You’ve completed the Chase Trifecta and you’re starting to get a handle on all of this. However, you have to optimize your everyday spending to make sure that every dollar you spending is getting you the maximum amount of points. Travel hacking takes organization, planning and constant work. If it was easy, everyone would do it! That’s why I suggest keeping it simple and starting with the Chase Trifecta. For purposes of this article, I’ll assume that’s what you did but the basic premise here works whether you have 3 credit cards or 30. This also assumes that you’re not actively working on a sign up bonus.
The basics
You have three cards – Chase Freedom Flex, Chase Freedom Unlimited and a Chase Sapphire. Most of you will probably have the Sapphire Preferred to start. So let’s say CFF, CFU and CSP to refer to these cards. The CFF will only be used for the bonus categories and you will max out each bonus category per quarter. Since this is only $1500, it shouldn’t be that hard to do.
The CSP is going to be used for travel, dining and streaming services as you get 3x for that category. You will not use any other card for these categories.
The Chase Freedom Unlimited will be used for everything else.
Streaming Services
The 3x for streaming services covers just about everything you would probably have but you can always check the updated list at https://www.chase.com/personal/credit-cards/rewards-category-faq. Right now, this includes: Apple Music, Apple TV, Disney+, ESPN+, Fubo TV, Max, Hulu, Netflix, Pandora, Paramount+, Peacock, Showtime, SiriusXM, Sling, Spotify, YouTube Premium, YouTube TV and Vudu.
Now comes the annoying part. You need to go through and change your card for every single service you have. If it’s on this list, you need to use your CSP. If it’s not on this list, you will use your CFU. The good news is that this should be a one time thing.
Travel apps and websites
Whether it’s Priceline, Expedia, United or whatever, go through and update all of your stored credit cards to make sure that the only card on file is your CSP. This way you won’t have to remember to use the card. It’s already there.
Dining apps
Whether it’s McDonalds, Starbucks, Dunkin or whatever else, be sure to update every single dining app you have and change it to the CSP. Once again, this should be a one time thing.
Pharmacies
Most pharmacies allow you to put a card on file to make checking out easier. I suggest doing this so you don’t have to remember which cards to use. You’ll use your CFU as that gets 3x at pharmacies.
Amazon and all other apps
You’ll want to set everything else not covered here to your CFU so you can get 1.5x on all of your spending.
Using labels for your different credit cards
Some people have a hard time keeping all of this straight. Don’t feel bad if this is you. Some of the most experienced travel hackers create labels to put on their credit cards so that they know what cards to use. When the CFF changes categories, they change the label. You don’t have to do this, but if it helps you, go ahead and do it. Remember, it’s just for when you are using the physical card so I don’t think you need to label the CSP with “streaming services”. I would just put dining and travel.
CFF Bonus categories
You have to meet your CFF bonus categories no matter what. Since this is a little detailed, there is a separate article on how this works and suggestions for how to meet the your bonus.
Using gift cards
If you really want to kick your game up a notch, you will buy store gift cards at places where you can earn more miles. Using the Chase Trifecta again as an example, you’ll get 3x at pharmacies. Instead of buying something at Home Depot, Lowes, Macy’s etc and getting 1.5x with your Freedom Unlimited, you can use the same card to buy gift cards for these stores and earn double the points. Of course, you don’t want to buy gift card speculiatively so you should have a purchase in mind.
I realize making an extra stop on the way to the store can be annoying but as I’ve said before, travel hacking does not usually involve convenience. If you want these free trips, you have to work for them. For most of us, there’s a Walgreens or CVS not far from most big box stores or malls so it shouldn’t be that difficult to get a gift card.
Going beyond the Chase Trifecta
Hopefully you can eventually branch out beyond the Chase Trifecta and even beyond Chase. There’s a lot of great credit cards out there. As you get these new cards, you’ll want to repeat this process again. Perhaps you’ll get an Amex card that gets 4x at grocery stores. That will become your grocery card. Maybe one card is good just for gas. Another just for something else. I know some people that have dozens of cards and they use at least 20 routinely. You certainly don’t have to go that far if you don’t want to but you should eventually have about 10 cards with at least 5 of them being used routinely.
Conclusion
While SUBs are the absolute best way to earn the most points, not everyone can be always working on a SUB. That doesn’t mean you still can’t earn a lot of points but it will require you to optimize your spend. You’ll want to get the most out of every single dollar you spend. This will take multiple credit cards, gift cards, organization and planning but you’ll get the hang of it. Don’t be afraid to use spreadsheets, labels and anything else you need to help you keep track of all this.