I earn most of my miles and points from welcome bonuses on new credit card signups. My husband and I each apply for a handful of credit cards each year to earn several hundred thousand miles and points for free travel. So, for a good part of the year, we put our normal monthly expenses on whatever new card bonus we’re working on. See my post Beginner’s Guide: 7 Steps to free Travel with Miles and Points.
But sometimes, we have a few months in between new cards, and I try to maximize the miles and points we earn on our existing credit cards. We could drive ourselves crazy making sure we’re using the “right” card for every purchase, but I like to keep it simple.
Gas, Groceries and Dining: Chase Iberia Visa Signature Card
Earlier this year, my husband applied for the Chase Iberia Visa Signature Card. Part of the welcome offer included 5X miles on gas, groceries and dining for the first 12 months (up to $10k in spend). It’s hard to beat 5X earning on those categories with other cards. My family is tentatively planning a return trip to Europe in 2026, so we can use those Iberia miles to fly from DFW.
Medical Bills and Big Purchases: Bilt Mastercard on Rent Day
We save all of our medical bills (we have a lot for our family of five) and any big expenses for Rent Day (the first day of each month) to put on my husband’s Bilt Mastercard. On Rent Day only, we get 6X for dining, 4X for travel and 2X on all other purchases. We only pull this card out of a drawer for Rent Day.
An example of a big purchase this month is bedding and kitchen supplies for my son’s new apartment at college. Currently, we can get up to 10,000 bonus points on Rent Day, but starting in October the max is only 1000 points (see this post). The main reason we collect Bilt points is to transfer them to Hyatt and Alaska Airlines.
Everything Else: Chase Sapphire and Venture X
All other expenses we put on our Chase Sapphire cards and Capital One Venture X cards. We earn 1X-3X on most Chase purchases and a flat 2X on our Capital One Venture X purchases. Both Chase and Capital One have useful travel partners, and I always want to have a stash of each currency.
Final Thoughts
Are we maximizing our miles and points from monthly spending with this strategy? Probably not 100%. But, we’re keeping it simple. My husband cannot remember to shuffle more than two cards in his wallet, and I don’t blame him. Hopefully soon we will be working on some new credit card bonuses with our monthly spending.
Author: Nancy
Nancy lives near Dallas, Texas, with her husband and three kids. Her favorite vacations include the beach, cruising and everything Disney.
Friends don’t let friends use a Chase Sapphire cards for anything other than travel or dining. 1x = yuck.
1X isn’t ideal, but with our strategy of using Iberia and Bilt cards, not much of our spending ends up at 1X on the CSP. I need a steady flow of Chase points for Hyatt point transfers.