@MrDisco99 wrote:I'm expecting my new EDP card to show up in the mail in the next day or so. I intend to maximize my earnings on it by charging it at least 30 times a month.
My most common category, however, is restaurants, and for now that's going on my Citi TYP (until I meet the bonus spend really soon) and my Amex PRG, which earn more points in that category.
I know I'll use it at gas stations and groceries, as well as non-category spend like Home Depot and most Plastiq purchases, but I'm not sure I'll get to 30 transactions a month that way unless I change my habits somewhat and split purchases up smaller.
Those of you who have an ED/EDP with other cards as part of a rewards portfolio, how do you ensure you meet the transaction count every month?
While individual dining events may be 2 MR on PRG, the EDP can get 1.5 MR on those same charges for dining. If you use the EDP for a few meals, to ensure you get the 30 swipes, that leverages the rest of the months transactions as well, which should close the gap on the PRG - EDP differential.
Of course, there are two annual fees, which makes the annual earn rate less, when spend is just getting medium volume.
Prg was never a keeper for me with edp in the mix a lot of categories overlapped for me .
@longtimelurker wrote:For Consumers Credit Union, to get 12 debit transactions per month, I just use ~50c reloads on Amazon. I have to do this for two cards, so it's boring, but spread over a few days its ok.
It may be worth the effort to get the 50% extra, espeically as you are using the card for other things so you don't need to do 30 reloads (whereas these are my only swipes for CCU) I've heard that you want to spread out the transactions as sometimes two from the same merchant in a small timeframe count as 1. But that doesn't happen with CCU so maybe that's a myth.
With Apple iTunes, if you make a purchase, they hold the transaction for a few days, and will gather up any subsequent transactions to submit as one charge to the card.
@mongstradamus wrote:
Prg was never a keeper for me with edp in the mix a lot of categories overlapped for me .
Same here. I'm using the PRG on restaurants while I'm working on minimum spend for the bonus, and potentially for much of the first year, but I do intend to cancel once the fee hits. The Citi TYP is actually more useful to me than the PRG at half the fee. Yeah I'll be splitting points between two programs, but to me the PRG just isn't worth the fee. Most of the points will get transferred to partners anyway, and they have a few in common.
I need to look into doing the Amazon gift card balance thing. I wonder if I could just automate 50 cents daily. 
@NRB525 wrote:
With Apple iTunes, if you make a purchase, they hold the transaction for a few days, and will gather up any subsequent transactions to submit as one charge to the card.
That's annoying. Thanks for the heads up!
@Anonymous wrote:
@Anonymous wrote:
@Anonymous wrote:To answer OPs questions:
I'm sure you did your research before you applied for the card? If not...
For me, a family of 4 (including my dog), this card might not work because of the transactions i have in a monthly basis:
1. Netflix
2. Water bill
3. Gas & Electric
4. Internet
5. Cell Bill
6. Spotify
7. Dog Insurance
8. Auto/Home Owners/Life/Umbrella Insurance
9. Gas (3x a week
10. Gas (3x a week
11. Gas (3x a week Some months have 5 weekends
12. Groceries (4x a week) every weekend
13. Groceries (4x a week) every weekend
14. Groceries (4x a week) every weekend
15. Groceries (4x a week) every weekend Some months have 5 weeks
Even if i buy beer (which i do SOMETIMES 2 to 3 times a month), that makes it 17 to 18 transactions. To your question, if you don't have more transactions than the above? you will have a hard time making the 30 transactions. Even if you dine say 5 times a month, that's only 22 to 23 transactions. If you start making unnecessary transactions just to meet the 30, it might not be worth it.
Like above was saying, you could split your groceries in two transactions, which would put you at 8 transactions / month rather than 4; then you would be at 26 to 27. IF you have someone to add as an authorized user, they might be able to help you meet that (not sure if that counts)...it should.
As you can see, FOR ME, it would barely work. You could split groceries in threes IF you buy groceries say Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays...but again, too much of a hussle to keep up. My head is spinning just thinking about it lol.
