Easiest way to start earning rewards points/miles or even cash: Online Shopping
A major misconception about earning points and miles is that you must have a credit card for that airline or hotel. The truth is that you can use your existing credit card, debit card, or even Paypal.
While credit cards may bring you a large amount of points at one time, the easiest way to start earning points and miles is for items you shop for online already. You only need to take an extra step and go through the shopping portal before making your purchase. Most have made it easier by allowing you to add a button to Google Chrome that will alert you if miles are eligible.
While all the major airlines have online shopping portals where you can earn points or miles, hotels have largely discontinued the practice. Even the low discount airlines like sprint and frontier have shopping portals. Below is a list of links to all the different airline shopping portals.
- American
- United
- Delta
- Southwest
- Alaska Air
- jetBlue
- Hawiaan
- Sprint
- Frontier
- Most international airlines like British Airways and Air France have shopping portals as well, and you can book domestic flights in the US through their partnerships
If you are not into earning miles or points, there are more than couple ways to earn cash back. Below are the two best site to earn cash back in my opinion. (Full Disclosure: The links below are referral links. Both you and myself will earn a bonus.)
Steps to earn miles/points or cash back
- Step one: Go to the airline shopping portal of your choice
- Step two: Find the retailer you wish to use and click the link that will direct you to their website.
- Step three: Shop away like normal using any form of payment including gift cards.
From time to time, there will be a mistake and you may not receive your miles you should have earned. I tell you this to make sure you note how much you should have received. It’s a pretty simple process to obtain missing miles or points.
One of my favorite ways to earn
One of the most common store I think that gets overlooked is Wal-mart. You can easily purchase items on online and pick them up in store. And now that they have online grocery shopping, you can literally buy everything you need online and earn points.
Bonuses from shopping portals
From time to time, the different shopping portals will give customers bonus points for spending a certain amount of points. These are a great time to purchase items you have already intended to purchase. But I warn you from spending money on items you don’t need.
Earn in-store miles/points and cash back
A few of the shopping portals allow you to earn points/miles at stores like Best Buy, Macy’s or Bed Bath and Beyond. Just make sure you compare how much you will earn because many times it is less than if you shop online.
How many points can you expect to earn?
This all depends on how much online shopping you are willing to do. I do not make much money on this blog, in fact I do not turn a profit right now. That’s fine because I see this as more of a hobby, and enjoy helping people. My day job is a coach and teacher, so my bank account does not runeth over.
I am on track this year to earn over 80,000 total miles and points across 4 different airlines just from online shopping. That’s enough for at least 3 round trip flights. All of this for just simply shopping online for items I would normally buy.
I wouldn’t expect this in you first year, but is definitely obtainable if you are dedicated. Once well versed and making it a habit, a family of 4 could easily take a trip every year without having to pay for airfare.
How to triple dip!
Double dipping is pretty easy. It is simply earning miles through a shopping portal and a rewards credit card. It’s an easy way to earn a few more points or miles.
There is a way to earn even more miles. United Airlines has an smartphone app called Mileage Plus X. Even if you don’t fly United, you could use the points for hotels or even rental cars, though that wouldn’t be the best redemption option.
In order to triple dip, you will need to pay for your items with a gift card purchased through the Mileage Plus X app with a rewards credit card. It doesn’t have to be a United Airlines credit card. It can be any credit card.
So to give an example, I will use Wal-mart. I would go through the American Airlines shopping portal and click on the link to Wal-mart. Once I have all the items in my cart, I would buy a gift card through the Mileage Plus X app for the same amount I was intending on spending at Wal-mart. I complete the transaction with the gift card code given. And just like that you have tripled dip.
So when triple dipping you earn points with your credit card, the Mileage Plus X app with United, and the shopping portal you chose.
Other ways to earn miles and points
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