Earn Thousands of Miles and Get Wine for $6.99 Per Bottle

Most of us in the miles and points community hear about Vinesse Wine Club frequently. This internet based company offers tempting points bonuses for signing up for the wine club. The standard offer is to give you your first 6 bottles for $6.99 per bottle and wave the shipping charges. You get a varying amount of points depending on the program us sign up with. Most of the offers give you a certain amount of points for your first shipment, and more points after your second or third shipment. So your cost is $41.94 for 6 bottles of red, white, or mixed wine with free shipping.

These are the points programs that currently have lucrative offers:

United Mileage Plus - 2,000 miles after 1st shipment, 4,500 miles after your 3rd Shipment

Aadvantage American Airlines - 2,000 miles after 1st shipment, 3,000 miles after your 2nd shipment

Alaska Airlines - 2,250 miles after 1st shipment

Delta Airlines - 1,500 points after 1st shipment

Spirit Airlines - 5,000 points after 1st shipment

Hilton Honors - 3,333 points after 1st shipment

Club Carlson - 5,000 points after 1st shipment, 7,500 points after your 2nd shipment

Priority Club - 4,000 point after 1st shipment, 5,000 points after your 2nd shipment

I live in a state where wine is quite expensive. I cannot buy even the cheapest wine on the bottom shelf for $6.99 a bottle. So for me get a variety of wines for $6.99 a bottle is a great deal on its own. As for the overall quality of the wines included in the initial shipment, my opinion is that it is hit or miss. Some wines are decent and quite drinkable, others aren't so good. I frequently bring these along for various parties or as simple gifts.

In my opinion the wine is not good enough to wait for the 2nd shipment at full price plus shipping. The second shipment comes in at around $108+$20 shipping = $128 for 6 bottles or over $21 per bottle. I can find some pretty nice wines on my own for $21 a bottle. Even with the added points for the second shipment given with several of the offers it is not worth it for me.

I am currently in the process of testing this, but I think it is possible to get multiple offers from Vinesse. I have been succesful in signing up for a Club Carlson and an Alaska Airlines in less than one week. I received 2 boxes of wine and my credit cards were charged $41.94 each for 6 bottles of wine.

If you want to sign up for multiple offers you will need to use a different email address. If you don't have several email address and if you have a gMail account you can simply add a period in your email address and it will still arrive at the same inbox. So if your email address is johndoe@gmail.com you can use john.doe@gmail.com.

Make sure to enter different rewards account numbers. I have not confirmed this yet. It may be possible to get multiple for example Delta Airlines bonuses for the same frequent flier number.

For now use different rewards accounts. You can use your own account the first time, perhaps a spouse's account the second time. I have multiple Club Carlson numbers for personal and business use so I could sign up for two Club Carlson bonuses.

I also use a slightly different name for each account. My first name is Timothy so I use Timothy on the first signup and Tim on the second signup.

There is a lot of information out there about how Vinesse is pretty shiesty when it comes to quickly sending out a second shipment or making it difficult to cancel your membership. Here are some tips to getting around that.

As soon as you receive your first shipment, log into your account using your email and the temporary password provided to you in an email. On the right side up the page you will see a link that allows you to delay your next shipment. You can delay shipment for at least two months out. This gives you time to make sure points from the first shipment post to your account. Once the points have posted call and cancel your account.

Let me know your experiences with Vinesse. Post any questions in the comments.

What Credit Cards Do I Currently Have Open?

I was doing some review the other day trying to figure out how many credit cards I currently have open right now. I have 13 open rewards credit cards. I have had many others, but I have since closed those credit cards. From these credit cards, I earned 645,000 points. These are not necessarily the top credit cards. There are many great credit card offers. Remember, before applying for any new credit cards, ensure that you are getting the best offer available.

