topic Re: A pack of gum .... in Credit Cards

A pack of gum ....

Anonymous — Thu, 30 Jun 2011 18:01:26 GMT

More often than not, the phrase "a pack of gum" comes up on myfico. I wonder why that is. Haha! Do Americans love gum so much? Since I am an immigrant from Europe, I do not fancy gum so much. I love comestibles. Things that you can finally swallow after you chewed them thoroughly.

What else could you buy to keep your credit card active other than the ubiquitous pack of gum?

My suggestion: a bar of chocolate

Any other no-gum infinitesimally small purchase amount credit card chargers? What's your chewing gum surrogate? Or am upsetting the apple cart by vituperating those gum buyers?

Re: A pack of gum ....

DI — Thu, 30 Jun 2011 18:19:39 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
More often than not, the phrase "a pack of gum" comes up on myfico. I wonder why that is. Haha! Do Americans love gum so much? Since I am an immigrant from Europe, I do not fancy gum so much. I love comestibles. Things that you can finally swallow after you chewed them thoroughly.

What else could you buy to keep your credit card active other than the ubiquitous pack of gum?

My suggestion: a bar of chocolate

Any other no-gum infinitesimally small purchase amount credit card chargers? What's your chewing gum surrogate? Or am upsetting the apple cart by vituperating those gum buyers?

A pack of gum and a bar of chocolate are both great. Buying both just to keep your credit card active not only would do just that, but it'd keep you in good health too.

Sugar free gum contains XYLITOL. It helps cleans and protect your enamels. Eating dark chocolate, which naturally contains Flavonoids(antioxidant) , helps fights free radicals.

Re: A pack of gum ....

andre181 — Thu, 30 Jun 2011 18:22:19 GMT

I am a big gum chewer, so I buy like 3 or 4 packs at a time while doing my normal grocery shopping

But some of the things I do to keep my CC's active are:

Monthly newspaper subscription $8/month

Netflix subscription ~$11/month

Hulu+ subscription ~$8/month

I also very frequently stop at McDonalds to get a Powerade for $1.00

Re: A pack of gum ....

p- — Thu, 30 Jun 2011 18:30:35 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
More often than not, the phrase "a pack of gum" comes up on myfico. I wonder why that is. Haha! Do Americans love gum so much? Since I am an immigrant from Europe, I do not fancy gum so much. I love comestibles. Things that you can finally swallow after you chewed them thoroughly.

What else could you buy to keep your credit card active other than the ubiquitous pack of gum?

My suggestion: a bar of chocolate

Any other no-gum infinitesimally small purchase amount credit card chargers? What's your chewing gum surrogate? Or am upsetting the apple cart by vituperating those gum buyers?

I have a few bills that auto-charge a card; netflix, gym membership, etc. I have each one use a different credit card, then I pay it off right away. That way my cards all have activity on them each month even if they are at the back of the wallet. Then, I use the best rewards card for all daily spending with immediate payoff.

The hard one for me is geting activity on retail cards. My wife has Sears and Penny's; she uses the Penny's for school clothes for the kids, and gets some riddiculous compound discounts, but Sears rarely gets dusted off. I wish they sold gum and chocolate at the register...

Re: A pack of gum ....

Anonymous — Thu, 30 Jun 2011 21:39:21 GMT

I am chewing gum right now; it is good for the teeth and the right variety opens up sinuses, too. Gum is not that inexpensive, though, and I'm not going to pay more than 50 cents for a pack of 10 pieces, and what is it for a large pack? Over $1? I buy a box of at least ten packs from Sam's Club to save money by buying in bulk. We go through it, too, so it really is a money-saver.

I normally buy large bars of chocolate, too, and I think they're $1 or $2 from Walmart. I mean, the BIG bars (Symphony with toffee and almonds.) That would be my small-purchase-of-choice.

Truthfully, I feel silly making one tiny purchase with a credit card. I've done it, but I feel weird about it. I guess it's less weird than it used to be. Using cash is considered the weird option now, probably.

Re: A pack of gum ....

Anonymous — Thu, 30 Jun 2011 21:47:00 GMT

socks on the retail cards

It's how I keep Dillard's happy when there's not a wedding on the calendar.

And they do have great socks.

Re: A pack of gum ....

haulingthescoreup — Thu, 30 Jun 2011 21:51:10 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
socks on the retail cards

It's how I keep Dillard's happy when there's not a wedding on the calendar.
And they do have great socks.

chocolate... socks... chocolate... socks...

hmmm

Re: A pack of gum ....

Hopelives2 — Thu, 30 Jun 2011 21:58:08 GMT

@haulingthescoreup wrote:
chocolate... socks... chocolate... socks...

hmmm

Please tell me not at the same time...

Re: A pack of gum ....

visorboy1974 — Thu, 30 Jun 2011 22:02:10 GMT

Netflix

newspaper subscription

cell phone bill

credit monitoring service

Re: A pack of gum ....

DI — Thu, 30 Jun 2011 22:07:44 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
I am chewing gum right now; it is good for the teeth and the right variety opens up sinuses, too. Gum is not that inexpensive, though, and I'm not going to pay more than 50 cents for a pack of 10 pieces, and what is it for a large pack? Over $1? I buy a box of at least ten packs from Sam's Club to save money by buying in bulk. We go through it, too, so it really is a money-saver.

