I love credit cards so much! v2.0 (see first page for add'l details)

[Livelovedance]

I discovered this, but quickly learned my Disney Visa rewards wasn’t nearly as rewarding as I thought it was. I have earned more with Chase UR points in less than a year than I earned in over 2 years using just the Disney Visa rewards cards.

Agree....I was putting everything on either my Disney or SW cards...before finding this group last May.....

I read a long list of comments on a Facebook group post about how amazing the Disney Visa is (both the no fee and premium cards). People are saying that they use it for everything and have earned sooo much money in rewards. Thanks to this group, all I could think about was the missed earnings in so many categories, and the fact that I would have totally been swayed by this if I wasn’t on the disboards! I do own the no fee card, but I use it for the 6 month no financing if I want to stretch out payments, or the Disney store discount.

 

[have2getaway]

So, thinking about using Plastiq for mortgage payments but a bit scared and reluctant. DH and I currently auto-pay biweekly on a 10 year mortgage that we have approximately 8 years left on. @SouthFayetteFan, I’m jealous that you are so close to paying yours off. Congratulations on that, though. DH said to me we could have knocked off a couple more years on our mortgage with the amount we have been spending on vacations. He’s right, we’ve literally spent about $19,000 on our last 3 vacations. Our next Universal/Disney trip will be our first trip where we will see a significant savings from Chase UR, so truly grateful for finding this thread and thanks to everyone for all the help so far.

My questions/concerns are:

—Has anyone ever worked toward 2 goals at the same time? We are currently going down the Chase UR path and building up rewards that way, but I believe to benefit from mortgage payments with Plastiq you have to use MC. Am I right? Are most only using Plastiq to make extra payments or has anyone found they are paying exclusively with Plastiq to fulfill MSR’s? DH was just approved for CIP, so we can certainly still use Plastiq with that.

—In switching to MC out of Chase Visa UR’s for this purpose only, which family of cards is the next best thing after Chase? AA rewards? Capital One? Amex—Can you pay mortgage with Plastiq using Amex?

—One of my biggest concerns is I don’t want to try to do too much too soon, but...we do have a legit $1,500 a month to spend now that is going towards our mortgage. So just unsure? I’m afraid that Chase UR is so easy that we will just end up sticking with that and forgo other, more lucrative options.

—DS, who is 17 will be graduating in 2020. We don’t want to overextend ourselves now when we know college expenses are rapidly approaching, but we could also hit some MSR’s with tuition payments too. Still, need to be mindful of my borrowing and credit limit with college on the horizon.

 

[Lain]

 

[striker1064]

Been using DW's second Citi Premier, opened via targeted mailer. Yesterday the first statement closed... and a $95 annual fee posted. What. That was supposed to be waived the first year. I called Citi and they acknowledged it was incorrectly posted and submitted a request to have it removed, but wow, this gives me a bad feeling about the bonus offer being attached. I'm not going to ask Citi if it's there, because, well, the first rule of Fight Club is to never call the bank... we are about $2k into the $4k MSR so we'll know soon enough I guess, but it's gonna suck if we put $4k on this for nothing.

 

[striker1064]

Driving doesn’t mean having to move everything. I wouldn’t let movers take everything anyway. They have been known to arrive days later than scheduled while you are without stuff. I’d pack the cats, some necessities, valuables and drive. Let the movers take the rest. How are your cars getting there if you fly, pay to transport those also?

Dh said if we’re driving we might as well move everything ourselves so I need to convince him that’s not a good idea. We would take the essentials like you mentioned. Our cars are shipped for free

@CyndiLouWho said what I was going to say. I've driven the uhaul across the country from WA to NC and back and I don't care if I move 10 miles across town I'm not doing it myself. Though with that short I'd be fine driving the truck but not the loading and unloading. Anything out of state someone else can do, ESPECIALLY if someone else is paying for it.

It's a giant pain in the butt and it's not fun. If you did it yourself you'd have to tow one of the cars, because really either way in order for the cars to be there when you get there they'll have to leave IA before you do. Or they leave when you do and you are car less in FL and have to rent. Either way I'd drive one of the cars down and let them move the other. Cost wise, it's not going to save anything and someone else is paying. It's just more stress. They aren't fun to drive, you have to rely on your mirrors and be a more confident driver than you are in your car.

