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

[CyndiLouWho]

Few little successes today. I was finally brave enough to go into DG to load my Serve Card. Super easy. The register actually blocks most of the card scanner so the cashier couldn’t see I had a GC even if she was looking. Also set up to link my Serve Card to my bank account.

Transferred $$ from GSB account to DH. I think I’ll leave $10 in the account. Just in case I want another account, don’t want to be too obvious.

Going thru GCs to shred, found that DCL returned $22 to one of the VGCs I used on the cruise. No idea why, but I’ll take it.

I’m all caught up here since I got to chill a bit while DS made dinner

 

[NewbieMom]

Southwest tickets $70 x 2 credited today, just in case anyone wanted to be doubly sure.

7/3 purchased
7/6 counter decreased
7/7 credited

Not sure if this has died since, but it didn't work for me. I have a short SW flight $89 coming up. 7/20 purchased, no counter decrease or credit. My other amex offers purchased on 7/22 already credited today.

We have been doing the $4 summer movie program on Wednesdays at 10am. AMC and it is $4 each for movie (older one) and popcorn/drink/fruit snacks per person.
There are a lot of kids there so it would be a good time to try it out and see how your kids do. Our first one in a june was the first time my DD3 1/2 went to a movie and I was pleasantly surprised so we’ve gone almost every week. But if your kids are antsy and you have to leave, at least you are only out a few bucks.

This sounds great! My DD would love it just for the snacks, lol. I'll have to look into whether our AMCs have it. Unfortunately both DH and I work full time, so we'll have to take time off to take advantage, but I've been wanting to do a mother-daughter date.

Buy Swagbucks is back!
Still could be an easy way to generate some spend or liquidate some (registered) VGC/MCGC cards...

You are a genius! I've been mostly ignoring these "Buy SBs", but just offloaded $80 on a VGC that I'm floating.

 

[NewbieMom]

Fair question. Yes. Every single one of our international flights have been booked with airline miles or variable points converted to airline miles.

That is absolutely amazing!!

Keep in mind we have no kids, so no paying or saving for college, school stuff, activities, upbringing etc.

Very true. DH and I saw a noticeable drop in our disposable income with kid #1 and then a significant drop with kid #2. Daycare is our #1 expense, ahead of an incredibly high rent in the bay area already. But of course, we wouldn't change a thing.

 

[calypso726]

...and he'd be correct! I'm wanting to schedule another trip since it's been 7 whole months since I was last there.

Well, I can say with my body habitus I'm not a fan of BA's slim fit navy jammies-do you know if those were old (please say yes please say yes) or new?

I know what you mean. We got back 2 1/2 weeks ago and I'm ready to back again.

Yup, the navy jammies are the old ones. On our most recent BA flight we got black jammies that are softer and come in ladies or men's not unisex. The ladies ones have a satin trim at the collar that plunges and crosses over a tad and seems to keep you cooler. Here's a picture so you can see what I mean. They still don't compare to Emirates, Singapore or JAL but they are definitely better than the navy ones.

 

[calypso726]

That is absolutely amazing!!

Very true. DH and I saw a noticeable drop in our disposable income with kid #1 and then a significant drop with kid #2. Daycare is our #1 expense, ahead of an incredibly high rent in the bay area already. But of course, we wouldn't change a thing.

Thank you Even if I won both the lottery and powerball, I can't wrap my head around paying what the international first class flights I have taken cost. Many of them were in excess of $20,000 per person. Heck, my next one is also in excess of $20k in real money and it is booked with airline miles transferred from Amex MR. Spending 6 - 15 hours or more in a lie flat seat with great service and nice jammies, a bar or a shower on the plane is not something we'd pay that much money to do. So point and miles it is. I'd rather take the same money and pay for an amazing vacation that I don't have to plan, including activities I would not have thought up, awesome accommodations with fun and informative guides to take me here and there. So ABD can have my money, and I'll just earn 5x or hit an MSR or two so I can get replenish points that I will be using for the flights.

