Weekend Spending

If you haven't read my intro yet, you will soon learn that I travel, a lot. Therefore, my weekend spending stats will usually be a bit high, as I don't have access to the "free" food and amenities in my apartment.

Beginning with Friday night:

*Gift purchased for best friend's birthday: $76

*Tickets to Billy Joel's Shea Stadium closing concert: FREE!
(They were a gift!! An amazing gift, and we got to see Paul McCartney sneak onto the stage for the encore!! Paul performed at the first ever show at Shea with the Beatles, and so it was only fitting that he appear at the last)

*LIRR tickets to/from Shea, two beers, and a water: BF ("B") paid, probably $35

*Cab from Penn to my apt. at 1am: $15 w/tip

Saturday:

*Cab BACK to Penn at 6:30am: $15 w/tip

*Two AMTRAK train tickets to Washington D.C.: $168

*Two Krispy Kreme donuts and a water at Penn Station (my favorite thing about taking morning trains) : $4

*Two 1-day passes on the D.C. Metro: $15.60

*Lunch: FREE thanks to my best friend and her fiance, who packed us lunches

*Admission to National Archives and Portrait Gallery Museums: FREE!

*Dinner at Mexican tapas-style restaurant including two beers, for two, w/tip: $62
(On a side note, you'll be happy to know that one of our friends took the time to figure out the bill for seven people, rather than split it seven ways. Even though I may have had more than my fair share of guac ;) See J. Money's post on splitting checks- I got lucky, even though the check-tackler spent 15 minutes determining everyone's share)

*Two tickets to D.C. United soccer game: $84

*Drinks at the United game: $6.50 for my beer, and who knows how many B had.

Sunday:
*Newly acquired Costco card: FREE w/Dad's Business Membership (the most exciting acquisition of the weekend!!!! I love COSTCO!!!)

*Flintstones Vitamins and Neutrogena Sunscreen at Costco: $26

*North Face tight-rolling, low-temperature sleeping bag for the camping trips B wants to take, and small sleeping pad: FREE! w/ Dad's Bass Pro credit card reward points. Retail: $125

*Three tickets to watch the Baltimore Orioles lose to the Tigers: FREE w/ Dad's season tickets

*Crabcake, diet coke, and water at the stadium: $20.75 (They serve crabcakes at Camden Yards now!! I'm also in trouble b/c I didn't share it with B, oops)

*Two AMTRAK tickets back to NYC: FREE w/the reward points from my Amtrak Mastercard (~$200 value)

*Chinese take-out for two upon getting home: $32

Yikes. Including travel (half of which was free!) and not including the free items I got at Bass Pro and the Oriole's tix compliments of my dad, the two of us, together, spent over $500. No wonder my savings account is growing so slowly. But, I insist on traveling to be with the people I love (I was primarily visiting my two best friends who both had birthdays this past week).

A few notes on some of the expenditures:

I usually take the subway to reasonable destinations from my apartment, but if it's really late at night or super early in the morning, I usually splurge on a cab to be safe, and to save precious sleep time. I live a good 8-10 minute walk from the subway, so when you add in the time spent waiting for trains or transfers, I can easily save 30-40 minutes by spending $10. I tend to value the cost of my time, since I work such long hours and don't have too much time for myself in the first place.

Bass Pro: my dad's obsession... has been paying off for me lately, too. My dad has a Bass Pro credit card, and he uses it to make many of the purchases he needs for his office, which is sometimes upward of $100k for fancy equipment. I think he earns 1% towards purchases at the store (and 4% on purchases made IN the store), which translates to thousands of dollars in credit at Bass Pro. I think he's saving up for a boat or some other pricey purchase, but it's going to take him a while if he keeps taking me there to go shopping! He is very generous with his points and I think it makes him happy when I find something there that I need. On my last trip I got a pair of hard-soled hiking boots that I really needed, an air mattress w/ portable pump, and some North Face hiking pants... FREE! And then just yesterday I scored the sleeping bag I would need to go hiking/camping at Lake Placid later this summer. Every year he takes me there onChristmas Eve and basically tells me to get whatever I want... haha... and that's about all I'll get. At least he's found a reward program that works for him.

Speaking of reward programs, B and I were able to travel from Baltimore to New York for free because of all my spending on my Amtrak Guest Rewards Mastercard. I also have a Discover Card that I like to use for 5% cash-back categories, but I think I get great bang for my buck earning Amtrak tickets, because they're not cheap!

*Average cost of my Amtrak tickets: $100 (usually purchased last minute)
*Dollars spent to earn the ticket: $3000 (translates into 3,000 points, plus I earn some extra points by shopping online through their website)
*Approximate return on spending: 3.3%! Score! Now I don't feel bad about waiting until the last minute to get tickets.

I've found it really hard lately to use the flight rewards I've earned directly from the airlines (as opposed to earning them on a credit card). For example, I took advantage of some Jet Blue promotions and I fly them a lot in general, so I've earned a few free tickets, but while planning my trip to San Francisco for a wedding, I discovered that they are not as easy to use as they used to be. Thus, I'm happy with my Amtrak rewards because they're straightforward and easy to redeem, even though there are some holiday black-outs.

I'm curious- what credit card reward programs do YOU find useful? Do you stick with cash back?