Barclaycard sent us free $10 movie gift cards

It’s been pretty quiet on the points and miles front for us lately. With the exception of maximizing a few new Amex Offers, we’ve been laying low. In the past few weeks we’ve been blessed with the chance to “unplug” and enjoy visits from friends and family and time in the wilderness (lots of hiking, camping and both our first backpacking adventure and first bear encounter!) I’ll (maybe) catch up on trip reviews eventually, but for now here’s a quickie post about an unexpected surprise we found in the mailbox.

 

We each received a $10 AMC movie card because we were recently “inconvenienced when your card was declined because of potential fraud.”

We both have several different Barclaycard cards. The mail piece did not specify which card this offer was in regards to, but I’m assuming it’s the Arrival Plus, because we often use that card for manufactured spend (purchasing cash-like items such as gift cards with a credit card and turning into cash), which often triggers fraud alerts.

 

Back when credit card loads were still allowed on Target REDCards the Arrival was one of my go-to cards and I frequently ran into transactions being declined. With Barclaycard you have to call each time and it was quite an inconvenience. I haven’t noticed any fraud lately, but the card was a nice gesture and good reminder to log-in to thoroughly look through my account as well as to make sure all cards are enrolled in the free fraud text alerts.

Thanks for the pleasant surprise, Barclaycard! Now should we see Trainwreck or Vacation?

Tips for hiking Mt. Bierstadt, one of Colorado’s “easy” 14ers

14er #2 for the Tegtmeiers

There are 54 mountain peaks over 14,000 feet in Colorado, known as “14ers.” If reaching the summit of a 14er is on your travel to-do list, here’s a few basic tips as well as our experience hiking Mt. Bierstadt recently.

Season: While some are possible year-round with proper equipment, typically July-September is the best time.

Weather: One of the most important tips and things to consider when preparing to hike a 14er is the early afternoon storms that roll in. You are above the tree line for the bulk of the hike and lightning can be very dangerous, even deadly. Do your research to figure out average hiking times so you know what time you need to depart to be off the summit by noon at the latest.

Gear: For many of the less difficult 14ers, you don’t really need any gear. A good pair of hiking books is recommended, and bring layers (even a hat and gloves), as the temperature can vary greatly and change quickly.  Also be sure to bring sunscreen, sunglasses, plenty of water and a few snacks.

Good First 14er Hikes: Gray’s Peak, Quandry Peak and Mt. Bierstadt

Best Online Resource: www.14ers.com. You can read trip reports, condition reports, check the forecast, etc. This thread with FAQs is particularly helpful in referencing the appropriate links.

Over the 4th of July weekend my best friend was in town and we headed up to the mountains for some camping and hiking. On day one we hiked to St. Mary’s Glacier (just North of Idaho Springs, CO). It was a short, easy hike with rewarding views, and it’s less than an hour’s drive from Denver.

For our overnight we camped at Guanella Pass Campground. Since it was a holiday weekend, we booked online in advance (and even a few weeks out there was only one campsite remaining, for one night only). It was $26 per site. It was a nice, large site right by a little stream, with a grill, picnic table, fire pit and separate area for our tent. The bathrooms were a bit of a hike, and there was no running water.

Thanks Lisa for making our campsite a little more patriotic!

Testing out the new hammock

Mt. Bierstadt Facts (from 14ers.com)

Rank (height):	38 of 53
Elevation:	14,060′
Range:	Front
Nat. Forest:	Pike Arapaho
Lat/Long:	39º 34′ 58″ N 105º 40′ 05″ W
Counties:	Pike Arapaho
Towns:	Georgetown Idaho Springs Grant

Stopping for a photo opp (and break!) about 1/4 of the way up.

We took the West Slopes Route, which was seven miles roundtrip and an elevation gain of 2850 feet. The trailhead is at Guanella Pass, and expect to park down the road from the parking lot unless you get there really early. Since this is so close to Denver, one of the less challenging climbs, and it was a holiday weekend for us, the trail was very, very crowded.

It took us about five hours to complete the hike, which seemed to be about average. That included numerous stops and a picnic at the summit. We got a later start than we planned, but were on the trail by 8 a.m. and off by 1 p.m. Some dark clouds were rolling in as we descended, but overall we couldn’t have asked for much better weather!

I say Mt. Bierstadt is one of the “easy” 14ers lightly. Though not as challenging as some of the others I’m sure, it was still harder than any of us (all in decent shape) expected. It’s almost 3,000 feet in elevation gain,  the altitude can certainly make you feel lightheaded and parts of the trail are quite steep.

The top section includes some light scrambling over these large rocks. And yes, he carried that flag the whole way. #’Merica

Views of Mount Evans. There is a 1.5 mile sawtooth that connects to the Mt. Evans summit, but very few people seemed to be taking it the day we hiked.

Don’t expect to have the summit to yourself. Quite crowded on top!

