Jan '23: a $4K+ month
Quick Jan Rewards Recap
January Recap
January was a slow month all things considered. I wasn’t that aggressive, just signed up for one card for me and one for P2. I wanted to post a recap, to show everyone what is possible. I could have gone a lot harder, I’ve just been hyperfocused on my W-2 to make sure I survived layoffs. I managed to survive and secure a 10%+ raise (thank you
). I’ll consider posting a monthly recap in addition to the plan for each quarter. Note that I earn significantly higher rewards with business spend. This will just be focused on personal spend and manufactured spending (MS), so that others can follow a similiar plan. For those that are new, P2 = Player 2 (significant other, relative, etc).I’ll discuss which card I got in the beginning, and then go into detail regarding how I hit the minimum spend with manufactured spending. With that said, let’s get right into it.
Amex Business Platinum 130K Membership Rewards (MR) Offer
Got the public 130K MR offer and decided to apply for me and P2. 260K MR that will be worth $2,860 when cashed out via Schwab Platinum (you can cash out MR at 1.1 cents per point if you have the Schwab Platinum card). This was unfortunate timing, as a 170K MR offer popped up a couple weeks later. Oh well. Still a good offer, and can’t always time everything perfectly.
If you’re interested in trying to get the 170K MR offer, please see the link below. Yes, this card comes with a steep $695 fee, but many of the credits they offer can be used to help offset this fee. I’ll have a detailed post on liquidating these credits in the near future.
1 card (for P1/P2) Total = $2,860
Chase Ink Cash
Business as usual here. One of my all-time favorite cards due to the no annual fee and ease of hitting 5X Ultimate Rewards. P1 and P2 each spent $5,200 ($10,400 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 52,000 UR points, which can be cashed out at $650 if you have the Chase Sapphire Reserve card with Chase PayYourselfBack (PYB). Not bad for a no fee card.
CIC earnings = $650
Chase Freedom
A great card that is a textbook “sock drawer” card. P2 and I each have two of these as a result of downgrading old Chase Sapphire cards after year 1, when their annual fee was due again. Chase Freedom has no annual fee and offers 5X rotating categories each quarter up to $1,500 spend per card. This quarter’s cateogry is groceries, so I maxed out all four cards ($6,000 total) at grocery stores with a little bit of organic spending, but mostly MS. Will cover the process below. 7,500 UR earned per card. 4 cards. For a total of 30,000 UR, worth $375 if you have the Chase Sapphire Reserve card with Chase PayYourselfBack (PYB).
Chase Freedom Earnings $375
Chase Ink Cash (different method)
I used a different CIC (I have 4, P2 has 4) to generate $10K Office Supply spending, for a total of 50,000 UR, worth $625 if you have the Chase Sapphire Reserve card with Chase PayYourselfBack (PYB). I paid $125 in fees for this method.
Chase Ink Cash Earnings (Part 2) $500
Grand Total for Jan = $4,385
Notes and Takeaways:
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: