April 29, 2025 • 33 mins
Think you need a fancy black Amex credit card to start points hacking? Think again. Because, today, we're joined by our very own resident points queen, Jess Ricci and she spills exactly how you can stack points, cash in bonuses, and score free flights, KitchenAids, and even Dyson vacuums... without ever swiping a credit card. We’re sharing the real rules of smart points hacking, why loyalty programs actually make companies money (and how we’re flipping that to our advantage), plus the stacking tricks, bonus offers, and sneaky little hacks you need to know.
Inside This Episode:
✈️How to actually make points work for you (without spending more)
✈️The best loyalty programs to jump on right now
✈️Smart bonus stacking 101: double dip, triple dip, WIN
✈️When to use your points for flights vs upgrades vs shopping
✈️The real rules of savvy points hacking (and what to ignore)
Join our 300K+ She's on the Money community in our Facebook Group and on Instagram.
Acknowledgement of Country By Natarsha Bamblett aka Queen Acknowledgements.
The advice shared on She's On The Money is general in nature and does not consider your individual circumstances. She's On The Money exists purely for educational purposes and should not be relied upon to make an investment or financial decision. If you do choose to buy a financial product, read the PDS, TMD and obtain appropriate financial advice tailored towards your needs. Victoria Devine and She's On The Money are authorised representatives of Money Sherpa PTY LTD ABN - 321649 27708, AFSL - 451289.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hello, my name's Santasha Nabananga Bamblet. I'm a proud Yr
the Order Kerni Whaltbury and a waddery woman. And before
we get started on She's on the Money podcast, I
would like to acknowledge the traditional custodians of the land
of which this podcast is recorded on a wondery country,
acknowledging the elders, the ancestors and the next generation coming
(00:22):
through as this podcast is about connecting, empowering, knowledge sharing
and the storytelling of you to make a difference for
today and lasting impact for tomorrow.
Speaker 2 (00:33):
Let's get into it.
Speaker 3 (00:34):
She's on the Money, She's on the Money.
Speaker 4 (00:57):
Hello, and welcome to She's on the Money, the podcast
that lets you in on all the money secrets you
need to know to live your best life. Because let's
be honest, if someone told you that you could fly
business class without dropping thousands of dollars or getting a
fancy credit card, you'd want the tea, right, Yes, of course.
Speaker 2 (01:15):
Yes, exactly.
Speaker 4 (01:16):
Well today we are absolutely delivering, and we're doing things
slightly differently as no surprise to anybody, hopefully.
Speaker 2 (01:25):
My name is Victoria Divine and.
Speaker 4 (01:27):
Joining me on the podcast today is not our usual
deep dive besa ed.
Speaker 2 (01:32):
Don't worry, she's fine.
Speaker 4 (01:33):
We've kept her in a cupboard to the side, like
she's in storage for now. But she's just not the
certified point hacker like the guests we have in studio today,
which I obviously gave a really good ah what we
call that?
Speaker 2 (01:46):
Yeah, I gave it away. I gave it away.
Speaker 4 (01:48):
She's part of the she's on the money team, and honestly,
she is the most points savvy person I know.
Speaker 2 (01:54):
It's the one and only. Just grit you. Hello, welcome
back to a Wednesday episode.
Speaker 5 (01:59):
Thank you for it's been a while.
Speaker 4 (02:01):
But the second this topic came up, I was like, oh, guys,
I'm really sorry about this, Beck, but you're not allowed
to be on this episode. I love you, but it
will just be me telling you about points. But if
we get Jessica, it can be Jessica telling me about points.
Speaker 5 (02:15):
And I think that's a good deal. I'm pretty happy
with that.
Speaker 2 (02:17):
I think it's really good.
Speaker 4 (02:19):
Now, when we say points hacking, a lot of people
automatically think about flights, which, yeah, you can totally get that,
But that's just the beginning, isn't it. Jess Jess I
have personally witnessed this, Like it's not just me being like,
oh I heard just did this. I have witnessed this,
and I've seen you snag some truly iconic rewards with
your points and none of it actually involved you having
(02:40):
to have a fancy black Amex or even a credit
card at all. So before we get into the house,
let's just dive into Jess, what have you bought with
your points?
Speaker 6 (02:49):
Oh, in the last few years, I've had some goodies.
I got a Dison vacuum, I got my kitchen Aid.
I feel like the ogs know this story.
Speaker 4 (02:57):
The kitchen aid was a community effort. I feel like
you tracking the points. I was you were hustling the points,
but the community was your biggest cheerleader.
Speaker 5 (03:06):
And I love that thing. I use it all the time.
And what else? I got AirPods pros with points as well.
Speaker 6 (03:11):
It's just in the last like four years, so it's
like not taking me that long either really to do it.
Speaker 5 (03:15):
So there's been some goodies, I agree, Jess.
Speaker 4 (03:17):
And also I need to just lay this out right
because she's on the money. We aren't here for like
just spending to get a reward. Likely we are not
buying things because points are associated. We are buying things
because we are intentional with our spending. This is just
like a little sugar or cream on the top, right,
It's not about spending for the sake of getting a
(03:39):
really shiny reward. So I've got some rules before we
start talking about this, all right. So points are fabulous.
We love points in this house, extra value for stuff
you're already gonna buy, Jess Slay, We love that. But
buying random things that you didn't need because you saw
in the catalog that there were bonus points this week
(03:59):
not sligh.
Speaker 2 (04:00):
That is not the vibe.
Speaker 4 (04:02):
In fact, studies have shown and this is me like
about to promote loyalty programs, but then also I'm just
going to shoot on them a little bit to the start,
because like we need to just get on the same page, right, So,
studies have shown that loyalty programs can actually increase customer
spending by twelve to eighteen percent and can increase company
revenue by twenty five to get this just ninety five percent.
Speaker 2 (04:24):
That's corc and I need to get.
Speaker 4 (04:26):
That down because otherwise, why Jess, would companies have loyalty
programs to begin with?
Speaker 2 (04:31):
If it's not driving sales.
Speaker 4 (04:33):
Why would you take the time, the energy, spend all
of that effort on building a program if it's not
adding to the bottom line.
Speaker 5 (04:40):
It's a great point.
Speaker 4 (04:41):
They're making money from giving us points, but we're smarter
than that. We're going to take their points for spending
things we were already going to spend. Right, So now
I've laid out a few of the ground rules, Jess,
what would be your first tip for someone wanting to
maximize the points from their everyday spend.
Speaker 6 (04:58):
I think that one of the first things you want
to look at is what I call it an ecosystem.
Speaker 2 (05:02):
We've got an ecosystem, I've.
Speaker 6 (05:04):
Got an eco car because, exactly as you're saying, if
we're trying to collect points, doing the things we're already doing,
thinking about petrol, thinking about where do we buy our groceries,
thinking about.
Speaker 5 (05:14):
What stores do you shop at a lot Because there's
two major camps in Australia.
Speaker 6 (05:18):
There's Velocity, which is paired with flybys, and then there's Quantas,
which is paired with everyday rewards. Those the two major
k But if you're Jess, you have all of those,
don't you.
Speaker 5 (05:28):
You absolutely can do a little bit of everything.
Speaker 4 (05:31):
Yeah, Like it's free to sign up, Like I want
to have Flybys and I want to have everyday rewards
like pop off Queen Well, and that's it.
Speaker 6 (05:37):
I think like a lot of people will find and
I find that I am a Cole's Kmart girlies. Velocity
is perfect for me, but I do still have everyday rewards.
If I happen to find myself at a Woolies, I'm
still gonna be.
Speaker 4 (05:48):
This is where I'm a bit silly Jess, because I'm
definitely more of a like Velocity points and Flybys points
girly because like I think we all know, like I
prefer to fly Virgin, so I want my Virgin points.
But I also shop at Coals because it's my local
and like everybody knows, I love a Kmar so that
can works best for me. But it's kind of like
(06:09):
comparing Taylor.
Speaker 5 (06:10):
No, it's not.
Speaker 4 (06:11):
It's not like comparing Taylor Swift and Beyond. They're not comparable,
but I tried to make a comparison that would hopefully
tell you, like it's in a way.
Speaker 2 (06:19):
Much of a muchness.
Speaker 4 (06:20):
But for me, I probably should get everyday rewards as
well for the random times I found myself in Wallies.
Speaker 5 (06:26):
Just because you might as well.
Speaker 4 (06:28):
It's asologically exactly, So what do we need to be
thinking about when we're like signing up because I think
for most of us, just like me, I like lean
towards one kind because it just aligns more with just
the spending that I already have.
Speaker 6 (06:41):
So it's totally that's identifying where you shop the most,
like what you know you want to do to maximize.
So if you're someone who flies more with Virginal flies
more with Quantas, that might influence the choice that you
make if you're planning to use your points for flights.
It's also worth checking which airline partners are associated, because
it's not just Virgin and Quantus that fly. Both of
(07:02):
them have partner airlines that you can also. I know
that when I went to Japan, I think it was
might have been Air Japan was under the Virgin umbrella.
