I love credit cards so much!

[pillow]

I just finished hanging a new led mirror in my bathroom. Stand back and admire my excellent handiwork as it looks perfect hanging on the wall, and will actually light up when the electrician makes time to get to me! (He is the side hustle electrician who works with my son in law on some of those weekend jobs.) Looked a little cloudy. Called daughter to come look in it. She says the same thing.

Soon the mystery is solved. There is a layer of fine film on it, so tight and almost impossible to see except one little edge had a slight bubble!

Now I'm tempted to take a sledge hammer to the tub tile......it's almost ten years old and I've gone from loved it to wish it were gone! It's not awful, I just now want a complete update before I finish off by painting the room. I did replace the vanity in the last two weeks. You could say I'm doing a piece meal remodeling job, spurred on by one of our board members posting some pictures of her renovated bathroom. I'm not sure I want to mess with a tile job as I've never done it before, but with a few you tube videos you never know. As a retiree I've got time on my hands!

My mother's rental townhouse caught on fire. Everyone was fine, but we're in the process of rebuilding. I am making major purchases right now - some Home Depot but mostly Lowe's. Check out Quik Coupons. Mostly they sell Lowe's coupons - which are really the best discounts. They always send me an extra and you can use the code VIP40 to get the coupon for 40% off. I'm using those stacked with the Amex Business offer right now - total of 20-30% off, which is great.

On your MSR, have you thought about doing a PNC account. @speedyfishy reminded me about that one. Easy $2K spend if you open up the checking. Another $2k for savings. Plus, they do a bonus, but that required direct deposit + a few other requirements.

 

[afan]

I have been up for almost two hours because my dogs don’t think it’s necessary to sleep past dawn

That's the one thing I made sure to teach my now 11 year old dog as a puppy, on th weekends we sleep in. Totally turned him in to not a morning dog, I often have to drag him out of bed and he'll grr at me. He's a dixie so I always win but will sometimes leave him in bed and start my day. Best thing I taught him.

We were hanging board and batten wainscoting on our stairs yesterday. We do alot of DIY projects but this one was really awful. SO. MANY. ANGLES.

Are you up to travel then, or run. Hopefully travel.

Was for the rock n roll Seattle half marathon that thankfully ended up sunny without rain. We finished about 20 min before a downpour came through and it was back to sun when we'd finished our early lunch.

Love DIY! Repainted by bedroom 2 weeks ago and added a shelf unit to contain the clutter.

And since it's a slow posting night/morning, I had some kind of insomnia last night and couldn't sleep so trying to read and no one was posting!

I had to actually go looking for other Dis stuff to read and almost signed up for swag bucks, but somewhere in my mind I think I did it a long time ago and hated it, so not doing it.

I love swagbucks though it can be a lot of work. I average $100 from it a month without many points coming from shopping. But I've been doing surveys for about 20 years to earn extra cash. I enjoy a lot of them but have also trimmed down the sites I still do them for to the better ones. But I understand the whole thing isn't for everyone but you could use it as another shopping portal and do well with some things.

 

[SouthFayetteFan]

Freedom 5% Q2 update...2 Freedom cards down...2 to go!

I officially did $1,500 in non-MSR spend for the first time in a LOOOONG time. We were rolling through the MSR on our CIP and I want to slow my pace because our next step is the CSR/CSP double dip. We also have a plethora of URs (either there now or pending/expected) and a lack of cards that interest me right now so I actually met $1,500 on CF1 with Grocery Spend (mainly gift cards which I'm using for other purposes). I don't feel as dirty as I expected to (HAHA) - it's still a 7.5% return

We then met CF2 by sending cash to my wife on Paypal.

I plan to meet CF3 by Paypal once the money comes through into our bank account on CF2. CF4...I may have my wife go buy 3 months worth of Aldi gift cards and then do the rest with Paypal.

 

[Judique]

Freedom 5% Q2 update...2 Freedom cards down...2 to go!

I officially did $1,500 in non-MSR spend for the first time in a LOOOONG time. We were rolling through the MSR on our CIP and I want to slow my pace because our next step is the CSR/CSP double dip. We also have a plethora of URs (either there now or pending/expected) and a lack of cards that interest me right now so I actually met $1,500 on CF1 with Grocery Spend (mainly gift cards which I'm using for other purposes). I don't feel as dirty as I expected to (HAHA) - it's still a 7.5% return

We then met CF2 by sending cash to my wife on Paypal.

I plan to meet CF3 by Paypal once the money comes through into our bank account on CF2. CF4...I may have my wife go buy 3 months worth of Aldi gift cards and then do the rest with Paypal.

A nice and quick $300 cash or $375 worth of travel or $450 worth of travel when the CSR rolls in!

 

[SouthFayetteFan]

A nice and quick $300 cash or $375 worth of travel or $450 worth of travel when the CSR rolls in!