I've heard how high the cost of day care can be and I know the Bay area is quite pricey. But the Bay area is lovely and being a parent has it's own fantastic rewards!

 

[ten6mom]

Am I the only one who fangirls a little when one of the "famous" posters mentions me???

 

[orangecuse]

@Lain I think of Highlander every time they mention Scotland too!! I feel like no one ever gets the quote when I drop it IRL

My husband and I actually just made an excel sheet to start keeping track of some general data. We listed basically every card by Chase, Amex, and a few by Citi (didn’t list some we know we’d not really go for due to the cobrand on it or whatever). Listed every single travel or other benefit, category bonus, highest SUB available (or lifetime for Amex), AF, anything that may offset AF like resort credit or travel credit, and then pooled in all of the known restrictions for each bank. I figure this will help us keep a better idea when we go forward of 1. What order to be doing things 2. Is this SUB the one we really want for this card 3. If we have a specific goal in mind does one CC help us over another. Obviously the data changes a lot but now that its made it shouldn’t be too bad to update as needed. Also when I say we I mean I did the research and made my husband make a cool file because idk excel they way he does haha

In other news we got the clear to close on our refinance! 3.8% and dropping our payment over $200/month!

 

[Limes96]

Any problems I’m not foreseeing with using my HHBiz to pay some tuition on Plastiq? By my calculation at a 1.5% fee I’d be pretty close to breaking even on points, and maybe it would help me get out of pop up jail. Also could go for the free weekend night possibly. I’ve been averaging around $500/month on this card so this would be quite a departure from that average. That’s one thing I’m not sure about.

 

[calypso726]

View attachment 419729

Am I the only one who fangirls a little when one of the "famous" posters mentions me???

Nah, I do too

 

[orangecuse]

Any problems I’m not foreseeing with using my HHBiz to pay some tuition on Plastiq? By my calculation at a 1.5% fee I’d be pretty close to breaking even on points, and maybe it would help me get out of pop up jail. Also could go for the free weekend night possibly. I’ve been averaging around $500/month on this card so this would be quite a departure from that average. That’s one thing I’m not sure about.

You should be good since Amex allows education costs via Plastiq!

 

[GusGus16]

Thread moved fast today, and I read some on my phone so didn't get to react to everything. Some highs and lows but this thread always comes back together to a happy community! For those who are posting for the 1st time or coming out of lurkerdom, welcome and please stay around and support this thread. I am not an expert but try to add what I can, when I can. Also nice to support each other through dischurners!

Long time lurker, first time poster with a WWYD.

We are in the midst of several LARGE home remodeling projects ($10k project, $15k project, and $5k project) plus fertility treatments.

DH got the Chase Marriott Bonvoy card with 100k bonus points with initial spend, and it was met last week.
I got the Amex Marriott Brilliant card with 100k bonus points with initial spend, and it was met in May.
I got the Chase Southwest RR card with 60k bonus when it was still open back in May. Met the minimum spend in June.
I got the chase 30k bonus Rapid Rewards points for opening a new checking with direct deposit.

I'm conflicted on what to do next - by my math, I'm going to be about 18,000 points short of the 110k needed for SWRR companion pass. But, I'm also pregnant and unsure if we'd be able to maximize the companion pass in 2020- we only have 2 RT flights planned, and one of the return flights would be 1/1/2021, so not eligible for companion pass.

We still have roughly $10,000 in home projects to carry out between now and year end.

None of our cards carry a balance (paying in full monthly from our HELOC).

Should I have DH try and get the current 40k southwest RR bonus? Is there another card you'd recommend? Should we just sprint for the companion pass benefits on my card and take what we can get?

We could use some more information on what other cards you have opened and when. If these are your only cards in the last 24 months, you would be 2/24 and your husband 1/24. There is a lot that you could do with those stats and spend. Given little plans for a companion pass you are likely better served with a different plan. I also would not use a slot for DH to get 40k SW bonus, inflight links are still 50k I believe and I don't think that is a good use of x/24 slot at this time given lack of plans to fly. A gaping hole in your current points are ultimate rewards points-if you are open to opening business cards CIP may be a good next step. Otherwise a CSP. List current cards like on page 1 of this thread and we likely can be more helpful.

