How I Plan to Save Money on Holiday Gifts with My Discover Card
December’s credit cards came in. Even though I tried to be careful, I ended up spending more than I wanted.
So starting now, I’m making a plan for Christmas of 2009. At the center of my cost-cutting plan is going to be my Discover Card®.
(I do want to say that I pay off my balance every month. If I couldn’t, this would not be a good plan at all.)
I first got my Discover Card in college at one of those sign-up tables. I’ve been using it ever since, but this is the first time I’m hopefully going to systematically take advantage of its rewards.
As you probably already know, Discover gives you a cash back bonus for the purchases you charge on its credit cards. The rate changes but it does add up over time. The bonus cash back periods are especially helpful.
In three-month blocks, I get 5% cash back on purchases from specific retailers. So far, the pattern goes like this:
- January-March: airlines, car rental companies, hotels, cruise lines
- April-June: department and clothing stores, home improvement stores
- July-August: gas stations, hotels, theme parks, zoos, bookstores
- October-December: grocery stores, restaurants, movie theaters and rental places
This past year, that gas station cash back really helped during the $4.00/gallon summer. The grocery store cash back also was a great bonus for me.
Even if I’m out of a bonus month, I can still get a higher cash back percentage by going through Discover’s shopping portal. FTD and Restaurant.com offer 20% cash back. PetSmart’s at 15%. Fandango, Zappos, and Barnes & Noble are all at 10%. And there are so many more choices.
Next, instead of just claiming the actual cash back amount, I plan to get gift cards in order to tack on even more dollars. For example, I can redeem $20 to get a $25 Borders gift card. Then, I can either gift those gift cards or use them to buy presents during the holiday sales season.
So that’s my plan. Let’s see how it goes.
What do you think? Do you have any comments or suggestions for me?
[...] Smarty Pants presents How I Plan to Save Money on Holiday Gifts with My Discover Card posted at Ms. Smarty Pants Know It [...]
I think this plan is infinitely better than my charge-Christmas-in-anticipation-of-hubby’s-bonus-check-in-January plan. Especially since there will be no bonus check this year.
Griot, urg, that’s too bad. The proverbial They always say that we shouldn’t take bonuses and refunds into our budget considerations, but even if I know that, I still do. I don’t think it’s psychologically possible to ignore them.
I’m hoping that my new plan is going to work much better than my whoops-did-I-really-spend-that-much? plan of 2008.
[...] I spent more than I had originally intended on holiday gifts last year, I decided to conscientiously use my Discover Card to rack up cash back savings to use on this year’s [...]