I love credit cards so much! v3.0 (see first page for add'l details)

[ski_mom]

DH and I are looking at going to the Keys for a late winter/early spring getaway. The hotels are HIGH! We have about 75,000 points left from both of us getting Hyatt cards in June. It looks like they have 3 properties in Key West and we can only use points at one of them - 25,000 points per night.

We aren't sure yet how many nights we will be staying in Key West vs moving around a bit. We'll be flying into FLL and driving down. Most likely we'll be gone 8-9 nights, so can split our location a bit although typically we don't like packing and unpacking more than we have to.

Just wondered if anyone had ideas / advice on getting another hotel card for that area. Other than the Hyatt cards, we've never had any other hotels cards. I just got the AmEx Plat for 125,000 and DH got a mailer with the same offer, so he could also apply for that and we'll have lots of MR, but I'm really green at using those points, so not sure if they'd be any use in the keys or not.

Our Stats -
DH:
06/20 - Chase Hyatt
02/20 - CIP
06/19 - Arrival+
03/19 - Chase Biz
Also currently holds the CSR (has had since 10/16, so eligible to cancel and reapply for new bonus)

Me:
11/20 - AmEx Plat
06/20 - Chase Hyatt
01/20 - SW Priority (Personal)
10/19 - SW Performance (Biz)
06/19 - Arrival +
05/19 - CIU
01/19 - CIP
I got the CSR 01/17 and the CSP 03/17, so not eligible for new bonus until at least 04/21

 

[Alexle2007]

DH and I are looking at going to the Keys for a late winter/early spring getaway. The hotels are HIGH! We have about 75,000 points left from both of us getting Hyatt cards in June. It looks like they have 3 properties in Key West and we can only use points at one of them - 25,000 points per night.

We aren't sure yet how many nights we will be staying in Key West vs moving around a bit. We'll be flying into FLL and driving down. Most likely we'll be gone 8-9 nights, so can split our location a bit although typically we don't like packing and unpacking more than we have to.

Just wondered if anyone had ideas / advice on getting another hotel card for that area. Other than the Hyatt cards, we've never had any other hotels cards. I just got the AmEx Plat for 125,000 and DH got a mailer with the same offer, so he could also apply for that and we'll have lots of MR, but I'm really green at using those points, so not sure if they'd be any use in the keys or not.

Our Stats -
DH:
06/20 - Chase Hyatt
02/20 - CIP
06/19 - Arrival+
03/19 - Chase Biz
Also currently holds the CSR (has had since 10/16, so eligible to cancel and reapply for new bonus)

Me:
11/20 - AmEx Plat
06/20 - Chase Hyatt
01/20 - SW Priority (Personal)
10/19 - SW Performance (Biz)
06/19 - Arrival +
05/19 - CIU
01/19 - CIP
I got the CSR 01/17 and the CSP 03/17, so not eligible for new bonus until at least 04/21

The Keys are on our list for Spring Break in March and I have 3 nights at the Hyatt Centric in Key West for 75k and 5 nights at Hilton’s Curio Collection Baker’s Cay in Key Largo for 142k (taking advantage of the 5th night free.) I have flights to Miami since SW just started flying there.

It looks like DH has some room and could get the Hilton Aspire and that might give you enough points for 5 nights.

 

[Judique]

UGH. I drove to Staples early this morning to try and grab 3 VGC so I could be done w/ my Hilton FNC spend. NOPE! Both in my area are out. Grrrrrr.

My mom has decided to buy me a new fridge for Xmas. She's letting me do the spend since I've got the $5k to meet on my Bonvoy. My current fridge still works but looks REALLY rough. The freezer door handle broke off, and under the water dispenser is rusted. I have to have a side by side because of my crappy kitchen design. Any other style opens up into my stove (I use my Kitchen when I teach kitchen design in Arch...like DO NOT DO THIS!). Anyways, all my other appliances are white. And I don't foresee getting new ones, or needing new ones soon. Everywhere I look white side by side are sold out, unavailable and unable to even order. I'm not looking to go stainless but now I'm wondering if I have to. And just deal with the mismatched appliances?

