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Archive for October, 2020

Gift Card Balances Oct 2020

October 28th, 2020 at 01:02 am

GIFTS:

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$50 Barnes & Noble

$20 x 6 Target

 

MOVIES:

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$100 Regal

 

RESTAURANTS:

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$50 Cracker Barrel

$50 Olive Garden

$25 Chili's

$ 25 x 2 Jamba Juice (Birthday Gift)

 

RETAIL:

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$ 50 x 3 Target

 

Note: Edited over time to remove used gift cards. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Had to redo entry, with new format.

In the end, I found some nice bed sheets to replace our own bed sheets.  Will try to do another post on that.  We liked them so much, I bought some more of the same brand for MM(17).  I had also found a nice mattress protector for our bed, bought a backup (because has been kind of hit and miss) and then decided to pick one up for MM while I was at it.  I went through the Target gift cards and found a nice surprise...  

$80!

In the past, hell would have frozen over before I found a cent lying around the house.  But...  You guessed it.  Bought these gift cards in 2018.  Bought in December when on discount.  They were e-gift cards and they got lost in the mix.  I thought, "Surely I spent these down, they are from 2018."  But..  Nope!  

& we should probably spend down the 2019 ones, because probably just going to buy some more in December.  I never do the max, mostly just buy enough for gifts and school supplies.  I think for the best, we have a big pile to get through.  I didn't bother tallying them all.  But I think I had a good idea of all of them except for the paper print outs.

I had also been saving my Kohls card ($50 gift last Chrismas) to buy the kids shoes.  But...  They aren't going anywhere and seemed to have stopped growing.  I am probably just going to get some more gift cards soon, so figured I would spend it.  

It's not just a pandemic thing, we weren't getting through these cards anyway.  It's just even more slow going right now. 

 

2020 Credit Card Reward Tally

October 3rd, 2020 at 02:17 pm

2020 TALLY:
 
$700 Cash (Chase Sapphire Quadruple Dip, Moi) ~ MAYBE?
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$700 TOTAL *ONE-TIME REWARDS*
 
**In addition, various monthly rewards that I will tally at 12/31
 
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POST FROM 2018: I think I probably would have mostly passed (on one-time bonuses) this year given all my employment upheaval. Life has been CRAZY this year and I am being ultra protective of my credit score since I work in the financial industry. It's always been like 800+, but I just don't feel like it's the year to open 5 new credit cards in my name. Might raise some eyebrows during any employment consideration. (& I am probably just being overly cautious, but that is how I roll).
 
2019: More of the same. Too busy to bother with, and too much extra income.
 
2020: Less crazy busy, but too much extra income to bother with. That said... I got a $800 Chase Sapphire offer. It's been over 4 years since we did this deal, which is the requirement. I can see from my blog that we both did the Chase Sapphire bonus 3 times already. So... It's a quadruple dip.
 
It's worth mentioning that I have been bombarded by credit card offers. But... I have always considered myself a light credit card churner. Most places where I get the credit card tips, there are crowds of people who do a *lot* more churning, manufacture spending, etc. I share because the flip side of the coin is the opinion that it's morally questionable, especially when doing the same deal over and over and over. To which I can only roll my eyes. It's not like they aren't cramming these offers down my throat, begging me to fall into their credit card traps. They are the ones that are BEGGING me to apply for the same card I already applied for 3 times in the past.
 
$800 is speaking to me though. Net of annual fee, will be $700 cash. If it works out well, it looks like it's also a common public offer. I will have MH also do a quadruple dip, if I can find the offer again next year. (It's a credit card company. I am skeptical if they will really give me a bonus for a fourth time. I don't trust them at all. Will see).
 
In other news, I met my sidebar snowflake investing goal. It's worth mentioning because was entirely funded by credit card rewards (cash back received from monthly spending). $1,500+ so far for 2020. Total credit card rewards will probably end up in the $2,000 range for this year.