How I earned the Chase Sapphire Preferred welcome bonus on a budget

Covering full tabs on my Chase Sapphire Preferred

Whether it was for date night, midday lunch or dinner with the girls, I started picking up everyone’s tab on one check at restaurants.

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Aside from helping me meet my spending goal, this was especially advantageous on the Sapphire Preferred card since it earns 3 points per dollar on dining, including:

• Delivery services
• Takeout
• Eating at restaurants

I’d pay the bill in full, and my friends would pay me back for their portion of the check.

This way, each purchase helped me get closer to the minimum spending needed to collect the points, and my credit card bill would be paid off in full without incurring a ton of additional expenses.

Paying to attend an event with the Chase Sapphire Preferred

This is where the points game started to get fun.

More than half of my close friends here in Charlotte, North Carolina, attended the University of North Carolina, and I’d been hearing about how exciting the men’s basketball games were in Chapel Hill for months.

We had discussed buying tickets for a less expensive home game for a while, and since I was making a push to spend more on my new Sapphire Preferred Card, I offered to buy seven tickets for a Monday night game between the Tar Heels and Wake Forest.

Once I purchased the tickets, I was $327 closer to that $4,000 spending minimum. After my friends paid me back and I paid my balance down, I received every dollar back on this purchase as Ultimate Rewards points.

Even though the tickets didn’t automatically trigger a bonus category on my Sapphire Preferred, I activated a limited-time 5% cash-back offer from SeatGeek through an in-app offer before making the purchases.

Thanks to this cash-back promo, my account was also credited some money from the ticket purchase.

Plus, the Tar Heels won!

Planning a trip on the Chase Sapphire Preferred

Most of my friends who came to the UNC basketball game with me live in and around Charlotte. Since Chapel Hill is about two hours away from us, we decided to make a weekend trip out of it.

Anytime you’re away from your home base, you’re naturally going to spend more money. Even though this was only a two-night trip (and we were graciously offered free lodging at a friend’s house), nights out and meals purchased were all additional spending toward earning my welcome bonus.

I didn’t have to splurge on a longer-term trip or even book a hotel night to spend more than I would’ve if I had stuck around Charlotte that weekend.

I found that making a couple of extra $20-$40 transactions eventually added up across the three months I worked to meet my welcome bonus spending requirement.

Trips like the one to Chapel Hill helped me realize that $4,000 doesn’t have to be as intimidating a threshold to reach as I’d thought it would be.

Holiday spending with the Chase Sapphire Preferred

I was also intentional with the timing of everything here.

When I applied for the Chase Sapphire Preferred Card, my first rewards credit card that came with a spending-dependent welcome bonus, it was around the middle of November.

As it was for many others, this was at the very start of a spending-heavy season for me. Between traveling home to see my family in Georgia and finding the perfect gifts for my loved ones, I had already budgeted for some extra spending.

That naturally made it easier to spend more money and meet the welcome offer’s spending requirement.

Only using my Chase Sapphire Preferred

That all brings me to my last point, which is perhaps the most intuitive and certainly the most important: I spent as much as I could with my Sapphire Preferred until I met my spending goal. This card became the best one in my wallet thanks to its generous earning structure and the ability to earn high-value Ultimate Rewards points.

I’ll also use this strategy in the future when I open new credit cards that feature solid welcome offers and manageable minimum spending requirements.

Bottom line

I created a spending strategy that aligned with my budget before applying for my Sapphire Preferred card in order to earn the welcome offer.

Within my personal budget, I don’t typically spend $4,000 across three months (excluding my rent). However, remaining mindful of my budget while maximizing the benefits of my new credit card helped me responsibly earn 75,000 Ultimate Rewards points fairly easily.