Year: 2012

Mileage and Reward Points Status (February 2012)

2 Comments

This is our monthly recap where we look at what reward programs we were able to add miles or points to over the previous period. Now that we have depleted a good amount of our rewards, I am back to looking to build them back up again. With all the really great credit card rewards being offered for signing up for new cards, the rewards are there for the taking. To read proof how collecting miles/points can work for your family, read our post on how we are going to Hawaii (and Disneyland) for $30 in total cost for the flights. So far, we have received our mainland flights and all of our hotel nights on Oahu for absolutely “free” using miles and points in various programs. I am also currently looking at the value of using airline miles to fund expensive vehicle rentals.

With our last credit card churn back in October, we are gearing up for our first official multi-card churn shortly. Now that we no longer carry Continental accounts, options become available to possibly score United Explorer cards, as well as other options. We will also probably be trying for several other cards too. Stay tuned later this month.

Below is where we stand at month end.

[easychart type=”line” height=”300″ width=”350″ title=”Mile/Point Status (As of 2/29/12)” groupnames=”Delta,United,Continental,USAirways,American,Hilton,Intercontinental,SPG” valuenames=”Jan2011,Feb2011,Mar2011,Apr2011,May2011,June2011,July2011,Aug2011,Sept2011,Oct2011,Nov2011,Dec2011,Jan2012,Feb2012″ group1values=”69447,69447,70447,70947,70947,70947,71007,71097,71197,71287,71377,71465,71555,71615″ group2values=”100043,100043,108043,108059,108059,109059,109059,109059,110115,58569,58569,58570,117079,120577″ group3values=”67333,67333,67333,67333,67333,67433,68433,68433,68433,0,0,45040,8,106″ group4values=”8018,8020,11759,13778,13778,13778,13899,13977,14090,28713,41516,46578,46678,46726″ group5values=”0,300,600,600,600,4600,6500,9500,17000,19500,20000,20500,20500,20500″ group6values=”11679,11679,21979,24479,24479,26297,26297,26297,26297,26547,26547,26547,26547,27547″ group7values=”29271,29271,29271,29271,167571,169571,173571,173571,174071,174071,174071,1071,1071,1071″ group8values=”0,0,0,0,0,0,16,34,294,294,360,360,360,360″]

The following is a brief summary of the things we have done in the past month to build up our accounts.

Delta SkyMiles– Audience Rewards trivia questions in all three of our accounts.

United Mileage Plus- The accounts also will seem skewed in relation to the Continental accounts, because we moved all of the miles over into United. In addition, we had 2,000 miles post going back to the Month of Miles promotion from long ago. I completely forgot all about the promotion once all the terms kept getting revised, so the bonus miles are nice.

Continental OnePass- Again we cleared almost all of our miles out by moving them over into United.

US Airways Dividend Miles– Audience Rewards accounted for most of the miles posting to each of our accounts. I am still tracking down some Grand Slam promotion issues I am having with the magazine subscriptions, and will be reporting shortly on the issue.

American Airlines AAdvantage– No change.

Hilton HHonors– 1,000 miles from the mobile promotion in January.

Priority Club Rewards- No change.

Starwood Preferred Guest– Our account has not been credited with SPG points via Audience Rewards going all the way back to the end of Nov. 2011. I have been working with Audience Rewards, and I may be getting some of the missing miles. I finally figured out what the problem was and started receiving miles from recent questions.

Note, we also have reward accounts with AirTran, Southwest, Frontier, Choice Hotels, Wyndham Rewards, and various other programs, but since we do not really use them, there is little advantage in including them in this list.

The point of showing these reports each month is to show you that every little bit of miles and point collecting can really add up to big rewards. It is never to late to sign-up and start collecting for your future travel needs. Thanks for reading! Save Money, Travel More.

Audience Rewards Trivia Update for Free Starwood Preferred Guest (SPG) Rewards (2-29-12)

2 Comments

Happy Leap Day everyone! This morning we have another set of the Starwood Preferred Guest (SPG) Audience Rewards questions to earn you free rewards.

Now, without further ado, we proudly present the trivia questions.

  • Charles Hart, one of the lyricists for The Phantom of the Opera, also wrote the lyrics for which of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s other shows? Aspects of Love
  • True or False? Disney is producing Newsies. True
  • Which of the following Broadway shows was Jeremy Kushnier not in? Aida
  • What was the primary reason that the character Rafiki was changed from male to female for the stage musical version of The Lion King? Julie Taymor felt there was no female lead in the film and it needed one
  • The Broadway production of The Phantom of the Opera is the winner of how many 1988 Tony Awards? 7

As a reminder, for all things Audience Rewards, including all the latest free points and miles from the Points Play trivia questions, see my Audience Rewards page.

Save Money, Travel More!

A New Home’s Skeleton in the Closet

1 Comment

Skeletons in your Closet

I sit around thinking from time-to-time about the story of our homes prior to us living there. In my first home, which we still own and generate rental income on, I was not the first owner. The house had a history as a one-story, one-room bungalow that was eventually knocked down to the basement and rebuilt upon as a colonial. Another couple bought and owned the home prior to me purchasing it years ago, and I only knew the prior history based on what they or the neighbors told me. I enjoy tracking down and hearing the history behind things that I own if they were not purchased new, and I always wondered who lived here and what might have taken place prior to my arrival.

The same questions go for our current home. The neighbors have told me some information that they knew based on their experience with the previous owner; however, they did not even realize the home had an irrigation system until we had it tested. So there was some potential for some definite gaps in the timeline. For a house that was constructed in 2006, what follows is some information that I acquired that I was not aware of based on the homes short history.

The other day I was at a meeting with my local City officials to go over a new project from my full-time career. I was talking about being a new resident and the area where we are located with the officials. After the meeting, the one building official recalled the name of the builder, who is no longer in business because of the economy. As we continued to talk, he asked me which house we had purchased, and I gladly obliged. The Building Inspector knew exactly which house, which surprised me with the home being located in a suburban development of many houses.

As everyone around us laughed worrying this building official must know something wrong about the construction of the house, he proceeded to tell us the story. When the house was originally constructed in 2006, the purchaser made a lot of upgrades on the home, skyrocketing the purchase price to over $400,000 (in 2006 home valuation). Prior to construction, the purchaser had placed a sizable deposit on the home to secure the start of building. Somewhere during the construction process, the purchaser got busted for drug dealing and was hauled off to jail, losing his deposit, and the home remained in the builder’s hands.

The home sat vacant for approximately a year while the builder tried selling. By the time they sold it to the gentleman before us, the builder broke even after keeping the original purchaser’s security deposit. Then eventually he lost the home to foreclosure after sticking a boat load more money into the home by adding on an expansive deck and finished basement. When our offer was accepted on the house, we knew we struck gold, but never knew exactly why until now.

I write this story not to brag. Rather, I am documenting for my own reference in the future before I forget (yesterday’s article on Chase credit cards is the perfect example). However, it brings up an interesting point about city governments and the importance of asking questions before the information is lost. I was in the fortunate situation of getting to talk with the building inspector that reviewed our house during construction, and luckily the house is newer and he could recall the history from his memory.

City officials do not always stick around forever. If you want to know something about your property, ask questions from your local government. Sometimes one might just get lucky and score some interesting information on a property that might otherwise be lost in the history books. The story of our home would not have been filed away in a public record somewhere. It was in the minds of those that worked on the home.

Have you been able to locate any interesting tales about your homes and previous history?