~ HOW ABOUT CUTTING 25 TO 50% ON YOUR VACATION SPENDING? ARE YOU ON FOR THAT? ~

A. Air travel tickets can be purchased using miles (points) you accumulate with airlines loyalty programs and the right rewards credit cards. Use your cards to pay for your everyday expenses. Sign up for one or more loyalty programs, like United Airlines' MileagePlus, or Hawaiian Airlines' HawaiianMiles, it's free. In our opinion, United and Hawaiian are 2 of the most efficient airlines on traveling with award miles.                           

B. Choose the best rewards credit cards that can help you earn great points that you can use for travel. We consider these featured rewards Credit Cards as some of the best options available for earning and redeeming points to make your travel more affordable. Our experience showed us that combining Chase Freedom with Chase Sapphire (Reserve or Preferred) can lead to the best results for the regular traveler, and combining Chase Ink Preferred with Chase Sapphire Reserve is the best option for business users.

If you have flexible rewards credit card points with Chase (Reserve, Preferred or Ink) you can get 25% to 50% more value for your points by booking airfare or hotel directly at Chase, or you can transfer the points to airlines or hotels in exchange for miles or hotel points.

You can apply for a Chase Sapphire card every 2 years to receive the sign up bonus.

Also, different people in your household (like husband and wife) can apply to different Chase cards (like Freedom, Reserve or Preferred) 3-4 months apart, after the first applicant has met the spending threshold for receiving the bonus points. The points accumulated on each card can be combined into one account within the same household for fast accumulation.

C. Maximize your benefits by: using your card to pay your expenses, including: utilities, phone, gym membership, insurance and so on. Anything that can be paid by card without added fees (like mortgage or student loans which have expensive fees when credit card payment is allowed). Don't use cash, it doesn't earn you anything, use your cards instead to earn miles. Be disciplined, and don't overspend! And pay your credit cards in full and on time to avoid interest charges. Points (miles) can add up pretty fast. We all have expenses, the key is to take advantage of these tools. Be smart, get educated, read the fine print of every offer and know when and how to use them.

If it is hard to meet the credit card spending threshold to receive the initial bonus points, you can use that credit card to buy store cards at stores that you usually shop, (for example you can purchase Costco cash cards, etc.). The store cards have no fees and can be used to purchase goods even after the bonus period expires. That way, you won't be tempted on spending more money than your regular day to day expenses.

D. Maximize your benefits by: using Shopping Portals, where you can earn extra points (miles) on your shopping. Some of the same stores you already shop at, might offer bonus opportunities when using these Shopping Portals. You can earn from 2 up to 20 points (miles) per $1 spent while doing your regular shopping online. (For example, at Chase Ultimate Rewards you earn 10 points (miles) per $1 at Macy's / Oct. 2017 and also at MileagePlus Shopping - same offer). Note that retailers update/change their online points offers all the time.

E. Maximize your benefits by: using your card to pay for goods and services in the Bonus Categories where you can earn multiplied bonus miles.

For example, with Chase Freedom you can earn 5 miles/$1 spent in the bonus categories. Every quarter, Freedom has different bonus categories like: groceries, gas stations, restaurants, department stores, etc. Don't forget to sign up before each quarter and to use your card at merchants participating in this great offer. (Chase makes it very simple by sending you a one-click reminder email).

Bellow is Chase Freedom's bonus categories 2017 calendar (which changes every year).

F. Maximize your miles redemption: learn the most efficient ways to use the points/miles to purchase your airfare, hotels and rental cars. 

When your schedule is flexible, look for cheaper days. Most airlines have days in a week/month that are cheaper than others. This applies to paid tickets and also to miles award tickets. See example below, from United, where Monday, Dec 18, 2017 has a one-way flight from Chicago to Munich for 30,000 miles, while the rest of the week requires 70,000 miles.

Compare the option of redeeming your award miles for a flight with the option of purchasing the ticket using money. If the cost in $ is lower (or close) to the amount of miles needed to book divided by 100 (for the same flight), it might not be worth to use the miles at that time.

No matter the destination or time of travel, always check both options: one-way and round-trip prices for award travel or paid fares.

G. Before booking a flight, it's a good idea to learn about flights changes/cancellation fees in case you need to make changes.  Each U.S. and foreign air carrier (that has a website marketed to U.S. consumers) has to allow you to cancel any flight within 24 hrs of purchase without paying a fee, if booking at least 7 days in advance. This Department of Transportation rule applies to carriers only. If booking with a travel agency, check their cancellation policy before booking.