Some photos by the lovely Kacey Faith Harper

Weekend in NYC: Our transportation, eats and activities

Two weeks ago Caleb and I flew to one of our all-time favorite cities in the world for a weekend getaway, New York City. We redeemed free nights certificates at two “aspirational” properties: The Park Hyatt and the Waldorf Astoria, and visited the Air Canada Lounge at LGA, all of which I reviewed earlier this week. Below is a recap of the rest of our transportation logistics and our activities during the trip.

Flights: Redeemed 17,712 Southwest Airlines points and $22.40 ($5.60 x4 fees)

Airport Transportation: We always take public transit in New York (and most cities, really!) Here’s the easiest cheapest way to get from LGA to Midtown Manhattan:

• You’ll need a metrocard, which you can purchase from the kiosk right inside the airport by the bus stop (baggage claim level). One ride is $2.75, and you can load whatever amount you choose on to the card.
• Get on the Q70 LTD Bus
• Get off at Roosevelt Station and go downstairs to get on the subway.
• Exit the train at your appropriate stop (Google Maps is a great resource for figuring out your stop). To/from both the Park Hyatt and Waldorf Astoria we used the 53^rd Street and Lexington Ave. Station.
  

LGA Air Canada Lounge Review

On our recent trip to New York we had the chance to check out the Air Canada lounge at LaGuardia Airport, thanks to our Priority Pass Membership. We recently got access to Priority Pass Lounges thanks to the Citi Thank You Prestige Card.

We almost exclusively fly Southwest for our domestic travel because we have a plethora of points and the Southwest Companion Pass. One of the big downsides of Southwest though is not only do they not have any lounges of their own, but they are often secluded in terminals or smaller airports without any lounges even if you have ways to access the lounge free.

My Week in Miles and Points

 

Mt. Bierstadt

It was a relatively slow week for me in points and miles. I tuned out over the long holiday weekend to spend some time with my bestie who was in town and we hiked a 14er.

Most of my points and miles tasks this week revolved around wrapping everything up from my crazy week two weeks ago, where I made almost $1,000. So this is essentially a follow up to that, along with a few other new offers I jumped on, credit cards we (tried) to cancel, and new hotel bookings.

New Offers:

• Free $10 Credits with Amex Express Checkout HT Points Miles and Martinis. There’s a limited number of merchants, and you can only do it once per merchant per Amex log-in. I’m only really interested in Newegg, because you can buy gift cards and free after rebate items, which means we got $40 free (Four unique Amex accounts). I bought (4) $10 Groupon gift cards, and went through Ebates for an extra 1% back.
• Staples: From July 12-July 18, receive a $15 Staples Gift Card after Easy Rebate when you purchase at least $300 in Mastercard gift cards.
• Amex Prime Day July 15: Promises to be “better than Black Friday!” Now is a good time to sign up for a free 30 day trial of Prime if you are not already a member, as you must be on July 15 to receive deals.
  

Waldorf Astoria New York City Review

We redeemed a Hilton free weekend night certificate from the Citi Hilton Reserve card to stay at the iconic Waldorf Astoria property on our recent trip to New York.

Photo from Hotel Discount

Positives:             

• The best part is probably just the charm of this historic hotel.
• Free water bottles and free Wi-Fi for Hilton gold members.
• Two free drink vouchers to use at any of the hotel’s bars or restaurants. Up to a $20 value each, and included tax and gratuity. We used ours at the Bull and Bear, because around 10 p.m. on Sunday it was the only one still open.
• Great Midtown location, with several subway stations only a block or two away.

Park Hyatt New York: Is it worth it?

 

One of the best things about points and miles and free nights from credit card sign ups is they allow us to stay at hotels that we could never actually afford. The Park Hyatt New York is a new hotel, and one of only two category seven hotels in the US, the top tier on Hyatt’s award chart (the other is the Park Hyatt Beaver Creek).

View of the Park Hyatt (super tall building) from Columbus Circle

We were in a Park Deluxe King (a standard room). Average nightly rates for this room type during our Saturday night stay were over $800, but our stay was completely free thanks to one of the free night awards we received for signing up for the Hyatt Visa credit card from Chase. If you’re interested in getting the card yourself, now is a great time. If you can spend a minimum of $3,000, then you’ll receive two free nights at any Hyatt in the world, 5,000 Hyatt points and a $50 statement credit. Application link for the offer can be found here.

22 tips to save you money on parking, gas, groceries and dining

Happy 4th of July weekend everyone! One of my favorite holidays! Whether you’re traveling or staying closer to home over the long weekend, here are some simple tips to help you save money.

Parking

• I hate paying for parking. I am that girl that makes my husband circle the block several times for a street spot before caving and paying to park in a lot or garage. Use the Park Me App to find available spots.
• Consider taking a car service such as Uber (Sign up bonus) or Lyft (Sign up bonus).
• Car2go is now offered in many cities across the country. You can typically get at least 30 free minutes for signing up, and free parking in city meters and designated spots in many lots.
  