Yeah - we'll be using it for our Disney trip in January. And of course the Grand Master Strategy calls for the CSR/CSP next so 1.5x is on the horizon.

I MSed and maxed out $6,000 in Q1 via ApplePay. Now doing this in Q2...Even if I had maxed everything out via MS with ApplePay & Paypal in the respective quarters it was buying $900 worth of travel for $343.82 With some true organic spend I'll reduce that cost a bit (but still get the $900).

 

[CyndiLouWho]

Which stores allow GC purchase with GC? Target seems to be working ok, Bed Bath & Beyond doesn’t work for me.
How about Staples or Best Buy?

 

[jhoannam]

If I downgrade DH’s CSP tomorrow, will I have enough time to activate Q2 and get all the points? I would PayPal myself the $1,500z

 

[SouthFayetteFan]

If I downgrade DH’s CSP tomorrow, will I have enough time to activate Q2 and get all the points? I would PayPal myself the $1,500z

With the ApplePay in Q1 I think I was downgrading cards a week before month end and still managed to max out. Check out some of my comments around 3/25ish probably, lol. So Yes, I think you could do it

 

[SouthFayetteFan]

With the ApplePay in Q1 I think I was downgrading cards a week before month end and still managed to max out. Check out some of my comments around 3/25ish probably, lol. So Yes, I think you could do it

@jhoannam

My wife and I each had a Freedom (CF) and Freedom Unlimited (CFU) for a LONG time. Recently when @wendow mentioned about PCing her CFU I thought wow that makes sense. So I called yesterday to PC my wife's CFU to CF. Now we have 3 CFs and 1 CFU in our portfolio. I called back today to activate my 5% categories, initially the rep was resistant to activating Q1 but I said that the rep yesterday said I probably could do it but it would only apply to transactions going forward (i.e. in the next week) which I was fine with. So they conceded and did it. So now we're going to run another $1,500 through Apple Pay for the 7,500 URs.

NOW I'm thinking why keep a CFU at all??? I literally never put spend towards anything but an MSR. If I didn't have an MSR to work on I have cards that earn bonuses in gas and grocery. The odds of me putting any significant spend on a CFU are very slim. So that means the only reason to keep a CFU is for support clicks...and signups on that card are very slim so the chances of that aren't great. Am I crazy...let's just have 4 Freedoms!! If I do it today I can probably still get the 7,500 quarterly rewards toooo. If I ever need a CFU in the future I could just PC one of my Freedoms back haha.

Anybody willing to dispute my logic here (OR agree with it)?

I went for it...and the call with Geno was freakin' amazing!! First they did the Product Change - no questions asked. Then he activated Q2 AND Q1 5% for me...I was on a roll at this point so I asked him about my $99 AF on my Southwest card... I had called in for this a couple week's ago (after the fee had posted) and was told no retention, no waiving the fee, etc. My man Geno...I barely had the words out of my mouth and he said for a great customer like you we'll waive the fee. BOOM I'm on cloud 9 folks!!

@wendow - did you get your Freedom product change completed yet and see Q1 activated? I can confirm that on all of my CF cards (the 2 we had, and the 2 we PCed from CFU) that we now see the 7,500 pts pending.

 

[Psychodisney]

Which stores allow GC purchase with GC? Target seems to be working ok, Bed Bath & Beyond doesn’t work for me.
How about Staples or Best Buy?

Best buy stopped working recently to use BB gift card towards GC. I was still able to use BB rewards towards a gift card.
I think walmart/Sams still works.

 

[miztressuz]

Upvoted.

Ditto! I happened on the discussion thread when @GlamMistress was the most recent post, so I actually noticed the user name and then thought " oh I know that cat!" Upvote

My mother's rental townhouse caught on fire. Everyone was fine, but we're in the process of rebuilding. I am making major purchases right now - some Home Depot but mostly Lowe's. Check out Quik Coupons. Mostly they sell Lowe's coupons - which are really the best discounts. They always send me an extra and you can use the code VIP40 to get the coupon for 40% off. I'm using those stacked with the Amex Business offer right now - total of 20-30% off, which is great.

On your MSR, have you thought about doing a PNC account. @speedyfishy reminded me about that one. Easy $2K spend if you open up the checking. Another $2k for savings. Plus, they do a bonus, but that required direct deposit + a few other requirements.

Speaking of the PNC account, do you recall how quick your funds were available in the account? I assumed with a CC it'd be the same or a little faster than waiting on a ETF. I opened one and still have a 0 balance in the account but my CC was charged pretty quick. I'm beginning to think my direct deposit's going to hit before my initial funding.

 

[jhoannam]

@jhoannam

Thank you!

 

[kmc8826]

Crosspost that I just put on churning - but here's a datapoint

DP: logged in to Amex a minute ago to check my spending. Hit the MSR on the Delta Gold 60k/1k about 4 days ago. Noticed the 60k miles posted sometime overnight.

