{"id":318,"date":"2021-05-08T16:09:06","date_gmt":"2021-05-08T06:09:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/richysfinances.wordpress.com\/?page_id=318"},"modified":"2023-01-03T05:11:31","modified_gmt":"2023-01-02T19:11:31","slug":"what-i-use","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/richysmoneytips.com\/index.php\/what-i-use\/","title":{"rendered":"What I Use"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>This page goes over the various accounts that I personally use. My goal is to make it as optimal as possible but by no means does it mean that it&#8217;s already there. Feel free to use some or all of the same accounts and if you have any suggestions, please send me a message <a href=\"https:\/\/richysmoneytips.com\/index.php\/contact-form\/\" title=\"Contact Form\">here<\/a> or use the contact form in the sidebar and I will continue to update this page.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Transacting<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>When making a transaction, I try and get the most out of my money and here are all of the services I use to do so:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Crypto.com Visa card<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Discounted store gift cards<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Discounted Eftpos and Visa\/Mastercard gift cards<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>High sign-up bonus points credit card (this changes regularly)<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Eatclub<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>TheFork<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Liven<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><em>Any other service when they have a cashback promotion better than one<\/em> of the above payment methods<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>I always ensure my Crypto.com card has prepaid funds and I only make the transfer when I can make profit on the exchange. This happens when the exchange rate between AUD and SGD falls after the Mastercard rate has been set for the day which I check <a href=\"https:\/\/www.xe.com\/currencycharts\/?from=AUD&amp;to=SGD&amp;view=1D\">here<\/a> and I can check the purchase price from my Up card <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mastercard.us\/en-us\/personal\/get-support\/convert-currency.html\">here<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I try to regularly sign up for as many high sign-up bonus points credit cards as I can to meet the minimum spends and then cancel the card once I get the bonus points. I&#8217;m generally able to get around 3-4 cards throughout per year. When I have a credit card sign-up offer then I will use the card for all purchases until I meet the minimum spend (and purchase additional gift cards [usually WISH cards] to meet the minimum if I&#8217;m not yet close. As soon as I have met the criteria for the bonus spend then I will stop using the credit card and only use my Crypto.com card as the 3% cashback is many times higher than the 1 &#8211; 1.5 Qantas points earn rate of credit cards. If the Crypto.com card doesn&#8217;t work for whatever reason, then I used my Bundll card to earn velocity points, and then pay that off with another points earning credit card.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I always ensure that I have enough discounted gift cards for my on-going expenses, that is WISH gift cards for Woolworths and Caltex (at <a href=\"https:\/\/www.macquarie.com.au\/digital-banking\/marketplace.html\">Macquarie Marketplace<\/a>), and Coles gift cards (at <a href=\"https:\/\/rewards.racq.com.au\/\">RACQ<\/a>) as they can be purchased at a discount. I purchase the gift cards with my best rewards card.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I try to get Eftpos and Visa\/Mastercard gift cards whenever Woolworths or Coles have an offer (either bonus points or a discount) and I purchase the gift cards with my best rewards card. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>When I want to purchase something online, I&#8217;ll see if the store offers gift cards at a discount as most large retailers do. If they do, then I&#8217;ll buy the highest denomination below the cost of what I want to buy to ensure that none of it goes to waste (spending $90 on a $100 gift card to buy something worth $50 still leaves you $90 out of pocket with a $50 item) unless I&#8217;m likely to shop at the store again soon and can use the remainder of the gift card (which I do at eBay and Amazon). I purchase the gift card with my best rewards card.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Generally I avoid eating out but if it&#8217;s a special occasion or I want to eat out, I&#8217;ll check Eatclub, Liven and TheFork for any discounts at a place I might want to eat and pay with my best rewards card. Sometimes restaurants have cash discounts and\/or card surcharges but I will still use my card unless the discount and\/or surcharge make cash 3% better value or more.