Oregon

InTheTrees

Is the drought affecting Arizona much?

Wompa1

InTheTrees wrote: »

Is the drought affecting Arizona much?

No, not at all. Even people in America think Arizona must charge a fortune for water. It's actually pretty cheap. I just got a water bill for 2 months. It cost $25.

The water is plentiful, a bunch of states in the west and south west share the same water source. The Colorado river. California uses it as a source too but they go through their share of the water very quickly.

One problem in the desert is the 'hard water'. If you go away for a few days and come back you'll see a rusty ring in your toilet. All water has to be treated for consumption. But it's fine for showering, watering grass and all of the junk

lil_lisa

Wompa1 wrote: »

I just got a water bill for 2 months. It cost $25.

Ours just came in at $180 for the last 2 months and that's only that low because we've turned off our sprinklers and are trying to be as conservative with water as possible.

Dave1442397

I've been here 25 years and would never go back to live in Ireland.

We were back for a few weeks in August, and I found it very crowded and expensive.

This part of the country is expensive in some ways, such as property tax on houses, but for schools and entertainment it's great.

Wompa1

Dave1442397 wrote: »

I've been here 25 years and would never go back to live in Ireland.

We were back for a few weeks in August, and I found it very crowded and expensive.

This part of the country is expensive in some ways, such as property tax on houses, but for schools and entertainment it's great.

Where in Ireland were you, that you think it's crowded?

I grew up in the west, so maybe it's a bit different to where you were. If I was to move back there, I'd pick Clare, Mayo or somewhere in Galway to live. That's part of the reason, I was thinking about the North West of the US. Lots of wilderness and smaller towns.

I've found that the US is only slightly cheaper overall. The differences on paper don't live up.

My income tax, both state and federal together for my first year was somewhat low, I was expecting it to be lower but it was explained to me that you get screwed if you're single...which seems to be the case for me. I've estimated that I'm paying around 36-38% tax on my income. I'm making above average pay but not enough that paying so much doesn't hurt me considerably. And that's after my tax return, I've put my with-holding up, in hopes to get money back and not owe anything..

Healthcare costs is no contest. We can say what we want about the quality of care in Ireland but it's at least more humane and affordable for all.

Certain electronics. This one really suprised me but video games and games consoles are more expensive here! Laptops were more expensive when I first moved here, it looks like they are falling more in line with Europe. What I don't really understand is we pay 21% VAT at home, here I pay 7% sales tax, you'd think the prices would vary largely and they don't seem to.

Cable and Internet Possibly the biggest rip off in the US. I saw that the communication companies in the US have the 2nd largest lobbying power in Washington after the Defense contractors and it shows. They carve up the country and each gets ownership of a region and overcharge for a crappy service. Nothing but re-runs on TV. The internet is the equivelant of Irish cities about 6 years ago! And you'll pay 100+. They also try to bundle a phone in with it, you set the f'kin thing up and then get harassed by telemarkters. I had to just put my landline in a box, the calls were such a nuisance

Food. You have incredible variety here for eating out. When you go to Target, Walmart, Frys etc. at first you're delighted with how cheap meat is. Then you cook it and realize the damn thing is two or three times the size of our chicken..even the ones that are labelled as Organic here..I don't know how they get away with it. If you want proper, good quality meat, with the same standards for processing as Ireland, you'll pay just as much as back home in a butchers. If you go to Tesco or Dunnes in Ireland you can get a 3 for deal for 9.99 and the quality is fine, it's not poison, like WalMart and Target..So, I'd give Ireland the nod for that.

Fruit & Vegetables. This is one my Fiance from the US noticed in Ireland..I guess I don't eat much in the way of fruits and vegetables. She said our grocery store prices for fruits and vegetables are much, much lower than here. Where we are, if you want reasonably priced fruit you need to go to a Ranch Market.

