Money Tips Archives - Pennywise Traveler (2024)

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That restaurant ???? across the street might give you more value and#cashbackthan the restaurant next door because you can stack! Besides using a dining credit card for 3x-5x points, here’s⬇️how to stack and save more ???? at restaurants!

SAVE ????this post for a list of#creditcardsthat give 3x-5x for dining, and allow you to transfer to partners for airlines and hotels. Also what apps and programs to use to stack to save more at restaurants!

Feel free to DM ✍️or go my link in my bio if you want a referral link for credit cards or any apps below..

3x Dining
American Express Green
Chase Freedom Flex
Chase Freedom Unlimited
Chase Sapphire Preferred
Chase Sapphire Reserve

4x Dining
American Express Business Gold
American Express Gold

5x Dining
Citi Custom Cash

1) Book a walk in or reservation on the#SeatedApp. We booked separate walk ins as 1 person, and still got a table. Use my link below for an extra $20 reward on your first reservation.

https://seated.app.link/26q6TBNMl1

2) Sign up for an airline or hotel program on the Neighborhood Noshnetwork, such as American Airlines AAdvantage, Delta, or Hilton HHonors

3) Link you credit card to the Dosh App.

https://link.dosh.cash/ANGELT108

4) For Rakuten go to dining, and activate the restaurant you want to dine at. If you are new to Rakuten my referral link is $30 for your first purchase with the Rakuten portal. You can also convert Rakuten from cash back to Amex points

https://www.rakuten.com/r/TRINHA47

5) In the Yelp app check if there are any offers for you to check in at the restaurant

Use your credit card to pay. My favorite one to use is Amex Gold, since I get 4x at U.S. Supermarkets (up to $25,000) and 4x at Global Restaurants. Feel free to DM me or go to my link in bio if you are interested in Amex Gold. The sign up offer is 60,000-75,000 points if you spend $4,000 in 6 months. OnAmex Gold card ($250 annual fee) you also get $120 Uber/Uber Eats and $120 Seamless credits. These credits are split monthly for $10 Uber and $10 Seamless/Grubhub to use.

If you find this post helpful feel free to send to a ???? friend, so you can save on dining together. Thanks!

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Who ????‍♀️else wears a bunch of clothes to avoid a carry-on fee? Even better, is that you do not have to do that anymore, and can instead book an award flight that is cheaper! A United award flight (booked with points) also has a#carryonbagincluded. Here ⬇️are more details.

Save ???? this post as an example of how booking a flight with points can easily save you money on things, such as a carry-on fee. Not only can the plane ticket be cheaper with points, but you can only save money on the $25#carryonluggage.

On a recent trip to New York to Savannah, I booked my flight a few days before departure. The cash price for my flight was $199 + $25 ($224) if I had a carry on. The $199 was for a Basic Economy flight, which means you can only bring a personal item and that you would have to pay $25 for a carry-on bag.

Since I booked an award flight, my flight was only 7,500 points + $15.60 in taxes. I also had a free carry on because I booked an award flight, so I saved $25 for not paying the carry-on fee.

The reason why I booked an#Aviancaflight instead of booking with United direct is because I can transfer my American Express points to Avianca 1:1 and pay less for the flight!

Both Avianca and United are on Star Alliance, so I can book any airline on the same alliance. Avianca tends to be cheaper than United for most award flights (award chart vs dynamic pricing).

Avianca is a transfer partner for Citi, Amex, and Capital One, so feel free to DM me or go to this link if you are interested in any travel cards. All of these banks have had transfer bonuses in the past with Avianca, so you can also save on points.

Please note, if you use the Chase/Amex/Capital One portal to book your flight with points, you may still need to pay the carry-on fee, since it is from a 3rd party. You must book from a#StarAlliancepartner like#Unitedairlines, Avianca, and Turkish Miles & Smiles to make it an award booking. Feel free to share this post with a friend if you find it helpful!

Would you rather pay $199 for the flight and have only a personal item, $224 for a personal item and carry-on, or $15.60 for a personal item and carry-on? Let me know your thoughts in the comments. Thanks!

