I love credit cards so much!

[palhockeymomof2]

I have so much respect for you and I really appreciate how much you clearly give to it in time and sound advice... but I have to wonder (and very much do, personally) at what point do you get to... "I have enough." Having read your explanations for why you are where you are, I don't at all feel sorry for you... I feel amazed. But I've been asking myself this alot lately. When is enough, enough? When is it just doing it for the sake of doing it, when you can't even use it all anymore?

I don't know the answer for you @SouthFayetteFan - I only know I am wrestling with these questions myself an awful lot more lately. Maybe we all should be.

Very good questions....for us I started acquiring UR points to hopefully use for a once in a lifetime trip to Europe for my DH 60th Birthday....but once I saw they could be easily used for hotels in Orlando..it has now let us visit our son twice as much as we were...so I’m very grateful for all the advice received here.

So far I see a use for all our URs....I’ve been looking into AMEX MRs lately....but still not sure how I’d use them or if with everyone’s talk about the Rose Gold card...self referrals etc....it’s a FOMO

 

[Alexle2007]

Is there any job that gives you a week of vacation time every month? I have also been dying to get to Rome. I have the Marriott points and Delta points but I see no way of being able to squeeze it in in 2019. I was thinking of not honeymooning right after the wedding, but if we don’t do that I feel like it won’t be a honeymoon. SO and I have travelled so much together already and we will continue to do so. Also, I will probably need to take time off before the wedding to get things ready. lol this is giving me anxiety now lol plus SO wants to be at Disneyland on his birthday one year and he says we have to stay at the Grand Californian for Christmas and we need to do the Halloween party there. Oh, and now that we have World APs he can’t see how we went without having them before so I’m sure a bunch of small long weekend getaways will be happening next year lol I begged him to go on our first trip in 2016 and he was like I’m going to hate it, Disney is so stupid etc while we were on the trip he said we can get DVC and go every other year but he couldn’t do Disny ever year. Somehow now he is a bigger fan than me lol. We went in July, August and September this year and we will be back in December. We did Disneyland in January and August. lol

Not quite a week off per month but I get 208 hours plus I have 240 hours of carryover (that is the max annual leave we can carryover). I took 5 weeks off when I got married with 3 of them being in Australia. One of the small perks of being a federal employee.

 

[palhockeymomof2]

So about two weeks ago DH got a targeted mailer for the CIU OR CIC - can't remember which one. I only briefly glanced at it but I do remember it had a 'code' that I needed to type in somewhere and it expired mid-November. The offer was the same at the public offer so I think I held onto it for a few days and then threw it away. Now I'm thinking of him applying for the CIC of whichever one has the 2x gas, I get them mixed up. Anyways, it's not showing up under 'offers' in his Chase account. I'm assuming that doesn't matter? I just think it's weird that we got a mailer for it but it's not showing up under offers?

CIC has the 2x on gas

 

[DisneyMandC]

Not quite a week off per month but I get 208 hours plus I have 240 hours of carryover (that is the max annual leave we can carryover). I took 5 weeks off when I got married with 3 of them being in Australia. One of the small perks of being a federal employee.

I was going to say the other option is to be a federal employee haha. I also got 200-something hours of carryover. I'm not even close to that and only have 70 hours to my name currently. The only other time I plan to use PTO for this year is for our November trip though, and then I'm only planning to use 8 hours of leave for that trip because I've worked so much overtime lately. I'd love to take some time off at Christmas, but I'd rather bank the time. Plus, it's usually quiet here around Christmas so I can get a lot of work done.

 

[platamama]

FYI to anybody who has NOT upgraded their old Marriott personal card yet:

https://www.reddit.com/r/churning/comments/9mdwok/daily_discussion_thread_october_08_2018/e7fqg3k/

Perhaps they've increased your upgrade offer. No regrets of course but I'm sitting here saying "geez, I accepted a measly 20k to upgrade...maybe I could've had 50k, lol!"

