Meeting a Minimum Spend When you Have a Tight Budget

Not everyone has $3,000-$4000 to spend in 3 months. This is a typical minimum spend required for many credit card signups, so we are going to look at your options for getting creative to meet a minimum spend.

First of all, once you get a new card, all your available spending should go on this card. 

Groceries……………..New Card

Gas……………………New Card

Car Payment…………New Card

Insurance Payment…New Card

But sometimes, you live on a budget, and you are being really smart with your monthly commitments and your spending, and you are not spending this much per month. I am so proud of you! So many people don’t have this amount of control and this is huge that you have mastered your spending! However, if you want to travel hack, here are the options I see for you. 

**Sidenote, please only pursue these options if you will pay your card in full every month.

Option #1 

Go for lower spend limits on cards. This may not get you the biggest amount of points as quickly as others, but it is a way to slowly, consistently build. 

The current offers (as of the writing of this post) that might meet your needs: 

• Chase Southwest Airlines Rapid Rewards Plus – 50,000points after spending $1,000 in 3 months (These points can potentially go a long way on southwest. We often see flights for 9-11,000points each way. Although Costa Rica was about 50,000 each way so it depends on the destination.)
• Hawaiian Airlines Business Mastercard – 60,000 Hawaiian miles after spending $1000 in 90 days.
• US Bank Altitude Connect – 50,000points after spending $2,000 in 120 days
• Chase Freedom Flex – 20,000points after spending $500 in 3 months (This card has rotating spend categories that get 5x points each quarter – a great one to build points with–previous categories have been amazon, home improvement, gas, etc.)
• Amex Green Card – 40,000points after spending $2,000 in 6 months (This card has a $150 annual fee that is not waived but they also cover your $189 CLEAR signup and gives you a $100 loungebuddy credit each year)
• Chase IHG Rewards Traveler – 80,000points after spending $2000 in 3 months 
• Amex Hilton Honors – 70,000 points after spending $1,000 in 3 months PLUS free night certificate (The free night certificate will expire in 12 months so make sure you have a plan for this one. Also, Hilton does charge higher rates for their rooms. I would assume this 70,000 would get you one night, and a fraction of another. BUT that’s two free nights for a staycation with this one card!)

This is why I highly recommend Travel Freely. They make it so easy to look at all of these and see what might work for you. If you just start somewhere, you can slowly build. 

Option #2 

Find some creative solutions to meeting minimum spends. We have listed a few ideas here. Some we have used, some we have gleaned from the wisdom of others. Please let us know if you find more that work for you! 

Strategies We Have Used

• Paying for work travel with your credit card, and getting reimbursed – My husband’s jobs have consistently had this policy, and as long as we get the reimbursement in a timely manner this helps a lot. 
• Foot the Bill – Going out to eat with friends or family? Offer to pay and have everyone pay you back. You get the credit towards your points for no greater cost. 
• Need new tires? Time for a new mattress? Home repair coming up? – Get your new card prior to these bigger expenditures so that they can work towards your minimum spend.
• Charitable Contributions – these not only give you a tax deduction but they can also earn you points and miles. If using a credit card here, consider adding a few bucks to the total to help these 501c3 organizations cover card costs.
• Use that credit card to pay for a trip – whether it’s gas or a plane ticket, this can get you a lot of extra points on some cards, along with helping you hit your minimum spend. (Be on the lookout for cards that credit 3x to 5x for travel purchases)
• Cell Phone, Streaming, Internet Bills – Most companies will let you put these on your credit card which can really add up depending on how many of these you have. 
• Putting a Down payment on a car – Again, make sure you can immediately pay this back. But you may be able to pay as much as $5,000 for the car on a credit card. 
• Buying Groups – This is a more advanced strategy for people going for higher minimum spends. A Buying Group essentially has a group of people each purchase limited quantity items and send it to their location. They then reimburse you for the cost. There’s a lot more risk involved here, and a lot of research if you plan to pursue this. If you do pursue it, make sure you can cover the cost if something goes wrong, and plan to start with just using amazon, as other retailers have been known to cancel accounts for buying groups spending. And NO ONE wants to lose their target account! The only buying group we have tried is BuyForMeRetail and it worked well for us. Proceed at your own risk. 

Strategies We Have Heard Recommended but have yet to Try

• Pay your taxes with the credit card
• Pay your insurance payment in bulk (6 months)
• Pay your Rent or Mortgage with a service like Bilt (Rent) or Plastiq(Mortgage) – we haven’t researched these extensively yet, but many people like them a lot. Plastiq does charge a 2.9% fee so make sure it’s worth the points you are receiving (They also no longer accept AMEX). More on Bilt HERE.
• Medical Costs – I know people have paid up front for their medical payments with their credit card and have insurance reimburse them. Check with your insurance to make sure it’s a possibility – it’s a great solution, and with kids, this could add up quick! 
• Car Registration – When this is coming up, utilize that for a minimum spend. 
• Friend, Parent or Sibling have a big expense? Ask if you can pay for it and have them reimburse you. 

Side Notes

• Your annual Fee does not count towards minimum spend. 
• There are some cards that will not count gift card purchases towards a minimum spend.
• We don’t recommend participating in the manufactured spend trend – there’s some TikTok’s out there that tell you to buy no-fee gift cards and use them to pay for a money order, and then use that to pay your card. If you get caught doing this, you could your cards/bank accounts shut down. It’s not worth it.