Speaker 4 (07:10):
Yeah, there's a lot of them, correct. I think people
think that you have to fly Virgin. You don't have
to fly Virgin. You have to fly a airline that
is going to accept Velocity points exactly. Like on their website,
they have literally so many of them that you can
look up Jess. I just want to segway into this
because I've just remembered. So we're talking about, you know,
having points, and I've said, like I want Velocity points
(07:32):
and fly bys, and last year I signed up for
one Pass and do you remember the message I was
sending you. I just like Jess, Like Jess and I
were texting back and forth because like we aren't just
like on the podcast talking about this stuff. It's in
our real life. I'm like, I feel like I have
hacked the system. Did you know if you sign up
for one Pass you get all of these points and
(07:53):
if you like link it on your phone, you can
get double points every time that you shop it CAMA
and like we were just like on their website calling
through the terms and conditions. I was like, this has
to be capped. It's not capped, so tell me a
little bit more about I guess other loyalty programs that
connect to the ones that we already have to increase
our spend. So that's like one Pass, which I think
(08:14):
not that many people have heard about.
Speaker 6 (08:16):
One Pass is a great one and we've seen one Pass.
And the other major supporting loyalty program is every Day Extra,
which is Everyday Rewards. They're both paid programs, but they
both go on sale. We've seen both of them.
Speaker 2 (08:29):
Go on sale day.
Speaker 4 (08:30):
That's when I signed up for mine. Yeah, so last
year I got it for fifty percent off. So instead
of I think it's meant to be like four dollars
a month, they get it for two dollars a month.
Speaker 6 (08:37):
And they're crazy, And we've everyday rewards have gone on
sale I think for half price as well. So keep
an eye out because you can sometimes pick up that
membership at a discounted price. They also will often have
additional perks. So for one pass, I know that you
can get free shipping on catch you get, you know
your four times points on every spend for everyday rewards
you get? Is it five percent? I think off of
a shot once a month, that might be ten percent.
Speaker 4 (08:58):
I think it's ten percent. I don't know, but like
it's pretty good. The one thing that I will say
is I hate when I get to check out and
I'm like checking out, I've scanned my Flybys thing, and
then it pops up and says, do you want to
spend Flybys points? Because I'm like, I don't want to
accidentally hit yes, because I just want to be really clear,
Love you flybys, love you one pass, but that's actually
(09:18):
a really bad exchange of points for money. So like
if you're at the checkout and you're like, oh, maybe
I should pay you with points. I mean, if you're
start for cash, great option totally, but you're not getting
good ROI like, you're not getting a good exchange rate,
and we need to consider that too, which is like
when we talk about or when I talk about the
exchange rate, right, it's like how many points per dollar
(09:41):
are we basically getting, Like that's really low? But did
you know, sorry side not if you go into your
Frequent Flyers app, you can turn that notification off when
you scan in at COLT.
Speaker 5 (09:53):
I used do that because it pops up all the time.
Speaker 2 (09:55):
Yeah, and I always have that minute of like which
one do I press? I don't want to do that.
I don't want to do that. Yeah, so I go
turn that off.
Speaker 4 (10:01):
I know that you can do it because people have
told me that you can do it, but I haven't
done it for myself yet. So that's probably like a
life admin task. We're both going to do it right
after Yeah, okay, all right, all right, So you've told
us that you actually have an ecosystem, which is absolutely
not how I thought that this was going to go.
I thought you were going to be like yep, so
points you get one, you spend one. Just got an ecosystem,
(10:22):
and it turns out I do too. I did not
realize you should know it. Well. I didn't know that
you call it an ecosystem, and now it feels more legitimate.
I've just got my Flyby as my one pass, I've
got all that set up, I've got it all attached
to my Velocity. But now we've picked an ecosystem. We've
added our like little booster let's call them booster memberships.
So you've got your like one pass, all your everyday extras.
(10:44):
But you're not done with us yet, are you? Like,
otherwise we wouldn't have a whole episode for you.
Speaker 5 (10:51):
Yep. So you're absolutely right.
Speaker 6 (10:53):
Because I want to talk about bonus offers, and these
are my favorite because they're very easy and weirdly kind
of satisfying.
Speaker 4 (10:58):
Oh my goodness, are they ever like talking about bonus?
There was a bonus ages ago when I was buying
my iPhone. This is probably not how normal people function.
Sh Yes, Love it you've got a whole heap of
points if you're buying gift cards, but the same amount
of points on my phone wouldn't be it. And I
remember there was like some weirdly specific like numeric value
(11:20):
you had to buy like one hundred dollars gift cards. Yeah,
so I bought like twenty of them. Yeah points, Queen,
it's queen, Yeah, it's queen. You should have seen the
receipt when I checked out with my iPhone because it
was like this, poor girl. Anyway, I regret nothing, sorry
about that.
Speaker 6 (11:35):
Well, both flybys and Everyday rewards run in app offers
every single weeks. If you don't have the apps, get
the apps. There's things like if you spend a said
amount of groceries, say fifty dollars in groceries, you get
a thousand bonus points. Honey, mean buy a specific product
that they want to promote, you get triple the points.
Speaker 4 (11:51):
But you're already going to be spending money on groceries.
If it means that you're like, oh, should I do
the grocery shop today.
Speaker 2 (11:57):
Or hold on?
Speaker 4 (11:58):
Bonus points are on Monday, I might just push it
out like a day or two. If you can or
like specific point. Can you build your menu around that?
Speaker 6 (12:06):
Well, that's it, because sometimes they'll even do ones where
it's like a four week challenge.
Speaker 5 (12:09):
It's like spend one hundred dollars every week for four weeks.
Speaker 6 (12:11):
So what we'll often do is push our higher ticket
items out so that insteadifying because in our household, for example,
idrin pepsimax, my boyfriend drinks coke zero, so will alternate
the week use me, I know, not even a diet coke.
Speaker 5 (12:25):
Can you believe it?
Speaker 4 (12:25):
They're only diet coke in this house. In saying that,
I don't know if everyone's seen the video. I did
a blind taste test of the two and it turns
out I can't tell the difference. But if you show
me the can I know they both days like debt
but deien. So splitting up your higher priced purchases across
those four.
Speaker 2 (12:40):
Weeks and you just so you know, if you're gonna
you're not going to be invited back on this podcast
if you smack talk coke lives.
Speaker 5 (12:46):
So I deeply apologize.
Speaker 6 (12:48):
So activating those offers, keeping track of you know what's available,
you can then you know, build it around your half
priced specials and things like that to still keep your
costs down while maximizing the points you can get.
Speaker 4 (12:58):
Yeah, I feel like people think this is really commated
and they're like, oh, I don't even know where to
start with points. Baby, just sign up for fly buys.
You sign up for fly buys, you can get the card.
It's either a card you're keeping your wallet, or I
have mine on my pay pass, Like what is it
like the Apple pay or whatever it or there, It's
just on my phone. I'm just collecting points. It's not
going to happen overnight. But then you'll check and one
(13:19):
day you'll be like new iPod MAXs, perfect iPod AirPod,
AirPod MAXs.
Speaker 5 (13:25):
And that's a good reminder for people.
Speaker 6 (13:26):
Pop your cards in your wallet, because I feel like
the barrier for a lot of people is not remembering
that they have it. Or if you have a partner
and you have one card, put them on your Apple wallets.
Speaker 4 (13:34):
Or if you're like me and you have become a
mum and you are spending a lot at camar LOLd jokes.
Speaker 2 (13:40):
Everybody spends a lot of money.
Speaker 4 (13:41):
It came up, But I feel like I'm keeping them
in business by buying their baby clothes, link your cards
through your like camart login, so it's like one and done,
so you don't have to remember when you're online checking out.
All the information is just like in there, but like
I do that through my one pass anyway. But we've
picked our program, j Yes, we've you know, doubled up
(14:02):
with boosted our points. But bearsties, we are just getting started,
So we're going to go to a really quick break,
and after the break, Jess is going to take us
even deeper into the world of points stacking and how
to make even more points go even further. Stick around, Jess,
welcome back. I'm very excited that you are still here.
(14:23):
Thanks for sticking around, even though you're like pepsi not
diet coke. But before we go any further, I was
doing a bit of research for this episode and I
actually have to talk about this now. I feel like
it is like the wildest points hack of the year,
and it involves a bath toy.
Speaker 5 (14:38):
Oh, I have seen these tell us all about it.