Petrol. No doubt it's cheaper in the US but there's a catch for me at least and where I'm living. Most of the jobs here are in the 'cities' aroud the Metro area. The more affordable apartments and homes are 15+ miles from the cities. Your commute tends to be long and traffic blows. I end up spending twice as much a week on petrol here, as I did in Ireland, even after the huge price difference.

Car Tax. I paid almost $700 for 2 years of Car tax. Back in Ireland, my yearly car tax for the same car is 150 euro.

College. Forget about it!!

Rent. Rent is more expensive here than it was in Ireland (anywhere outside of Dublin) but I must admit, the quality of accomodation is much higher here. Unfortunately, furnished apartments are more rare than a Unicorn so there's added expense with getting setup AND moving. The nasty little secret here when renting is that landlords and management companies up your rent every year when you try to renew. They know what a pain in the ass it is it move here and think you'll just accept it.

Entertainment Going to the movies is a lot more expensive here. Where I am, there's a lot less good quality FREE live music but you do get a great variety of bigger bands to pick from. There's always something on, though. Gambling is a strange one here...for a country that champions their freedoms, it's really restricted when it comes to gambling. Where I live there's around 7 casinos and more being built but some don't have dice games, there's no sports betting. Obviously, online gambling was made illegal here too...it seems so strange. Any a-hole can buy a gun and hop in the back of a pick truck going down a highway at 65mph...no problem. But you better not play online poker!

On top of all of that, over here we have very little in the way of employee rights (unless you live in California). I live in a right to work state. The treatment of some of my colleagues has been disgusting. One of my friends got fired and died shortly afterwards. He had to sell his car and other belongings to help pay for his treatment. That just wouldn't happen in Ireland.

Homelessness here is shocking and the way the homeless are stigmatized is awful.

Minimum wage workers are considered second class citizens.

Violent crime scares the bejaysus out of me. It's rampant. A guy was shot and killed half a mile from my apartment last week. That's one of many. I read apartment ratings for a place I was interested in moving to. Honest to God. The review said Pros and had a list of things, one of which said there's a small convenience store in the complex then in the Cons: Crime is really bad. An old lady who worked in the convenience store was opening up one morning and was shot and killed by one of the residents...

Advertising is really doing my head in. I went to La Jolla for a weekend and was out in a remote part away from the roads, shops etc. I'm enjoying the view and then a plane with a Geico banner comes flying overhead. It's pretty much impossible to escape advertising

I really struggle with it over here at times. It's tough to look past a lot of the flaws. In Ireland, we progressed as a nation. It seems like here, bar a few states like California, Washington and Oregon. They have not progressed at the same rate.

iusedtoknow

Wompa1 wrote: »

<snipping your post>

So our situation is kinda different as we moved to the US from Spain, rather than Ireland but our findings are kind of different

Rent: WAAAAAY more expensive than Ireland/Spain - we pay $3000 for a 2 bedroom house in San Francisco. But, the difference is amazing for what you get - fully refurbished to a very high standard - energy efficient and walking distance to a lot of organic fruit veg stores. In Spain if we rented a house, it would be in an estate, would cost the same and would have to drive everywhere

food: good quality organic fruit and meat is expensive but worth it. When we first moved we went to safeway to stock up on things and thought we'd try the steak. Big mistake and never ever again. It was horrific. We now get all of our meat/fish/veg at a local butcher and it worth the cost - it currently accounts for 2/3 of our food budget. Trader Joes meat is actually pretty good as well, but stay away from their fruit/veg unless you want an infestation of fruit flies

Eating out is cheap as hell, despite the tips - though with the minimum wage being $12, more and more places are going with service charge up front which is great

taxes ugh. Off both our paychecks we lose around 1/3 for state/federal and ss. We filed a few weeks ago, got a refund from federal but owned $$$ to state for some reason. We are generally around 25% in federal every year

healthcare we pay $300 a month, but have a low co-pay/detuctable. We insisted on the top tier despite the fact that we are healthy, just for peace of mind sake. My wife works in the medical system - it's flawed but top quality - at least her hospital is (teaching/research)

lack of social care awful. There are around 8000 homeless in SF. A lot have mental health issues that make a lot of downtown a no go area (tenderloin, mid market) . The city pores millions in every year but it just seems to get worse.

