Christmas on Credit...

Yes, I used credit cards to pay for Christmas gifts this season. However, as soon as a payment scheduled for 1/08 posts to my Amazon Visa, Christmas will be paid off!

I won't use cash -- I like the benefits of rewards and purchase protection, plus I don't like carrying  a lot of cash. But I also will not have paid a cent of interest on Christmas. On the plus side, I also pre-emptively paid for Feb's flight to Oahu out of my Cancun funds, which I used less than one third.

I think this is closing out 2008 on a good note. Happy Holidays!

Christmas Shopping: The Start

I'm in awe of those who are done, I just started today and that was by accident. I'm going to follow my model of how I shopped last year as I kept it reasonable and was happy with the results. My guidelines:

• Nothing wrong with window shopping. There are some things you don't know exist to look up on line and others that you need to see/touch/feel in order to get a good idea of before purchasing.
• I jot notes while shopping so I remember the title of to look it up online to see if there is a better price to be found. I also use it to jot down where I found the item in the first place in case the local price was better.
• My favorite price comparison tool: Google Shopping, which I just searched for a DVD I'd found in a local shop today. I knew the price in the store wasn't competitive, but I wasn't sure that Amazon's was the best either. Turns out it wasn't, by far.
• Also need to keep in mind Rewards. I have an Amazon Visa that gets me 3 Amazon Rewards points per $1 spent at Amazon. I got the card for the original $30 cash back and I don't shop Amazon enough. In two+ years of having the card, I still haven't gotten enough points for the $25 Amazon gift certificate so this card doesn't really pay off for me. Related issues for me: my American Airlines Visa gives me miles and I find those more valuable, however that card's annual fee is soon to hit, so I won't renew it. I may begin to use the Amazon card more often if I don't replace the AA Visa with something else, however I don't see this card ever getting much use as compared with my primary card, the SPG Amex, which wins hands down.
• Don't over spend. Yeah, this one is going to be the challenge because I haven't set a budget. That said, I don't have too many people I buy for. Mom, brohter, grandma, three friends and a couple miscellaneous i.e. work and an as-yet undetermined white elephant exchange.  We'll see.

Citibank Ultimate Savings Account

Meant to mention this in the last post. I know the Ultimate Savings Account is old news, but I was behind in my reading and didn't know about it until I got the invite from Citibank last week. Most of my emergency fund is in my Citibank E-Savings account, which I opened in late 2005/early 2006 when the rate was about 5%. Of course it had fallen but I hadn't had the time or energy to bank shop and deal with moving it. I like the convenience of everything in one place. I kept the old money market account, linked to my checking, open with $1 in it per their policy.  Now the same thing is about to be with the e-savings. I moved the vast majority to the Ultimate Savings Account and in the four days before the month closed, I earned $3 in interest. I like free money.

I'm also doing my end of the year chasing. Time to close my Citi AA Visa as the annual fee is due and it's not worth $85 to me to keep it open. I don't use it enough. I have the Chase Amazon Visa to use as a backup for places that don't take Amazon... and it's free.