Thanks, I saw this on DoC this morning too. My offer went from 20K to 50K, so that's pretty dang nice. I think I'll do it. I can't really see MSing on the "old" card for status since I just got the Amex Gold which will keep me busy, as well as all the MSRs I seem to be dealing with ($20K right now split between 7 different cards ).

Strangely, I get a "Sorry, unable to process your request" on DH's card, even after clearing cookies. Hoping he gets the same offer eventually. And then I can refer him to the SPG Lux - then we'll have 2 Marriotts, 2 SPG Biz, 2 SPG Lux.

 

[Alexle2007]

I was going to say the other option is to be a federal employee haha. I also got 200-something hours of carryover. I'm not even close to that and only have 70 hours to my name currently. The only other time I plan to use PTO for this year is for our November trip though, and then I'm only planning to use 8 hours of leave for that trip because I've worked so much overtime lately. I'd love to take some time off at Christmas, but I'd rather bank the time. Plus, it's usually quiet here around Christmas so I can get a lot of work done.

The leave time makes up some of the pitfalls for being a fed. Plus I can earn credit hours which also allows for additional time off. I still have 160 hours that I have to use by the end of year or I lose the hours. And I have taken plenty of days and weeks off this year. (I was going to say you aren't going to become a millionaire but then I remembered I have well over a $1m in my Thrift Savings Plan.)

 

[miztressuz]

Thanks, I saw this on DoC this morning too. My offer went from 20K to 50K, so that's pretty dang nice. I think I'll do it. I can't really see MSing on the "old" card for status since I just got the Amex Gold which will keep me busy, as well as all the MSRs I seem to be dealing with ($20K right now split between 7 different cards ).

Strangely, I get a "Sorry, unable to process your request" on DH's card, even after clearing cookies. Hoping he gets the same offer eventually. And then I can refer him to the SPG Lux - then we'll have 2 Marriotts, 2 SPG Biz, 2 SPG Lux.

Check your timing on the upgrade of the Marriott. Can't get the Lux until 2 years after a sign up or upgrade bonus, IIRC. So upgrading to PP would push off the Lux app. (Which could be the plan, but thought I'd point it out if you were looking sooner)

 

[WVMomof3]

The leave time makes up some of the pitfalls for being a fed. Plus I can earn credit hours which also allows for additional time off. I still have 160 hours that I have to use by the end of year or I lose the hours. And I have taken plenty of days and weeks off this year. (I was going to say you aren't going to become a millionaire but then I remembered I have well over a $1m in my Thrift Savings Plan.)

This is my DH too. He actually has a hard time using up his leave. His credit hours are always overflowing and he forfeits them. He only claims 1/2 hr a day now even though he works much more than that. He just doesn’t have time to use them. He ends up taking about 2 weeks at Christmas every year at use or lose time. He always carries over the 240 max. I think he has well over a year of sick time also. He has also donated hours before to sick coworkers. He starts to get antsy after too much time home and when I bring up early retirement at 57 he is a firm No on it. Lol. He may change his mind, we have 10 years to get there.

 

[LynnTH]

FYI to anybody who has NOT upgraded their old Marriott personal card yet:

https://www.reddit.com/r/churning/comments/9mdwok/daily_discussion_thread_october_08_2018/e7fqg3k/

Perhaps they've increased your upgrade offer. No regrets of course but I'm sitting here saying "geez, I accepted a measly 20k to upgrade...maybe I could've had 50k, lol!"

So, I just checked mine again. And they are offering me 50,000 points not to upgrade. Any reason not to do this. Card was opened May 2017. So, would that still be my anniversary date with free night?

 

[DisneyMandC]

So I don't recall there being a no annual fee offer on the Barclays Aviator biz card, but DH put his one purchase on the card, never had the annual fee come through, and still got the 50,000 miles...