Gas we have a car but mostly use it for the weekend. My wife can walk to her work and my company have a corporate bus that I take to/from the office when I need to go in. The public transit in SF is creaking but functional. Most offices downtown are financial services and tech startups - if you live in the city and work in tech, your company usually provides transport to/from silicon valley.

Internet/cable we get 100mbs with comcast, and our entire package is $150 a month, we have cable so we can watch european soccer - if we didn't watch that, we'd just have internet

All in all, it is still cheaper here (via the ratio of our salaries vs cost of living) than europe ever was for us.

Wompa1

iusedtoknow wrote: »

So our situation is kinda different as we moved to the US from Spain, rather than Ireland but our findings are kind of different

Rent: WAAAAAY more expensive than Ireland/Spain - we pay $3000 for a 2 bedroom house in San Francisco. But, the difference is amazing for what you get - fully refurbished to a very high standard - energy efficient and walking distance to a lot of organic fruit veg stores. In Spain if we rented a house, it would be in an estate, would cost the same and would have to drive everywhere

food: good quality organic fruit and meat is expensive but worth it. When we first moved we went to safeway to stock up on things and thought we'd try the steak. Big mistake and never ever again. It was horrific. We now get all of our meat/fish/veg at a local butcher and it worth the cost - it currently accounts for 2/3 of our food budget. Trader Joes meat is actually pretty good as well, but stay away from their fruit/veg unless you want an infestation of fruit flies

Eating out is cheap as hell, despite the tips - though with the minimum wage being $12, more and more places are going with service charge up front which is great

taxes ugh. Off both our paychecks we lose around 1/3 for state/federal and ss. We filed a few weeks ago, got a refund from federal but owned $$$ to state for some reason. We are generally around 25% in federal every year

healthcare we pay $300 a month, but have a low co-pay/detuctable. We insisted on the top tier despite the fact that we are healthy, just for peace of mind sake. My wife works in the medical system - it's flawed but top quality - at least her hospital is (teaching/research)

lack of social care awful. There are around 8000 homeless in SF. A lot have mental health issues that make a lot of downtown a no go area (tenderloin, mid market) . The city pores millions in every year but it just seems to get worse.

Gas we have a car but mostly use it for the weekend. My wife can walk to her work and my company have a corporate bus that I take to/from the office when I need to go in. The public transit in SF is creaking but functional. Most offices downtown are financial services and tech startups - if you live in the city and work in tech, your company usually provides transport to/from silicon valley.

Internet/cable we get 100mbs with comcast, and our entire package is $150 a month, we have cable so we can watch european soccer - if we didn't watch that, we'd just have internet

All in all, it is still cheaper here (via the ratio of our salaries vs cost of living) than europe ever was for us.

It's not much cheaper for me in terms of salary vs cost of living. But maybe this year will be different when it's all said and done. I got a bump in pay. My pay is now almost double of what I was making in Ireland before I left and I was making good money by Irish standards. So I'm doing pretty well!!

I considered taking a job in Silicon Valley but the pay is about the same for me there as it is in Phoenix and the living costs are a lot lower in Phoenix. It's part of the reason I was thinking Oregon over California.

A few weeks ago here, a nutjob went on a shooting spree a few miles from where I live. Shot and killed, 5 people. This weekend, early on Saturday morning I decided to go into the hot tub at the apartment complex. I was in it for 10 minutes when 5 uniformed police officers came up to the fence and asked me if I had seen anything crazy happening in the parking lot....

I don't know how crime was in Spain but I grew up in small town in the west of Ireland.

The military obsession is also very off-putting. Rah Rah Rah Suppor the Troops Rah Rah Rah..Yeah but what about the Veterans.

Propaganda is so abundant and blatant to everybody but the Americans themselves...it's like a form of brainwashing...

