I have to believe that the person at Chase who thought up the Chase Freedom card with its 5% bonus categories must be a mom with kids. The amount of money I have spent over this last spring quarter at drugstores and supermarkets (the Freedom 5X bonus categories) may be more than I spend the entire rest of the year at these stores.
The past 3 months, I constantly hit CVS, Walgreens, Drugstore.com, etc for much of the stuff that my kids need for camp. I also have made frequent trips to various supermarkets shopping for, yes our food, but also for platters, snacks and drinks for end of year parties.
I hit the $1500 limit (the amount you can earn 5X points on) in mid May. I happily saw 7,500 points added to my Chase Ultimate Rewards balance and then switched my spending back to my Chase Freedom Unlimited card where I earn 1.5 Ultimate Rewards points per $1 spent.
I plan to earn another 7,500 points this summer. You see, this brilliant mom realized that after June, us parents will have more carefree lazy days, and skillfully added movie theaters and restaurants as the third quarter bonus categories. We go out to eat more in the summer than any other time of the year. Don’t you?
Don’t forget, you need another Chase Ultimate Rewards card to redeem these “Freedom points” as Chase Ultimate Rewards. (Click here for more info about that). But even if you redeem for cash-back, you can still earn a ton of cash if you spend the way I do, and many other moms, in April, May and June.
Earning all of these bonus points makes all of the spending hurt a little less (at least for me). You are going to be spending anyway. Get a card that yields rewards. You will be grateful in the end.
