Miles are addictive. This addiction causes two types of actions in almost all afflicted parties: Greed for more miles and Hoarding of existing stock. Today we’ll discuss the higher level decisions you should be making about your miles (and money) and hopefully open up discussion regarding if/when you should even bother with miles. Make-or-Buy Analysis (In Brief) […]
milenomics
Learn, Use, Repeat. A detailed trip into the world of Points, Miles, and Travel. How to earn more Miles and how to use those miles more effectively
Update: My Risky Balance Transfer Strategy Strikes Out
A little over a month ago I detailed a complex (and risky) strategy to earn more miles here on the Blog. It involved a two step system for earning miles; Charge up my American Express card, and pay it off with a card offering $0 fees for balance transfers. This Balance transfer card could then be […]
The Shortest Distance Between Two Points is Not Always a Straight Line
Yesterday we discussed a complex and risky strategy to earn miles while paying an American Express card. Today we’ll look at a way to drive our costs down in a similar nonstandard way. I’ve discussed the following in bits and pieces before on the blog, and elsewhere. One of the keys to a successful personal […]
Scalablity — You Either Have It or You Don’t
Today’s post is focused squarely on supply side Milenomics. I won’t get into how many miles you should be collecting, but I will caution you, you should be keeping an eye on your totals and stay away from hoarding miles. Switch to cash back cards when you’re at a safe supply level is an excellent way to […]
$13 in Free Groceries when you Buy $200 Visa Gift Cards at Safeway 6/18-7/15
Update #2 (6/22): Safeway and/or Catalina seem to have changed this deal on us without notice. Two very alert readers, Randall and Jonathan noticed that new coupons now print with a $25 minimum purchase requirement. Today I verified this is the case at my store as well, and have included photos of the two different coupons: […]
Frauded! US Bank Mastercard Gift Cards Hacked and Drained
Update: A Happy ending, two new cards arrived 8/20. When I activated both I was charged $5.95, but a quick phone call got the two $5.95 activation charges reversed. I hadn’t planned on back to back cautionary tales, but the luck of the draw has me writing this post today. A few weeks ago […]
9½ Weeks: The Float Rule In the Real World
This is likely the latest anyone has written a post about #MileMadness, as you’ll see this is a real update on spending that occurred in March. I’m sharing it to hopefully show how good ideas can turn bad and how important the float rule can be. — Some of you might remember that little tournament […]
Triple Dip and Get Paid to Buy Lots of Miles at Safeway Stores! (5/21-6/3)
Update (5/29): It seems as though there are all kinds of promotions going on across the country, and most cash back discounts are not ringing up correctly at the registers. Make sure you push for the deal you’ve seen offered. As an added bonus numerous readers are finding fuel points for Variable Load MC’s bought with groceries! We’ve covered […]
Purchase Tracking Tools Revisited
We’ve discussed keeping track of your purchases here on Milenomics before. The original cost tracking posts here and here on Milenomics were written less than a month into the blog’s launch. Since then I’ve come back to these posts dozens of times. Today I’ll again ask you to keep track of your purchase, and in addition […]
Quick Deal: Get Paid to Buy Miles at Safeway 3/26-4/22
Credit for this one goes to #Milenomic Elaine who shared this deal via a comment yesterday. We’ve covered these Safeway deals in the past here on Milenomics, a few times actually. With no signage in my store, and nothing in the weekly ad I took a chance and bought a card to test. Entering my store I […]