Why Budget Tactics For Travel Can Have A Place In Your Points & Miles Strategy

A lot of times when I talk about budget tactics, sometimes people can confuse cheap with getting the most for your money.

I am not cheap.

My preferred hotel chains are Hilton and Marriott.

I don’t choose budget Hiltons and Marriotts either.

Most of my stays are at their upper upscale flagship brands instead of Courtyard, Hampton Inn, Hilton Garden Inn, etc.

Who would not take a free Waldorf-Astoria if possible?

If you are not spending money on travel, you could put your money to other bigger goals.

With points and miles, budget techniques, etc., you don’t have to spend a lot of money on travel.

You can also upgrade you experience while doing this (i.e. stay at upscale or luxury hotels).

People into points and miles don’t always use budget tactics.

Most people are either points and miles people or budget travelers

If you use both methods, you can travel more using little money and upgrade your experience at the same time.

There is a place for budget tactics as a points and miles enthusiaist.

I know things like the humble road trip or staying in the suburbs to save money on hotels can be either looked down upon in some circles or ignored.

The thing is while using tactics like that, you can increase your quantity of travel without adding costs.

Why would you spend money on travel if you don’t have to?

Things You Can Do If You Are Not Spending Money On Travel

If you did not have to spend any money on travel, what would you do?

What would happen with this extra money?

Here is a list of things that the average person could do.

1. Put more money toward your retirement
2. Put money toward kid’s college
3. Pay off debt
4. Build your savings
5. Invest
6. Other personal goals

Using Points & Miles As Well AS Budget Techniques

1. Points & Miles

Of course, this is Travel Points 101, so you can use points and miles for your trips.

This involves accruing the highest number of points and knowing how to redeem them for the highest value.

To do this, I suggest you build up a large point balance each year.

I think between 500,000 to 1 million points a year is not unrealistic as a goal .

Maybe that sounds strange if you are starting out in points and miles.

Here is an example of where your points would come from:

1. New credit card sign up bonuses: 250,000-500,000 points

If you got just four new credit cards a year with the average at 60,000 points, that is 240,000 points.

That is a new credit card every 3 months.

People who are aggressive in points and miles like to get more than that though.

They like a couple cards every 3-4 months.

Even if you did half that (2 cards a year), you would accrue 120,000 points.

2. Putting your normal spend on a credit card

I think the average person could obtain at least 5000 points a month using their everyday spend.

That would be 60,000 points a year.

That is conservative too.

Many people could earn closer to 10,000 points a month.

How would you earn 5000 points per month?

• Groceries, 2000 points: Average spend per family, $500/month. Using a card like the Amex Gold at 4 points per dollar
• Dining out, 1200 points: Average spend, $300 month, using Amex Gold
• Gas, 400 points: Average spend, $200 per month using 2 points, 600 points
• Cable/internet, 300 points: Average spend, $200 month,
• Mis., 750 points: $500 month, Chase Freedom Unlimited
• Total: 4850

I did not include every area of the average person’s budget like travel, insurance, etc.

Note, most of the credit cards I used earned around 2-5 points per dollar.

You must have a credit card that maximizes your spending, so a card that just earns one point per dollar is not ideal.

Next, know how to redeem your miles to get the highest value.

Points and miles are like money, you never want to spend more than you need.

Who wouldn’t travel more if money were no object though?

Though points and miles will be the bulk of your trips, the following budget techniques will increase your quantity of travel without costing you much.

2. Budget tactics

Budget techniques can have a place in your arsenal too.

Again, not everyone who uses points and miles is taking advantage of these tactics.

This will increase your quantity of travel again.

When I started out in miles, this is where something might cost me a lot out of pocket.

The best budget tactics work best with domestic travel.

That is for two reasons.

First, domestic travel is closer to home which of course is cheaper.

Second, international travel, a lot of times, is really a much better use of your points.

You usually get more for your points.

Some budget tricks include:

• Picking hotels further out from the city center (yes, sometimes the suburbs)
• Taking day trips
• Road trips in general
• Getting $15 flights
• Using budget airlines
• Staying with friends
• Avoiding additional fees like parking
• Exploring your own state

Though people should prioritize international travel (whenever travel resumes), you probably want to see parts of the United States too.

I think people should always prioritize international travel first though.

People in the points and miles community probably already do this, but just in case you don’t I mention it.

You want to learn as much about the world as possible.

Most Other Blogs Don’t Always Mean Free Travel

I will admit that everything is not always free.

I can see why it may be controversial to say “free travel.”

I don’t like spending money out of pocket and think you might not either though.

I like to spend as little as possible on travel again.

When I read other blogs, people are still putting cash toward trips that are not high value with points.

That makes sense with points, but what if you are like me and don’t want to spend any money on travel?

Again, depending on your frequency of travel, you will need to use more tactics than the normal person.

The truth is you can actually spend little money on travel, stay at upscale and luxury properties, and travel more frequently.

It may take more effort and time though.

I encourage you to build up your points balance .

At other times, especially for domestic travel, I think budget techniques come in handy.

So, for example, I generally prefer the center of most major cities for hotel stays.

If there is a chance to save money when location does not matter, I will stay in the suburbs or farther out to save money.

I might not do this all the time, but it comes in handy as a tactic.

Someone who did not care about location, might use this tactic all the time.

Why would spend more on travel if you don’t have to again?

Know that I plan to resell in the future

Again, I like to travel frequently.

Most people would travel frequently if money were not an object.

The average person takes one to two vacations a year.

One to two trips a year can easily be done on points and miles.

That is what the average person does in terms of vacations per year.

Why be average when you can be jet setting off to your next trip and travel more frequently.

For me, this will include reselling.

In the past, I liked staying at 50 hotels a year.

That was the past.

In the future I would like to stay at a hundreds hotels a year and when travel resumes, to fly every week or other week.

This is where more advanced techniques like reselling come in handy.

Most people would not need this though.

I just mention it because some people may be interested.

Reselling is a trade off of time for money.

It gives you a small profit as well as a large stash of points.

To me, this means spending nothing on travel.

You don’t have to resell to get a nice stash of cash for travel.

You can try cutting some things from your budget here.

Again, I just mention it in case you want more travel for less.

I like for my readers to know all the things they can be done.

Summary

I like spending little money on travel, basically nothing when possible.

To do this and travel as frequently as possible entails a lot of budget tricks that don’t look as cool as other things, like road trips.

This blog is not only about spending as little as possible on travel but also upgrading your experience too.

Since I like spending little on travel, I just wanted to point out budget tactics that might be ignored that may be effective for you.

This is to make sure that you are getting the greatest quantity of travel for the least amount of money.

So, while I am sure something like a day trip might not have appealed to everyone, it may be a tactic that works for you.

These are not tactics to be used all the time, but when thrown in with your overall travel strategy, they allow you to travel more without spending a lot of money again.

Again, if you are not spending money on travel, you can be putting it toward bigger financial goals like retirement, kid’s college, paying off debt, etc.

So don’t ignore a tactic.

It may seem like something “cheap”, but actually work in a bigger strategy to travel more for less.

Do you use any budget tactics?