In recent years I have accumulated approximately 170 000 Aeroplan miles, through a combination of adoption-related travel, work-related travel, and a Visa points program. I was completely off the points card for a few years, but when you know you have to travel, there are definite advantages (such as travel insurance) to the card. The card has an annual fee.
I routinely retreat to these points in fantasy. My current thinking is that they will get me, my kids, and my father up to the Yukon for a week in 2011. It will take some advance planning to book that trip, the kind that is not necessarily compatible with the custody arrangement for my eldest. I digress. That's not a financial problem, and has no place on this blog.
All of my grocery shopping expenses route through Visa. I am a careful shopper, and my thinking is that we might as well get points for things we need to buy.
Costco will sell me groceries, but won't take my Visa. For reasons I still don't understand, I renewed my club membership twice last year. I don't shop there any more; I don't trust their memory. I learned from my experience of a first phantom renewal to demand a receipt upon the second renewal in April. While I can use it to challenge their claim that it is again expiring, I've decided not to renew. I might if the membership had tangible benefits to me. I question how much the renewed membership actually saved me. The answer is none.
Update, January 19:
169,639 points