 

[GlamMistress]

Got an upgrade offer on my no fee Amex Hilton today... for the Aspire. 150,000 points for $4k spend. I'm definitely interested in this card, but not right now. I don't feel like paying the fee just yet.

Bid on two DVC resale contracts this morning too. Haven't heard back. The mouse is bound to get my money.

 

[JKalai]

That is good, but it just doesn’t seem like enough. This is why I’m FIREING lol My SO is similar he has 23 PTO and 15 holidays. Most of that is the week between Xmas and New Years which we will be back home for. I’m interviewing now and no one is offering as good as he has it, but I plan to negotiate vacation time. lol

With my company, PTO is based on how many years you put in. I'm on my 6th year with the company, so I make 20 days a year. No paid holidays, but hopefully that will change as we were just bought out by a major conglomerate (let's just say they are based in the UK with a very good reputation).

 

[mamathompson]

I have been reading this thread for a few weeks now and I have learned so much. Thank you for all the knowledge! I think I have made some rookie mistakes so far, but I am working towards free flights for my family of 7 to Disney in February. We are renting DVC and need to pay for it. Is my best bet using Plastiq? I've never used it before but am trying to meet spending on my new cards and need all the points I can get. Thanks!

 

[1st*toright]

Not quite 12 weeks...but the bank does do 5 weeks PLUS 10 paid holidays (most of which end up being long weekends) LOL!

That is good, but it just doesn’t seem like enough. This is why I’m FIREING lol My SO is similar he has 23 PTO and 15 holidays. Most of that is the week between Xmas and New Years which we will be back home for. I’m interviewing now and no one is offering as good as he has it, but I plan to negotiate vacation time. lol

Not quite a week off per month but I get 208 hours plus I have 240 hours of carryover (that is the max annual leave we can carryover). I took 5 weeks off when I got married with 3 of them being in Australia. One of the small perks of being a federal employee.

Vacation time is not a small perk. At my prior firm, I got 22 days plus 10 holidays, plus "shut down" time around Christmas and July 4th. BUT I was so busy, that I couldn't take more than a few days off at a time, and wound up working some on pretty much every vacation. I was constantly getting notes from HR that I needed to take time off or lose vacation days (we could only accrue up to 22 days a year). Also, I worked most weekends, with no comp time or anything. My husband had "unlimited" vacation time, but was so busy that there were only 3 days in a 3 year period when he didn't work for at least part of the day (three days of a 5 day Disney trip - he only worked the first and last day we were there). Needless to say, we didn't travel a lot during this phase of our life.

Now, I only get 15 days in my current job (plus 10 or 11 holidays and unlimited sick time), but I work far fewer weekends, and when I'm on vacation I rarely have to do anything for work. I did try to negotiate for more vacation time, but my company holds the line on that one - you can negotiate to start with 15 days (instead of 2 weeks, if the position is senior enough) but that is the max when you start for anyone below c-suite. If I stick around for 10 years, I'll go to 22 days a year. Its also use it or lose it, with no rollover.

Now that DH has left his evil job, it is much easier for us to do a few short trips a year, plus one good family vacation.

 

[calypso726]

We took 5 major trips this year (WDW, Myrtle, Captiva, DC, Sea World) so it’s not like we aren’t going places. Family is what’s most important to us so our every other year trip with my wife’s family and every year trip with mine to the respective beaches (Myrtle and Captiva) are non-negotiable. Plus Captiva is literally the best most relaxing vacation I’ll ever take. There’s no efficient way to use points on either of those trips based on the whole family’s desired accommodations.

Points balances are another consideration...

• I have enough Marriott points for 4-5 WEEKS at their most expensive properties.
• At a 25k per night property that’s more like 10-15 weeks!
• As I’ve said before, we are able to earn SW Points faster than we use them.
• We also have a ton of Amex MRs.
• I could transfer the Marriott or AMEX points to any airline if I wanted to.

