Final Results: How Many United Miles Did I Earn In August?

In July, I wrote about 31 Ways To Earn United Miles. In August, I wanted to challenge myself to earn as many United miles as possible.

I made four rules that I had to follow:

   1) Spend the least amount of non-justified money ie money I wouldn't spend anyway

   2) Everything has to be ethical - would my grandfather be embarrassed by what I am doing?

   3) Can only apply for one new credit card that earns United miles

   4) Only miles earned in August and credited by September 30th count

Now the big question: how did I do?

Drum roll please . . .

My goal was to earn 75,000, so I am very pleased with earning 78,000+ miles.

Here is how I did it:

First, I applied and was approved for the Chase Ink Bold.

After spending $5,000, I would earn 50,000 Ultimate Reward Points, which can be transferred to United MileagePlus at 1:1 ratio. I earned 56, 558 points from the credit card.

Here is a breakdown of how the points were earned:

The other 22, 443 miles in a variety of other ways

The graphic shows I earned 22,734. That number includes 280 miles earned from Opinion Miles Club (see here) and some points earned from my United Credit Card.

Here are the ways I earned the other miles:

Here is how I earned the other 22,000+ miles:

  760 - Opinion Miles Club
  500 - eMile
1500 - Marriott Gift Cards (expired)
 186 -  Purchase on my MileagePlus Shopping Mall
1932 - Chase United Credit Card Purchases
1150 - ScoreBig
5000 - Purchases on my Chase Sapphire - Transfer from Ultimate Rewards
1120 - Dining Rewards
5670 - Purchase from Shoes.com
2500 - Vinessee Wine Purchase
2000 - eRewards Surveys

Now the question, how much money was wasted?

Here are the items that I paid money for and the amount of money I deem wasted:

Marriott Gift Cards - spent $1 on shipping
Kiehl's (MP Shopping Mall) - nothing
Scorebig - $10 (the extra cost of money)
Vinessee - $10 (the wine was only worth $5 a bottle)
Shoes.com - nothing, needed both pairs
Chase Ink Bold - $31.60 - 8 VRs @ $3.95 each
-------------------------
Total: $52.60 wasted


Conclusion:

78,000 miles with $52.60 wasted is amazing.

My little experiment goes to show that anyone can earn miles with a little bit of effort. Yes, 80% of my points came from credit cards. However, I didn't really purchase anything, except VRs, that I didn't need. For those wondering, I use the wine for the anniversary party and gifts.

Overall, the amount of ways you can earn miles/points is numerous. The only thing standing in your way is you.

Did you participate in my challenge? How did you do?

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FEDEX & DELTA Take A Break

Earlier this week, I wrote about how I sent myself a FEDEX package to earn miles. The next day, I received this email from FEDEX announcing the end of the current Delta promotion:

My plan was to send out the prizes to the giveaway winners via FEDEX. I am sad to see this promotion ending.

Now, I am stuck with USPS. : (

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Investments

United Airlines has partnerships with Fidelity and ShareBuilder that allows MileagePlus customers the opportunity to earn miles for signing-up and investing money with these companies. The amount of miles you can earn is determined by the amount of money you have to invest. The good new is between the two companies there is an option for people at all investment levels.

For those who have $25,000+ to invest, Fidelity's offer is better.

Fidelity currently offers MilagePlus customers the opportunity to earn up to 50,000 Mileage. The current offer is tiered with those investing $25,000 to $49,999.99 earning 15,000 miles, $50,000 to $99,999.99 earning 25,000 miles and $100,000+ earning 50,000 miles.

The terms and conditions state that you must open a new non-retirement account or add new money to an existing brokerage account. Those opening a new account have 60 days to transfer the funds to earn money; while those adding new money to an existing account have 30 days to make the transfer to qualify for the miles.

For those with significantly less money to invest, like me, Sharebuilder is the offer to look at.

The current offer from ShareBuilder is 2,000 miles after opening a new account and making your first trade.

The offer does not have restrictions on the type of account, other than it being an investment/brokerage. You can open up general investment, retirement or custodial accounts.

Also, unlike the Fidelity offer, there is no minimum investment required. However, you will need enough money to complete your first trade; therefore, you could call that the minimum investment.

I would be remiss not to give a warning here. Investing money comes at a cost. Each of the companies charges to make trades on your behalf. Please look at the cost sheet before making the decision to sign-up for either promotion. If, like me, you are in the market to start investing money, these are good (not great - I have seen better) offers to use.

