Time to do a recap on all the points/freebies and rebates we have received this year. For anyone who thinks it doesn't add up - think again! Yes, we both have point credit cards - me the Air Miles Mastercard and hubby the RBC Avion Visa. His is better but we can use mine places like Costco that only take Mastercard in Canada. I have a spreadsheet for all this so I just calculate it everytime something is redeemed.
Hubby's Points
| April used 24000 Hilton Pts hotels edmonton May saved approx $180 (cash and pts) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| April used $137 in Westjet dollars for May trip to Edmonton | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Sept Used 10,000 Hilton miles for December trip, saved $79(cash and pts) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Oct used 15,000 Avion pts for Kid#3 Christmas trip, saved $350 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Used 2184 air miles for April 2018 trip Saved $170.10(one ways) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
My Points
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Grand Total Approximately $1,822.69!!
Of course, since hubby travels a fair amount for our business some of these points were gotten through that but most of them through day to day life. My favorite new way to save money is through ebates.ca, just received my second cheque. I don't shop online much but when I do I see if I can get a cash rebate through them - they pay out 4 times a year. Here is their referral link if you live in Canada and want to sign up.
This year I also used the checkout 51 app more, much easier when you put it on your phone and quickly upload pictures of your receipts. I still find that there are few items I want to buy that they have rebates on but still managed to get one rebate from them this year as you need $20 to cash out.
I keep all of the above information with account numbers and passwords in a master excel spreadsheet - it makes it very easy to keep track, also to tell when airline points are expiring. If I can't use them I donate them. Right now we still have enough RBC Avion Points for 1.5 tickets to Europe (maybe to be used next year, the Europe surcharge is around $600 though) or 2 tickets to the Caribbean. We also have about 5000 air miles between the two of us which I spend down first as they are much harder to use. The RBC Avion travel program is the best and most flexible in Canada so if you travel and want a points card I highly recommend that one. I also really like the Hampton Inn/Hilton Inn point program as they changed this year so if you don't have sufficient points for your entire stay you can use part cash and part points. We have cashed out twice this year using that. Hubby usually stays in one of these hotels for business when possible.
We have a grocery store within a half mile of our house so if I need to run to the store that is where I go. They have a points program (Quality foods) but it is not great so I generally just redeem my points for 4 litres of milk every time I have enough - 12 litres of free milk - I'll take that.
How did you do on freebies this year?
Wow, I am impressed. As I wrote in my recent post, my colleague was kind enough to pay for my (business class) return flight Geneva/London/Geneva in February because his air miles were expiring. I'm sure we have a lot of these rebate sites in France - I just haven't figured them out yet, but I have recently hooked up with M-Turk and am finding it pretty easy to get a couple of Amazon dollars a day in my quiet moments. But well done on your spreadsheet - I'm more of a "fly by the seat of your pants" kind a person - or "post-it Annie"! Just goes to show that it all adds up though doesn't it. Anna
ReplyDeleteI did the spreadsheet as we had too many accounts and passwords and needed one place to keep it all but then it made sense to start keeping track of how much we redeem, I just continue it from year to year
DeleteWe have a Canadian Tire credit card that can be used about everywhere and we do, even for automatic payments. I've never calculated the total per year but there is always something there to reduce the cost of our purchases or even cover everything we are "buying." We shop at Canadian Tire all the time so it is a good one for us. Quality Foods has been offering $20 gift cards for purchases of $150. We've done that three times. It works about once a month for us when we stock up with meats to take home to the cabin. - Margy
ReplyDeleteWe don't shop at CT tire as much as we used to since it is further away from our house after moving to the mall. I haven't seen the $150 shop get $20 in GCs- will have to check that one out
DeleteYou have really stayed on top of the "free' money this year. My biggest wins are Kohl's cash and Target gift cards, but I really should sit and figure out where to get these extra nuggets flowing.
ReplyDeleteWe don't have a lot of great programs in Canada so it is pretty easy to keep track lol
DeleteYou are an amazing woman. I have had some freebies this year but you win the prize.
ReplyDeleteThanks - but I am sure you did well, I know you know how to hunt for a bargain
DeleteYou did well this year!
ReplyDeleteThanks Linda!
DeleteLove it! You did great. I'll have to do a full recap, but off the top of my head . . .
ReplyDelete-We used $2000 in Alaska Air credit (earned from flight screw ups on a vacation)
-We had a companion fare that we used through our credit card
-$603 in credit for price matching on our preferred airline
-Redeemed $730 of gift cards from business travel points
I'm interested in doing a summary now. Great work on your side!
You are the queen of airline credits lol.
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