Stack onto the Target 5% off<\/a>.<\/p>\nRotating Categories – The Chase Freedom Card offers 5 Ultimate Reward points in rotating categories throughout the year.\u00a0 The categories change quarterly and usually include grocery stores, gas stations, Amazon.com, home improvement stores, and restaurants. We will always use this card for the quarterly category.\u00a0 The best category that just got added was Costco for the rest of the year.<\/p>\n
Groceries\/Gas\/Restaurants – We will use the American Express Hilton Surpass card to get 6 HHonors points for each dollar we spend in this category if we aren’t trying to meet a minimum spend.<\/p>\n
Gift Cards – If we possible, we buy gift cards at office supply stores using our Chase Ink card to get 5 Ultimate Reward Points.\u00a0 We can then use these cards at locations where we wouldn’t normally any sort of category bonus.\u00a0 For example, we will buy Amazon gift cards at Staples using our Chase Ink card to get 5 Ultimate Reward Points.\u00a0 Staples has other gift cards as well for locations that we tend to go to (Shell gas stations, Netflix, various restaurants).<\/p>\n
Costco – Earning points at Costco was tricky in the past, since Costco only took American Express cards in store.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Now that they have switched to accepting Visa cards, it is only a problem for meeting minimum spending on American Express cards, since they can’t be used in the store.\u00a0 Luckily, we discovered you can buy Costco cash cards at costco.com using any credit card you would like.<\/p>\n
Sporting Events – We have season tickets to the Washington Capitals, so paying for those tickets is another great way to meet minimum spends.\u00a0 I know there are cards that offer bonuses in this category, but we haven’t explored them yet.<\/p>\n
Summer Camps – Up until recently, we were spending a lot of money on summer camps that the kids attended.\u00a0 We could easily knock out a minimum spend (or two) for what we were paying for summer camps.\u00a0 As the kids get older, they need these camps less.\u00a0 I’m sure those expenses will get replaced with college costs, so there’s another chance. \ud83d\ude09<\/p>\n
Everything else – If we don’t have a minimum spend we are trying to meet, we use the Chase Ultimate Freedom Card which gives us 1.5 Ultimate Reward points for each dollar we spend.\u00a0 We usually transfer these to our United Mileageplus or our Hyatt Gold Passport accounts.<\/p>\n
Do you have any suggestions for maximizing category spending?\u00a0 Let us know in the comments!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
We have a pretty good supply of credit cards we can use to earn points.\u00a0 We always try to spend Continue Reading<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_seo_schema_type":"","ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"{title}\n\n{excerpt}\n\n{url}","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"_wpas_customize_per_network":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[12,14,6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1275","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-credit-cards","category-planning","category-travel-cost","no-post-thumbnail","no-read-more-tag","no-sticky","use-excerpt","entry"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":598,"url":"https:\/\/backtothemouse.com\/index.php\/advice-question\/","url_meta":{"origin":1275,"position":0},"title":"Advice Question","author":"Joseph","date":"December 14, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"I got my first blog related question from a friend\/reader the other week.\u00a0 He was fine with sharing the question and the related advice. Question: We have an expense coming up that will total around $4000 due in the next week or two, so I'm thinking about opening a new\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Credit Cards"","block_context":{"text":"Credit Cards","link":"https:\/\/backtothemouse.com\/index.php\/category\/credit-cards\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":942,"url":"https:\/\/backtothemouse.com\/index.php\/free-flights-to-europe\/","url_meta":{"origin":1275,"position":1},"title":"Free Flights to Europe","author":"Joseph","date":"March 10, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"Recently, a co-worker told me he's planning to visit family in Europe in 18-24 months.\u00a0 We had previously discussed credit card rewards, so he was interested in reducing his costs for the flights.\u00a0 His lodging expenses will be covered since he's staying with family.\u00a0 He is taking his wife and\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Credit Cards"","block_context":{"text":"Credit Cards","link":"https:\/\/backtothemouse.com\/index.php\/category\/credit-cards\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"united","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/backtothemouse.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/03\/united-1.png?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":206,"url":"https:\/\/backtothemouse.com\/index.php\/hilton-credit-cards\/","url_meta":{"origin":1275,"position":2},"title":"Hilton Credit Cards","author":"Joseph","date":"September 19, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"One of the best ways to earn Hilton HHonors points (which can give you free rooms at the Hilton Hotels and Resorts family of hotels) is to to sign up for one of the four types of Hilton-sponsored credit cards. American Express Hilton Surpass card One Hilton-sponsored card is the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Credit Cards"","block_context":{"text":"Credit Cards","link":"https:\/\/backtothemouse.com\/index.php\/category\/credit-cards\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":4386,"url":"https:\/\/backtothemouse.com\/index.php\/hilton-credit-cards-updated\/","url_meta":{"origin":1275,"position":3},"title":"Hilton Credit Cards – Updated","author":"Joseph","date":"July 8, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"One of the best ways to earn Hilton Honors points (which can give you free rooms at the Hilton Hotels and Resorts) is to to sign up for one of the two types of Hilton-sponsored credit cards. \u00a0 American Express Hilton Surpass card \u00a0 One Hilton-sponsored card is the American\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Credit Cards"","block_context":{"text":"Credit Cards","link":"https:\/\/backtothemouse.com\/index.php\/category\/credit-cards\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Hilton Family","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/backtothemouse.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/09\/hilton-family.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/backtothemouse.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/09\/hilton-family.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/backtothemouse.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/09\/hilton-family.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/backtothemouse.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/09\/hilton-family.jpg?resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":312,"url":"https:\/\/backtothemouse.com\/index.php\/chase-hyatt-credit-card\/","url_meta":{"origin":1275,"position":4},"title":"Chase Hyatt Credit Card","author":"Joseph","date":"November 9, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"After moving through a series of Hilton Credit Cards and using up all the free nights and points you have accumulated, you'd almost think you would have to pay for a hotel room.\u00a0 Luckily, Chase comes to the rescue with the Chase Hyatt Credit Card.\u00a0 This card is an important\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Credit Cards"","block_context":{"text":"Credit Cards","link":"https:\/\/backtothemouse.com\/index.php\/category\/credit-cards\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"hyatt-points","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/backtothemouse.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/hyatt-points.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":10,"url":"https:\/\/backtothemouse.com\/index.php\/grocery-store-discounts\/","url_meta":{"origin":1275,"position":5},"title":"Grocery Store Discounts","author":"Joseph","date":"May 1, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"What does grocery shopping have to do with Disney vacation planning? It\u2019s simple: the less you spend on groceries, the more you will have available for your vacation! There are many ways to maximize your discounts when shopping at the grocery store.\u00a0 I won't go into the many ways of\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Disney Gift Cards"","block_context":{"text":"Disney Gift Cards","link":"https:\/\/backtothemouse.com\/index.php\/category\/disney-gift-cards\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/backtothemouse.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/IMG_7788-1024x653.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/backtothemouse.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/IMG_7788-1024x653.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/backtothemouse.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/IMG_7788-1024x653.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/peu3ZL-kz","jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/backtothemouse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1275","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/backtothemouse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/backtothemouse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/backtothemouse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/backtothemouse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1275"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/backtothemouse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1275\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1325,"href":"https:\/\/backtothemouse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1275\/revisions\/1325"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/backtothemouse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1275"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/backtothemouse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1275"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/backtothemouse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1275"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}