Happy Thanksgiving to all of you who are in America! It is truly one of my favorite holidays and one we celebrate even when not in America. And now, thanks to all retailers having heavy online presences, the Black Friday part of the weekend can be enjoyed when not in America as well!
So, how do you maximize your points and savings for Black Friday weekend? Let’s look at 4 tips that will help you to do just that.
5 Tips To Maximize Your Points And Savings For Black Friday Weekend
Stores have already started running great deals today and some of the best deals are already sold out. Don’t worry – there will be a lot more sales over the next couple of days! And that is a free tip – don’t panic when shopping online! Make a plan and stick to it so that you don’t leave points, miles, and savings on the table.
Tip #1 – Shopping Portals
Shopping portals are one of the best ways to earn miles and points and you should always start your online shopping through them. Already there have been some great deals (including this one that earned me 25,000 AA miles) and there should be more as we get into more of the shopping season.
Do not forget that some portals, like American Airlines, still have bonus promos that can be earned through 11:59PM today! So, even if the payout at your particular retailer is only 1 mile per dollar, it can still be worth it to go through the portal to earn the big promo.
Start by checking Cashback Monitor to see which online shopping portals are paying out the most – whether it is in cashback, miles, or points.
Tip #2 – Amex Offers & Visa Checkout
American Express has rolled out some great offers on their Amex Offers tab. There are a lot of offers that can save you some serious money when shopping – both online and in the store. If you have already saved those offers, log in to your account to see which offers are on which cards and make sure you use the right card.
If you have not saved an offer yet, log in now and get it saved to your Amex cards. This way you can maximize your savings on all of your Amex cards (make sure you duplicate your browser tab, select a different card in the new tab(s), and make sure you can view all of the offers on all the cards before you start clicking to save).
Visa Checkout has also been running some great deals. One of them is at Staples – using Visa Checkout, you can get $25 off on a purchase of $100 or more. This stacks with the Amex Offer (if you saved it). That means that if you purchase something that costs $125, your total out-of-pocket cost will end up being $80!
You can use your Amex card with Visa Checkout so it will let you stack these opportunities.
Tip #3 – Use The Right Card
Pick the right card! | Courtesy of Shutterstock
This is very important – make sure you choose the right card depending on your retailer. Of course, you should know by now that you would use a Chase Ink card at office supply stores to earn 5X points per dollar but also check to see what the other cards will earn depending on retailer.
Now, you can use your Chase Freedom card on Amazon to earn 10% cashback on all purchases made with Amazon through the end of the year (and up to $1,500 in spending). But, make sure you activate the offer in your Chase account!
This also goes with the point above. Make sure you use the Amex card that has the offer saved to it! I have made that mistake before of using the wrong Amex card and it cost me the credit.
Tip #4 – Gift Cards
Buy gift cards to use at other retailers
Ok, what if the retailer you are shopping at does not have any great earning rates with credit cards or any type of Amex Offer/Visa Checkout deal? Check on Amazon for gift cards to those particular retailers and purchase e-gift cards so you can take advantage of the 10% Freedom promo!
You could also buy any gift card on eBay from PayPal Digital Gifts and earn 2% in a rebate through eBay Bucks, about 1% through a portal, and 5X Ultimate Reward points when using your Chase Ink card! If it is a digital gift card, you should get the codes within a couple of hours.
I just did this the other day to take advantage of the 10% eBay Bucks bonus, the United promo, and Ink earnings for Best Buy gift cards. I went ahead and used those today on some of the big deal items and earned even more than I would have otherwise!
Tip #5 – Check For Deals
The site I use every year for checking for the Black Friday deals and ads is Bfads.net. They do a great job of showing you all the deals out there. Make sure you check there (and on Slickdeals) to find the deals you are looking for.
I will be picking my favorite deals that I believe fit here over the next few days and putting them on my Special Deals part of the site. Those deals do not show up on the BoardingArea home page so make sure you are following me on Twitter to find those deals and get them before they go out!
Summary
Using these 5 tips can really help to maximize your points and savings for Black Friday weekend! There are a lot of deals to be had and it would be terrible if you left even more savings and points on the table by not taking advantage of all that we have at our disposal!
