An idea for Canadians!

[PensFan]

I did not know you could use your PC Points for gift cards!! I just assumed it was on grocery only!
Time to start banking them and stop spending them when I get $20!

 

[Sue M]

I've looked into Airmiles, it just seems like they add up so slowly? It seems you have to spend $10-30 to get 1 point? And it's 3550 pts for one 5-day ticket.

Even slower now that you can't get the 10x air miles anymore from pharmacy purchase:-(

 

[Sue M]

I got the Alaska Mastercard. we get one companion fare each year for $99.00 Flying from the west coast to Florida is pricey so a $99.00 fare each year is great. That's a $500 - $600 savings on our trip. And since our trips are 10-14 days I doubt I'd ever eaten enough PC points for a 10 day ticket!!

 

[ottawamom]

I've looked into Airmiles, it just seems like they add up so slowly? It seems you have to spend $10-30 to get 1 point? And it's 3550 pts for one 5-day ticket.

Even slower now that you can't get the 10x air miles anymore from pharmacy purchase:-(

The key to racking up airmiles is not the 1AM for $20 you get using your credit card its the bonus AM that the various stores offer. Sobey's for instance has a meal on the back of their flyer each week. You pick up the ingredients ($10-15) and you get 50AM. New meal idea and good AM. Most weekends I am able to get 200 or so AM buying groceries I need anyways.

 

[pigletto]

The key to racking up airmiles is not the 1AM for $20 you get using your credit card its the bonus AM that the various stores offer. Sobey's for instance has a meal on the back of their flyer each week. You pick up the ingredients ($10-15) and you get 50AM. New meal idea and good AM. Most weekends I am able to get 200 or so AM buying groceries I need anyways.

Totally agree! I carefully shop bonus offers for things I will use. I NEVER spend more than .50 cents per mile. That's my tipping point on any offer. I spent $105 this weekend, and I ended up with 215 airmiles. I am picking up between 200-300 airmiles every week between Rexall, Sobey's and buying our gas at Shell. I've been staying well within my regular shopping budget every month as well.
I cashed out the 3550 points I needed for a 5 day ticket a few weeks ago. I'm back up at 700 points and should earn another 6000 before we plan to go away again (In December hopefully). This is all without any airmiles credit card, though I am very tempted to get one to maximize this plan.

 

[3mama3]

Maybe this has been shared before, but it you sign up for PC Points (which is free), you can redeem those points towards gift card purchases in store - including Visa gift cards! I find I can easily earn 5000-10,000 points a week. 20,000 pts = $20. Even more, if you get one of their PC Mastercards, you'll earn 10 pts for every dollar you charge to your card. So if you use your card for all purchases, bill payments etc... it's easy to rack up points. Anyways, if you earn 500,000 points in a year, that's $500 you can redeem for a Visa gift card, which you can in turn spend on your Disney vacation I figure every little bit helps!

What a great idea! Thanks so much for sharing! Always looking for ways to save for Disney!!

 

[allykat73]

Totally agree! I carefully shop bonus offers for things I will use. I NEVER spend more than .50 cents per mile. That's my tipping point on any offer. I spent $105 this weekend, and I ended up with 215 airmiles. I am picking up between 200-300 airmiles every week between Rexall, Sobey's and buying our gas at Shell. I've been staying well within my regular shopping budget every month as well.
I cashed out the 3550 points I needed for a 5 day ticket a few weeks ago. I'm back up at 700 points and should earn another 6000 before we plan to go away again (In December hopefully). This is all without any airmiles credit card, though I am very tempted to get one to maximize this plan.

Seriously need some lessons on how to get 200-300 airmiles per week! I never seem to get that many and I am trying!

 

[Donald - my hero]

Seriously need some lessons on how to get 200-300 airmiles per week! I never seem to get that many and I am trying!

Lesson # 1: Get a credit card that gives AM as rewards and double-dip!
Lesson # 2 : get every flyer you can ..go online if you need to ... and study them every single week
Lesson # 3 : Stay on top of the Airmiles ALERT thread ... we're always posting hints and giving heads up to the big offers!
Lesson # 4 : Don't worry about Big Brother... sign up for every newsletter that retailers have and get tailored offers based on your shopping habits
Lesson # 5 : Don't be afraid to be called a hoarder and find places to store bulk quantities of non-perishables when they go on sale (under the bed is an excellent place for toilet paper and kleenex hee-hee)

 

[ottawamom]

Seriously need some lessons on how to get 200-300 airmiles per week! I never seem to get that many and I am trying!

It depends where in the country you live as to how easy it might be. If you live in Ontario near Sobey's and Rexall review the flyers each week. Sobey's has lots of bonus AM in Ontario but not quite so many in the east. I picked up gift cards when they had a bonus offer a couple of weeks ago and I use those to purchase my groceries now and earn more AM. Hop on over to the Airmiles Alert thread for more ideas.

If you pop in to Rexall on a Friday and pick up some milk or bread there is usually a coupon at the bottom of the receipt for spend $30 get 50AM for Mon-Thu of the following week. If its not there ask the cashier what day it usually appears.

 

[Sue M]

The key to racking up airmiles is not the 1AM for $20 you get using your credit card its the bonus AM that the various stores offer. Sobey's for instance has a meal on the back of their flyer each week. You pick up the ingredients ($10-15) and you get 50AM. New meal idea and good AM. Most weekends I am able to get 200 or so AM buying groceries I need anyways.

We don't have Sobeys here on the west coast. They just bought out Extra Foods and turned it into Independent Grocer, but they don't give Airmiles. Only Safeway has them here. And Shell. I used to get lots of bonus air miles with pharmacy, but that's been stopped by The college of Pharmacists claiming its an unfair advantage, so now no loyalty programs are allowed.

 

[GabBeFit]

oh thats really smart!! Definitely going to cash in my points for my vacation thank you for the tip!!

 

[MouseMum]

We don't have Sobeys here on the west coast. They just bought out Extra Foods and turned it into Independent Grocer, but they don't give Airmiles. Only Safeway has them here. And Shell. I used to get lots of bonus air miles with pharmacy, but that's been stopped by The college of Pharmacists claiming its an unfair advantage, so now no loyalty programs are allowed.

Might not be able to use AM or PC points at pharmacy but I use my Scotiabank Infinity card for pharmacy items. Our 4% cash back is used toward our vacation fund. Expecting $1500 in this year mostly from gas and pharmacy purchases!

 

[Sue M]

Might not be able to use AM or PC points at pharmacy but I use my Scotiabank Infinity card for pharmacy items. Our 4% cash back is used toward our vacation fund. Expecting $1500 in this year mostly from gas and pharmacy purchases!

4% that's a good cash back! I have the Costco Capital One cash back, and I get around $90ish back for this past year. But mostly I use my Alaska airlines Master Card, it helps with flights.
Independent Grocer does give PC points, do I just signed up for their points card ( not credit card). But all pharmacys have discontinued any loyalty programs for Rx drugs :-( across Canada.