I love credit cards so much!

[peel]

Can't you just ring up single bananas in separate transactions at the grocery store (preferably self-checkout)? Or do reloads of an Amazon gift card balance at a minimum of $0.50 each time?

There's a great story on Reddit from a guy who bought individual crickets at a pet store after telling the cashier he didn't want to actually take the crickets, he just wanted to pay for them.

 

[nhgirl]

I am so thankful for this board. I read it every day. I am going to sign up for YNAB and do the trial. I am OCD when it comes to budgeting money but I am starting to get stressed out with all these different cards. I'm taking notes explaining everything I do and everything I'm planning to do, but things have a way of changing. Staying on top of it is starting to make my head spin. I wish I started YNAB first before Churning.

 

[Ngwira]

I agree....20k points is less than one night somewhere (I've never found a rate less than 20k for what I want) so I don't think that extra 1k spend is valuable for that amount.... even less with the extra 5k on an AU.... it's 15k extra. I may just take my spend elsewhere

Yeah, that 1k can get me 3,000 UR if it's spend on travel on my CSR, I'd rather have that than 1 night at candlewood suites.

 

[1st*toright]

Not to derail the thread, but good for you! I started using YNAB long before I knew anything about credit card churning, but now that we got ourselves more financially stable by adopting the YNAB rules, we are in a position to utilize credit cards in a safe and systematic way.

I love YNAB and it has made tracking minimum spend and card payments much easier.

I used to dislike using credit cards, DW and I each only had 1 card (Chase Freedom), and I would dread the monthly statements. We used them only for things we could afford and would pay balance off each month mostly all of the time, but when extra things popped up it made it stressful to do the math on upcoming expenses and re-arrange finances to cover it.

YNAB helped me realize the issue was not with using credit cards but that we were overcomplicating how we planned our spending. Since starting on YNAB 5 months ago I have been able to get past the issues I had and start using the credit cards more to our benefit. In that time we added 2 more credit cards, Discover card and CSP. Using Discover card with cash back match for Disney gift cards we saved a ton towards our upcoming Aug WDW trip. Being a newb to all this the info on this thread and other budget board threads has been so helpful and eye opening. So, to all that share their knowledge on these threads-


The stress relief of having an easy way to manage our budget is huge but the extra payoff came today when I saw my 50K CSP sign up bonus points are now pending!! Something we've always wanted to do is a weekend trip during MVMCP, but never thought we can afford to do a quick weekend with costs of airfare and hotel. Now with those sign up points, combined with previous UR and SW points, we should be able to take that weekend MVMCP trip this year in November with air and hotel all covered by points!

I think every budget thread should be turned into a YNAB fan thread. I have a serious YNAB crush

I'm also considering opening some more cards for point stuff now that I have better handle on our finances. I never wanted the hassle of managing more than one or two cards (and pretty much only used one), but it seems a lot more manageable when I can see all of our spend laid out in YNAB. Considering the SW card (60k bonus is still active for me) and one of the Chase Sapphire cards... maybe both!

 

[peel]

I am so thankful for this board. I read it every day. I am going to sign up for YNAB and do the trial. I am OCD when it comes to budgeting money but I am starting to get stressed out with all these different cards. I'm taking notes explaining everything I do and everything I'm planning to do, but things have a way of changing. Staying on top of it is starting to make my head spin. I wish I started YNAB first before Churning.

Before I started bothering all of my friends and family about the wonders of credit card bonuses, I was bothering them with YNAB praise. I hope you love it! I'm using the previous version from the one that's currently offered, and they're very different. Soooooo many people have said that YNAB changed their lives, whether they're using the "old" YNAB or the current YNAB, so I hope you'll one day be able to say the same. Check out the YNAB forums, they're immensely helpful over there!

 

[peel]

Yeah, that 1k can get me 3,000 UR if it's spend on travel on my CSR, I'd rather have that than 1 night at candlewood suites.

I hadn't really looked at it that way! I'd only be spending on regular bills though, so it would be more like 1,000 UR for me.

 

[hurt817]

Thank you! Wohoo. This should make an easy category to earn 5X UR points. I also have my Discover card (5% back) and CSR (3UR) if I go over.

