Credit Karma
Let’s face it: times are tough for a lot of people these days. Everything seems so prohibitively expensive that it feels like you can’t have much anymore. My wife and I have experienced that firsthand the last couple of years, especially with paying for a wedding and buying a house. So, how do we maintain a consistently fun annual travel schedule? By working all the proper credit card rewards to our advantage.
Want to maximize points on gas, groceries, and everyday spending?
There are a lot of great starter cards for stockpiling points. Look for things like $0 annual fee, 4% cash back on gas, 3% back at restaurants and drugstores, and 1.5% back on everything else. If you have a favorite grocery or retail store that you shop at all the time, consider getting their store card! I’ve maximized store cards to save big on everything from household appliances to a new big-screen TV for the living room.
FiND CASH BACK CREDIT CARDS HERE!
Want to maximize points on travel?
Say you sign up for a card that gives you 100,000 points out of the gate, either for signing up or hitting a minimum spend. Hold on to them! Some cards have hotel and airline partners for transferring points, where those points could go even further. My wife and I have used this to our advantage to the point where we haven’t paid for a hotel in cash in 2 years.
Don’t be frightened by big annual fees: when you tap into the rewards and benefits that those cards provide, the value you get back may go way beyond that fee. That means room upgrades, early check-in/late check-out, and access to airport lounges. When you’re stuck at an airport with a three-hour layover, there’s nothing quite like the feeling of kicking back in a lounge with free food and drink that you’d otherwise spend $100 or more on at other airport bars and restaurants.