This post contains links to products from our advertisers, and we may be compensated when you click on these links. Our recommendations and advice are ours alone, and have not been reviewed by any issuers listed. Terms apply to offers listed on this page. Read our editorial standards.
Jen Glantz
- For the holidays, I’m dipping into my stash of credit card rewards points and miles to save money.
- I’m redeeming Chase Ultimate Rewards, Capital One miles, and JetBlue points for gifts.
- Doing this helps me stick to a budget and avoid overspending.
- Read Insider’s guide to the best cash-back credit cards.
As soon as the month of November swings around, I start planning out my gift list for the holiday season. I like to get moving on this early so that I don’t overspend on last-minute purchases. Instead, I sit down and make a list of the people I want to give gifts to, set a budget, and start finding ways to get them presents they will be eager to receive.
I also use the holiday season as an opportunity to tap into my reserves of credit card points so I can offset the cost of many of these holiday gifts without dipping into my savings account or acquiring any credit card debt.
Since I’ve spent much of 2021 working on increasing my savings goal and sticking to a strict budget, I decided to challenge myself to find unique ways of maximizing 50,000 of my credit card points to cover 75% of my holiday gifts this year.
I’m doing this by using my credit cards (
I created a gift list and budget
To get this process started, I made a list of everyone I want to give gifts to this year and how much I’d like to spend per person. Overall, I had 12 names on the list and a budget of less than $750 total.
I marked down an amount, ranging from $25 to $150, next to the person’s name so I could be accountable and not overspend. I then decided that I wanted to spend around $250 in cash and use 50,000 credit card rewards points to cover the rest.
Doing this step first gives you a practical way to understand your gift-giving budget for the holiday season and can then allow you to see how many points you want to use to cover that balance and how much you want to pay in cash.
I’m using points to cover gifts from websites
One of my favorite credit card perks is the ability to redeem points to cover purchases on websites when you checkout. For example, I’m able to buy things off Amazon using miles from my
I took my gift list and spent $50 on Amazon (to buy four less expensive gifts) and used 6,250 Capital One miles from my
Turning miles into gift cards to apply toward purchases
There are a few people on my list that I want to give gift cards to because I know they’ll enjoy picking out their own holiday treat. There are also people on my list who want more expensive items and I figured I can use credit card points to get a gift card to help offset how much cash I’d spend on that gift so I didn’t have to dig into my savings.
I budgeted 7,000 miles to use to buy gift cards for four people (100 miles = $0.80) and then used 6,250 miles to buy a $50 gift card to help pay for a gift that was going to cost me $150 in cash.
Using miles for a statement credit
One person on my gift list wanted something very unique (a piece of jewelry from a small business) so I decided to purchase that item using my credit card and then convert miles to get a statement credit to cover that gift (the gift was $30 and I used 6,000 miles).
Using points to gift a getaway
The biggest gift I wanted to give to a special person this year was an airline ticket to use toward a three-day trip they were planning for themselves.
Picking up the tab for that would have cost $180, but I used 15,000 JetBlue points from my
Powered by WPeMatico
