While recently updating my big credit card spreadsheet, I realized that Nicoleen and I have almost a million points and miles built up! This is probably not a good thing, and I’ll explain why in an upcoming post.

We’ve gained a lot of points lately, mainly through sign-up bonuses, but some will be offloaded soon in a cash redemption. Here’s a breakdown of our activity in June:

• earned 1,405 airline miles
• earned 82,430 hotel points
• earned 56,563 “other” points
• earned 9,928 Chase Ultimate Rewards

New ValueTactics Blog Posts
– Hotel Review – Holiday Inn Rushmore Plaza, Rapid City SD is a review of the free night we enjoyed to kick off our recent family vacation.
– South Dakota Road Trip is a complete review of the trip, including a cost summary and lots of pics.

Travel News
Nicoleen and are starting to get excited about our upcoming Hawaiian get-away in September. We are exploring car rental choices this week, which is the only major trip expense we will have to pay for. The airfare and hotel stays are largely free, thanks to our use of the points and miles tactic.

We also have teamed up with some friends to start the preliminary planning phase of a very special trip with some of our kids. It probably won’t come to fruition until fall of 2017, but you’re sure to read about it here as the plans develop…

Around the Web
A few recent posts caught my eye this week. This post by MileValue presents and intriguing new tactic for timing credit card applications. And as The Points Guy reports here, the Chase 5/24 rule (click here for my post on the subject) has finally made it’s way (all but officially) to all relevant Chase cards. How sad.

Now you’re updated. Go employ some Value Tactics!