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Between my wife and me, we spend about $3,000 to $4,000 a month on normal living expenses like groceries, gas, bills, travel, and even the occasional burrito run. All of this spending (or as much as possible) goes onto rewards credit cards that earn us cash back, points and other fun perks.
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Over the course of a year, we easily rack up over $1,300 in rewards. Sometimes much more.
And we do it with just a couple of cards. Here’s how.
We mostly use a basic 2% flat-rate card
Most of our day-to-day spending goes on a flat-rate 2% cash back credit card. That means for every $100 we spend, we earn $2 back.
Doesn’t seem like much. But it all adds up!
At $3,500 per month in spending (our rough average), we’re charging $42,000 per year.
- 2% of $42,000 = $840 in cash back
That’s just from using a single card for regular spending.
A few years back when we traveled a lot more, we used travel cards that earned higher reward percentages for spending in categories like travel, restaurants, or gas.
But it got a little hectic managing all the categories and multiple cards. Plus, our spending profile changed a lot when our kids came into the picture.
So having a 2% flat-rate card has been much simpler. If you’re curious, check out all our top cash back cards here for earning simple rewards.
We earn two to three welcome offers per year
This is where a lot of our rewards are earned.
Between the two of us, we typically open two to three new credit cards per year.
I know, I know… it seems excessive. But honestly there are so many credit cards out there that have amazing welcome offers and we love trying them out.
These welcome offers can be anything from a quick $200 cash back, all the way up to $750 or more in travel points. We just need to meet the specific spending requirements within the first few months.
On average, we conservatively pull in $500-$700 extra from these welcome offers each year. Honestly, some years it can be double that depending on the offer.
Here’s a typical example of the offers we shoot for:
- New travel card: Spend $4,000 in 3 months → earn $750 in travel rewards
- New cash back card: Spend $1,000 in 3 months → earn $200 cash back
We never open cards just for the sake of it. We’re pretty strategic about picking the ones that fit our spending, align with our goals, and won’t add unnecessary fees or clutter.
The boring (but effective) rules we follow
Credit card rewards are awesome. But they only work if you use them wisely. My wife and I are super responsible and stick to a few core rules:
- Pay off every bill in full each month, no exceptions. We have autopay set up on every card so we never miss a payment.
- We use a spreadsheet to track active cards, welcome offers, due dates, and redemption options. It takes five minutes to update, and it keeps everything on cruise control.
- We pace ourselves when opening new cards. One to two cards max per year, per person.
- Track annual fees carefully and only keep cards long term if they earn their keep. If a card doesn’t deliver value in year two, we downgrade or cancel it.
We also monitor our credit scores regularly. Most cards offer free monitoring so we get alerts when anything hits our credit report.
At the end of the day, rewards are just a perk. They don’t drive our spending decisions. We collect them because they’re an easy part of our regular spending.
Rewards don’t have to be complicated
Since I write about credit cards for a living, you might think I’m juggling 50+ cards, timing every category bonus, and squeezing out every last point.
And sure… I used to do a bit of that back in the day.
But I’ve settled into a lazy rhythm of using a single cash back workhorse for everyday spending, plus a couple strategic welcome offers each year. That’s it. And it earns us $1,300+ per year.
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