WWYD? My stove is gas and white and working just fine. We got it when we got the fridge (16 years ago). The dishwasher is maybe 5 years old. Also white.

I did find a white refrigerator somewhere when I was buying back in July/August but it was more expensive to buy the white color and it wasn't the model I wanted. I now have a white dishwasher and stove both of which work fine for the moment, but I expect the dishwasher to crap out fairly soon as it's close to 12. The stove is okay but I might change both. They are not a priority right now, but I've been shopping a bit for each. I also have a vented to the outside stove hood/fan and that's in stainless, so I'm half and half. My kitchen was last remodeled about 12 years ago and I'm ready for another update, not a complete remodel. Microwave is also stainless.

 

[Judique]

Well I guess all I needed to do was complain. I finally found a white fridge! I called my mom to ask her if I should do white or stainless. She has stainless. She agreed white is the way to go in my kitchen. So I'm happy I found a white one! I figure this fridge SHOULD be the one I sell with the house. I don't have plans to necessarily move anytime soon, but once my son graduates in 6 years, I might decide to downsize. I also "get" my mom's house which is a mile away when she dies. She has stage 4 cancer, but is kicking butt! I've been saying it took 20 years to come back, so we've got 20 more years with her. But I mean always in the back of my head is that I could be moving into her house sooner than later. She planned on giving me her house way before she got cancer again. And I always told her that was nice, but I didn't plan on moving there until I'm like 70, LOL.

So I do have to make decisions with the idea that I could be selling my house at any given moment, or as early as 6 years. So now I don't have to worry about buying SS stove/dishwasher that I don't need just to match, LOL.

The white fridge is sort of a unicorn now, but may come back in style. Before I'd buy a white appliance, I'd check availability for white stoves, white dishwasher, etc. I didn't do it myself after I saw how few choices there were in fridges.

Also, in my area, for selling, the kitchen has to look decent. People want move in ready and anything 'starter' is usually gutted and redone.

 

[hsmamato2]

It could be leftover from before when the RAF bonus was paid as cashback rather than a statement credit that it is now. When it was cashback it was doubled as part of the first year bonus. Couple years back Discover wised up and changed it to the statement credit instead. I don't know what write up you are looking at but you could ping DoC and ask for an update if it seems outdated.

AH that was it.... I read this one -didn't notice the date thanks y'all
Discover IT $75 Public Signup Bonus
December 30, 2016

 

[SouthFayetteFan]

I currently hold a Southwest card which I've had for 4-5 years. I've been planning on canceling it and reapplying after my AF hits. With the new offer that is out, I see it goes through Feb 8. My AF (and presumably my 3,000) points posted Feb 1 last year. Would that give me enough time to cancel and reapply? Or should I just cancel early, forgoing the anniversary points in an effort to get the SUB before it goes away?

If it were me, I would not want to cut it this close. There has been inconsistent DPs recently of (potentially) having to wait 30 days before applying for any SW personal card - even if applying for a different card than you cancelled. The new bonus is so lucrative, I wouldn't risk losing hundreds (thousands if doing a MDD) for the gain of < $50 in annual bonus points personally.

EDIT: Do you know your actual card anniversary date? (This would be the day you originally were approved 4-5 years ago)... There is possibly a way to win this by manipulating your statement date but things would have to sync up perfectly for you in a small window.

 

[becauseimnew]

Well since I struck out on VGC today, I decided to buy the $500 in Target gift cards on my Hilton Surpass. I bought them in $25 and $50 increments. My hope is the smaller amounts, I won't lose them. The kids can use them as gifts for friends too, LOL. But lets get real, I can easily spend $500 at Target, LOL. Now less than $100 to get on that Hilton card.

