A couple of days ago I mindlessly opened two emails from Yazing, indicating they had $17.34 to each of our PayPal accounts. I mindlessly transferred the windfall into our checking accounts. It got me thinking about the ways we use our manufactured spending profits and it kind of disappointed me.
We are all of different ages, economic conditions, and levels of manufactured spending activity. I thought I’d start a conversation on how to “spice up” my manufactured spending game.
As with the deposits I mentioned above, we typically just put the money in our checking account, where it is mixed in with other income. There’s not much glamor or sense of accomplishment when that’s what we do time after time, after time.
I know some people can actually make a living doing manufactured spending and some have actually moved to more MS-friendly cities to make that livelihood happen. When you think about it, it’s not all that stressful and can be a decent wage per hour. My hats off to full-timers.
For me, at my advanced age, I have a hard time doing anything, with any sense of determination, for more than an hour or so. I can only make so many stops on an MS route before I’m tired of the game.
When the game changes, as it frequently does, with Dosh coming back to Sam’s and now Walgreens and 4X bonuses at Sam’s for Membership Rewards points as an example, I get a little charged up again. And when this SoFi referral chain hit, I was really charged up. But as we all know, if it’s good, its gonna end.
With this last bump in activity, I decided to dedicate my earnings to a frivolous venture. I dedicated my SoFi referral income and credit card sign-up cash bonuses to buying micro shares of thoroughbred racehorses. Now, understand, a .01% share of a racehorse sells for anywhere from $65 to $125. This is fun money for me and gives me an inside look into the world of horse racing. I do not expect to make a profit.
But what happened is it charged me up again. I had a goal when I went MS’ing or checking on my referrals. I was contributing to something measurable.
In the first half of the year, I listed every single SoFi referral dollar I earned by adding them to a sheet of lined paper. I listed the activity, amount of profit and did a running total. For sign-up miles, I typically add just the sign-up bonus amount with airline miles at 1 cent each and hotel points (primarily Hilton) at 0.4 cents each.
At the end of the six-month trial, it was gratifying to see I had accumulated about $12,000 of goodies. Split almost 50/50 between cash, miles and points. And I used some of the first half-year earnings to support my wife’s work at a free medical clinic by buying blood pressure cuffs and hand sanitizer for patients.
Maybe this just is a crazy old retired guy filling in time, but having a goal in mind, seems to help me hold my interest. Are any of you doing the same or similar?
Saving to buy something? Pay for a trip with miles and cash for the odds and ends? Earn a certain amount each month to ease the monthly budget? Covering your medical insurance or past medical bills or paying tuition?
I realize how lucky I am to be able to use my manufactured spending profits for a folly like this one. I’m sure it will change soon and we’ll be on to the next “plan of the day”
But I’d really like to know your goals and thought processes as you stand in that Walmart line or drive from grocery store to bank. Or maybe, better yet, run out to the mailbox to pick up the gift cards delivered from GiftcardMall or wherever.
We are a complicated group of people, motivated by a variety of factors. I laid my current goal out there for all to see. Anybody else suffer from the same pointless misdirection? Or have you all set your sights on a long -erm goal and can stay on task day in and day out?
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