How to make your Christmas shopping work for you this holiday season!
Would you believe me if I told you that I am able to rack up rewards with FOUR different programs on just one purchase? I'll show you how to do that in this blog post, but first, let's go over a few simple steps to help get you set up.
Navigating this blog post:
Step 1: Choose your credit card that will give you the best rewards for the types of purchases you'll be making.
I love that there are so many different credit cards out there that offer rewards for shopping, however, it can make choosing the right card for you a bit of a task. One of the apps I will go over in this blog gives you the option to link a credit card, so definitely choose a credit card of yours that gives you the best rewards for your personal spending.
For instance, I decided to link my Chase Sapphire card to rack up points that can be redeemed for travel. For every $1 spent on dining, I get 3x the points in rewards, and every dollar spent on travel, I get 2x the points in rewards. For all other spending, I get 1 point per $1 spent. There are also other specific additional rewards as well (for example, every dollar spent on Lyft rides is 5x the points!). I can redeem the points for a variety of different rewards, but the travel rewards are what I save for! In the past I have used my points to cover round trip airfare and a several night stay in a 5-star hotel for my birthday!
Step 2: Download the Drop App and link your chosen credit card.
The Drop App is one of several apps that I'll go over that rewards you with cash back for your spending. Like other apps, you can download Drop, and from the app, click on a store you'd like to shop at and the app will take you directly there. Because you are now online shopping from the Drop app, you can earn points for every dollar you spend at that store during that online "shopping trip."
However, what I like to do is a little bit easier than that! There is another option on the Drop app that allows you to link a debit card or credit card of your choice (this is where step 1 comes in handy!). Choose the credit card with the best rewards for your goals, and link that card in the app. Drop will then show you all of the stores that are participating in the "linked card" category. Click on the option to "Activate" the week's offers, and now, any time you shop at those stores during the week (regardless of whether it's online through the app, online without the app, or in-store) using your linked card, you get your points!
I absolutely LOVE this app because most of the stores that participate in the linked card offers are places I actually shop at regularly. With some cash back apps, they'll offer points for stores I don't really shop at, and so it's more of an incentive to shop there if I want rewards, not because I was going to spend money there in the first place. To give you an idea, some of the stores that are participating in the linked card offers on Drop this week are:
Amazon (15 points per $1)
Target (5 points per $1)
Chevron (10 points per $1)
Trader Joe's (10 points per $1)
CVS (20 points per $1)
Starbucks (10 points per $1)
Since I linked my Chase Sapphire card, I receive my credit card reward points as well as my Drop rewards points when I shop at these places! Win-win!
You can also play games and participate in surveys through the Drop app to rack up the rewards points! You can redeem your points for gift cards to use at the places listed in the Rewards tab; 25k points is equal to a $25 gift card, and 50k points is equal to a $50 gift card. I've only been using the Drop app for several months, and am already only a few points away from a $50 gift card!
If you'd like to create an account (and I highly recommend you do & link your card before you go Christmas shopping this year), click here! This is my invite link, which will allow you to get a $5 bonus (5000 points) in your account! If you've downloaded the app without the invite link and have the option to input an invite code, you should still be able to input my code for a $5 bonus! My code is: "ztlbx."
If you'd like more information on Drop, click here for a link to their FAQs!
**I do understand that some people are uncomfortable with the process of linking their card or bank account to an app, and I'm not encouraging you to do anything that you feel isn't safe for you or your money. It's good to be cautious! I will mention, though, that as far as I know, Drop uses the same company to authenticate/link your account that Venmo does.
Step 3: Snap a Photo of your Receipt.
The Fetch App is another free shopping rewards app where all you have to do is snap a photo of your receipt, and you get points! If you happen to have participating brands on that receipt (for example, Kleenex is a participating brand at the time of purchase, offering 1000 points per box and you buy three boxes) then you rack up more points! However, the great thing about Fetch is you can snap a photo of ANY receipt (within 14 days of purchase) and the app will reward you with points, which can then be redeemed for gift cards. This includes restaurants as well!
You can even go an extra step and link your email inbox, and the app will automatically give you points for all of your online purchases made with that email address. (I will note that I chose not to activate that option, but it's probably a really quick way for points to rack up if you feel comfortable with it.)
Without including your online purchase receipts in conjunction with in-store receipts, these points don't rack up quite as fast as the other rewards apps, but you will still get rewards back for simply snapping a photo of your receipt before you throw it away.
Step 4: Join the store's Loyalty Program if they have one.