Same here!!! Also I was surprised that my purchases from the Disney Resorts / Parks on my CSR coded as travel - 3X (I was using my CFU - 1.5 but hubby was unknowingly using CSR). We were staying at the Swan so we couldn't charge to the room. SOOOOO - use your CSR for shopping!!!!

 

[SBWB48]

There's a great story on Reddit from a guy who bought individual crickets at a pet store after telling the cashier he didn't want to actually take the crickets, he just wanted to pay for them.

I can only imagine how many upvotes he got for that post

 

[Jen and Ashwin]

it's 15k if you have an Au

No, you still get the extra 5k from AU. So I will have 105k + 2k from spend for a total of 107k.

 

[Albort]

There's a great story on Reddit from a guy who bought individual crickets at a pet store after telling the cashier he didn't want to actually take the crickets, he just wanted to pay for them.

haha, i saw that! the lady thought it was weird or something... The other suggestion was to buy single bananas at Trader Joes for $.17. My mom had a bank account that needed 10 debits. I told her it was perfect for her to walk there(good exercise) and then walk back eating the banana. She ended up doing that.

I do amazon route, $.50 every few days, 12 times... You can also try out others like, 7-11, etc. might cost a bit more though.

 

[platamama]

Can't you just ring up single bananas in separate transactions at the grocery store (preferably self-checkout)? Or do reloads of an Amazon gift card balance at a minimum of $0.50 each time?

At the grocery store, I'd be losing 1.5% since I get 6% with BCP (only get 4.5% on EDP if I reach those 30 transactions). And last time I tried to drain a VGC on Amazon, it wouldn't let me reload any less than $5.

I tried a rewards checking account once where I had to make 20 debit transactions to earn the 5% on the account balance, and there were enough times that those last charges at the end of the cycle didn't post in time and caused me great frustration, so I avoid that scenario from now on. Now I try to buy VGC at office supply stores with my Ink Cash (old card) when there are promos (like a $20 VGC for the purchase) so that I get 5xUR points on non-category bonus spend. And usually either me or DH are working on min spend for a new credit card, so reaching 30 transactions is just not worth it to me.

 

[mhartman09]

There's a great story on Reddit from a guy who bought individual crickets at a pet store after telling the cashier he didn't want to actually take the crickets, he just wanted to pay for them.

I remember this post!! IIFC he wanted the cashier to ring up the crickets, all separately, but didn't actually want them. It was hilarious. Filled with good suggestions on how to accomplish the transactions without spending much.

 

[Albort]

At the grocery store, I'd be losing 1.5% since I get 6% with BCP (only get 4.5% on EDP if I reach those 30 transactions). And last time I tried to drain a VGC on Amazon, it wouldn't let me reload any less than $5.

I tried a rewards checking account once where I had to make 20 debit transactions to earn the 5% on the account balance, and there were enough times that those last charges at the end of the cycle didn't post in time and caused me great frustration, so I avoid that scenario from now on. Now I try to buy VGC at office supply stores with my Ink Cash (old card) when there are promos (like a $20 VGC for the purchase) so that I get 5xUR points on non-category bonus spend. And usually either me or DH are working on min spend for a new credit card, so reaching 30 transactions is just not worth it to me.

well, nothing is stopping you from purchasing a banana only with one card, and the rest on your BCP... :]

 

[Albort]

ok thanks! 6% cashback on all my grocery spend would be a good thing....

if you havent applied for the card yet, might be worth seeing if you qualify... --> https://www.reddit.com/r/churning/comments/6n23mk/amex_prg_50k2k_spend_and_bcp_3001k_spend_no/

 

[Angrose]

Anyone max out on the 35k SPG point purchases? i was having fun to see how Amex and Citi codes... kinda want to max that out just to have the points...

god damn, im really turning into a point hoarder... :\

Do you mean meeting the $5,000 min spend in order to earn the 35k bonus points? I referred DH and he got the card under that deal. We just met the spend for that a couple weeks ago. The extra points will be super helpful since we are transferring them to Hawaiian Airlines to buy our tickets to Hawaii...woohoo!

 

[Ngwira]

I hadn't really looked at it that way! I'd only be spending on regular bills though, so it would be more like 1,000 UR for me.

