Finance Gets Personal

Just when I’ve finally gotten down all the couponing and online deal-finding acronyms (BOGO, YMMV, B&M, etc.), it turns out there’s a whole new set of acronyms to learn when it comes to getting pregnant (officially: Trying to Conceive, or TTC).

Yes, that’s right. My husband and I are trying to make a baby (Ew! - I know).

Well, technically, we’ve been “trying” on and off for a year with no success, but with not much of a methodology either. So this month I’m turning myself into a human science experiment with charting, basal body temperatures, cervical fluid and the like.

Little did a know there would be a special vocabulary for this.

Browse some iVillage and The Bump message boards, and you’ll come across posts like this:

This 2WW is killing me! I think I might cave and POAS in the morning. I know it’s early, but I’m driving myself crazy. Just wanted to share!

Translation: This two week wait between ovulating and finding out if I’m pregnant is killing me! I think I might cave and pee on a stick (take a pregnancy test) in the morning. I know it’s too early, but I’m driving myself crazy. Just wanted to share!

I’ve also learned that AF (Aunt Flo) is commonly referred to as an “old hag,” women with a BFP (big fat positive) pregnancy test will sprinkle those still trying with “baby dust” and there are BD (baby dancing - having sex to try to get pregnant) Olympians (twice a day?). O-kay.

I’m hoping this won’t take too long now that I’m being all scientific about it. I’m giving it four months before I start freaking out that I’m infertile. Sprinkle me with some baby dust or something.

Tags: Acronyms, Getting Pregnant, The Bump, Trying to Conceive, TTC

Unfortunately, my 8-Week Home Cure has quickly turned into the 3-Month Basement Cure.

For a while, I was able to work on cleaning and organizing the upstairs while my husband worked on the basement. But now he’s needing my help more and more, and the Cure has fallen to the wayside.

Maybe the reason I haven’t been blogging lately is that I feel like a hypocrite. Every time I set some lofty goal, I end up abandoning it halfway through. I think the only goal that I’m actually making continuous progress on is getting out of debt. But even with that, it’s hard to feel like I’m making a lot of headway…

I guess it’s hard to stay motivated when your only debts are a pair of mortgages. I’m still making my minimum extra debt payment of $1,974 a month. But what ever happened to snowflaking every extra dollar toward debt? Instead, I’ve become sidetracked with home renovations, vacations, weight loss, trying to get pregnant, etc. Which I guess is to be expected. But I’m feeling a bit like a Jesus Freak that’s fallen off the wagon. Am I headed toward the dark side, or just human?

Maybe money became such an obsession that it’s just ingrained in me now. I’ve learned most everything I can learn (roll eyes here), and know what I should be doing. Now it’s just a matter of whether I want to.

If you’re feeling this way too, check out this post from Get Rich Slowly: Should Repaying Debt Be an Obsession?. My answer is, I’m not sure. Am I a J.D. Roth, who paid off $35,000 over the course of three years, or a Money Saving Mom, who is quickly saving up to buy a house outright?

Maybe I’m somewhere in between.

Photo Credit: Thomson’s gazelle by [PS], used under Creative Commons licensing.

Tags: Apartment Therapy, Dave Ramsey, Debt-Repayment, Gazelle Intensity, Home Cure

Our garage sale was last weekend, and while I was hoping to make $500 for our home theater system, we ended up slightly short of that goal with a profit of $380.

That’s an improvement from last year’s $240, but with all the new drugstore items I was selling, I thought I could do better. However, I did end up making another $50 on eBay by selling some of my rare Hard Rock Cafe shot glasses, and still have a keyboard and amp that didn’t sell that I need to re-list on Craigslist.

The weather was cold in the morning (I had on my fall coat and sat inside the garage), which kept most shoppers away until noon. While we might have ended up with the same number of visitors as last year, it felt like a lot less because they came throughout the day, instead of just nonstop from 7:30-1:00.

We had a lot of help from family members this year, which was nice! By including their items in our sale as well, we probably had one of the largest garage sales in the subdivision. Having two to three people at the “checkout” made it easy to keep track of whose items had sold (I asked them to put initials on their price stickers).

