As the festive season approaches, the spirit of giving is accompanied by holiday shopping. Shopping means spending money which is good for us credit card churners.
Smart shoppers seek ways to not only find the perfect gifts but also to maximize the rewards and points earned during their Christmas shopping spree.
In this article, we'll explore three strategic approaches that I use to ensure my holiday purchases allow me to maximise the amount of points and cashback I receive per dollar spent.
I will show you how to stack your credit card bonus points and bonus promotions, with cash rewards and gift cards to save even more. If done right, you can turn your holiday shopping into a stack of rewards.
Leveraging credit card membership rewards
As you all by now have learned, using credit cards can be very beneficial. Not only by providing you with purchase protection and helping with cash flow but also by providing many rewards, such as signup bonuses or Frequent Flyer points.
One of the most important uses of credit cards during the shopping season is to meet your minimum spend for signup bonuses.
This can also be an opportunity to apply for a new credit card for the signup bonuses as you may have a good opportunity to meet the minimum spend quickly.
Many credit card providers offer special promotions during the festive season, providing extra points or cashback for purchases at specific retailers or within designated categories. These look something like this.
To maximize this strategy, carefully review your credit card's holiday promotions and tailor your spending accordingly. Additionally, consider using credit cards that offer elevated rewards for seasonal purchases, making every swipe a step closer to a well-deserved reward.
Remember these credit card bonus offers as we will revisit them later when we start stacking rewards together.
Stacking rewards and double dipping with cashback offers
This is my favorite part about credit card rewards and loyalty programs.
The ability to stack multiple bonuses on top of each other to get huge discounts and amplify the rewards earned with each purchase, usually without the need to spend a lot of money.
This can be done in several ways and I will cover them below.
Cashback rewards
If you have not heard of cashback rewards programs, then unfortunately you have been missing out. Over the last two years, I have saved over $1000 in cashback.
The program I find most reliable and easiest to use is Cashrewards. To sign up, here is a referral link where you will receive a $20 bonus into our account when completing your first purchase. Please read the terms and conditions before signing up to be aware of what is offered.
Cashrewards is an Australian cashback rewards program that allows users to earn cash back when they make purchases through the platform. It tracks purchases both online and in-store when you link a credit card to the platform.
Here's a general overview of how cashback programs like Cashrewards typically work:
Account Creation: Users need to create an account on the Cashrewards platform. This usually involves providing some personal information and creating a username and password.
Browse and Shop: After creating an account, users can browse through the list of affiliated online retailers available on the Cashrewards platform. These retailers have partnerships with Cashrewards.
Click Through Cashrewards: When users decide to purchase from a partner retailer, they need to click on the retailer's link through the Cashrewards platform. This is a crucial step, as it allows Cashrewards to track the purchase back to the user's account.
Make a Purchase: Users are then redirected to the retailer's website, where they can make their purchase as they normally would. The transaction is tracked by Cashrewards.
Cashback Credit: After the purchase is confirmed and the retailer reports it to Cashrewards, a percentage of the purchase amount (cashback) is credited to the user's Cashrewards account.
Withdrawal: Users can usually request withdrawal of their accumulated cashback once they reach a certain threshold. The withdrawal options may include direct bank transfer, PayPal, or gift cards, depending on the platform.
The beauty of stacking Cashrewards with any normal purchases is that you will be earning a discount from the Cashrewards program as well as all your points for spending the money on your credit card.
Savings example using cashback stacking
Let's say you're purchasing a $250 pair of shoes from Adidas, from their online store. By using Cashrewards you will receive an additional 16% cash back on your purchase by using their portal as seen in the image below.
So by using Cashrewards, stacked with your credit card, you can save 16% of $250 = $40 and earn 250 rewards points assuming you receive 1 point per $1 spent.
Now if you stack that further with the previous technique of utilising your credit card membership portals for further discounts you could save even more. For example, you may have a bonus offer from your credit card like this Commbank offer for 6 x points per $1 spent.
This will allow you to accumulate 6 x $250 = 1500 points instead of 250 points.
So the total savings on a $250 spend would be $40 from Cashrewards and $7.50 from points.
The shoes now cost you $202.50 instead of $250 with a saving of $47.50 just by stacking credit card rewards offers and Cashrewards.
By strategically combining these offers, you can really start to increase your savings and points accumulation, making your holiday shopping not only cost-effective but also immensely rewarding.
Stacking rewards with gift cards
This method of stacking rewards is similar to using the Cashrewards method but instead of using an online portal you will be stacking the power of discounted gift cards.
Many stores, especially Coles or Woolworths will offer discounts on their gift cards, from 15% off, to 20x points bonuses. With these bonuses, you will automatically save that amount when buying the gift card.
The best thing about this method is that buying gift cards using your credit card will give you bonus points.
So if you see a great offer like the current 15% off gift cards at Coles, you can buy the gift card using your credit card to get the points and help meet your minimum spend and then use the gift card when you need it.
Savings example using gift card stacking
Let's say you're purchasing a $250 pair of shoes from Adidas. You could buy a gift card from Coles for $250 saving 15% straight away because of the bonus. You would also earn 212 points for buying the gift card at a reduced price.
So the total savings on a $250 spend would be $37.50 from the gift card discount and $1.20 from points.
The shoes now cost you $213.70 instead of $250 with a saving of $36.30 just by stacking credit card rewards and gift cards.
By strategically combining the purchase of gift cards with credit cards, you can save a lot of money instantly on your Christmas shopping. All it takes is a bit of planning to get your gift for less.
Conclusion
This holiday season, make your Christmas shopping even more affordable by implementing these 3 proven strategies, from leveraging credit card rewards to strategically stacking multiple offers, you'll not only find the perfect gifts but also unlock savings and rewards.
With a bit of planning and resourcefulness, shop with confidence, knowing that every purchase brings you closer to a more rewarding and free holiday.
Happy shopping, and may your holiday season be filled with both giving and receiving in abundance!
Like always, if you have any questions, please comment below or contact me. If you don't want to miss out on any new content, then follow me on Instagram or Reddit for more information about everything to do with credit card churning and point collecting.
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