Your first thought here may be, “What is this non-miles and points nonsense?” I thought those were the golden currency for what we do… 😱
Before you ditch this article or consider us completely out of our minds… let me explain why you should stick around ☺️
Travel costs money. Lots of money. You can certainly lessen those costs with some solid miles and points, but I’m here to tell you all about one of the best non-miles and points tips out there, in our humble, yet expert opinion… 😏
I’m talking about taking a step back and making smart, accountable decisions on a daily basis that will directly affect your ability to travel—you’ve gotta make this a top priority.
But what does it look like to make travel your top priority without actually traveling? By meticulous planning and saving money only for travel, my friends.
There’s always the old-school means of sticking your extra cash into a piggy bank… or rather, a “travel-specific” piggy bank that will make all your deepest dreams come true. But seriously, does anyone have a physical piggy bank anymore??
What if I told you there was a supercharged way of saving money and making that next trip happen sooner rather than later?
Intrigued? I sure would be if I were you…
What is Our Favorite Non-Miles and Points Travel Tip?
It’s easier now than ever to find creative ways to save money, and that’s why one of our favorite non-miles and points travel tips that you can start using TODAY is the Capital One Shopping browser extension.
Here’s why it’s great:
You’ll increase your odds of saving money on everyday purchases which will ultimately help you save up for your next trip.
It takes little to no extra effort on your end to get these savings.
You don’t need a credit card to use it.
It’s free.
If you want to get started right now, all it takes is a single click to download the browser extension from our big, beautiful button below 👇
*Capital One Shopping compensates Daily Drop when you get the browser extension through the links we provide.
If you want me to bless your eyes with a step-by-step guide of how you can save additional money by using the Capital One Shopping browsing extension… keep reading!
Capital One Shopping Browser Extension Explained
I can hear the questions coming in already. “What is a browser extension? This sounds confusing and hard to use…” The great news is that it’s NOT! We wouldn’t call it one of our favorite non-travel tips if it were impossibly difficult to use.
It’s like a cat in a cat cafe monetizing on laziness here… Seriously, it’s as simple as clicking a button that’ll look like this 👇
And don’t worry! The browser extension is supported by all main browsers.
Capital One Shopping has over 11,000, 5-star ratings and 8,000,000+ users 👀 (I’m getting a little jealous for FareDrop’s sake, but let’s not get distracted…). So you know it’s good.
After you’ve done your one-click download, the browser extension will constantly be running in the background to help you find the best deals without you doing any work!
Think of it as the modern-day version of your grandma slowly overtaking her home with the colossal spread of coupons she would cut out from the daily newspaper. Don’t worry, you won’t find any of Capital One Shopping’s deals stuck to a coaster or the toilet seat… awkward 😅
As you probably know, Capital One Shopping also has an online shopping portal that can be quite helpful in saving you money as well (we’ve written a useful guide on different shopping portals).
But today, we’re here to focus on the greatness that is the browser extension because it is a truly effortless option.
So basically, how the browser extension works is that if you’re shopping on sites that are supported by Capital One Shopping (there are over 5,000!), you’ll get helpful pop-ups that will alert you if different deals are present.
We honestly can’t get any lazier, folks. But we’re here for it and are loving it.
Let’s See It in Action
You’ll typically save money with the browser extension in two ways: discounts and Capital One Shopping Rewards.
Discounts
You can see below that I’m looking at some of Wandrd’s new backpacks (Kara and Nate seriously love theirs!).
When you go to add an item to your cart, if there’s a better deal for it, Capital One Shopping will pop up to alert you of this.
Deals could be in the form of discount or coupon codes that Capital One Shopping has found online, or it could be actual percentages off of the purchase price.
There could also be e-gift card rewards options, but we’ll get to that in a bit.
In this case, the Capital One Shopping browser extension scoured the internet like a total beast and found me a code to get an extra 5% off that I otherwise wouldn’t have gotten.
Is it the biggest savings ever? No, but if I’m spending $200 on a new backpack, am I happy to save $10 to put toward future travel? Absolutely!
You’ll also be happy to know that these browser extension pop-ups will work on Amazon too! It works a little differently on Amazon in the sense that you won’t get a big obvious pop-up, but rather, you’ll see a blue button from Capital One Shopping on the product page.
As someone who regularly risks spending their entire life savings at Amazon on a daily basis… I’m happy to see that I could potentially be spending less of that savings thanks to the Capital One Shopping browser extension 😅
If I wanted these new Sony headphones, I’d be paying nearly $400 if I bought them through Amazon. Capital One Shopping shows me that I can get the same product on another site for almost $100 less!
You simply click the Capital One Shopping option, and let it take you to the site with the better deal (whether that’s the Sony site itself, eBay, or another website, for example).
With $100 saved, you could pay for an extra night at a hotel during your next trip!
Capital One Shopping Rewards
Let me start by saying that there are a ton of travel-related retailers through Capital One Shopping (and via the browser extension). In fact, we’ve seen deals where you could earn upwards of 6% back if you booked an activity through various travel sites, like this one—via Capital One Shopping—right now.
Just know that deals come and go. So if you find something today, it may not be there next week, or even tomorrow.
As you saw with the travel site above, there are many great travel-related retailers on Capital One Shopping, but there are even more non-travel-related ones!
Like I mentioned earlier, you’ll have access to over 5,000 retailers which gives you a ton of options to help save money, earn rewards, and ultimately make saving up and preparing for that next trip quicker and easier!
It’s a fantastic tool and truly makes this money-saving hack effortless. Remember, it’s completely free and the browser extension is just a simple, one-click download to install.
Redeeming Capital One Shopping Rewards
It’s also kinda important to know how to actually use the rewards you’ve gotten by purchasing items through the Capital One Shopping browser extension!
Not only is saving money by finding a good deal one of the perks here, but the rewards percentage that is offered on some purchases is also another perk.
You’ll find these Capital One Shopping Rewards deposited into your account usually within seven days of your purchase.
For example, that travel activity deal I mentioned earlier was offering 6% back. So if you booked a $250 activity with that 6% reward back, you’d receive $15 credited to your account.
You can redeem these Capital One Shopping Rewards in exchange for e-gift cards to a handful of popular, big-name retailers.
Using your Capital One Shopping Rewards earned by saving money with the browser extension could end up saving you even more money on things you might like or need for travel (I’m eyeballing a new hiking jacket, for example 👀).
There are also plenty of other retailers in this e-gift card program that aren’t travel specific. So if you have $50 that you choose to redeem as a gift card at a pet store in order to get your cat’s very special (and expensive) urinary health kibbles 🙄, that’s another $50 saved that didn’t technically come out of your own “travel piggy bank.”
Is the gift card thing sorta weird? Yeah… Do we wish we could just use those Capital One Shopping Rewards within Capital One Shopping to get more things we need? Yeah…
BUT, again, it’s still technically money saved on your part and just gets magically transformed into a gift card of your choice… which you can then go spend and save your own hard-earned $$$ for travel instead.
So, it’s still a win-win in my book 👍
Final Thoughts on Our Favorite Non-Miles and Points Tip
I have personally been using this non-miles and points hack for over a year to help support my desire to travel, and as you can see, it’s quite easy and effortless to do!
We often talk about miles and points-heavy content on Daily Drop, and rightly so, but sometimes it’s a good idea to take a step back and see if there are other easy wins to be had. Again, we’re loving the laziness factor with this one 🤭
You can start using this non-miles and points hack in your daily life TODAY, and I guarantee that it’ll help you save more money and find better deals by using the Capital One Shopping browser extension.
So tell me, is it gonna be your new favorite non-miles and points travel tip, too??
