The Everyday Mum's Guide to Travel Rewards: How Our Family Uses Everyday Spending to Travel for Less
- rowofthree
- Jul 11
- 11 min read
People often assume earning enough points for Business Class flights takes expensive spending or hours of travel hacking.
It doesn't.
I'm an everyday working mum, and our family has built a simple system that earns travel rewards through the spending we were already doing. Once it's set up, it mostly runs in the background.
That system has helped us:
Fly our family of three to Europe in Business Class.
Book flights to the United States using Qantas Points.
Stay at the Sofitel Fiji using Accor points.
Save thousands of dollars on family holidays.
This isn't the ultimate guide to travel rewards or credit card hacking.
It's simply the everyday system that's worked for our family, and one that almost anyone can adapt to their own lifestyle.
In this guide, I'll show you exactly how we do it.
In This Guide
Step One – Choose Your Main Rewards Program
People often ask me whether it's better to collect Qantas Points or Velocity Points.
For our family, the answer is both.
Rather than putting all of our everyday spending into one program, we've chosen to collect both because each has different strengths. Having points in both gives us more flexibility when it's time to book our holidays.
Over the years, we've redeemed Velocity Points for:
Business Class flights to Europe for our family of three.
First Class flights from Abu Dhabi to London for our honeymoon.
We've used Qantas Points to book flights to the United States.
Those experiences have taught us that there's no single "best" rewards program. The right one depends on where you're travelling and what reward seats are available.
In our experience, we've generally found premium reward seats to Europe easier to secure through Velocity than premium reward seats to the United States. Reward availability changes all the time, though, so this is simply what's worked for us.
That's one of the biggest reasons we continue collecting both programs. Having points in both gives us far more flexibility when planning family holidays.
Step Two – Set Up Your Rewards Accounts
Before you start earning points, spend 15–20 minutes creating and linking your rewards accounts. It's a one-time job that means you'll never miss out on points later.
Most of these accounts are free, and once they're set up they quietly work in the background every time you shop, travel or book a holiday.
Create Your Free Accounts
Accor Live Limitless (ALL) or a similar hotel chain
Optional (paid memberships we use):
Link Your Accounts
This is the step that's easy to miss, but it's where the magic happens.
Take a few minutes to connect the programs that work together so your points flow automatically.
For example:
Link Flybuys to Velocity Frequent Flyer
Link ALL – Accor Live Limitless to Qantas Frequent Flyer
Link Uber to Qantas Frequent Flyer
Link OnePass to Flybuys
Once these links are in place, you don't need to think about them again.
Set Up Velocity Family Pooling
One of the smartest things we ever did was enable Velocity Family Pooling.
Instead of having three separate accounts slowly earning points, we nominate one family member to receive everyone's eligible Velocity Points and Status Credits.
I'd recommend choosing one person and sticking with them. It helps build one balance much faster, making premium reward flights easier to book.
Step Three – Build Your Everyday Travel Rewards System
This is where most of our travel rewards come from.
Not from flying.
From the money we'd already be spending every week.
The goal isn't to spend more—it's to earn more from the purchases and bills that are already part of everyday life. Over time, those small amounts quietly add up to flights, hotel stays and family holidays.
Here's how we do it.
Category | Program | How We Maximise It |
🛒 Groceries | Everyday Rewards, Flybuys & Everyday Rewards Extra | Activate bonus offers, shop where the best promotion is, and use Everyday Rewards Extra for the monthly 10% discount, bonus points and free delivery. |
🛍️ Shopping | Qantas Shopping | Before buying online, we always check Qantas Shopping first to earn bonus airline points at retailers we already use. |
⭐ OnePass | OnePass | Pays for itself through free delivery while earning 5x Flybuys points at retailers like Kmart, Target, Bunnings and Officeworks. |
🎁 Gift Card Promotions | Bonus gift card offers | Buy gift cards during bonus points promotions for purchases we already planned to make, stacking the bonus points with rewards credit card points. |
⛽ Fuel | Partner fuel offers | We earn points on fuel we'd be buying anyway and always link our loyalty accounts where possible. |
🏨 Hotels | ALL – Accor Live Limitless | Book directly with Accor and link our Qantas Frequent Flyer account to earn ALL Reward points plus Qantas Points on eligible stays. |
⚡ Electricity | Red Energy | Our everyday electricity bill earns 2 Qantas Points per A$1 paid on time, and we also keep an eye out for sign-up bonus point offers. |
🚗 Ride Share | Uber & Uber One | Link Uber to Qantas once and eligible Uber rides and Uber Eats orders automatically earn Qantas Points. |
💳 Rewards Credit Card | Velocity Rewards Credit Card | Almost all of our everyday spending goes on our rewards card, which we pay off in full each month to avoid interest. |
Everyday Spending
The table above gives you the overview. Here's exactly how each program fits into our family's travel rewards strategy.
