Feb '23: a $3,800 month
Quick Feb Rewards Recap
February Recap
February was a short month and flew by. We’re already approaching the end of Q1, and you should all be on pace to hit $2,500 MINIMUM if you started at the beginning of January, following the plan below:
I decided to do another monthly recap, as many people were curious what this game looks like after your first year. The first year, you follow the blueprint and establish a foundation comprised of high earning rewards cards. The next year, you will still apply for additional cards here and there, but you’ll have the tools to earn a good amount of money with some basic manufactured spending (MS) techniques.
Again, this is not a flex. This was a routine month for me, and my goal is to show you what is possible with a slight amount of effort.
Note that I earn significantly higher rewards with my business spend. I will not be including my main WiFi biz ad spend in this recap. BowTiedBum is not my main WiFi Money biz. It’s a side side-hustle. This will just be focused on personal spend and manufactured spending (MS), so that others can follow a similar plan. For those that are new, P2 = Player 2 (significant other, relative, etc).
You’ll see familiar cards and methods below. Nothing special here. It was a relatively boring month. And boring is good in this game! With things constantly evolving and oppurtunities dying, I’ll take a boring and predictable month all day!
With that said, let’s get right into it:
Chase Ink Cash
One of my all-time favorite cards due to the no annual fee and ease of hitting 5X Ultimate Rewards. A money making machine. P1 and P2 each got a new card and hit the sign up bonus. P1 and P2 each spent $5,400 ($10,800 total) on “office supplies” using one of my favorite MS techniques. IYKYK. Will post exactly what I did to generate 5X at the bottom of this post. This generated 54,000 UR points, which can be cashed out at $675 if you have the Chase Sapphire Reserve card with Chase PayYourselfBack (PYB). Not bad for a no fee card.
Additionally, each player got the 90,000 UR sign up bonus for the card. To be clear, we spent $5,400 on “office supplies” and put the rest of our everyday organic spending on the card to hit the $6,000 minimum for the sign up bonus.
Quick Maths:
Each player earned $270 from the Office Supply 5X category multiplier
Each player earned $900 from the sign up bonus after spending $6,000
$540 + $1,800 = $2,340
$2,340 X 1.25 (Cashed out with Chase PayYourselfBack with Chase Sapphire Reserve)
= $2,925
CIC earnings = $2,925
If anyone wants to apply for a Chase Ink Cash, I have a few referral slots open. Please DM me on Slack/Twitter
Chase Ink Cash part 2
Once again, my favorite card as it is constantly a money maker. I paid rent with my CIC. A little over $5,000 but we’ll just call it $5,000. Once again, I will post the MS details for this trick at the bottom of the post. I had to pay a 1.5% fee to be able to pay rent this way.
Quick Maths:
$5,000 spend = 25,000 UR points
1.5% is $75
$250 X 1.25 (Cashed out with Chase PayYourselfBack with Chase Sapphire Reserve)
=$312.50
-$75
=$237.50
CIC earnings = $237.50
Citi Premier
Used one of my favorite MS plays to spend $15,000 on the Premier with a 1.25% fee.
Quick Maths:
$15,000 spend at 3X = $450 in Citi TYP
-1.25% fee ($187.50)
=$262.50
Citi Premier earnings = $262.50
Chase Sapphire Reserve
A fantastic card for anyone who is serious about this hobby. Similiar to the Citi play above, I used one of my favorite MS plays to spend $15,000 on the Reserve with a 1.25% fee.
Quick Maths:
$15,000 spend at 3X = $450 in Chase UR
$450 X 1.25 (Cashed out with Chase PayYourselfBack with Chase Sapphire Reserve)
=$562.50
-1.25% fee ($187.50)
=$375
Chase Sapphire Reserve earnings = $375
Grand Total for Feb = $3,800
Notes and Takeaways:
This month was boring. Again, boring and routine is great in this game! Additionally, you can quickly see the power of having a P2. If possible, get one! You can apply for the same cards at the same time, which will make it much easier to keep track of everything. Note that I only applied to one card this month. Once you get the ball rolling and have a few cards and master a few MS techniques, it’s much easier to accumulate rewards without signing up for new cards all the time.
The Slack Group continues to be a big success, helping people along their journey. If you are a paid subscriber and still not in the Slack Group, please DM me on Twitter.
I’ll post exactly how I generated the spending quickly and easily below: