Leave All Stones Unturned

There was a point in my life where I would unturn all stones in all things. I'm not doing that anymore.  My Emotional Independence spreadsheet has boosted my self-esteem and sense of self-worth in terms of navigating peer relationships.  It was just so much emotional turmoil trying to reconnect with people and not being able to understand what exactly to do next.

Now that that's out of the way, on to money talk! Off we go!

As always, I spent most of my free time today on the Doctor of Credit site. Just clicking around and reading comments on bank bonuses and deals. I did not sign up for any new accounts, but I was tempted!! It got so bad, I left my house suddenly to go save $3 on a Visa gift card at Kroger. We don't have a Kroger nearby, so I tried at Harris Teeter. After almost an hour, downloading 2 apps, giving up all my personal information on my driver's license to get a new Harris Teeter savings card, I walked away with nothing!

Rolls eyes.

Now that I'm estimating not having to move to New City until August, I don't think I'm going to have enough opportunity to meet my $1500 spend requirement across the 3 new credit cards (and get $550 cashback). Initially I was going to easily spend $1k on a washer/ dryer. Then $500 on house furnishings.  That's why I got the 3 cards!  Then COVID kind of put the kibosh on that because I couldn't really go shopping and Lowe's wasn't able to come in and install the washer/dryer.  And now that I've identified and utilized a nearby laundromat, I've also lost the sense of urgency of having those appliances installed right away.

So I thought, no matter. I'm sure with moving and setting up a new apartment, I would easily spend $1k.  Again COVID put the kibosh on that.

So now I have 3 credit cards and 1 to 2 months to spend $1500 while sheltered-in-place.

Thinking out loud...
Some ideas include: buying Visa gift cards from the grocery store (one card is offering 5% cashback at grocery stores); the regular grocery store gift card; Walmart gift card; prepaying car insurance; prepaying Internet bill; or prepaying power bill.

Visa gift card - the pro is being able to use it everywhere; the con is not being able to track my expenses as dilligently; there is also the load fee which is a bit nullified by the cashback on the credit card

Regular grocery store gift card - I was thinking Food Lion; so I looked at 3 statements from 2019 to get an estimate of ~$32/mon at Food Lion. In a year, that's about $360.  Not quite the $500 I was hoping to knock out on one card. Plus, it would make me too anxious to carry around a gift card for a year or more. I like to streamline expenses.

Walmart gift card - pro is that this is probably the store I frequent the most; con is not being able to track expenses; again having to take around an extra card and remember to use it

Prepaying car insurance - I don't think I would want to prepay more than 6 months, but I suppose I could be convinced otherwise

Prepaying internet bill - to reach $500, that would be prepaying almost 7 months. That just seems extreme considering I'll be splitting my time between homes

Prepaying power bill - at an estimated $125/mon, this would be about 4 months of prepay which is a little more palpable; con is there's a $2.50 convenience fee to pay by card, however this would be covered by the 1.5% cashback from the credit card. 

Le sigh. It's just a few things to think about; I know in the end I will just make the easiest decision rather than trying to unturn every cost-savings.

I don't like churning credit card bonuses because I don't really have large expenses.  I'm already looking forward to cancelling them. I might leave one open so that whenever I do get to set up house, it'll be nice to get a few nickels in cashback.  But it's still just a maybe.

Bye!