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• Use an airport parking service that earns rewards points. We use The Parking Spot, which earns one free day after every seven paid days. You can find print coupons from The Parking Spot’s website.

Fuel

• Kroger fuel rewards—Earn free gas by buying groceries, and they often offer 4x points for gift cards. Shopping on weekends in summer will earn you 2x points. Three cents off per gallon at the pump when you scan your Kroger card.
• Register for a Shell rewards card to receive three cents off every time you use it at the pump.
• Gas gift cards readily available at 5x retailers, such as office supply stores. We typically buy Shell gift cards at Staples with the Chase Ink card, or stock up on gift cards during quarters when the Chase Freedom offers 5x points.
• Use the gas buddy app to find cheapest gas near your current location.

Grocery shopping

• My favorite coupon match up sites:
  • Hip2Save
  • Living Rich with Coupons
• Grocery store hop if it’s not too far out of your way. For example I buy my produce at Sprouts, certain items I regularly buy at King Soopers, etc.
• Whole Foods gift cards readily available at 5x locations
• Kroger app- Free Friday Download– Every  Friday there’s a free item you can load to your rewards card

Dining Out

• Here’s an overview from a previous post about how to earn miles and points for dining
• Purchase restaurant gift cards at 5x retailers
• Open Table Rewards (Earn points each time you make a reservation, and occasional offers such as the recent $20 off through paying for app).
• Restaurant.com gift cards
• Sites like Groupon, Living Social, and Amazon Local offer discounted meals at great restaurants
• Entertainment Books can save you hundreds of dollars (frequently go on sale for just a few dollars, currently $8.99)
  
• Dining Rewards Network–link your credit card to earn miles and points for eating out
• Go during happy hour for discounted drinks and appetizers. I love this Happy Hour App. Many bars and restaurants offer a late-night happy hour as well.
• Eat your big meal out for lunch rather than dinner for slightly smaller entrees for much cheaper.
• Sign up for rewards programs for free food at sign up and on your birthday. Some of my favorites that offer great rewards are Starbucks, Panera, Jersey Mikes, Firehouse Subs and Qdoba. Full list here from Hey It’s Free.

And for suggestions on ways to find fun activities for cheap, check out my post on my favorite ways to find free events in Denver, which has many tips that will probably apply to your city too!

Buying Simon Mall Gift Cards to Meet Minimum Spend

Third and final “gift card” post for awhile…

The Villain and I each recently signed up for a few new cards and the combined total spend we needed to put on the cards to earn our sign up bonuses was $16,000, in a three-month period. When Target REDCard was still allowing credit card loads, I could have knocked that out with one trip to Target, but now it presents much more of a challenge.

Signing up for multiple new credit cards at once can be very lucrative, but the first piece of advice for any churner is not to get yourself in over your head. That being said, there are still many ways you can hit large minimum spend with relatively little extra work and expense. So while we don’t, and won’t, spend $16,000 in our regular expenses  just for the miles, we’ll switch everything we easily can to those cards for the three months, and purchase gift cards to make up the rest.

Million Mile Secrets has a more thorough post of how to buy Simon Mall gift cards to help your credit card game, but here’s a review of my recent experience buying these gift cards and loading to my REDcard.

My buying and reselling gift cards experiment

As I mentioned yesterday, I spent about 15 hours last week trying to see if I could make a profit by taking full advantage of various promotions, the large majority of that time consumed by buying and reselling gift cards to max out some current Amex Offers. Luckily I live in a city where it’s not hard to find a Whole Foods, Dollar General and Carrabba’s on my way home, so I didn’t have to go too far out of my way. The actual purchasing of the gift cards went much smoother than expected, but it was the work on the front and back end that took the most time.I have 18 American Express cards at my disposal, including authorized user cards and Bluebird cards. That means that I needed to do 54 separate transactions. Sounds terrible, but it went pretty fast and I ended up having great conversations with cashiers at both Carrabba’s and Whole Foods who were interested in traveling with points and miles themselves.

I decided to keep a few cards for our own use and sell the rest on Cardpool. I like this guide by Doctor of Credit, ‘The Complete Guide to Selling Your Unwanted Gift Cards for Cash.‘ I did two separate orders on Cardpool to ensure I did not go over the $1,000 per account limit for cashback on Be Frugal.

Here are the basic steps:

Step 1: Register for Amex Offers. You can do this by logging in to your online American Express account and looking under ‘My Offers’ or linking to social media. Complete guide from Miles to Memories here, and info on setting up a “Amex Sync Machine,” courtesy of Frequent Miler.

Step 2: Visit retailers to purchase gift cards. For this example, I’m using Whole Foods. The offer was $15 back on $75 purchase, so since I have 18 cards linked to the offer I knew I needed to spend $1,350. This cashier was more comfortable ringing it all up as separate transactions, but sometimes you’ll get one willing to ring it all up as one or a few transactions and split tender 18 ways (i.e. as many cards as you have).