Speaker 4 (14:40):
So a few weeks ago, Big w had this random
three dollars fifty like bath toy. It was literally like
a duck, like a little yellow rubber ducky right, and
for some reason it was earning one thousand Quantus points
per duck. Crazy three dollars fifty for a thousand points, right,
and because every rewards links to Quantus Frequent Flyer, a
(15:03):
few very clever people they worked out that by buying
a couple of hundred ducks could actually score them business
class flights for approximately eleven hundred dollars. So they had
done all of their numbers and worked out, all, right,
I need to buy this many rubber ducks. Obviously, they
sold big w out of bloody rubber ducks, like literally,
(15:25):
it was posted like an hour before in a points
hacking group on Facebook and then it sold out completely
And I just thought that was insane. I also don't
endorse it though, so like, don't get me wrong, if
you were planning on, you know, purchasing business class flights, fantastic,
I think, But also what waste? Like, why are you
(15:45):
buying you know, three hundred and fifty bloody rubber ducks?
Speaker 2 (15:50):
Jess, Yeah, look, what are you going to do with that?
Speaker 4 (15:52):
Like it sounds good in theory, but I think it
was a bit of a mess up. I don't think
they meant to give you a thousand points on rubber ducks, Like,
I don't know the semantics of that situation, but the
idea that you're purchasing stuff you don't need for points,
I'm just like, Babe, that's naughty. That's not the point
of points hacking. Points hacking for me is about spending
money that I was going to already spend, but getting
(16:13):
a bonus or a benefit for doing so.
Speaker 6 (16:16):
Yeah, definitely, And it's really easy to have, you know,
I think going back to the bonus points thing, if
there's something that you use and you know you're always
going to use, I've done it with like toilet paper,
or again when soft drinks on sale, or something that
I know.
Speaker 5 (16:30):
You're going to use all the time, we buy it
all the time.
Speaker 6 (16:33):
And if we've got the funds in our budget to
purchase the head, maybe we'll buy a couple of extra
when they're on you know, some kind of bonus points exactly,
But buying three hundred and fifty.
Speaker 4 (16:41):
Rubber ducks, as you said, like, I think it's fun
and I loved reading the article and it's clearly very relevant,
but for me, it's actually not a benefit, Like, what
are you going to do start a rubber duck shop,
I would te hundred and fifty people who want to
buy rubber ducks. Yeah, it's absolutely besteful.
Speaker 2 (16:58):
Also, what were you going to do return them? Ill?
Speaker 5 (17:00):
No, No, when you return things, they exactly exactly.
Speaker 4 (17:04):
So I think it's just it's very important that we're
taking this into consideration. So you've told me a lot
about like the points stacking, and that makes sense, and
I feel like I'm ticking all the boxes here mainly
guided by you, if I'm being honest. But one thing
we haven't mentioned that isn't points. Just we're obviously checking
out online getting some points, but like we're using shopback right.
Speaker 6 (17:26):
Hm, shop back, cash rewards, any kind of cash back
platform is a great way to double dip.
Speaker 4 (17:31):
Yeah, like double dipping, Like I want to double dip,
so if I can, I'm ordering online because you can literally,
So if you're doing your like weekly grocery shop, not
only is it going to be more planned to do
click and collect, but you can literally check out through
one of your cash rewards programs and like get your
five percent back or get your couple of percent back,
and then your fly bys points and it becomes like
(17:53):
a game. Yeah, you are gammifying, grocery shopping, and once
you start thinking.
Speaker 6 (17:57):
About it, it becomes really like second nature to go, Okay, well,
if I'm going to get something and they sell it
at BW and they sell it, it came up, well, I'm
going to go to whichever one aligns with the points that.
Speaker 2 (18:07):
I one hundred want to collect one hundred percent.
Speaker 4 (18:09):
And I mean you mentioned before like your petrol, and
I feel like this is one that I hadn't thought
about deeply enough. Now I have, obviously, but like at
the time I thought, oh this ecosystem thing. At the time,
I didn't know it was an ecosystem. It just gets
too complex, Like I'm like, oh, is it like cowtext?
Do I go to seven eleven? Like where am I
going to do this? Talk to me about partner stores,
(18:33):
like because like you have it all mapped out, like
you know that these are the stores that I get
the best rewards at. So like, I know you hold
off getting petrol. You have literally broken down on the
freeway before because you've been waiting to get petrol at
the right petrol station. So don't be like Jessica, no,
But I mean we could learn a little bit.
Speaker 6 (18:51):
Definitely, So I always fill up at a seven eleven
or a Shell Calls Express because they're partnered with Velocity.
And again you can lack your one past example you
gave early. You can link all of these things online.
So I use the seven eleven app that's got my
Velocity card linked to it. So I scan my seven
eleven app in store, which is great because I also
will often scan it because I'm using the fuel lock
(19:13):
program saving money on fuel. There again, we're double dipping
where we can. If you are in the Everyday Rewards camp,
the Woolies fuel stations are the ones that you want
to fill out at. Both of those platforms also will
run bonuses, so at seven eleven it'll often be, you know,
buy a meat pie and something and get an extra
five hundred points.
Speaker 4 (19:30):
Or speaking of meat piles, did you see my video
on meat piles? Because I did a collab with seven
eleven because obviously I'm obsessed with them and I literally
love working with seven eleven. Like this is so lame,
but like my seven eleven partnership came from a spat
I had online with a local coffee shop. Do you
remember that condescending man who told me that if I
(19:52):
wanted to afford the good things in life, like I
probably should get a real job. Anyway, that was really fun.
If you want to look up coffee gate, you can
to google Victoria Divine coffee shop and it'll come up.
It's all over the Daily Mail. But he also told
me that if I can't afford the coffee at his
coffee shop, because I had said online, oh my god, guys,
like an oat latte for seven dollars, Like, wasn't complaining.
(20:14):
I was literally posting something that we were all thinking.
Didn't name and shame his cafe, just to be very clear,
wasn't being rude. I posted a blank coffee cup. But
he knew that I went to his cafe, so he
was not impressed, and he told me that I should
go seven eleven.
Speaker 2 (20:29):
So you know what I did. I went to seven
eleven and the coffee there was better and a lot
cheaper as well, a lot cheaper.
Speaker 4 (20:36):
But recently people were like, Victoria Devine doesn't eat meat pies,
Like this video is phony, Jess. We love a meat pie.
We love a slope. Our old office used to be.
Do you remember the one on Burk Street. AH used
to be around the corner and we would literally be like, okay, cool,
so if we get this one piece of work time,
we get a meat pie and a slope.
Speaker 5 (20:57):
It was messed.
Speaker 2 (20:57):
Literally Marney Ween.
Speaker 4 (20:59):
Anyway, I just felt like I needed to say that
because I am so proud of that partnership that like,
I talk about it because I love it, not because
they're paying me guys. And if it's in the ecosystem, oh,
I love an ecosystem. I'm going to refer to it
as an ecosystem to my husband and see how he
feels about fancy it does.
Speaker 5 (21:15):
Another good one is liquor Land.
Speaker 6 (21:17):
They're linked to Flybys, so if I'm restopping the wine rack,
buying a bottle is a gift or throwing a party, I'll.
Speaker 5 (21:23):
Always try and go there instead of going somewhere random.
Speaker 2 (21:25):
Because it gets fair.
Speaker 6 (21:26):
They'll sometimes offer points deals, and when it comes to
my car, I will get my car service more often
than not.
Speaker 5 (21:32):
At my car. I get my tires and stuff.
Speaker 6 (21:34):
There too, because it used to be the Kmart one right, yeah,
so my car's Camart tire and order I think rebranded.
They often include free roadside assistance with your services, which
I have used when I had my flat tire re.
Speaker 2 (21:46):
So that is actually so funny.
Speaker 6 (21:48):
Came my free roadside assistance came out, sorted me out,
But I got fly.
Speaker 2 (21:51):
This isn't the first time you've required roadside assistance.
Speaker 5 (21:53):
Oh no, I'm a regular.
Speaker 2 (21:55):
You're like, oh, I.
Speaker 4 (21:56):
See that the fuel gauge is flashing red. That just
mean it's having a.
Speaker 6 (22:00):
Good day, the brave day, but earning Flybys points on
my service. They sometimes will offer bonus points there as well.
I think one time I got like twenty thousand bonus points.
So if you need a log book service or something
looked at it's going to cost you a bit of
money anyway, you might as well squeeze all the value
you can out of it, is my philosophy.
Speaker 4 (22:20):
And she literally does like that's why she's on this
episode because she's so much better at it than I am.
I'm like, oh, I don't have that many points, and
then I kind of like, don't do that much about it,
just as like, excuse me, what, like you should see
her account balance is honestly shocking.
Speaker 6 (22:35):
I would always say just check the partner stores first
and remember because I know sometimes people will say, you know,
the prices might not be as good the place that's
more favorable for your point system. But a lot of stores,
like office Works for example, will price match and office
Works is.
Speaker 2 (22:50):
Not going to let you get away without getting a
good deal.
Speaker 6 (22:53):
So look at price matching as well if that's something
that you're concerned about.
Speaker 4 (22:56):
One hundred percent, And as I mentioned before, obviously if
you're shopping online, make sure you're using other platforms like
shop backs so that you're getting cash back. But they
aren't points related, but both Quantus and also Virgin they
have their own online like shops or online malls or
whatever we want to call it. So basically you can
click through their site before heading to I guess stores,
(23:17):
so you like log into your Virgin and then go, oh,
I do want to hit like the iconic. I really
want to go to Sephora or David Jones or whatever.
