New Math

I have been playing the points game with a few of my "spending cards". I had only two small missions to complete:

1. Spend $951.00 in just under three weeks
2. Fill up with gas three times within a month

The rewards I will reap are:

1. A $20.00 credit on my credit card if I reach 2000 points
2. A bonus on my Air Miles equivalent to $10.00 if I make the third fill-up in time

Thirty dollars is my prize, if I manage to meet these deadlines. 

I have two days left to fulfill my third stop at the gas pumps and six days to spend $150. Thankfully, I can use my credit card to purchase my gas so that should knock down my need to spend by approximately $40 to $50. Whew!

Trying to rein in my spending has been like trying to hold water in my hands for oh, say about the past year or forever. Every time I thought I could count on a relatively predictable month, some unexpected expense would arise.

Then all of a sudden ... "this". A time of NO spending. I have tried. Oh, how I have tried!

First off, I booked a hotel room for an up and coming sibling gathering. I tried to pay for my brother's, only he had already paid for his room. I had the opportunity to pay for my sisters', but as this unfolded, I was knee deep in a "road trip" away from home. Followed by the need to rush home to prepare for and await the arrival of an out of town guest. It was not a day where I had the presence of mind to stop and think about reaping the rewards of spending.

My road trip would require a gas fill-up on our return to the city so I was eager to fill up at the gas station specified by Air Miles. Except ... the people who road along with me insisted on paying for the gas. So I stopped at Costco. It was on the way home, the price is normally about 4 cents per litre cheaper and I wasn't spending my own money. Rats!

Oh well, I would just pay for our gas using the credit card where I needed to spend $950. Except it didn't work. I must have forgotten the PIN, I thought. Double rats!!

Then I remembered I had a fairly extensive list (5 things) of items I wanted to purchase at Costco. You cannot walk out of Costco without spending double the amount you intend to spend. Right? Bonus! This would rack up my necessary spending, purchasing items I needed to buy. I went to pay with my credit card and THEN it hit me. "Do you accept VISA credit cards?", I asked. The answer was "no". THAT is why I couldn't pay for my gas with the card I needed to use to play my spending game.

I was so frustrated. That would have totalled $125 against my need-to-spend total. Instead, I had to use another credit card which (although I am rewarded for spending on it as well), didn't have a deadline to meet.

Oh well. Tomorrow was another day.

As I was driving to work, I heard that Michelle Obama was coming to town. Yes! I would buy two tickets and ask a friend to join me later. Except ... it would mean making arrangements to leave work early; drive to a venue I don't relish going to; then I finally asked a friend to join me and they were unable to go that day. So I talked myself out of it. Too much trouble. I googled what Michelle's platform was about and it didn't really sound like "my cup of tea".

I would live to spend another day.

The next day, I found myself with some hours to kill and it dawned on me that my spending dollars were doubled if I used my credit card at Amazon.ca. I had started the quest to purchase some jeans a few months prior but forgot to follow through; summer will eventually come and I wanted some capris; and there were a few books I had been lusting over for quite some time. My grand total was $102.07 (doubled, that added up to $204 to add onto my points, so I was starting to make some headway).

I like to have a pair of "back-up shoes" on hand (my feet are so finicky, I always buy the same shoes and panic a little bit when I don't have a spare set sitting in the closet). Of course the shoes came to $49.97 and shipping is free if you spend $50.00 or more at Walmart.ca. So I added some microwave popcorn to my order and called it good. I was inching closer to my spending goal.

A weekend or two worth of groceries, filling the gas tank a few more times and I should easily make the required spending limit.

Groceries - $102.72; gas; $46.99 ... I still had to spend $251.00 to reach my target.

Starting to panic, I thought "What can I buy that will not be wasted?" The rules to spending within my small little world, is that you don't "spend frivolously". Restaurant and take-out meals are considered "groceries" (aka: necessities) in my budgeting scheme. So ... I spent $100.00 in fast food gift cards. When you know the money will be spent sooner or later, it is not defined as wasteful (I can justify anything - just ask me).

This brings me to today.

I'm meeting my sister for supper tonight (on "me", so I can add it to my required spending) and as luck would have it, the gas station I must use to qualify for the third and final fill-up within the next two days is right beside the restaurant we are meeting at. One stop at a grocery store within the next six days and I do believe I should have spent all I need to spend.

All of this ... for $30.00 worth of free spending.

What lengths would YOU go to, to reap the rewards of the games we play to rack up the points on your spending cards?