Last week was probably big for most of you. The Simon Mall $1,000 Visa gift card promo started and while we’ve established that it’s not the cheapest way to earn points and miles, it’s certainly faster than GiftCardMall. Raise your hand if you like buying Visa gift cards in $1500 increments, waiting 1-2 weeks for them to arrive, then liquidating them in four transactions via Walmart money orders. Let the record reflect zero.
I wasn’t able to make it to Simon Mall right away since my local customer service center closes at 6 PM. I commute an hour out of town and would not have made it in time.
When I finally went out there on Sunday, I learned that my Simon Mall had extended its hours on two days of the week to 9 PM. That’s great news because it adds an extra $48,000 worth of spending I can do during the week.
Everything considered, it was a pretty good week for me. I earned 27,725 points and miles along with $188.17 cash back.
Cash Back
I was so relieved to finally make it to Simon Mall on Saturday, two days into the $1,000 Visa gift card promotion. I made up for lost time and picked up $24,000 worth of Visa gift cards.
My Fidelity Rewards card got declined, so I paid for the entire purchase with two Discover It Miles cards. I paid $94.80 in fees and earned $361.42 cash back. Total profit? $266.62.
Liquidation time has been significantly reduced since the 4-card swipe restriction means I can now liquidate $4,000 per transaction instead of $2,000.
Cash Back earned: $361.42
Fees: $94.80
Total profit: $266.62
Chase Ultimate Rewards
I’m still not meeting my target $5,000 spending goal on the Chase Ink Plus card, but I’m trying. Last week, I placed a $1800 Visa gift card order through Staples.com that earned me 9,272 points at $53.70.
At one point I stopped by an actual Staples store and picked up a $200 Visa gift card for an additional 1,000 points. These cards carry a $6.95 fee but I earned $5 cash back from Dosh. I’d like to make this a regular occurrence since Staples is so close to the Simon Mall customer service center.
Aside from putting the Ink Plus to use, I also placed three $1500 GiftCardMall orders using the Chase Freedom Unlimited. After fees, I earned about 6,380 points at a cost of $8.55.
Points earned: 17,103
Fees: $114.20
Cash back: $50
Total cost: $64.20
Citi ThankYou Points
I can always put Citi ThankYou points to good use. At the moment, I’m trying to earn more of them for either a Lifemiles or Flying Blue promo award. I placed two GiftCardMall orders totaling $3,035.70 last week. The total cost after BeFrugal cash back came to $5.70.
Points earned: 3,035
Fees: $35.70
BeFrugal cash back: $30
Total cost: $5.70
Korean SkyPass
I’m making steady progress on my SkyPass miles goal. This week, I placed a single $1517.85 order through GiftCardMall.
Points earned: 1517
Fees: $17.85
BeFrugal cash back: $15
Total cost: $2.85
Marriott Rewards
Two $1517.85 Visa gift card orders through GiftCardMall earned me 6,070 points for $5.70 out of pocket. What can you do with those points? Nothing, yet. But if I keep accruing Marriott points at this cost, I can get a top-tier award night for practically nothing.
For example, a standard award at a Category 8 hotel costs 85,000 points. To earn that many points, I’ll end up spending less than $80 on gift card fees.
Points earned: 6,070
Fees: $35.70
BeFrugal cash back: $30
Total cost: $5.70
How many points and miles did you earn last week via manufactured spending??
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