But when you do it that way, you can often
earn like bonus points on your shop. You're not necessarily
spending your points, but you're like getting more points because
you're logged in, which is a money win. And like
Quantus actually have just like shop Back, they have like
(23:38):
a browser extension. It's called points Prompter, and it just
pops up while you're online shopping to let you know
where like bonus points could be made. So it's like
doing it for you, which I think is really cool. Now,
I also wanted to touch on this. I know that
you buy stuff, Jess, like you're really good at like
getting like a stand mixer and stuff. I have had
this debate a few times with Brook in our team,
(24:00):
who's also a very big points hacker, Like if she
wasn't based in Perth, this would be a three way conversation,
but she would never buy things from the online shops
that like Virgin or Quantus have because she's done the
mats and.
Speaker 2 (24:13):
The conversion doesn't make sense.
Speaker 4 (24:15):
But then I also know that you're making sure you're like, well,
I'm not just going to save it all for travel,
because like I was going to buy air pods.
Speaker 2 (24:21):
My AirPods are free, I'm not going to like for me.
Speaker 6 (24:25):
It's about like if I want something, but I'm not
exactly to pay the money for me.
Speaker 5 (24:29):
It's yeah, but you're absolutely right, But.
Speaker 4 (24:30):
I wanted to talk about it, like the conversion is
not incredible, but like you're getting an item for free, Yeah,
that's a better deal than you know, saving it for
travel for you because you're like, well, I don't know
when I'm going to do x YZ, or like that's
not in my value system at the moment. So like, yes,
we want to make sure we know how to get
the best possible deal. But also like Jess, she was
(24:52):
never going to buy a stand mixer from kitchen Aid
that was like nearly one thousand dollars.
Speaker 2 (24:56):
Get it on points.
Speaker 5 (24:57):
Exactly right, But talk us through the best way to
get the flight.
Speaker 4 (25:00):
Yeah, yes, So when it comes to flights, there are
actually a few good tips that have come out of
our Facebook group. So I went through the Facebook group
and was like, let's do a little roundup rewards seats.
So they're the seats that you can buy with your points.
They are usually limited, and it usually works out to
book really early for your holiday or your flight or
books super last minute, so there are usually only four
(25:23):
or fewer, which was wild seats per flight in premium
cabins available and they go really quickly. Like remember when
we were booking to go to the Uses and were
points ACKed it. Yeah, we points hacked our way to
the US and like just so you know, guys, we
flew the whole team business class to the US and
it was lovely. It was so nice, but it was
(25:45):
because we were points hackers. But the way that we
did that meant that, you know, we weren't on the
most popular flight time, right, Like we all had to
chat and we were like, okay, cool, Like we all
want to fly business, we can be a little bit
flexible on them. And we booked so far in advance
that meant that we could. But then on our return
flights we hadn't worked it out, so we booked super
(26:08):
last minute and ended up getting business class. So I
think it's really important to understand how the booking works
because if you're like, oh, I might go in like
a month, not going to lie to you, there's probably
not going to be points flights available yep, or your
points are not going to go that far because your
points to upgrade or to go on that flight might
(26:30):
be all of your points or completely astronomical and a
really bad like exchange, if that makes sense, whereas the
exchange that we did it was incredibly reasonable. So I
would be making sure that you're either booking soon as
the flights are released or getting ready to pounce like
really last minute when the airlines actually just drop all
of their unsold seats upgrades, So you know how people are, like,
(26:53):
should I, and this is a guess, is a good question.
Should I buy a flight with one hundred percent points?
Or should I buy the flight and then upgrade with points?
Usually upgrades are going to get you better value than
full redemptions, and that's what we did. So we had
normal flights that we upgraded with points. Otherwise it would
have been astronomical. So if you already paid for like
(27:15):
an economy seat, using your points to upgrade to business
or premium economy often gives way more bang for your
buck than using points to book the flight out right.
And I have done this recently. I have a wedding
in August. It is in Bali. I have booked flights,
but the way that Steve and I did it, I
booked economy flights and then we've just upgraded using points
(27:36):
to fly business gorgeous. But I'm not going to pay
for business class flights. Like, please don't get me wrong,
I don't know at what point in my career I
will be comfortable spending money like that amount of money
on business class flights.
Speaker 2 (27:50):
Crazy, Like, at what point do you go?
Speaker 4 (27:52):
Oh, yeah, ten thousand dollars is reasonable for flights.
Speaker 6 (27:56):
Yeah, and it's something that for me, I'm like, that's
just something I could simply never afford until I started
using points and I.
Speaker 5 (28:01):
Was like, oh, this is how people do it.
Speaker 4 (28:04):
Yeah, like even like and please don't get me wrong,
I am not so silly to think that you're not
looking at me and going Victoria. You absolutely could afford
ten thousand dollars if you want to, Yes, and I
am so grateful I can. That is a dumb financial
decision on my behalf. I'm not doing it, like, I
don't care how much money I have. I'm not wasting
that much money on a flight. But you best believe
(28:26):
my points will get me there. So if I don't
want a business class flight, you best believe, girl, it's
a flex because I've.
Speaker 2 (28:32):
Points hacked my way there.
Speaker 5 (28:33):
Incredible.
Speaker 4 (28:34):
The other thing I would say is consider using your
points for accommodation instead of flights. So I was lucky
enough that we had heaps of points when Steve and
I did Europe. So we did Europe when Harvey was
four months old, and we actually booked a heap of
our accommodation subsidized with points, which ended up working so well.
But another community member I saw in our Facebook group
(28:57):
had shared that it worked out to be cheaper to
pay cash for their flights to Europe and then they
use their points to cover ten nights of accommodation in
London and Barcelona. So flights aren't necessarily always the best value,
especially when hotels in really big cities can be really
really Expensive's great, have a look at that, because like
I know that you and I are like, oh, business
(29:17):
class so nice, But it's not always about just upgrading
and having business class flights, Like sometimes I want my
economy flights to be free, you know. Yeah, Like that's
the biggest flex not spending money. And if you want
to compare points to value, because like I'm all about
a ratio here, we all know I'm an investing queen,
points value to the cash price, right, so you know
(29:40):
how I'm saying, Oh, it's not a good exchange. How
do you work out your exchange rate? I've got a
stat for you, per so before booking, I would divide
the ticket cost by the number of points required. And
if you're getting at least like one point five to
two cents per point, that's a good deal. So I
want it to be like one point five to two
(30:00):
cents a point. I feel like that's a good deal.
That's a good deal. If you want flexibility, I wouldn't
limit yourself to just one airlines points either.
Speaker 2 (30:09):
Sorry.
Speaker 4 (30:10):
One of how She's on the Money community members actually
shared that she prefers not to stick to just Quantus
or Velocity. She actually collects both, like just re read
she so that she has more options available across lots
of different airlines and partners, and that honestly gives you
a better shot at finding availability and sometimes better value
for your points. And that's something to think about if
(30:30):
that's important for you. So, if today has taught us anything, Jess,
it's that you actually just don't need a fancy credit
card to start collecting points, and you actually don't need
six hundred duck buck points, like really don't if you
want to make points work.
Speaker 6 (30:45):
For you totally, and the b reminder you are collecting
the points, the points are not collecting you.
Speaker 2 (30:51):
Okay.
Speaker 5 (30:52):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (30:52):
I feel like people get like real like caught up
in it. And it's easy too.
Speaker 5 (30:56):
It's addictive, Like.
Speaker 4 (30:57):
I remember when you were like literally so close to
having enough points for your stand mixer, which I think
was your big first points purchase. Yeah, like say, this
is genuinely something we talk about in our team all
the time. And you were like, oh my god, the
I'm like three hundred points away and you kept checking
every day to see what was coming in because you've
linked everything.
Speaker 2 (31:16):
You were like, surely, surely.
Speaker 5 (31:18):
Now, yeah, genuinely.
Speaker 6 (31:19):
Like we said earlier, the rewards can be amazing, but
they only make sense if you're spending the money you
are going to spend anyway exactly.
Speaker 4 (31:27):
All right, Well, I feel like that is a very
good place to leave it. And ah, a very big
thank you to our resident Points queen, Miss Grici, for
sharing all of her tips and her tricks and genuinely
iconic hacks, even though I don't agree with the fact
that she drinks pepsi with us today. And guys, if
you enjoyed today's chat and now you're low key planning
on how to turn your grocery shop into a holiday
(31:49):
or even a kitchen and stand mixer, make sure you
follow or subscribe so that you don't miss out on
our next episode. And hey, if you've got a wild
points win or a stacking strategy that we need to
know that we haven't covered today. Please drop it into
the She's on the Money Facebook group to benefit the
whole community because we are always here for a points
hacking suggestion.
Speaker 5 (32:09):
Absolutely, we are see.