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If you are hoping that 2% cash back credit card will be your gateway to get free ????travel, you guessed wrong. Here’s ⬇️ why that 2% cash back credit card will not get you very far.

SAVE ????this post, as an example of why you might actually be paying more for travel with a 2% cash back credit card.

For example, if you spend $1,000 a month on groceries ????and takeout/dining at restaurants that is $12,000 a year. If you use a credit card, such as Amex Gold ($250 annual fee) that has 4x on these categories, (U.S. restaurants and restaurants) you will end up with 48,000 points in a year. You will also get credits that you can use for takeout. Thus, you will get a $120 credit for Uber/Eats, and $120 credit for Seamless, so the net cost of your credit card is $10 ($250 annual fee – $120 Uber – $120 Seamless).

Just for perspective Avianca (1:1 transfer partner on American Express) United domestic flights one way start at 7,500 points + taxes. Thus, you can essentially use your 48,000 points for 3 round trip flights, and pay for taxes. Amex is also known to have transfer bonuses on Avianca (such as, the current 15% transfer bonus), so you will actually be saving on points when you transfer them to Avianca. Taxes on Avianca usually start at $15.60 each way.

If you used a 2% credit card for your ????groceries, such as Citi Double Cash you will end up with 24,000 points in a year. If you do not have a travel credit card like Citi Premier or Citi Prestige, you cannot transfer your points to any travel transfer partners. Thus, this will be only in $240 in statement credit.

On a recent trip to New York to Savannah, I booked my flight a few days before departure. The cash price for the basic economy flight was $199 + $25 carry on fee ($224). Since I booked an award flight, my flight was only 7,500 points + $15.60 in taxes. I had a free carry on because I booked an award flight, so I saved $25.

Would you rather pay $15.60+ in taxes and have 3 round trip flights✈️ with points ? Or would you rather have only 1 free round trip flights with your credit card? Let me know your thoughts in the comments and feel free send this post to a friend if you find this helpful!

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You do not need to spend a lot of money ????or points to stay at hotels! Here ⬇️ are my 2 favorite hotel chains that I would use in regards to stacking (for cash stays) or for transferring points! I also list 1 hotel chain I usually try to avoid, since it is not the best for cash stays or points!

Save ????this post, so you have this as a friendly reminder for top value hotels for both cash and points.

Cash ????Stays: Best Western
I consistently see Offers on Best Western for both Chase and Amex. Here’s ⬇️the Best Western stack

1) Portal such as@topcashbackusafor 5%

2) Amex Offers – If you spend $100+, you get $20 back that expires 9/20/21 (this was on Amex Gold)

3) Chase Offer – If you spend $100+ you can get 10% back ($29 max) this expires on 10/25/21 and was on Chase Sapphire Reserve for 3x travel

4) Hotel Promo – If you stayed recently at a Best Western (this ended on 9/6/21) but was a $20 gift card for each night (5 max)

5) Corporate/AAA/AARP membership rates

6) If you want to make this free with points, use Chase Pay Yourself Back at 1.5x on CSR until 9/30/21 and cash out eligible purchases

Points ????Stays: Hyatt
Hyatt award stays start at 5,000 points per night! And there is currently a promo to earn 1,000 American Airlines ✈️ bonus miles per qualifying stay at over 130 hotels in 30+ countries across Europe, Middle East, Africa and India. This promo is for qualifying stays until 12/19/21. You can transfer your Chase points to Hyatt to find availability.

Avoid: ????Hilton
There is an Amex 30% transfer bonus on Hilton that ends 10/31/21, but I usually do not recommend it. Hilton tends to be more expensive than Hyatt for points and is usually not the best value when comparing hotels. Hilton does have a bigger foot print than Hyatt and Best Western though, so it is good value if you are going somewhere like ????????Asia.

Please feel free to go here to learn more about applying for credit cards.

Do you agree or disagree? Let me know ⬇️your thoughts in your comments! And feel free to send this post to a ???? friend, so you can travel together. Thanks!

