What is better than 3X points on dining?

A few months ago, I noticed that my family was consistently over-spending every month vs. our budget and I had to fill in the gap from our savings. That’s fine to do every now and then, but it’s obviously not a great habit for long-term financial stability. And my #1 rule for this credit card/travel hobby is to pay off all credit cards every month!

So, it was time for me to get to the root cause of our over-spending.

Dining, Dining and more Dining

The cool thing about using credit cards for all of our spending is that we can look at spending by category. All of my credit cards have online tools to sort by category and month. And let me tell you, it was an eye-opening experience.

We weren’t over-spending on travel or Christmas presents. We were getting a bit crazy with our restaurant and take-out spending!

When Covid first hit, we made a point to “support local businesses” through takeout and DoorDash. We had takeout twice a week, and we looked forward to it. Of course, it was nice getting 3X points on dining (from our Chase Sapphire Reserve and Chase Sapphire Preferred cards).

But then after that habit was established, it was easy for us to creep into more spending in this category. Not all at once, but gradually over time. An extra lunch during the week, a restaurant breakfast on the weekend. It all adds up.

I showed my husband the numbers. He was aghast. We talked to our kids about it, and we made a plan to cut back. So far, we’ve been successful in getting back on track.

Bottom Line

So, what is better than getting 3X points on dining? Not over-spending on dining and staying within our budget. Nope, it’s not as fun. But, it’s part of Adulting 101. I’ll keep chasing credit card sign-up bonuses for the big payouts of miles and points while I keep my family’s monthly spending in check.

Enjoy your weekend!