I love credit cards so much!

[SouthFayetteFan]

How to List your cards...
Not that we can actually enforce this or anything...but it would be somewhat helpful if we tried to standardize how we list our cards. If the regulars here embraced this format then lurkers and new folks would probably copy too...

My suggestion is to ALWAYS list ALL cards (biz or personal...any issuer) in chronological order... I also suggest listing the date first (in MM/YY format - add a 0 to the single digit months to make it look even neater) and then the issuer (in all caps) and then the card name - it makes it SUPER easy to read...

If I were asking for advice, here's what my list would look like:

Player1: (currently 6/24 - dropping to 4/24 in February)
02/17 - AMEX Everyday
02/17 - AMEX Starwood Personal
03/17 - AMEX Business Gold Rewards (BIZ)
04/17 - AMEX Ameriprise Gold
05/17 - WELLS FARGO Cash Rewards
06/17 - AMEX Blue Business+ (BIZ)
08/17 - CHASE Disney Rewards Visa
09/17 - CITI Prestige
10/17 - AMEX Starwood Business (BIZ)
10/17 - AMEX Green Business (BIZ)
12/18 - CITI Biz Aadvantage (BIZ)
*Other cards of note that P1 has open: Discover, CF x2, SW Plus, SW Prem
*Cannot apply for another Sapphire bonus until March 2020 due to 48mo. rule

Player2: (currently 2/24)
07/17 - AMEX Starwood Business (BIZ)
09/17 - AMEX Business Gold Rewards (BIZ)
12/17 - AMEX Delta Biz Gold (BIZ)
02/18 - AMEX Blue Business Plus (BIZ)
04/18 - CHASE Ink Preferred (BIZ)
08/18 - CHASE Sapphire Preferred
08/18 - CHASE Sapphire Reserve
11/18 - CHASE Ink Unlimited (BIZ)
*Other cards of note that P2 has open: 2x CF, AMEX BCE, Marriott Prem+, AMEX Hilton, Chase Disney

At any rate, nobody actually needs to listen to me...but you can see how clean and easy that format is to read Also, by listing ALL cards (and not just ones that count in 5/24) nobody will give me advice to open a card that I already have

EDIT: I'll also add that when asking for advice for 1 player, it'd still be nice if you list stats for both players. Giving advice for P2 without knowing what P1 has or has done recently could lead us to provide bad advice. If we know the full picture (i.e. like I listed above) you could probably provide some fantastic advice!

Just made a couple of tweaks even...(edited the original comment but posting here for visibility):

My suggestion is to ALWAYS list ALL cards (biz or personal...any issuer) in chronological order... I also suggest listing the date first (in MM/YY format - add a 0 to the single digit months to make it look even neater) and then the issuer (in all caps) and then the card name - it makes it SUPER easy to read...

I'll also add that when asking for advice for 1 player, it'd still be nice if you list stats for both players. Giving advice for P2 without knowing what P1 has or has done recently could lead us to provide bad advice. If we know the full picture (i.e. like I listed above) you could probably provide some fantastic advice!

ALSO...that is not a typo in my stats with the year... I didn't get a card in my name from Nov 2017 until Dec 2018, lol! Those 13 months were all my wife!

 

[mmmears]

It is a lot of money to save but we were both pretty excited about yc. We have one resort day planned to do stuff around the boardwalk. I guess we could always take an Uber over there though

I haven't been posting advice since I am a total hotel princess and would pick YC CL even if it mean fewer WDW days. But honestly, if there is a mod I've been wanting to try it's POFQ all the way. I think it comes down to how you want to spend your vacation time and how much you will use the lounge, enjoy walking to the BW and EPCOT, etc. Good luck with your decision. It's a lot of money and I often wish I wasn't so picky about hotels, but that ship sailed a long, long time ago.

Anywhere I should look to get a deal on a shutterfly gc? They are having a sale on prints right now and I can pick them up at Walgreens which makes it better than my usual Costco.

Also, I'd thought about doing a photobook instead of scrapbooking and even bought a groupon and then after using the site decided it just wasn't what I wanted. It's for printerpix if anyone is interested in the groupon let me know.

