Beating Broke

Personal Finance from the Broke Perspective

My Credit Card Rewards Were Stolen!

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Person Holding Money and a Credit Card Above a Laptop

I do an excellent job of keeping my credit secure. Over 14 years ago, my husband and I froze our credit; we only thaw it for a day or two when someone needs to make a credit inquiry for a new line of credit. In addition, we use a credit monitoring service, and I check our credit cards at least once a week to record transactions in our budgeting software, You Need a Budget. Yet, despite my best efforts, my credit card rewards were stolen!

How I Discovered the Theft

I thought about traveling internationally and decided to check my rewards balance. I knew I had tens of thousands of points, but I couldn’t remember how many. So imagine my surprise when I looked and saw only 9,000 points!

I looked at my redemption history and saw a 30,000 redemption for $300 worth of gift cards. The redemption took place on March 1st. I had been in my credit card account at least three times since the redemption, but I didn’t notice the theft because I didn’t check the rewards points. I’m embarrassed to admit that it took me three weeks to realize someone had cleaned my account of $300 in rewards points.

Called the Credit Card Company Immediately

I immediately called the credit card company. While the agent was friendly, she asked me several times if I had redeemed them and didn’t remember or if my husband had redeemed them.

I live in New York, but the redeemed cards were addressed to my name in Houston, Texas. I told the agent that I never redeem my points for gift cards; she could look through my history and see that.

Steps the Credit Card Company Took

Two credit cards on a table in front of a laptop.

In the end, the credit card company took two steps.

First, they put my 30,000 reward points back in my account.

Second, they canceled my current credit card and sent me a new one.

Steps I Took

I also took steps to protect my account further.

First, I went to my other two credit cards, confirmed the correct number of rewards points, and then I cashed them out.

Second, I changed my passwords for all my online credit card accounts.

Third, I am investigating signing up for AwardWallet. This free program helps people manage the points for the many reward programs they signed up for. Best of all, users can set an alert to be notified if the balance changes. This program will help me realize the theft immediately instead of three weeks later.

Final Thoughts

While thieves have compromised my credit card several times, I was shocked to discover they stole my credit card rewards! I never thought of those as ripe for theft, but they are. Hopefully, I can ensure my credit card rewards are not stolen again by taking more protective steps. However, if they are, hopefully, I’ll realize the theft more quickly than I did this time.

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4 Meals from the Pantry to Save Money

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Woman looking at her pantry shelves and grabbing a jar

If you’re like me, you may find it harder and harder to stay within the grocery budget as food costs skyrocket due to inflation. So I try to find nutritious recipes that aren’t expensive. In addition, to save money, I try to have one week where I don’t make a complete grocery shopping trip and instead only buy some fresh fruits and vegetables and make my meals from the pantry to save money. Doing this allows me to use up what I have and stretch my grocery dollars.

Our Favorite Meals from the Pantry to Save Money

These are the pantry meals we make during the weeks I skip grocery shopping:

Spaghetti

My kids don’t mind a pantry meal when the meal is spaghetti. So I buy pasta and pasta sauce when they’re on sale, and I purchase canned mushrooms at Costco. I mix them together for a quick, cheap meal.

We recently upped our spaghetti game by making Pizza in a Bowl (I left out the creamed soup and only used half the cheese.) I was amazed at how this meal stretched—we had it for two meals!

Breakfast for Dinner

Omelette with mushrooms

Another favorite is breakfast for dinner. We might have omelets with green peppers and cheese and a piece of toast. Or, if we have many bread heels in the freezer, we make French toast and eggs. Sometimes we make a breakfast sandwich with ham, egg, and cheese on toast or an English muffin. Another economical recipe is Ham, Broccoli & Cheddar Frittata. (If money is tight, I leave out the ham, and it still tastes good.)

Broccoli, Potato, & Soup

I recently found this delicious recipe for Broccoli, Cheddar & Potato Soup. I like it because I can use frozen broccoli. (This recipe and the broccoli frittata recipe are the only ways I enjoy eating frozen broccoli.) Like Pizza in a Bowl, this recipe stretches and easily feeds the four of us for two meals.  Oh, and while I am talking about soup, another good recipe for meatball soup is here.