Speaker 2 (32:11):
You next week. Guys, I.
Speaker 7 (32:18):
Did buy shared on She's on the Money is general
in nature and does.
Speaker 4 (32:22):
Not consider your individual circumstances. She's on the Money exists
purely for educational purposes and should not be relied upon
to make an investment or financial decision. If you do
choose to buy a financial product, read.
Speaker 7 (32:34):
The PDS TMD and obtain appropriate financial advice.
Speaker 2 (32:38):
Tailored towards your needs.
Speaker 7 (32:40):
Victoria Divine and She's on the Money are authorized representatives
of Money. Sheper pty Ltd ABN three two one six
four nine two seven seven zero eight AFSL four five
one two eight nine
Hello, my name's Santasha Nabananga Bamblet. I'm a proud Yr
the Order Kerni Whaltbury and a waddery woman. And before
we get started on She's on the Money podcast, I
would like to acknowledge the traditional custodians of the land
of which this podcast is recorded on a wondery country,
acknowledging the elders, the ancestors and the next generation coming
(00:22):
through as this podcast is about connecting, empowering, knowledge sharing
and the storytelling of you to make a difference for
today and lasting impact for tomorrow.
Speaker 2 (00:33):
Let's get into it.
Speaker 3 (00:34):
She's on the Money, She's on the Money.
Speaker 4 (00:57):
Hello, and welcome to She's on the Money, the podcast
that lets you in on all the money secrets you
need to know to live your best life. Because let's
be honest, if someone told you that you could fly
business class without dropping thousands of dollars or getting a
fancy credit card, you'd want the tea, right, Yes, of course.
Speaker 2 (01:15):
Yes, exactly.
Speaker 4 (01:16):
Well today we are absolutely delivering, and we're doing things
slightly differently as no surprise to anybody, hopefully.
Speaker 2 (01:25):
My name is Victoria Divine and.
Speaker 4 (01:27):
Joining me on the podcast today is not our usual
deep dive besa ed.
Speaker 2 (01:32):
Don't worry, she's fine.
Speaker 4 (01:33):
We've kept her in a cupboard to the side, like
she's in storage for now. But she's just not the
certified point hacker like the guests we have in studio today,
which I obviously gave a really good ah what we
call that?
Speaker 2 (01:46):
Yeah, I gave it away. I gave it away.
Speaker 4 (01:48):
She's part of the she's on the money team, and honestly,
she is the most points savvy person I know.
Speaker 2 (01:54):
It's the one and only. Just grit you. Hello, welcome
back to a Wednesday episode.
Speaker 5 (01:59):
Thank you for it's been a while.
Speaker 4 (02:01):
But the second this topic came up, I was like, oh, guys,
I'm really sorry about this, Beck, but you're not allowed
to be on this episode. I love you, but it
will just be me telling you about points. But if
we get Jessica, it can be Jessica telling me about points.
Speaker 5 (02:15):
And I think that's a good deal. I'm pretty happy
with that.
Speaker 2 (02:17):
I think it's really good.
Speaker 4 (02:19):
Now, when we say points hacking, a lot of people
automatically think about flights, which, yeah, you can totally get that,
But that's just the beginning, isn't it. Jess Jess I
have personally witnessed this, Like it's not just me being like,
oh I heard just did this. I have witnessed this,
and I've seen you snag some truly iconic rewards with
your points and none of it actually involved you having
(02:40):
to have a fancy black Amex or even a credit
card at all. So before we get into the house,
let's just dive into Jess, what have you bought with
your points?
Speaker 6 (02:49):
Oh, in the last few years, I've had some goodies.
I got a Dison vacuum, I got my kitchen Aid.
I feel like the ogs know this story.
Speaker 4 (02:57):
The kitchen aid was a community effort. I feel like
you tracking the points. I was you were hustling the points,
but the community was your biggest cheerleader.
Speaker 5 (03:06):
And I love that thing. I use it all the time.
And what else? I got AirPods pros with points as well.
Speaker 6 (03:11):
It's just in the last like four years, so it's
like not taking me that long either really to do it.
Speaker 5 (03:15):
So there's been some goodies, I agree, Jess.
Speaker 4 (03:17):
And also I need to just lay this out right
because she's on the money. We aren't here for like
just spending to get a reward. Likely we are not
buying things because points are associated. We are buying things
because we are intentional with our spending. This is just
like a little sugar or cream on the top, right,
It's not about spending for the sake of getting a
(03:39):
really shiny reward. So I've got some rules before we
start talking about this, all right. So points are fabulous.
We love points in this house, extra value for stuff
you're already gonna buy, Jess Slay, We love that. But
buying random things that you didn't need because you saw
in the catalog that there were bonus points this week
(03:59):
not sligh.
Speaker 2 (04:00):
That is not the vibe.
Speaker 4 (04:02):
In fact, studies have shown and this is me like
about to promote loyalty programs, but then also I'm just
going to shoot on them a little bit to the start,
because like we need to just get on the same page, right, So,
studies have shown that loyalty programs can actually increase customer
spending by twelve to eighteen percent and can increase company
revenue by twenty five to get this just ninety five percent.
Speaker 2 (04:24):
That's corc and I need to get.
Speaker 4 (04:26):
That down because otherwise, why Jess, would companies have loyalty
programs to begin with?
Speaker 2 (04:31):
If it's not driving sales.
Speaker 4 (04:33):
Why would you take the time, the energy, spend all
of that effort on building a program if it's not
adding to the bottom line.
Speaker 5 (04:40):
It's a great point.
Speaker 4 (04:41):
They're making money from giving us points, but we're smarter
than that. We're going to take their points for spending
things we were already going to spend. Right, So now
I've laid out a few of the ground rules, Jess,
what would be your first tip for someone wanting to
maximize the points from their everyday spend.
Speaker 6 (04:58):
I think that one of the first things you want
to look at is what I call it an ecosystem.
Speaker 2 (05:02):
We've got an ecosystem, I've.
Speaker 6 (05:04):
Got an eco car because, exactly as you're saying, if
we're trying to collect points, doing the things we're already doing,
thinking about petrol, thinking about where do we buy our groceries,
thinking about.
Speaker 5 (05:14):
What stores do you shop at a lot Because there's
two major camps in Australia.
Speaker 6 (05:18):
There's Velocity, which is paired with flybys, and then there's Quantas,
which is paired with everyday rewards. Those the two major
k But if you're Jess, you have all of those,
don't you.
Speaker 5 (05:28):
You absolutely can do a little bit of everything.
Speaker 4 (05:31):
Yeah, Like it's free to sign up, Like I want
to have Flybys and I want to have everyday rewards
like pop off Queen Well, and that's it.
Speaker 6 (05:37):
I think like a lot of people will find and
I find that I am a Cole's Kmart girlies. Velocity
is perfect for me, but I do still have everyday rewards.
If I happen to find myself at a Woolies, I'm
still gonna be.
Speaker 4 (05:48):
This is where I'm a bit silly Jess, because I'm
definitely more of a like Velocity points and Flybys points
girly because like I think we all know, like I
prefer to fly Virgin, so I want my Virgin points.
But I also shop at Coals because it's my local
and like everybody knows, I love a Kmar so that
can works best for me. But it's kind of like
(06:09):
comparing Taylor.
Speaker 5 (06:10):
No, it's not.
Speaker 4 (06:11):
It's not like comparing Taylor Swift and Beyond. They're not comparable,
but I tried to make a comparison that would hopefully
tell you, like it's in a way.
Speaker 2 (06:19):
Much of a muchness.
Speaker 4 (06:20):
But for me, I probably should get everyday rewards as
well for the random times I found myself in Wallies.
Speaker 5 (06:26):
Just because you might as well.
Speaker 4 (06:28):
It's asologically exactly, So what do we need to be
thinking about when we're like signing up because I think
for most of us, just like me, I like lean
towards one kind because it just aligns more with just
the spending that I already have.
Speaker 6 (06:41):
So it's totally that's identifying where you shop the most,
like what you know you want to do to maximize.
So if you're someone who flies more with Virginal flies
more with Quantas, that might influence the choice that you
make if you're planning to use your points for flights.
It's also worth checking which airline partners are associated, because
it's not just Virgin and Quantus that fly. Both of
(07:02):
them have partner airlines that you can also. I know
that when I went to Japan, I think it was
might have been Air Japan was under the Virgin umbrella.
Speaker 4 (07:10):
Yeah, there's a lot of them, correct. I think people
think that you have to fly Virgin. You don't have
to fly Virgin. You have to fly a airline that
is going to accept Velocity points exactly. Like on their website,
they have literally so many of them that you can
look up Jess. I just want to segway into this
because I've just remembered. So we're talking about, you know,
having points, and I've said, like I want Velocity points
(07:32):
and fly bys, and last year I signed up for
one Pass and do you remember the message I was
sending you. I just like Jess, Like Jess and I
were texting back and forth because like we aren't just
like on the podcast talking about this stuff. It's in
our real life. I'm like, I feel like I have
hacked the system. Did you know if you sign up
for one Pass you get all of these points and
(07:53):
if you like link it on your phone, you can
get double points every time that you shop it CAMA
and like we were just like on their website calling
through the terms and conditions. I was like, this has
to be capped. It's not capped, so tell me a
little bit more about I guess other loyalty programs that
connect to the ones that we already have to increase
our spend. So that's like one Pass, which I think
(08:14):
not that many people have heard about.
