I love credit cards so much! v2.0 (see first page for add'l details)

[speedyfishy]

Those of you who Serve/MS and use YNAB, how exactly do you budget for your MS in YNAB? I'm having a mental block here... For example, I picked up $400 of VGC at Staples over the weekend. Wanted to go to Wal Mart today but didn't get time. Since the goal here is obviously that I'll just be moving that money from the GC to Serve and back to my bank account, I'm trying to figure out how to account for that in YNAB. I don't want to "budget" $400 to a MS category, but obviously want to account for it in my CC spending. Does that make sense? What am I forgetting here/why is this so hard for me lol.

In mint I “hide” it. Idk if YNAB has a similar feature. I have been a little lazy lately and it’s funny seeing my income and spending at like ridiculous numbers. I think last month was $75,000 lol.

CitiAA Biz card arrival time:

- Applied and auto-approved on July 1st.
- Misleading envelope with random info arrived July 5th
- Card arrived today July 8th (impressive with the holiday in there)

And soon the MSR will be met with the HELOC...in like 30 seconds, hahaha!!

(now if Disney and AA Vacations would just put some resorts up for 2020...can't lie, I'm getting a little nervous there now that I'll have 500k+ AA miles)

You could always move your trip up a month and come to my wedding lol

 

[havaneselover]

Hmmm...DS has been asking for AirPods. Thinking the Amazon 20% off AmEx might be a good use for something that never goes on sale. Are they really that great?

My son’s have had to be replaced twice. My daughter says hers are good but she definitely wouldn’t have paid for them (her dad got a pair for free).

 

[SouthFayetteFan]

In mint I “hide” it. Idk if YNAB has a similar feature. I have been a little lazy lately and it’s funny seeing my income and spending at like ridiculous numbers. I think last month was $75,000 lol.



You could always move your trip up a month and come to my wedding lol

My wife would kill me if I told her we were getting on a plane in Nov and Dec...she needs recovery time between these trips!

PLUS I need to escape the sadness that is end of Jan / early Feb. December is still exciting because Christmas is coming!

 

[DisneyMandC]

In mint I “hide” it. Idk if YNAB has a similar feature. I have been a little lazy lately and it’s funny seeing my income and spending at like ridiculous numbers. I think last month was $75,000 lol.

Holy crapola haha. Unfortunately, I'd like to keep YNAB somewhat true to form as far as my spending. I think I just need to play with it once I get to Wal Mart and move the money around.

 

[speedyfishy]

Holy crapola haha. Unfortunately, I'd like to keep YNAB somewhat true to form as far as my spending. I think I just need to play with it once I get to Wal Mart and move the money around.

Another idea is maybe to only MS on certain cards and unlink those cards and serve from your YNAB account. I like having all my cards linked though so I can monitor for fraud.

 

[Haley R]

Full disclosure... I am an Apple Fanboy, BUT I absolutely love my AirPods! They are really great and something I never thought I would appreciate so much. I am 100% in the Apple ecosystem so having wireless earbuds that automatically connect to my Mac, iPad, iPhone, and Apple Watch is great. I have the original pair from December 2016 and they are still working great.

I will also say my reluctant sister finally got a pair and she also loves them. She thought they would be a waste of money and were unnecessary, but after a few days she loved the freedom they allowed her with her devices.

You can actually sometimes find them on sale. I price matched her new ones to Amazon after buying direct from Apple on release day (RIP Citi Price Rewind) and also see them go on sale at Costco from time to time.

I’m hoping to maybe get some on Black Friday. I hate that I can’t charge my phone and listen to music at the same time

 

[DisneyMandC]

Another idea is maybe to only MS on certain cards and unlink those cards and serve from your YNAB account. I like having all my cards linked though so I can monitor for fraud.

I think maybe I could just create an MS category and then include the spending on my CC and just have the cash inflow from Serve into my checking account credit directly as MS. Then at least I wouldn't be "budgeting" for it.

 

[Alexle2007]

DW just got me some for our anniversary in May. She has had a pair since December. I was skeptical of them falling out or getting lost, but neither had happened. They have a decent battery life and re-charge in their case very quickly...I think 3 hours of life for 15 minutes in the case for a quick semi-charge. I think they last around 6 hours on a full charge. They sound great and no restriction with wires, which is nice with backpacks and moving around. I wished they blocked out the noise a little better on planes, but it still worked pretty well. I like that they pair to all my apple products and don't take up the use of the charging port on the iPhone.

Full disclosure... I am an Apple Fanboy, BUT I absolutely love my AirPods! They are really great and something I never thought I would appreciate so much. I am 100% in the Apple ecosystem so having wireless earbuds that automatically connect to my Mac, iPad, iPhone, and Apple Watch is great. I have the original pair from December 2016 and they are still working great.

I will also say my reluctant sister finally got a pair and she also loves them. She thought they would be a waste of money and were unnecessary, but after a few days she loved the freedom they allowed her with her devices.

