Buy $10 At Whole Foods, Get $10 Amazon Credit

Here's a deal for you as we get ready for Amazon Prime Days. If you spend $10 at Whole Foods or Amazon Prime Now by July 16th, you will get a $10 credit that you can use at Amazon during Prime Days. 

This deal is only available to Prime members. And some items will not count towards the $10 like alcohol, tobacco, stamps etc. 
Be sure to scan your Prime code from your mobile phone when you check out of Whole Foods. The $10 credit is only good on Amazon Prime Days July 15 and 16. You can only redeem this offer once. 

How To Get An Extra 5% Off On Amazon Prime Day

Get ready to shop! Amazon Prime Days, yes, this year, there are two days of deal shopping with Amazon, will happen July 15th and 16th. 

Amazon started this tradition a few years back and it involves exclusive deals just for Prime members. 

Sample deals this year are: 

Fire TV Cube for $69.99 (50% off)

Echo for $49.99 (50% off)

35% off groceries (think KIND, Gatorade etc.)

You can check Tom's guide for more deals. 

For almostFREEfamilytravel.com the deals are important, but for Prime Day, it's more important which card we use to maximize our points for FREE travel. 

So here's the trick, prepare for Prime Day by buying Amazon gift cards at gas stations, grocery stores or office supply stores that give you 5x points. 

For example:

•  buy Amazon gift cards at Staples or Office Max with your Chase Ink credit card, bam, 5x points. 
• buy Amazon gift cards at gas stations on your Chase FREEDOM credit card. The card offers rotating bonus categories. This quarter, gas stations are in the bonus category. Just make sure they code as gas to get 5x points. 
• buy Amazon gift cards at grocery stores on your American Express Gold Card and earn 4x points. 

There are a lot of options to max points on Amazon Prime Days. Happy Shopping! 

Earn An Easy 500 United Bonus Miles

I love shopping portals! They are a super easy way to earn points, miles and cash back on the purchases you are making anyway. Now, United is offering 500 bonus miles if you install the Mileage Plus Shopping button on your computer and spend $50 by 7/19. 

Do note the fine print that says "you must keep the button installed for at least 30 days to get the bonus" according to the website. 

The button will alert you if a retailer you are trying to purchase from is participating in the Mileage Plus Shopping so it's not a bad thing. 

Before making any purchase, always check cashbackmonitor.com to see which portal is offering the best rate. 

If you try this promotion, let us know how it works for you. 

Mistake - Don't Let Your United Miles Expire

Darn! Even experienced miles and points travelers can make a rookie mistake. I had 8,923 United miles in my account and I let them expire. Ouch. 

The good news is that United.com now offers a way to reinstate your miles. The bad news is it may not help. 

You can pay $50 for up to 5,000 miles and $100 for up to 20,000 miles OR pay $100 and then buy a flight. That might make sense if you had let a lot of miles expire. 

United gives you up to 18 months after the miles expire to reinstate them. 

Nice offer, but Delta miles never expire. 

I will probably let these miles go instead of paying to get them back. But now I will be updating my spreadsheets with a new column. By the way, the easiest way to reset your expiration date without flying is to use the shopping portal. Just one purchase will reset the expiration date. 

What does FREEDOM mean to you?

Today marks the celebration of Independence Day and freedom. Freedom can mean many different things to many different people. It can mean freedom to make your own decisions, freedom to live the lifestyle you choose, freedom to pick your career, freedom of thought and speech and on and on.
So what does freedom mean to you?
For me, it means the freedom of time; time to travel and see the world. The freedom to learn new cultures, meet new people and explore. 
And in order to have that freedom, I need to find a way to make travel affordable for my family.
That's been my mission for the last 4 years with this blog, almostFREEfamilytravel.
Every article, tip and piece of advice I give is meant to help you and me achieve the freedom of travel. 
I learned 4 years ago that travel does not have to be expensive. You just need to have a plan and focus on execution. 
And the gift you can give to your children will live on forever. 
So I hope you continue to enjoy my blog and enjoy your own definition of freedom. 

Stephanie 

Chase Sapphire Reserve Vs. Preferred, Which One?

Two great cards, the Chase Sapphire Reserve and the Preferred, but which one should you choose? I just fell under the 5/24 rule which means I can apply for another Chase credit card. Chase changed the rules a few years ago so you can only be approved for 5 credit cards in a two year period. Some cards are excluded, but most are not.
Since I knew I wanted to open two Southwest credit cards in December 2018, I held off opening any other cards for the last 24 months.
The bonus is I actually have four spots open, wow! I was approved for the two Southwest credit cards, woohoo, and earned the companion pass, (The companion pass is one of the best travel perks out there, you can read about this pass by clicking here) but I have another spot. I actually have two spots, but I am going to hold off using the last one.
I have been eyeing the Chase Sapphire cards for awhile because I already have the Chase Freedom and the Chase Ink Business card, but neither of those allow you to transfer Ultimate Reward Points to airlines unless you have a Sapphire card.
So now the question is which one?

Here are the pros and cons:

The biggest con, of course, is the difference in the annual fee $95 versus $450. However, if you break down the annual fee, you might make a different choice. 
For $450, you get a $300 travel credit so that knocks the annual fee to $150 and you also get a $100 Global Entry credit so now you are talking $50. If you value lounge membership and plan to use the Chase travel portal, then the Reserve starts to make sense. 
However, you get 10,000 extra bonus points with the Preferred. 
So you need to weigh the pros and cons depending on how you like to travel. 
Let us know what you decide. 

How To Earn Southwest Miles Without Flying....Fast

Once you get your new Southwest Peformance Business credit card and make $5,000 in purchases to reach your minimum spend and get the bonus of 80,000 points, the question is how to earn the companion pass quickly. 
You are awarded the companion pass when you earn 110,000 in a single calendar year. The pass is good for the year you earn it and the following year. So the earlier you earn it in the calendar year, the more value you can get out of it. 
For example, I earned the companion pass in February 2019. It is good through December 31, 2020. 
You can use it as many times as you want and change your companion three times each calendar year. 

So how can you earn 25,000 Southwest points quickly to reach the magic number of 110,000 without flying?

Here are a few ways to do it:

1. Use Rocketmiles.com to book hotels. Look for hotels with bonuses of up to 10,000 points. A quick search shows hotels in New Orleans, LA in November with bonuses of up to 15,000 points for 2 nights. The points will take about two weeks to post. 

2. You can book a rental car and earn miles on Southwest

3. You can dine at restaurants and earn miles on Southwest. Remember to dine within 30 days of opening your Southwest dining account and post a review to get a new member bonus. Plus opt in to email communication to get 3x points. 

4. And my favorite, the Southwest shopping portal. Earn thousands of points by doing your online shopping through the Southwest portal. 

5. You can even earn points for taking surveys, but this is pretty slow. 

Let us know in the comments below how you earn those extra points! Good luck!