I received a statement from Citi card and there it was! 50,000 points.

I ordered Best Buy gift card. I'm planning to buy iPad with the GC.

Thanks, Citi!

I used miles that came with Chase Untied credit card and went to Salt Lake City where my daughter goes to school.

I checked three airports, San Francisco, Sacramento, and San Jose and the only airport that has direct flight to SLC was SFO. Also, they required the least amount of miles, only 20,000 miles round trip.

It was a nice trip and I liked SLC. I stayed with my daughter at her apartment, bought her some clothes and household goods, and took her out to dinner while I was there.

The airfare would have been around $400, and I could spend this money to spoil my child instead of paying for my ticket.

She texted me later after I left saying "Thank you for spoiling me." I texted her back "You're welcome. That's what moms do."

I applied for United mileage credit card so that I get 50,000 bonus miles. After several weeks of waiting, it's finally posted to my United Mileage Plus account. Yay!

I have total of 100K miles now and thinking about how I can use them. I can visit my daughter who is in Salt Lake City, or my husband and I can fly for Vegas or somewhere fun.

Planning free stuff is always fun : )

As I posted before, I received my Citi credit card. I've been using this card for all the purchases I make since I received it in order to get 500 reward points. (I need to charge $2,500 in 3 months.)

Today, I charged our car insurance which is close to $900 for 6 months. Charge on this card is already more than $1,000.

And, I have this card for like.... less than a week. Wow...

It amazes me how easy it is to spend money if I'm not careful, or even when I'm careful.

Good news is, most of the charges I made is things I buy anyways, such as household goods like bathroom tissue and laundry detergent. So, I'm not spending on things I don't need.

I think I will receive 500 points earlier than I expected.

I applied for Citi thank you card and just received it. I will get 500 points if I spend $2,500 in three months.

My plan is to pay some of our utilities and car insurance with the card. Car insurance is due soon and I will charge 6 months premium which is about $900. (We have 3 cars including my DD who is 20 and the premium for her is high.)

I can charge our cell phone and grocery, too. I need to keep track of what I charge to this card. Once I get the points, I will move on and cancel this card.

Needless to say, we have enough to pay off the balance so that we won't pay any interest.

My points with Chase Freedom was almost 20,000 and I was thinking about redeeming points.

I was going through their reward website and noticed some gift cards are 10% off. I redeemed $100 Kohl's GC, $50 Macy's GC, and $50 Banana Republic GC for 18,000 points.

I'm thinking about cancelling Freedom card and switch to United (it's Chase anyway....) to earn some miles. I will keep looking for good credit card deals and try to maximize the benefits they offer.