stack it up

LINK: stack it up

What’s your biggest hack?

Prompt created by yours truly. 
Feel free to use any prompts for August that I post and/or tag me.
I’d love to read your responses

My friends would ask me how I save money and when I told them how I did it, they kinda had this Pikachu face like WTF? I’ve actually held a couple of small groups to teach them how to save money. I will literally help them whittle down their debt by prescribing them an individualized budget plan.

Since then, I’ve just been stacking and stacking deals. I’m Asian and I love a good deal, it’s literally in my DNA. My older Chinese and Taiwanese friends are also deal hunters and will go for the cheapest items but I’m a little bit pickier than they are. While they are more inclined to purchase all the cheaper products, I will pick and choose items that I know I would want… when they are having a sale or when I can strategically stack deals.

Sorry friends, but this probably will only apply for those in the U.S.

Amex Credit Card Stack

Blue cash preferred is what I generally use when I go to the grocery store or gas station. I get 6% cash back at supermarkets (up to $6,000 a year then it drops to 1% and if I exceed the $6,000 then I use my gold card), 6% on select streaming, and 3% at gas stations and transit. Everything else is 1%.

The hack is that I buy gift cards at the grocery store, such as Vons (not Costco, Target, Sam’s or Walmart since they don’t count as “supermarkets” for the 6% category). I’ll buy movie theater, Target, Starbucks, and airline gift cards and will earn 6% back.

Speaking of Von’s, their Vons for U app stacks on top of the Amex hack. They have digital coupons that I can clip and get rewards points. It’s 1 point per dollar on groceries and 4 points per dollar on qualifying gift cards, 50 points every time I fill a prescription.

• 100 points = 10 cents off per gallon
• 200 points = 20 cents off per gallon
• 500 points = 50 cents off per gallon
• 1,000 points = 1 dollar off per gallon

So let’s say that I bought a $100 Target gift card at Von’s, that nets me $6 cash back and 400 points, which means I can get 20 cents off per gallon on two separate fills. It might not sound like a lot right now but everything adds up at the end, trust me. Might as well get some freebies since I’m going to spend the money anyway.

Amex platinum is what I use when I travel. I get 5x points on flights and prepaid hotels booked through their portal, a $300 hotel credit semi-annually on Fine Hotels + Resorts (often times they offer early check-in, $100 credit to their spa or restaurants, and free breakfast daily up to $60 per day, and a room upgrade if available) or The Hotel Collection bookings (guaranteed 4 pm checkout on those), $200 in Uber Cash, $120 toward Uber One—which I use to pay for my annual Uber membership, $200 airline credit—somehow it worked on a Southwest seat upgrade for me and checking in bags, $209 per year for CLEAR+, $400 Resy credit, $300 for Lululemon, $155 for Walmart+, $200 for Oura, and $300 for Equinox gym, and $25 a month for certain streaming platforms.

On top of the above-mentioned, the card also gives me status: Marriot Bonvoy gold, Hilton Honors gold, Leaders Club Sterling at The Leading Hotels of the World, and access to the Global Lounge Collection, Centurion lounges, and Delta Sky Club whenever I’m flying Delta for that day. When it comes to rental cards, I get status (I can only pick one so I chose National) at: Hertz Gold Plus Rewards President’s Circle (skip the counter, free upgrade, 4-hour return grace period, National Emerald Club Executive (pick anything from the executive aisle for midsize rates, which is how I ended up driving luxury cars versus a Corolla), and Avis Preferred Plus for priority service and a class upgrade.

Amex gold is what I generally use when I dine out and when I exceed the $6,000 from blue cash preferred card. I get 4x points at restaurants worldwide, 4x at U.S. supermarkets (up to $25,000 a year), and 3x on flights booked directly with an airline or through their portal. Then I get credits: $10 per month at Grubhub, The Cheesecake Factory, Buffalo Wild Wings, and Five Guys . I usually get gift cards from The Cheesecake Factory every month and then use them all at once at the end of the year to buy a nice meal for me and my friends. There’s also $10 per month on Uber Cash, $50 on Resy twice a year, and $7 per month at Dunkin’ Donuts. I love their coffee and I treat myself monthly from there, thanks to Amex. The Uber Cash comes in handy when I travel so combined with the platinum card, I get $25 per month which can pay for a ride to the hotel or airport.

All the points I accrue from the gold and platinum card are combined so when it’s time to cash out on my points, it becomes worthwhile.

Every Day Stuff

Before I buy anything online, I’ll check Rakuten first. With Rakuten, you can get cash back or set it to convert to points. I have mine converted to points so I can stack them with my Amex points for flights or hotels.

