How you "work" your favorite discounts!

[Beezle2]

I love the Ulta rewards program and feel like I work it to my advantage. For instance yesterday they were having a 3x points event for Platinum members. Since I needed my color done I made the appointment and got $34 back in rewards.

Today I was able to use those rewards on their website and combined with specials they were running got 1/2 price Sebastian products, a free full size Shaper hair spray, free shipping, and $3.50 off a $10 purchase. I spent $1.54

Every now and then they run a 10x points deal and that is when I really stock up on things I know I will use for the year. The rewards for that deal ran into the $100's and I used the points for gifts during the year.

What are some for your fav's?

 

[twinnersmama]

I put everything on my Discover card. Pay it off every month. When cash back bonus gets high enough, I purchase gift cards with it because you can get a $50 gift card for $45 reward dollars.
So free money to get a discount on gift cards. It all adds up.

 

[lauradis]

My favorite discount is Giant Eagle gift card .10-.20 off a gallon of gas up too 30 gallons.

Anytime I have plans to purchase anything I check to see if giant eagle sells that stores gift card.

I'm up to about 700 dollars this year in gas perks.

Not to include they sell khols gc. I use those when they have khols cash too.

Wish they had ultra gc lol im greedy.

 

[StephMK]

I love the Ulta rewards program and feel like I work it to my advantage. For instance yesterday they were having a 3x points event for Platinum members. Since I needed my color done I made the appointment and got $34 back in rewards.

Today I was able to use those rewards on their website and combined with specials they were running got 1/2 price Sebastian products, a free full size Shaper hair spray, free shipping, and $3.50 off a $10 purchase. I spent $1.54

Every now and then they run a 10x points deal and that is when I really stock up on things I know I will use for the year. The rewards for that deal ran into the $100's and I used the points for gifts during the year.

What are some for your fav's?

I need to learn more about this! I am a member but did not know all about how to best use any rewards.

My favorite rewards are through our Bakers/Kroger grocery store. We get gas points and the station is right there in the same parking lot, close to our house. I do their survey and get 50 points each time. You can complete one every 7 days so I can usually get 4 in a month.

If I know we're going somewhere or buying something that has a gift card, I will go there to buy the card to get gas points. We try to stock up on cards we know we'll use when they have their 4x point offers.

Usually I can go through ebates when shopping online so we get the gas points from the card purchase and cash back for going through ebates. I try to remember to check ebates every time I shop online. Last year, I got $20 back on DD's phone because Virgin Mobile was on ebates.

I am looking for a credit card offer to put all of our monthly bills through it and pay off monthly. We spend a lot on food & gas so I've been reviewing offers that give the most back for those items.

Can't wait to hear about more ways to maximize discounts!

 

[tinatark]

We have a Coach outlet here. They are always "50% off* everything in the store, but this month is breast cancer awareness - for $5 you can get 5, 25% off coupons - you can use as many as you want per transaction. Earlier this month I got a flyer for 15,20,25% off based on purchase amount. Cha-Ching!

A $200 item for $56!

Ebay here I come!

 

[pfp258]

But you do know that Coach actually makes purses specifically for their outlet stores? These purses are fine but they are not constructed with the quality of a purse going to a real Coach store. I hope you let people on eBay know that the bags are from an outlet and not purchased from a Coach store. There is a big difference!

 

[eliza61]

But you do know that Coach actually makes purses specifically for their outlet stores? These purses are fine but they are not constructed with the quality of a purse going to a real Coach store. I hope you let people on eBay know that the bags are from an outlet and not purchased from a Coach store. There is a big difference!

+1
Huge difference. If you sign up for the email on coach.com, three times a year you'll get an invite to the friends and family event. 25% off full line merchandise.

Lol my favorite discounts are around traveling and groceries so I'll go with what previous poster mentioned. I use my Chase rewards card for the reward points

Oh I thought of one , I like lands end products. They have great end of season sales especially on winter coats. I wait for them, then combine it with a 25% code and free shipping

 

[OrangeBirdGirl]

But you do know that Coach actually makes purses specifically for their outlet stores? These purses are fine but they are not constructed with the quality of a purse going to a real Coach store. I hope you let people on eBay know that the bags are from an outlet and not purchased from a Coach store. There is a big difference!

Thanks interesting to know, thanks for the tidbit. I bought a Coach purse probably 5 years back (from the non-outlet Coach store) and love it. It is fabric and it holds up well. Since then an outlet was opened here and I have bought 6 bags and hated them all. They were fabric as well and didn't hold their shape and they flopped over all the time. Hard to explain but they just don't stand upright like my non-outlet bag. I have sworn off Coach and have sold all my outlet bags (but still kept that initial one). I have told so many people how I hate Coach because their quality is horrible now. Whoops!

But now that you mention it, the bags at the outlet I have never seen most of those styles in the non-outlet store.

 

[tinatark]

But you do know that Coach actually makes purses specifically for their outlet stores? These purses are fine but they are not constructed with the quality of a purse going to a real Coach store. I hope you let people on eBay know that the bags are from an outlet and not purchased from a Coach store. There is a big difference!

Yes. I buy bags that don't have the outlet designation on the serial #'s.

 

[Beezle2]

I need to learn more about this! I am a member but did not know all about how to best use any rewards.
My favorite rewards are through our Bakers/Kroger grocery store. We get gas points and the station is right there in the same parking lot, close to our house. I do their survey and get 50 points each time. You can complete one every 7 days so I can usually get 4 in a month.