And then there's the whole, Someone else is PAYING to move the stuff so you don't have to. Pack up the car with the guitars, some clothes, the cats, valuables and any papers that are sensitive that you don't want lost. When you sit and think about it, the car is for the stuff you don't want to lose but it's stuff you wouldn't want/be able to take if you did fly, not even thinking about the cats. But the bed that the movers move or the box of towels etc, I can live without those for a few days and I have insurance so if something happens to them I can just go buy new ones. But moving sucks, take the stress out of doing it yourself because you can.

Yeah, just gonna second these things, when we moved across the country we hired movers. We didn't just hire a moving company to move the stuff for us, we also hired guys to come pack everything for us. There are upsides and downsides to this, but moving so far was so stressful and not having to worry about that was worth every penny. All that being said, they came to pack about a week before we actually left, so we had to save out enough stuff to live on between that time. Also, the moving truck didn't arrive until about 5 days after we arrived. We actually lived out of hotels for the first few nights (thank you churning) simply because our stuff hadn't made it to our apartment yet.

But man, hiring movers was the best thing ever, you don't even know. Late last year we moved across town and although we packed everything ourselves that time, we still hired movers to load and haul for us. It was so worth the money. They're fast, efficient, and careful. I'll never do it myself again.

 

[Haley R]

@CyndiLouWho said what I was going to say. I've driven the uhaul across the country from WA to NC and back and I don't care if I move 10 miles across town I'm not doing it myself. Though with that short I'd be fine driving the truck but not the loading and unloading. Anything out of state someone else can do, ESPECIALLY if someone else is paying for it.

It's a giant pain in the butt and it's not fun. If you did it yourself you'd have to tow one of the cars, because really either way in order for the cars to be there when you get there they'll have to leave IA before you do. Or they leave when you do and you are car less in FL and have to rent. Either way I'd drive one of the cars down and let them move the other. Cost wise, it's not going to save anything and someone else is paying. It's just more stress. They aren't fun to drive, you have to rely on your mirrors and be a more confident driver than you are in your car.

And then there's the whole, Someone else is PAYING to move the stuff so you don't have to. Pack up the car with the guitars, some clothes, the cats, valuables and any papers that are sensitive that you don't want lost. When you sit and think about it, the car is for the stuff you don't want to lose but it's stuff you wouldn't want/be able to take if you did fly, not even thinking about the cats. But the bed that the movers move or the box of towels etc, I can live without those for a few days and I have insurance so if something happens to them I can just go buy new ones. But moving sucks, take the stress out of doing it yourself because you can.

You don’t have to convince me lol. It’s dh that needs convincing.

The part that’s getting to him is that, yes it’s being paid for, but he has a capped limit so he wants to spend as little as possible to get more things to fit under that cap. So like this trip we just took down, I highly doubt they’ll pay for it because I think we’re already gonna meet that capped limit and then we have to pay for it. I just don’t think he realizes the stress that’s gonna come with moving ourselves. Hopefully he’ll come around.

 

[Alexle2007]

No CITI IT problems to establish my new account. I’ll wait until late to chat about an upgrade to the bonus.

My Hilton points are already there. No idea how I am going to use them, especially since I am trying to maintain my Marriott status. I know the Doubletree is right there at Universal but it is so hard giving up staying onsite. DS and I love the EP and we are now spoiled by it plus the pools at the resorts are so nice and we typically break up our day. I have thought upgrading to the premium with the EP after 4 pm but that is only good for 1 time on the ride.

 

[Haley R]

Yeah, just gonna second these things, when we moved across the country we hired movers. We didn't just hire a moving company to move the stuff for us, we also hired guys to come pack everything for us. There are upsides and downsides to this, but moving so far was so stressful and not having to worry about that was worth every penny. All that being said, they came to pack about a week before we actually left, so we had to save out enough stuff to live on between that time. Also, the moving truck didn't arrive until about 5 days after we arrived. We actually lived out of hotels for the first few nights (thank you churning) simply because our stuff hadn't made it to our apartment yet.

But man, hiring movers was the best thing ever, you don't even know. Late last year we moved across town and although we packed everything ourselves that time, we still hired movers to load and haul for us. It was so worth the money. They're fast, efficient, and careful. I'll never do it myself again.

The moving company they give us would pack everything as well as move it. Dh’s family is a “do it yourself” kind of family which is almost the opposite of mine. We just come from different backgrounds and I think that’s why. He wants to just save the money so that we can use as much of the capped limit as possible. The biggest problem is we thought they would move our stuff in like 3 days which wasn’t realistic thinking but we literally leave 3 days after getting back from Japan so we don’t have a lot of options as far as them coming earlier to pack.