Groceries
Everyday Rewards and Flybuys
Groceries are one of the easiest ways to earn travel rewards because it's money we're already spending every week.
We use both Everyday Rewards and Flybuys, but one of the biggest lessons I've learned is not to split your grocery shopping evenly between Woolworths and Coles.
Instead, I shop wherever I'm receiving the strongest bonus offers. Before each shop, I quickly activate any bonus offers in the app, it takes less than a minute.
When my Everyday Rewards offers become less generous, I'll often switch most of our shopping to Coles for a few weeks. Before long, Woolworths usually starts sending better offers again, and I switch back.
It's not guaranteed, but it's a strategy that's worked really well for us.
Everyday Rewards Extra
We also subscribe to Everyday Rewards Extra, and for our family it easily pays for itself.
The membership costs $7 per month or $70 per year (or about $5.83 a month if you choose the annual plan) and includes a 30-day free trial, so you can see whether it works for your household before committing.
For our family, the 10% off one shop each month usually covers the monthly membership fee on its own. We also have our groceries delivered twice a week, so the free delivery and bonus Everyday Rewards points are valuable extras.
Everyday Rewards Extra currently includes:
10% off one Woolworths shop each month (up to $50 in savings)
2x Everyday Rewards points on every Woolworths and BIG W shop
Subscriber-only offers, promotions and occasional free products
30-day free trial for new members
Choice of $7 monthly or $70 annual membership
Our tip: Save your 10% discount for your biggest grocery shop each month to get the most value from your membership.
Shopping
Before I buy anything online, I spend 30 seconds checking whether the retailer is listed in the Qantas Shopping portal. If the retailer is listed, I click through the Qantas Shopping portal before making my purchase.
For example, we recently bought new sneakers for our Disney holiday from The Athlete's Foot. By shopping through Qantas Shopping, we earned 2 Qantas Points per dollar on a purchase we were already planning to make.
The Athlete's Foot also lets members link their Qantas Frequent Flyer account. Because we paid with our Rewards Credit Card, we earnt a second lot of points on the same purchase.
That's one purchase, earning rewards in two different ways.
That's exactly the kind of strategy I love earning more rewards without spending any extra money.
OnePass
We also subscribe to OnePass because we regularly shop at Kmart, Target, Bunnings and Officeworks.
The membership costs $4 per month or $40 per year and includes a 30-day free trial, making it easy to see whether it suits your shopping habits before committing.
For our family, the membership easily pays for itself because these are retailers we already use. Since our OnePass membership is linked to our Flybuys account, we earn 5x Flybuys points on eligible purchases at participating retailers, which are automatically transferred to Velocity Points.
We also use the free delivery benefit regularly, particularly when ordering from Kmart and Target. Having items delivered without paying delivery fees saves both money and time.
OnePass currently includes:
5x Flybuys points on eligible purchases at Kmart, Target, Bunnings Warehouse and Officeworks
Free delivery on eligible online orders across participating retailers
Express Click & Collect at selected retailers
365-day returns at participating stores
30-day free trial for new members
Choice of $4 monthly or $40 annual membership
Our tip: If you already collect Flybuys and shop regularly at Kmart, Target, Bunnings or Officeworks, linking your OnePass and Flybuys accounts is one of the easiest ways to earn extra Velocity Points without changing your shopping habits.
Gift Card Promotions
One of my favourite ways to earn extra points is to keep an eye out for gift card promotions.
If I know we're about to make a larger purchase, I'll often check whether I can buy a gift card first. It only takes a few extra minutes, but it can significantly increase the number of points we earn.
For example, before buying our robot vacuum during the Black Friday sales, I purchased $1,500 worth of JB Hi-Fi gift cards through Qantas Shopping, earning 3 Qantas Points per $1.
That one step earned us 4,500 Qantas Points before we'd even bought the robot vacuum.
Because we bought the gift cards using our rewards credit card, we also earned credit card points on the purchase.
It's a simple example of how a little planning can help you stack rewards on purchases you were already going to make.
Fuel
I drive a lot for work, so filling up at a partner fuel station is another easy way to earn points from money I was already spending.
Set-and-Forget Rewards
Once these are linked, they continue earning points in the background with very little effort.
Hotels
Whenever we stay at an Accor hotel, we make sure our Accor Live Limitless (ALL) and Qantas Frequent Flyer accounts are linked.
Once your accounts are linked, you earn your usual ALL Reward points for future hotel stays plus Qantas Points on eligible stays across Asia Pacific. As a standard member, you'll earn 3 Qantas Points per A$1 spent on eligible stays, in addition to your regular ALL Reward points.
