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Decluttering is good for the mind and pocketbook

January 31st, 2012 at 04:47 am

So often I read how people want to declutter and how good it is to do that, and lord knows I'm no different. I shan't go into the details, other than to say that ebay and craigslist are my friends. Extra space and extra money to invest (or spend on hobbies), who can complain about that?

Anyway, I have decided to see how much I can "earn" this year from credit card (and savings account) sign up bonuses. The decluttering comes in as I need to start to kill off some unused credit cards so I have more "need" for credit. Once your credit lines grow large they start to stop giving you new cards (boooo). While I got a new credit card this week (as listed below) I was told I was nearing a limit on what they would give on the credit cards, so I need to start pruning back my collection.

In the past four months I have gotten 50,000 miles for signing up for a Southwest Airlines card (good for $500 in gift cards), $100 bonus from Capital One (arrived today in the mail), $100 balance credit from Citi (fullfilled that by buying Exxon gift cards that gave me bonus gift cards!), and now I just signed up for another Citi credit card with another $100 sign up bonus. Now if I can trim off some unused CCs (especially from Chase), maybe I can get another bonus or two in the next few months.

And locally I can get a $100 bonus for signing up for a checking account at a regional bank (hmmm... I see myself visiting the local branch this Saturday). Keep a $500 balance for 3 months - yeah I think I can do that.

OK, that gives me $900 in less than half a year, I need to see if I can keep it going.

Posted in Finance | 4 Comments »

4 Responses to “Decluttering is good for the mind and pocketbook”

  1. mjrube94 Says:
    January 31st, 2012 at 12:03 pm 1328011380
    1328011380

    I've taken advantage of many checking account offers, but have stayed away from credit cards because I heard that opening and closing many in a short period will negatively affect your credit rating. Have you experienced this?

  2. creditcardfree Says:
    January 31st, 2012 at 12:55 pm 1328014513
    1328014513

    Good luck with your earnings this year!

  3. Single Guy Says:
    January 31st, 2012 at 02:04 pm 1328018661
    1328018661

    In the past I have opened credit cards and left them open. I know a number of them have been closed by the issuers, but I haven't closed them myself. Last summer I had a credit score over 800 (when I bought my car with cash they insisted on checking my credit score), though I don't know what it is now. With no real need for credit I simply don't worry about my score - I refuse to live in fear of the credit score cartel.

  4. Jerry Says:
    February 3rd, 2012 at 08:30 pm 1328301023
    1328301023

    I had never even considered this, probably because I don't have a huge amount of credit cards that would lead to this consequence, but it is good to think about. I would like to have some insurance that I would be able to get more credit if I wanted it, or a card with a very good air miles plan, or something. Thanks for the heads-up!
    Jerry

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