I love credit cards so much! v3.0 (see first page for add'l details)

[SouthFayetteFan]

Hey guys - I know I've been absent for a little while. I just wanted to check-in as we approach 1,000 pages on the year!

As many of you know, processing PPP loans took a lot out of me. 16-18 hour work days, 7 days a week, for over a month seriously took its toll. After it was over, unfortunately I let some bad habits persist... staying up until 3am, late night snacks, too much time spent in my basement. But back around Memorial Day, I felt like I needed to make some changes and I'm doing pretty well with things - so here's a bunch of updates in no particular order:

(Ok - I realize you might not read all of this, and that's ok...now that I'm done typing it, it's super long but it feels good to put it all out there).

• I've always avoided the news, it's one of my tenets of my FIRE journey - I only pay attention to things in my circle of control. Well I've taken that to the extreme. I've pulled entirely away from all news and it's so refreshing. Aside from the endless series of disappointments my kids are facing (no return to school, no piano recital, no dance recital, no soccer season, no golf camp, etc. etc. etc.) my life is seriously awesome right now. The world is not falling apart if I just stay in "my world"!
• I began riding a bike each morning. I live 5 minutes from the park, there's a 4 mile bike lane loop round-trip, I go ride it twice... it takes less than an hour and boy does that feel energizing. I wake up between 8:00 and 8:15 and I can be still be in front of my computer and working by 9:30 so it doesn't even affect my work schedule.
• BECAUSE I want to ride my bike, I go to bed at night. Once midnight comes, it's time to sleep! Seriously - I just needed a reason to go to bed, and the bike serves a great purpose. I'm consistently getting 7 1/2 to 8 hours of sleep AND I'm skipping the super unhealthy midnight snack that was plaguing me when I stayed up until 2am or 3am (this was my 2nd snack after the 10pm snack I have with my wife...yes...SUPER unhealthy).
• I'm eating dinner with the family each evening - I had gotten into the habit of allowing work to just span past 5:30pm or 6pm and then finally sit down for dinner maybe 15-20 minutes after the girls started. Well they'd almost be done and I'd miss out on the dinnertime conversation.
• We continued our family movie nights but mixed in some playing outside after dinner some days. During this whole stay-at-home mess we've watched ALL the Star Wars films in chronological order, all of Harry Potter, and now al of the Pixar films in release date order.
• I've resumed golfing - and I'm trying to fit a round a week in for work purposes. So how about this for a Monday... bike, then golf, then eat dinner with my family. Now that's a hard day's work, LOL! I'm also playing with my dad and my daughter on occasion and mixed in a round with my Dad, Uncle and cousin so plenty of golf in my life right now! And I had the round of my life on Monday this week shooting an 87.
• I'm not sure if I shared this here yet, but back around Memorial Day I spoke with my dad and we put Captiva back on the calendar! He was seriously in a "let's skip this year" mode but I told him that with all of the things we missed out on, I hate to miss out on one more thing. We're renting a 12 passenger van and making the drive, and we leave next Friday! It's going to be an amazing week! And then 2 weeks after we get back we're off to Myrtle Beach with my wife's family so I have 2 weeks of vacation in a 4 week span with 4th of July week in between (which is usually slow at work).
• This week we got to go out to eat one night as restaurants reopened here in PA (this made me way happier than I would've imagined) and we made a Walmart trip to buy some beach items we needed and it was great to just leave the house as a family (which we had not done much of during all of this).
• Last weekend we attended a family picnic at my in-laws and it was awesome to hang out with family in that setting! Seeing the kids play together, enjoying company and chatting, no masks...it literally felt normal! So many things in my life have started to feel normal again!
• I've moved my office to the porch. No more basement troll - seriously, spending 18 hours a day in the basement in April, eating meals at my computer, it was the most unhealthy thing you could imagine!! Being outside makes a world of difference! The last couple of days it topped 90 and that gets a tad warm during the day (we do have a full roof over the porch though) but honestly, the fresh air, sunshine and seeing all the animals roam the backyard does wonders for my well-being. I'm using the webex video capability more with my clients and they all seem to enjoy seeing that I'm working outside. Work is going pretty well. The bank never really gave us a break after the PPP chaos, but I don't really care. I just do what I want to do, when I want to do it, and I assume I'll do it well enough that they won't fire me, lol. After what they put us through, I'm just going to do my best and regain the work-life balance I need!

