We all have ten days to finish up Christmas shopping! If you’re short a gift or two this season, you might want to check ALL of your reward programs for points and/or miles that you can use NOW—or even cash back to finish out the Christmas gift giving list. Renae used her Capital One points in 2012 to buy gift cards when she was in a season of buying but watching her family’s budget! Using Credit Card Rewards is rewarding if you have them stored up as Renae did—points are dollars to spend!
Other Programs:
- Discover Card allows you to use your cash back each month to shop on Amazon. One click and you can use the earned allotted cash back to buy puzzles and more. Just last weekend, I was able to purchase a puzzle for right at $9 and I (Litsa) earned a dollar back to use later for an ebook (since I didn’t use my Amazon Prime shipping at checkout).
- Jingit is a great app that adds up cash back on groceries quickly. Let the money add up and use the gift cards earned to buy plastic gift cards to use as gifts. Use it on two smart phones for added cash—$4.15 and earning on my husband’s phone and $3.85 and earning on my account (How!?! Buying two gallons of milk. Check out separately. Snap in each receipt to two different smart phones/Jingit accounts to earn more cashback on milk–$0.50 rather than $0.25 on two gallons).
- Have you returned something lately but received a CREDIT rather than a reimbursement? Use that credit now to fill in gift giving (if needed). I had a $25 credit on my Disney account that needed to be used rather than forgotten—I was able to cash in on it to order a movie for my daughter that will be here for Christmas. One gift off the list (and it is already paid for without a penny over budget)!
- American Express has specific reward offers. Use them weekly. I received $10 x 3 off of purchases on Small Business Saturday but also $5 off $15 purchase on Walmart.com—click on the offers you might use, and if you do, you will see credits appear on your credit card statement). They offer hotel rewards too if you are traveling this season. Additionally, this credit card has a skymiles program—those miles/points can be used to buy gifts!?!
Dwell among your rewards programs one by one this season to get more for your money—and to spread a little cheer through gift giving that doesn’t affect your family’s budget. IF you must wait out gift giving because your budget doesn’t allow extras even with the use of reward programs, give a hug, a smile, send your love—and keep your sanity. There’s still joy to be found in this season!
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