Travel preferences/situations of wife and kids matter:

• I have a wife who is terrified of flying and tolerates it no more than 3 times a year.
• I have kids who are getting further in school and I’m not sure I want to keep pulling them out (I’m not sure it’s fair to them either).
• The only trip outside of our time zone that is of significant interest right now is Hawaii and we could do that 3+ times for free if we wanted to right now without touching the URs.
• We would maybe do Disneyland again sometime but we could cover that in a heartbeat (Marriott + SW).
• My interest in Europe and really any foreign destination is less than 0. I won’t judge those that want to travel internationally - it sounds boring to me.
• We don’t really like to go explore or experience cities in general - again that’s just us. If a weekend in Chicago sounds good to you then do it, to me it sounds boring.
• My wife is on the record as saying she will only do a cruise if it’s Disney. She’s terrified of flying soooo I’m probably not going to force her on a metal death trap in the sky for a non-Disney Cruise.

And of course the big thing to keep in mind here is my goal from churning is to offset the cost of trips we want to take to further my goal of early retirement. Cash is king and investment growth is key to that goal.

Sorry this is so long but I don’t want anybody feeling sorry for me or my points. The average east coast American struggles to save for a trip to Ocean City. We do pretty well and are traveling exactly the way we want to.

It's so hard to read tone on a message board and I hope my comment about "dying a little inside" wasn't taken in any way other than how I intended, which was just to say I was a little jelly (definitely not sorry) at your nice stash of UR in a humorous fashion. I've always held great admiration and respect for your point accumulation plans and using those points in the way that works best for you and your family. I enjoy reading exactly how you redeem them and make your vacation goals a reality. Seeing the cost savings and value in black and white for each part always leaves me in awe. I am never as exacting #squadgoals

I also seriously doubt you'd go jet setting all around the world and leave your DW and her fear of flying behind. While we are on the topic of fear, please feel free to have a talk with the Plane Princess and see if you can convince him not to go snorkeling in shark infested oceans while I sit in a bungalow endlessly playing out the horror of his gruesome and imminent death. Anyhow, if my comment missed the mark on how I intended, I apologize. I think by now, the regular posters on this thread know I'm not judgmental of how anyone uses their points as I advocate that the best point redemption are the ones that work for us. Please be rest assured that I haven't had a sudden personality overhaul or anything. I don't feel sorry for @SouthFayetteFan for choosing his vacation plans anymore than he feels sorry for me choosing mine or my willingness to pay annual fees. Anyhow, I just realized my comment could have been taken in a way I never intended and wanted to make it clear how I intended it to be.

 

[GlamMistress]

Got an upgrade offer on my no fee Amex Hilton today... for the Aspire. 150,000 points for $4k spend. I'm definitely interested in this card, but not right now. I don't feel like paying the fee just yet.

Bid on two DVC resale contracts this morning too. Haven't heard back. The mouse is bound to get my money.

Welp, I didn't get my contracts. I've now lost 5 of them.

Regarding PTO, I accrue 8.9 hours per pay period. We stop accrual at 300 hours. Our time is allowed to roll. I currently have 290 hours in my bank so it's a good thing I'm going to Disney next week!!! (I also have over 300 hours in my medical bank, our top limit).

 

[platamama]

Check your timing on the upgrade of the Marriott. Can't get the Lux until 2 years after a sign up or upgrade bonus, IIRC. So upgrading to PP would push off the Lux app. (Which could be the plan, but thought I'd point it out if you were looking sooner)

Oh, thank you, good point! I'll keep checking on it for him, closer to 12/31. I do want to refer him to CIP as soon as he reaches 4/24, though I probably pushed that out when I got him the Amex Gold last week. Just depends on when that posts on his credit report. I'm also considering removing him as my AU on my CSR if that helps his CC strategy; he can get Priority Pass with his Amex Biz Plat until March next year anyhow, and that's the main reason he is an AU on my CSR since he sometimes travels for work and needs his own Priority Pass.