Now that all said, one casualty in all of this has been less time spent on internet and specifically less time for the various credit card and Disney related groups. This thread is certainly my homebase but I also participate in and contribute in numerous groups. I moderate DISchurners (although huge shout-out to @Albort who has helped with some of that recently as I pulled back). Something had to give, and I honestly was sinking hours a day into this and it needed to change. I still love this group, and I'm sure some balance will return where I'm here more. But for now, I need this.

So in summary, I'm doing REALLY well. I miss you guys, I'm glad to see so many people continuing to contribute here, and the time will come when I contribute more again too. Keep the DISchurners positivity flowing here - we all need it right now!!

 

[DaveL]

@wendow @Oscar Madison @gottalovepluto I always feel the need to wave when I see people from here out in other threads. I generally don't venture out too far, already on too many boards as it is, and well lasers are more fun sometimes, so its just funny when I see names out and about.

 

[SouthFayetteFan]

Southwest Business Card Support Links are GONE
Following the CIP and CIU... I am sad to report that SW business links are now gone.

This might have been reported already...I tried to search (But the DIS search is pretty bad). The landing page ONLY shows the 3 Southwest Personal cards now.

Please update your DISchurners Chase support links to reflect this.

Here is the Chase landing page which should show you all of the cards which offer a support link right now.

 

[DaveL]

@SouthFayetteFan Welcome back! Least its been pretty slow and you didn't miss too much. I truly understand how that all feels, when all this started back in March I ended up working 80hr weeks because we were in the middle of a critical test so I needed to be available for both shift works. It was rough and I still feel the effects of all that. One good thing was DD went down to Grandma's farm two days before everything started turning so she spent a lot of time down there, I would not have made it as long as I did with her around would have a lot harder to stay on task. Glad you were able to get back on track!

 

[Haley R]

Hey guys - I know I've been absent for a little while. I just wanted to check-in as we approach 1,000 pages on the year!

As many of you know, processing PPP loans took a lot out of me. 16-18 hour work days, 7 days a week, for over a month seriously took its toll. After it was over, unfortunately I let some bad habits persist... staying up until 3am, late night snacks, too much time spent in my basement. But back around Memorial Day, I felt like I needed to make some changes and I'm doing pretty well with things - so here's a bunch of updates in no particular order:

(Ok - I realize you might not read all of this, and that's ok...now that I'm done typing it, it's super long but it feels good to put it all out there).