Fried Rice

Another frugal yet filling meal is Chicken Fried Rice. We use a rotisserie chicken from Costco and save the bones to make homemade chicken stock. Since rotisserie chicken at Costco is only $4.99, the meat is cheap, and we add rice, frozen vegetables, a few eggs, and seasoning.

How We’re Able to Keep Our Meals Frugal

For years, I’ve stocked up on items when they’re on sale, so I pay the lowest price for groceries. We have a pantry in our basement, two deep freezers, and two refrigerators so we can keep a full supply.

When ground beef is on sale, I may buy 20 or 25 pounds. We have food intolerances and can’t eat dairy, so when our favorite vegan cheese, Daiya, goes on sale, I may buy 20 bags. Then I won’t buy any more until it’s on sale again. If we run out before it goes on sale, we do without until the next sale.

Shopping this way makes having a pantry cooking week easy.

Final Thoughts

Keeping within our allotted grocery budget is getting more challenging every month. One way we rein in expenses is by making meals from the pantry to forego a weekly shopping trip once a month.

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Why We Decided to Keep Our Amazon Subscription

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Man with a surprised expression on his face holding a stack of Amazon boxes

As prices jump, my husband and I debate renewing our annual Amazon subscription each year. Two years ago, the decision was easy. One of the biggest perks was free delivery on Whole Foods orders, which I used extensively during the pandemic. However, Amazon took away free delivery last year and instituted an eight-dollar delivery fee, so we no longer had that perk. Even without it, we still have several reasons why we decided to keep our Amazon subscription, but the perks are getting smaller every year.)

Reasons We Used to Keep Our Amazon Subscription That No Longer Apply

As I mentioned above, Amazon no longer offers free Whole Foods delivery, which was one of our most important reasons to keep our Amazon subscription. However, other perks are no longer as relevant.

Free Two-Day Delivery

Amazon used to be well-known for its two-day delivery, but that happens less often. Not only are deliveries taking longer, but for the first time since we began our subscription ten years ago, Amazon lost several of my packages at Christmas time. I found the process of reporting my packages missing time-consuming. Getting ahold of a human to help me was difficult!

Why We Decided to Keep Our Amazon Subscription

Even though I feel Amazon’s quality and offerings for subscription holders have declined in recent years, there are four reasons why we decided to renew our subscription again this year.

Audible

I listen to Audible when I walk on the treadmill. I pay $14.99 for the service, so it’s not included in an Amazon Prime subscription, but I need the subscription to access Audible. With my monthly fee, I get one free book a month. To save money, I put my Audible subscription on hold for three months every year to have more time to listen to the books I’ve already bought.

Whole Foods Discount

Photo of a brick building with

Whole Foods is one of many stores we frequent. I don’t go there regularly because the store is too expensive for our budget. However, we are on a gluten and dairy-free diet, so I shop at Whole Foods when the specialty foods we need are on sale, such as Daiya Cheese or dairy-free butter. My Amazon Prime subscription gives me an additional discount at Whole Foods, making the prices even cheaper.

I haven’t calculated it, but I conservatively estimate that my Whole Foods discount adds up to at least half the price of my yearly Amazon subscription price.

Subscribe and Save Discount

Life has gotten busier for us this year, so I now use Amazon Subscribe and Save for our toiletries, vitamins, and some foods. I have those items delivered once per month, which saves me five to 15 percent depending on how many things I have delivered for the month.

Amazon Prime Videos

We use Amazon Prime videos frequently for two reasons. First, we homeschool, and Amazon has many educational shows my kids watch. Second, we like to watch Japanese shows, and Amazon has a fair amount of Japanese programming that we can view.

Not all videos are free on Amazon Prime, but I frequently agree to have my Amazon orders delivered on the same day, a few days out. As an incentive, Amazon often gives me digital credit. I can use those credits to watch shows that cost money on Amazon for free.

Final Thoughts

We had many reasons to keep our Amazon subscription a few years ago. We don’t have as many reasons now, but currently, the benefits outweigh the price of a subscription. However, in future years, that may no longer be the case.

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