Besides being cold, it was also extremely windy! We had a lot of clothes for sale, but they we hardly even touched because the wind kept blowing them off the tables and we weren’t able to keep them very organized because of it. We also had some small item casualties and an incident involving a box of Pokemon cards being chased down the street.

While the whole ordeal was a pain, I really do think it was easier the second time around. This time, I made sure to order pizza the day before and schedule delivery for noon the day of the garage sale. I also called the local battered women’s shelter to arrange a pickup for all the leftover items the following Monday morning, which kept all that leftover stuff from sitting in the garage for months.

While I’m glad it’s all over, we’re still planning on having another sale during the next neighborhood event in August. Because I’ll definitely have more stuff to sell as I finish up The Cure!

Photo Credit: Garage Sale by lantzilla, used under Creative Commons licensing

Tags: Donations, Garage Sale, Home Cure

for a Garage Sale!

As you might have guessed by the lack of posts this week, I have not worked on the office for Week 5 of The Cure. Instead, I’ve been busy getting ready for our garage sale on Saturday.

Last year we made about $240 in our garage sale, and this time (with the help of my CVS/Walgreens stockpile) I’m hoping to crack $500, which will go toward this home theatre system for the basement.

I cleaned out what was left of my old bedroom at my parents’ house, and also have a bunch of stuff to sell that was moved out of the basement when my husband started finishing it. Now I just need to finish labeling a couple boxes of stuff, make signs, find my banker’s bag, ice up some drinks and set everything up in the garage so it’s ready to go Saturday morning! Oh, and hope that it doesn’t rain…

Note to Self: In the future, it would be much easier to put things in a big “garage sale” bin as you clean the house and price them right then and there.

Since my house is now once again a disaster (I’ve really been trying to keep the rooms I’ve done so far clean, though) I’m eager to get back to the cure after this weekend is over.

Tags: Apartment Therapy, Basement, Garage Sale, Home Cure

I’m currently working on Apartment Therapy’s Eight-Step Spring Cure, which is an eight week process for making your home more organized, beautiful and healthy. I’ve been apprehensive about how much “curing” is going to cost, so I’m sharing my progress on trying to cure on a budget.

I am sweating my butt off thanks to extensive vacuuming combined with our refusal to turn on the A/C until it reaches 80 degrees outside. But, the living room is clean!

These are the assignments for Week 4:

• Clean up living room and related closets
• Repairs are being taken care of this week
• Declutter all books and media
• Cancel 75 percent of catalogs you receive
• Empty Outbox this week
• Confirm what you need to increase or decrease color in each room
• Identify what you need to increase or decrease softness in each room
• Cook three meals at home this week
• Send out your invitations

Somehow, our living room is the dirtiest room in the house. I suppose it’s because we spend the most time there, my husband eats his lunch on the couch when he works from home and because the doggie door leads into that room. It took a long time, but I washed the walls, cleaned the baseboards, vacuumed the couches, cleaned the fan blades and even fixed the massive tangle of cords behind the TV. I bought the following: Cord organizer ties (3 packages at $3.19 each at Target), a bamboo box to store PS3 games ($12.99 at Target) and a fabric-covered box to store PS3 cords and controllers (on clearance for $11.94 at Target).

I honestly haven’t made much progress on the repairs this week. Theoretically, I would be having someone “take care” of them this week and next week, but I can’t afford it without using some of my extra debt payment. I did replace another light bulb though

Decluttering books and media is a daunting task. I like the idea of getting rid of my CD collection and keeping them all on my hard drive/iPod, but my electronic organization system is chaos right now (for example, I’ve never even backed up this blog, nor do I really know how). My iPod is set up for a Mac, but I use a PC now (the Mac with all the music saved on it is in my stepson’s room). Once my husband gets his new computer, I plan on consolidating all my files there. As far as DVDs go, I am not allowed to get rid of any. My books are already heavily pared down from last year’s garage sale, and I don’t tend to be much of a book collector anyway. I do plan on going through these three categories for obvious “duds” sometime before our garage sale on the 16th.

