Running. And who would know more about this than Jeff Dengate, runner-in-chief at Runners World.
Running 101
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Jeff Dengate: The first thing I always recommend everybody is just make it a habit. Schedule it, put it on your calendar like any other important appointment. The easiest way to do that is make sure you get it done in the morning as well because when life gets busy and things get pushed, at the end of the day, that run is the thing that oftentimes gets sacrificed. So you just want to carve out the time to protect the time so you can go out and run or walk.
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Amanda Greene: In that episode, we delved into how to get off the couch into some sneakers and maybe, just maybe, entering your first race. It’s full of great information. And if anything you heard today piqued your interest, go back and listen to the full episode. You’ll find them on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts. Thanks so much to all of our many guests who took the time to share their passions and knowledge with us. And of course, thanks to you for joining us. You’ve been listening to Merging Into Life. Oh?
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Tori Weldon: Hang on, Amanda.
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Amanda Greene: Our producer, Tori Weldon. What’s up?
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Tori Weldon: Well, I didn’t want to close out the episode without some kind of quiz, so…
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Amanda Greene: Oh.
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Tori Weldon: I’m here to ask you some questions.
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Amanda Greene: Okay. Fun.
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Tori Weldon: All right. Are you ready for Merging Into Life trivia?
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Amanda Greene: Yes.
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Tori Weldon: Okay.
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Amanda Greene: Maybe.
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Tori Weldon: All right, let’s give it a try. Okay, so you are bestie Jenny once joked that she orders takeout every single night. What kind of food does she order?
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Amanda Greene: Pizza.
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Tori Weldon: Yes, you got it. Okay. My girl. Episode one, which activity elicited a, “Weee,” from Nicole Wakelin?
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Amanda Greene: Oh. She talked about… Did she jump a truck?
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Tori Weldon: Yes, she did. You got it.
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Amanda Greene: That was memorable.
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Nicole Wakelin: Took it up in the air, weee, and came down on the other side.
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Amanda Greene: Okay.
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Tori Weldon: You and Felicia Troy really hit it off over your mutual love of Disney. Do you remember what Felicia’s favorite Disney snack food is?
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Amanda Greene: Oh my gosh.
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Tori Weldon: This is a tough one.
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Amanda Greene: Is it a Mickey Pretzel?
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Tori Weldon: No.
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Amanda Greene: What was it?
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Tori Weldon: Buffalo chicken chips.
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Amanda Greene: Okay, spicy.
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Tori Weldon: All right. Okay. How about this one? Same episode. What is it called when you give out little mementos and trinkets to other people waiting in line with you?
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Amanda Greene: I know this one. Pixie dusting.
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Tori Weldon: Yes, of course you do. Okay, how about this? In our running episode, Jeff Dengate talks about fitting your running shoes. Should they be, A, on the big side, B, normal, sort of like a walking shoe, or C, nice and snug?
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Amanda Greene: Ooh, I have no idea. Should they be snug?
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Tori Weldon: A, big. You want them on the big side.
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Amanda Greene: Interesting. I might need to go back and re-listen to that one.
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Tori Weldon: I was going to say, maybe your shoes are a little too tight, Amanda. According to Dr. Anne Hohenhaus, who was featured, of course, in our first pet episode, how litter boxes do you need per cat?
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Amanda Greene: One. She said they each need their own litter box.
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Tori Weldon: You got it. Exactly. So that’s why when you get into a three cat situation, it’s not so much the animals, the litter boxes in your house. All right, so this is the last question.
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Amanda Greene: Okay.
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Tori Weldon: So think back to the episode with the blogger, Lindsey Basara, AKA the New England Chickadee. She was talking about road trips. It turns out that both of you went for a drive, a good distance out of your way, ending up at the same restaurant for the same type of food. Do you remember what food that was?
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Amanda Greene: Grilled cheese.
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Tori Weldon: Yes.
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Amanda Greene: Epic grilled cheese. I mean, not just any old grilled cheese, epic grilled cheese.
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Tori Weldon: That’s exactly what I thought. If both of you are doing that kind of drive for a sandwich, it must be a good one.
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Amanda Greene: Thanks, Tori. That was fun. I can’t wait for you to hear the episodes we have in store for you in the new year.
You’ve been listening to Merging Into Life, where we navigate life’s milestones one episode at a time, brought to you by AAA Northeast with assistance from JAR Audio. I’m your host, Amanda Greene.
We would love to hear what you think. Your feedback really matters to us. So if you have any ideas for an episode or you just want to say hi, please leave a review wherever you listen, or email us at podcast@AAANortheast.com. The views and opinions expressed in this podcast are not necessarily the views of AAA Northeast, AAA and or its affiliates.