 

[wanderlust7]

Falling behind....

Just popping in to share my favorite photo of the day. DS has been wanting to see puffins since that’s what porgs are based on, lol.

Sigh...annoying sideways photo.

 

[Lain]

So this is interesting.

My Sam’s membership was about to expire so I purchased a new membership voucher from Groupon to set up for DW so that I could use the Newegg offer for eVGCs that I’d use to buy discounted Disney GCs at Sam’s.

For $32, the Groupon voucher included one year of Sam’s membership, a $10 Sam’s GC, and a $25 Sam’s GC after making a first purchase of $25+. I already wrote about how I bought a $30 Groupon eGC from Gyft using CIC/PayPal for 5x UR, put the remaining $2 on my BBP MSR, and went through Ebates for 8% back in MR. (I think this Groupon deal has since expired, but it seems to run periodically.)

I set up the new membership for DW using our joint email. I used the 2 eVGCs from Newegg to buy 2x$150 packs of Disney GCs for $289.96. [Probably should've gotten 4x$75 since the discount is a little better.] I was going to use the remaining $10.04 on the VGC with the $10 and $25 Sam’s GCs I was expecting. The GCs are supposed to be emailed to the same email address used to set up the new membership. The $10 GC came quickly. Then I got two $25 GCs this morning, one in our joint email and another in my email that’s tied to my Groupon account. Both $25 GCs are valid...

 

[Lain]

Falling behind....

Just popping in to share my favorite photo of the day. DS has been wanting to see puffins since that’s what porgs are based on, lol.

Sigh...annoying sideways photo.

View attachment 419740

Oh man, I zoomed in half hoping that was a Porg!

 

[Lain]

@Lain I think of Highlander every time they mention Scotland too!! I feel like no one ever gets the quote when I drop it IRL

In other news we got the clear to close on our refinance! 3.8% and dropping our payment over $200/month!

Yeah, but Connor MacLeod or Duncan MacLeod?

Congratulations on the refinance!

 

[Haley R]

We get a value pack of coupons every week in the mail. This week I noticed one for a free 3-month membership at BJ's. I've never been to a BJ's before, but I've seen it mentioned on here before. I looked and we have one 25 minutes away. Is it worth it for me to join to get gift cards? I can't see what the discount is on them because I don't have a membership.

 

[needsomesun]

I ordered checks from Costco recently since it was cheaper than ordering from BoA. I selected the two box option for $17. Sweet fancy moses... I will have enough checks for the rest of my life now. Hope I never need to change my bank account!

I ordered some mickey mouse ones online a while ago. Thought I was ordering 4 books of checks but ended up ordering 4 boxes. I rarely write checks so I'll have those for the rest of my life.

 

[StephPlum]

Instant approval for DH's Delta Gold Biz from a targeted mailer. Will be used for DS's tuition payment.

 

[amalone1013]

DH would rather eat tacos with me at home than go to Timberline alone

#truelove

 

[platamama]

Looks like a public link for the BoA $300 checking bonus is out.

https://www.reddit.com/r/churning/comments/cgr6rs/_/euo1jt8

$300 after 4k of DDs in 90 days. I believe Serve worked earlier this year, for all the folks with shiney new Serve cards. (but we'd have to research again to be sure)

Oh, I wish I had waited!! I've been waiting a couple of years to be targeted for this (never targeted), and I did the $100 bonus a couple of months ago.

I was a DP of Serve working as a DD for the bonus. I made the deposits in April, and the bonus posted when my statement closed in May.

I'm doing the same with the BoA checking I opened for DH (again, he was never targeted either, I waited a couple years for him too), and the 2nd deposit has just posted. I'll know when his statement closes if he got the bonus or not, but that won't be until mid-August.