In January I completed the $400 bonus on the Dodge card. This was a targeted offer that came in my email. I’m not likely to ever use one of the perks–a discount on a new Dodge because I always buy used–but there’s no annual fee so I’ll keep this card. A big downside with it is the $25 minimum to cash out so I’ll likely end up with some orphaned points there. Right now I have 1,134 points after getting the $400 statement credit.
I also got approved for a new Hilton Surpass card from American Express. I had this one a few years ago, but I didn’t get a message about not being eligible for the bonus so I’m hoping the 155,000 points post without issue. I started off with 114,579 from previous card spend and stays, so the new bonus combined with those should give me enough for a weekend at the Hotel del Coranado. Over the last two months, I’ve earned 5,046 points. This card seems worth hanging onto now that it has a quarterly $50 Hilton credit. I already tested it at a nearby Hilton restaurant and it posted.
Across other cards, I didn’t earn too many points as I’m trying to save up to hit some bank bonuses (I earned $325 from the Citi checking bonus and just signed up for Bask Bank’s $300 checking bonus and earned $100 for February; the rest will be in March and April). I got 12,077 in Ultimate Rewards, 8,234 in Thank You Points, 4,277 Membership Rewards, 1,029 Marriott points, and 243 American Airlines points. I also added $52.79 in Discover cash back though for this I paid $19.90 in fees for rent.
In non-credit card points, the last of the prepaid MasterCards from the no alcohol purchase required rebates came in and totaled $32. From Amazon Shopper Panel, I got $2.65 in January and $3.30 in February. Other Amazon gift cards came from FocusGroups for $25, another $25 from Well onTarget, and Microsoft Rewards for $10. Each month I did the discounted $25 prepaid MasterCard from Swagbucks which I turned into Uber cash since I had a few trips I took. I had some cash redemptions as well with $36.71 from Rakuten, $15 from InBoxDollars, and $5 each from Swagbucks and Checkpoints.
As for my trips, I went to Disneyland at the end of January for the RunDisney 5k. These were the last runs at the park until renovations are complete and I’m so glad I went because it was tons of fun. I’m strongly considering doing one at Disney World. I stayed at the Anaheim Desert Inn and Suites using the $300 hotel credit from my Citi Strata Elite card to cover most of the two night stay.
In February I made a trip home and then went to San Diego to see the Broadway version of Beetlejuice. Amazing performance and I really scored a good deal on this trip using the Live Nation credit from the Citi Strate Elite for the ticket and paying for most of my stay at the US Grant with the $300 American Express Fine Hotels and Resorts credit from one of my Platinum cards. As part of that, I had $100 for general dining and $75 for breakfast. Additionally there were some Resy restaurants nearby and I used my Platinum card there to get part of the quarterly $100 credit. For both California trips I used Southwest credits from the Platinum cards (and may I just say I am not a fan of Southwest’s new policies) and for the trip home I paid cash on American, but did get $50 off since my Marriott card had an offer.