You can actually sometimes find them on sale. I price matched her new ones to Amazon after buying direct from Apple on release day (RIP Citi Price Rewind) and also see them go on sale at Costco from time to time.

Thanks! Amazon actually has them on sale for $144.99 so with the 20% off that makes them a decent price. Looks like DS will be getting the AirPods he has been asking for.

We are an Apple Fanfamily also.

 

[amalone1013]

Those of you who Serve/MS and use YNAB, how exactly do you budget for your MS in YNAB? I'm having a mental block here... For example, I picked up $400 of VGC at Staples over the weekend. Wanted to go to Wal Mart today but didn't get time. Since the goal here is obviously that I'll just be moving that money from the GC to Serve and back to my bank account, I'm trying to figure out how to account for that in YNAB. I don't want to "budget" $400 to a MS category, but obviously want to account for it in my CC spending. Does that make sense? What am I forgetting here/why is this so hard for me lol.

Will it mostly be balanced out in the same month? I would just create a category line for it, not budget anything to it... So for now it is -$400 in that category but then once you pull the money rom Serve back to your bank, that incoming $400 is budgeted toward it and it's back to $0. That's a bit like how I treat DHs expense check, except he gets paid back the following month so I have to move $$ from slush in to make YNAB happy, then when he is reimbursed the next month and his expense line has $$ in it I move that back to slush.

 

[orangecuse]

@Alexle2007 obviously not the brand name factor but I got my husband these and he loves them. They work great and when he mows he can still hear his podcasts perfectly. They were recommended by a few blogs. $50 so almost perfect if you use the $30 off $60 instead of the 20% deal!

https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B07MCGZK3B?psc=1&ref=ppx_pop_mob_b_asin_title

 

[Etonduf]

Those of you who Serve/MS and use YNAB, how exactly do you budget for your MS in YNAB? I'm having a mental block here... For example, I picked up $400 of VGC at Staples over the weekend. Wanted to go to Wal Mart today but didn't get time. Since the goal here is obviously that I'll just be moving that money from the GC to Serve and back to my bank account, I'm trying to figure out how to account for that in YNAB. I don't want to "budget" $400 to a MS category, but obviously want to account for it in my CC spending. Does that make sense? What am I forgetting here/why is this so hard for me lol.

I'm new to MS but not YNAB. I have a "Bonus" category that I use for all of my bank account bonuses and any other spending/earning related to my credit card and bank shenanigans. This is simply because I want to "feel" and see the fruit of those efforts in a more tangible way. I also use it to cover any expenses related to those shenanigans, like credit card annual fees. So I count VGC and MCGC purchases as "Bonus" expenses, and when I move them to Serve and eventually back to my checking account, it goes into "Bonus. If the deal was a money maker, my Bonus balance is a little higher; if not, it's a little lower.

In the past, I've also just assigned that kind of spending to "reimbursable expenses" and then pay it back from that.

If you do a lot of Serve (or similar) activity, you could just set that up as an account and save yourself a lot of the hoops to jump through, and probably preserve the accuracy of your reports a little better.

 

[iujen94]

I’m hoping to maybe get some on Black Friday. I hate that I can’t charge my phone and listen to music at the same time

That drove me nuts too! This little gadget is great -
Belkin 3.5mm Audio + Charge Rockstar, iPhone Aux Adapter/iPhone Charging Adapter for iPhone XS, XS Max, XR, 8/8 Plus and more https://www.amazon.com/dp/B074WDWVX1/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_oy9iDb7XZBQWD

 

[striker1064]

Those of you who Serve/MS and use YNAB, how exactly do you budget for your MS in YNAB? I'm having a mental block here... For example, I picked up $400 of VGC at Staples over the weekend. Wanted to go to Wal Mart today but didn't get time. Since the goal here is obviously that I'll just be moving that money from the GC to Serve and back to my bank account, I'm trying to figure out how to account for that in YNAB. I don't want to "budget" $400 to a MS category, but obviously want to account for it in my CC spending. Does that make sense? What am I forgetting here/why is this so hard for me lol.

I think maybe I could just create an MS category and then include the spending on my CC and just have the cash inflow from Serve into my checking account credit directly as MS. Then at least I wouldn't be "budgeting" for it.

That's what I was thinking I would do as well - create an MS category (or really whatever you want to name it) and put the cost of the GC there. The next transaction would be transferring the money from Serve to my bank, which would then go in that same MS category as incoming funding - essentially zeroing out the fund. Or at least, washing out the amount of the GC and leaving only the fees. And you could budget the amount of the fees in the Budget column so it's covered.

 

[Alexle2007]

@Alexle2007 obviously not the brand name factor but I got my husband these and he loves them. They work great and when he mows he can still hear his podcasts perfectly. They were recommended by a few blogs. $50 so almost perfect if you use the $30 off $60 instead of the 20% deal!

https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B07MCGZK3B?psc=1&ref=ppx_pop_mob_b_asin_title

Thanks! I think it’s a middle school “thing.”