Speaker 6 (08:16):
One Pass is a great one and we've seen one Pass.
And the other major supporting loyalty program is every Day Extra,
which is Everyday Rewards. They're both paid programs, but they
both go on sale. We've seen both of them.
Speaker 2 (08:29):
Go on sale day.
Speaker 4 (08:30):
That's when I signed up for mine. Yeah, so last
year I got it for fifty percent off. So instead
of I think it's meant to be like four dollars
a month, they get it for two dollars a month.
Speaker 6 (08:37):
And they're crazy, And we've everyday rewards have gone on
sale I think for half price as well. So keep
an eye out because you can sometimes pick up that
membership at a discounted price. They also will often have
additional perks. So for one pass, I know that you
can get free shipping on catch you get, you know
your four times points on every spend for everyday rewards
you get? Is it five percent? I think off of
a shot once a month, that might be ten percent.
Speaker 4 (08:58):
I think it's ten percent. I don't know, but like
it's pretty good. The one thing that I will say
is I hate when I get to check out and
I'm like checking out, I've scanned my Flybys thing, and
then it pops up and says, do you want to
spend Flybys points? Because I'm like, I don't want to
accidentally hit yes, because I just want to be really clear,
Love you flybys, love you one pass, but that's actually
(09:18):
a really bad exchange of points for money. So like
if you're at the checkout and you're like, oh, maybe
I should pay you with points. I mean, if you're
start for cash, great option totally, but you're not getting
good ROI like, you're not getting a good exchange rate,
and we need to consider that too, which is like
when we talk about or when I talk about the
exchange rate, right, it's like how many points per dollar
(09:41):
are we basically getting, Like that's really low? But did
you know, sorry side not if you go into your
Frequent Flyers app, you can turn that notification off when
you scan in at COLT.
Speaker 5 (09:53):
I used do that because it pops up all the time.
Speaker 2 (09:55):
Yeah, and I always have that minute of like which
one do I press? I don't want to do that.
I don't want to do that. Yeah, so I go
turn that off.
Speaker 4 (10:01):
I know that you can do it because people have
told me that you can do it, but I haven't
done it for myself yet. So that's probably like a
life admin task. We're both going to do it right
after Yeah, okay, all right, all right, So you've told
us that you actually have an ecosystem, which is absolutely
not how I thought that this was going to go.
I thought you were going to be like yep, so
points you get one, you spend one. Just got an ecosystem,
(10:22):
and it turns out I do too. I did not
realize you should know it. Well. I didn't know that
you call it an ecosystem, and now it feels more legitimate.
I've just got my Flyby as my one pass, I've
got all that set up, I've got it all attached
to my Velocity. But now we've picked an ecosystem. We've
added our like little booster let's call them booster memberships.
So you've got your like one pass, all your everyday extras.
(10:44):
But you're not done with us yet, are you? Like,
otherwise we wouldn't have a whole episode for you.
Speaker 5 (10:51):
Yep. So you're absolutely right.
Speaker 6 (10:53):
Because I want to talk about bonus offers, and these
are my favorite because they're very easy and weirdly kind
of satisfying.
Speaker 4 (10:58):
Oh my goodness, are they ever like talking about bonus?
There was a bonus ages ago when I was buying
my iPhone. This is probably not how normal people function.
Sh Yes, Love it you've got a whole heap of
points if you're buying gift cards, but the same amount
of points on my phone wouldn't be it. And I
remember there was like some weirdly specific like numeric value
(11:20):
you had to buy like one hundred dollars gift cards. Yeah,
so I bought like twenty of them. Yeah points, Queen,
it's queen, Yeah, it's queen. You should have seen the
receipt when I checked out with my iPhone because it
was like this, poor girl. Anyway, I regret nothing, sorry
about that.
Speaker 6 (11:35):
Well, both flybys and Everyday rewards run in app offers
every single weeks. If you don't have the apps, get
the apps. There's things like if you spend a said
amount of groceries, say fifty dollars in groceries, you get
a thousand bonus points. Honey, mean buy a specific product
that they want to promote, you get triple the points.
Speaker 4 (11:51):
But you're already going to be spending money on groceries.
If it means that you're like, oh, should I do
the grocery shop today.
Speaker 2 (11:57):
Or hold on?
Speaker 4 (11:58):
Bonus points are on Monday, I might just push it
out like a day or two. If you can or
like specific point. Can you build your menu around that?
Speaker 6 (12:06):
Well, that's it, because sometimes they'll even do ones where
it's like a four week challenge.
Speaker 5 (12:09):
It's like spend one hundred dollars every week for four weeks.
Speaker 6 (12:11):
So what we'll often do is push our higher ticket
items out so that insteadifying because in our household, for example,
idrin pepsimax, my boyfriend drinks coke zero, so will alternate
the week use me, I know, not even a diet coke.
Speaker 5 (12:25):
Can you believe it?
Speaker 4 (12:25):
They're only diet coke in this house. In saying that,
I don't know if everyone's seen the video. I did
a blind taste test of the two and it turns
out I can't tell the difference. But if you show
me the can I know they both days like debt
but deien. So splitting up your higher priced purchases across
those four.
Speaker 2 (12:40):
Weeks and you just so you know, if you're gonna
you're not going to be invited back on this podcast
if you smack talk coke lives.
Speaker 5 (12:46):
So I deeply apologize.
Speaker 6 (12:48):
So activating those offers, keeping track of you know what's available,
you can then you know, build it around your half
priced specials and things like that to still keep your
costs down while maximizing the points you can get.
Speaker 4 (12:58):
Yeah, I feel like people think this is really commated
and they're like, oh, I don't even know where to
start with points. Baby, just sign up for fly buys.
You sign up for fly buys, you can get the card.
It's either a card you're keeping your wallet, or I
have mine on my pay pass, Like what is it
like the Apple pay or whatever it or there, It's
just on my phone. I'm just collecting points. It's not
going to happen overnight. But then you'll check and one
(13:19):
day you'll be like new iPod MAXs, perfect iPod AirPod,
AirPod MAXs.
Speaker 5 (13:25):
And that's a good reminder for people.
Speaker 6 (13:26):
Pop your cards in your wallet, because I feel like
the barrier for a lot of people is not remembering
that they have it. Or if you have a partner
and you have one card, put them on your Apple wallets.
Speaker 4 (13:34):
Or if you're like me and you have become a
mum and you are spending a lot at camar LOLd jokes.
Speaker 2 (13:40):
Everybody spends a lot of money.
Speaker 4 (13:41):
It came up, But I feel like I'm keeping them
in business by buying their baby clothes, link your cards
through your like camart login, so it's like one and done,
so you don't have to remember when you're online checking out.
All the information is just like in there, but like
I do that through my one pass anyway. But we've
picked our program, j Yes, we've you know, doubled up
(14:02):
with boosted our points. But bearsties, we are just getting started,
So we're going to go to a really quick break,
and after the break, Jess is going to take us
even deeper into the world of points stacking and how
to make even more points go even further. Stick around, Jess,
welcome back. I'm very excited that you are still here.
(14:23):
Thanks for sticking around, even though you're like pepsi not
diet coke. But before we go any further, I was
doing a bit of research for this episode and I
actually have to talk about this now. I feel like
it is like the wildest points hack of the year,
and it involves a bath toy.
Speaker 5 (14:38):
Oh, I have seen these tell us all about it.
Speaker 4 (14:40):
So a few weeks ago, Big w had this random
three dollars fifty like bath toy. It was literally like
a duck, like a little yellow rubber ducky right, and
for some reason it was earning one thousand Quantus points
per duck. Crazy three dollars fifty for a thousand points, right,
and because every rewards links to Quantus Frequent Flyer, a
(15:03):
few very clever people they worked out that by buying
a couple of hundred ducks could actually score them business
class flights for approximately eleven hundred dollars. So they had
done all of their numbers and worked out, all, right,
I need to buy this many rubber ducks. Obviously, they
sold big w out of bloody rubber ducks, like literally,
(15:25):
it was posted like an hour before in a points
hacking group on Facebook and then it sold out completely
And I just thought that was insane. I also don't
endorse it though, so like, don't get me wrong, if
you were planning on, you know, purchasing business class flights, fantastic,
I think, But also what waste? Like, why are you
(15:45):
buying you know, three hundred and fifty bloody rubber ducks?
Speaker 2 (15:50):
Jess, Yeah, look, what are you going to do with that?