Good luck OP
Do you not buy clothing? If there are 3 of you (not including the dog) I would think you would have multiple clothing purchases a month. Do you got to the movies or buy a cup of coffee?
We only buy what we need and we do not buy clothes every single month....no lol. We have a lot of clothes but we buy as we need. Coffee is included in groceries, we make it at home
OP, the other thing you can do is split your cell bill. Say your bill is $100, you can pay $30, $30 and $40 until you pay it to $0, not sure if your cell company lets you do that but that is another option. You could also do this for water and electric bill.
Also, when putting gas in your car, you could do swipes rather than one.
With the above, that's an easy 10+ swipes.
Ok you seem very frugal. But here are some other thoughts. I buy my paper towels, toilet paper, kleenex , laundary dergent through jet.com. If you sign up you get your first three orders with 15 percent off and there is no sales tax and free 2 day delivery with orders over 35 dollars. Cheaper than a grocery store and you don't have to lug that stuff around. I just create a new email address after 3 uses and start over.
I also order my coffee direct from the manufacturer. I use Keurig and I get 30 percent off and no sales tax and no shipping charges. If you don't use Keurig I am sure you could find similar deals from other coffee companies being cheaper than your local grocery store.
@Anonymous wrote:
@Anonymous wrote:
@Anonymous wrote:
@Anonymous wrote:To answer OPs questions:
I'm sure you did your research before you applied for the card? If not...
For me, a family of 4 (including my dog), this card might not work because of the transactions i have in a monthly basis:
1. Netflix
2. Water bill
3. Gas & Electric
4. Internet
5. Cell Bill
6. Spotify
7. Dog Insurance
8. Auto/Home Owners/Life/Umbrella Insurance
9. Gas (3x a week
10. Gas (3x a week
11. Gas (3x a week Some months have 5 weekends
12. Groceries (4x a week) every weekend
13. Groceries (4x a week) every weekend
14. Groceries (4x a week) every weekend
15. Groceries (4x a week) every weekend Some months have 5 weeks
Even if i buy beer (which i do SOMETIMES 2 to 3 times a month), that makes it 17 to 18 transactions. To your question, if you don't have more transactions than the above? you will have a hard time making the 30 transactions. Even if you dine say 5 times a month, that's only 22 to 23 transactions. If you start making unnecessary transactions just to meet the 30, it might not be worth it.
Like above was saying, you could split your groceries in two transactions, which would put you at 8 transactions / month rather than 4; then you would be at 26 to 27. IF you have someone to add as an authorized user, they might be able to help you meet that (not sure if that counts)...it should.
As you can see, FOR ME, it would barely work. You could split groceries in threes IF you buy groceries say Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays...but again, too much of a hussle to keep up. My head is spinning just thinking about it lol.
Good luck OP
Do you not buy clothing? If there are 3 of you (not including the dog) I would think you would have multiple clothing purchases a month. Do you got to the movies or buy a cup of coffee?
We only buy what we need and we do not buy clothes every single month....no lol. We have a lot of clothes but we buy as we need. Coffee is included in groceries, we make it at home
OP, the other thing you can do is split your cell bill. Say your bill is $100, you can pay $30, $30 and $40 until you pay it to $0, not sure if your cell company lets you do that but that is another option. You could also do this for water and electric bill.
Also, when putting gas in your car, you could do swipes rather than one.
With the above, that's an easy 10+ swipes.
Ok you seem very frugal. But here are some other thoughts. I buy my paper towels, toilet paper, kleenex , laundary dergent through jet.com. If you sign up you get your first three orders with 15 percent off and there is no sales tax and free 2 day delivery with orders over 35 dollars. Cheaper than a grocery store and you don't have to lug that stuff around. I just create a new email address after 3 uses and start over.
I also order my coffee direct from the manufacturer. I use Keurig and I get 30 percent off and no sales tax and no shipping charges. If you don't use Keurig I am sure you could find similar deals from other coffee companies being cheaper than your local grocery store.
Frugal indeed
We make enough to be confortable but do not live above our means. Will look into jet.com, thanks!