Most of you already know by now, but my wife delivered a beautiful baby girl on Thursday of last week. Little Macie has made a splash in our lives, and we’re so excited to welcome her to the clan. Pictures are to come.
Along with a new baby comes expenses. Lots of them. We wanted to be sure that we took advantage of the big upfront expenses to meet some of the spending requirements on our new credit cards. If you need help, here are 22 credit card expenses that you might not have known could be put on a credit card.
We were in store for an App-O-Rama because our last one came in February, and there are a lot of great cards out there. Here is what we went for:
| Card | Bonus | Spend Req | Time | Why |
| Barclaycard Arrival Plus World MasterCard | $440 | $3,000 | 3 Months | Ummm. $440 |
| Barclaycard US Airways Mastercard | 35,000 | $1 | First Purchase | Merging with AA |
| Gold Delta SkyMiles® Credit Card from American Express |
30,000 | $1000 | 3 Months | Flies out of hometown |
| Citi® Platinum Select® / AAdvantage® World MasterCard® | 40,000 | $3,000 | 4 Months | Europe/ Reduced Mileage Awards |
You can see that the focus was on acquiring airline miles in this App-O-Rama. Now that our son turned 2, we’re going to be needing a lot more frequent flyer miles than we did before, so I’m working on a stockpile of them. Let’s review each of them:
App O Rama Card 1: BarclayCard Arrival
When was the last time someone said that for an hour of your time you could earn $440? Unless you’re earning $1,276,200($440/hour X 2880 hours per year) or more per year, this is worth your time. Here are some of the best uses for the BarclayCard Arrival.
The flexibility of this card is what makes it sexy. It can be used for so many great things. You also need to check out this post that goes over more reasons to get the Barclaycard Arrival.
App O Rama Card 2: US Airways Mastercard
This card is still pending approval. Barclaycard has tightened up a bit from their Approval-Happy status to a more conservative approach. That’s a bummer for me, but I’m still pretty sure that she’ll get approved. If not, you know I’ll be calling the reconsideration line to let-em have it!
This card offers 35,000 Dividend miles, which will soon become AAdvantage miles. It really makes sense to me to get this card while it is still available. It limits your inquiries with Citi and Experian, and puts them with Barclaycard and TransUnion. It really makes sense to get this one while it is still available. You’ve probably got another year of eligibility on this, and the bonus could increase, but I just figured I wouldn’t chance it.
They also offer a $99 companion ticket for up to 2 companions with this card to anywhere in the lower 48 with some restricted dates. Right now I’m looking at heading to the East Coast in Septemeber, and it would be nice to bring along the family for $200. It really makes sense paying for the first ticket to save so much on the rest of the family.
This card compliments the rest of the cards because there is no minimum spending requirement. Your first purchase brings in the miles, so you can get more miles without having to spend too much.
App-O-Rama Card 3: Delta Gold
There are some good reasons for this card.
- Delta flies out of Idaho Falls = Not a 3 hour drive before and after any trip -dead sexy.
- You can get the bonus every 13 months with this card, so it is “churnable” on an annual basis.
- Free checked bags are worth big $$ these days. You can save a ton when using this to check your bags.
- Rumors say that Delta might change their award chart to look more like the one of British Airways.
App-O-Rama Card 4: Citi AAdvantage
Brad just did a post that made me salivate. He talked about taking a trip to Europe with AA miles between October and May for only 40k AAdvantage miles. That sounds very attractive to me. He gave the instructions on how to book a 40k American Airlines AAdvantage award to Europe, too.
I’ve already got 80k AAdvantage in the tank for myself and our 2 year old boy Max. Now, with this card, my wife might be able to join us on the trip.
You can also use these AAdvantage awards for the Reduced Mileage Awards to specific places in the US and Canada for only 17,500 AAdvantage miles round trip instead of requiring the full 25,000. You’ll also save when you check a bag because this card will waive the ridiculous $25 baggage fee.
Successful App-O-Rama
Don’t just jump right in and start your WorldWanderlusting career with 4 cards at once… give it a try with the card that makes the most sense, and work your way into it. Once you feel comfortable, the App O Rama is the way to go. I’ve got to pay the hospital a ton of money, but might as well combine that with some huge sign-on bonuses. It makes spending the money on the baby that much easier.Have you done an App-O-Rama? How did it work for you?
Question about churning cards you already have (As mentioned with the Delta Gold). Do you have to cancel the old card first? Just curious because I recently hit my annual fee (which I was able to get a statement credit for by calling in) on the American Airline cards I double-dipped on in July 2012, but don’t know if I need to cancel these or not in order to apply for the AA cards again and get a bonus again (I think these have like an 18-24 month before approved again waiting period or something like that). Just curious on whether or not I’ll have to call and cancel those AA cards before applying again to get the bonus.
@Royce- Sorry for the horrific delay. Life with two children has really cramped my available time. We still want to be here as your resource, so thanks for your patience.
Each card is going to be different when it comes to getting double of the same card. As a general rule:
Chase-Single Bonus-
Amex Delta- Can double dip. Here is their quote:
Citi AA-I have no personal experience here, but as I understand it you’ll be eligible for the double dip after the 18 month minimum from your last approval. It seems like Citi is happy to give you the statement credit each year, and you can keep their card in perpetuity, which is great for strengthening your credit on the basis of your average length of credit history. I think you can keep the first card open and still get approved for the bonus on the second. Keep in mind that the card you probably have is their platinum Visa card, and this is a MasterCard that gives 40k now. Totally different card. Back in the day people were getting two of these in one day, and getting the bonus on both of them. Wow. Those were the days.
Hopefully that answered your question. Let me know if you’ve got anymore.
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