• I've always avoided the news, it's one of my tenets of my FIRE journey - I only pay attention to things in my circle of control. Well I've taken that to the extreme. I've pulled entirely away from all news and it's so refreshing. Aside from the endless series of disappointments my kids are facing (no return to school, no piano recital, no dance recital, no soccer season, no golf camp, etc. etc. etc.) my life is seriously awesome right now. The world is not falling apart if I just stay in "my world"!
• I began riding a bike each morning. I live 5 minutes from the park, there's a 4 mile bike lane loop round-trip, I go ride it twice... it takes less than an hour and boy does that feel energizing. I wake up between 8:00 and 8:15 and I can be still be in front of my computer and working by 9:30 so it doesn't even affect my work schedule.
• BECAUSE I want to ride my bike, I go to bed at night. Once midnight comes, it's time to sleep! Seriously - I just needed a reason to go to bed, and the bike serves a great purpose. I'm consistently getting 7 1/2 to 8 hours of sleep AND I'm skipping the super unhealthy midnight snack that was plaguing me when I stayed up until 2am or 3am (this was my 2nd snack after the 10pm snack I have with my wife...yes...SUPER unhealthy).
• I'm eating dinner with the family each evening - I had gotten into the habit of allowing work to just span past 5:30pm or 6pm and then finally sit down for dinner maybe 15-20 minutes after the girls started. Well they'd almost be done and I'd miss out on the dinnertime conversation.
• We continued our family movie nights but mixed in some playing outside after dinner some days. During this whole stay-at-home mess we've watched ALL the Star Wars films in chronological order, all of Harry Potter, and now al of the Pixar films in release date order.
• I've resumed golfing - and I'm trying to fit a round a week in for work purposes. So how about this for a Monday... bike, then golf, then eat dinner with my family. Now that's a hard day's work, LOL! I'm also playing with my dad and my daughter on occasion and mixed in a round with my Dad, Uncle and cousin so plenty of golf in my life right now! And I had the round of my life on Monday this week shooting an 87.
• I'm not sure if I shared this here yet, but back around Memorial Day I spoke with my dad and we put Captiva back on the calendar! He was seriously in a "let's skip this year" mode but I told him that with all of the things we missed out on, I hate to miss out on one more thing. We're renting a 12 passenger van and making the drive, and we leave next Friday! It's going to be an amazing week! And then 2 weeks after we get back we're off to Myrtle Beach with my wife's family so I have 2 weeks of vacation in a 4 week span with 4th of July week in between (which is usually slow at work).
• This week we got to go out to eat one night as restaurants reopened here in PA (this made me way happier than I would've imagined) and we made a Walmart trip to buy some beach items we needed and it was great to just leave the house as a family (which we had not done much of during all of this).
• Last weekend we attended a family picnic at my in-laws and it was awesome to hang out with family in that setting! Seeing the kids play together, enjoying company and chatting, no masks...it literally felt normal! So many things in my life have started to feel normal again!
• I've moved my office to the porch. No more basement troll - seriously, spending 18 hours a day in the basement in April, eating meals at my computer, it was the most unhealthy thing you could imagine!! Being outside makes a world of difference! The last couple of days it topped 90 and that gets a tad warm during the day (we do have a full roof over the porch though) but honestly, the fresh air, sunshine and seeing all the animals roam the backyard does wonders for my well-being. I'm using the webex video capability more with my clients and they all seem to enjoy seeing that I'm working outside. Work is going pretty well. The bank never really gave us a break after the PPP chaos, but I don't really care. I just do what I want to do, when I want to do it, and I assume I'll do it well enough that they won't fire me, lol. After what they put us through, I'm just going to do my best and regain the work-life balance I need!

Now that all said, one casualty in all of this has been less time spent on internet and specifically less time for the various credit card and Disney related groups. This thread is certainly my homebase but I also participate in and contribute in numerous groups. I moderate DISchurners (although huge shout-out to @Albort who has helped with some of that recently as I pulled back). Something had to give, and I honestly was sinking hours a day into this and it needed to change. I still love this group, and I'm sure some balance will return where I'm here more. But for now, I need this.

So in summary, I'm doing REALLY well. I miss you guys, I'm glad to see so many people continuing to contribute here, and the time will come when I contribute more again too. Keep the DISchurners positivity flowing here - we all need it right now!!

I’m glad you’re doing so well! It sounds like you’ve made some really healthy changes in your life. I need to make some of those changes once this kid lets me sleep I’ll miss our late night fun on here but we aren’t staying up late anymore anyway. I’ll eat a couple pop tarts for you

 

[Oscar Madison]

Both DH and I have used this..it’s per device...so you have to put the credit card info in on all 4 and you will be reimbursed for all 4

I'll let someone else with first hand answer for sure, but I asked about this awhile back because its PER device so you cannot share it to another once purchased. Someone did confirm they used multiple charges and get reimbursed for each. I followed this because we planned on doing that.

Edit: Missed it by seconds, anyway my answer was just hearsay.

Thanks...and we don't plan to fly that much, so we won't ever come close to 365.