Canceling 75% of catalogs you receive is something I may do in the future, but don’t have time for right now. In fact, I’ve done little besides clean the living room this week since I’ve been helping my husband plan the details of the basement layout (he took off work this week to do the framing). Trust me though, I’d rather be cleaning and organizing than drawing a bathroom and its fixtures to scale.

I’ll be emptying the outbox next weekend at my garage sale. I’m going to start pricing and organizing my items for the garage sale this week, and list some of the more expensive items on craigslist and eBay.

I’ve thought a little about color, but I haven’t spent any money in this category. Most of my rooms need a little more color.

“Softness” is added to rooms through things like curtains, rugs and pillows. My rooms are currently too “hard” since I don’t have any area rugs or drapes (most of our windows just have cheap white vinyl blinds - yuck!).

Of course, cooking at home was the easiest part of the week. I even did one myself! If sloppy joes count as a meal, that is…

I have no invitations to mail since I haven’t really planned a party. I think when I get finished I’ll start planning the cheesy board game night. I’ve just got way too much on my plate right now.

While some of my enthusiasm has waned, I’m halfway done, and things are looking great! This week I spent a total of $40.

On to Week 5, which focuses on the office. My main goal is to organize all the paperwork I have flying about the room, without much concern for aesthetics since we’ll be moving the office to the basement this fall (and getting real furniture instead of card tables and folding chairs - yay!).

Photo Credit: Kelley+Interior+Design,+rose+living+room by sarahleeab, used under Creative Commons Licensing.

Tags: Apartment Therapy, Cleaning, Home Cure, Living Room, Organization

I’m currently working on Apartment Therapy’s Eight-Step Spring Cure, which is an eight week process for making your home more organized, beautiful and healthy. I’ve been apprehensive about how much “curing” is going to cost, so I’m sharing my progress on trying to cure on a budget.

Well, I’m a few days late in finishing up week 3, but this one was much less intense than the kitchen last week! And in case you’re wondering why I’m three weeks behind the Apartment Therapy Spring Cure group, I didn’t discover it until after this session had already started (I’m not that slow, thank you very much!)

These are the assignments for Week 3:

• Vacuum, dust and mop (wet or dry) throughout your home
• Clean your entrance and any related closets
• Arrange to have all repairs taken care of in the next three weeks
• Declutter your entrance
• Move all old mail, catalogs and magazines to the outbox
• Look into what you would need to create a landing strip
• Cancel any unused subscriptions
• Identify cool rooms and warm rooms
• Apply the 80/20 color rule
• Cook two meals at home this week
• Design an invitation for your housewarming

Vacuuming and mopping again so soon? Argh. It really needed it though. I wonder how often I typically vacuum - once a month? Whenever company is coming over?

Because my entrance opens up into the formal living room, I cleaned that and the little walkway to the side of it. Pretty easy, considering the only things in the room are a piano, couch, chair and mirror.

As far as “arranging” to have all repairs taken care of in the next three weeks, I’m pretty much ignoring that assignment. I’ll be doing what I can, when I can - myself.

Decluttering was also simple, with most of my “clutter” coming from the entry closet. However, this is the one closet I actually organized when we moved in, so there wasn’t a lot of random stuff in there. While organizing the closet, instead of buying more containers from Target, I decided to wrap some of my shoe boxes in pretty wrapping paper to hold things like cleaning supplies, dog brushes/shampoo and lightbulbs/flashlights. It worked out well, and I didn’t spend any money!

I don’t really have a problem with old mail and magazines (I go through the mail immediately when I get home, and recycle old magazines as soon as the new one arrives), so I didn’t have any mail to move to the outbox.

I bought a new doormat at Target for $19.99, but I challenged myself to create a landing strip using only items I already own. My landing strip is now a little silver serving table with a blue beaded bowl on it, a magazine holder on the floor and a coat closet. I hang my purse on the closet knob. What really made a difference in my little living room was rearranging the furniture! My couch and recliner are really too big for the small space now that a baby grand piano has been added to the mix, but rearranging the furniture has really improved things. It’s kind of odd because now you see the back of the couch as you enter, but it closes the space off just enough to make it feel like its own room (that hopefully we’ll actually use now!).

