Making your store, bank and credit card work for YOU
This isn't a new concept. However, I don't think people take advantage as best they can of all that is out there. We try to take advantage of all of our opportunities. Obviously, this will depend on where in the country you live, but it seems to me that no matter what your grocery store is--everyone seems to have some sort of deal or loyalty card or something these days. Here's what we do.
Chase- This is where we bank. We have opened up accounts at other banks for a while to utilize their $75 or $100 incentives, but our main banking is and always has been at Chase. We signed up for their Chase Leisure rewards. We pay $25 each ($50 a year) for our cards to be part of this system. Normally, for every dollar you spend you get 2 points. If you pay the $25 you get 4 points for every dollar. We have done this for the past two years and it always pays for itself in the first month. Those points can be cashed in for many things, but we tend to use them for gift cards. We get gift cards for restaurants, Barnes and Noble, movie theater passes, and retail stores like Target or Bed, Bath and Beyond. You just have to swipe your card and use it as a credit card. It also counts for bills that are paid with the card. (Not online banking, but paying on a direct site.) We have gotten HUNDREDS of dollars in gift cards for simply using our cards as we would have anyway. If you don't have a Chase near you, you may want to shop around for your banking. My mother-in-law banks somewhere else and she said her rewards for the whole year was just enough to get a taco at taco bell. I'd say your bank is not working for you then! :)
Giant Eagle- For those of you not familiar with this store, it is one of our local grocery stores. It's one of those fancy stores that has great produce and great meats, but almost everything costs a considerable amount more. We generally shop at Meijer. It is cheaper and they double your coupons. But we're no fool. We take advantage of all of the perks Giant Eagle has to offer. For every $50 you spend in the store, you get 20 cents off your gas. For every 10 gallons you put in your car in gas, you get 1% off your food purchase. We don't do our grocery shopping here, but it is the closest store to our house. We use it for last minute pick ups, medications, and we buy gift cards there. For example, if we know we are going to eat at Bob Evans, we get a $25 gift card. We aren't out any extra money and it adds to our fuel perks. On top of that, we always get our gas at Giant Eagle. In fact, Michael fills up his work truck there if one is close. My bosses generally fill up the Volvo, but if they don't, I make sure to fill up at Giant Eagle as well so I can swipe my loyalty card and earn the points. This gets us food perks. Once you are at 20% you have to use it. Whenever we get to 20%, I do my weeks grocery shopping there. I try to stock up on meat on that trip. We have saved a ridiculous amount in gas already. The food perks just started recently, but we've saved a considerable amount on food as well.
Discover- This is the only credit card we have. We got a Discover card for the gas rewards. We have the card that gives you 5% back on your gas purchases and 1% back on your other purchases. We then use those rewards to get gift cards. Sound familiar? Oh, and when we are filling up at Giant Eagle and getting those food perks... we are also earning Discover card points. We have so many gift cards it's out of control.
We hardly eat out anymore unless we have a gift card. These gift cards come from either our Chase Leisure rewards, Discover card rewards, or my boss. We don't really go to the movies without gift cards either. Make your stores, cards, and bank work for you. You'll be happy you did!
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