So as you may have noticed, my post frequency has taken a nosedive recently. This is due to a perfect storm of increased responsibilities and commitments in almost every aspect of life. Like any hobby, miles and points have kind of fallen to the wayside a bit for me, but I’ve been trying to keep in touch with things despite having very little time.

I’ve been operating like a skeleton crew, just doing the bare minimum for what needs to be done to keep my miles and points hobby running until I have time time to reinvest again. Here are some things I’ve been doing to stay active.

1. Make sure all your credit cards are on autopay

When I first started, I hated using autopay because I wanted to mentally remind myself of how much I was spending. I find that the act of checking your credit card bill – the full amount at the very least – is a good reminder and a check and balance to make sure you’re not overspending all for the chasing of points.

Unfortunately, as my number of cards has hit 20+, it’s just not sustainable to log into every single account every month – it’s too easy to miss something. This isn’t even including things like Serve, Bluebird, various gift cards flying around, etc. etc.

Then you get hit with late fees, interest charges, etc. So around September 10th when I realized everything was getting crazy I logged into every single credit card account I have and made sure they are all on autopay. That was a good thing too, because I had a bill due on 9/11 on a new card that I hadn’t enrolled in autopay yet.

Better safe than sorry! Of course, you should just enroll in autopay the moment you sign up for online access, then you don’t have to worry about it when things get crazy.

2. Spend the time and energy you have clearing sign up bonuses

For people who aren’t super hardcore about earning their miles, the majority of mile earning is still probably coming from sign up bonuses. The reality is, if I was heavy into MS-spending I wouldn’t have the time to track it right now anyway. So besides doing Amazon Payments two final times, I’ve totally cut out even the small MS strategies that I use for the time being.

Instead, I’ve just been focusing on clearing the sign up bonuses that I currently need to get through. It isn’t anything huge, so it’s mostly regular spending, but it would be a travesty to miss a sign up bonus because I’m too busy – so I’m making sure I’m using whatever energy I have leftover in a day to double check that I am on pace (I am). Unlike other times, I’m not rushing to clear the bonus (sometimes I’ll try to get it done in three weeks) – just going about my regular day and making sure my wife and I are using the right cards.

I don’t even have the time and energy to bug my wife about applying for cards! But at least I’m clearing the bonuses I have.

3. Just read titles of blog articles

I’m sure many of you, like me, use some kind of RSS reader or equivalent to keep up to date with blog news. But once you’ve been doing this long enough, you can kind of figure out what an article is going to tell you just by its title (the subject of much satire). Sometimes there are hidden gems, but when I’m busy I just don’t have time for all of that.

So I found myself just reading through the titles and marking everything as read unless the title and first few sentences jumped out at me. I didn’t learn too much new, but I also didn’t waste a bunch of time and energy reviewing techniques and strategies I already know. And I’m sure I could have developed some skills in more niche programs – but that is better left to when I have time and space – especially since it’s easy to make simple mistakes if you’re not completely on your game.

4. Be prepared to jump on an opportunity, but only the amazing ones

Another thing you’ll notice if you’re focusing on article titles is that exclamation marks (!) are used, shall we say, liberally. I’m not judging, I’m totally guilty of this too!!!!!!!!!!!!! (!) Most of the times the exclamation marks mean nothing (!), but there are times for sure when there are great deals to be had, deals that are time sensitive.

An example would be KennyBSAT’s mentioning that there is a bunch of business class award space to Europe next summer. There’s still some out there, but if I had just let my RSS pile up I probably would have missed it. Instead, I just clicked through article titles for five minutes a day – and when his article caught my eye I got right to work. I got a little bit less sleep that night but I figure I’ll make up for it by not having to stress about next summer later.

So be prepared to spend some time in an “emergency” to take advantage of some of the great deals out there – they wait for no one!!!!!!!!! (!) (!) But just stick to the amazing ones. Would it be great to have jumped in or jump in on some of the portal deals out there? Sure, it would, but I ain’t got time for that…major in the majors.

5. Delight in your spam comments (if you have a blog)

For some reason, I’ve been receiving more spam comments ever since I started posting less. Maybe they think I’m desperate? Anyway, some of these comments are so nice I thought I’d share them with everyone.

Currently queued for moderation: “Can I simply say what a comfort to find somebody that truly understands what they’re discussing on the net. You definitely understand how to bring a problem to light and make it important. A lot more people have to read this and understand this side of your story. It’s surprising you aren’t more popular given that you surely have the gift.”

