Blog Money Whore

BzzAgent has an uncanny ability to pick out really relevant campaigns for me. The previous one I wrote about, the Claritin RediTabs BzzCampaign, was perfect for me, considering I already used them! Now, they’ve given me another really good one: The Plum Card(SM) by American Express OPEN. I finally formed my LLC this January and was in need of a business credit card. It was time to get those business purchases off of my personal credit cards! And just in the nick of time, BzzAgent signed me up for this campaign! I’ve already applied for and received a Plum Card and am racking up the purchases on it. The best part?

Apply for the new Plum card using this link and get $100 back when you spend $1000 by September 4, 2008!

Additionally, enjoy these benefits:

• Early Pay Discount: Get 2% cashback on >$5000 or get 1% cashback on ≤$5000 by paying your balance in full within 10 days of your statement.
• Defer Pay Option: Pay 10% of your balance and defer your payment without interest or finance charges for two months.
• Crazy Discounts: Some big names with great discounts like 5% off Courtyard, 3% off Delta, 5% off Fairfield Inn, 5% off FedEx and Kinko’s, 5% off Hertz, 3% off Hyatt, 3% off JetBlue, 5% off Springhill Suites, and more!
• No Pre-Set Limit: Seriously!
• First Year Fee-Free: After that, it’s $185/year

So far, I really like my new credit card and might even keep it after the first year. I really like how I can even donate to Kiva using the card via PayPal. The future annual fee kind of annoys me, but the benefits more than make up for it. Then again, I’m hoping I can convert it to a fee-free OPEN card once my first year’s up. I used to have another one that had pretty decent benefits, though it didn’t have the lovely plum color.

BTW, if you want to join BzzAgent, then just leave me a comment with your email address! Don’t worry. Your email address will be used only to invite you to BzzAgent and won’t ever be published, sold, etc.

Chances are you have at least one credit card and a giant pile of statements. If you’re like me, then you have something more like ten credit cards and a figurative pile of electronic statements. What do you do with all of them? You know that the proper thing to do is to check all your receipts each month and to save all your statements for the last seven years (the IRS can audit you for up to seven years). However, it’s a giant pain in the ass, and many people don’t bother.

I’ve read about and seen all sorts of credit card organization systems. However, none have ever worked as well for me as this one that I devised. Everyone’s different, though, so take what you need and forget the rest.

First, buy a 5″ x 8″ index card file. A cheap one from Staples is $4.48. I also got tab organizers, though simple index cards will do. Then, create a file for each credit card. I’ve also added all my bank accounts.

The index card file holds the actual credit cards (and ATM/debit cards) and all the associated receipts. If I buy anything in a store, then I always get a receipt and stick it in the file. As for, receipts for online purchases, save them in your email client using a similar directory structure as described below.

Next, on your computer, create a folder that mimics your card file, and inside each folder set up directories called “Statements” and “Payments”. All electronic documents from your credit card company go here. I then save the documents as PDFs with the naming convention year.month.day.pdf. Here’s an example directory structure for two credit cards:

• Money
  • Citi Diamond
    • Statements
      • 2007.12.21.pdf
      • 2008.01.21.pdf
      • 2008.02.21.pdf
    • Payments
      • 2007.12.24.pdf
      • 2008.01.12.pdf
      • 2008.02.23.pdf
    • Chase Visa
      • Statements
        • 2007.12.22.pdf
        • 2008.01.22.pdf
        • 2008.02.22.pdf
      • Payments

When I receive the statement from the credit card company, I immediately print or save as PDF and reconcile my receipts against my statements. If there’s a mistake (and I’ve caught them before!), then I contact the company and get it fixed immediately. Otherwise, I feel free to shred my receipts, though I generally save them anyway. Of course, definitely save anything you need for your taxes.

If I need to make a payment (I generally don’t as I’ve set up autopay for just about everything), then I print out the electronic receipt as a PDF and save it in the Payments folder.

The one question I suspect you may have is: how do you print as PDF? Well, most credit card companies offer the ability to download statements as PDFs. If yours doesn’t or you need to print electronic receipts as PDFs, then you need software like PrimoPDF for Windows. If you’re using a Mac, then just print like normal, except click “Save as PDF” rather than “Print”. And if you’re using some other OS, then chances are you can figure it out for yourself!

And there you have it! A simple way to organize your credit cards!

These days a number of business services offer free health insurance as well as other deals like home insurance. Of course all this is not mentioned on their business cards.