I love credit cards so much! v3.0 (see first page for add'l details)

[Limes96]

Our DLP refund posted yesterday! That means I’m completely finished with our Europe trip cancellations. I feel so happy and relieved to have it done. Also grateful to not have taken any losses - of money OR points. It’s sad to not be going of course (today would have been our departure date) but I’ve been over the mourning period for quite a while now.

 

[WVMomof3]

We are getting ready to make around a $500 purchase at Home Depot. Any tricks to getting deals there? The only thing I can think of is using pay with ibotta to get 2% cash back for buying a gift card to use through them. We are also ordering online, so will go through a portal if available. Thanks!

Looks like Top Cashback is 8% at Home Depot right now.

 

[thevalley]

We are getting ready to make around a $500 purchase at Home Depot. Any tricks to getting deals there? The only thing I can think of is using pay with ibotta to get 2% cash back for buying a gift card to use through them. We are also ordering online, so will go through a portal if available. Thanks!

Could you use a freedom or CSR card to buy gift cards at the grocery store for the extra UR? Or could you us a cic card to buy gift cards at staples. Assuming you have one of those cards and want more UR. Or use a aspire card for gift cards at the grocery store for Hilton points. Not sure if your local grocery store sells HD gift cards. Also, look at eBay for 10% off coupons to purchase. Some sellers will email the coupons for immediate use.

 

[DaveL]

The amex plat has price protection right? The kindle I bought on the 12th for 89 is now on sale for 59. This is something I can submit somehow right? Both through amazon. I've never used it on any of my cards that offered it.

ETA Nevermind, it doesn't have it. I thought I'd read that it did. Oh well...

Most cards have removed this as far as I know due to abuse. Was used a lot to take advantage of price errors in the old FatWallet days.

 

[*WDW*Groupie*]

How long total will you be gone? Are you planning on seeing all the main attractions in Shanghai, Beijing, Hong Kong and Tokyo in addition to the parks?

There is so much history in Beijing I'd allow at least 5 nights there; Shanghai is amazing and the food is wonderful, but you could maybe get away with 3 days + 1 or 2 days for the park. What about Xi'an? Hong Kong I'd allow at a minimum 2 days + 1 day for the park. Japan there is so much to do that you could do 2 weeks there alone + 3 days for the parks. Walking-wise it would be even for me as I like to leave the hotel room in the morning, come back before dinner to change and not come back again until bedtime. I remember in Disney Sea there was a day when we walked 25,000 steps (a lot of back and forth across the park for FPs). Shanghai Disney we had a VIP guide so we were able to make our way across the park in 1 direction, with a few quick double backs for 2 additional trips on Tron. The day we were in Hong Kong Disney it wasn't busy at all (it was humid and raining), so it was easy to cover the park in 1 day. Now if Disney would just open a park in Australia we would have a reason to go back .

I am from a big city, but the sheer size of Tokyo was shocking to me. You really need a few days just to see the sites of Tokyo using public transit (which is extremely efficient). I'm no help at all. I would need at least 2 weeks just in Japan. Hopefully some others can offer better advice.

It'll be about 2 weeks total, the nights for each are already figured out, it's just the order I'm working on. Like I said, we're just doing those couple of things in Beijing, it's a complete add on simply because we're already there so took a day away from somewhere else.

I also imagine we'll spend more time in the parks in shanghai and hong kong than we do outside of it as that's our main reason for going. There's definitely things we want to see and will do a day to a day and a half outside the parks in each. Tokyo is a wee split between the parks and the city.

We had planned just a week for Japan but when we realized how close everything is it made sense to add another week. And honestly if I was going to add more time to the trip it would be another night in Okinawa or time to go to hakone or other parts of northern japan.

We've got plenty of things to see and the number of days at each worked out, just trying to figure out which way it makes sense to do. They all have public transit but I also know with the parks we'll be walking much more at TDL than the other parks.

For comparison we spent 4 nights at DLP and 3 nights in Paris, though that was partly due to the deal we got but we also spent more time in the parks there than most people do.

If your time is going centered around the parks, then I would go to the farthest point first and work your way back. I find that the anticipation of the trip helps me deal with the length of the flight. Going home after an amazing time the flight always seems longer. Also if you can get an overnight flight home that should almost squash any jetlag. I found that coming back from Japan was probably the hardest jetleg I've dealt with (waking up for the day at 3:30am or 4:00am for close to a week). Totally worth it though -- LOVED Japan and LOVED the Tokyo parks (Disney Sea is my favorite of all the parks).

