How to best garden...

[Itgem679]

Hi All,

So...gardening. The joy of not applying for anything for a long time. How do yall do it? I want to get to the point of only applying 1-2/year. I want to be self-disciplined in this area...help.

What do you do to help yourself garden? 

[GZG]

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@Itgem679 wrote:

Hi All,

So...gardening. The joy of not applying for anything for a long time. How do yall do it? I want to get to the point of only applying 1-2/year. I want to be self-disciplined in this area...help.

What do you do to help yourself garden? 

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freeze your reports and remove your auto-login/saved password from your computer/phone/PW manager to the websites to unfreeze. 

[FireMedic1]

If you get the itch. Shut off puter and go for a walk. It will pass. Stay out of the Approval Section while your at it. Head here and yap about whatever.........https://ficoforums.myfico.com/t5/Personal-Finance/Garden-Club-November-2022/td-p/6610472 

[Jnbmom]

I agree freeze your reports and do nit look at credit approval threads .

[Adkins]

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@Itgem679 wrote:

Hi All,

So...gardening. The joy of not applying for anything for a long time. How do yall do it? I want to get to the point of only applying 1-2/year. I want to be self-disciplined in this area...help.

What do you do to help yourself garden? 

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I always have an end goal in mind. 

[Itgem679]

Thank you - locking my files and staying away from temptation. Holding my goals at the forefront of my mind. 

Thank you great people!

[805orbust]

...writing ALL of these down

[Kforce]

I have a very specific threshold that must be passed before applying for a new card,

* This is for cash back only card users
* If a hobby and for fun, one can ignore this.
* This is looking at a card from a rewards only view.
* A card can have additional benefits that provide value.
* besides basic rewards.

I believe that a cash back rewards card should return
>= 1/1000 your net income.(0.001)

Example:
Income (Monthly - Net) $6,050
New cards rewards percent = 6%
Current cards rewards percent = 3%
Expected monthly spend or Cap = $600
AF for new card = $95
Management Time Value = (((Income/168)/60)*5)
* 5 minutes a month, Simplified = (Income*0.0005)*

Formula with above numbers:
((600*0.03)-(95/12)-(6050*0.0005))/6050 = 0.00117 [OK]
Gain -AF,month - Time / Income = Threshold

Larger income:
((600*0.03)-(95/12)-(10050*0.0005))/10050 = 0.00050 [Not good]

Lower income:
((600*0.03)-(95/12)-(3000*0.0005)) /3000 = 0.00286 [Excellent]

Lower income makes cards have a better return if
counting your time and using a fixed threshold.

This is true no mater the threshold number you use.
One could use 0.0007 or even 0.0005 if you think a lower
rewards threshold would work for you

Should put in numbers for what card you are
pondering and take a look.

Works for me.

I only use two cards.

[DONZI]

I was cash only for a long long time outside of an couple 'toy' credit lines I acquired. Late 2014, paypal credit and 2015 a sears card. In hindsight I may have done more credit seeking much earlier if I had known about rewards... but I was oblivious to this until mid 2020.

Gist of it, I didn't need the credit and things were simple -- no self inflicted, extra monthly due dates to fuss with.

The rewards fascinated me and I eventually ended up here, learning about FICO and all the stuff enabling me to approach credit seeking more intelligently than I ever could before.. I like the perks of the cards and feel a sense of accomplishment in reaping some of the useful aspects of the rewards...

However, I didn't need the credit and still do not. I can pretty much manage my household and discretionary spending with the cards I have. The times I may want or need to spend excess of any of my cards, I'm not going to create a headache by spreading things out over the cards (which probably wouldn't support the $$ anyhow) but would try and negotiate using the power of cash.

Anyhow, if you're able to PIF what you have each month and your cards support your spending, well, that means you really don't need any more credit... BUT, that doesn't mean you can't get more -- work on CLI for the cards you have. Still satisfying and expanding the overall credit limit, and best of all, allowing it all to settle and age. Paving the way to something down the road that might be only possible without HPs and other credit seeking indicators.

Key take-away I guess is, if you don't need the credit, go enjoy life and refine your credit use and do CLI requests instead of seeking credit that isn't needed.

[FireMedic1]

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@805orbust wrote:

...writing ALL of these down

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@805orbust Pffft! Yeah right............