Yeah, or 5,000 UR if you put that same $1,000 (dining) on the Chase Freedom. Point is, I don't have that much non bonus spend coming up so it's a dilemma for me. I'm certainly not going to put bonus spend on an IHG card just to meet minimum spend on the ihg card. I may look at manufactured spending!

 

[peel]

I'm certainly not going to put bonus spend on an IHG card just to meet minimum spend on the ihg card.

Yeah, true. I would definitely still use my other cards for any bonus categories, but I can use the IHG for medical bills or other regular spending. If I'm going to get the card anyway, an extra $1000 across 3 months is very doable.

 

[platamama]

Can someone help me understand how the Marriott Vacation Packages https://www.marriott.com/rewards/usepoints/morepack.mi work? Unless I'm reading it wrong, it seems like you use your Marriott points to get a 7-day hotel certificate and as a bonus you will also receive a substantial number of airline miles (depending on the package you pick). Do you have to use the airline points for airfare when you use your hotel certificate or can you bank them for a later trip? If you buy the certificate for Marriott Category 1 -5 but later decide you want to stay at a higher category hotel can you pay the difference in cash or are you locked in to a Category 1 - 5? Is it better to join the Mileage Plus program first & get the extra United miles? We're in the early stages of planning a trip to Hawaii & we could use the hotel certificate there & have our hotel paid off - although the Hawaii hotels are all higher than Category 1 -5 so we'd either have to get a higher point package or pay some cash. We live in the NY/NJ/CT area so we have a lot of options for airports/airlines & we really want to try to fly Business Class at least since it's such a long flight. I do have a lot of SPG points that I can transfer to Marriott and I think I get 3 Marriott for each SPG? I also have some Amex Member Rewards points I can convert to SPG if I need more. But is it a good use of my SPG points to get this package or would I be better off converting them to an airline directly & getting our airfare taken care of? This is where I get a little lost in the trip planning part - I'm not sure where to even begin! Sorry for all the questions - any and all insight would be very much appreciated!!

I've done the Marriott vacation packages twice so far (thanks to sign up bonuses and a spouse who's willing play along).

Yes, you get a 7 day hotel certificate. If you're a member of both Marriott Rewards AND Mileage Plus then you can get the relationship bonus. So yes, you should join Mileage Plus first.

The miles and the hotel are treated as separate units - use the hotel when you want, use your miles however you want, they do not need to be the same trip.

If you book a Cat 1-5 hotel, you can upgrade with points later. I just did this last month, I just called Customer Service and they upgraded my certificate. But you can't pay the difference in cash, it has to be with Marriott points.

AMEX MR transfers at 3:1 to Starwood, and Starwood transfers 1:3 to Marriott, which basically means that you can get AMEX MR 1:1 for Starwood but through the indirect route.

I've gotten outsized value out of the Marriott vacation packages, and at this point am building up for my next one. But be aware that award nights and award flights are not always available so you should get an idea of their availability, especially if your travel dates are inflexible. Check the airlines websites to price a ticket and search for award flights (usually there's a button to click that says "redeem miles" or something similar), and check Marriott's hotels too by clicking the box "Use Points." Good luck!

 

[Albort]

Do you mean meeting the $5,000 min spend in order to earn the 35k bonus points? I referred DH and he got the card under that deal. We just met the spend for that a couple weeks ago. The extra points will be super helpful since we are transferring them to Hawaiian Airlines to buy our tickets to Hawaii...woohoo!

i finished the minimum, i was referred to buying SPG points @ 35% off. seems like a good deal on airlines, but terrible to redeeming a SPG redemption. 5k points at $134. i bought 10k so far, thinking about getting another 10k-15k just to have it incase i need it in the long run.

 

[platamama]

i finished the minimum, i was referred to buying SPG points @ 35% off. seems like a good deal on airlines, but terrible to redeeming a SPG redemption. 5k points at $134. i bought 10k so far, thinking about getting another 10k-15k just to have it incase i need it in the long run.

I maxed mine, will do the same for DH. I'm chasing AAmiles for a Europe trip and a Marriott Travel pkg is looking like a good way to go.