Credit Health: Keeping Active

I have a number of credit card accounts, and only use one primarily. I use the other four once a month, to show active use on my credit history. In the past, I used autopay on two, meaning that a statement generates, and the full amount is deducted from an external bank account at some time. With the other two, I payed them off instantly.

I realized today that if I allowed the other two that I payed of instantly to generate a statement, which I would then pay off days after generating, it would show more history (a good thing). All I had to do was move the payment date from a few days after the charge (which previously resulted in a $0 statement), to a few days after the statement (<$10, but still a history nonetheless). Now, when my credit is run, it shows that I am using all of my cards each month, since they all generate a statement with a greater-than-zero balance, which are all payed off using autopay methods. With the amex cards, I use their proprietary Autopay system, since it works flawlessly. With my smaller credit-union cards, I use the Billpay function with another bank, which is set up at a once-monthly interval, effectively mimicking the Autopay system.

With my primary fifth card, I pay it off as soon as the statement generates. In fact, having tracked my expenses over the last year, I can expect what my statement will be for that month, and have the required cash plus 20% available in my bank account a month ahead of time. That's right. You see, I only want to be using my credit card for purchases when the cash is reflected in a real bank account, similar to the old gold-standard. This is true for my other cards as well - the money is available before I ever make the purchases. And since the purchases are identical and automatically deducted each month, it is all planned out, and everyone is happy.

Choice: Show or Party, which first?

The show has a distinct start and end time. The party may have a distinct start time, but in actuality will go into high gear one hour past that. The show doesn't care that the party is afterward. It might be awkward to leave the party to go to the show. You can't show up late to the show. You can show up late to the party. When the show is over, it's over. When the party is over is defined by anyone.

In this case, the better option would have been to:

Go to the 7pm show, be out by 9pm. Head to the party, catch it from 9:30pm until 12:30pm. No regrets though the party was fun, and I had some great interactions. If I were trying to catch both though, I would have done the show first. In addition, since I didn't have tickets to the show, scalping them earlier on would have been preferential, with more time flexibility. I wouldn't have wanted to leave the party, park, and try to find tickets, all before the show started.

Regarding the party: for a gift exchange, only bring something you'd be willing to take home. I ended up taking my own 5th home, which wasn't great. Plan on the unexpected!