Are you a single parent? Or if you’re married, does it seem that all your joint income goes towards the necessities and that there is never enough left for traveling? Do you often think, “If only I could take my family on a vacation?” We hear you. With the costs of housing, groceries, healthcare, utilities, cars, gas, etc., there is not much left over for most families. We were there. We had a desire to travel, and there was not enough left in our wallets to do what we wanted to do.

The main reason we got into points and miles was to travel more and create some family memories together. When we heard about using credit card points and miles for nearly free travel, we were a little skeptical about whether it could work, but we were all in on checking it out. Years later, we have had family trips, couples’ trips, and girls’ trips and are no longer skeptical! It is truly the answer to vacations we never dreamed could happen.

 

Credit Card Offers

Credit card companies want your business. They hope you will get a card from them and they can make money from the interest you pay them. In return for your business, they give you a welcome offer. They might say, “Sign up for XYZ card, and we will give you 100,000 miles if you spend $3,000 in three months.” You then put your normal household expenses on that card, pay the balance in full every month, and take those miles and use them to book a family vacation. Realistically, in six to nine months, you can have the points you need, depending on the size of your family.

If you want to do it again for another trip, it’s simple—you just do it again. Using these points and miles from credit card welcome offers has enabled us to go on so many family vacations!

 

 

Meeting Minimum Spend

That $3,000 you must spend is just your regular, everyday spending. You just use your credit card, like a debit card or cash, and pay all your expenses with the credit card on which you are trying to earn the bonus. Be sure to read our post on minimum spending to learn how you can do this.

Occasionally, people get confused and think we are arbitrarily spending to meet that welcome offer bonus. That is just the opposite of what we do. We don’t buy items on a whim to meet our spending requirements. Most households spend $1,000 or more on monthly expenses. You can meet that minimum spend by switching out how you pay for your normal purchases. We don’t use cash, checks, or debit cards to pay for everyday spending. Instead, we use credit cards. And we don’t ever pay interest. We pay those bills off in full and on time every single month.

 

Booking Your Trip

You’ve gotten the card, completed the minimum spend, and have been awarded those points or miles—let’s book a trip. 

 

 

Check out our post about some of the best credit cards for families. You can do this! Let us know how we can help—we can’t wait to hear about your successes!

 

Bottom Line

With credit card points and miles,  you won’t ever need to say again, “If only I could take my family on a vacation.” Instead, you can make it a reality with credit card points and miles. Read our reader success stories on our blog to learn how our readers have done just that!

 

Related Posts

How to Meet Credit Card Minimum Spend

Don’t Let Time Stand in the Way of Travel with Points/Miles