point fu

The chaotic holiday season is finally behind us, and I'm sitting here really enjoying this second cup of coffee and the very quiet house. Looking back on 2018 from a points perspective, I had another good year of earning – 493,000 points ( I'm not including my husband's earning since his employer pays for a bunch of his travel ). Breaking that down a bit: 51,000 miles with 4 airlines from paid flights and airline shopping portals 247,000 Amex points from spending and bonuses (of that: 30k from refer-a-friend, 60k from upgrading to the Platinum card, 42,000 from Amex Offers, the rest from spending ) 95,000 Chase points from credit card spending ( 85k of those were in travel and dining ) 100,000 Chase points for doing an in-branch offer for a new Ink Business card Looking back on last year's roundup , it looks like I hit most of my predictions for 2018 – we're booked on an exciting Cathay Pacific A350 flight , I churned a couple of new cards, I'm sti...

Looking back on 2017, the travels we got to take were truly the bright spots in a pretty depressing year. It also makes me grateful for the health and prosperity that allows us to travel. I started this blog in 2013 largely because I wanted to share the knowledge I'd gained about traveling for less (well, and also as a hedge against my own senility – I seriously forget the details of how we did some of these trips and this gives me a place to look that up!) The most common question I get from people is "yes yes, but how are you making all of those miles?" Here's a breakdown of where my points came from this year: Total: ≈ 408,000 points Given that I was above 5/24 for most of the year, I only got one credit card signup bonus , 40,000 for an SPG Amex (including my referral bonuses) Spending on my Chase Sapphire was 87,000 (90% of my spending was in their bonus categories of Dining and Travel) Work and personal Amex Spending was 182,000 (39,000 ...

Looking back on 2016, the travels we got to take were truly the bright spots in an otherwise dismal year. But it also makes me grateful for the health and prosperity that allows us to travel. I started this blog in 2013 largely because I wanted to share the knowledge I'd gained about traveling for less. Travel opens your eyes to the world and ergo to yourself, and I think it generally makes the world a better place when we see how others live.  That said, the most common question I've gotten in 2016 is "love the blog, but how are you making all of those miles?" And to that question, I decided to compile a list of 2016's point earnings and churnings. Earnings: ≈ 550,000 points across six programs Korean Airlines Credit Card  targeted signup bonus  – 40,000 . This came in super handy paying for our flights to and from Japan... Chase Sapphire Reserve  signup bonus – 100,000 . I think half of the United States got this card this year! I recen...