Also, don't know how it is for you. I've got a 401K, got it at two of the places I've worked. It's pretty good, unless I try to retire early...also, there's talk of them upping the age of retirement to 67 which could make it useless. But they've been killing off private pensions. Every place I've worked informed me that only those grandfathered in got a pension.

iusedtoknow

Wompa1 wrote: »

I don't know how crime was in Spain but I grew up in small town in the west of Ireland.

The military obsession is also very off-putting. Rah Rah Rah Suppor the Troops Rah Rah Rah..Yeah but what about the Veterans.

Propaganda is so abundant and blatant to everybody but the Americans themselves...it's like a form of brainwashing...

Also, don't know how it is for you. I've got a 401K, got it at two of the places I've worked. It's pretty good, unless I try to retire early...also, there's talk of them upping the age of retirement to 67 which could make it useless. But they've been killing off private pensions. Every place I've worked informed me that only those grandfathered in got a pension.

Crime was not really an issue for residents, it was more petty crime against tourists that didn't have their wits about them. The biggest crime in reality was the gouging of the government on the people. Sales tax went up from 8% to 21% over night. Taxes went through the roof and they trawled your bank accounts looking for if you had filed your taxes - if not, they would just take a few hundred

Ugh...the military - i hate how every chump in a uniform is "thanked for their service". I just ignore the propaganda completely, use netflix primarily for TV and rely on the Washington Post/NY times for news.

401k's are OK. My company matches unto 10% which we can't touch until 59 1/2. Our plan TBH is to cash out then and move back to Spain or somewhere cheap.

Wompa1

iusedtoknow wrote: »

Crime was not really an issue for residents, it was more petty crime against tourists that didn't have their wits about them. The biggest crime in reality was the gouging of the government on the people. Sales tax went up from 8% to 21% over night. Taxes went through the roof and they trawled your bank accounts looking for if you had filed your taxes - if not, they would just take a few hundred

Ugh...the military - i hate how every chump in a uniform is "thanked for their service". I just ignore the propaganda completely, use netflix primarily for TV and rely on the Washington Post/NY times for news.

401k's are OK. My company matches unto 10% which we can't touch until 59 1/2. Our plan TBH is to cash out then and move back to Spain or somewhere cheap.

Not a bad idea, this is no country for old men

Healthcare costs make this place a bit tougher to grow old in. But like you said, the quality is great from my experience.

My own thinking that this is a great place to 'make it', to set yourself up for a comfortable life. It's just not a great place to grow old or even to settle in too long term. If things go bad here and the likes of you and I lose our jobs, there won't be much compassion or helping hands out towards us.

In countries in Europe, you don't live a lavish lifestyle but you get security. Though, it sounds like maybe it wasn't like that too much in Spain. What the government did there sounds like straight up theft!

Uno my Uno.

Thanks for your posts guys, I'm moving to the US next month and your observations have been really interesting and helpful.

dave2pvd

Careful Uno, I could counter quite a few of Wompa1 and iusedtoknow's observations. They're not wrong - far from it. But as far as costs go, SF and to a lesser extent Phoenix are expensive. There are plenty of cost of living comparison sites out there to research this.

I live in Atlanta. Here, rent here in a good area would be half or less what you'd pay in SF. I pay $50/mo for 50mbps from Comcast. Work pays $500/mo toward health insurance. My mortgage interest and a few other things knocks down my net tax take to around 21%. Car insurance is very cheap compared to IRL. Costco (and a number of other stores) has high quality meat and produce for reasonable prices. Car tax (vehicle reg) is far cheaper than an equivalent car in IRL.

Beyond cost, food and beer is far better than IRL.

Having said all of that, I would love to live in SF or one of the many wonderful cities/towns in WA or OR. Not Seattle or Portland though. I'd aim for smaller cities/towns such as Bend, Yakima, Tacoma, Redmond, Olympia,...