I normally buy large bars of chocolate, too, and I think they're $1 or $2 from Walmart. I mean, the BIG bars (Symphony with toffee and almonds.) That would be my small-purchase-of-choice.

Truthfully, I feel silly making one tiny purchase with a credit card. I've done it, but I feel weird about it. I guess it's less weird than it used to be. Using cash is considered the weird option now, probably.

I buy Trident SuperPack sugar free gum. It cost about $2.00+ For chocolate, I only buy Hershey Dark Chocolate. I eat no other sweets when planning to eat the chocolate. Chocolate is high in fats, but the Flavanoids are worth it. Milk chocolate and etc. are the bad chocolates that one shouldn't consume too often.

Re: A pack of gum ....

Anonymous — Thu, 30 Jun 2011 22:25:13 GMT

I've got you beat at about $1.65 for the same amount of gum. Assuming the sticks or pieces are the same size, that is.

I get Extra Winterfresh gum at Sam's Club. 15 sticks per pack, 10 packs in a box. That's 150 sticks of gum. $6.88. That comes out to about 4.5 cents per stick.

I believe your Trident gum is 36 pieces per super-pack. At $2.00, that's 5.5 cents per stick.

In other words, you're spending $5.50 for 100 pieces of gum and I'm spending $4.50!

I'm only doing all this because you lectured me about dark and milk chocolate. I don't like dark chocolate, and I'll eat milk chocolate (with almonds and toffee) by the truckload, thank you.

Re: A pack of gum ....

DI — Thu, 30 Jun 2011 22:31:37 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
I've got you beat at about $1.65 for the same amount of gum. Assuming the sticks or pieces are the same size, that is.

I get Extra Winterfresh gum at Sam's Club. 15 sticks per pack, 10 packs in a box. That's 150 sticks of gum. $6.88. That comes out to about 4.5 cents per stick.

I believe your Trident gum is 36 pieces per super-pack. At $2.00, that's 5.5 cents per stick. Yes

In other words, you're spending $5.50 for 100 pieces of gum and I'm spending $4.50!

I'm only doing all this because you lectured me about dark and milk chocolate. I don't like dark chocolate, and I'll eat milk chocolate (with almonds and toffee) by the truckload, thank you.

LOL. Publix overprice everything. I hardly go to Walmart.

Re: A pack of gum ....

Anonymous — Thu, 30 Jun 2011 22:57:18 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
More often than not, the phrase "a pack of gum" comes up on myfico. I wonder why that is. Haha! Do Americans love gum so much? Since I am an immigrant from Europe, I do not fancy gum so much. I love comestibles. Things that you can finally swallow after you chewed them thoroughly.

What else could you buy to keep your credit card active other than the ubiquitous pack of gum?

My suggestion: a bar of chocolate

Any other no-gum infinitesimally small purchase amount credit card chargers? What's your chewing gum surrogate? Or am upsetting the apple cart by vituperating those gum buyers?

Me too ~

Me ... I rents a DVD from RedBox with it ... $1/night + tax ... and sometimes they give you offer like rent 1 and get second for 50 cents = $1.68 with tax for two movies. I just rented 「Mao's Last Dancer」and「Just Go With It」 Other than that ... will be $1 menu from fast food restaurant when you need a little snack ... I got a soft cream last time

Re: A pack of gum ....

Anonymous — Thu, 30 Jun 2011 23:00:31 GMT

@haulingthescoreup wrote:
@Anonymous wrote:
socks on the retail cards

It's how I keep Dillard's happy when there's not a wedding on the calendar.
And they do have great socks.

chocolate... socks... chocolate... socks...

hmmm

Thanks hauling ... I needed that laugh !!

Re: A pack of gum ....

tengtengvn — Thu, 30 Jun 2011 23:15:09 GMT

ebay purchases. $1-$4

Buying stuff that you don't need is not a way to save.

Re: A pack of gum ....

Anonymous — Fri, 01 Jul 2011 03:52:04 GMT

Leave it to a boarder to have to have a pair of these. But they're $10 a pair so they don't qualify!

I do like the red toes, though.

Re: A pack of gum ....

Anonymous — Fri, 01 Jul 2011 04:50:40 GMT

$1 menu fast food and drinks from gas stations.

Re: A pack of gum ....

haulingthescoreup — Fri, 01 Jul 2011 04:53:06 GMT

Back in the day of TheNewWorldMan and Noah_Bodie and others, the token purchase was always a Slurpee.

I still lean toward chocolate, though. Those Lindt truffles, the ones in the black wrapper, extra dark chocolate, work very nicely.

Re: A pack of gum ....

p- — Fri, 01 Jul 2011 14:17:53 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
socks on the retail cards

It's how I keep Dillard's happy when there's not a wedding on the calendar.
And they do have great socks.

At first I thought you meant put the cards in the sock drawer, lol.... But that's a great idea. I told my wife just this week we have too many similar but mismatched socks and should declare sock bankruptcy, throw them all away, and buy new. Socks... Good plan.

Re: A pack of gum ....

p- — Fri, 01 Jul 2011 14:18:42 GMT

@visorboy1974 wrote:
Netflix
newspaper subscription
cell phone bill
credit monitoring service

Yeah, I use it for my cc monitoring service too... I just hope the irony police don't find out.