@JASFLALMT wrote:
Look into credit card offers for cards with 0% interest for the first year or more and no annual fee. I got a BOA card last year that the promotion on just expired. I made extra large payments on it beginning in January and got it paid off before the deadline without paying any interest. I just got a new one with the same promotion through Chase.
@Flash wrote:
The notion of starting up a 'shop kitty' is really important. A little bit of your shop fee makes sense to contribute, but when you get back your reimbursements from previous shops, put them in the 'kitty' as well. I run a 'kitty' that is equivalent to about three months of reimbursements so that if there are opportunities, I don't need to be concerned about whether I will be reimbursed before payment of the credit card is due. When the 'kitty' gets larger than I need, the excess can be bled off to other purposes. When it needs to grow a little bit, I can return to putting part of the fees into it.
Of course there is always the concern that a shop may be rejected and the reimbursement be lost as well. The logical way to deal with this is do shops with companies that have low or no out of pocket expense until you know whether your relationship with them seems to work. Also don't lay out money for things you don't want, need or can use until you are comfortable working with the company.
@LIJake wrote:
Schylar, You've gotten some great free advice - start out with shops with no front money needed, set up a kitty, open a checking account just for shopping. I view this as a business and like any business start out capital is needed. I think the best kitty is a separate checking account. You can find no fee checking accounts with as little as $300. If you are a veteran there are banks that give special benefits. As suggested, bank shops are a great way to start with - no up front money and fairly easy. I personally stay away from using a credit card to cover shopping expenses but then I am not a big fan of credit cards with their interest rates over 10%.
@Tarantado wrote:
As long as you pay off the statement balance in full, no interest is accrued. When used correctly and efficiently, credit cards can only help us as a shopper and a consumer.
@Tarantado wrote:
When I get the energy back, maybe I submitted an article purely on that, if there's enough interest on the topic...
@sstazz wrote:
Anyone use gift cards while MS shopping? I come across a lot of slick deals that save 10-15%.