I had this card previously. Used a targeted mailer to get the bonus again. I had the card (and got bonus) within the last 3 years.

Not on reddit other than our group (I can barely keep up with this) but good for you! In my sad state of Delta hostage: #sojealous.

 

[thevalley]

does anyone have any knowledge about the airport ATL in Atlanta Georgia? when we booked Disney i didn't realize a layover in ATL. my concern is we have only 50 minutes. is southwest terminals close by?

 

[peel]

@mhartman09 I just returned from a long weekend away and am only now seeing your post. I didn't want to let it go by without adding my condolences and positive energy for all you've been dealing with. I'm very sorry you've had so much awfulness in such a short span of time.

 

[peel]

I had a wonderful weekend in Newport with two of my best friends from high school (how could that possibly have been twenty years ago???) and I'm just catching up. Thanks to you all for only advancing 20 pages while I was away. We stayed at a privately owned hotel/time share property. Of course, I offered to make the booking on my CSR, so I got the 3x for the entire reservation cost. I also found it and booked through Southwest Hotels, so I have a few thousand RRs coming my way, too. Both of my friends brought tons of cash, so of course I offered to pay the restaurant bills with my CSR. The couple of times they pulled out their own cards, I had to bite my tongue. One used her debit card and the other was over the moon about her metal Amazon card. I did give a little summary of what I've been up to, but they clearly thought I was crazy for having more than one or two credit cards and for how much effort I put into the hobby. So I happily let them reimburse me after paying for everything.

This was the view from our deck.


You can see why we've decided to make this an annual weekend getaway from now on!



I'm impatiently waiting for bonuses to post. DH finished his SPG Biz over the weekend, and I finished the additional MSR for an extra 20K IHG points last week (after they matched the 80K offer). We're also about $600 away from meeting the MSR for the Hilton upgrade bonus.

We are going to have our furnace, water heater, and AC unit replaced next month. A friend's husband works for an HVAC company, and he's doing this job on the side for less than half of the higher estimate we got. We need to pay him in cash for his labor, and we'll go with him to buy the equipment so he gets his discount while we use a credit card to pay for it all. I don't know where we're buying from yet, so I don't know how this will all shake out. My CIP AF is coming due this month and I want to downgrade to the CIC, but I'd like to refer DH first and have him use it for these purchases. But I won't lie, I'm more than a little apprehensive to have him go for it. He has a legit side job, but he's not an owner of anything. He works for a realty company taking photos for appraisals. And it's all off the books. With the increased scrutiny on some people's accounts, I don't want him to have to explain why someone whose business is taking pictures of other people's properties would be buying HVAC appliances for their own home. After this, we're going to focus on maximizing the cards we have for a while. I'd love to get the SW CP again, and it would have to be DH going for it. I'm concerned that getting the CIP in June will jeopardize doing whatever we have to do to get him two SW cards in January whether it's an option to double dip or do a personal/business combo. Am I being excessively cautious?

 

[afan]

does anyone have any knowledge about the airport ATL in Atlanta Georgia? when we booked Disney i didn't realize a layover in ATL. my concern is we have only 50 minutes. is southwest terminals close by?

I can't find specifics on which area of the terminal southwest uses, but since most of what goes through ATL is delta, I would think the southwest would be contained to an area. The other advantage you have is that all of southwests planes are the same size. I often go from different sizes in any airport I connect in, so often have a long walk. I think 50 min is the minimum connection time for there. I've had less than an hour to change delta flights there when they aren't near each other and while I didn't have a ton of time to do stuff between flights I did have time to use the restroom and could have gotten food. Once you land I would look up your gate so you can look in the in flight magazine or the gate guru app to see the best way to get to your next gate. As long as things aren't late you should be fine.

 

[CyndiLouWho]

does anyone have any knowledge about the airport ATL in Atlanta Georgia? when we booked Disney i didn't realize a layover in ATL. my concern is we have only 50 minutes. is southwest terminals close by?

Double check that you’re changing planes. Some SW flights make a stop but no plane change.
Sorry no info on ATL if there is a change of planes.

 

[pillow]

Ditto! I happened on the discussion thread when @GlamMistress was the most recent post, so I actually noticed the user name and then thought " oh I know that cat!" Upvote



Speaking of the PNC account, do you recall how quick your funds were available in the account? I assumed with a CC it'd be the same or a little faster than waiting on a ETF. I opened one and still have a 0 balance in the account but my CC was charged pretty quick. I'm beginning to think my direct deposit's going to hit before my initial funding.

Just 2-3 days on my checking acct - very quick. I opened the savings on Fri, and I’m still waiting for those funds.

 

[amalone1013]

does anyone have any knowledge about the airport ATL in Atlanta Georgia? when we booked Disney i didn't realize a layover in ATL. my concern is we have only 50 minutes. is southwest terminals close by?

I had a Frontier flight coming back from MCO with a 50min layover, and we didn't get off the plane. I'd check on that.