I tried a Shutterfly photobook a few months ago for the first time. It took 2 to put the photos in our Norway/Iceland cruise together. I'm really picky and I have to say that they make a good product. They take up far less space on my shelf than traditional albums and I love that I can have some tiny pics and some full page ones. I ended up going back in time and making one for our last 2 WDW trips & Dream cruise, and another one for our 2011 DCL cruise to Alaska. I'm trying to go back and make some from a few other trips as well. I'm sharing this in case anyone wants to know if they are nicely made - I couldn't find anyone who had made one and was really on the fence about it until I tried one.

 

[Calfan]

I tried a Shutterfly photobook a few months ago for the first time. It took 2 to put the photos in our Norway/Iceland cruise together. I'm really picky and I have to say that they make a good product. They take up far less space on my shelf than traditional albums and I love that I can have some tiny pics and some full page ones. I ended up going back in time and making one for our last 2 WDW trips & Dream cruise, and another one for our 2011 DCL cruise to Alaska. I'm trying to go back and make some from a few other trips as well. I'm sharing this in case anyone wants to know if they are nicely made - I couldn't find anyone who had made one and was really on the fence about it until I tried one.

I make Shutterfly photo books for all of our big trips and agree that the quality is quite good. And I find Shutterlfy offers on my various Amex cards fairly frequently.

 

[platamama]

How to List your cards...
Not that we can actually enforce this or anything...but it would be somewhat helpful if we tried to standardize how we list our cards. If the regulars here embraced this format then lurkers and new folks would probably copy too...

My suggestion is to ALWAYS list ALL cards (biz or personal...any issuer) in chronological order... I also suggest listing the date first (in MM/YY format - add a 0 to the single digit months to make it look even neater) and then the issuer (in all caps) and then the card name - it makes it SUPER easy to read...

If I were asking for advice, here's what my list would look like:

Player1: (currently 6/24 - dropping to 4/24 in February)
02/17 - AMEX Everyday
02/17 - AMEX Starwood Personal
03/17 - AMEX Business Gold Rewards (BIZ)
04/17 - AMEX Ameriprise Gold
05/17 - WELLS FARGO Cash Rewards
06/17 - AMEX Blue Business+ (BIZ)
08/17 - CHASE Disney Rewards Visa
09/17 - CITI Prestige
10/17 - AMEX Starwood Business (BIZ)
10/17 - AMEX Green Business (BIZ)
12/18 - CITI Biz Aadvantage (BIZ)
*Other cards of note that P1 has open: Discover, CF x2, SW Plus, SW Prem
*Cannot apply for another Sapphire bonus until March 2020 due to 48mo. rule

Player2: (currently 2/24)
07/17 - AMEX Starwood Business (BIZ)
09/17 - AMEX Business Gold Rewards (BIZ)
12/17 - AMEX Delta Biz Gold (BIZ)
02/18 - AMEX Blue Business Plus (BIZ)
04/18 - CHASE Ink Preferred (BIZ)
08/18 - CHASE Sapphire Preferred
08/18 - CHASE Sapphire Reserve
11/18 - CHASE Ink Unlimited (BIZ)
*Other cards of note that P2 has open: 2x CF, AMEX BCE, Marriott Prem+, AMEX Hilton, Chase Disney

At any rate, nobody actually needs to listen to me...but you can see how clean and easy that format is to read Also, by listing ALL cards (and not just ones that count in 5/24) nobody will give me advice to open a card that I already have

EDIT: I'll also add that when asking for advice for 1 player, it'd still be nice if you list stats for both players. Giving advice for P2 without knowing what P1 has or has done recently could lead us to provide bad advice. If we know the full picture (i.e. like I listed above) you could probably provide some fantastic advice!

The added bonus is that @Lain can make sure his spreadsheet is accurate.

 

[Chancery8]

I also suggest listing the date first (in MM/YY format - add a 0 to the single digit months to make it look even neater) and then the issuer (in all caps) and then the card name - it makes it SUPER easy to read...

At any rate, nobody actually needs to listen to me...but you can see how clean and easy that format is to read

I can see your love of spreadsheets coming through here...lol. I like it!

 

[disneybirds]

I make Shutterfly photo books for all of our big trips and agree that the quality is quite good. And I find Shutterlfy offers on my various Amex cards fairly frequently.

Agree with this. I have gift cards sitting in my account right now from the last Amex offer. I am just waiting on the free extra pages promo to order my books from Shutterfly. I do one for each year and order two (one for each daughter).