I'm kinda glad right now I didn't get the Plat Amex. I'm struggling on this $5k spend for the Bonvoy. I think I was at $1900. So I just added $1k with the fridge. So I have to spend another $2000k before the end of Jan. UGH. I guess $5k in 3mos is a bit of a stretch for me w/o doing some MS.

I am $100 short on the Bonvoy and it's been like that for a couple of weeks, but all of our spending has been either been going on my new Platinum to get the 10X or restaurant credit, gas, groceries.. Oh yeah, and lots of Amazon but all that is going on my Hyatt. I need to finish the Bonvoy spend now, before my statement closes next week.

 

[LilSweetPeaPhoto]

It's not too late ... the Amex Platinum gives you 6 months to meet the $5k MSR

I got the pop up on the Amex. I think it has to be because I had just closed a card. But we'll see. Once this spend is closer to being met, maybe I'll try Amex again if the offer is still out there.

The white fridge is sort of a unicorn now, but may come back in style. Before I'd buy a white appliance, I'd check availability for white stoves, white dishwasher, etc. I didn't do it myself after I saw how few choices there were in fridges.

Also, in my area, for selling, the kitchen has to look decent. People want move in ready and anything 'starter' is usually gutted and redone.

My house was built in 1979. We finally ditched the avocado green toilets and sink, and golden yellow that was in my kids bath. My countertops are formica (but look like a marble). My cabinets are the 70's builder dark "wood" that I painted over w/ grey milk paint. In other words, my kitchen needs a complete gut anyways. A house sold this summer (same floorplan) for $413k (we appraised 3 years ago at $299k). They gutted the kitchen/dining room and probably dropped $50k in a new kitchen. It's amazing! I saved photos to give me an idea if I ever did something. So I doubt stainless vs white will be the deal breaker in this house, LOL. Because anyone who decides to tackle my kitchen, likely would be changing the complete layout (like that house did) and putting in different things anyways. Like they went to an island cooktop and wall ovens vs stove. And again, I have to have a side by side, which I think most people like the french style now. So I'm getting what works for me, LOL.

 

[becauseimnew]

well, I guess I just figured out how I'm going to spend that last little bit of Bonvoy MSR. The dang plumbers... ugh.... water all over our living room, shower backed up. I wanted to replace the ugly red bamboo floors but not yet. Hopefully they don't get damaged we were able to clean it up pretty quick but I have no idea if there is going to be permanent damage.

 

[afan]

I got the pop up on the Amex. I think it has to be because I had just closed a card. But we'll see. Once this spend is closer to being met, maybe I'll try Amex again if the offer is still out there.


My house was built in 1979. We finally ditched the avocado green toilets and sink, and golden yellow that was in my kids bath. My countertops are formica (but look like a marble). My cabinets are the 70's builder dark "wood" that I painted over w/ grey milk paint. In other words, my kitchen needs a complete gut anyways. A house sold this summer (same floorplan) for $413k (we appraised 3 years ago at $299k). They gutted the kitchen/dining room and probably dropped $50k in a new kitchen. It's amazing! I saved photos to give me an idea if I ever did something. So I doubt stainless vs white will be the deal breaker in this house, LOL. Because anyone who decides to tackle my kitchen, likely would be changing the complete layout (like that house did) and putting in different things anyways. Like they went to an island cooktop and wall ovens vs stove. And again, I have to have a side by side, which I think most people like the french style now. So I'm getting what works for me, LOL.

I get doing things that buyers will like but it's your house and you live there so do what you want. Not everyone wants move in ready. Our detached 3 car garage will sell this place and it won't matter what it looks like in the house. Parents have gotten a handful of letters from people over the yeara that want to buy simply from seeing the garage and not the inside of it or the house.

 

[Crazed4DisneyinSC]

DH and I are looking at going to the Keys for a late winter/early spring getaway. The hotels are HIGH! We have about 75,000 points left from both of us getting Hyatt cards in June. It looks like they have 3 properties in Key West and we can only use points at one of them - 25,000 points per night.