I seriously do not know why I’m more popular – I have “the gift”. And I am on “the net”. Honestly, I felt pretty good about myself reading this comment – thanks bail bondsman springfield – I really appreciate the time you take reading my stuff. I will most certainly not click on your youtube link though.

Some spam comments read like fortune cookies: “It’s appropriate time to make some plans for the future and it’s time to be happy.”

Wow, great tip.

Sometimes I kind of get offended though when the spam bots don’t even have the decency to use proper grammar: “Its lke you read my mind! You appeazr to know so much about this, like you wrote the book in it
or something. I think that you can do with a few pics to drive the message home a bit, but other than that, this is great blog.”

Well, Slot Pharoah’s Way Hack Android Free (!), it appeazrs you don’t use spell check so I can’t approve your comment. I will definitely add more pics though…

This one I almost wanted to believe was real: “This design is steller! You most certainly know how to keep a reader
amused. Between your wit and your videos, I was almost moved to start my own blog (well, almost…HaHa!) Fantastic job. I really enjoyed what you had to say, and more than that, how you presented it. Too cool!”

Again with the bad spelling. But I’m glad that I can inspire other aspiring spambot bloggers. I appreciate that this particular spambot appreciates my biting wit.

Final Thoughts

It’s pretty sad when the most action in the hobby revolves around spambots. But, life is life, and points and miles are just a hobby, so it is what it is. Still – if you find yourself getting busy, I hope to remember to do the little things to keep things functioning – nothing hurts more than missing a payment or getting hit by a late fee or worse. Hopefully I can get back to posting more regularly soon, but in the meantime maybe I’ll just share the best spam comments each week! j/k…sorta.

Let me know if I’ve missed anything or what you all do when life gets hectic in the comments!

Disclosure: I receive no commission for any of this. Just some random ramblings.

It’s hard to believe, but today marks the two year anniversary of my blog. A lot has changed since then, both in my life and in the points world in general. That being the case, I’ve been doing a little reflection on where things stand in the miles and points world and where I stand in relation to that.

Those who know me know that I spend whatever free time I have apart from family/points/miles on playing video games. In the competitive multiplayer game landscape, there is a lot of talk about the “metagame”. Any given game has its set of rules – the metagame consists of the strategies that develop to bend, break, or even exploit those rules to gain an advantage. An example in the miles and points world would be a rule of the game, like Delta’s allowed open jaw and stopover, being used in a novel way – like creating a “free” one-way.

Here are some of my reflections on different aspects of the current metagame – opinions are my own and don’t represent Saverocity. These are just my thoughts from observations, reading of some of the blogosphere, and various forums including our very own. Doing this helps me assess my own personal place in the game at the moment as well.

Mile Earning – MS OV-Reload

Manufactured spending has always existed – long before people were even dragging silver dollars to the bank. I know the MS sections are the hottest topic on Saverocity’s forum and I’m pretty sure they are hit hard on Flyertalk and others as well. I’d say the swing towards more MS over credit card sign up bonuses is the result of a conflagration of factors.

First, for awhile, it seemed like the big credit card sign up bonuses were going away (though now it seems the demise has been greatly exaggerated). Secondly, there is the allure of earning points while spending very little out of pocket – or even earning money at the same time. Third, bloggers realized that that allure draws eyeballs and thus we’ve started seeing MS talked about more and more in the blogosphere. I’m not placing judgment, that’s just my interpretation of how things have gone down (for the record I lean far towards the side of Matt and stewardship on these matters).

Of course, as in every game, the metagame has evolved and banks have moved to counter attempts at manufactured spending. The most famous of these was the CVS shutdown of Vanilla Reloads. That of course has spurred points enthusiasts to fall back on other MS techniques or focus more on reselling.

Personally, my points needs mean that I don’t dip too heavily into the MS techniques that are out there. Plus, when I think about it, friendly commenters tell me they’d rather me not! Thanks! 😛 We’ll see if that evolves as we start needing to pay for Little M’s tickets. In the meantime, credit card sign up bonuses should suit our purposes just fine, though I think the meta is shifting on that front.

Credit Card Bonuses – No More App-O-Ramas?

This is one where I think people might disagree with me, but I feel there is starting to be more of a shift away from App-o-ramas (AORs). In fact, I eventually need to get around to updating my Credit Card Strategy post on the matter. I’ve more or less shifted my strategy away from huge AORs – meaning four or more cards in one day. What I found was by limiting myself to applications every 91+ days I was missing out on some good sign up bonuses.