 

[Chancery8]

Anywhere I should look to get a deal on a shutterfly gc? They are having a sale on prints right now and I can pick them up at Walgreens which makes it better than my usual Costco.

Also, I'd thought about doing a photobook instead of scrapbooking and even bought a groupon and then after using the site decided it just wasn't what I wanted. It's for printerpix if anyone is interested in the groupon let me know.

I tried a Shutterfly photobook a few months ago for the first time. It took 2 to put the photos in our Norway/Iceland cruise together. I'm really picky and I have to say that they make a good product. They take up far less space on my shelf than traditional albums and I love that I can have some tiny pics and some full page ones. I ended up going back in time and making one for our last 2 WDW trips & Dream cruise, and another one for our 2011 DCL cruise to Alaska. I'm trying to go back and make some from a few other trips as well. I'm sharing this in case anyone wants to know if they are nicely made - I couldn't find anyone who had made one and was really on the fence about it until I tried one.

I make Shutterfly photo books for all of our big trips and agree that the quality is quite good. And I find Shutterlfy offers on my various Amex cards fairly frequently.

Agree with this. I have gift cards sitting in my account right now from the last Amex offer. I am just waiting on the free extra pages promo to order my books from Shutterfly. I do one for each year and order two (one for each daughter).

There's a current promotion for a free Shutterfly book, just have to pay shipping of $7.99. It's valid through Jan 21st for a 20-page 8×8 book using the code "THANKS".

Edit: Also, Pillsbury is giving away codes for free Shutterfly books as well right now. These codes are valid till the end of March. Just go to the Pillsbury site to sign up for the code.

 

[mmmears]

I make Shutterfly photo books for all of our big trips and agree that the quality is quite good. And I find Shutterlfy offers on my various Amex cards fairly frequently.

Thanks for adding this. I meant to mention it and then totally forgot. We've found those offers on a bunch of our cards and use them each time we order.

My next project is to take my DM's childhood pics (just one small album) and scan the pics and make her a photo book of them.

I went with the lay flat extra heavy paper for my books (the one that is normal, not the $300 wedding album premium one LOL) and I really like the feel of it. The first time I tried it I wasn't sure what to order - too many size options and paper options!

 

[afan]

I tried a Shutterfly photobook a few months ago for the first time. It took 2 to put the photos in our Norway/Iceland cruise together. I'm really picky and I have to say that they make a good product. They take up far less space on my shelf than traditional albums and I love that I can have some tiny pics and some full page ones. I ended up going back in time and making one for our last 2 WDW trips & Dream cruise, and another one for our 2011 DCL cruise to Alaska. I'm trying to go back and make some from a few other trips as well. I'm sharing this in case anyone wants to know if they are nicely made - I couldn't find anyone who had made one and was really on the fence about it until I tried one.

I've made a book before but I like to have stuff other than just the pictures and taking a picture of a brochure, button or ticket stub so I can put it in just isn't the same as having the actual item. And silly as it seems, having so many photo's I want to use makes the photo book daunting to me while scrapbooking that many isn't an issue because I can easily cut and trim. I've already got a book and most everything else I need except the pictures.

I use shutterfly for a lot of things, one of their calendar's is on my wall. I do have an amex offer that I could use for some of the pictures. I'd forgotten about it since I've been focusing on my alaska msr.

 

[mmmears]

I've made a book before but I like to have stuff other than just the pictures and taking a picture of a brochure, button or ticket stub so I can put it in just isn't the same as having the actual item. And silly as it seems, having so many photo's I want to use makes the photo book daunting to me while scrapbooking that many isn't an issue because I can easily cut and trim. I've already got a book and most everything else I need except the pictures.

I use shutterfly for a lot of things, one of their calendar's is on my wall. I do have an amex offer that I could use for some of the pictures. I'd forgotten about it since I've been focusing on my alaska msr.

I understand. I did some scrapbooking for DD's baby/kid albums and it's nice that I could include extra items. It's definitely a trade off. My fave thing about the photo book is that my DM went on that cruise with us and I was able to just hit "buy" and get a copy of the album to give her.

 

[MrPTato]

Staples - went yesterday and they had plenty of the $200 cards. Manager was there and told cashier only one card per household. They can’t be enforcing it cause I went back today and they were wiped out. I found 2 hidden behind some $100s turned around (looking at you @MrPTato). Tried to get both but no go only let me get one. Oh well. On Sunday I got 2 no problem should have grabbed more

HAHA!!

