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
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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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Need Shoes? 21X United Miles @ Shoe's.com

A few days ago, I saw an email from United offering 21x miles for purchases at Shoes.com. This offer is only for those with United Mileage Plus Credit Cards. Otherwise, its been reported that payoff is 15x miles per $1. To earn the points, you have to log-in to the United Mileage Plus shopping portal.

I didn't think about it much about the email. United sends them all of the time and I tend to glance at them. That changed last night when I looked at my dress shoes:

My plan was to buy new black dress shoes next month, but 21x points per $1 is a great deal. I decided to move up my purchase. I am a big Johnson & Murphy fan, so I bought two pairs of their shoes. One for good weather and another for not so great weather:
                                            
In addition, until 8/31, you can get 20% off of your entire order plus free shipping.

Typically, you can not use codes and earn miles. However, this one comes from the United website and per the terms and conditions, this code is allowed:

Unfortunately, my shoes were not eligible for the discount. Therefore, my shoe purchase earned me 5,460 United miles - $260 x 21 = 5,460

I am trying to earn 75,000 United miles in the month of August, so this purchase goes a long way.
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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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Follow us on Twitter @doit4thepoints! Have a question for us? E-mail us at chris@doitforthepoints.com or jd@doitforthepoints.com