Speaker 4 (15:52):
Like it sounds good in theory, but I think it
was a bit of a mess up. I don't think
they meant to give you a thousand points on rubber ducks, Like,
I don't know the semantics of that situation, but the
idea that you're purchasing stuff you don't need for points,
I'm just like, Babe, that's naughty. That's not the point
of points hacking. Points hacking for me is about spending
money that I was going to already spend, but getting
(16:13):
a bonus or a benefit for doing so.
Speaker 6 (16:16):
Yeah, definitely, And it's really easy to have, you know,
I think going back to the bonus points thing, if
there's something that you use and you know you're always
going to use, I've done it with like toilet paper,
or again when soft drinks on sale, or something that
I know.
Speaker 5 (16:30):
You're going to use all the time, we buy it
all the time.
Speaker 6 (16:33):
And if we've got the funds in our budget to
purchase the head, maybe we'll buy a couple of extra
when they're on you know, some kind of bonus points exactly,
But buying three hundred and fifty.
Speaker 4 (16:41):
Rubber ducks, as you said, like, I think it's fun
and I loved reading the article and it's clearly very relevant,
but for me, it's actually not a benefit, Like, what
are you going to do start a rubber duck shop,
I would te hundred and fifty people who want to
buy rubber ducks. Yeah, it's absolutely besteful.
Speaker 2 (16:58):
Also, what were you going to do return them? Ill?
Speaker 5 (17:00):
No, No, when you return things, they exactly exactly.
Speaker 4 (17:04):
So I think it's just it's very important that we're
taking this into consideration. So you've told me a lot
about like the points stacking, and that makes sense, and
I feel like I'm ticking all the boxes here mainly
guided by you, if I'm being honest. But one thing
we haven't mentioned that isn't points. Just we're obviously checking
out online getting some points, but like we're using shopback right.
Speaker 6 (17:26):
Hm, shop back, cash rewards, any kind of cash back
platform is a great way to double dip.
Speaker 4 (17:31):
Yeah, like double dipping, Like I want to double dip,
so if I can, I'm ordering online because you can literally,
So if you're doing your like weekly grocery shop, not
only is it going to be more planned to do
click and collect, but you can literally check out through
one of your cash rewards programs and like get your
five percent back or get your couple of percent back,
and then your fly bys points and it becomes like
(17:53):
a game. Yeah, you are gammifying, grocery shopping, and once
you start thinking.
Speaker 6 (17:57):
About it, it becomes really like second nature to go, Okay, well,
if I'm going to get something and they sell it
at BW and they sell it, it came up, well, I'm
going to go to whichever one aligns with the points that.
Speaker 2 (18:07):
I one hundred want to collect one hundred percent.
Speaker 4 (18:09):
And I mean you mentioned before like your petrol, and
I feel like this is one that I hadn't thought
about deeply enough. Now I have, obviously, but like at
the time I thought, oh this ecosystem thing. At the time,
I didn't know it was an ecosystem. It just gets
too complex, Like I'm like, oh, is it like cowtext?
Do I go to seven eleven? Like where am I
going to do this? Talk to me about partner stores,
(18:33):
like because like you have it all mapped out, like
you know that these are the stores that I get
the best rewards at. So like, I know you hold
off getting petrol. You have literally broken down on the
freeway before because you've been waiting to get petrol at
the right petrol station. So don't be like Jessica, no,
But I mean we could learn a little bit.
Speaker 6 (18:51):
Definitely, So I always fill up at a seven eleven
or a Shell Calls Express because they're partnered with Velocity.
And again you can lack your one past example you
gave early. You can link all of these things online.
So I use the seven eleven app that's got my
Velocity card linked to it. So I scan my seven
eleven app in store, which is great because I also
will often scan it because I'm using the fuel lock
(19:13):
program saving money on fuel. There again, we're double dipping
where we can. If you are in the Everyday Rewards camp,
the Woolies fuel stations are the ones that you want
to fill out at. Both of those platforms also will
run bonuses, so at seven eleven it'll often be, you know,
buy a meat pie and something and get an extra
five hundred points.
Speaker 4 (19:30):
Or speaking of meat piles, did you see my video
on meat piles? Because I did a collab with seven
eleven because obviously I'm obsessed with them and I literally
love working with seven eleven. Like this is so lame,
but like my seven eleven partnership came from a spat
I had online with a local coffee shop. Do you
remember that condescending man who told me that if I
(19:52):
wanted to afford the good things in life, like I
probably should get a real job. Anyway, that was really fun.
If you want to look up coffee gate, you can
to google Victoria Divine coffee shop and it'll come up.
It's all over the Daily Mail. But he also told
me that if I can't afford the coffee at his
coffee shop, because I had said online, oh my god, guys,
like an oat latte for seven dollars, Like, wasn't complaining.
(20:14):
I was literally posting something that we were all thinking.
Didn't name and shame his cafe, just to be very clear,
wasn't being rude. I posted a blank coffee cup. But
he knew that I went to his cafe, so he
was not impressed, and he told me that I should
go seven eleven.
Speaker 2 (20:29):
So you know what I did. I went to seven
eleven and the coffee there was better and a lot
cheaper as well, a lot cheaper.
Speaker 4 (20:36):
But recently people were like, Victoria Devine doesn't eat meat pies,
Like this video is phony, Jess. We love a meat pie.
We love a slope. Our old office used to be.
Do you remember the one on Burk Street. AH used
to be around the corner and we would literally be like, okay, cool,
so if we get this one piece of work time,
we get a meat pie and a slope.
Speaker 5 (20:57):
It was messed.
Speaker 2 (20:57):
Literally Marney Ween.
Speaker 4 (20:59):
Anyway, I just felt like I needed to say that
because I am so proud of that partnership that like,
I talk about it because I love it, not because
they're paying me guys. And if it's in the ecosystem, oh,
I love an ecosystem. I'm going to refer to it
as an ecosystem to my husband and see how he
feels about fancy it does.
Speaker 5 (21:15):
Another good one is liquor Land.
Speaker 6 (21:17):
They're linked to Flybys, so if I'm restopping the wine rack,
buying a bottle is a gift or throwing a party, I'll.
Speaker 5 (21:23):
Always try and go there instead of going somewhere random.
Speaker 2 (21:25):
Because it gets fair.
Speaker 6 (21:26):
They'll sometimes offer points deals, and when it comes to
my car, I will get my car service more often
than not.
Speaker 5 (21:32):
At my car. I get my tires and stuff.
Speaker 6 (21:34):
There too, because it used to be the Kmart one right, yeah,
so my car's Camart tire and order I think rebranded.
They often include free roadside assistance with your services, which
I have used when I had my flat tire re.
Speaker 2 (21:46):
So that is actually so funny.
Speaker 6 (21:48):
Came my free roadside assistance came out, sorted me out,
But I got fly.
Speaker 2 (21:51):
This isn't the first time you've required roadside assistance.
Speaker 5 (21:53):
Oh no, I'm a regular.
Speaker 2 (21:55):
You're like, oh, I.
Speaker 4 (21:56):
See that the fuel gauge is flashing red. That just
mean it's having a.
Speaker 6 (22:00):
Good day, the brave day, but earning Flybys points on
my service. They sometimes will offer bonus points there as well.
I think one time I got like twenty thousand bonus points.
So if you need a log book service or something
looked at it's going to cost you a bit of
money anyway, you might as well squeeze all the value
you can out of it, is my philosophy.
Speaker 4 (22:20):
And she literally does like that's why she's on this
episode because she's so much better at it than I am.
I'm like, oh, I don't have that many points, and
then I kind of like, don't do that much about it,
just as like, excuse me, what, like you should see
her account balance is honestly shocking.
Speaker 6 (22:35):
I would always say just check the partner stores first
and remember because I know sometimes people will say, you know,
the prices might not be as good the place that's
more favorable for your point system. But a lot of stores,
like office Works for example, will price match and office
Works is.
Speaker 2 (22:50):
Not going to let you get away without getting a
good deal.
Speaker 6 (22:53):
So look at price matching as well if that's something
that you're concerned about.
Speaker 4 (22:56):
One hundred percent, And as I mentioned before, obviously if
you're shopping online, make sure you're using other platforms like
shop backs so that you're getting cash back. But they
aren't points related, but both Quantus and also Virgin they
have their own online like shops or online malls or
whatever we want to call it. So basically you can
click through their site before heading to I guess stores,
(23:17):
so you like log into your Virgin and then go, oh,
I do want to hit like the iconic. I really
want to go to Sephora or David Jones or whatever.
But when you do it that way, you can often
earn like bonus points on your shop. You're not necessarily
spending your points, but you're like getting more points because
you're logged in, which is a money win. And like
Quantus actually have just like shop Back, they have like
(23:38):
a browser extension. It's called points Prompter, and it just
pops up while you're online shopping to let you know
where like bonus points could be made. So it's like
doing it for you, which I think is really cool. Now,
I also wanted to touch on this. I know that
you buy stuff, Jess, like you're really good at like
getting like a stand mixer and stuff. I have had
this debate a few times with Brook in our team,
(24:00):
who's also a very big points hacker, Like if she
wasn't based in Perth, this would be a three way conversation,
but she would never buy things from the online shops
that like Virgin or Quantus have because she's done the
mats and.