Manager told me on Sunday I could get as many as I needed. He was right there putting the sign up above the gift card rack. I even chatted with the cashier about Disney and she does the same thing with gift cards and promos. Maybe she is in this forum?

I went to my "home" BJs and it appears that they aren't replenishing the $500 variable VGCs. Looks like no one has touched the rack since last time I had it hit. Back tomorrow! I think she still have about 35-40 left.

 

[MrPTato]

I handed her a regular debit card but swiped my gc. I felt awful about it

This has crossed my mind...

 

[castoral]

How to List your cards...
Not that we can actually enforce this or anything...but it would be somewhat helpful if we tried to standardize how we list our cards. If the regulars here embraced this format then lurkers and new folks would probably copy too...

My suggestion is to ALWAYS list ALL cards (biz or personal...any issuer) in chronological order... I also suggest listing the date first (in MM/YY format - add a 0 to the single digit months to make it look even neater) and then the issuer (in all caps) and then the card name - it makes it SUPER easy to read...

If I were asking for advice, here's what my list would look like:

Player1: (currently 6/24 - dropping to 4/24 in February)
02/17 - AMEX Everyday
02/17 - AMEX Starwood Personal
03/17 - AMEX Business Gold Rewards (BIZ)
04/17 - AMEX Ameriprise Gold
05/17 - WELLS FARGO Cash Rewards
06/17 - AMEX Blue Business+ (BIZ)
08/17 - CHASE Disney Rewards Visa
09/17 - CITI Prestige
10/17 - AMEX Starwood Business (BIZ)
10/17 - AMEX Green Business (BIZ)
12/18 - CITI Biz Aadvantage (BIZ)
*Other cards of note that P1 has open: Discover, CF x2, SW Plus, SW Prem
*Cannot apply for another Sapphire bonus until March 2020 due to 48mo. rule

Player2: (currently 2/24)
07/17 - AMEX Starwood Business (BIZ)
09/17 - AMEX Business Gold Rewards (BIZ)
12/17 - AMEX Delta Biz Gold (BIZ)
02/18 - AMEX Blue Business Plus (BIZ)
04/18 - CHASE Ink Preferred (BIZ)
08/18 - CHASE Sapphire Preferred
08/18 - CHASE Sapphire Reserve
11/18 - CHASE Ink Unlimited (BIZ)
*Other cards of note that P2 has open: 2x CF, AMEX BCE, Marriott Prem+, AMEX Hilton, Chase Disney

At any rate, nobody actually needs to listen to me...but you can see how clean and easy that format is to read Also, by listing ALL cards (and not just ones that count in 5/24) nobody will give me advice to open a card that I already have

EDIT: I'll also add that when asking for advice for 1 player, it'd still be nice if you list stats for both players. Giving advice for P2 without knowing what P1 has or has done recently could lead us to provide bad advice. If we know the full picture (i.e. like I listed above) you could probably provide some fantastic advice!

Out of curiosity, is there any way to put this on the first page? Possibly with a lost of abbreviations. Before I posted, I went and looked for such guidelines and checking the first page nor the search function brought anything up. Just a thought. I greatly appreciate all your help so whatever makes things easier, totally down!

 

[wendow]

Out of curiosity, is there any way to put this on the first page? Possibly with a lost of abbreviations. Before I posted, I went and looked for such guidelines and checking the first page nor the search function brought anything up. Just a thought. I greatly appreciate all your help so whatever makes things easier, totally down!

I was thinking the same. As soon as I read his post, I was thinking this should be a sticky!!

 

[MrPTato]

Long Venting Type Post - Travel Related-

So I just booked our flights to Los Angeles for our July Trip. I am so used to booking Disney and what I want and the flights to Orlando and how I want them. Going out of the "bubble" is so hard. I can get to Orlando from Providence direct but not to LA! So many options for layovers and timing. Do I fly out of Boston, Providence, Manchester, or Hartford. do I do a red eye for a return? Do I make 3 stops on the way over? Mix up airlines? Ended up booking Providence to Tampa to LAX. That had the best times and got me to LA the earliest. Can't believe I am traveling down the east coast only to fly to the west coast. Leaving at 6a and landing in LA at 11:45a via AA. Southwest would have got us there at 3p. Paid OOP on Navy Travel card as I can erase the travel. Returning via Southwest. Flight leaving at 7a and landing around 7p. Wonder how time change will affect (or is it effect?) us. I didn't want to use MR points and I wanted to get it all booked today and my account is still in lock down from transferring. I had some discounted gift cards for SW so I used them and also paid OOP with my Navy card to erase those purchases and earn 3%.