Most stores now offer a loyalty program where it's completely free to sign up, and most of the time you only need to input your email or phone number at check out to receive points within the program. Those points usually add up to discounts you can use towards purchases once you reach a certain number of points. If you're going to shop at that store anyway, why not sign up for the loyalty program?
Shopping Example!
I promised to share how I'm able to rack up rewards on four different platforms with just one purchase, and now will show you how with this shopping example:
I go to Target for some holiday shopping and spend $100, as well as pick up some Cottonelle toilet paper.
Before this trip to Target, I will:
-make sure my Chase Sapphire card is linked in the Drop app
-make sure the linked card offer for Target rewards is activated within the Drop app
-have an account with the Circle Rewards program (Target's loyalty program)
When I check out at Target, I will:
-use my Chase Sapphire card to pay for the purchase
-input my phone number when prompted at check out for the Circle Rewards Program
-open the Fetch app and snap a photo of my receipt
And voilà! With this one purchase at Target, I will have earned points with:
my Chase Sapphire card (100 points for the $100 spent)
the Drop app (5 points for $1 spent, so 500 points)
Target Circle Rewards (1% of every purchase, so in this case, $1.00, to redeem on a future purchase)
the Fetch app (25 points per receipt scan, plus a 750-point bonus for purchasing Cottonelle toilet paper, a participating brand on Fetch, so 775 points)
All for one purchase! They may seem like small numbers now, but if you shop this holiday season with these things in mind, the numbers will all add up!
In the last few years, I've been able to redeem two $50 gift cards through MyPoints, received over $75 in checks through Rakuten, and will now almost have enough to redeem a $50 gift card through Drop!
If this was money you were going to spend regardless, isn't it nice to get something back for all of that spending, instead of watching your money go down the drain?
Some Things to Keep in Mind
Credit Card Interest Rates: One thing to look out for when choosing your credit card for shopping, however, is the interest rate for paying off your card. The biggest downside to using the Chase Sapphire Visa card is that its interest rate is SO high, so if I don't pay off the card as soon as I'm able to, the bill grows extremely fast. For most other purchases, this is the reason I will use my other credit card. It doesn't give me 2x/3x the points for travel/dining purchases, but it does give me 1 point per $1 spent, which is the same as my Chase Sapphire for non-travel/dining purchases, and the interest rate is not as high. I say this all with full transparency! The interest rates can be crazy. However, it has been a great card as far as the travel & dining rewards are concerned, and also offers other bonuses (like extra points per $1 spent at participating brands) so if you're interested in getting a Chase Sapphire, click here! By using this link, you could earn 60,000 bonus points when you spend $4,000 in your first three months of opening your account! It may seem like a lot, but when you factor in monthly bills/utilities, plus all of that holiday shopping, dining, & travel coming up, you'll get to that amount pretty fast!
Conflicting Rewards Programs: Be careful about certain rewards apps conflicting with each other on online shopping trips. The example I listed above shouldn't have any conflict as far as receiving your points. However, if you link your card through the Drop app for a certain store, then shop at that store online through another rewards program (like Rakuten or MyPoints), the rewards might conflict, and you may not receive points for both programs or either, in some cases. It's best to figure out which program will give you the best rewards and shop through that one instead of trying to get points with both. What's nice though, is that the many of the stores that participate in Drop's linked card offers are not the same stores that offer points through online shopping with Rakuten or MyPoints, so there's usually no conflict for my purchases.
Racking up Rewards can take Time: With the Drop app, each store will state about how long it will take for your rewards to show up within your account. I've noticed my points go through pretty quickly, but some brands may say it could take anywhere from a week to 90 days for your points to show up in your account.
Activate Your Card Offers Weekly: For the card offers in the Drop app, be sure to activate your card offers weekly, as the card offers are not permanent. When you open the app and click on the Card offers tab, it'll say if your offers are currently activated and how many days left you have before you need to activate them again. Sometimes you even get points for activating them (I received a 1000 point bonus for activating mine this week), so be sure to check before you shop at those stores. Sometimes, they will only have a few slots available for each store (I have not had this happen to me yet, but my boyfriend just downloaded the app and activated the card offers and all but the Amazon went through for him; it stated that there were no more slots for that offer but to try again at the end of the week. I think it's rare, but worth mentioning since it did happen).
Other Rewards Programs!
If you'd like more info on other rewards programs, like Rakuten, MyPoints, or Fetch, click here to read my blog post where I go over these, or click on the names themselves to be taken to their websites.
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