Speaker 2 (24:13):
The conversion doesn't make sense.
Speaker 4 (24:15):
But then I also know that you're making sure you're like, well,
I'm not just going to save it all for travel,
because like I was going to buy air pods.
Speaker 2 (24:21):
My AirPods are free, I'm not going to like for me.
Speaker 6 (24:25):
It's about like if I want something, but I'm not
exactly to pay the money for me.
Speaker 5 (24:29):
It's yeah, but you're absolutely right, But.
Speaker 4 (24:30):
I wanted to talk about it, like the conversion is
not incredible, but like you're getting an item for free, Yeah,
that's a better deal than you know, saving it for
travel for you because you're like, well, I don't know
when I'm going to do x YZ, or like that's
not in my value system at the moment. So like, yes,
we want to make sure we know how to get
the best possible deal. But also like Jess, she was
(24:52):
never going to buy a stand mixer from kitchen Aid
that was like nearly one thousand dollars.
Speaker 2 (24:56):
Get it on points.
Speaker 5 (24:57):
Exactly right, But talk us through the best way to
get the flight.
Speaker 4 (25:00):
Yeah, yes, So when it comes to flights, there are
actually a few good tips that have come out of
our Facebook group. So I went through the Facebook group
and was like, let's do a little roundup rewards seats.
So they're the seats that you can buy with your points.
They are usually limited, and it usually works out to
book really early for your holiday or your flight or
books super last minute, so there are usually only four
(25:23):
or fewer, which was wild seats per flight in premium
cabins available and they go really quickly. Like remember when
we were booking to go to the Uses and were
points ACKed it. Yeah, we points hacked our way to
the US and like just so you know, guys, we
flew the whole team business class to the US and
it was lovely. It was so nice, but it was
(25:45):
because we were points hackers. But the way that we
did that meant that, you know, we weren't on the
most popular flight time, right, Like we all had to
chat and we were like, okay, cool, Like we all
want to fly business, we can be a little bit
flexible on them. And we booked so far in advance
that meant that we could. But then on our return
flights we hadn't worked it out, so we booked super
(26:08):
last minute and ended up getting business class. So I
think it's really important to understand how the booking works
because if you're like, oh, I might go in like
a month, not going to lie to you, there's probably
not going to be points flights available yep, or your
points are not going to go that far because your
points to upgrade or to go on that flight might
(26:30):
be all of your points or completely astronomical and a
really bad like exchange, if that makes sense, whereas the
exchange that we did it was incredibly reasonable. So I
would be making sure that you're either booking soon as
the flights are released or getting ready to pounce like
really last minute when the airlines actually just drop all
of their unsold seats upgrades, So you know how people are, like,
(26:53):
should I, and this is a guess, is a good question.
Should I buy a flight with one hundred percent points?
Or should I buy the flight and then upgrade with points?
Usually upgrades are going to get you better value than
full redemptions, and that's what we did. So we had
normal flights that we upgraded with points. Otherwise it would
have been astronomical. So if you already paid for like
(27:15):
an economy seat, using your points to upgrade to business
or premium economy often gives way more bang for your
buck than using points to book the flight out right.
And I have done this recently. I have a wedding
in August. It is in Bali. I have booked flights,
but the way that Steve and I did it, I
booked economy flights and then we've just upgraded using points
(27:36):
to fly business gorgeous. But I'm not going to pay
for business class flights. Like, please don't get me wrong,
I don't know at what point in my career I
will be comfortable spending money like that amount of money
on business class flights.
Speaker 2 (27:50):
Crazy, Like, at what point do you go?
Speaker 4 (27:52):
Oh, yeah, ten thousand dollars is reasonable for flights.
Speaker 6 (27:56):
Yeah, and it's something that for me, I'm like, that's
just something I could simply never afford until I started
using points and I.
Speaker 5 (28:01):
Was like, oh, this is how people do it.
Speaker 4 (28:04):
Yeah, like even like and please don't get me wrong,
I am not so silly to think that you're not
looking at me and going Victoria. You absolutely could afford
ten thousand dollars if you want to, Yes, and I
am so grateful I can. That is a dumb financial
decision on my behalf. I'm not doing it, like, I
don't care how much money I have. I'm not wasting
that much money on a flight. But you best believe
(28:26):
my points will get me there. So if I don't
want a business class flight, you best believe, girl, it's
a flex because I've.
Speaker 2 (28:32):
Points hacked my way there.
Speaker 5 (28:33):
Incredible.
Speaker 4 (28:34):
The other thing I would say is consider using your
points for accommodation instead of flights. So I was lucky
enough that we had heaps of points when Steve and
I did Europe. So we did Europe when Harvey was
four months old, and we actually booked a heap of
our accommodation subsidized with points, which ended up working so well.
But another community member I saw in our Facebook group
(28:57):
had shared that it worked out to be cheaper to
pay cash for their flights to Europe and then they
use their points to cover ten nights of accommodation in
London and Barcelona. So flights aren't necessarily always the best value,
especially when hotels in really big cities can be really
really Expensive's great, have a look at that, because like
I know that you and I are like, oh, business
(29:17):
class so nice, But it's not always about just upgrading
and having business class flights, Like sometimes I want my
economy flights to be free, you know. Yeah, Like that's
the biggest flex not spending money. And if you want
to compare points to value, because like I'm all about
a ratio here, we all know I'm an investing queen,
points value to the cash price, right, so you know
(29:40):
how I'm saying, Oh, it's not a good exchange. How
do you work out your exchange rate? I've got a
stat for you, per so before booking, I would divide
the ticket cost by the number of points required. And
if you're getting at least like one point five to
two cents per point, that's a good deal. So I
want it to be like one point five to two
(30:00):
cents a point. I feel like that's a good deal.
That's a good deal. If you want flexibility, I wouldn't
limit yourself to just one airlines points either.
Speaker 2 (30:09):
Sorry.
Speaker 4 (30:10):
One of how She's on the Money community members actually
shared that she prefers not to stick to just Quantus
or Velocity. She actually collects both, like just re read
she so that she has more options available across lots
of different airlines and partners, and that honestly gives you
a better shot at finding availability and sometimes better value
for your points. And that's something to think about if
(30:30):
that's important for you. So, if today has taught us anything, Jess,
it's that you actually just don't need a fancy credit
card to start collecting points, and you actually don't need
six hundred duck buck points, like really don't if you
want to make points work.
Speaker 6 (30:45):
For you totally, and the b reminder you are collecting
the points, the points are not collecting you.
Speaker 2 (30:51):
Okay.
Speaker 5 (30:52):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (30:52):
I feel like people get like real like caught up
in it. And it's easy too.
Speaker 5 (30:56):
It's addictive, Like.
Speaker 4 (30:57):
I remember when you were like literally so close to
having enough points for your stand mixer, which I think
was your big first points purchase. Yeah, like say, this
is genuinely something we talk about in our team all
the time. And you were like, oh my god, the
I'm like three hundred points away and you kept checking
every day to see what was coming in because you've
linked everything.
Speaker 2 (31:16):
You were like, surely, surely.
Speaker 5 (31:18):
Now, yeah, genuinely.
Speaker 6 (31:19):
Like we said earlier, the rewards can be amazing, but
they only make sense if you're spending the money you
are going to spend anyway exactly.
Speaker 4 (31:27):
All right, Well, I feel like that is a very
good place to leave it. And ah, a very big
thank you to our resident Points queen, Miss Grici, for
sharing all of her tips and her tricks and genuinely
iconic hacks, even though I don't agree with the fact
that she drinks pepsi with us today. And guys, if
you enjoyed today's chat and now you're low key planning
on how to turn your grocery shop into a holiday
(31:49):
or even a kitchen and stand mixer, make sure you
follow or subscribe so that you don't miss out on
our next episode. And hey, if you've got a wild
points win or a stacking strategy that we need to
know that we haven't covered today. Please drop it into
the She's on the Money Facebook group to benefit the
whole community because we are always here for a points
hacking suggestion.
Speaker 5 (32:09):
Absolutely, we are see.
Speaker 2 (32:11):
You next week. Guys, I.
Speaker 7 (32:18):
Did buy shared on She's on the Money is general
in nature and does.
Speaker 4 (32:22):
Not consider your individual circumstances. She's on the Money exists
purely for educational purposes and should not be relied upon
to make an investment or financial decision. If you do
choose to buy a financial product, read.
Speaker 7 (32:34):
The PDS TMD and obtain appropriate financial advice.
Speaker 2 (32:38):
Tailored towards your needs.
Speaker 7 (32:40):
Victoria Divine and She's on the Money are authorized representatives
of Money. Sheper pty Ltd ABN three two one six
four nine two seven seven zero eight AFSL four five
one two eight nine
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