PSA: I hit $5k in travel rewards this year and it was way less work than people say

Everyone always talks about how hard it is to rack up points, but I hit $5,000 in free flights and hotels just from using two cards for my regular grocery and gas spending. I didn't churn cards or do any crazy sign up bonus stuff. Step by step, I just set up autopay so I never missed a payment and used the card for everything I already buy. The big surprise was that the points added up way faster than I expected about $300 a month without me doing anything extra. Has anyone else found that the simple method works better than those complicated point stacking strategies people push?

4 comments

4 Comments

the_wesley1mo agoTop Commenter

$300 a month from just grocery and gas spending? That's wild, I didn't think that was possible without getting into the credit card churning stuff.

the_thea1mo ago

lol okay hold on. $300 a month? From just grocery and gas? That sounds like someone is either spending a LOT on both or they're doing way more than they're letting on. My grocery card gives me 3% back and I get maybe $15 a month. To hit $300 you'd need to drop like 10 grand a month on groceries and gas. Are they feeding a small army or what? I feel like people exaggerate these numbers all the time to make their setup sound way better than it is. Not saying it's impossible but that math doesn't add up for normal spending.

kelly6381mo ago

Wait, $300 a MONTH from just groceries and gas? That math seems insane unless they're buying for like a whole neighborhood or something.

rowan_thomas841mo ago

Got a friend who calls my credit card setup "aggressively boring" and honestly that's the best compliment I could get. I tried those complicated stacking strategies once and ended up with a spreadsheet that looked like a conspiracy theory board. Now I just swipe my plain old grocery card and let the points pile up like dryer lint. Sure I could probably squeeze out another 0.5% somewhere if I really wanted to lose my mind but my reward rate is directly tied to how little I think about it. The moment I try to be a point genius is the moment I forget to pay a bill and negate all my earnings for the month.