 

[Oscar Madison]

@wendow @Oscar Madison @gottalovepluto I always feel the need to wave when I see people from here out in other threads. I generally don't venture out too far, already on too many boards as it is, and well lasers are more fun sometimes, so its just funny when I see names out and about.

Yes, I know what you mean. Nice to see good people on other threads! Thanks!

 

[SouthFayetteFan]

So I'd kindly ask everybody to clean-up their SW links but there are also some lingering other Chase support links that need cleaned up. Don't take offense to this but to save the time of sending PMs I'm just going to tag you all here, lol! (This isn't a naughty list... I still love you all, lol!)

If the following users could take a look at your Chase Support Links page - I'd appreciate it:
@GZanta77 - remove CIP
@3 DD love princesses - remove CF
@vanjust14 - remove CF
@WVMomof3 - remove CF
@PrincessMom98 - remove CIP, CIU, CF
@GlamMistress - remove CF
@Calfan - remove CF
@calypso726 - remove CIP
@wendow - remove CF
@snugglebug - remove CF
@SBWB48 - remove CF
@amalone1013 - remove CF, CIP, CIU
@gottalovepluto - remove CIP, CIU, CF

 

[elgerber]

@wendow @Oscar Madison @gottalovepluto I always feel the need to wave when I see people from here out in other threads. I generally don't venture out too far, already on too many boards as it is, and well lasers are more fun sometimes, so its just funny when I see names out and about.

Sometimes I have to double check what thread I am on when I see one of us somewhere else.

 

[snugglebug]

So I'd kindly ask everybody to clean-up their SW links but there are also some lingering other Chase support links that need cleaned up. Don't take offense to this but to save the time of sending PMs I'm just going to tag you all here, lol! (This isn't a naughty list... I still love you all, lol!)

If the following users could take a look at your Chase Support Links page - I'd appreciate it:
@GZanta77 - remove CIP
@3 DD love princesses - remove CF
@vanjust14 - remove CF
@WVMomof3 - remove CF
@PrincessMom98 - remove CIP, CIU, CF
@GlamMistress - remove CF
@Calfan - remove CF
@calypso726 - remove CIP
@wendow - remove CF
@snugglebug - remove CF
@SBWB48 - remove CF
@amalone1013 - remove CF, CIP, CIU
@gottalovepluto - remove CIP, CIU, CF

Tks for the notice! I feel like I just checked all of my links not too long ago. Can not keep up with all of the disappearing support links. I'll do it tomorrow morning when I go through cards

 

[SouthFayetteFan]

@SouthFayetteFan Welcome back! Least its been pretty slow and you didn't miss too much. I truly understand how that all feels, when all this started back in March I ended up working 80hr weeks because we were in the middle of a critical test so I needed to be available for both shift works. It was rough and I still feel the effects of all that. One good thing was DD went down to Grandma's farm two days before everything started turning so she spent a lot of time down there, I would not have made it as long as I did with her around would have a lot harder to stay on task. Glad you were able to get back on track!

I actually gave up on reading every comment - I feel bad saying that but I got too far behind. I've pretty much read everything on r/churning so I think I'm up to speed for the most part on the churning news.

 

[DaveL]

I actually gave up on reading every comment - I feel bad saying that but I got too far behind. I've pretty much read everything on r/churning so I think I'm up to speed for the most part on the churning news.

Summary: Disney's still closed.

 

[wendow]

So I'd kindly ask everybody to clean-up their SW links but there are also some lingering other Chase support links that need cleaned up. Don't take offense to this but to save the time of sending PMs I'm just going to tag you all here, lol! (This isn't a naughty list... I still love you all, lol!)