Now that I’m not locked into 91 days, I feel more comfortable pulling the trigger when I see bonuses that I feel are worth it. Of course, I don’t abuse this – but I just think credit card companies can see pretty clearly that I apply for a lot of cards a lot of the time, and I just don’t think I’m going to “game” them by doing them all in one day. If Barclays’ tells people “I see you’ve applied for three cards today”, I’m sure all the other banks know too.

Like I mentioned above, it looked for awhile like banks where moving away from big sign up bonuses (generally 50K+), but that doesn’t seem to have stuck. Instead, they are offering more targeted bonuses and a lot more “limited time” bonuses. Citi even experimented with splitting the bonus over two years (getting you to pay the annual fee once), though I haven’t seen that elsewhere yet.

I think if the banks keep it up with the “limited time” offers, we’ll see the meta shift further and further away from AORs. The banks also may or may not be getting more stringent about matching bonuses – but I’m just marking that as “developing” right now.

Redeeming Points – Anti-Vendoming, the new meta?

The concept of Vendoming and Anti-Vendoming completely blew up in May. I mean, there were Dawson’s Creek memes out there – it was serious. I’m not gonna rehash it all here, but basically, it was a debate about whether points should be used aspirationally or practically which is a GROSS oversimplification but you are welcome to use my favorite website Google to glean the nuances.

Here’s what I think is relevant to the Miles and Points metagame. The discussion was a reminder that the value of point redemptions are in the eye of the beholder. It also shined a light, at least for me, on the growing number of family oriented blogs out there. From the Family Travel for Real Life conference to Matt picking up awty and Miles4More to my own natural move towards talking more about family stuff – there are just a lot more bloggers out there talking about the realistic challenge of saving money while traveling with your growing family.

To me, this is a great thing – not just as a father with a family – but also because family bloggers are going to come up with creative and exciting ways to use our points to save money for travel. Most of the big bloggers are single and can afford to Vendome and all the more power to them. But ultimately, for a lot of people big families are real life – and we need ways to use our points for that.

The meta is going to shift as more and more people with families start looking to use miles and points to save money for travel. We’re going to see more families split time between two cabins on a flight or even separate into two itineraries. This will naturally move redemptions away from premium cabins and breed strategies for maximizing number of seats. Heck, even I’m thinking about booking coach for our trips next year and I only have the one. THINKING about it…

Predictions

Here are my predictions for what’s to come. All predictions wrong or your money back (TMQ).

In terms of mile earning, I’m pretty sure that AA/US will eventually follow Delta and United’s lead and go to a revenue based mile earning scheme. At that point, my guess is manufactured spending becomes even more vogue, while credit card sign up bonuses remain a steady source of mile income. I think Wal-mart, banks, etc. are going to keep trying to crack down on MS in an eternal game of whack-a-mole. Again, the Saverocity forums are a great place to stay abreast of those metagame changes.

I think banks are going to continue to try to prey on people’s desire for more and more credit and offer big sign up bonuses. They’ll continue to try to limit these bonuses to once in awhile or once a lifetime, but eventually relax those limits to get more people to sign up. I hope that blogs get back to reminding people the risk of abusing their credit – I feel like I haven’t seen as much of that lately. Might as well start here – pay off your credit card bills in full every month or just quit this game, please.

I definitely think there will be more and more of a focus on using miles for practical family travel. I don’t think the pushing of aspirational redemptions will go away, though I do think that airlines will make that more difficult, possibly following United’s lead (hope not though).

In the blogosphere, I hope blogs will move to a more responsible model of writing – one that properly outlines the risks as it lays out the potential rewards to be had in this game. I also think that more blogs will start writing about miles and points as part of the bigger overall money-saving picture. It’ll be interesting to see how the relationship between credit card companies and bloggers plays out – how much control will they want to exercise over content? And how will blogs respond to that?

My predictions for Saverocity? I think we’ll keep trying to figure it out as we go along – even though we can sound, um, know-it-all-y and unapologetic at times – we’re all just trying to divine the best way to serve our readers in the most honest way possible. In my case, all ten of you. Anyway, I’ve hit the 1500 word count, so…better stop. I enjoy thinking, rambling, and reflecting about this stuff; if you made it this far, thanks!

Here’s to many more years of earning and burning for you and all of yours!