I also have a pile of subscriptions to cancel, identified my warm and cool rooms, learned about the 80/20 rule for color (80% neutral, 20% strong colors) and cooked two meals at home (OK, so my husband cooked two meals at home). I haven’t designed an invitation for my cheesy board game night yet… I’m not sure if I want to have such a formally organized event so soon after hosting the Oscar party. But the party will still happen - just don’t expect a Scrabble-esque invitation in the mail…

And that concludes week 3. I only spent $20!!!! (Well, I guess I also spent $5 on flowers)

On to Week 4, which focuses on the living room and editing book/CD/DVD collections (uh oh).

Photo Credit: The Entryway (Landing Strip) by foreverfrida, used under Creative Commons licensing.

Tags: Apartment Therapy, Home Cure, Landing Strip, Spring Cure 2009, Week 3

I’m currently working on Apartment Therapy’s Eight-Step Spring Cure, which is an eight week process for making your home more organized, beautiful and healthy. I’ve been apprehensive about how much “curing” is going to cost, so I’m sharing my progress on trying to cure on a budget.

Whew. I just finished my assignments for Week 2. (I gave myself an extra weekend since we were out of town last weekend for Easter.)

These are the assignments for Week 2:

• Fix one thing in your apartment yourself
• Clean your kitchen from top to bottom and throw away old food
• Buy a water filter and use it
• Run your hands over every wall in your apartment (to feel which walls are cold or warm)
• Clear space for an Outbox
• Clear one surface and use the outbox
• Buy fresh flowers
• Determine your style
• Find a new recipe and cook one meal at home
• Choose the date for your housewarming

The first assignment was probably the easiest: I had a list of 71 repairs to choose from. Because I’m trying to do this on a budget, most of the repairs will be DIY (and some of the expensive repairs, like repairing the wooden floors, might be postponed). Because this week focused on the kitchen, I started with some easy repairs there: replacing the burnt out oven light bulbs, buying new energy-efficient bulbs for the fixture that my husband had to stand on top of a ladder to reach, touching up missing paint/rust on/in the stove/sink/dishwasher with appliance repair paint (Rustoleum), buying new tile to replace the missing ones above the sink, tightening the hinges on the cabinets, tightening the loose sink sprayer, and semi-fixing the stove drawer that keeps coming off the tracks (apparently the permanent fix would be to replace the stove). While this was a lot more than one repair, I’ll need to increase this pace if everything is going to be fixed at the end of eight weeks.

Cleaning and organizing the kitchen was the real bitch of this week. I worked on it all weekend, as well as three nights after work last week. I now have sparkling clean appliances, organized cabinets and a lot less stuff (though I did have to endure some screaming about what the hell I did with all the plastic cups/wooden spoons/second ice cream scoop). And my refrigerator is probably thrilled that I finally figured out where those coils that I’ve supposed to have been vacuuming for the past four years are (that was gross). I spent quite a bit of money this week on cleaning and organizing supplies: a new spice rack ($40 at Crate & Barrel), drawer organizers ($15 at TJ Maxx), canisters for the pantry ($20 at TJ Maxx), new drip pans ($13 at Target), dish soap dispenser ($13 at Target), penny jar to hold dog treats ($5 at Target), new salt and pepper shakers ($12 at Target), light bulbs ($27 at Lowes), oven cleaner ($5 at Lowes) and paper towels ($5 at Lowes).

My refrigerator already has a water filter, however, we’ve been ignoring the little red replacement light for at least six months. So we bought a PUR replacement filter from Amazon for $25. In the past, I’ve bought these from the Whirlpool website and they’ve run almost $35, so it was nice to find one that’s a little less costly.

My Outbox, i.e., crap I’m considering getting rid of, is growing daily. This is good, since our garage sale is less than a month away. I’m going to try selling some of our more valuable/specialized items on eBay/Craigslist over the next few weeks to make money for more curing (Hard Rock Cafe shot glass collection, anyone?).