If the following users could take a look at your Chase Support Links page - I'd appreciate it:
@GZanta77 - remove CIP
@3 DD love princesses - remove CF
@vanjust14 - remove CF
@WVMomof3 - remove CF
@PrincessMom98 - remove CIP, CIU, CF
@GlamMistress - remove CF
@Calfan - remove CF
@calypso726 - remove CIP
@wendow - remove CF
@snugglebug - remove CF
@SBWB48 - remove CF
@amalone1013 - remove CF, CIP, CIU
@gottalovepluto - remove CIP, CIU, CF

I will take mine down. I've been more absent than present here as well so I think I missed that memo

 

[DisMommyTX]

Awesome thank you.

One more question. If I sign up my wife can I also use my RR number? That way we can have everything in one account.

I think the name on the RR account needs to match the primary card holder. So, you would each earn Southwest points in your own account which cannot be combined. However, SW points can be used to book flights in anyone's name.

 

[jenmsmith]

Hey guys - I know I've been absent for a little while. I just wanted to check-in as we approach 1,000 pages on the year!

As many of you know, processing PPP loans took a lot out of me. 16-18 hour work days, 7 days a week, for over a month seriously took its toll. After it was over, unfortunately I let some bad habits persist... staying up until 3am, late night snacks, too much time spent in my basement. But back around Memorial Day, I felt like I needed to make some changes and I'm doing pretty well with things - so here's a bunch of updates in no particular order:

(Ok - I realize you might not read all of this, and that's ok...now that I'm done typing it, it's super long but it feels good to put it all out there).

• I've always avoided the news, it's one of my tenets of my FIRE journey - I only pay attention to things in my circle of control. Well I've taken that to the extreme. I've pulled entirely away from all news and it's so refreshing. Aside from the endless series of disappointments my kids are facing (no return to school, no piano recital, no dance recital, no soccer season, no golf camp, etc. etc. etc.) my life is seriously awesome right now. The world is not falling apart if I just stay in "my world"!
• I began riding a bike each morning. I live 5 minutes from the park, there's a 4 mile bike lane loop round-trip, I go ride it twice... it takes less than an hour and boy does that feel energizing. I wake up between 8:00 and 8:15 and I can be still be in front of my computer and working by 9:30 so it doesn't even affect my work schedule.
• BECAUSE I want to ride my bike, I go to bed at night. Once midnight comes, it's time to sleep! Seriously - I just needed a reason to go to bed, and the bike serves a great purpose. I'm consistently getting 7 1/2 to 8 hours of sleep AND I'm skipping the super unhealthy midnight snack that was plaguing me when I stayed up until 2am or 3am (this was my 2nd snack after the 10pm snack I have with my wife...yes...SUPER unhealthy).
• I'm eating dinner with the family each evening - I had gotten into the habit of allowing work to just span past 5:30pm or 6pm and then finally sit down for dinner maybe 15-20 minutes after the girls started. Well they'd almost be done and I'd miss out on the dinnertime conversation.
• We continued our family movie nights but mixed in some playing outside after dinner some days. During this whole stay-at-home mess we've watched ALL the Star Wars films in chronological order, all of Harry Potter, and now al of the Pixar films in release date order.
• I've resumed golfing - and I'm trying to fit a round a week in for work purposes. So how about this for a Monday... bike, then golf, then eat dinner with my family. Now that's a hard day's work, LOL! I'm also playing with my dad and my daughter on occasion and mixed in a round with my Dad, Uncle and cousin so plenty of golf in my life right now! And I had the round of my life on Monday this week shooting an 87.
• I'm not sure if I shared this here yet, but back around Memorial Day I spoke with my dad and we put Captiva back on the calendar! He was seriously in a "let's skip this year" mode but I told him that with all of the things we missed out on, I hate to miss out on one more thing. We're renting a 12 passenger van and making the drive, and we leave next Friday! It's going to be an amazing week! And then 2 weeks after we get back we're off to Myrtle Beach with my wife's family so I have 2 weeks of vacation in a 4 week span with 4th of July week in between (which is usually slow at work).
• This week we got to go out to eat one night as restaurants reopened here in PA (this made me way happier than I would've imagined) and we made a Walmart trip to buy some beach items we needed and it was great to just leave the house as a family (which we had not done much of during all of this).
• Last weekend we attended a family picnic at my in-laws and it was awesome to hang out with family in that setting! Seeing the kids play together, enjoying company and chatting, no masks...it literally felt normal! So many things in my life have started to feel normal again!
• I've moved my office to the porch. No more basement troll - seriously, spending 18 hours a day in the basement in April, eating meals at my computer, it was the most unhealthy thing you could imagine!! Being outside makes a world of difference! The last couple of days it topped 90 and that gets a tad warm during the day (we do have a full roof over the porch though) but honestly, the fresh air, sunshine and seeing all the animals roam the backyard does wonders for my well-being. I'm using the webex video capability more with my clients and they all seem to enjoy seeing that I'm working outside. Work is going pretty well. The bank never really gave us a break after the PPP chaos, but I don't really care. I just do what I want to do, when I want to do it, and I assume I'll do it well enough that they won't fire me, lol. After what they put us through, I'm just going to do my best and regain the work-life balance I need!