If I know we're going somewhere or buying something that has a gift card, I will go there to buy the card to get gas points. We try to stock up on cards we know we'll use when they have their 4x point offers.

Usually I can go through ebates when shopping online so we get the gas points from the card purchase and cash back for going through ebates. I try to remember to check ebates every time I shop online. Last year, I got $20 back on DD's phone because Virgin Mobile was on ebates.
I am looking for a credit card offer to put all of our monthly bills through it and pay off monthly. We spend a lot on food & gas so I've been reviewing offers that give the most back for those items.

Can't wait to hear about more ways to maximize discounts!

>>>>>

For Ulta the best deals are for Platinum members. I didn't find it hard to get to that level, you have to spend $400 in a year, 2 color jobs and some hair product did it for me. After that you get offers in the bonus section of the website that you click on to activate. I always check when it get close to getting my hair done and will wait for a 3x points deal. The 10x points was a deal I got in email, I think they do that one a few times a year. I have 4 daughters and they like gifts from Ulta or a trip to the salon as a birthday present so I have no problem staying at Platinum, lol .

And I forgot about Ebates! I use that one too I always check before I online shop. I have gotten $600 back in the 8 or nine years I have been using it! Good one!

 

[Beezle2]

+1
Huge difference. If you sign up for the email on coach.com, three times a year you'll get an invite to the friends and family event. 25% off full line merchandise.

Lol my favorite discounts are around traveling and groceries so I'll go with what previous poster mentioned. I use my Chase rewards card for the reward points

Oh I thought of one , I like lands end products. They have great end of season sales especially on winter coats. I wait for them, then combine it with a 25% code and free shipping

I do that at Eddie Bauer, always off season buying! I like their Tall tops, they have the perfect sleeve length for me but there is no way I'm paying $79 for a shirt Also like to stock up on their Favorites Tees, they are they are the only ones I can find that have a decent weight to them anymore. Can't stand "tissue weight" tops!

 

[pixiedust216]

Some of my favorite reward savings that I've had lately are at Victoria's Secret. I'm an Angel Forever cardholder (which means I spend way too much money there, lol) but during my card anniversary month I got triple points on all purchases. It was great because it was the same month as the semi-annual sale. If you shop there frequently that is a card that I would recommend.

I have also been really happy with the Disney Visa. I got one of the offers where if you spent $500 in three months you got a $200 Disney gift card. I used it towards our stay at Pop Century and between that and the 30% offer they were running ending up staying for seven nights for something like $400. I really like the card so far. I used it to buy my Apple laptop so I automatically hit the $500 goal to get my gift card. I've already gotten an additional $30 or so just from using the card and the 1% back. I know you guys are probably all familiar with the card and I'm sure a lot of you have one too, but I was really impressed with the $200 gift card offer!

I also have the Ulta rewards and think they're great too!

 

[kkmcan]

My favorite and the one we use the most is our Disney Visa. We upgraded to Premium a couple of years ago and got the bonus points for that. We use it for all purchases and payment that we can.

Then we travel when there is a discount or promotion going on to make our reward dollars go even further. We saved up to $700 in reward dollars and booked a short 4 night stay at Aulani this past spring. It was 4th night free + free breakfast. Booked the pool view room for $1800 for 4 nights. Then paid about $1100 after our reward dollars onto our Disney Visa earning us $22 in reward dollars on our next statement.

Considering this is your entertainment + hotel stay I didn't think $1100 was that bad. We'd spend way more than that buying park passes and hotel at WDW or DL. To add to that we stayed at the in-laws timeshare in Waikiki for 2 nights for free. Our flights were pretty great prices from Phx and we used Cap ONe miles to pay for one airfare.

 

[tinatark]

Cruising on Royal Caribbean soon - they give 10k points when you make a purchase on a new RC visa - enough for $100 on board credit. Got 2 cards, one each for me and DH, used for small purchases, then paid off. $200 obc!

 

[hsmamato2]

How to maximize? Use a credit card that maximizes rewards for all purchases,and shop thru any shopping portal that gives lots of reward points for doing so.I prefer to use portals where I accumulate a bulk of points, not scattered thru a whole lot of different ones. Many credit cards have their own portals (YES!) and there are also standalone portals,like ebates,etc. The key is to do a little homework before spending,and choosing the venue which CURRENTLY offers the best rewards,adding to your previous rewards,and how useable those rewards are. I don't much like store based rewards,as it usually entails spending MUCH more than I normally would have for for some percieved reward. So either get extra reward points from the cc portal,or ebates or similiar,and cash out when needed for use. (Ugh, don't even get me going on things like Kohlscash,etc) You will notice that my way of doing this means less actual loyalty to a store, and more loyalty to whatever program rewards my purchases at the time.

 

[mrsp1030]

I use www.evreward.com before I shop. It will tell you the reward details of all major loyalty programs/ebates/credit cards and I base my decision that way. We also use CC for all purchases and earn points that way. We have two we use due to husband's business travel and wanting to keep separate record. Our amex platinum and barclay world arrivals.

 

[verleniahall]

I use swagbucks or ebates when I am shopping online - and decide which is the better deal - sometimes its swagbucks, sometimes its ebates.