 

[punkin]

Our DLP refund posted yesterday! That means I’m completely finished with our Europe trip cancellations. I feel so happy and relieved to have it done. Also grateful to not have taken any losses - of money OR points. It’s sad to not be going of course (today would have been our departure date) but I’ve been over the mourning period for quite a while now.

I still haven't canceled. I have hopes for end of August, but they're fading fast.

 

[DisneyMandC]

After logging into my AA account this weekend and seeing that our flights to Japan in June were gone (not that we were going anyways), I called AA and found out they canceled the flights and didn't refund anything because "we don't refund any miles or cash unless you call." Uhhhh. Okay.

So after getting all our miles back in our accounts, I rebooked our flights to Osaka for next April! We were originally going to fly into Tokyo, spend a few days there, take the bullet train and stay in Osaka for a few days, and then go back to Tokyo to do Disney and then fly home. We will now fly straight to Osaka instead and then go to Tokyo. I previously had first class JAL from JFK to HND. We are now flying JAL business RIC-DFW-HND-ITM. Yes, it is longer, but honestly it will work out better for our trip overall. Also, I won't have to pay for positioning flights to JFK now. So I got 40k miles back in my account by switching from first to business as well. I am still hoping to book JAL first class for our return flight so we can experience it. They're not showing any JAL flights on our planned return home date right now, but I'm going to keep an eye on things. There is AA first class available for 70k miles.

 

[ski_mom]

Looks like Top Cashback is 8% at Home Depot right now.

Thanks! I've never used Top Cashback, but they often have higher payouts than ebates, so I might signup for an account with them to get the higher cashback.

Could you use a freedom or CSR card to buy gift cards at the grocery store for the extra UR? Or could you us a cic card to buy gift cards at staples. Assuming you have one of those cards and want more UR. Or use a aspire card for gift cards at the grocery store for Hilton points. Not sure if your local grocery store sells HD gift cards. Also, look at eBay for 10% off coupons to purchase. Some sellers will email the coupons for immediate use.

That's a good idea. I'll have to see if my local grocery store carries them. We are about 30 minutes from an office supply store (Office Depot), so with everything going on, we aren't in that area at all right now. Hopefully the grocery store will have them and I can get some UR points.

 

[danceintherain]

We had a SNOO and ended up returning it. We were too worried it would be hard to wean him. We only used it for one nap and when we turned it off he was instantly upset. I’m not sure it would’ve helped with his gas anyway. He was sleeping really well in his crib and bassinet until his gas got worse recently

It’s been a rough day at our house today . Elliott threw up twice in a row after being bottle fed breastmilk. He’s never thrown up before and it was A LOT of vomit. Dh was holding him upright when it happened. Then he spit up a bunch about two hours later. This was the first time he’s ever spit up too. He doesn’t have a fever or anything and he’s sleeping fine now. There hasn’t been excessive crying either. He seems pretty happy most of the time. The pediatrician said it’s normal but it’s hard to watch a one month old baby vomit and spit up so much on top of the gas he’s already dealing with

He actually was eating more a few days ago and has slowed way down the last couple of days. He was eating 3-4 ounces before and wanting more after but we didn’t want to give him too much. This time he only had 2.5 oz when he threw up. Now we’re only giving him an ounce every hour to try and spread it out more

We have an appointment on Wednesday so we’ll see what the pediatrician says. Last time she kind of brushed off the issues we described. This time I’m not gonna leave without a better solution. She’s a great doctor and very nice but she keeps saying everything is normal. I feel like there’s something we can do besides holding him all day. The swing sometimes helps him but he isn’t supposed to sleep in that

It does sound like he has reflux or possibly even GERD. GERD babies don't always spit up a lot. They often swallow it back down, before it comes out. Does he make a gurgling sound or choke a lot? It's possible that he's been swallowing it back down thus far, and now is the first time it's coming out. Is the milk you're using freshly pumped, or has it been stored for a length of time?
Some babies do end up needing to be held more than others. Do you have a carrier/wrap?

It's a bummer that the Snoo didn't work for you. It took over a week for me to feel completely comfortable. We were almost to the month point, when I felt it was truly working well enough to be worth the money. Even if my little guy doesn't wean well, he will be old enough at that point that most of the SIDS risk is gone, which opens up more options for sleeping comfortably.

My boss bought a snoo for her daughter two years ago. Honestly I don’t know if it helped or not but the baby was a miserable sleeper, even with the snoo.

That's a bummer. I was super scared that this little guy wouldn't sleep well. My oldest didn't sleep well as a baby, but I didn't have other kids to contend with. Now, the first 3 apparently schedule "pistols at dawn!" every day.

