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Redeem AIR MILES for Everyday Purchases

Archive By Jill Amery December 11, 2014 Tags: air miles, Air Miles Cash, amex, Big White Ski Resort, featured, money, Organization and Finance, Safeway, Savings, slider, starbucks, toys r us No Comments

Redeeming AIR MILES for Everyday Purchases The reality is setting in. December has arrived and the holiday to-do list is longer than my children’s wishlist for Santa. (Which is saying something). I haven’t started to shop for gifts, haven’t chosen cookie recipes and my pantry is bare.

This year, our family has also undertaken the enormous task of chairing a Family Ball for 450 adults and kids to raise funds for mental health. The event is on December 7th, and I think a whole big bunch of my angst stems from having slightly too many things to do. But just as I was about to have a panic attack, my AIR MILES American Express Card fell out of my wallet and the inspiration hit me.

I have always been so wise in using both my AIR MILES Collector Card as well as my Amex AIR MILES Credit Card to get twice the miles on purchases, and now it’s time to be rewarded for my efforts. Let’s see just how many AIR MILES I can redeem and how much money I can save this year while purchasing the items I need to buy anyway…

I chose from one of my many list-making apps and came up with a cunning plan. Every 95 reward miles redeemed equates to $10 off of the bill at participating stores if you are an AIR MILES Cash Collector, so I will attempt to end up with the smallest credit card bills I’ve ever seen this coming January! My plan:

1. Redeem AIR MILES for eVouchers at Toys R’ Us toward Minecraft toys to use as silent auction donations that will appeal to kids at the Family Ball. While there, with the miles available for redemption, I’ll add a few stocking stuffers for my kids and find games for the cousins.

2. Redeem AIR MILES while filling up the gas tank at Shell before our family trip to Big White Ski Resort in mid-December. Actually, I’ll also add in a couple jugs of windshield wiper fluid while at the gas station to combat the dirt from snowy roads!

3. Make a quick visit to the movie theatre and coffee shop during next week’s soccer practice to redeem my AIR MILES for movie tickets for the teachers, coffee for the mail carrier and other eVouchers for both as part of another silent auction prize. DONE.

4. Groceries. I can never quite fathom how long the holiday list is. This year I am going to calmly analyze the recipe books and make sure I only have to do a big shop once. I will take into account the brownies-in-a-jar mix we are gifting to neighbours, extra hot chocolate for snow days and plastic containers to replace the ones whose lids have miraculously disappeared. My local store participates in AIR MILES Cash redemption… wouldn’t it be incredible if I did my whole holiday shop for $17?

5. After realizing that all of our children’s fever medications are expired, I need to head to the drugstore. Beginning a new year without a proper first aid kit is not a wise move. Not only will I redeem some AIR MILES Cash balance for the new medicine, but I may treat myself to some holiday makeup with a touch of glitter.

I’d love to hear how you make out – and especially which everyday spending you choose to tackle with your AIR MILES Cash over this busy holiday season!

Disclosure: This post was sponsored by Amex Bank of Canada. The views and opinions expressed in this blog, however, are purely my own.

Five Tips for Maximizing your AIR MILES

Canada, International, ROAM By Jill Amery November 30, 2014 Tags: air miles, american express, amex, canada, featured, free flights, international, More air miles, slider, Travel, USA No Comments

The weather becomes crisp and you’ve finally finished filling out mounds of paperwork for kids’ activities and school. Photos are done, pumpkins composted and you sit down for a steaming cup of orange pekoe when it hits – you need a holiday. But with the bustle of December looming, a holiday will have to wait. Panic rises from somewhere in your belly that you haven’t exercised in a while and deep breaths don’t seem to impact a racing mind that is compiling to-do lists faster than a room full of monkeys can type.

Calm yourself. This year it will be different. You’ve got a secret weapon that constantly reminds you of travel to come. This holiday season my family is using our five tips for maximizing your AIR MILES so that we can get away together in 2015.

This year I plan to do my usual over-the-top holiday décor – three themed spruce trees, a minimum of 5 holiday squares and cookies at the ready and way too many vegetables at Christmas dinner. The light at the end of the tunnel for me is always travel, and the collection of AIR MILES for my family helps facilitate our trips – either by using our reward miles for flights, or helping the budget by getting cash redemptions at AIR MILES Cash Sponsors.

My mantra? More travel = more educational opportunities. More savings = less stress!

We have a few tricks for maximizing the AIR MILES we earn and I want to let our readers in on the secrets!

1. Check the fliers at your local grocery store that issues AIR MILES on purchases. Better yet? Get on their email list so that you always know when you can earn bonus miles on the items you have to buy.

2. Ensure your spouse and any other family member who wants to help the cause have a duplicate AIR MILES card in their wallet. Sponsors always ask if you are a Collector, so you won’t miss any chance to accumulate miles! Our whole family uses the same account for flexibility and ease.

