November 24, 2025
Holiday Points Prep: The 5-Step Checklist to Maximize Your End-of-Year Spending
Episode Description
This week marks the biggest points-earning opportunity of the entire year—especially if you’re planning to shop online. While everyone else is focused on Thanksgiving prep, points and miles travelers know this is the week to turn everyday purchases into tens of thousands (or more) of bonus points.
In this short and focused episode, I’m sharing my 5-step points-earning prep checklist for holiday spend—the exact steps I complete before, during, and after the holiday shopping surge to stay organized, stay strategic, and maximize every earning opportunity.
We’ll cover how to identify what to purchase ahead of time, how to choose which rewards cards to use based on your earning goals or spend-related bonuses, how to set up the shopping portals and tools that streamline your holiday purchases, and the simple steps that help ensure your bonus points track correctly.
This checklist walks you through what to do before, during, and after your holiday shopping so you can maximize the points you earn while keeping the process as stress-free as possible. Turn your expenses into points and save tens of thousands of dollars a year on your wishlist travel. Don’t miss out! Click here to know more about my comprehensive online program, Points Made Easy.
What You’ll Learn from this Episode
- The most important items to buy now—beyond holiday gifts
- How to map out which rewards cards to use to meet goals or bonus thresholds
- Why setting up shopping portal accounts before sales begin is essential
- Three steps to take every time you shop through a portal
- The one mistake that can cost you a welcome bonus
- How and when to verify your points posted correctly
Featured On the Show
- Follow me on Instagram
- Learn how to avoid sign-up bonus snafus on episode 10 here
- To learn more about the Cardpointers app, check out episode 137 here
- To learn more about Savewise, check out episode 139 here
- Get on the waitlist for the Points Made Easy Course here!
- Get My Cash-Back Credit Card Cheat Sheet!
- If you have any questions or you want me to dive deeper into a specific topic, email me here: podcast@pointmetofirstclass.com
Click here to download full episode transcript
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Point Me to First Class is the show for professionals and business owners with higher-than-average personal or business expenses, who want to learn to leverage these expenses into credit card points they can spend on travel.
Each week, I share valuable tips, tools, and strategies to help you uplevel your skills earning and redeeming credit card points, so you can expand your travel and expand your experiences.
