How To Get 10X Points And FREE Global Entry

I love booking flights with miles, but sometimes, you don't have enough miles to book a certain flight or you can't transfer your miles to the airline you want to fly or there's no availability. 

So what do you do? The Capital One Venture card is the answer and now, the card offered some added perks. 
First, the new perks for those of you who already know about this card. Through 2020, book a hotel through hotels.com and earn 10x points on your Capital One Venture card. Wow! That's a quick way to rack up points. 

Another perk is FREE global entry. This is a $100 value. I'm not convinced that global entry saves any time, but if you fly a lot and run into security issues or long lines, then it may be helpful. 

The best value of the Capital One Venture card is that you can erase any travel purchases with points. What does this mean?

For example, you book a flight on Norwegian Airlines for $400 round trip from Newark to Rome. You purchase the flight with your Capital One Venture card. Once the purchase goes through, you can log into your Capital One Venture account and use points to erase the purchase. You have 120 days to erase the purchase. And with a bonus of 50,000 when you sign up for the card, you can erase about $600 worth of travel. Travel purchases are hotels, flights, train tickets and anything else coded for travel. 

I used my bonus to cover 5 one way flights from Houston to LAX. This was the last leg of our flights home from Panama. Unfortunately, my United points would only get us from Panama to Houston and not all the way back to LAX due to lack of availability. But I used the Capital One Venture bonus to finish the trip. 
The card has a $3,000 minimum spend in the first 3 months with $0 annual fee the first year, $95 after that. 

That's how we do it at almost FREE family travel! 

A New Way To Save Money At The Grocery Store

There's a new app out there called Ibotta that could save you a ton of money at the grocery store. The basic idea is the same as cutting coupons, but now it's all electronic.

Here's how it works.
Before you head to the store, check Ibotta to see which brands are offering coupon discounts. Click on the coupons, you think you might use.
After you shop, take a photo of your receipt with the Ibotta app. Ibotta will cross check the items on your coupon list with the ones you marked off. If any of them match, Ibotta will drop the money into your account.
Watch for bonus coupons too. I was able to collect an additional $3 for mobile shopping.
The second way to use this app is like a shopping portal. I found their percentages to be low compared to other ones on the market. But the app offers a welcome bonus of $10 so that makes at least the first purchase worth it.
The only catch is that you need $20 in your Ibotta account before you can cash out.
I tested Ibotta by buying my cat food from Petco.com through the shopping portal. I received $10 for my first purchase plus 5% cash back on my $60 cat food purchase so that's another $3. I got a $3 mobile shopping bonus.
Then I scanned my Sprouts receipt and picked up another $.50 for bananas and mango. Plus a $2 bonus for in-store shopping.
So my total right now is $17.50. Of course, I need $20 to cash out so I'll have to use the app a few more times at least.
If you are coupon cutter, this app may be right up your alley. If you use my link, you will get the $10 welcome bonus. 

Get A 1,500 Point Bonus From La Quinta!

La Quinta which is combining with Wyndham very soon just launched a new perks program called Redeem Away. Redeem Away is a twist on the shopping portal idea. And right now, the program will give you a 1,500 point bonus for enrolling. 1,500 points appears to be enough to cover the cost of a cup of coffee. 
So how does it work? From the Redeem Away website, here are the steps to take. I did it this morning and it took less than five minutes. By the way, the 1,500 bonus was credited to my account immediately. 

Step 1: 
La Quinta Returns members enroll in Redeem Away! by linking a U.S.-issued Visa credit card and U.S. mobile phone number to their Returns account.

Step 2: Make a qualifying purchase at an eligible merchant with that linked Visa credit card.

Step 3:Reply “YES” to the SMS notification inviting you to redeem your points for your most recent qualifying purchase. You have up to 12 hours to respond “YES” to an SMS notification invitation. Furthermore, you can only redeem points for the qualifying purchase for which you most recently received an SMS notification invitation to redeem. If you want to apply your points, be sure to reply “YES” before making any other qualifying purchase. Note that La Quinta does not control the order in which you receive the SMS notifications if you have made multiple purchases in the same day.