BUT the good thing is that the sellers are leaving their kitchen, dining room, and living room sets. So if our stuff takes too long we could sleep on the sectional and we would be okay.

 

[WVMomof3]

Anybody ever use Plastiq to pay a life insurance premium? That's one bill I obviously haven't been able to route through a CC.

I did last year when CIP was coding 3x.

 

[kandb]

Does anyone know if CIP gives you 3X for utility bills, such as gas, electric and water bills? I looked online and it said "utility services" but then just said phone and internet. Thank you.

 

[SouthFayetteFan]

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[SouthFayetteFan]

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[StephPlum]

Here is my off topic post for the day... I've got a haircut tomorrow. Since I scheduled it 2 weeks ago, I've been debating what I want to do with it... my hair is out of control long wnd I kind of want to do something different and have an idea that is a shorter cut (for me)... but I'm a big wimp and anxious because the only time I truly cut my hair shorter vs just getting it trimmed was back in middle school. I'm being completely crazy, yes. Lol.

The good thing about hair is that grows back. I change mine up all of the time and love to try new things.

I’m in the long hair for life camp! It feels too short to me right now and it’s about mid-back length.

I love the look of long hair and have tried it on myself many times and then hate it on me!! I don’t like to spend much time on my hair and when it gets past my shoulders, I usually just end up pulling back in a pony tail. I love just going in to the hair dresser and saying let’s try something new. I have super thick, wavy hair that grows very fast. So if I don’t like it, no worries, it will grow back. To bring this around to traveling. My last cut was based off a haircut I saw on someone while waiting at the airport. I described it and my hair dresser did a great job matching.

So I say go for it!!!

 

[Judique]

We have a capped limit for moving and it’ll be taken up by closing costs, realtor fees, and the moving company. Otherwise, yes they would cover it and the trip we just took

Yeah I really do think we’re gonna drive now. It’s such a long ways but it’ll be hopefully better for all of us. Now we need to look into a large enough kennel for both kitties and a litter box

You could try using baby diapers on them instead of a litter box. You can google it online.

I have a cat with a urinary tract problem and I have to diaper him to keep my house fresh.

 

[speedyfishy]

If people are interested I have another MS Avenue at a 2.5% fee for using a credit card and its just paying yourself. No need to pay a specific bill. Maybe I’ll share on Reddit though lol

ETA: Added to the ms thread

 

[StephPlum]

Jumped on the 3x points last night on CIP. Paid my water bill and property tax. Property tax isn’t due until end of June but I was afraid the 3x points would go away. Only bad thing is I am hitting MSR too quickly. Have a trip to Colorado Springs in a week and was thinking all food and gas would go to MSR (hotel covered by points). I wish I had another new card. Oh well, I’ll take my CSR and put food on that for 3x.

 

[SouthFayetteFan]

If people are interested I have another MS Avenue at a 2.5% fee for using a credit card and its just paying yourself. No need to pay a specific bill. Maybe I’ll share on Reddit though lol

Oooh yes - please do. My favorite MS is couch MS LOL!

 

[speedyfishy]

Oooh yes - please do. My favorite MS is couch MS LOL!

Added it. I have done 23k in MS this way.

 

[SouthFayetteFan]

Added it. I have done 23k in MS this way.

Veeeerry innnnteresting...

 

[Judique]

I did this to save money when we moved from ny to va. A five hour trip. And never again lol it is such a pain. We also had only a 450 square foot studio apartment to pack and it was still awful

@Haley R

One of the things moving companies will do is come and pack you, so that you can drive it yourself. Being military in the past, we always did a combo of using the professionals and packing things we wanted to take with us. We moved about 6 or 7 times. We were reimbursed for our partial packing that we transported so it was a budget idea for us.

The biggest issue was when they lost stuff. Or damaged stuff or lost half the table - no table legs. Plus when they packed the kitchen stuff....ewww! Or broke stuff.

I would suggest getting busy and ridding yourself of stuff you don't use or won't use in Florida now. And if you are already minimalist, moving should not be as difficult. Use the hanging wardrobes for your closet clothing. Leave clothing in dressers that you are taking with you, but secure the drawers. Carry your memories with you. Stuff disappears. And remember that some things you can't take, such as certain outdoor items (if you have them).

Mark your boxes for contents - you may not want to search through multiple 'kitchen' boxes just to find a spatula and frying pan for breakfast.

I am happy to see that you plan on driving your cats. My Persian flew here from Colorado, but at the time there was no other option. She flew in cabin with my son and made it okay, but I would never subject a dog or cat to flying unless unavoidable.