 

[Judique]

I begged him to go on our first trip in 2016 and he was like I’m going to hate it, Disney is so stupid etc while we were on the trip he said we can get DVC and go every other year but he couldn’t do Disny ever year. Somehow now he is a bigger fan than me lol. We went in July, August and September this year and we will be back in December. We did Disneyland in January and August. lol

There is a point where some of us don't think of Disney in terms of rides, but of the atmosphere in general and the relaxing nature (depends on how you do it!).

I do understand everyone has different likes for vacation time. I keep wondering what I am missing with Hawaii and Tokyo, 2 of the top places on this thread and I have little desire to go to either. But FOMO has me looking at both places. lol

I'm right with you on those two but everyone was doing National Parks I was on the edge of my seat and still want to go, but need someone who wants to do a long roadtrip in a motorhome with me, lol.

This is my DH too. He actually has a hard time using up his leave. His credit hours are always overflowing and he forfeits them. He only claims 1/2 hr a day now even though he works much more than that. He just doesn’t have time to use them. He ends up taking about 2 weeks at Christmas every year at use or lose time. He always carries over the 240 max. I think he has well over a year of sick time also. He has also donated hours before to sick coworkers. He starts to get antsy after too much time home and when I bring up early retirement at 57 he is a firm No on it. Lol. He may change his mind, we have 10 years to get there.

Just before I retired I had advanced to 6 weeks per year, plus 17 sick days, plus 15-17 holidays depending on whether it was an election year or whether certain holidays landed on week days. We were able to keep a year of annual and all of our sick. I was able to sell my sick back and use it also as time in service. It was a great deal but no where near as great as retirement!

 

[kmc8826]

Dumb question as the talk of cashing out UR's made me think: they are worth 1 cent a point to cash out? So 100,000 UR's is a $1000?

@SouthFayetteFan if Disney is your main focus maybe you should consider buying DVC. Least look into the resale market I am sure you are the type that could score some awesome deals. That way you could cash out the UR's to pay for that and still use for Disney in a way. Huge market to rent out points and you could use cash from that to pay for the Cruises.

@speedyfishy I get 25 days a year plus paid holidays and sick time additional so that is not bad. BUT the best route I think is to either to be like my DH and retire probably this year at 20 and then do his own business for extra money OR be like a forensic expert of some sort. It seems like the people that are expert witnesses (usually medical) make absolute bank and can go on vacation whenever they absolutely feel like it. You might have to go back to school though...

@tink1970 and anyone else in the Hurricane path please stay safe!

 

[tink1970]

Doctors. Obviously totally dependent on where you work/which field you're in, but my cousin is a neuroradiologist and gets 10 weeks of vacation every year.

He is definitely one of the few! When DH and I were in the military it was 30 days annual BUT...often weren't allowed to take it. Fortunately it rolled over (to a point). When I went to the civilian world I think I started off with...2 weeks, maybe and worked 5 or 6 Christmases in a row (and that folks, helped make my decision to retire so much easier!). I was in a hot air balloon over Santa Fe for my 40th getting called about a patient...also as I was having the IV placed when delivering my daughter...talking to the resident about a patient. Dermatology, radiology and pathology are much more humane, though.

I do understand everyone has different likes for vacation time. I keep wondering what I am missing with Hawaii and Tokyo, 2 of the top places on this thread and I have little desire to go to either. But FOMO has me looking at both places. lol

Me too! Well, the not understanding the appeal (that and SW!). I'll happily read about others' experiences and think I almost even understand the companion pass with absolutely no need I'm happy when people want to hack somewhere I don't though...more open award seats to Europe

This is my DH too. He actually has a hard time using up his leave.

My DH retired from the military and it took me a couple of years to get him to realize it wasn't going to roll over in the Big Bad Real World. Now, I am proud to report, he uses every day with none lost to The Company. I view this a quite an accomplishment. Actually, with the storm he's going to be in the hole this year. Whoo, hoo! Mission accomplished!