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Storing Funds (savings)<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>These are the services I use to try and get the most out of my money instead of having it sitting and doing nothing:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.boq.com.au\/personal\/banking\/savings-and-term-deposits\/future-saver\" title=\"\">Bank of Queensland Future Saver Account<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.boq.com.au\/personal\/banking\/transaction-accounts\/everyday-account\" title=\"\">(with BoQ Everyday Account)<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/crypto.com\/earn\">Crypto.com Earn<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/crypto.com\/exchange\/supercharger\">Crypto.com Supercharger<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.selfwealth.com.au\">Selfwealth<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>I keep my emergency funds in my BoQ account as it has the highest interest (3%). At the beginning of every month I use Beemit to do 5 transfers from my BoQ account to another one and transfer out $1000, then transfer it all back in order to be eligible for the bonus interest. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>When I want to increase my index fund holdings, I purchase them through Selfwealth with a flat $9.50 brokerage fee.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>If I want to retain AUD but earn high interest, I would usually have it in an earn term with Crypto.com.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The bonus CRO and Visa card cashback CRO go into the Crypto.com Supercharger to earn some other cryptocurrency that I will usually hold.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Ongoing Expenses<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Groceries<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>I generally go to the local grocer when they have good deals for fresh produce. I also look at the Coles and Woolworths weekly catalogues and from there, decide which one to visit for the week. If something I really like is at half price then I will usually buy a few in bulk to last until the next cycle where it&#8217;s half price again.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>At the beginning of the week, I cook all of my lunches and what I eat throughout the week is based on what was cheap at the shops during the week. A lot of the time it&#8217;s just pasta.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I scan my rewards card every time I can which means my offers usually become out of reach however I just leave them and don&#8217;t spend more for the sake of reaching them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I usually have had a Woolworths SIM in the past and this provides a 10% discount on groceries once per month so if I plan on doing a big purchase, I will try and align the purchase with the discount.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Phone Plan<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>I switch providers every month and usually alternate between an Amaysim 28-day deal with cashback through Cashrewards and a Woolworths 30-day plan to get 10% off my first Woolworths shop. If there is another good option (usually from Catch or Kogan) for a month then I might go with one of those. With all this, I average around $3.50 &#8211; $4 per month for a plan that has sufficient data (5GB+ per month) and unlimited national calls and texts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.cashrewards.com.au\/amaysim-mobile\">https:\/\/www.cashrewards.com.au\/amaysim-mobile<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.cashrewards.com.au\/woolworths-mobile\">https:\/\/www.cashrewards.com.au\/woolworths-mobile<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Fuel<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>I usually fill up at Woolworths Caltex as it comes out to be the cheapest option with my 4c Woolworths voucher and discounted WISH gift cards.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I live in Brisbane where the fuel cycle seems to be roughly every 4-5 weeks and I track the prices with <a href=\"https:\/\/petrolspy.com.au\/\">PetrolSpy<\/a>. I fill up at the start of the bottom of the cycle (which usually lasts a week) and then around the end of the cycle once some stations have already jacked up the prices, I can usually find a 7-11 nearby to lock the low price for another week. I top up again at 7-11 just before the lock expires which should be enough to last me until the end of the new cycle where I repeat it all again.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>This page goes over the various accounts that I personally use. My goal is to make it as optimal as possible but by no means does it mean that it&#8217;s already there. Feel free to use some or all of the same accounts and if you have any suggestions, please&#8230;<\/p>\n<div class=\"more-link-wrapper\"><a class=\"more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/richysmoneytips.com\/index.php\/what-i-use\/\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\">What I Use<\/span><\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-318","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry","entry"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/richysmoneytips.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/318","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/richysmoneytips.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/richysmoneytips.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/richysmoneytips.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/richysmoneytips.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=318"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/richysmoneytips.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/318\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":774,"href":"https:\/\/richysmoneytips.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/318\/revisions\/774"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/richysmoneytips.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=318"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}