Fred, Northland.

I have a birthday coming up so I redeemed $250 worth of credit card reward points for Farmers vouchers. I used some of those to buy clothing, which I have now given to my family to give to me so they don’t have to stress about presents (and I get to choose the gifts that I want!). Farmers were having a sale, so I got 25% off the retail price. That means I got a discount off clothing that in effect cost me nothing anyway. I now have lots of new clothing and some money left on my Farmers card to spend when I like. How’s that for a good deal! And the key point about my credit card spending is that I only use it to pay for things I would ordinarily pay for with my cash flow card – and I have a direct payment system set up so I never miss a payment and never incur interest.