I’ve been getting requests from people asking me to do a year-end tally of my manufactured spending activity. I’ve been sharing weekly manufactured spending reports for a few years now, though I haven’t been super consistent in 2019. In fact, I counted just 14 reports this year.
I haven’t been prioritizing manufactured spending this year and it definitely shows. Between my job (which I left in August), freelance writing gigs and other stuff I’m working on, I cut back significantly. So how many points, miles, and cash back rewards did I earn via manufactured spending this year? Drumroll…..
247,631 points and $1,994.14 cash back
Most of these rewards were earned via Visa gift cards purchased from GiftCardMall, Simon Mall and Staples. Below is a break-down of my earnings:
- 49,595 AAdvantage miles.
- 11,914 Amex Membership Rewards points.
- 99,674 Chase Ultimate Rewards points.
- 28,889 Citi ThankYou points.
- 9,106 Hilton Honors points.
- 25,838 Korean Skypass miles.
- 19,730 Marriott points.
- 2,885 Radisson points.
- $2,479.27 cash back – $485.13 cost = $1,994.14 cash back profit.
Reflecting on my 2019 manufactured spending activity
I know, that’s practically nothing. In years past, I easily earned a million miles and points per year and here I am with just under 250,000 points. If I’d made more of an effort to max out the 5x category on my Chase Ink Plus card, I would have at least doubled that number. But I didn’t have a lot of time to spend so all things considered, I did ok.
The Simon Mall $1,000 Visa gift cards made gift card churning fast and easy. They’re not the cheapest way to manufacture spend, which cut down on my cash back profits. But ultimately they saved me time, so I will continue to incorporate them into my MS routine.
My 2020 manufactured spending plans
I recently spoke with Jon and Ben at No Mas Coach and they wanted to know how many points I had across all rewards accounts. According to Award Wallet, it’s 977,329. When they told me about their 7-figure points stash, I just about fell out of my chair. And now I want to step up my game.
Starting around March, I’ll have more time on my hands and want to get serious about retail arbitrage. I also have a fun product idea that I think can really take off on Etsy. If it does, it could help me rack up a lot of points quickly. Fingers crossed.
I want manufactured spending to be fun and while my current routine is easy and gives me a good return on my investment, it’s not scalable. Mainly because if I did scale up, I would be totally miserable. So I’ve resolved to make better use of credit card category bonuses and diversify how I earn points. Because if there is one thing I want to avoid, it’s monotony. And Walmart.
2019 manufactured spending reports
If you want a more detailed account of how I earned my points and miles in 2019, check out the reports below:
- March 11 manufactured spending: 37,659 points and $102.70 cash profit.
- March 19 manufactured spending report: 12,141 points and $16.11 cash back.
- My Month In Manufactured Spending: March 2019.
- May 6 manufactured spending report: 26,145 points + $4.84 cash back.
- May 13 manufactured spending report: 60,530 points for $213.23.
- June 17 manufactured spending report: 4,200 points and $314.69 cash back.
- June 25 manufactured spending report: 18,167 points at a cost of $71.70.
- July 2 manufactured spending report: 41,499 points + $35.88 cash back.
- July 22 manufactured spending: 27,725 points + $188.17 cash back.
- July 30 manufactured spending: 2,068 points and $374.19 cash back.
- August 15 manufactured spending report: $394.95 cash back and 614 points.
- December 16 manufactured spending report: 38,615 points and $87.30.
Your turn
How many points, miles and cash back rewards have you earned this year via manufactured spending?
I see you earned almost as many points with Korean as Thank You points… do you have any particular plans for using Korean, especially before their awards go up?
You’re only 23k from having 7 figures.
224,578 Chase Ultimate Rewards earned through OD/Staples, Simon Mall, Giftcard Mall and Giftcards.com
150,600 American Airlines AAdvantage Miles earned through Simon Mall and Giftcards.com (through the AAdvantage eShopping Portal for 2X miles per dollar using a Citi AAdvantage card)
190,000 Chase Ultimate Rewards earned through SUBs
150,000 Hilton Honors points earned through SUBs
These amounts are just what I have records for since June 2019. I was buying VGCs at OD/Staples each month they had sales since January but was not keeping track of the purchases. All of the Chase Ultimate Rewards and American Airlines AAdvantage MIles figures are from Visa Gift Card purchases.
In addition, I pay 6 mortgages through Plastiq (I almost always have promo offers for 1% or !.5% fees plus FFDs) with a Barclay Aviator Silver card to earn AAdvantage Miles.
I also max out the 5X Chase Freedom categories when possible, earn 3X on travel purchases and dining with my Chase Sapphire Reserve card, max out the 5X and 2X Chase Ink Cash categories and use my CFU for everything else in life.
Thanks for your inspiration, Ariana!
I think I’m more impressed with the almost $2K in cash back than with the points total.
Impressive. Is the Simon mall $1K gc Permanent now? Or expiration date of 1K per card promotion? Also is Citibank working at simon portal now? Haven’t done it for a couple of years.
Going to catch up cuz going to travel a lot in 2020. Tokyo for Olympic, UAE for expo and NYE for Sydney. AA miles is my best bet. JAL, EY and QF. I don’t have AS card.
Thank you guys for any insights. Happy new year everyone.
Pretty much. They told me it would be ongoing “for the foreseeable future.” Travel plans sound great – happy near year to you too!
im new to ms. i want to do my first ms
what website u recommend to buy gift cards?
and im using chase saphire p
and money order how it work?
Does manufacturing credit card spend at giftcards. Com still work with chase cards.