The most effective way to earn a massive amount of points in a shorter amount of time is typically to open a card, meet the spend requirements, and receive a nice welcome offer. However, when you are just starting out in this hobby, it's best to start off slow. Especially if you aren't used to managing multiple credit cards, it's important to get comfortable with the basics and then ramp up at a velocity that is comfortable to you.
Remember - it's a marathon, not a sprint! Don't jump on opening a card just because there is an elevated sign-up bonus (SUB). If the card doesn't meet your near future needs, don't deviate from your card strategy. The bonuses will always be there!
So how do you maximize earning points if you aren't working on a SUB? Here are a few strategies I use to maximize my earn:
Start with the right line-up
The first is to start with the right line-up of cards. Each card in my wallet has a specific purpose, and I use each one accordingly if not working on a SUB. Here are a few examples of what I use cards in my wallet for:
Chase Sapphire Preferred (CSP):
3x on dining
Rental Cars: CSP provides free primary rental car insurance. Deny the insurance when renting a vehicle and pay with your CSP. If you have any damage charges, you submit a claim to eclaimsline.com. (This happened to me once. I submitted all paperwork required, paid the fee directly to Hertz, and was reimbursed via Direct Deposit within one month! I prefer to pay the fee and earn more points, but you can also have eclaims pay the fee directly.)
Taxes & Fees, + Cash fares on plane tickets: CSP comes with fantastic trip protection, and all you need to trigger it is paying the taxes on a flight!
Chase Freedom Unlimited:
3x on dining
Earns 1.5x on all other purchases
Chase Freedom Flex:
3x on dining
5x on quarterly bonuses up to $1500. This changes each quarter, but if you max this out each year, you could earn an additional 30k points! The quarterly bonus is on things such as groceries, gas, amazon, paypal etc...
Capital One Venture X
Simple: Earns 2x on all purchases and has no foreign transaction fees!
Plus the $395 Annual Fee essentially cancels itself out by giving you $300 to spend on a hotel via the travel portal, and 10k miles each anniversary year.
Lounge access for you and 2 guests to Capital One and Priority Pass Lounges.
Shopping Portals
I do the majority of my shopping online. Instead of going directly to the website, I use one of my favorite shopping portals to stack my way to earning more points!
Rakuten: If you use my referral link, you will get at least $30 back after spending $30. (Yay free money!)
Traditionally, you will earn cash back on each purchase. Around holidays the % is always higher -- think 10% back instead of the usual 2%!
I prefer to earn points instead of cashback, and switched the paycheck option to sync with my American Express Platinum Card. This way I earn AMEX Membership Reward Points!
American Airlines Shopping Portal: AA points are more difficult to earn you can't transfer points from the banks over. I like to use the AA shopping portal when there are increased offers to boost my AA point balance.
TopCashBack: I primarily use this when buying Amazon Products, as shopping portals don't usually offer cashback through Amazon. TopCashBack often has some great cashback offers such as 10% back on Expedia, 12% on Home Depot etc...
Dining Portals
Dining Portals are great to earn additional airline/hotel miles! You can only activate one card per portal. I try to stick with a few to keep it simple.
The Points Guy has a great article that explains in more depth here.
Stacking
Stacking is essentially where you are double (or triple!) dipping the methods used to earn more points with one purchase.
Single Stack example: If I were to buy $100 at Macy's for 10% cash back on Rakuten using my Venture X, which earns 2x on each purchase:
I earned 200 Capital One Points
If I was working on the SUB for my Venture X, this counts towards that!
AND the 10% cash back: $10
Let's do better with a double-stack!
I use my favorite cashback app FLUZ to buy a $100 gift card at Macy's (which gets 8% cashback on FLUZ = $8) - then navigate to Macy's via Rakuten and complete my purchase above using the gift card.
In addition to the earns above, I now earned an additional $8 on top of that.
Other Ideas:
American Airlines Simply Miles: You can only pay with a mastercard here - activate an offer such as Blue Apron Meal Plans 1200AA miles after spending at least $50, then check to see if any of your existing mastercards (ie: Freedom Flex) have a Blue Apron offer and activate, then navigate to the AAdvantage Shopping portal to complete your purchase. (There are often offers such as 5500 AA miles on first purchase here.)
Linking Accounts
You can link accounts such as Uber and Marriott to double earn. I set this up so it is ready when I make a spend and will earn rewards on the alternate program without thinking about it. Other linked programs include:
American Airlines and Hyatt
Airbnb and British Airways or Delta
Surveys
While this is my least favorite method for earning, as it can be pretty time consuming, it is another way to earn more points.
AA Miles for Opinions: AA Miles expire every 18 months, so I make sure to log into my account at least once a year and complete a survey to extend my points expiration date. Most surveys will only earn you a handful of points, but if you have time and qualify for the longer ones, you can earn a nice amount each year!