21. The Art of Credit Card Points: Our Sign-Up Offers vs. Everyday Spending Strategies

In today's special episode, we'll be discussing the evolution of our credit card strategies over time. We will be sharing insights into our unique approaches and how we have adapted our points stratagies over the years!

Jess began her journey of traveling on points back in 2015, initially focusing on cards with no annual fees. She was hesitant to open business cards, and her primary goal was to secure flights for her family. However, her strategy has since evolved, and business cards now play a key role in her overall plan.

Pam's experience was quite different. She was unaware of the points world until her daughter, Alex, introduced her to the concept. Without a clear plan, Pam simply opened as many cards as possible, and surprisingly, this "no strategy" approach has proven to be quite successful over the years.

Meanwhile, Alex's journey began with a specific goal: a trip to Hawaii. She and her husband targeted particular cards to reach their dream destination. Once accomplished, Alex shifted her focus to cards offering the best deals at the time, accumulating a cache of points to plan trips based on her existing rewards.

One of our favorite parts of traveling on points is there is no RIGHT or WRONG way to do it! So, whether you're new to this or a seasoned pro, stick around and let's learn from each other's strategies and experiences! :) 

Links For All Things Travel Mom Squad: stan.store/travelmomsquad

Links For This Episode: 

Travel Freely App: Travel Freely | Free Travel App

Episode Minute By Minute:

• 0:00 Show Introduction

• 0:42 Afraid of annual fees? Listen to this

• 6:26 How Pam was a pseudo points master for years…and didn’t know it!

• 11:00 The real reason why Alex started traveling on points

• 15:33 Why opening new cards is typically worth it in the long run

• 18:00 Why there are actually less downsides to earning points than you think 

• 22:39 Tips for getting the most points when you can’t do a lot of spending

• 25:00 Why Pam takes the “go big or go home” approach to earning

• 29:29 How we get around the Chase 5/24 rule

• 36:41 Cards that we will always keep