People who know my dad, know he’s a pretty quiet and reserved guy.  So when you see a big smile on his face like this it must be for a pretty good reason.

Since this is a post on the TK is plane crazy blog,  you might guess it because he came back from some amazing trip, maybe he just came back from a trip in international First class?

You would be wrong.

Maybe he just had a great stay in a luxurious Hotel.

Nope!.

Perhaps he had a wonderful dinner at a Five Star Restaurant

Negatory.

The reason for his Smile was something we have all gotten to appreciate lately.

CHEAP GAS !!!

 

Thats Right Just under 16 cents a gallon.

In Total we got 35 gallons of gas for under $6.

 

So how did this happen.  Well we used our fuel rewards from our local Grocery Store Giant.  Right now Giant is giving you 4X points on select gift cards until Feb 19.  I ended up buying $300 in Outback Steakhouse Gift Cards and $200 in Olive Garden Gift cards. This is a lot to spend on eating out,  but over the course of the next few months and several family dinners I think these will get used.  Spending $500 on Gift cards with 4X bonus point mean 2000 fuel point enough for $2.00 off per gallon up to 35 gallons.

To maximize this promotion,  My dad and I filled-up both of our cars and also brought an extra 5 gallon gas tank.  I also made sure to use my Chase Freedom Card at the grocery store.

This quarter every dollar you spend at grocery stores, movie theaters, and Starbucks earn 5 points.  You normally can use each point for cash back,  but since I also have a premium chase card(Chase Ink or Chase Saphire)  I redeem these points for travel for air travel (United, Singapore, Korean Air lines), Rail (Amtrak), or Hotels (Hyatt, IHG).

The final analysis is $70 of gas and 2500 Chase points (I value around $50) for essentially prepaying for dining out.  But the biggest value from this extreme deal is the priceless smile on my Dad’s face as we filled up 15 cent gas.

-TK