They are:

Chase Ink Bold - 50,000 Ultimate Rewards Points. Rumor of a 70,000 points offer

Chase IHG Rewards Club Select - 80,000 points, currently only 60,000. may be better offer available

Chase British Airways Visa - 50,000 points

Barclays Arrival Plus World Elite - 40,000 points

US Bank Club Carlson Premier Rewards - 85,000 points

US Bank Club Carlson Business Rewards - 85,000 points

US Bank LANPASS Visa Signature - 30,000 points, currently only 20,000 points

Bank of America Alaska Airlines Visa Signature - 25,000 points

Bank of America Alaska Airlines Business - 30,000 points, currently only 25,000

Citi Platinum Select Aadvantage World MasterCard - 50,000 points

Citi Business Aadvantage World MasterCard - 50,000 points

Citi Executive Aadvantage World Elite Mastercard - 100,000 points currently only 50,000. May be better offer available.

Currently the Most Used Credit Card in My Wallet

There are so many credit cards out there, and many of us have many credit cards that it can be difficult to chose which credit card to pull out of your wallet when the time comes. The credit card that I pull out of my wallet most frequently right now is the Barclays Arrival Plus World Elite Mastercard card. This is my favorite card for every day spending. Why is that? Almost exclusively because it give what comes out to 2.22% back on all purchases. There is no other credit card out there right now that gives that much back on everyday purchases. Officially the Barclays Arrival card gives 2x points for all purchases. The points can be used as statement credit against any travel related purchases including hotels, flights, rental cars, and train tickets.

So if you purchase a $400 flight with your Barclays Arrival card you could redeem 40,000 points and receive a $400 statement credit. On top of that you receive a 10% refund on all points redeemed for travel. In this case you would receive 4,000 points back. When those 4,000 points are redeemed you would receive 400 points back. That what makes up the 2.22% return.

What also great is that you do not even need to buy the travel related items through the Barclays Portal. You can just purchase your flights from the airline or rental car comapany, etc... As long as the credit card purchase codes to travel you can use your points to redeem for statement credit.

So why am I using this card over my Chase Ink Bold credit card. The Chase Ink Bold is a great credit card that earns Ultimate Rewards points. Many travel hackers value Ultimate rewards points about 1.5 cents per mile. This isn't nearly as good as the Barclays Arrival card as this give 2.22 cents per mile for all purchases. If I am able to use my Chase Ink Bold for purchases in special categories like the 5x at office supply stores then the Chase Ink Bold is definitely the better choice because 5x  X 1.5 cents/mile = 7.5 cents per mile. But you can not get the category bonus on most of your everyday spending. That is why most of my purchases go to my Barclays Arrival card.

That isn't all! Sign up and get:

• 40,000 bonus miles after spending $3,000 in the first 90 days
• No foreign transaction fees
• $89 annual fee waived for the first year

Best Credit Card for Alaskans

Living in Alaska we have limited options for which airlines service our state or our city. Many blogs advertise the Southwest Credit Card or the Virgin America credit card to their readers. These are great credit cards... if you live in an area serviced by one of these airlines. So what are the best credit cards for people living in Alaska?

I think it is probably just a gimme, but most Alaskan educated on the subject would suggest that the Bank of America Alaska Airlines Visa Signature Card is the top credit card for Alaskans. Alaskan Airlines has the largest presence in Alaska with flights as far north as Barrow and as far south as Ketchikan This credit card offers:

• 30,000 Alaska Airlines miles after first purchase
• valuable $99 companion fare
• 3x miles on Alaska Airlines purchases
• $75 fee is NOT waived for the first year

Most of the offers publicly available are for only 25,000 miles so this offer is 5,000 miles greater. Yes, the $75 fee is not waived for the first year, but 25,000 miles is sufficient for a round trip domestic ticket. This is well worth the $75 fee.

The $99 companion ticket is also quite valuable. It works like this:

• Works only flights on  Alaska Airlines flights only
• Purchase one ticket and received the second for $99 plus tax

The Alaska Airlines Visa Signature Credit Card was my first credit card and I have kept it ever since. Some people find that they are not able to use the $99 companion ticket before the 1 year expiration date (you get a new $99 companion ticket every year you have the credit card).  I see that many people sell their Alaska Airlines companion ticket on craigslist. The going rate is around $175. A reminder that this practice is not completely legitimate from the perspective of Alaska Airlines, but many people do it.

So if you do not have this credit card already, you should definitely consider signing up!