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Deciding what to buy, when to buy it, how to pay, and whether it’s worth the price. Get more for every dollar you spend.
You can work out how much Halloween candy you need before you buy a single bag. Count the trick-or-treaters you expect and plan one or two pieces for each. Then buy bulk or store-brand bags in the last week of October, so the candy is still there on Halloween night.
Every Southwest credit card waives your first checked bag, so pick by the seat you want. Take the $99 Plus if the bag is enough, or the $149 Premier for a seat near the front and twice the anniversary points. Pay $229 for the Priority only to pick your seat at booking.
Get the Wells Fargo Active Cash® Card if you want one no-fee card for U.S. spending. It pays a flat 2% back, charges 0% interest for 12 months on purchases and qualifying balance transfers, and covers phone theft and damage when it pays your phone bill. Use another card abroad, where its 3% foreign transaction fee outweighs the 2%.
Get the Citi® / AAdvantage® Globe™ Mastercard® if you fly American with a companion at least once a year and would use its four yearly lounge passes. From the second year, its companion certificate lets that person join your domestic economy round trip for $99 plus taxes. For free checked bags alone, pick a cheaper American card.
Get the Choice Privileges® Select Mastercard® if you stay at Choice hotels such as Comfort Inn on regular trips and will spend your points on reward nights. Its 30,000 anniversary points covered two nights worth $178 at a Comfort Suites when we checked, $83 more than the $95 annual fee.
Get the Disney® Premier Visa® Card if you spend over $4,900 yearly on gas, groceries, dining, and Disney. It earns 1% more there than the no-fee Disney Visa, enough to pay the $49 fee. If Disney bills you $10 or more a month for streaming, choose the Disney Inspire, whose $10 monthly credit cuts its $149 fee to $29.
Get the no-annual-fee Disney® Visa® Card if you visit Disneyland or Walt Disney World, where it takes 10% off select merchandise and dining. Pay with it where those discounts apply, and put the rest of your spending on a flat 2% cash back card, which earns twice its 1% rewards.
Get the DoorDash Rewards Mastercard® if you order through DoorDash every week. It pays 4% back on those orders, includes a free year of DoorDash’s DashPass membership, and charges no annual fee. If you order only now and then, pick a no-fee card that pays 3% at grocery stores, where this one pays 2%.
Get the Carnival Rewards™ Mastercard® if you sail with Carnival every year or two. It has no annual fee, and its 3 points per dollar on Carnival purchases come on top of what Carnival Rewards pays, but the points work only with Carnival. If you cruise rarely or with other lines, choose a general travel card.
Get the no-annual-fee AAA Travel Advantage Visa Signature® Credit Card if you’re a AAA member who drives a lot. It pays 5% on your first $7,000 of gas a year and 3% on dining, travel, and supermarket groceries. Most other spending earns 1%, so if that’s where most of yours goes, a no-annual-fee card paying 2% on everything earns more.
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