Travel hackers are a really weird bunch. After all, who in their right mind would spend their time chasing deals that earn 1000 miles here or a slim 1-2 points per dollar spent? This doesn’t even count for all the time we spend feeding various obscure routings into award flight searches in order to find that “perfect” redemption that includes the newest plane model or an amazing lounge stop (you know who you are).

As weird as we are, we get it. This is not for everyone. I’ve spent a bit of time writing about things that are more accessible to the average person, like earning cash back instead of miles or reducing hotel costs by buying loyalty points at a hotel chain. If that’s too much for you, even learning how to use Google Flights or some of the other tools we recommend can get you on the path to savings.

What if that’s still too much? Well then, this post is for you.

Travel Hacking Is a Way of Life

Travel hacking roughly boils down to strategically taking advantage of deals and loyalty programs to get as big a discount off the retail price of travel as possible. Who’s to say this can’t apply to other goods and services? As with travel hacking, it’s all about knowing your tools…

Tool #1: Signup Bonuses

Sound familiar? Obviously, sign-up bonuses for credit cards are about as lucrative as they get, but many companies will happily offer you $10 or $20 to try out their product. Since the idea of a sign-up bonus is to get you to try out the service and hopefully use it long-term, you want to find products or services that you would be paying for anyway. If you don’t watch TV, don’t sign up for a Netflix subscription, even if they give you a few months free. That’s just asking for a recurring charge that you forget about.

Tool #2: Rebates and Special Offers

Be loyal only to those who give you the best deal.

While this is terrible advice for (most) relationships, in the supplier-saturated world of the internet and mobile phones, it’s pretty easy to find product or services that are fungible with one another. Uber too expensive? Try Lyft. Amazon Prime not cutting it for you? Try Google Express. Everyone wants your business and will offer you promotions that compete with each other. Use this to your advantage.

Moreover, just as the retention call (threatening to cancel in hopes of having an annual fee waived) can is useful in mitigating the cost of credit card annual fees, so too can they be useful for utilities or other recurring services. I have countless friends who have saved hundreds of dollars a month by threatening to cancel their service and having their introductory promotions renewed. Try it some time (and be ready to actually cancel).

Tool #3: Rewards Programs Continue reading →