How do you max out rewards programs??

[ThriftoRama]

How do you max out rewards programs to save money and get the most extras for your dollars?

I am thinking about this because today I bought gas at Kroger--

I used a Kroger gift card that I have because they ran a special to encourage people to spend their stimulus checks, so I got a "free" $30 for every $300 I bought in gift cards.
Plus, I got a discount of 10 cents a gallon because I bought $200 worth of groceries there last month. I paid for those groceries using my Amazon reward credit card ( I pay that off every month and use it only to get the rewards), and saved money by using the store discount card. I seem to recall several BOGO specials on meats.

So, all in all, I'm saving money and earning discounts and rewards at almost every step in the transaction.

How do you use rewards and discounts?

[Daylily]

I did something similar last winter. One of my credit cards was offering a $20 gift/credit card if I spent $200 at the local mall. The mall includes a Target store. I used my credit card to by gift cards at Target for the winter holiday. I bought some extra Target gift cards for myself to round up to the next $200 level. I also bought gift cards at some of the other stores in the mall. I ended up spending $600 on gift cards as gifts for other people and earned $60 in 'free' gift/credit cards for myself.

Yes, I payed the $600 balance in full when the bill arrived.

[Gailete]

My 25 year old son is fabulous at this considering he doesn't have a credit card. He shops for his groceries when they are on sale at a store that gives him gas discounts. He also picks up the specials I want, giving him more credit. He then waits until his gas credits are about to expire (so he has as many as possible) and then gets his gas usually saving about $1/gallon.

A year ago he knew we were planning a special dinner out and he got me to buy the gift cards at his grocery store on his card so he got the gas credit. Yes I know that I could have gotten those credits, but it was a way I could help him out without spending any of my own money.

I try and turn all my cc points in around the early part of October so there is time to get the bonuses and use them for Christmas presents or whatever. Last year we were broke at Christmas, but were able to give nice gift cards that we had earned.