My fresh flowers came from the grocery store again this week. White hydrangeas for $5.99. I’m starting to think grocery store flowers aren’t the freshest, because mine start dying in less than a week, but…whatever.

The fun part of the week was determining my style! After repeating the style quiz at Sproost about 10 times, I determined my style is closest to Vintage Modern (um, isn’t that an oxymoron?). It seems to fit though. So now, when I see something I would consider buying, I ask myself, “Would this fit in with my (imaginary) Vintage Modern home?” and if the answer is no, I skip it.

Finding a new recipe and cooking one meal at home was incredibly easy. I think Apartment Therapy assumes most of their audience are city apartment dwellers who eat takeout every night.

As far as the housewarming party thing goes, I’d like to have a low-key cheesy board game night with a small group of friends. But because six-seven weeks from now is Memorial Day weekend, maybe we should do a barbecue instead (or in combination with board game night)? Of course, we go out of town sometimes on Memorial Day weekend, so I guess I should check on that before I start making any definite plans.

OK, so that was Week 2. A lot of work and a lot of expenses (though most were somewhat optional). I was hoping to combine the dining room with the kitchen since there isn’t a dining room week, but that didn’t go as planned. That room mainly just needs to be cleaned though.

On to Week 3, which focuses on the entryway, entry closet and making a “landing strip” (AT’s term, not mine).

Photo Credit: Apartment Therapy

Tags: Apartment Therapy, Cleaning, Home Cure, Kitchen, Organizing, Spring Cure 2009, Sproost

A few monthly dinner parties ago, I lamented about how expensive the whole process was, and whether it would be cheaper just to go out to eat.

So tonight, I tested that theory.

Instead of planning a menu, shopping, taking a half day off work and cooking an appetizer, main course and dessert, I ordered Mexican food to go. It was so much more enjoyable and relaxing! And also… not any more expensive!

My past two dinner parties have cost about $35, not including ingredients already on hand (i.e., the chicken already in the freezer, milk, eggs, etc.). And trust me, keeping it to $35 involved a lot of planning and strategic menu selection - I’ve had them cost as much as $100 before I got all coupon-crazy.

Tonight’s total restaurant bill for the three of us: $35, including taxes and tip.

Now that, I can deal with.

Photo Credit: Do I Make You Hungry by spcbrass, used under Creative Commons licensing.

Tags: Dinner club, Dinner Party, Entertaining

My finances seem to be on autopilot lately, so I’m working on improving some other areas of my life as well. Supposedly this is what happens when you start getting one thing under control - the rest follow (finances—>health—>not living in squalor).

So, for my not living in squalor phase, I’ve joined Apartment Therapy’s Eight-Step Spring Cure. The “Cure” is a eight-week process for making your home more organized, beautiful and healthy. There is a corresponding book with detailed instructions for each week.

I’m doing the deep treatment (as opposed to focusing on one room), which means that my assignments for Week 1 are as follows:

• Make a complete list of home repairs and solutions
• Vacuum and mop the floors
• Buy fresh flowers
• Sit for ten minutes in a part of your home that you never sit in
• Look into earth-friendly cleaning products

Sounds reasonable, right?

The problem is my “repair” list is pages long, and some items are expensive: damaged exterior doors that need replacing, stained carpet that needs replacing (or at least a professional cleaning), cracking and splintering wood floors, etc. The “cure” also calls for arranging to have all your repairs taken care of within the next 3-4 weeks, which basically assumes you’re going to hire someone to do most of the work. My plan is to start with the easiest, least expensive repairs first, and temporarily fix or postpone the most expensive repairs.

The assignment I find a little indulgent, but am in love with, is buying fresh flowers for your home every week. It’s ironic, because this item is also on my “life list.” So I guess I’m killing two birds with one stone. This week, I bought some gerbera daisies at the grocery store for $5. They look quite lovely on my dining room table.

