"Enthusiast" American Express Membership Rewards: Surviving Pregnancy on Points

As you've probably read in previous posts, PopMuse was selected by American Express to be one of their "Enthusiasts".  Early on I made a vow that this blog was going to be based on things I feel passionately about (good or bad).  I don't post or advertise, sponsor or promote anything that doesn't have PopMuse's stamp of approval.  And long before this Enthusiast stuff started, American Express Rewards Program played a big role in my life.

When Bloghungry and I were knee deep in all things Baby Planning, we had to be incredibly tight financially, we scrimped and saved for years before we started on the baby path.  It is not cheap for 2 gay men to have a child (no mater which path you take to parenthood.)  Between Agencies, Lawyers and Doctors we were completely tapped out by the time fatherhood was becoming a reality.  Every penny we both made had to go to the expanding debt we'd amassed.  Which left us with no money for recreation, and damn it, we were still going to have some fun.

I had been hording my American Express Rewards Points for years, and the time had come to figure out how they could work for me.  Instead of using them the way you may think on trips and travel, we used them for everyday needs and date nights.  I bought Gift Cards a plenty (did you know you could buy gift cards with your points? You can!)  Clothes came from Gap, Banana and Old Navy Gift Cards, movies from AMC Gift Cards, home improvements from Home Depot Gift Cards, even a few dinners-out came from Restaurant Cards, and of course there's music which came in the form of iTunes Gift Cards.  It was a life saver, seriously, we were so stressed out it was great to rock a little free retail therapy.

So when Amex came calling about the Enthusiast Program, I was like "I WOULD LOVE TO!  I know how to WORK Amex OUT!"

Since that time, finances has leveled off nicely and baby-girl is safely in our home, but we still use those reward points all the time.  Like I noticed last week you can pay for Costco Memberships with Points, so we did that this weekend.  (Although after doing Costco the weekend before T-Day, I've decided that's gonna be Bloghungry's job, I'll go back to my laptop and shop for sneakers with Rewards Points purchased Zappos e-cards.)

READ about the Membership Rewards Program HERE.

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