We aren't sure yet how many nights we will be staying in Key West vs moving around a bit. We'll be flying into FLL and driving down. Most likely we'll be gone 8-9 nights, so can split our location a bit although typically we don't like packing and unpacking more than we have to.

Just wondered if anyone had ideas / advice on getting another hotel card for that area. Other than the Hyatt cards, we've never had any other hotels cards. I just got the AmEx Plat for 125,000 and DH got a mailer with the same offer, so he could also apply for that and we'll have lots of MR, but I'm really green at using those points, so not sure if they'd be any use in the keys or not.

Our Stats -
DH:
06/20 - Chase Hyatt
02/20 - CIP
06/19 - Arrival+
03/19 - Chase Biz
Also currently holds the CSR (has had since 10/16, so eligible to cancel and reapply for new bonus)

Me:
11/20 - AmEx Plat
06/20 - Chase Hyatt
01/20 - SW Priority (Personal)
10/19 - SW Performance (Biz)
06/19 - Arrival +
05/19 - CIU
01/19 - CIP
I got the CSR 01/17 and the CSP 03/17, so not eligible for new bonus until at least 04/21

If you're not set on staying in Key West specifically, you may want to look at IHG card. We stayed in a Holiday Inn on Marathon that we loved. They had a restaurant/tiki bar right next door, pool and it was right on the water so it had more of a "resort" type feel. With a new signup bonus on the IHG Premier or free card, you could probably stay several nights. I think it was 15,000-20,000 pts a night for us, and we stayed 4 nights.

 

[LilSweetPeaPhoto]

I get doing things that buyers will like but it's your house and you live there so do what you want. Not everyone wants move in ready. Our detached 3 car garage will sell this place and it won't matter what it looks like in the house. Parents have gotten a handful of letters from people over the yeara that want to buy simply from seeing the garage and not the inside of it or the house.

I try to do things with both in mind. Knowing I'm not going to be here forever, I do things that I like that won't kill resale. But honestly there isn't much I think I would do that would fall into that category, LOL. Like the house that sold this summer, had lots up newer finishes and lots of shiplap. Don't get me wrong, I like that style right now....but the key is right now. My BF and I were talking about this with his new place. You almost have to keep up on updating your house as trends change. Like my mom's house is beautiful right now (rebuilt 2 years ago after a fire). But when I get it in 20 years, it'll be outdated, LOL. Who has the time, energy and money to stay on top of every style/trend.

Heck, mid-century modern is back in. I'm guessing if I had waited long enough, my green toilet and burnt orange sink would have become cool again, LOL

 

[afan]

I try to do things with both in mind. Knowing I'm not going to be here forever, I do things that I like that won't kill resale. But honestly there isn't much I think I would do that would fall into that category, LOL. Like the house that sold this summer, had lots up newer finishes and lots of shiplap. Don't get me wrong, I like that style right now....but the key is right now. My BF and I were talking about this with his new place. You almost have to keep up on updating your house as trends change. Like my mom's house is beautiful right now (rebuilt 2 years ago after a fire). But when I get it in 20 years, it'll be outdated, LOL. Who has the time, energy and money to stay on top of every style/trend.

Heck, mid-century modern is back in. I'm guessing if I had waited long enough, my green toilet and burnt orange sink would have become cool again, LOL

And this is why I wouldn't want move in ready but good enough. Most trends I'm not a fan of. I don't want shiplap and copper pulls and fixtures. There is still a way to keep it relevant and classic without totally following the trends. But also do what you like which for me also wouldn't include subway tile, herringbone patterns or wallpaper accent walls. I've wanted grey or navy cabinets for a long time in the right kitchen before it became the huge thing to do. But I'm also happy with white and a dark counter. So many houses on house hunter are awful to me.