Happy Investing!


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Recap: Ways to Earn United Miles

Since we are past the half way point of our month long series on earning United miles, I though a post summarizing the ways discussed already was in order. The links below take you to that day's article.

Day 1: Flying

Day 2: Insurance

Day 3: e-Miles

Day 4: Buy / Transfer Miles

Day 5: Exchange Gift Cards

Day 6: Shopping Portals

Day 7: Tickets to Shows

Day 8:  Social Media

Day 9:  Credit Cards

Day 10: Mortgages

Day 11: Hotel Stays

Day 12: Super Shuttle

Day 13: Buy Wine

Day 14: Amtrak

Day 15: Renting Cars

Day 16: Peapod

Day 17: Eating Out

Day 18: Electricity Bills

I hope this series has helped you to see that there are many ways to earn United/Airline miles.

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New Customers Earn Miles with Peapod

Located in the United Shopping Mall, Peapod is offering somewhere between 400 to 600 miles for new customers first order.

Peapod is a home grocery delivery service. Purchase your groceries online and someone delivers them to your front door.

Peapod currently serves the following states/area: Chicagoland, Milwaukee, S.E. Wisconsin, Indianapolis, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Southern New Hampshire, New York, New Jersey, Maryland, Virginia, Washington D.C., Philadelphia, S.E. Pennsylvania

To earn United miles, one needs to be a new customer and spend at minimum of $60 on your first order.

Earlier I stated that you can earn 400 or 600 miles because as you can see the offer on the United page states you earn 400 miles for shopping. However, when you click the Shop Now button, the systems says you will earn 600 miles.

So, one will earn somewhere between 400 to 600 miles for using the service. The cost for delivery depends upon your zipcode and amount of your order. Where I live the cost of delivery is as followed:

Where my mom lives the shipping is different:

It is important to note that Peapod offers $15 to $20 coupon codes for new customers. However, you can not use the coupon code and earn miles. It is one or the other. So, one has to decide is 400-600 miles worth  not saving $15?

Currently, one can earn miles through Peapod with American Airlines, Delta and Southwest.

Peapod can save you time and also earn you miles.

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Earn United Miles by Riding Amtrak

Amtrak is a way of life in the Northeast. As a kid, I remember going to the beach and seeing the train hurdle past, as the tracks rain next to the beach. The train was a thing of beauty. It wasn't until I was a teen that I actually took my first train ride. A quick trip to NYC to see the holiday displays and a show at Radio City Music Hall. Now as an adult, I almost never take the train (too expensive). Kind of sad ;(

For those who do take the train, Amtrak and United have a partnership allowing you to earn United miles on a very limited number of tickets. Unfortunately, the earn opportunities are only available for those traveling in the Northeast. 

There are two ways two earn miles via Amtrak, which can be found on this United webpage.

First, involves flying into and out of Newark airport and take the train to/from the airport. The rules read:

Earn award miles on qualifying Coach or Business class fares per segment on Amtrak when you fly United and make a connection at Newark Liberty International Airport to or from any of the following Amtrak destinations: New Haven Rail Station, CT; Stamford Rail Station, CT; Philadelphia 30th Street Station, PA; Wilmington Rail Station, DE. See the chart below for eligible United fare classes and award mileage accrual information

The other option involves taking Acela from Washington, DC to NYC or Boston to NYC. Unfortunately,  only business and first class tickets earn miles. No connecting flight required. The rules read as followed:

Earn 500 award miles per Business class segment or 750 award miles per First class segment on Acela Express trains (no connecting flight required) between New York's Penn Station and the following train stations: Boston's South Station, MA; Boston's Back Bay Station, MA; Boston's Route 128 Station, MA; Washington D.C.

With both options, you need to call Amtrak at 1-800-USA-RAIL and provide the with your MileagePlus credit card number. The other option is to book your rail ticket with your United Ticket. For instance, I booked a ticket from New Haven Rail Station to Washington, DC all on United and here is what I got:

United uses the following codes for the rail stations earning miles connecting through Newark's airport:

New Haven: ZVE
Stamford: ZTP
Philadelphia 30th: ZVP
Wilmington, DE: ZWI

Amtrak has its own frequent traveler program known as Guest Rewards, which can earn you free train rides with as little as 1,500 points.

Not an amazing way to bank United miles, but if you travel Amtrak on the East coast, a possible way to pad your balance.

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