If your time is going centered around the parks, then I would go to the farthest point first and work your way back. I find that the anticipation of the trip helps me deal with the length of the flight. Going home after an amazing time the flight always seems longer. Also if you can get an overnight flight home that should almost squash any jetlag. I found that coming back from Japan was probably the hardest jetleg I've dealt with (waking up for the day at 3:30am or 4:00am for close to a week). Totally worth it though -- LOVED Japan and LOVED the Tokyo parks (Disney Sea is my favorite of all the parks).

I agree with this advice. Having a layover on the way home is harder from an emotional standpoint.

 

[danceintherain]

After logging into my AA account this weekend and seeing that our flights to Japan in June were gone (not that we were going anyways), I called AA and found out they canceled the flights and didn't refund anything because "we don't refund any miles or cash unless you call." Uhhhh. Okay.

So after getting all our miles back in our accounts, I rebooked our flights to Osaka for next April! We were originally going to fly into Tokyo, spend a few days there, take the bullet train and stay in Osaka for a few days, and then go back to Tokyo to do Disney and then fly home. We will now fly straight to Osaka instead and then go to Tokyo. I previously had first class JAL from JFK to HND. We are now flying JAL business RIC-DFW-HND-ITM. Yes, it is longer, but honestly it will work out better for our trip overall. Also, I won't have to pay for positioning flights to JFK now. So I got 40k miles back in my account by switching from first to business as well. I am still hoping to book JAL first class for our return flight so we can experience it. They're not showing any JAL flights on our planned return home date right now, but I'm going to keep an eye on things. There is AA first class available for 70k miles.

April is a lovely time in Asia. Better than June, IMO. I'm stoked for you.

 

[afan]

Thanks! I've never used Top Cashback, but they often have higher payouts than ebates, so I might signup for an account with them to get the higher cashback.



That's a good idea. I'll have to see if my local grocery store carries them. We are about 30 minutes from an office supply store (Office Depot), so with everything going on, we aren't in that area at all right now. Hopefully the grocery store will have them and I can get some UR points.

Not sure what you're buying, but with a $500 purchase you also want to consider any warranty protection your credit card provides that a gift card doesnt.

 

[reliev]

Yeah, I know that it's good practice and I do regularly put spend on my other cards. I'm just annoyed that CapOne didn't and still hasn't contacted me about closing the WM card. If I didn't have alerts set up with the credit bureaus, I wouldn't even know that the card was closed. I do have a banking relationship with them and another cc, so it's not like they couldn't reach me. I understand getting rid of underused accounts, but it seems like poor business practice to close accounts without notifying the account holder.

agreed tbh I think it's a bot or algorithm, I do a $5 amazon charge it seems like under 5$ doesn't show a balance due. I also have been reading about people getting their CL slashed that hasn't happened to me.

 

[Oscar Madison]

t mobile?

ATT

 

[Albort]

ATT

oh, idk about ATT. i just know Tmobile cards can be drained to checking account.

 

[Oscar Madison]

oh, idk about ATT. i just know Tmobile cards can be drained to checking account.

Oh, I thought you were asking what service I changed from to go to VZ. I received $1500 in prepaid MC gift cards from VZ for switching to them.

 

[Albort]

Oh, I thought you were asking what service I changed from to go to VZ. I received $1500 in prepaid MC gift cards from VZ for switching to them.

i think Verizon cards can be drained to checking account too.

 

[Oscar Madison]

i think Verizon cards can be drained to checking account too.

Do you know how I would do that? Thanks

 

[Albort]

Do you know how I would do that? Thanks

somewhere in the menus, there is a section that has something about withdrawing. im not 100% sure if it works with Verizon anymore, but u can look around.
Tmobile
Verizon

 

[Oscar Madison]

somewhere in the menus, there is a section that has something about withdrawing. im not 100% sure if it works with Verizon anymore, but u can look around.
Tmobile
Verizon

Thanks!

 

[CaliforniaGirl09]

If your time is going centered around the parks, then I would go to the farthest point first and work your way back. I find that the anticipation of the trip helps me deal with the length of the flight. Going home after an amazing time the flight always seems longer. Also if you can get an overnight flight home that should almost squash any jetlag. I found that coming back from Japan was probably the hardest jetleg I've dealt with (waking up for the day at 3:30am or 4:00am for close to a week). Totally worth it though -- LOVED Japan and LOVED the Tokyo parks (Disney Sea is my favorite of all the parks).

I second this advice. Also second Tokyo Sea being favorite park. We've visited all the Disney Parks, and I think it's the universal favorite among the family. It's just so different. Love the China parks, too, though