Miles, Points, and Mother’s Day

Mark your calendars- Mother’s Day is coming up on May 12th. That’s less that 2 weeks away! But first, a few tips and tricks to help you get the most out of the upcoming miles-and-points earning holiday.

Shopping

Whether you’ve found the perfect gift for Mom or you just plan to do a little shopping for yourself (guilty), there are plenty of ways to save money while earning valuable miles and points. I’ve already shared some of these in How to Earn Miles and Points for Holiday Shopping and Make The Most of Your Labor Day Shopping, but I figured we could all use a refresher course and I’ve also added a couple new ideas to the list.

United’s MileagePlus Shopping Portal

• Consider Buying Online- This is the best way to take advantage of coupon codes and shopping portals. Worried about shipping costs? Many retailers offer free shipping for spending a certain amount or free in-store pickup. If you do a lot of shopping online, you may also want to consider a subscription based service like Shoprunner or Amazon prime.
• Search for Coupons- Try Google or visiting a coupon site like retailmenot.com to see if there are coupon codes available for where you will be shopping.
• Use a Shopping Portal- Many popular mileage and points programs offer bonuses for using their referral links. evreward.com is a great comparison site that allows you to search by retailer to see which program’s shopping portal is offering the best deal. Just for Mother’s Day several portals have doubled some of their regular bonuses (United MileagePlus Shopping is offering up to 8 miles/$ instead of the regular 4 at Sephora). Not all of these changes are reflected on the evreward site, so be sure to double check before proceeding.

  Evreward for Sephora

• Use Your Favorite Miles and Points Earning Credit Card- This may seem obvious, but get to know your credit cards before choosing which one to use. Several offer category bonuses (like 5x’s at office supply stores and double miles/points and the grocery store).
• Consider Paying With a Gift Card- Many grocery and office supply stores sell gift cards for other popular merchants. If you have a credit card that gives you a category bonus you can earn more miles for buying gift cards there, then using them where you actually intend to shop. I like Safeway because of their Gas Rewards Program on top of 2x category bonus I already get from one of my credit cards. Gift cards of course always make great gifts!
• NEW- Register Your Credit or Debit Cards- If you must shop in store, check with your program of choice to see if you can still get bonus miles. Cartera operated portals (United, American, Southwest, US Airways) also let you earn in-store with a lot of the same partners featured online, as long as you register your card first. Looking to double dip? Other loyalty programs like ShopKick and Plink (HT DealsWeLike) offer their own points (redeemable for gift cards) when you shop with popular merchants like Best Buy, Target, and Old Navy.
• NEW- Don’t Forget About the Cash Back Portals- Ebates, TopCashBack, Mr. Rebates…to name a few. Consider them a viable alternative to miles and points earning portals. You could always save the cash back you earn…or reinvest towards other more lucrative miles and points earning opportunities. (HINT: See How to Earn 12 Miles Per Dollar For Shopping at Sephora and Million Mile Secrets’ Gift Card PIN Number for ideas)

Dining

Take your mom out to eat, but first…

Rewards Network Dining

• Sign Up for a dining rewards program- The popular ones (Alaska, American, United, Delta, US, Southwest, Hilton, and IHG) are all run by the same Rewards Network, so choose a favorite or register different cards with different programs- sorry, no double dips here, unfortunately. A lot of these programs offer a first-time 1,000 mile/point sign up bonus so check your inbox.

or

• Buy restaurant gift cards from merchants offering category bonuses. Think about it, if you get 5x’s miles/points at the office supply store, then you also get 5x’s points any of the restaurants they sell gift cards for.

Flowers

Earn 30 Miles/$ with American Airlines and FTD

Earn up to 30 miles/$ with the following airlines:

• United Airlines- 30 miles/$ (FTD) until May 12th
• American Airlines- 30 miles/$ (FTD) until May 13th
• Delta- 30 miles/$ (FTD, 1800Flowers) until May 13th, May 31st
• US Airways- 25 miles/$ (FTD) until May 12th
• Alaska Airlines- 15 miles/$ (1800Flowers)
• Virgin America- 15 points/$ (FTD)
• Hawaiian Airlines- 10 miles/$ (1800Flowers, FTD, teleflora)

(HT: elena for some of these, see her post for even more deals including Ultimate Rewards and Priority Club)

Travel

Take Mom on vacation or get her what she really wants- miles and points! Ok, maybe that’s just me While I normally wouldn’t advocate simply going out and buying miles/points (after all there are so many fun and creative ways to earn them), here are a few promotions that just might be worth looking into (HT Frugal Travel Guy’s Deal of the Day).

• US Airways- Share miles and get a 50% bonus (ends April 30th)
• Starwood- Save up to 25% on Starpoints (ends April 30th)
• American Airlines- Buy AA miles 30% Bonus (ends May 17th)
• American Express/British Airways- 35% bonus when you transfer Membership Rewards to Avios (ends June 7th)

Any fun plans for Mother’s Day? Have any tips and tricks you’d like to share? Feel free to comment below.

Affiliate links- Here at First2Board, we like to keep our content affiliate link free, but if you would like a referral for some the programs listed above (Shoprunner, Shopkick, Ebates, TopCashBack, Mr. Rebates) or have any questions about miles and points in general, please email me at milespointsandmaitais@hotmail.com.