 

[Judique]

I got the pop up on the Amex. I think it has to be because I had just closed a card. But we'll see. Once this spend is closer to being met, maybe I'll try Amex again if the offer is still out there.


My house was built in 1979. We finally ditched the avocado green toilets and sink, and golden yellow that was in my kids bath. My countertops are formica (but look like a marble). My cabinets are the 70's builder dark "wood" that I painted over w/ grey milk paint. In other words, my kitchen needs a complete gut anyways. A house sold this summer (same floorplan) for $413k (we appraised 3 years ago at $299k). They gutted the kitchen/dining room and probably dropped $50k in a new kitchen. It's amazing! I saved photos to give me an idea if I ever did something. So I doubt stainless vs white will be the deal breaker in this house, LOL. Because anyone who decides to tackle my kitchen, likely would be changing the complete layout (like that house did) and putting in different things anyways. Like they went to an island cooktop and wall ovens vs stove. And again, I have to have a side by side, which I think most people like the french style now. So I'm getting what works for me, LOL.

Makes sense. I had side by side - it was popular when I bought it, but I'm really enjoying the newer style, especially the Flex drawer and door in door.

 

[afan]

My tenant finally moved out and the management company might have an investor that wants to buy my house. He's buying a lot of stuff. Keep your fingers crossed that it can work out. As much as the stress when it's going bad makes me want to get rid of it, I also want to get a fair price and not lose money. It's a positive cash flow but with rates low hopefully it would be for this person too.

 

[havaneselover]

Ordered DD airpod pros from Costco for Christmas. My local post office got them 12/3. Then they were sent to a post office 60 miles north 12/5. Supposed to be delivered today but they weren't. I hate USPS.

 

[Judique]

Just in case anyone here is interested, the Children's Inn at National Institutes of Health is holding an online auction since they can't do their traditional fundraiser.

The item available: The opening day ball thrown by Dr. Fauci for the 2020 opening pitch of the Nationals baseball team. I was thinking it might take care of a few MSR's.

https://one.bidpal.net/faucibaseball/browse/featured(details:item/2)

 

[jenmsmith]

I try to do things with both in mind. Knowing I'm not going to be here forever, I do things that I like that won't kill resale. But honestly there isn't much I think I would do that would fall into that category, LOL. Like the house that sold this summer, had lots up newer finishes and lots of shiplap. Don't get me wrong, I like that style right now....but the key is right now. My BF and I were talking about this with his new place. You almost have to keep up on updating your house as trends change. Like my mom's house is beautiful right now (rebuilt 2 years ago after a fire). But when I get it in 20 years, it'll be outdated, LOL. Who has the time, energy and money to stay on top of every style/trend.

Heck, mid-century modern is back in. I'm guessing if I had waited long enough, my green toilet and burnt orange sink would have become cool again, LOL

We moved into our newly built house three days after Sept. 11, 2001. So by now our kitchen looks like most people's "before" pictures in a renovation. But ours is still functional, we like it, and who knows what the trend will be when we sell/move. Maybe those wood cabinets and white appliances will be back in style.

 

[Crazed4DisneyinSC]

Ordered DD airpod pros from Costco for Christmas. My local post office got them 12/3. Then they were sent to a post office 60 miles north 12/5. Supposed to be delivered today but they weren't. I hate USPS.

Yes, for the past month we've been having issues with USPS like this. Several times a package came to my local post office, then got sent to a post office hub in another state! Before taking several days to come back to our same local post office and get delivered. What is up with USPS.... seems like they are making more work for themselves! I know they are very busy this time of year, but the routing just seems absurd.

ETA: I ordered stamps online from USPS for the first time ever last month. Ordered them on 11/9. Still haven't arrived. 4 weeks later. Got a notification that they were showing up today. Yeah right. Checked tracking again, and I guess they are lost somewhere because it doesn't even say where they are. Just says "in transit, will be delayed". -_-

 

[ctinct]

I love informed mail, though. I can see all the mail I don’t get.