Too Good To Go is my go-to whenever I’m ambivalent about what I want to eat. Grocery stores like Whole Foods, restaurants, bakeries, coffee or tea shops use this platform to sell their unsold items at a steep discount. I’ve gotten four slices of pizza for $4.99 that would have ben $15. A box of pastries could sell for $9.99 instead of $30. My favorite is Sidecar Doughnuts where I can get a bag of goodies for $6.99 instead of $21. They have really tasty and boujie donuts there.

Aside from the Von’s/Amex combo, I have also downloaded the following as station apps: Chevron, Shell, ExtraMile, and Fuel Rewards. They often times have promos running weekly where I can save 20 cents off a gallon. All the apps usually provide a baseline of 5 cents off per gallon. Walmart+, which comes free with my platinum) also gets me 10 cents off per gallon at Exxon and Mobil.

T-Mobile Tuesdays in the T-Life app have a plethora of discounts ranging from $5 movie tickets, free prints from Walgreens, food deals from places like Little Caesars, and gas discounts where I also got complimentary gold status to Shell gas station. They also had a promo for a free year of DoorDash, which I was happy to get since my coworker gave me a DoorDash gift card for my birthday. The discounts differ every week so it’s worth checking out.

I’ve also downloaded movie apps: AMC, Fandango, and Cinemark. When my friends and I want to go see a movie, I’ll offer to buy everyone’s ticket on my credit card and let them Venmo or Zelle me back. That way I can get the points from Amex and also loyalty points from the movie apps, which later can earn me a free movie ticket or discount on foods.

Additional Deal-Hunting

I check my bank app and the Amex apps regularly for merchant-specific offers. I’ll also go on Reddit to see if there are any promo codes or ask AI before purchasing anything.

I use Nerdwallet or an AI agent to find the latest high-yield savings account. My bank’s savings account is pretty damn pathetic at 0.01% APY. Why bother putting money there when there are institutions offering 3% or more AND offer a bonus?

I’m also subscribed to Hip2Save, Slickdeals, and Money Saving Mom. They send out daily newsletter about amazing deals, promo codes, and hacks on items that are worth checking out.

Amazon has a red-headed step-sister named Amazon Haul. It’s located on the banner on the regular Amazon website or app. It’s items that are $20 or less. I bought a dog leash from there. It did take a bit longer than regular Amazon but it was a steal and worth it. If I buy anything on Amazon, I’ll check the price history to verify that this is the lowest price and the rating is 70% or better. Otherwise, I’ll leave it in the cart until they have major sales like Black Friday or Prime Day.

On Etsy, I will load up my cart with things that I like and then leave the site. More often than not, the shop will send me a discount code within a day or two to lure me back to puchase whatever is in my cart.

When shops don’t take Amex directly, I’ll use a PayPal account that’s linked to my Amex. That way I still get the points and the transaction goes through.

I’ve bought concert tickets from StubHub before for a fraction of the price it normally would have been. I make sure I hit the instant download button so that I get the ticket transferred immediately.

Rewards Network

I’ve downloaded the in-kind app, where I’ve gotten 20% back at certain restaurants and was even comped a free app when I was out with my friends.

I also follow IG accounts like nateeatss or derekeatsla, who promote chain restaurant promos on the daily.

I use Fetch and Receipt Hog to scan my reciepts and get points redeemable for gift cards or PayPal cash. I’ve never linked my e-mail to these apps because they don’t need to be in my e-mails, but I don’t mind taking pictures of my receipts to upload to their apps.

Non-apps

Boomers are downsizing, which means more estate sales and items being funneled into thrift stores. Every so often, they have really great deals that can be found.

I also enjoy going to warehouses and sample sales to get deep discounts for clothes and shoes. I got a pair of Dr. Martens earlier this year for $100 which normally would have cost $280.

I donate to charities quarterly, both monetary and gently used items to take the standard non-itemized deductions. It’s $1,000 for me cause I’m a single filer but for those who are married, it’s $2,000.

I meal prep Monday through Friday for lunch and dinners to prevent me from spending money to buy food on the weekdays. If I eat out, I generally will eat a quarter or half of my meal and box up the rest. I don’t want to get overly full and I can eat my leftovers the following day.

Los Angeles has loads of free culture/museums that I can go to like The Broad, Getty Center (I have to pay for parking), Griffith Observatory, and public libraries where I can borrow books and movies for free.

I have more hacks but this is getting pretty damn long as it is so I think I’ll stop here for now.