I have 3 hotels booked right now as I am not sure where we want to stay yet. We will be using hotel shuttle and Uber/Lyft. All of which are Marriott properties. Hope LA has nice fireworks.

 

[SouthFayetteFan]

Out of curiosity, is there any way to put this on the first page? Possibly with a lost of abbreviations. Before I posted, I went and looked for such guidelines and checking the first page nor the search function brought anything up. Just a thought. I greatly appreciate all your help so whatever makes things easier, totally down!

I was thinking the same. As soon as I read his post, I was thinking this should be a sticky!!

I think our only option for doing some of this would be to move to a new thread.

We discussed starting a new thread last year and even did a survey on it and ultimately decided to stay right here lol. If we did do a new thread we could reserve the first few comments for important info...

 

[amcc]

It seems that when they get a Disney TA discount it seems equivalent to a CM discount. We have a number of good friends that are CMs and they seem to get the same offers she does. My retirement goal is to be a part time or seasonal CM at WDW so I can enjoy those last minute discounts.
.

Over New Years we met a seasonal CM who stays at the campground. The amount of days required to keep CM benefits is surprisingly low. She was telling us about all the seasonal CM that roll into Fort Wilderness in the winter - there are tons! She says they get about 50% off the rates. They work as security, at the Candlelight Processional, Disney Springs. We decided there and then we would do it - someday

 

[wendow]

I think our only option for doing some of this would be to move to a new thread.

We discussed starting a new thread last year and even did a survey on it and ultimately decided to stay right here lol. If we did do a new thread we could reserve the first few comments for important info...

I remember that now...I think we were concerned that this thread would still get posted to and then keep getting bumped back up and we've have two threads to keep up with. We need a mod to lock it. It really would be nice to have a few posts at the beginning for wiki type posts.

 

[SouthFayetteFan]

I remember that now...I think we were concerned that this thread would still get posted to and then keep getting bumped back up and we've have two threads to keep up with. We need a mod to lock it. It really would be nice to have a few posts at the beginning for wiki type posts.

Part of it was a lot of concern over renaming it too. Maybe we should reconsider having a new thread named the same thing and asking a mod to lock the old thread...

 

[wendow]

Over New Years we met a seasonal CM who stays at the campground. The amount of days required to keep CM benefits is surprisingly low. She was telling us about all the seasonal CM that roll into Fort Wilderness in the winter - there are tons! She says they get about 50% off the rates. They work as security, at the Candlelight Processional, Disney Springs. We decided there and then we would do it - someday

That is awesome! It's actually a goal of ours as well. We hope to get moved to FL in the next 3-5 years so our retirement can be spent working at WDW.

I met the cutest old guy at the GF gift shop back in 9/15. He normally worked at ToT taking FP but they had moved him to the store that day. I started talking to him and found out that he had been a fire chief in NYC during 9/11. He told me it was his squad that filmed the training video showing the first tower being hit and he is shown in that video. After losing a lot of friends in that attack, he and his wife decided to retire and move to Orlando. They had been working at Disney in their retirement for about 10 years. She worked for DVC but I wasn't quite sure what she did. Anyways, super nice guy and he told me they absolutely loved working for Disney and getting to do this in their retirement. It was actually 9/11 that day and I brought that up (before he ever told me his background). He started crying (be still, my heart - now I was crying) and said not a single guest had mentioned it being 9/11 and he couldn't believe how quickly people had forgotten. He had called his wife on his lunch break and told her and she told him, 'honey, people are on vacation and they don't want to remember things that bad on vacation'. He thanked me over and over for just recognizing the significance of the day. He is just one of the many older CM's who have made an impression on me over the years. Btw, his name is Jack

Anyways, long story, I'm sorry. He was so neat. I would love to spend my retirement with people who have come from all over to enjoy Disney from a different perspective and share our unique life experiences with each other.