At the end of week 1, here is where we stand….

Awesome charges: $8000 of vendor transactions, $750 for autobody work, $2000 for wife’s tuition, $500 for a group dinner (will I charge and take other people’s cash?  Sure!) and a couple of trips to Dunkin.  Not a bad start though, considering I have another $12,000 worth of invoices due to pay in the next week…  Most charges via PLUM ;)

For those interested in Black Card resources, check out:

http://www.blackcardsource.com/

BTW, a couple of things for fellow Amex card holders…

* Always check out the Membership Rewards shopping partners before you make a purchase.  Idiot me bought 2 iMacs worth over $4000 and a MacBook pro and didn’t do it online.  Thats 23,500 reward points, or a free upgrade on my next coast to coast flight.  Ouch!

* The Platinum card has an awesome promotion at the Mandarin Oriental and the Wynn/Encore in Las Vegas: a free night with one purchased.  I’ll be using this for our next trip out to the desert in May.

* Make sure you review all the benefits of the cards you have.  I spent more time in researching this quest and realized that there are some pretty damned good benefits I wasn’t taking advantage of.  Don’t make the same mistakes I did!