If you prefer, you can also convert your ALL Reward points into Qantas Points, with 2,000 ALL Reward points converting to 2,500 Qantas Points.
The best part is that linking your accounts only takes a minute, but once it's done, the extra Qantas Points are earned automatically every time you stay at participating Accor hotels.
Our tip: Link your Qantas Frequent Flyer and ALL accounts before you book your stay. It's a simple one-time setup that lets you earn rewards in both programs without changing the way you travel.
Electricity
We switched our electricity account to Red Energy because we were already paying the bill every month. Now those payments also earn us Qantas Points, making it one of the easiest ways to grow our balance without changing our spending.
When you join an eligible Qantas Red Energy plan, you can earn 2 Qantas Points for every A$1 you spend on your electricity and gas bills when you pay on time. Red Energy also regularly offers sign-up bonus Qantas Points for new customers, which can be a nice boost if you're already considering switching providers.
The best part is that once you've switched, it's completely set and forget. Your points are earned automatically every time you pay an eligible bill, so there's nothing else you need to remember.
Our tip: If you're already comparing electricity providers, check whether Red Energy is running a bonus Qantas Points promotion before you switch. The ongoing points are great, but a sign-up bonus can give your balance an immediate boost.
Like everything else in this guide, we didn't switch electricity providers just to earn points. We simply chose a provider that rewarded us for a bill we were already paying every month.
Ride Share
We use Uber One, so linking our Qantas Frequent Flyer account was an easy addition to our travel rewards system.
Eligible Uber rides and Uber Eats orders earn Qantas Points, while Uber One also gives us benefits like discounted rides, $0 delivery fees on eligible orders and Uber credits.
Since we already use Uber throughout the year—and especially when we travel—it means we're collecting points without changing our habits.
Like many of the rewards in this guide, it's a quick one-time setup that quietly earns points in the background.
Rewards Credit Card
Our rewards credit card is one of the biggest contributors to our travel points each year.
Almost all of our everyday spending goes onto the card—including groceries, fuel, shopping, holidays, insurance and household bills. That means many of the purchases we've talked about in this guide actually earn points in more than one way.
For example:
Groceries earn Everyday Rewards or Flybuys points plus credit card points.
Shopping through the Qantas Shopping portal earns Qantas Points plus credit card points.
Gift card promotions can earn bonus Qantas Points plus credit card points.
Hotel stays can earn both hotel rewards and airline points, while also being paid for with our rewards card.
The important part is that we never spend more just to earn points, and we always pay the balance in full to avoid interest.
For us, the credit card isn't a way to spend more—it's simply the final layer of our travel rewards strategy. By stacking multiple rewards on purchases we were already planning to make, the points add up much faster.
Our 30-Second Travel Rewards Checklist
Before we book a trip or make an online purchase, we quickly run through this checklist. Most of it takes less than a minute, but over time these simple habits have helped us earn thousands of extra travel rewards.
✅ Before Every Purchase
☐ Check the Qantas Shopping Store or Velocity eStore
☐ Check for bonus gift card promotions
☐ Use our rewards credit card
✈️ Before Booking a Trip
☐ Add everyone's frequent flyer number
☐ Book directly through the hotel's loyalty program
☐ Link your hotel loyalty account to your airline program (where available)
☐ Check for hotel bonus offers
☐ Check for car hire bonus offers
🎁 A Few Times Each Year
☐ Check for bonus points transfer offers
☐ Review Everyday Rewards and Flybuys bonus offers
☐ Check partner offers (electricity, ride share, hotels and car hire)
You don't need to do everything on this list. Even adopting one or two of these habits can make a surprising difference over the course of a year.
The key is consistency—small changes to everyday spending can quietly add up to your next holiday.
Final Thoughts
You don't need to become obsessed with points.
You don't need to constantly chase promotions or open a wallet full of credit cards.
If you're just getting started, don't feel like you need to do everything at once. Pick one or two ideas from this guide, get those working, then gradually build your system over time.
The goal isn't to spend more—it's to earn rewards from the money you're already planning to spend.
And the best part? Once the system is set up, it mostly runs itself.
Over time, those small decisions have added up to Business Class flights, hotel stays and family holidays that have created some of our favourite memories.
If this guide helps your family get one step closer to your next holiday, then then this guide has done its job.
Now that you know how we earn our points, the next step is learning how we redeem them. Check out our guide to finding cheap international flights and see how these everyday rewards become real family holidays.
A quick note: This isn't financial advice, and I'm not suggesting anyone switch providers or apply for a credit card just to earn points. Our system only works because these services suited our family anyway. The points are simply an added bonus for money we were already planning to spend.
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