New York City for (mostly) Free!

December 29, 2017.Reading time 12 minutes.

I’ve written all about Southwest’s Companion Pass, and I earned mine February 2016, allowing G.Hammer to fly with me for $5.60 each way any time I fly Southwest through the end of 2017. In a nutshell, I had to earn 110,000 Southwest Rapid Rewards points in one year to qualify which I did by […]

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Annual Fees and Credit Card Retention Bonuses

December 2, 2017.Reading time 15 minutes.

Greg and I have a lot of credit cards, and most of them have annual fees. Some are a necessary evil for benefits the cards provide, and some annual fees actually pay for themselves. Depending on the card and its benefits, we’ll call when the annual fee is due and ‘threaten to cancel’ unless […]

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Things to Consider Before Applying for a New Credit Card

September 21, 2015.Reading time 5 minutes.

Credit card sign up bonuses are a great way to travel on the cheap, but of course applying for new credit cards all willy-nilly can be a great way to get yourself in some hot financial water, too. If you think you’d like to apply for a new credit card, or especially several new […]

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25 Easy Ways to Meet Credit Card Minimum Spends

March 11, 2015.Reading time 9 minutes.

Full disclosure: This was written in 2015 when we were apparently millionaires and spending thousands of dollars on our credit cards every year. We have scaled way back, mostly to fall under Chase’s 5/24 rule so we are eligible for Chase cards again. Carry on. So think you’d like to apply for a new […]

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Radisson Blu Le Metropolitan Hotel, Paris Eiffel

January 17, 2015.Reading time 5 minutes.

After I picked out our IHG stay in Paris- the InterContinental Paris Le Grand– Greg got to pick out our Carl Rezidor property and after I read “stunning Eiffel Tower views” in the hotel description he was sold. The hotel was only one Paris block (about five regular blocks) from Trocadero and really did offer […]

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InterContinental Hotels Group

January 10, 2015.Reading time 7 minutes.

Our Chase IHG Rewards Club credit card was the second dedicated hotel card either of us signed up for, but the one I’m most excited about. Of course like all these programs, you can earn points not only by staying at IHG properties, but also by renting cars, going on cruises, or by going to […]

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Using Credit Cards For Free Travel

November 19, 2014.Reading time 14 minutes.

In the spring of 2014, when I was an itty, bitty, lil’ miles and points baby, I was sitting on my mom’s couch going through all the junk mail she still gets for me and I came across an offer for a United Airlines credit card: 50,000 bonus miles if I spent $2,000.00 on the […]

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