Prime Day 2024

It’s coming. Amazon’s biggest day(s) of the year – Prime Day. Starting on July 16th and running through the 17th, Amazon Prime Subscribers will have access to discounts and deals on thousands of products. If you’ve been waiting to purchase something, start preparing now.

Maximize points and miles

Amazon is not an elevated earning category on many credit cards. At a minimum, I’d recommend using a card like the Chase Freedom Unlimited, which earns 1.5 Ultimate Rewards points per dollar. Anything’s better than 1x, right? There are a few strategies that we’d recommend to get a higher return on your purchases.

American Express Gold Card – the AmEx Gold card earns 1x at Amazon, so we wouldn’t suggest using it to purchase something directly from Amazon. This card does, however, earn 4x at grocery stores. I’ve always seen plenty of Amazon gift cards at our local grocery stores, so if you’re planning to participate in Prime Day 2024, purchase a gift card at your favorite grocery retailer and load it onto your Amazon account. Using this strategy means a $100 gift card earns you 400 American Express Membership Rewards points.

Ink Business Cash – Similar to the strategy above, purchase an Amazon gift card at an office supply store like Office Depot or Staples for 5x Chase Ultimate Rewards points. Wondering if you’re eligible for a business card? There’s a good chance you are! Send us an email and I’m happy to answer any questions!

Chase Freedom or Chase Freedom Flex – Amazon was a 5x quarterly category in Q2 for these cards. Since gas stations are a Q3 5x category, consider purchasing an Amazon gift card when you fill up your car to maximize your earnings.

Chase Freedom Unlimited – As mentioned above, this card earns 1.5x on all purchases. So if you purchase from Amazon directly, that’s all you’ll earn. This card does earn 3x at drug stores, so purchase an Amazon gift card at CVS or Walgreen’s for elevated points.

Stacking

Receipt Apps – While not technically a way to earn points and miles for travel, I have connected our Amazon account to two receipt apps. I submit receipts to both Fetch and ReceiptPal. These apps can scan your Amazon account for purchases, and you receive points for receipts. Accumulate points and redeem for gift cards. You can even redeem for Amazon gift cards if you’d like.

Drop – Drop is an app that allows you to earn points for shopping at select retailers and redeem for gift cards. It’s gotten very challenging to redeem for gift cards with Drop’s recent changes, but once you link the programs, you don’t have to do anything to earn points.

Prime Day Items for Travel

Since Amazon offers a ton of deals, we wanted to highlight some of our favorite travel items.

Trtl Travel Pillow – the only travel pillow that’s helped me sleep through the night on an overnight flight. It’s not a pillow in the traditional sense, more like a neck brace, but it’s worked wonders on my flights abroad.

Kindle – I’m all about saving space when I travel, and this Kindle lets me bring countless books. I first bought my Kindle during Prime Day a few years ago, and it’s been well worth the money. I use this case to protect my Kindle, and it’s also currently on sale pre-Prime Day.

North Face Backpack – I’ve been using this backpack for the last few years. It fits a lot of items but is still compact enough to fit under the seat.

Columbia Hiking Boots – another solid investment. We love to frequent national parks, and these are solid, waterproof, and haven’t shown any signs of wear even after visiting more than a dozen national parks.

Sorel Winter Boots – I originally bought these for the Quebec City Christmas Markets as I didn’t want to wear clunky boots. These are lightweight but kept my feet warm and dry even as we trudged through sludge and rain.

Apple AirTags – keep track of your luggage. Well worth it for the peace of mind.

Power Adapter – last year we visited six new countries and plan to continue to travel internationally. This travel adapter is a necessity if you travel abroad. As a bonus, it has multiple USB ports so you can charge several devices at once.

Summary

As always, don’t purchase anything you don’t need. But if you are already planning to shop Prime Day 2024, it’s a good idea to maximize your points and miles for future travel.

Tell us what you’re shopping for in the comments!