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Fact you might be missing out on at least $50 ???? in statement credits for your American Express cards! Here’s more details and how to get to Paris, France ???????? with Amex points ⬇️.

SAVE ???? this post as a friendly reminder to look into the American Express Corporate Advantage program because you can potentially get a $150 statement credit for having an Amex Corporate card through your workplace. This makes your cards an easy money maker!

Here ⬇️are the potential credits you can get with the Amex Corporate Advantage Program.

Message@pennywisetravelerif you are interested ✍️in any of these cards or go to this link to learn how to to apply.

American Express Platinum = $150
American Express Gold = $100
American Express Green = $75
American Express Blue Cash = $50

I received a $100 ????statement credit on my Amex Gold card, which helped make my Amex Gold card a money maker! I also received one for $150 for my Amex Plat card.

Message ✍️@pennywisetraveler or go to this link if you are interested in the Amex Gold card. You will get 60,000- 75,000 points if you spend $4,000 in 6 months.

Amex Gold ???? Math

$120 dining (Grubhub, Seamless, Boxed, and some participating restaurants)
$120 Uber/Uber Eats
$100 Corporate Advantage Program
-$250 Annual fee
-$300 Amex Retention Offer (30,000 points)

$120 + $120 + $100 -$250 – $300= $390 money maker.

This is not including Amex Offers.

On Amex Gold you also get 4x U.S Supermarkets (up to $25,000) ???? and 4x Global Restaurants.

Fun fact for the $120 dining ????credit you will earn 4x on top of the credit. For example, if you spend $12 at Seamless you will get a $10 credit and 48 (12*4) Amex Membership Rewards points. With Amex points you can transfer your points to 17 airline and 3 hotel programs to travel for free.

For Paris ????????the cheapest redemption is to use your Amex points for 45,000 miles round-trip in economy (off-peak), 100,000 in business class with Etihad Guest to fly American Airlines. Air France KLM is also an option (but be careful of high fuel surcharges). Hotel wise Paris is a bit expensive, so I would consider Airbnb!

Feel free to SEND this post to a ???? friend because they can potentially get up to $150 for just having an American Express corporate card!

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Fun fact: Most of the items in the ????video were either free or a money maker! And I also get ✈️ travel points! And it took me less than a minute to find these deals. Here’s ⬇️how.

SAVE ????this post as an example on how to stack at Walgreens! I literally went on the Instagram hashtag#walgreensdealsand filtered the posts based on most recent. Please note, some of these deals are no longer active from the video, but you can find the latest deals by researching the hashtag.

Steps
1)#walgreensdeals(sort by Most Recent)

2) Use Rakuten portal (for Amex points or cash back)

3) Pay with Chase Freedom Unlimited or Chase Freedom Flex (3x drugstores)

4) Depending on the IG post, I may have to clip coupons on the Walgreens app, upload my receipt to Fetch, Ibotta, Swagbucks, Coupons.com app, or Checkout51

Shopping ???? at Walgreens is very efficient for me because they have free store pickup (no minimum spending required), and it is right next to my gym. So,I literally order my Walgreen stuff on the bus en route to the gym, ????️‍♀️workout, and then pickup my items from Walgreens after my workout! No time spent looking for items or waiting in line!

Since I’m getting reimbursed through a 3rd party app like Ibotta, I will still keep the Chase points and Amex points from Rakuten. Ibotta will reimburse me for my purchases, once I reach a certain ???? balance in the app through PayPal.

Amex has 17 airline ????and 3 hotel partners, and Chase has 11 airline and 3 hotel partners to transfer your points to travel for free. Points are a big part of my travel budget. Friendly reminder you have until 9/30/21 to use the Chase Pay Yourself back feature to offset your travel costs with dining purchases.

Do you like this money and productivity hack for saving ????money on things at Walgreens? If so, feel free to share this post with a friend! Also let me know if you need any referrals to any of these apps and credit cards!

And if you do not like this tip, no worries! It gives more room for people like me to buy items in stock, save ???? money, and earn more travel points. I hope you enjoy spending more money keeping your ????teeth clean!

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