So this is month 2 of having our amex blue cash, and I thought it would be interesting to track our cash back each month.
At our statement closing last month (May), we spent a total of $2,993. They don’t really tell you which transactions go toward the bonus categories (gas, groceries, drugstores) and which don’t, but they do have a “cash tracker” that shows your percentages in each category, bonus (1%) or regular (.5%). In May we had spent 23% in the 1% cash back bonus categories, and 77% on the .5% categories. This amounted in total cash back accrued in May at $18.38
June went roughly the same way, with our statement balance (statement closed yesterday) at $2,993 and year to date cash back earned at $38.48. It also shows that our percentage of spending went to 30% in the bonus categories and 70% for everything else. (I wish it would show you with each transaction!)
So we seem to be earning about $20 a month, and that is at the lower percentage cash back. We will start earning 5% on the bonus categories and 1% on everything else once we cross over $6500 in spending. I don’t know if it will switch over right when we hit the $6500 mark (which will be in about $600 more bucks, so not long) or if it will wait until after the statement closes.
Another thing I wonder is those bonus categories. The gas I’m not worried about, and neither for the drugstore, but the grocery store is a little baffling. First of all, we used to do all our grocery shopping at the Super Target near our home. There is a Safeway that is really close, but they tend to be a bit expensive. So big grocer trips = Target, stuff you need for dinner that night/picking up milk on the way home = Safeway. Well, in the transaction, Safeway has a little “GROCERY” in there in one of the fields. However, Target came up as “DISCOUNT STORE” which made me think.. Hmmm, probably not getting the bonus category there.
So this month, I tried to keep our grocery shopping at actual grocery stores. I hit Shopper’s Food Warehouse (which is good because their prices are even better than Target’s, but they’re kind of a ways away) and also Harris Teeter (not sure on these prices yet). Neither Shopper’s nor Harris Teeter had anything in their transactions to designate them as ‘grocery’.
Now my understanding is that text in the transaction is actually put there by the STORE, not by amex, so it could be that that has nothing to do with what category they fit in, but it makes me nervous all the same.
I probably shouldn’t worry because in May 23% of our spending was in bonus, and in June that went up to 30%. Could that only be because gas got so much more expensive? Or is it because the money that was going to Super Target went to stores now designated as ‘grocery’? Or maybe both?? I may give amex a call to make sure Harris Teeter and Shoppers are ‘grocery’, and see if the 5% kicks in when we tick over $6500, or at the next statement.
Also can’t wait to see what our new high yield checking account gives us back in interest - I’ll post that when I have it available.
-99k