I had a long week. I’ve been feeling pretty burned out lately working full time and trying to keep up with blogging, my editing side gig, manufactured spending, travel planning, and just breathing. It’s been tough but I have a strategy for adjusting to this new pace: Powering through it and scheduling a panic attack for when I’m less busy. Then rescheduling it repeatedly until it loses its urgency and drops off my radar. Procrastination is a useful skill when it comes to stress management.
While it’s easy for me to drop things like my MS routine when I’m swamped, I know that if I don’t hold myself accountable I’ll stop doing it entirely, get lazy and lose my rhythm. Right now, I’m trying to treat all of my responsibilities like an actual job. Writing this weekly post helps me do that.
Anyway, I did manage to do over $15,000 worth of manufactured spending and earn 18,167 points at a total cost of $71.70. Granted, 4553 of those points are Hilton points, but all points are valuable to me.
After the GiftCardMall hack, I took a break from buying Visa gift cards from the site. I wanted to avoid another onslaught of fraudulent charges, especially since GCM hadn’t acknowledged the hack. Well, I finally got a letter in the mail last week so I felt much better about resuming my gift card buying routine with GiftCardMall. That being said, I will absolutely continue to keep a close eye on my statement for fraudulent charges.
American AAdvantage Miles
I placed two Visa gift card orders through GiftCardMall on my Citi AAdvantage Platinum Card. Just the usual $1,517.85 a piece, which earned me over 3,000 miles for $5.70.5.7
Points earned: 3,035 AAdvantage miles
Fees: $35.70
BeFrugal cash back: $30
Total cost: $5.70
Citi ThankYou Points
I placed two GiftCardMall orders for $1517.85 each on the Citi Prestige Card, earning 3,035 points. With the Citi ThankYou 25% transfer bonus to FlyingBlue, I want to put a lot more spend on this card before the promotion ends on July 20.
It’s just a matter of making time for it.
Points earned: 3,035
Fees: $35.70
BeFrugal cash back: $30
Total cost: $5.70
Chase Ultimate Rewards
I had some free time to go on a money order run, which meant I needed some Visa gift cards stat. My only option was to stop by Simon Mall. Luckily, they’re running their $1 off promotion through the end of June, so I got to save a little on my purchase.
In total, I bought $7,500 worth of Visa gift cards. Of that amount, $6,000 was charged to the Chase Sapphire Preferred.
Points Earned: 6,000
Fees: $35.40
Hilton Honors Points
At this point, the Hilton Honors Aspire Card is an afterthought. I’m keeping it for all the great travel benefits, so getting my money’s worth via points earned isn’t a concern. Plus, I find that redeeming cash back equivalents for Hilton nights is often a better value than using Honors points.
Every once in a while I’ll put a GCM order on it when my other cards or maxed out or I want to give my balance a boost. I like getting those Award Wallet balance increase notifications.
The $1517.85 order will earn me about 4,553 Hilton points. People like to knock Hilton, but I stand by my assessment that it’s one of the best hotel rewards programs for earning free nights.
Points Earned: 4,553 Hilton points
Fees: $17.85
BeFrugal cash back: $15
Total cost: $2.85
Korean SkyPass
On that impromptu Simon Mall trip, I charged the remaining $1,544.25 to my Korean SkyPass card. I only have a $2,000 limit on that card and U.S. Bank is being super stingy and refusing to increase it. So 1,544 Korean Skypass miles is kind of a haul for me…
Points Earned: 1,544
Fees: $8.85
Total Points Earned
In total, I earned 18,167 points on $15,132 worth of manufactured spending. My out of pocket cost including gift card ($58.50) and money order fees ($13.20) will be $71.70. I’m pretty happy with this number, considering I wasn’t able to use cash back portals for all purchases.
How many points and miles were you able to earn via manufactured spending last week?
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I thought giftcardmall had a fraud issue. Has that been resolved?
Yes! I forgot to mention it (updating the post) but they finally sent out letters in the mail acknowledging the hack and claiming they’ve taken steps to prevent future hacks.
Are you able to use AMEX for gift card purchases and earn points? I have the AMEX Bonvoy Brilliant card.
Not at Simon Mall.
It’s easy to buy but how do you get rid of these Visa cards?
It’s mentioned in the post. Money orders.
Ariana….paying $71.71 for a measly 18,167K points tells me you are off your game.
yah if you down to 18k a week costing $71 it really doesnt seem worth the effort.
Why buy them with the CSP? Surely, you have a Freedom Unlimited that would have given you 50% more points…
I do that occasionally when my CFU is maxed out. It only has like a $4,000 limit so that happens pretty quickly.
Fair. I’ll do better this week. 🙂
Can you use AmEx on GCM and earn points too?
Yes. As long as you’re past MSR period.
Thank you
Thanks for sharing the letter. I still have not received one.
It should have gone out way earlier (in email format, at least), but I guess this is the best they can do.
Travel is for White People only ya dirty sand nigger indian
Careful. I might find out who you are, have a little chat with your boss and then your sad, pointless life will get more interesting than you ever imagined.
What the hell are wrong with people and there racist hateful crap, it’s 2019 haven’t we moved past all this shit.
Did some digging recently and I’m 99% sure this (and other comments like it) are from my ex brother-in-law, being his classiest self.
It seems like you have never travel then, travelers are never this ignorant 😉
Hi, Ariana, do you have/do you know where I can find a list for banks that will take MoneyGram Money order brought from Walmart? I try to do mobile deposit, but many banks don’t take it.
I can deposit Moneygram MO’s through the Citibank app, but I think I read on this site that Citibank will shut you down if you get over zealous. I have on problem depositing Western Union MO’s through my main bank’s app, but it won’t take Moneygram MO’s. I think it might be because the Western Union MO’s look more like a check(?). In my area the Western Union MO’s at my grocery store are cheaper (78¢) than WMT anyway and a whole lot less hassle than going to WMT.
I don’t have a list, unfortunately. In the past, I’ve had varying luck doing mobile deposit with Bofa. Now I use WF and just deposit them at the ATM.
Am I missing something? I can’t find pages about what you do with all the cards / money orders you buy. I saw that newbie articles about MS from 2014… and about buying all these different things. But then cashing them out? Not seeing that.
You buy MO’s with the VGC’s and then deposit the MO’s into your bank account to pay off the credit card.
At least, for a small player like me ($10,000 – $15,000 per month) that’s how I do it.