Double dipping for points, miles, and cash back

As you know, I love getting rewarded cash back, points, and miles for all my regular spending.  Whenever I make a purchase, I always make sure to use the appropriate credit card which earns the highest amount of cash back, points, or miles on the particular purchase. 

Today I will talk about double dipping.  And no, I’m not referring to dipping your chicken nuggets more than one time into that delicious sweet and sour sauce!

Double dipping is when you earn extra rewards on top of your normal rewards with each purchase you make.

Checkpoints review: earning points for airline miles (and more)

For the last month, I’ve been experimenting and playing with an app called Checkpoints.  Checkpoints is a very easy to use app where users can earn “checkpoints” to redeem for real prizes.  

I've been earning checkpoints everyday and I am currently using them to redeem for American Airlines AAdvantage frequent flyer miles, which I earn in increments of 500 miles for 3,750 checkpoints.  In one month's time, I have been able to earn 1,000 AAdvantage miles.

Bumpage: bumping off hard inquiries from your credit report

EDIT:  BUMPAGE NO LONGER WORKS FOR EQUIFAX OR TRANSUNION.

I recently "bumped" my Equifax credit score up into the 800+ range. Did you know that you can bump off hard inquiries from your credit report to raise your credit score?  It's a little known, very mysterious process called bumpage, also known as B*.  I will try to explain it in detail in this article.

To understand how bumpage works, first we need to talk about the difference between a hard inquiry and a soft inquiry.

1% at a time

I have previously written about the importance of making regular contributions into your retirement account(s), such as your 401K.

I have also written about the importance of keeping your intentions realistic in order to achieve real change and steady improvement.

  

How many people do you know who go on drastic diets... then end up gaining more weight?  The same applies to your finances.  

Cutting everything out of your budget by depriving yourself will almost always cause you to revert back to your old spending habits.

Real permanent change: whether it's in your health or in your finances, takes time.