Come Sale Away

Greatest cover song ever.

Wouldn't it be nice if everything was on sale?  Well, there is a way.  It may not be 50% off, but a sale is a sale.  WARNING:  This method is for disciplined people only.  If you are questioning whether or not you are disciplined, RUN from your computer.  Or just skip this post and come back tomorrow, that works too, but it's a lot less dramatic and therefore less fun.  SO RUN.

Alright, now that we have disciplined-only readers, I'll tell you how you can make every purchase into  a sale.  All you have to do is buy something, that's it.  The key is how you pay for it.  In order to make it a sale, you'll need a rewards credit card.  Hence, the need for you to be disciplined.  In case you didn't notice, disciplined is sort of the theme here.  If you can manage to only buy what you can afford and pay off the full balance every month then this might be for you.  If not, RUN.  I guess RUN is another theme we have going here.

Anyway, back to the rewards credit cards.  My weapons of choice for making sales are the no-annual-fee 2% cash rewards American Express and 1.5% cash rewards VISA.  Now, I know what you're thinking, there's X card out there that gives you 5% on travel, restaurants and puppies.  However,  puppy purchases may only get you 5% back in January thru March, and you have a big puppy expense in August, so no 5% for you.  I'm not into that.  I don't want to have 10 different cards and need to sign up for the newest categories in order to get the highest rewards rate every month.  I just want to know what percent I'm getting all the time on every purchase.  So why do I have two cards?  It's simple, not everyone accepts American Express.  With these two Fidelity cards, my rules are easy.  1) Put everything I possibly can on them.  2) Use the American Express if possible, otherwise use the VISA.  3) Pay the full balance every month.  4) Get free money.  Mrs. K and I have received between $500 and $1,000 in cash rewards each year we've had these cards.  Sold?  

Plus, you no longer need $2,500 to open a Fidelity brokerage account to link to your credit cards for rewards depositing.  You can simply open a no minimum, no fee Cash Management Account, think free online checking account.  By simply opening this account and signing up for the cash rewards cards, everything you buy can be on sale for 1.5% to 2% off.

What rewards card do you have and why did you choose it?  Do you use different cards depending on the circumstance?