Discover 2018 Calendar Released!

As many of you know, I have been focusing on cash back. I have plenty of points stashed for my travels, but Discover Cash has been one of my “go to” currency to off set my other travel cost. Today when I logged onto Discover I noticed the Discover 2018 calendar was released!

Discover 2018 Calendar Released!

All of these categories are 5% for the first $1500 spent each quarter, then you will earn 1% cash back.  Make sure you do not go over $1500, because who wants to earn only 1% cash back?

Quarter 1: Gas Stations and Wholesale Clubs

This seems to be a staple for Discover and who can complain? Earning 5% back on gas is always great.

The wholesale club category seems to make a frequent appearance as well. You can always look for gift cards at the Wholesale Clubs, or use your Discover card for actual purchases.

Wholesale clubs like BJ’s or Sam’s Club have discount gift cards for sale, so this is a great way to squeeze some extra value as well.

Quarter 2: Grocery Stores

While you might people speak about 6% cash back with the Blue Cash Preferred, I would still choose the 5% Discover over it. Here is why:

If you max out the $6,000 limit, you will earn $360 in cash back.  After you remove the $95 annual fee, you have $265 in cash back for the year. This only occurs if you spend $6,000 on the card in a year.

• $265/$6000=4.42%

While the Blue Cash Preferred is great, the Discover card actually will earn you more since it is a no fee card.

Not only do they sell gift cards to 3rd party stores, you can buy your grocery gift cards to use throughout the year if you do not spend $1,500 in a quarter on groceries. Plus you’ll earn a cool $75 cash back.

Quarter 3: Restaurants

When it comes to dining our there are so many cards that have dining as a bonus category. If you have a card like the Chase Sapphire Reserve, you might value 3x UR points more than 5% cash back. But, Discover is a no fee card and 5% is nothing to sneeze at.

I will be loading my Discover card in my wallet for this quarter and will definitely stack them with Dining Rewards to earn miles and cash back.

Quarter 4: Amazon.com and Wholesale Clubs

Amazon seems to be clock work for Discover when it comes to quarter 4. I can’t complain as I order a lot from Amazon and really like earning 5% cash back on my purchases. Amazon sells a lot of 3rd party gift cards like Airbnb, which I have been using more and more for my travels.

Again, you see Wholesale Clubs make an appearance. For some this is an easy way to max out your $1,500 quarter limit.

Waiting for the Chase Freedom

It seems over the last couple of years, Chase follows suit with Discover in the quarterly categories. I am really hoping we see some differences in these programs. I wouldn’t mind the same categories, but at least be in different quarters. I can’t stand it when they are the same categories in the same quarters.

Conclusion

It’s great to see Discover release their 2018 calendar and I am sure you will see many bloggers tell you how to maximize your quarterly categories. This is a great no fee cash back  card to only be used during the appropriate quarterly category.

This is even better if you are in year 1 of having your Discover card, because your cash back will be doubled. You’d be earning 10% cash back on those purchases, which is an awesome amount of rewards to be earning.

This is my own personal Discover Referral Link,if you use it we both receive $50 and yours is doubled after year 1. If you use it, thank you! I appreciate it!

What categories are you excited for? Any categories you wish Discover would have had?

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