Am I The Only One Confused By Numbers?

Canada
September 21, 2009 1:38am CST
I'm in a pickle, trying to figure this one out. 720 Air Miles = a $100 gift card for any Delta Hotel. Spend $20 on my Air Miles Master card, get 1 Airmile. I have 200 Airmiles already (or I will have by the end of the month) so I need to get 520 more. I get 30 Airmiles a month for doing 300 web searches using the Airmiles tool bar I installed. Hubby and I want to go to Montreal for Easter weekend (April 4th) and have the $100 GC by then. This should be an easy thing to figure out, yet I'm banging my head against the wall trying to figure out how much money I'll need to spend on my credit card between now and then to get enough Airmiles for the gift card. And before y'all give me grief about accumulating credit card debit, keep in mind this is a pre-paid credit card, so I put money in my Master card account before I actually use the card. I like this card because I spend my own money, not someone else's. I also like being able to pay bills, etc. with the card, so that allows us to spend money we'd spend anyway, just putting it on the card. We pay about $300 a month in bills that can go on the card, another $200 in grocceries, and I spend about $100 at the cafe. So if anyone can come up with a good forumla to figure this all out, please let me hear it!! :)
2 people like this
3 responses
• Canada
21 Sep 09
It's pretty early in the morning so I may be making a mistake taking a stab at this LOL!! But here goes... let's see if I can be logical LOL 1. If you get 1 airmile for every $20 on your Master Card and assume you do nothing else but use that card, you would have to spend $10,400 to earn 520 airmiles (520 airmiles needed x $20/airmile = $10,400). BUT... 2. You say you get 30 airmiles a month doing web searches. If you want to go to Montreal in April, you have about 6 months to save up for the GC. In that time, you could potentially earn 180 airmiles by web searching (30 airmiles x 6 months = 180 airmiles). Deduct that from your required 520 and you still need 340 airmiles. (520-180=340). 3. You say you have approximately $600 in spending that you can put on your Master Card per month (bills + groceries + cafe). At that rate, it would take you 11.34 months to earn the missing 340 airmiles. (340 airmiles needed x $20 per airmile = $6,800. $6,800/$600 monthly spending=11.34 months). With your current spending level on your Master Card of $600, it looks like it would take you twice as long as the time you actually have (between now and April) to get enough airmiles for the GC :( If that makes any sense, can you earn more than 30 airmiles on your toolbar or is that the monthly limit? Are there any other expenses or spending you can route through your prepaid Master Card to earn more airmiles? Good luck to you!
2 people like this
• Canada
22 Sep 09
Thanks a million. That is close enough to what I came up with to make a lot of sense, and it looked the same to me, when I thought I wouldn't be able to get enough. My husband and I were talking, and we decided to make it a point to use that card as much as possible. He could put a number of his expenses on there too (put money in my account, and I will use the credit card) so that'll help somewhat. 30 Airmiles is a cap on the search bar, or else people would just sit there and search, and search, and search, and search all month. LOL When something looks too good to be true, it usually is. There will also be Christmas shopping to do, and that is an advantage. We will do the bulk of that on line, and can use the card for that. It is a good thing this is a pre-paid card that can be instantly paid through my bank account. It's a great way to accumulate points, use a credit card, without going into credit card debit. Today something came up where we needed to spend $200 for something, and my wonderful husband walked down to the bank to put the money in my account, so I could pay it on the card. YAY! That will get us a lot closer. :) Thanks again for your help.
2 people like this
• Canada
22 Sep 09
YAY!! The sooner the better LOL! It's good that you can find other things to use the card for that are going to help you. I think it's cool that you're using the card, gaining the benefits but not incurring the debt since it's prepaid I can imagine the 30 airmiles would be the cap for good reason, yes LOL I think it's a great idea though and an easy way to accumulate additional miles. I have my airmiles card but there are not a lot of local merchants that accept it. I mainly use it at the gas station, hardware store and one grocery store that I occasionally go to (it's too expensive there, though, for my regular groceries *sigh*).
1 person likes this
@riyasam (16556)
• India
21 Sep 09
at this present rate,you will get 30 airmiles on your airmiles master card.but please do reconfirm as i am generally known to be weak in maths,i do the everyday calculation taking the help of my hubby also.
2 people like this
• Canada
22 Sep 09
I am glad I'm not the only one. LOL Thanks!
@saundyl (9783)
• Canada
25 Sep 09
doesnt the airmiles site have a calculator somewhere on the site?