Rewards and Savings Galore with Pottery Barn

There are a few stores I have loved for a long time - much before I could even come close to affording any of their merchandise. One of those stores is Pottery Barn. Their catalogs and overall style just kind of call out to me. I'm weird, I know. Anyway, over time a few PB items have crept into our home - usually during sales, by picking up heavily discounted floor models, or after saving and debating over the purchase for quite a long time. One of the items I have wanted since college is their leather Manhattan Recliner. It's delicious. However, it cost a stupid amount of money compared to what I have previously spent on furniture, so I have never pulled the trigger...until now. For Christmas, our family decided to upgrade the old (ugly) blue living room chair from my college days and get this leather beauty.

I've been annoyed that Pottery Barn has been stuck at 3x in the Ultimate Rewards portal for a few months, but the deals were good enough today that it didn't matter. I care about miles and points the most, but there are other types of rewards out there that are also pretty awesome. I don't want others to get so focused on mileage earning cards and programs that they ignore other deals that can sometimes be better. There are tons of ways to maximize Pottery Barn purchases outside of miles and points. Some of those include going through cash-back portals, buying discounted Pottery Barn gift cards, etc. Here is what I did to get the most from this purchase today.

1. Shop through Ultimate Rewards to earn 3x Ultimate Reward points. I have seen PB at a better rate before (and in fact the Kids and Teen versions are currently at 5x), but 3x is better than nothing.

2. Wait until a sale or discount code is available. Today when I was on potterybarn.com a screen popped up with a 12 digit code "just for me" to save 15%. It was valid until 12/5. I have seen these a few times before, but this time I jumped on it since it didn't exclude furniture.

3. Got a $50 delivery discount from a site-wide promotion for that chair.

4. Waited for a double rewards day like today. I have the Pottery Barn credit card that normally gives a $25 reward for every $250 spent (basically 10% back in rewards). However there are double rewards through 12/3, so I got a $50 reward for every $250 spent - 20% back in rewards. Sadly, the chair is quite expensive, so that is a bunch of rewards toward a future purchase.

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5. Used a previous $25 reward I earned from the credit card plus another $25 off coupon that came in the mail.

Here is the final haul. I saved $300 with the 15% off discount I waited for. I earned about $400 worth of rewards to use on a future Pottery Barn purchase by using my Pottery Barn credit card. This is twice the normal amount since I purchased during "double rewards". I earned 6,000 Ultimate Reward points I will ultimately transfer 1:1 to either United or Hyatt by going through the UR portal and earning 3x. Plus, I saved another $50 by using some coupons and PB rewards that had come in the mail. And, to top it off, I get to get rid of the ugly blue chair that was picked up for about $100 at a furniture shop that was going out of business over a decade ago.

I know some folks won't care at all about this transaction, but I don't want to always fail to mention other cards that offer even better rewards for specific purchases than a miles and points credit card could. Plus, I know lots of families do shop at PB and PB Kids. Most of us in the miles and points world love a good deal and maximizing purchases, even when they aren't directly related to miles and points. Now I just have to be patient and wait for the new chair to arrive!