**Woohoo! I got my Chase card. Phew! Was hoping to get in time to pay some 9/1 bills (was willing to pay a couple of days late, but might have given up by Tuesday).

Also, the due date was October 20th for the first Chase bill. SO, I paid 2 months health insurance ($800 due today - paid the 10/1 bill too). Since I usually charge those around the 30th and pay off around the 20th. Doesn't mess me up *at all.* No juggling or re-arranging.

Auto insurance was due Monday - I paid it today.

This leaves me $75 to charge. I will probably use it to fill up the van next week - which will put me a few dollars short? But maybe I can give it to dh for when he gets gas.

What I don't understand is why they made me call a live person to activate the card. It's the most annoying/time consuming part of these credit card rewards. Everything else is so computerized/instantaneous. I can't get across how little time I spend to reap these rewards. BUT, today I sat on hold five minutes, and they didn't even try to sell me anything. What a waste of time! When I am done I just e-mail them to close the card. & I am putting the October 20th payment in Quicken right now so I don't have to remember anything. The hard part is done...

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**Holiday weekend is really messing me up. I have to be vigilant with the checkbook, since I don't get paid until Tuesday and probably won't get the deposit in until Wednesday. I paid the piano teacher and just hope I get MIL's check for the piano teacher. Today. Even so, I will remote deposit and will have to make sure it is there Tuesday. & if not I will have to do a transfer. I just generally don't like to cut things tight/deal with it. BUT, I also try to avoid every moving money over for this kind of stuff. I can, but just try to arrange it that I don't have to. It's just another layer of complication. Admittedly, "move the money and forget about it" is probably less complicated. But it's just a little vigilance that I usually don't have to deal with. Which is easier than moving money and back and forth, I guess.

It's probably good though, because while I Was looking at the calendar and figuring when I could pay things, I remembered that next month will be worse. We will be on vacation and so I won't get to deposit my check until closer to the 10th. !!

BUT, with this credit card, I don't have to pay our health insurance until October, so buys me an easy $800 buffer. I think that might do!! I don't have many bills due the first of the month - just a few small things. 1st of the month is generally 90% to savings; mid-month payday covers the credit cards and mortgage. Which means I usually pay the mortgage and credit cards around the 30th, and then the few small things/transfer to savings after the first. Which means a whole lot of nothing most the month.

But I will have to pay all the bills before we leave. So just another chore to remember.

Who knew this credit card reward deal would make life a little easier? It bought me a $800 buffer for vacation. Which is more than ample to cover a very late payday.