3. Use an American Express AIR MILES Credit Card alongside your AIR MILES Collector Card at Sponsors to earn double the miles. Earning twice is always much more nice.

4. Use that same credit card to earn rewards miles on all of your everyday purchases. I use the American Express AIR MILES Reserve Card to earn one mile for every $10 I spend at AIR MILES Sponsors but I also earn one mile for every $10 spent at other eligible stand-alone grocery stores, gas stations, and drugstores in Canada and one mile for every $15 spent everywhere else.

5. The AIR MILES website is full of special offers and promotions. When you need to rent a car, do the things that keep every family afloat on a weekly basis, be sure to check the bonus offers, as you can accumulate hundreds of bonus AIR MILES by being a savvy shopper.

American Express is currently hosting their #MoreAIRMILES contest to let AIR MILES members answer the question, “What would you do with more AIR MILES?”. Once answered, you’re entered into a draw for a weekly prize. Invite a friend and each one who participates in the contest lands you an additional entry.

Remember: AIR MILES + Amex = MoreAirMiles and You + Daily Entries + Your Friends = More chances to win! Check out the contest here.

Are you ready to dream? To save? To eliminate holiday stress? I’d love to hear about the holiday that your family is working toward throughout this holiday season! Bon voyage!

This post was sponsored by Amex Bank of Canada. The views and opinions expressed in this blog, however, are purely my own.

How to Take the Stress out of Holiday Shopping with airmilesshops.ca

apps, GEAR By Jill Amery November 29, 2013 Tags: 3. Shopping, air miles, airmiles, airmilesshops.ca, Ann Taylor, features, FTD, hudsons bay company, lego.com, Nieman Marcus, ose, Roots, Sephora, slider, Snapfish, TOMS, Victoria’s Secret No Comments

Ahh. The bustling crowds at the mall. Are you getting excited? Think of it: in every city across Canada, hours have been extended and decorations hung in anticipation of the RUSH. You know the one I mean: the parking lot scramble, forgetting where you put your car and carrying 15 heavy bags and ending up in tears (maybe that’s just me), lining up for the must-have toy of the season because you know it’ll make your little one cry tears of joy.

I have made a vow this year to do a lot of my shopping online. Do I trust online shopping? Absolutely. Even credit card companies protect us these days. Must I worry about store closing times, a perfectly coiffed friend seeing me in sweats or getting lost in a mall? No.

As I write I’m distracted by the thought of a roaring fire and glass of eggnog. The dog is snuggled at my feet and I’m watching Casablanca in the background as I browse online for holiday gifts. For others, of course. Bliss.

Though I have been an AIR MILES Collector for 20 years, I didn’t discover airmilesshops.ca until this year. Shocked, all of the stores I was planning to visit both North and South of the border are actually online – and I will earn reward miles for my shopping. As a bonus, many of the stores on airmilesshops.ca have offers to earn 2x, 3x even 10x the reward miles on your purchases. In fact, right now for Black Friday you can earn 10x the reward miles on your purchases with airmilesshops.ca until December 4^th.

All stores on airmilesshops.ca ship to or within Canada and many offer a special Canadian checkout section where purchases are priced in Canadian dollars. Wow! I get so frustrated when I go through the process on a website only to discover that the store ships only to the US. Nobody should put baby in a corner.

Want to know the stores? Let’s start with Anthropologie, shall we? And then the Apple Store Canada. Followed by a few of my favourites for each family member:

Son: Lego.com
Other Son: TOMS Canada
Mother: Hudson’s Bay Company
Me: Sephora
Husband: Bose Canada
Me from Husband: Victoria’s Secret or FTD
Dog: PetSmart
Father-in-Law: Snapfish
Cool Kid down the block: Roots
Girlfriends like me: Bloomingdales, Ann Taylor and Neiman Marcus.

My ‘work’ is done.

So as packages come in (or are wrapped and shipped directly to the recipient saving me a trip to the post office), you may hear a little squeal from me. And each order I make is adding to my growing bank of AIR MILES reward miles and reducing my holiday to-do list. With this lack of stress combined with my extra AIR MILES reward miles, I might just have to hop a plane to Hawaii for New Year’s.

<Only Half Joking>.

In terms of shipping, the individual stores do that. Visit airmilesshops.ca to start your own holiday shopping!

This post was sponsored by airmilesshops.ca. Our opinions are our own.

Maximize your Rewards this Hallowe’en

Uncategorized By Jill Amery October 24, 2013 Tags: air miles, airmiles, american express, amex, budget, Budgeting, family budget, featured, rewards No Comments

Ahh. October. Just when you’ve eaten your fill of turkey, forked over a ton of cash for organic pumpkin pie ingredients and filled your house with harvest décor, you realize that Hallowe’en is only two weeks away. Or maybe one. (Your calendar is still covered in gravy splatter.) The turkey coma is replaced by the end-of-October panic attack. You create a list. Lists are fun! Until you realize that you have not one thing checked off yet.