I love credit cards so much!

[SouthFayetteFan]

BUYING my Southwest gift card via the Southwest website to get my $100 credit:

For a physical gift card they want to charge me $2.95. Is this always the case?
I've never dealt with e-gift cards. If I e-gift myself, with the idea of eventually giving it to a son or daughter, how difficult is that? I'm really not into e-gift cards.

Also, buying it through the SW website will generate the credit? Just making sure I'm not missing something here, as this is something I've never done before.

Thanks for any help and really I guess what I want is reassurance that I'm doing this correctly. I think I'm going to pay for the plastic.

They will come through in an email and then you can just forward them to your son/daughter later if you wanted to. I've had no issue working with SW E-Gift cards.

 

[elgerber]

Guys, I think my favorite thing about Amazon Prime sometimes is that I can shop for clothing without going to the store. Like, company Christmas party is Saturday.. I don't really have anything to wear. Amazon Prime and free return clothing to the rescue, for under $35

I do this with clothes once in awhile, and shoes! It's awesome!

 

[wanderlust7]

No...I TOTALLY get leaving the kids=anxiety part of things....that is 100% me!!! But that is why I CHOSE to not leave them and go off on an airplane by myself....b/c I didn't want to feel that feeling.(We traveled as a family when they were young) The problem with this blogger (IMHO) is she chooses to put herself and her family in these scenarios for money,and then feels 'anxiety' over it. I repeat,she sent her 7 yo alone on a plane at least a year ago and wrote all about how it was great for her independence etc. I feel that yes,she's a mom, but the articles are.....disingenuous (?) I just don't buy it. And as you noted,even if I did ste it lal up,and then felt sad over choosing this (again!) I wouldn't transmit that anxiety to my unwitting kiddos.

7 yo! That would give me some serious anxiety. But kids going home with their dad, I'd be like I'm freeeeeee!

I thought the article had some informative aspects about potential problems going to a lounge in a terminal you're not flying out of. But part of me wonders if the whole hysterics actually happened, or she just wanted to headline it "The Day I Cried...".

 

[amalone1013]

I find it hard to believe that you don't have anything to wear on Saturday (Says the guy who purchases new clothes approx. once a decade)

But really, most of my clothes shopping is now done in theme parks... and I don't know if my Jungle Cruise shirt will go with the Casino Night theme....

I really hate clothes shopping now overall. I have zero interest in cruising the mall every weekend like when I was a wee teenager.

 

[amalone1013]

I do this with clothes once in awhile, and shoes! It's awesome!

I love it. It's probably fitting anyways for me; I always liked shopping at Plato's Closet (teen resale store) so you could easily try on lots of different brands vs going store to store.

 

[wendow]

How many cards have you opened in the last 24M? I just applied yesterday and I am waiting. I am 5/24 right now.

I was just approved yesterday and I was 5/24.

 

[platamama]

Looks like I might have to spend some money on a Xmas tree.

The top third of my pre lit tree is not working. I only put one tree up these days inside and gave away my other ones last year.

Looking at Lowe's and some that may be acceptable are between 2 and 3 hundred. I'm going to stop by later and take a look. I have the Chase offers and if I buy one will use one of them.

I like this tree because it is slim and fits nicely where I want it. Gahh….don't want to change! Wish I had the patience to undue the light strings and rewrap it!

Have you heard of the Light Keeper Pro? I bought one a few years back, and it's like magic, I have no idea how it works but I've had success with it. If you google it, you'll find lots of stores that sell it (including Lowe's). Cheaper than a new tree!

Depending on the wiring of the lights, sometimes a whole string will go out if there's one bad bulb, and you need to find the first bad bulb (the first one closest to the plug) and replace it with a fresh one and then the whole string lights up. So I would try this first before trying the Light Keeper Pro (as long as you have spare fresh light bulbs).

 

[havaneselover]

Have you heard of the Light Keeper Pro? I bought one a few years back, and it's like magic, I have no idea how it works but I've had success with it. If you google it, you'll find lots of stores that sell it (including Lowe's). Cheaper than a new tree!

Depending on the wiring of the lights, sometimes a whole string will go out if there's one bad bulb, and you need to find the first bad bulb (the first one closest to the plug) and replace it with a fresh one and then the whole string lights up. So I would try this first before trying the Light Keeper Pro (as long as you have spare fresh light bulbs).

I tried the Light Keeper Pro on my pre-lit artificial tree but it didn't work. I need to try to find the first bad bulb. Thanks for the tip!

 

[tink1970]

The problem with this blogger (IMHO) is she chooses to put herself and her family in these scenarios for money,and then feels 'anxiety' over it. I repeat,she sent her 7 yo alone on a plane at least a year ago and wrote all about how it was great for her independence etc. I feel that yes,she's a mom, but the articles are.....disingenuous (?) I just don't buy it. And as you noted,even if I did set it all up,and then felt sad over choosing this (again!) I wouldn't transmit that anxiety to my unwitting kiddos.

But kids going home with their dad, I'd be like I'm freeeeeee!

I thought the article had some informative aspects about potential problems going to a lounge in a terminal you're not flying out of. But part of me wonders if the whole hysterics actually happened, or she just wanted to headline it "The Day I Cried...".

I agree with both of these comments, not to beat a dead horse. Honestly, I'm just all for accountability regardless of whatever decisions you make.

