So..... you went and applied for a credit card that gets you travel rewards? Awesome.
After you got approved, you wondered:
How do I meet thousands of dollars in spend in just 90 days?
Most of us who earn, burn and churn, are really quite thrifty people and very on top of their game financially. So to someone new, the thought of spending thousands of dollars in a few months seems daunting, right?
In this post, I am going to give you plenty of ideas of how to meet the minimum spending requirements on a card.
I will begin with small, every day expenses, then move on to expenses you may not have thought of. Also, there are some large expenses that you could also tack on that would charge you a small fee. If you're looking to meet minimum spend and you're in a bind, the surcharge might be worth it, to ensure that you bank 50,000 points!
Regular expenses should almost always be charged to your card.
- Insurance: you got a car, homeowners, renters, medical insurance, etc. If you pay your car insurance monthly, consider purchasing your premium for the full six months, provided you can pay off your CC bill when it comes due.
- Cable / Internet / Cell Phone bills: most companies allow you to pay online each month, or set up auto-payments to your credit card. Some even allow you to pre-pay extra months in advance. Again, only if you can pay it off when the bill is due.
- Restaurants and Bars: pay all your going out bills with a card. Most cards I recommend have 2-5x points on dining anyways, so you should be maximizing this! Also, when you're out with friends, you could pick up the tab and have them pay you cash or Venmo on the spot.
- Groceries: same as above.
- Netflix / Hulu / HBO Go
- Gas
- Gym Membership
- Oil Change / New Tires / Any other car repairs: these often run several hundred dollars. Easy way to meet minimum spend.
- Uber / Lyft / Sidecar!
- Toll Roads: SunPass, FasTrak, I-Pass, etc. usually has an option to auto load your transponder when your balance gets below a certain threshold
- Business travel!: if you already travel on business, if at all possible, ask to be able to charge your expenses to your card, then save receipts and file for reimbursement.
Prepay expenses that you already know you will use.
- Upcoming wedding expenses? Prepay!
- Gift cards are an easy way to prepay for predictable expenses. If you already know by budgeting that you average about $50 a week at the grocery store, why not buy your same amount in Safeway cards to use the next month?
- Amazon gift cards are easy to purchase online and can be used as an online bank account that you withdraw from when you want to make purchases in your shopping cart.
- Remember: only buy what you know you will pay off when the statement comes due!!!
Get gift purchases out of the way in advance!
- Christmas gifts
- Birthday gifts
- Graduation
- Wedding season!
- Charitable contributions - consider making it now, instead of at the end of the year.
- Religious contributions - do you tithe? Why not do it by card instead of check?
Other random expenses too...
- Do you have an FSA or HSA account? More than likely, yours came with a debit card that you can use to pay for your medical expenses. However, you may be able to pay by credit card and submit for reimbursement. Great if you already know you will have something come up like braces, or a surgery.
- Vision: perhaps pay for contacts or glasses by card, then submit for reimbursement
- If you're receiving a payment from your insurance company, like for a claim, you may be able to charge your expense to your card, then use the check from insurance to pay yourself back.
When you have to pay a convenience fee...
In general, paying fees to be able to use a credit card is not going to be worth the miles you earn on a regular basis. However, it may be useful if you can't seem to meet the minimum spend, or to achieve a certain status level with a card.
Let's say you got the Chase Sapphire which earns you 40,000 bonus points after $4000 minimum spend. If I were to have to pay 3% on $4000, that is $120. But I would gladly pay $120 to not miss out on 40k points.
ALWAYS check the math to see if this makes sense for you.
- Mortgage or Credit Card: Charge Smart allows you to pay these bills for a fee of 2.4% You can use Visa, MC or Discover, but not AmEx
- Rent: same here
- Student loan: Charge Smart also, or if you're lucky, your own loan provider may allow it by their site with a fee.
- Property taxes: same
- US Taxes: the IRS has a list of tax payment service providers on their website
- State and local taxes
It's easy to pay a trusted friend or significant other who would then give you the money back, and you use it to pay your card.Venmo's limit is $1,200 and they charge 3%. PayPal also charges 3%, I believe.
Be aware that both these vendors will likely close your account if you transfer same amount back and forth. Transfers in a one-way direction with payback directly to you by check, won't arouse as much suspicion as if you sent someone $1000, and then they paid you right back with the same amount. Your mileage may vary. But you are warned.
The bottom line is this: don't let minimum spend keep you from getting a large bonus. If you are a good budgeter, this should be pretty easy to track. If you can't meet more than one minimum spend at a time, don't worry! Start small, with one card at a time, if it's easier. It's all about minimizing what you pay out of pocket to travel. The above suggestions will allow you to meet most of the spend necessary within a three month period.
What if the above tips and tricks aren't enough?
There's a little trick out there called "manufactured spending." How do you appear to spend money, without actually spending any money? We will talk about it in my next post :)
Did I leave out any tricks that you've tried? Let me know in the comments!
Peace, love and an extra pack of peanuts,
LC
Wow, I am so pleased to read this brilliant post. I also shared a similar post on my blog. But that is related to the expenses on my wedding arrangements. Pretty soon I’ll get married at the outdoor Hollywood venues.
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