Wompa1

Uno my Uno. wrote: »

Thanks for your posts guys, I'm moving to the US next month and your observations have been really interesting and helpful.

Where are you moving to?

Wompa1

dave2pvd wrote: »

Having said all of that, I would love to live in SF or one of the many wonderful cities/towns in WA or OR. Not Seattle or Portland though. I'd aim for smaller cities/towns such as Bend, Yakima, Tacoma, Redmond, Olympia,...

I've heard a lot of good things about Bend. I've spent a lot of time around Redmond and Bellevue. Very nice but again, quite expensive. Traffic is awful around Seattle too, which is a shame. Also, that damn toll!

I drove up to the Olympic Game farm, it was a really nice drive. Got the ferry from Seattle to Bainbridge. It was really nice out in Bainbridge. It also struck me that waiting 40 minutes to get the ferry across in the morning is probably better than spending an hour and a half driving in from Redmond...unless you work for Microsoft...then you just work in Redmond

Uno my Uno.

Wompa1 wrote: »

Where are you moving to?

NYC, talk about expensive!

Wompa1

Uno my Uno. wrote: »

NYC, talk about expensive!

You planning to go long term or try it for a year or two?

I looked at New York when I was moving here. There were a few places out in Queens that weren't too expensive. You can usually command a bigger salary there to counterbalance the cost of living

crapmanjoe

Wompa1 wrote: »

You planning to go long term or try it for a year or two?

I looked at New York when I was moving here. There were a few places out in Queens that weren't too expensive. You can usually command a bigger salary there to counterbalance the cost of living

Yeah sunnyside / woodside are relatively reasonable (by NY standards) - Astoria is very nice but getting to Manhattan prices.

Actually just finishing up a 4 yr stay in NY - heading west in two weeks- had enough of the never ending winters - great place to be in your 20's - so much to do!

Uno my Uno.

Wompa1 wrote: »

You planning to go long term or try it for a year or two?

I looked at New York when I was moving here. There were a few places out in Queens that weren't too expensive. You can usually command a bigger salary there to counterbalance the cost of living

Headed to the US long term, NYC? 2 for 3 years at least. My initial preference was for the mid-west but New York City will be just fine. Ultimately you go where the work is really, there were some possible locations that would have not been ok!

There are pros and cons with any location in any country, NY may be expensive and competitive but there are opportunities aswell as the benefits of living a great cosmopolitan city.

Uno my Uno.

One further question, how did you guys handle your lack of credit History? a couple of friends have told me it was very difficult to get simple things like Phones or cable accounts as they had no US credit history and thus a low score. One of them advised getting store cards, using them as frequently as possible and paying them off on time.

That seems kinda finicky to me, is there a simpler way?

spideog7

Uno my Uno. wrote: »

One further question, how did you guys handle your lack of credit History? a couple of friends have told me it was very difficult to get simple things like Phones or cable accounts as they had no US credit history and thus a low score. One of them advised getting store cards, using them as frequently as possible and paying them off on time.

That seems kinda finicky to me, is there a simpler way?

Just get a regular prepay phone, they're cheaper and there no credit check. Utilities will charge a few hundred dollar deposit but you get it credited to your bill after a few months of on time payments.

After a year or so I got a regular credit card through my bank, until then I used my debit card. I never had any trouble with credit history, but I paid cash for my car and always rented so never needed it. My score is good now I think after a few years of just doing the normal stuff.

Ruu

Uno my Uno. wrote: »

One further question, how did you guys handle your lack of credit History? a couple of friends have told me it was very difficult to get simple things like Phones or cable accounts as they had no US credit history and thus a low score. One of them advised getting store cards, using them as frequently as possible and paying them off on time.

That seems kinda finicky to me, is there a simpler way?

When I first started out, I was told no score is better than a bad score.

Perhaps your bank might have a secured credit card, basically you deposit an example of $500 and that is your credit line. You get the $500 back plus some interest if/when they upgrade your card to a normal credit card. Just an idea to start small.