I've been on both sides of the working mom and stay at home debate and they're both hard. Parenting is hard. Being an adult is hard. But make a decision (in this case a child free vacation), stick to it and cut the drama.(Reading this I realize why some of my subordinates thought I was a word that rhymes with witch...huh....)


Regarding @SouthFayetteFan 's question of the week...

Last November I got 5 cards: Ritz Carlton, Disney Premier, Citi ThankYou Prestige, Amex Delta Gold and Amex Mercedes Benz Platinum. IIRC (since two have been discontinued) the 3 month MSR was R-C $5k, TYP $7.5 K, MB 5K, DL $3K and Disney negligible ($250? $500?). So say $21K in 3 months, which, to be honest, was sort of brutal. Fairly sure I paid taxes and more taxes and did some charity donations but that was way too much for me and I'm sitting here, fat and happy, without a current MSR shaking my head at my past crazy behavior.

 

[PolyRob]

Any iPhone/Apple Watch users? I just got this email from Chase about my CSR. Doesn’t seem as exciting as the Samsung pay/ChasePay promo, but it’s something I guess?

 

[Alexle2007]

AmEx was kind and took the initiative to roll over my Nov UberCash since I'm new So now I have $35 that will probably still go unused.

 

[mmmears]

@platamama and any others...I think this is actually a cool little discussion topic.

What is the most number of cards you've ever opened in a "short time span" (up to you to define) and what was the combined MSR you were working on...

• I once opened 5 cards in 6 days
• If you go back a few weeks that time I actually opened 7 cards in 1 month
• I think I had already hit the MSR on those other 2 cards so I probably had $7k in combined MSR open at once (the 7 cards was a total of $11k MSR).
• Some of these were fairly small MSRs so it wasn't that crazy (yes it felt odd to type that sentence as any "normal" person would say opening 7 credit cards in a month is insane).
• About 2 months prior to the "7 card month" I also had a "6 card month" with $8k in combined MSR
• If I look back I had one other 6 card month and one other 7 card month but both of those were mostly $500 MSRs on BofA cards and such

So what other crazy things have you guys done? I'm sure there's people that have way more than this lol. To the newer folks saying "What are you guys talking about"...imagine a time before the Chase 5/24 rule, before BoA cracked down, before the AMEX RAT existed, and when Chase Shutdowns were totally not a thing. Unfortunately these days it's much less common to see due to all the rules (although @platamama is doing some big things over there ).

Not that many cards (only 4) right now but a $22K MSR combined. We have plans for it all (no MSR) because of large bills due this time of year. But it still makes me nervous looking at it on our spreadsheet. Plan is to slow waaaaayyyy down after this.

 

[chattadisser]

Can you use the Target cartwheel on their website or do you have to go thru the app? I'd like to go thru a portal for the purchase but I don't want to forgo the cartwheel deal.

 

[elgerber]

Can you use the Target cartwheel on their website or do you have to go thru the app? I'd like to go thru a portal for the purchase but I don't want to forgo the cartwheel deal.

Cartwheel is instore only.

 

[havaneselover]

Cartwheel is instore only.

I thought they changed that recently.

 

[wendow]

AmEx was kind and took the initiative to roll over my Nov UberCash since I'm new So now I have $35 that will probably still go unused.

I try to use mine for UberEats (since I've never taken an Uber nor do I have a need to on a day-to-day basis). The problem for us is we live on the far outside of the Denver metro area. We only have a couple of places that deliver from UberEats (McD's, Qdoba, Subway, Jersey Mike's). These are the places that have a delivery fee of 1.99-3.49. Everywhere else, and it is pretty much these same restaurants and a couple others sprinkled in, all charge $5.99 for delivery. Plus a tip, of course.

So, out of our close ones, the McD's is renovating and doesn't look like they will open anytime soon. The Qdoba takes themselves offline almost all the time. I've seen them available like 1-2 times (meanwhile the further location is always available). And then we have the two sub shops, which are neither that appealing but will probably be what I have to use the Dec credit on. I wish I could get more benefit from the Uber credit but it's just not that useful for us.

 

[elgerber]

I thought they changed that recently.

Yeah, I guess for some items it's available for pick up, but doesn't appear to be for delivery.

 

[chattadisser]

Cartwheel is instore only.

I was going to do in-store pick up, so I thought I could order through the app and then pick it up.

 

[elgerber]

I was going to do in-store pick up, so I thought I could order through the app and then pick it up.

Ah gotcha! I am not sure if you can use it through their website or not, I know previously you could add your offers and print out your barcode for the store, but they have changed things since then.

 

[Judique]

Have you heard of the Light Keeper Pro? I bought one a few years back, and it's like magic, I have no idea how it works but I've had success with it. If you google it, you'll find lots of stores that sell it (including Lowe's). Cheaper than a new tree!

Depending on the wiring of the lights, sometimes a whole string will go out if there's one bad bulb, and you need to find the first bad bulb (the first one closest to the plug) and replace it with a fresh one and then the whole string lights up. So I would try this first before trying the Light Keeper Pro (as long as you have spare fresh light bulbs).

This tree is probably five or six years old. I can see bulbs that are bad in other, lit up areas of the tree. It's a GE tree bought from Lowes on an after xmas or maybe before Xmas deal. It was in the $300 range when purchased so it's probably done its time.

I have cats. I wouldn't be surprised if the Persian chewed through the wires somewhere. She has been known to crawl up the center and lay across the branches, and definitely in the area that doesn't work.

I'm going to look at something else. I'd forgotten that these trees have little fuses. Maybe that is the problem?