I got my last two approvals so am happy to report that Katy and I went a combined 8 for 8 with our May credit card applications.

My two browser trick with Citi paid off with approvals on the Citi AA Visa and Amex card, one with an $8,000 credit line and the other with $15,000 (who can figure).  At 50,000 miles per approval from an old link my AA balance will soon be approaching 700,000 AA miles.

My other two approvals were the Chase INK BOLD which I really do need for my business of blogging.  I can write off my phone, Internet expenses, and at 5 points per dollar having them on my old SPG card just didn’t make any sense anymore.  My other card was the Chase Fairmont card which Katy and I each got for a total of a four night freebie with the two reward nights each per approval.  Katy additionally picked up the Citi Hilton Visa, Amex Hilton card, and the Virgin Atlantic card which she will transfer into Hilton Honors points.

Now comes the record keeping and meeting the minimum spends.  Although none of them are huge in this round of applications, when I activate the cards I always reconfirm the bonus amount and required minimum spend and allotted time period.  I haven’t missed one yet with my system, but at 61 the old ”forgetter” is working at full speed and I need to keep track.

Thanks to all of you that have purchased the Frugal Travel Guy Handbook in the last six months; I will knock off the majority of that spend by making my profits donation to the Wounded Warriors Project from sales of the book.  The royalty is actually pretty good and I give all profits to the Wounded Warriors.  If you are new to the hobby and want to take a learning curve shortcut, it only takes about five hours to read the handbook either available in paperback or Kindle version from a link on the upper left hand column of the blog.  You save time.  The Wounded Warriors get a donation and I get to meet my card minimum spends.  Thanks for considering it.

I’ll also cash out my Kiva.org account then reload it with my new credit cards to meet more of the spend requirements of this series of applications.  Some will say it is unfair to charge Kiva for the new funding but what the heck, we are all still helping the cause at about 98 cents on the dollar.  I urge you all to consider using Kiva as a method of meeting your spends.  You are loaning money to people interest free in developing nations, to move their businesses to a higher level.  The loan amounts can be as little as $25 and I personally have never not had a loan repaid in full.

All in all a good day here at the Frugal Travel Guy house.  The applications worked, we’ve got miles in the bank and growing and the next adventure is soon to come.  Remember these two things: Your credit is one of your most important assets; You can see the world at prices we all can afford.