 

[PolyRob]

Thanks! Amazon actually has them on sale for $144.99 so with the 20% off that makes them a decent price. Looks like DS will be getting the AirPods he has been asking for.

We are an Apple Fanfamily also.

So glad you decided to get them! I went to check if my Amazon 20% offer would work today. I found out that it does AND that my 100,000 MRs points already posted WOOOO!

 

[palhockeymomof2]

Just wanted to run my future credit card plans by you experts, to make sure I don't do anything totally boneheaded.

I got the Chase SW Plus personal card in 11/2017. I totally messed up with my MS, such that my bonus points hit my account 12/28/17.

Then I got the Chase SW Premier personal card in 12/2018. Bonus points hit 1/12/18.

Then I got the Chase business SW card in 1/2018. Bonus points hit 2/19/18.

I cancelled each of those SW cards right after getting the anniversary points, and Chase refunded the annual fees.

Then I ventured into the world of Chase, and got my first CIP on 2/13/19.

I recently learned about self-referring, and got approved for my second CIP today (7/8/19).

Our SW companion pass expires at the end of this year, and I really want to get it again, so my plan is to apply for a personal SW card - I'm leaning towards the Plus since it's the cheapest and they all currently offer the same bonus (40k). My plan is to apply for that on 12/29/19, which would be two years and one day after I got the last Plus bonus.

Then I'm planning to apply for one of the SW business cards (depending on which has the better bonus). I'm planning to apply for that on 2/20/20, two years and one day after I got the last business card bonus.

Does that all look and sound ok? Anything obvious I'm overlooking?

Also, I really hate paying annual fees after the first year. Is there anything wrong with my cancelling my first CIP before 2/13/20, and my second CIP before 7/8/20? Might I irritate Chase if I cancel my first CIP just before applying for the SW business card, such that I should suck it up and pay the annual fee on that first CIP, and then cancel after (hopefully) getting approved for the SW business card?

Thank you SO much to everyone for all of your expertise!

Hi...I also love SW and our CP ....Your plan for the SW Plus looks good...

for the business card you could apply for the new Performance card in late 2019 if you wanted to since it’s a card you have never had before. If you are going to apply for the SW business Premier card you would have to wait until 2/20/20

Wait to cancel the CIPs until they have been open a year

 

[DisneyMandC]

Will it mostly be balanced out in the same month? I would just create a category line for it, not budget anything to it... So for now it is -$400 in that category but then once you pull the money rom Serve back to your bank, that incoming $400 is budgeted toward it and it's back to $0. That's a bit like how I treat DHs expense check, except he gets paid back the following month so I have to move $$ from slush in to make YNAB happy, then when he is reimbursed the next month and his expense line has $$ in it I move that back to slush.

I'm new to MS but not YNAB. I have a "Bonus" category that I use for all of my bank account bonuses and any other spending/earning related to my credit card and bank shenanigans. This is simply because I want to "feel" and see the fruit of those efforts in a more tangible way. I also use it to cover any expenses related to those shenanigans, like credit card annual fees. So I count VGC and MCGC purchases as "Bonus" expenses, and when I move them to Serve and eventually back to my checking account, it goes into "Bonus. If the deal was a money maker, my Bonus balance is a little higher; if not, it's a little lower.

In the past, I've also just assigned that kind of spending to "reimbursable expenses" and then pay it back from that.

If you do a lot of Serve (or similar) activity, you could just set that up as an account and save yourself a lot of the hoops to jump through, and probably preserve the accuracy of your reports a little better.

That's what I was thinking I would do as well - create an MS category (or really whatever you want to name it) and put the cost of the GC there. The next transaction would be transferring the money from Serve to my bank, which would then go in that same MS category as incoming funding - essentially zeroing out the fund. Or at least, washing out the amount of the GC and leaving only the fees. And you could budget the amount of the fees in the Budget column so it's covered.

Thanks everyone!! Yeah, I think I'm going to just taking that transferred money from Serve and do the method of essentially zeroing out the category. No fees on this first round so it'll just be a net zero.

 

[PolyRob]

Thanks! Amazon actually has them on sale for $144.99 so with the 20% off that makes them a decent price. Looks like DS will be getting the AirPods he has been asking for.

We are an Apple Fanfamily also.

I think I may actually upgrade and get a new pair so I can use the old ones with my work iPhone. I have the original from release day and may even go for the wireless charging case version. I really should be saving, but oh well!

 

[orangecuse]

@PolyRob is it just there or did you use a special link? Havent gotten mine to pick it up yet (linked the card a few days ago) but did get the $30/$60.

 

[Alexle2007]

So glad you decided to get them! I went to check if my Amazon 20% offer would work today. I found out that it does AND that my 100,000 MRs points already posted WOOOO!

View attachment 415622

Yeah, it took me deleting and re-connecting to get mine and DH’s to show up. Now to spend the other $100.