Now that all said, one casualty in all of this has been less time spent on internet and specifically less time for the various credit card and Disney related groups. This thread is certainly my homebase but I also participate in and contribute in numerous groups. I moderate DISchurners (although huge shout-out to @Albort who has helped with some of that recently as I pulled back). Something had to give, and I honestly was sinking hours a day into this and it needed to change. I still love this group, and I'm sure some balance will return where I'm here more. But for now, I need this.

So in summary, I'm doing REALLY well. I miss you guys, I'm glad to see so many people continuing to contribute here, and the time will come when I contribute more again too. Keep the DISchurners positivity flowing here - we all need it right now!!

So glad to hear you are doing well. We’ve missed you here. Your post is a great motivator to re-evaluate what is working, and what isn’t, in our lives, and then take the steps to change it. Kudos.

 

[disfanforlife]

Yes! And you keep all your history from when it was secured. It’s probably the best choice out there to establish or rebuild credit. Sometimes I sound like a Discover commercial but that card legit changed my life.

All three of my kids first credit card was Discover.

 

[disfanforlife]

Were you looking to book a Disney cruise? They can't be booked with UR since anything Disney is blocked. For other cruise lines, you would get 1.25 redemption with the CSP on the same price as booking direct. ($1000 cruise will cost 80k points) If you upgrade to a CSR after a year, you can get 1.5 redemption ($1000 cruise will cost 66.7k points). Right now due to the pandemic, you can also redeem at those same rates for groceries, restaurants, and home improvement stores. I believe that's through 9/30/20, but maybe it will get extended.

I'd argue redeeming for groceries etc is a better deal since I can usually get a better price or perks with a TA for cruises. Definitely not as satisfying as free travel though.

Can you redeem for the groceries with the CSP too or is it just with the CSR?

 

[DisneyMandC]

I don’t think I missed this in recent posts but sorry if I did:

Kroger has 4x fuel points on GCs for the next TWO weeks. Could be really useful if you’re cashing out URs...

 

[DisneyMandC]

Can you redeem for the groceries with the CSP too or is it just with the CSR?

Yes, you can, just only at the 1.25 rate

 

[Limes96]

Is it easier now to load serve at Walmart? By that I mean are they less crowded? I need to get back into MSing

I haven’t MSed since March. I still have 700 on VGCs to liquidate from before Covid. I really haven’t been out of the house except for grocery shopping. All the stories of fee free VGCs is making me miss it. Maybe I’ll venture out to Walmart and Staples this week and get back to it.

I’m considering walking back in to Walmart also to get back to MS. I’ve done grocery pickup for so long now, the thought of walking into a store seems really weird now. I walked in to Kroger once to buy only a $500 vgc, and then a couple days ago I walked in to Lowes for mulch and a Disney gift card. That’s been it since mid March. I’m assuming the process is still the same at Walmart. I think I can remember how to do it. I might have to look up my PIN number for the transfer from serve to bank. I think I forget it.