So you’ve signed up for a credit card that promises a bonus after you’ve spend a few thousand dollars in 90 days. If you aren’t spending someone else’s money (think business travel, purchasing items for a business, etc.) you might be thinking, “How the heck am I going to spend $3000 on a credit card in three months?” Fortunately, there are probably as many ways to generate credit card spending as there are credit cards. Here are some ideas:

Forward-buying with gift cards

The basics: There are things that you are going to buy anyway. Think gas, groceries, and prescription drugs. Consider buying a gift card to your local grocery store or gas store with your new credit card. The entire gift card purchase will show up on your credit card immediately, but you can spend the gift card over time. If you know that you spend $50/week on gas, there is little risk in buying a gift card to the local gas station for $200, because you know that you will use it in a month.

Other ideas: I purchase a lot of stuff from Amazon. If you do as well, then Amazon gift cards might be a good option. The gift cards load directly onto your Amazon account, so you don’t have to worry about losing them. If you have a valid gift card on your Amazon account, Amazon will automatically apply that gift card to any purchase you make. If you have a favorite retailer, consider purchasing a gift card for that retailer.

Forward-paying monthly bills

My mobile phone service is through Sprint, which lets me pay online with a credit card. I have my bill set up to automatically pay any amount due each month, but I can go to their website and overpay. Any overpayment is rolled over as a credit on my next month’s bill. I suspect that there are many places that let you overpay in a similar fashion. See what might work for you.

Sending money to a friend (or spouse) with PayPal or Amazon Payments

Some people on the frequent Flyer boards have figured out that you can send money to other people using Amazon Payments, up to a certain amount for free. Information about Amazon Payments is at: https://payments.amazon.com/sdui/sdui/personal/money. Other services that let you send payments to others include: Serve, Bluebird and PayPal. Those should be enough breadcrumbs to get you started here.

Other ideas

There is no shortage of ways to generate spending on your credit cards. If the above suggestions aren’t enough for you, dig through the Fatwallet finance forum, FlyerTalk, or MilePoint for more ideas.

If you have a favorite technique for generating spending on credit cards and want to share it, post in the comments, below.