No. There is no "couch potato manufactured spend." It's work. It can be a little work, depending on options available to you, or it can be a lot of work, depending on those same options and how far you are willing to take it.
Also bear in mind that most effective MS methods have some incremental cost associated with them (activation fees, card purchase or reload fees, etc) so it is absolutely critical that you are getting more points or cash back per dollar of spend than you are putting in.
If you don't want to spend the money required on the redbird, and the ensuing work going to/from Target frequently enough to make it worth it, MS is not for you. Redbird is about as easy as it gets.