Greetings Mustachians,
We're not working for the time being, so we're watching our pennies pretty closely. However, we still wanted to fund $2,000 to our son's Coverdell ESA at Vanguard. I started exploring for a way to fund his account without punching the clock, and I decided to target a few credit card cash back/bonus opportunities. Well, I'm happy to report that we've just about generated the $2k we were hoping for. Here's how we did it:
- Last year we got $150 in bank sign-up bonuses, so I rolled that money over to his ESA.
- One of my credit unions encouraged me to get a $100 credit if I spend $500 last Christmas. I promptly bought a $500 giftcard and used it to buy a $500 money order. Then, I paid off the bill. After fees, I netted $94 which I sent to the ESA.
- My wife and I opened 2 BoA credit cards that offered $100 credits after $500 spends. Done, netted $188.
- Next, we worked 2 AMX cards for $500 of credits.
- Finally, worked 2 CapOne cards for $1,100 of credits...still working on one, but almost done.
That's over $1,800 of found money that has been used for our son's education. Just thought I'd share. I'll do a full write up at my blog when it's done.
Frugal on all,
Ed