Step 4: 
Receive credit for the purchase amount on your linked Visa card statement in around 10 days.

I couldn't find a list of participating merchants on the website or exactly what a qualifying purchase looks like. So I'll have to keep you posted on how I use my points and exactly how I earn more points.

Which city claims to be the birthplace of the Caesar Salad?

Do you know which city in the world claims to be the birthplace of the Caesar Salad? Rome? Athens? Nope. Tijuana, Mexico. That's right the border town just south of San Diego. 

And the restaurant that claims it is called appropriately, Caesar's. It is an old style throwback restaurant environment with tableside salad service. The restaurant advertises that it was established in 1929 and is decorated with photos of famous actors dining at the establishment. 

The menu includes fish, meat, pasta and some Mexican style dishes like tacos and enchiladas. 

Expect to spend about $25 per person for soup to nuts including alcohol. Their sangria is very tasty. 

If you live in San Diego or anywhere nearby, visiting Caesar's is a great activity. Crossing the border is quick. Bring your passport or passport card. Parking is available at the border for $15 at the last exit before the San Ysidro border crossing.  

You can walk from the border crossing to Avenida Revolucion. Though the first plaza is abandoned and a bit sketchy. Otherwise, you pass by the police department and you can see a heavy police presence. 

No need to exchange money, just use your credit card. 

Right now, it's 20 pesos to the dollar. 

Avenida Revolucion was decorated with giant milk cartons painted into murals. Live music poured out of the restaurants and bars. Restaurants ranged from pizza, tacos to a wine/coffee bar. Whether you hop over the border for an evening out or stop here on your way to las playas or the Valle de Guadalupe, it's enjoyable. 

Chase FREEDOM Announces Q3 Categories

Chase FREEDOM just announced it's 5% Q3 Categories:

1. Gas

2. Lyft

3. Walgreens

Why are these important? Because the Chase FREEDOM credit card is a free credit card with no annual fee and it rotates categories each quarter that let you earn 5% in Chase Ultimate Rewards. Chase Ultimate Rewards can be cashed in for cash back, products, experiences or travel. 

It's my go-to card to maximize these categories. You can earn up to $1,500 each quarter, however, you are limited per category so pay attention to that. 

You need to activate your card through this link. 

If you don't have this card yet, you can apply here. There is no annual fee and you will earn $150 cash back after you spend $500. 

That's how we do it at almost FREE family travel. 

Starwood Points On Sale Until July 20th

One of my favorite loyalty programs is Starwood Preferred Guest. Besides using points for free hotel rooms, you can also transfer points to dozens of airlines for free flights. 

Starwood points are good at Sheraton, Westin, W, Aloft and more hotel brands. And if you take advantage of the 5th-night FREE option, that's a huge savings. Plus you can transfer them to dozens of airlines including American and Alaska at 1:1 and for every 20,000 points you transfer, SPG will give you a 5,000 bonus. 

SPG is merging with Marriott in August so right now, you can transfer SPG points to Marriott at a 1:3 ratio to take advantage of vacation packages or to book Marriott hotels. 

Until July 20th, SPG is selling points at a 35% discount. I don't usually support buying points, but if you need points to top off your account so you can reach 20,000 and get the bonus on the airline ticket or have enough points for a certain hotel stay, then go for it. 

Hilton just offered a similar sale and I bought a few thousand points to top off my account so I had enough points to cash in for 2 rooms for 5 days in Panama City. Woohoo!

$114 for 5,000 points is the minimum to take advantage of the discount. 

That's how we do it at almost FREE family travel. 

Save $$$ On Your Car Rental This Summer

If you are a Costco member, you should try out Costco Travel the next time you need to rent a car. Their rates are consistently the best on the web. Plus when you enter your pick up/drop off cities and dates, they will give you prices at the top four car rental agencies so you can comparison shop. 

You do not have to pay until pick up either so you can cancel or rebook if a better rate shows up. 

The tricky part is you need to join the rental agencies loyalty program in order to earn miles for your rental. You cannot directly enter an airline partner in the Costco booking site. 

Have you booked a rental car through Costco? How was the experience? Please share below.