As for the earth-friendly cleaning products, well… You know I have a hard time spending more than a dollar on cleaning products, and am certainly not one to buy $10 floor cleaner or anything. After my dog spent a good 20 minutes yesterday licking my newly cleaned floor, I almost reconsidered. Eh, he’ll be alright.

Have you ever tackled the cure? What kind of budget were you working with? I can see this getting progressively more expensive as the weeks go on, but I’m going to do my best to keep it frugal and share my progress.

Tags: Apartment Therapy, Budget, Home Cure, Spring Cure 2009

In one of my recent posts (does a month ago count as recent?), I promised I’d share how I’m using frequent-flier mile magic to fly my family to Europe for free next year.

Now, I know this blog isn’t a place you’d expect to see advocating the use of credit cards, so here is my obligatory warning. PLEASE do not try this at home if:

• You have any credit card debt
• You have a credit score below 720
• You are planning to take out a loan or refinance a loan in the next 12 months
• You can’t afford to take a vacation and still meet your other financial goals
• You aren’t 100% confident in your ability to set aside money as it is charged, not spend any more than you would if using cash and pay off your entire balance at the end of the month

Are you still with me? Here we go…

(By the way, I am definitely not getting any kickbacks from any of the airlines or credit cards mentioned below. Unless they offer. Then I’m totally selling you guys out!)

The airline I’ve decided to fly with is American Airlines. Their basic round-trip reward flight “costs” 25,000 miles within the Continental U.S., and 40,000 miles to Europe in the off-season (October 15 - May 15). Of course, mileage requirements vary - check this chart to see how many miles it will take to get where you want to go.

Since there are three people in my family, I need to acquire 120,000 American Airlines frequent flier miles to fly to Europe and back for free (unfortunately, kids with their own seat are the same “price” as adults).

Step 1: Join the American Airlines AAdvantage Program
It’s free to join, and I’d recommend signing up for a card for each adult member of your family. Click here to enroll.

Step 2: Apply for a Citi AAdvantage Card
Citi has three AAdvantage credit cards to choose from: a MasterCard, an American Express and a Business Mastercard. Pick one (for now), and apply here, using the AAdvantage number you were emailed after completing step 1. Do NOT list your spouse or significant other on the card, or order a card for them (this gives you the greatest number of opportunities to apply for separate cards and earn more miles). For each card you sign up for and charge $750 on within 4 months of opening, you’ll receive 25,000 frequent flier miles.

Step 3: Sign up to Manage Your Citi Account Online
Once you’ve received and activated your card, register for an online account at citicards.com. This will help you keep track of your spending, know when your statement will be issued and pay your bill online.

Step 4: Charge $750 to Your Card within the First 4 Months (Preferably Within the First Month)
This is actually much easier and quicker than I thought it would be! Instead of taking money out of the bank each paycheck, I know that I am allowed $325 to spend on the credit card: $150 for groceries, $75 for my gas, $60 for my personal spending and $40 for entertainment. Then I set aside the money: instead of recording an ATM withdrawal in Quicken online, I input “On hold for credit card - $325.” Then, I see what other bills I can pay with my card without incurring additional fees: cell phone bill, cable bill, etc. Add in some other expenses, like the $300 deposit on the root canal I had this morning (which will be reimbursed by my flex savings account), and I’ve reached $750 long before my first statement. I keep an Excel spreadsheet of my transactions so I can tell exactly when I’ve reached the $750 mark (I don’t like waiting up to a week for the charges to show up online).

After you’ve reached $750, you can keep spending on your card in order to earn 1 additional mile for each dollar you spend, but make sure to stop using it about 5-7 days before your statement closing date (check your online account for the date). This way, you won’t have to go through two billing cycles before being able to close your account (and won’t have to wait an additional 30 days to apply for your next card).

Step 5: Pay Your Card Off Online as Soon as the Statement is Issued
Although you can’t make any payments before your statement comes out, you don’t have to wait for it to actually arrive in the mail. Just log in to your Citi account the day your statement is issued and pay off the balance (you’ll need your bank routing and account numbers from your checkbook).

