One of the questions I get most often is “how do you meet the minimum spend on all those cards?” My first answer is “have a five year old.” Just after that is “put all of your spend on your credit cards.” Anything you can charge (cell phone, groceries, childcare, insurance, etc.) should be charged, and debit cards should only be used to get cash out of ATM’s. Lastly, I encourage people to get creative. Sometimes there are ways to spend more money without actually spending any money. This is called “manufactured spend” or MS. I don’t engage in high volumes of MS, just dabble here and there, especially when it can be profitable as well. Yes, you can occasionally make money by spending money. I won’t get super deep into this, but there are resources out there for people who want to learn more.
Today I’m going to introduce a program that I’ve been using for a few weeks, Rebatest.com. Rebatest is a product trial website. They have specific products that they offer 100% cash back if you complete their review process. Basically, you sign-up (if you use my link we both will receive $5 after your first completed review), pick one of their products, get approved, purchase the product and complete your review. Seven days later they will send you 100% back via paypal (unfortunately, paypal charges a 4.4% fee plus 30 cents per withdrawal to receive your money). Even though I just started I am averaging over $200 in products a week. This makes a serious dent in any minimum required spend. If you order products you want and/or need you can think of it as a 95.6% discount. Once you factor in the value of the points you will come out way ahead. You could also pick and choose products you think you’ll be able to resell and come out way ahead (and now you’re operating a business, so get those Chase Ink Cards!).
There are a lot of junk or overpriced products, but there are a few gems. We’ve gotten our son a few toys, multiple electronic/cell phone accessories, and even some clothes. So far we have actually come out about $10 ahead (without counting referrals), plus we get to keep all the junk stuff. You can get bonus money by either referring new members or by meeting certain benchmarks of reviews during specific periods (currently $30 for doing 20 reviews). My biggest bonus was purchasing a power bank that had a 20% off offer on amazon. Rebatest does not take into account these promos when calculating your cash back, this allowed me to make $10 and get a 20,000mAh power bank!
If you’re looking for a way to slightly increase your spending, without actually increasing your spending, Rebatest.com could be for you. It’s also great if you just want some free or greatly reduced stuff. Just understand the risk of floating anyone your money and don’t spend more than you could afford to lose if things went belly up.