Wompa1

Uno my Uno. wrote: »

One further question, how did you guys handle your lack of credit History? a couple of friends have told me it was very difficult to get simple things like Phones or cable accounts as they had no US credit history and thus a low score. One of them advised getting store cards, using them as frequently as possible and paying them off on time.

That seems kinda finicky to me, is there a simpler way?

It is finicky as f*ck. After almost 4 years, I've now established a good credit history. It's a system that's setup to weed out the financially wreckless but it only really makes sense for people who grew up here. If like me, you move here in your late 20's, it can be a real bummer having to basically re-build a trust with banks and then the way you do it IS wreckless.

I bought a brand new car a year after I moved here. The car was pretty cheap, I only got it so I could make regular car payments to build my line of credit. I got an Amazon Store card and tried to use it at least every couple of months. (Buying stuff, I wouldn't have otherwise). After a few months I got a basic credit card with a 500 limit. I used this to pay all of my bills each month and buy groceries here and there.

Like the previous poster said, any time I looked at apartments, they tell you no credit is better than bad credit. You'll have to pay the high end when it comes to deposits for services and sh1t. When I moved over, I had to put down a 500 deposit for my apartment which was high for here.

I also had to pay the high end of a deposit for electric, gas etc.

In regards to a phone, what I did was bring over my Irish phone (unlocked) and went to T-Mobile and got a SIM card. They have a good deal. 50 a month for unlimited Calls, Text and Data (The Data is capped at 1GB of 4G, the rest falls to 3G..if you have an older European phone, you won't even get 4G. You'll probably get 3G) They also have a deal. 60 a month, you get all of the above plus unlimited international calls to landlines...that came in handy for me. I was doing some business on the side with guys in the Netherlands. So one month when I re-upped, I picked to pay the 60 and got to call home and have my calls with those guys.

iusedtoknow

Uno my Uno. wrote: »

One further question, how did you guys handle your lack of credit History? a couple of friends have told me it was very difficult to get simple things like Phones or cable accounts as they had no US credit history and thus a low score. One of them advised getting store cards, using them as frequently as possible and paying them off on time.

That seems kinda finicky to me, is there a simpler way?

We had an easy enough go it. However, we moved with a job, so I was able to show contracts/paystubs when we were applying for things, which seemed to smooth things over. When you move you are given a score of around 700. (which is good) - the problem is however that you have no "depth" of credit, so it is harder to get a loan.

When we move we deposited our savings into the bank. As soon as we had our SS cards, I applied for a credit card and got one with a $1000 limit on it. We used it and paid it off in full every bill.

We then needed a car - we got a loan via the dealer (a bad idea but a necessary step) with a high interest rate. After about 6 months of payments on the high interest loan - we refinanced through our bank to a lower interest rate. After 6 months on this loan, we paid it off in full. However we started to get a history of credit

Now - We now cycle through 3 Credit cards (each with a fair wack on them) that we use and pay off in full each month - they pay for all our expenses/bills, and are paid off by cash every bill. I recently checked and we have 840 credit now. We also have an emergency credit card that would be used to pay for flights tomorrow if needed.

You'll know you are doing something right when you start getting credit card applications through the mail. The important thing is to keep your credit utilization down - i.e. don't carry a balance on your store cards. Pay them as soon as the bill posts every month and you'll start to build trust

Uno my Uno.

Thanks all really helpful, more or less what I had expected. My wife to be is American and has decent credit so hopefully things wont be too difficult.

DM addict

Uno my Uno. wrote: »

One further question, how did you guys handle your lack of credit History? a couple of friends have told me it was very difficult to get simple things like Phones or cable accounts as they had no US credit history and thus a low score. One of them advised getting store cards, using them as frequently as possible and paying them off on time.

That seems kinda finicky to me, is there a simpler way?

We had it kinda easy. We moved with a job, and were recommended to use a tech workers credit union for banking over here and they're prepped for people relocating from abroad. We could get a credit card with decent limit/interest as soon as we had SSNs, based on the job and salary info. We also got a car loan a few months after moving over, and could get a mortgage (although we haven't yet) pretty speedy too.