Step 6: Check Back in a Few Days to Make Sure the Payment Has Cleared and Your Miles Have Posted
Check your Citi account online to make sure you have a zero balance, then log in to your AAdvantage account at AA.com to see if your 25,000 miles have posted. If so, you’re ready to close the card.

Step 7: Close Your Card
You’ll want to close your card quickly, because you need to wait 60 days before applying for the same card again. Also, the card has an annual fee of $85 that is waived for the first 12 months, and you don’t want to keep the card for a year and incur the annual fee. To avoid talking to five different customer service reps trying to retain you, simply follow these steps to close your account online:

Log in to your Citi account online and select the card you want to cancel. Go to the Help & Contact Us menu at the top of the page and select Email Customer Service. Click on Send A New Message. For the topic, select Account - Other. For the subject, say something like “please cancel AMEX card ending in 0000.” Make sure your email address is correct, and type a message to the effect of, “Please cancel my Citi card ending in 0000. Thank you.” Send message. You may not get a response, but within a business day or two, when you go back to your summary of accounts, you will see the red “this card has been closed” message for the card in question.

Don’t worry, your miles are safe!

Step 8: Repeat Steps 2-7 with the Other Available Citi AAdvantage Cards (Just NOT the Same One You Just Closed)
This is where things get a little bit interesting. Technically, you can have a Citi AAdvantage MasterCard, AMEX and Business MasterCard all at the same time and earn 75,000 miles in one month. However, I prefer to just do one card at a time. Once I reach $750 on a card, I apply for the next one. Since I don’t really have any business income, I’m not going to apply for the business card.

Step 9: Wait 60 Days After Closing Each Card to Apply for the Exact Same Card Again; Meanwhile, Get Your Spouse/Significant Other Started
After your account has been closed for 60 days, you can apply for the exact same card and get 25,000 miles again. This is called churning. If you don’t wait 60 days before applying again, however, you’ll likely be denied and have to wait another 60 days, so be patient. While you’re waiting for your 60 days, I’d suggest getting cards for your spouse or significant other (remember, don’t put your name on them). I’ve found that who actually uses the card isn’t usually a big deal - we trade cards for things like groceries and gas, and have never been questioned about using each others’ card (unless it’s a retail store or someplace where they typically ask to see your ID).

Throughout this process, it’s important to have a strategy in mind - especially if children will be traveling with you. You can choose to have one adult earn all the miles for the family (which will take longer and impact that person’s credit score more), or you can split the earning among the adults.

Here’s our strategy:

• I applied for a Citi MasterCard, earned 25,916 miles (25,000 bonus points + 750 points for the first $750 + 216 points for an additional $216 of spending), and closed my account
• My husband applied for a Citi MasterCard two weeks after I did, earned 26,149 miles and closed his account
• I applied for a Citi AMEX once I closed my first card, and am almost to $750. Let’s say I’ll earn 25,750 miles, putting my total miles at 51,666. Because I’m going to purchase my stepson’s ticket too, I’ll need to wait 60 days from the closing date of my MasterCard, and then apply for a new MasterCard. Because 51,666 + 25,000 is only 76,666 (and I need 80,000), I’ll keep that card a little longer and charge an additional $2,584 beyond the $750.
• My husband will apply for a Citi AMEX within the next few days and earn 25,750, putting his total miles at 51,889. Because he only needs 40,000 miles for his ticket, he’s done.

Step 10: Buy Your Tickets!
American Airlines posts their tickets 329 days in advance (I’ve heard they usually start posting them around 2 a.m. Central and are done between 4-6 a.m. Central). Because frequent flier seats are limited, you’ll want to book early!

If you’re planning a more complicated trip, like an open-jaw European flight (arriving in one location, departing from another), it is probably well worth your money (and perhaps unavoidable) to order your tickets by phone for a $74 fee per ticket. Sorry, should I now change the title to “How to Fly to Europe for $74?” Only if you gift me some miles, you new frequent-flier master!

(This post was included in the Carnival of Personal Finance, hosted by Wide Open Wallet.)

Tags: AAdvantage, American Airlines, Citi AAdvantage, Europe, Free Flights, Frequent Flier Miles