I’m willing to bet that we all want to earn lots of points and do so really fast.

Over the last year or so the quickest way (besides sign up bonuses) to earn point has been manufactured spend with the purchase of gift cards. Some of our favorite flavors for this have been Vanilla. If you could find these tasty cards, earning easy points comes at a small price- $3.95 per $500 load on a card. If you used the appropriate card at the right stores, you might get a bonus of 5X points. When I started doing this, I was earning 6X points with my Hilton Amex card at drug stores. (This bonus option went away a few months ago.)

Over the past few months some of us have noticed that it’s been getting harder to find Vanilla Reloads and/or find stores willing to accept credit cards for the purchase. In the New York City area it seems to be practically impossible. On a few recent trips around the country I had no problem buying Vanilla Reloads with a credit card in New Orleans, Milwaukee and Minnesota.

Besides Vanilla Reloads, there is another way to earn valuable points but it comes in a much slower way. For example- if I know that I will be shopping on Amazon, I buy gift cards for no fee at Staples. I use my Chase Ink card, earning 5X points on purchases that might otherwise not reward me with much more than the 1 point per $.

Another great way to earn points and save money is by purchasing gas station gift cards.  Continue reading Save An Additional .20₵ At The Pump + Earn 5X Points →