In terms of mobile phones, we found that T-Mobile gave us billpay based on our visa rather than our credit history - don't ask me how, but basically they photocopied the visa page and used that as authorization. And we got a corporate discount!

I think the nature of our company and relocation made it easier though.

Ruu

Credit is king in the USA. We made the initial mistake of buying everything with cash when we first moved. You'll know your credit is improved when you get a mailbox full of per-approved credit card offers in the post.

spideog7

Ruu wrote: »

Credit is king in the USA. We made the initial mistake of buying everything with cash when we first moved. You'll know your credit is improved when you get a mailbox full of per-approved credit card offers in the post.

Well if you can buy everything with cash and don't need credit then it's not a problem, you don't really care what your credit score is. It impacts a few small things like car insurance and utilities but not enough to be worried about.

I hate how everything is about your credit here, but unfortunately I know I won't have the cash for a house if i ever want to buy so I'll need credit.

Wompa1

spideog7 wrote: »

Well if you can buy everything with cash and don't need credit then it's not a problem, you don't really care what your credit score is. It impacts a few small things like car insurance and utilities but not enough to be worried about.

I hate how everything is about your credit here, but unfortunately I know I won't have the cash for a house if i ever want to buy so I'll need credit.

Yeah, you can't pay for much with cash any more. I can't pay for my rent with cash, I couldn't pay for my rental car with cash when I moved here. I can't go pay most of my bills with cash.

crapmanjoe

Unlike home most credit cards have decent rewards systems

I use my credit card to buy 99% of things and pay it off in full every week - so almost treat it like a debit card. And generally get 2 domestic return trips or a trip home out of it - and it costs me nothing

It's very rare I actually have cash on me

iusedtoknow

crapmanjoe wrote: »

Unlike home most credit cards have decent rewards systems

I use my credit card to buy 99% of things and pay it off in full every week - so almost treat it like a debit card. And generally get 2 domestic return trips or a trip home out of it - and it costs me nothing

It's very rare I actually have cash on me

I pay mine off every Bill cycle - it takes a bit of juggling, but i have chase/british airways rewards card - basically to take advantage of the fact that BA/Iberia are the airline that I fly with most for work.
Another of the cards is Hilton/Amex which is the hotel I stay at most for work
Another of my cards is Hertz/BoA which is the car rental firm that I use most for work.

All three only pass on the rewards after the bill has posted, so paying them off every week would lose me out in points etc.

Between the three cards, I haven't paid for personal flights or hotels or cars when we travel for vacation since we got here.

I usually keep $20 or $30 on me, but rarely use it

Wompa1

crapmanjoe wrote: »

Unlike home most credit cards have decent rewards systems

I use my credit card to buy 99% of things and pay it off in full every week - so almost treat it like a debit card. And generally get 2 domestic return trips or a trip home out of it - and it costs me nothing

It's very rare I actually have cash on me

iusedtoknow wrote: »

I pay mine off every Bill cycle - it takes a bit of juggling, but i have chase/british airways rewards card - basically to take advantage of the fact that BA/Iberia are the airline that I fly with most for work.
Another of the cards is Hilton/Amex which is the hotel I stay at most for work
Another of my cards is Hertz/BoA which is the car rental firm that I use most for work.

All three only pass on the rewards after the bill has posted, so paying them off every week would lose me out in points etc.

Between the three cards, I haven't paid for personal flights or hotels or cars when we travel for vacation since we got here.

I usually keep $20 or $30 on me, but rarely use it

Which cards? I heard Capital One is a great card to have. Also Amex Gold or Platinum but Amex are losing a lot of their affiliates in the reward program. I was thinking about signing up with an Airline but was told I'd be better off just going with Capital One, rather than being tied to one airline. Phoenix is a US Airways hub...they just merged with AA..so I was going to go with them or United.