air miles; any tricks to earnig

I have all my monthly bills on the credit card...phone, utilities, cable, etc. I also use my personal credit card for work and get reimbursed on the next paycheck.

Use it to buy your groceries and to pay any big bills that come along. We used a mileage card to pay our kids' college tuitions & got some good trips out of that. (No, we didn't carry the tuition charges past one month - we paid off the card right away with regular college loans.)

Hi Cheri. I basically try to use mine for as much as possible! Last year we put a large down payment on a car & instead of writing a check for it, the car dealer allowed me to put it on my credit card. I can't charge my monthly payment unfortunately but was able to charge the down payment! It was a good chunk of miles! I also put work expenses on it & then get reimbursed so that helps as well. Anything at all that you pay for, inquire first as to whether you can charge it.

In addition to the kids' college expenses, gas, groceries, and utilities already mentioned, I recently found out that I can now put my car and homeowners' insurance on credit cards. There's almost nothing I don't charge (and pay off in full every month) to acquire ff miles. Since I earn miles, I can smile at the thought of having two kids in college this year! An expensive car repair? Yes, please! Getting lots of miles is the silver lining to some of life's unexpected detours.

Use your card for EVERYTHING! If you are buying a bottle of water, put it on the card. I put everything on the card (nothing is too small).I always offer to pay the bill and collect cash from my friends when we meet out for dinner/drinks(careful here... you must trust your friends.). I have gone to Europe 4 times on FF miles using this method, and I get there every year or 2. One Caveat, I pay my card weekly, so as to not get dinged with charges, or to let them get out of hand. One month of finance charges will trump any "free" miles that you accrue.