Travel August 12, 2026 0 Comments

The Surprising Strategy My Husband and I Use to Stretch Every Household Dollar—And It’s Not What You Think

Getting hitched—what can I say? It’s a whirlwind of excitement, joy, and let’s be honest, a fair bit of planning chaos. When I got married last year, the thrill wasn’t just about saying “I do” in front of our nearest and dearest—it was about plotting the grand adventure that awaited: our honeymoon down under in Australia. After a full year of meticulously stacking points (because when you’re as nerdy about miles as I am, you don’t just book flights, you orchestrate a points symphony), we’re finally heading off to chase kangaroos and swim among whale sharks. But here’s a twist: the real thrill wasn’t just the trip itself. It was diving into married life with a partner in crime—and in card swiping—that meant combining our finances and unleashing a powerhouse rewards strategy that could make even the savviest points enthusiast nod in approval. Think of it as switching to two-player mode—but with credit cards. Ready to see how two people, dozens of cards, and a touch of strategic madness turned everyday spending into a points-earning juggernaut? Let’s unpack the simple, no-nonsense system that’s made every dollar count. LEARN MORE

When I got married last year, of course, I was excited about the wedding and gathering all our friends and loved ones. And I was even more excited about our honeymoon in Australia, which we’re finally taking this month after a year of planning.

But, as the points and miles nerd that I am, one of the aspects of married life I was most excited to start was combining our finances and supercharging our rewards through a simple everyday spending strategy. I was ready for two-player mode, as we like to say at TPG.

After all, we had to earn a lot of points to underwrite the aforementioned honeymoon (three weeks chasing kangaroos and swimming with whale sharks is expensive, mates!).

Our goal wasn’t to earn the absolute maximum number of points on every purchase. It was to build a system simple enough that we’d actually follow every day.

Rather than drive my husband slightly batty by nonchalantly switching cards in and out of his wallet, we sat down to strategize which rewards credit cards each of us should carry and which we should use for our major spending categories.

Here’s how we divided up our spending, the cards we each carry and the simple strategy that’s helped us maximize nearly every dollar we spend.

Making a plan: What cards do we have and where do we spend the most?

The first step was thinking through our monthly budget and the places where we swipe our credit cards the most.

Our main expenses tend to be:

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Rent
Groceries
Gas
Restaurants, both dining in and takeout
Mobile phone bills
Miscellaneous travel, including airfare, hotels and car rentals
Utilities
Insurance

The next step was looking at all of our credit cards.

I have around 20, and my husband has around a dozen.

Do we use all of these all the time? No. Some of them we signed up for to maximize the number of points and miles we earned on our wedding expenses: around 705,000 points for those who are keeping track. And others we carry mainly for their day-of-travel benefits and statement credits rather than their spending bonuses.

Our catalog of most-used cards includes:

Those aren’t all the cards we own, but they’re the foundation of our household strategy.

Groceries add up

Our go-to cards: American Express Gold Card and Citi Strata Premier Card

Young Asian woman with shopping cart picking up a bottled drink — D3SIGN/GETTY IMAGES

Groceries are one of our biggest monthly expenses, so we wanted a card that consistently earns bonus rewards.

Right now, almost all of our supermarket spending goes on my husband’s Citi Strata Premier. He added me as an authorized user, so we both carry the same card and earn 3 ThankYou Rewards points per dollar at supermarkets while building one shared points balance.

Before we were together, I put all of my grocery spending on my American Express Gold Card since it earns 4 points per dollar on up to $25,000 of purchases at U.S. supermarkets each calendar year (then 1 point per dollar after).

But we already have a healthy Membership Rewards balance, so we’re focusing on Citi ThankYou Rewards for now. Once we hit our goal, we’ll likely switch our grocery spending back to the Amex Gold.

Dining

Our go-to cards: Chase Sapphire Preferred and Citi Strata Premier

We love eating out, especially in a city with as many incredible restaurants as Los Angeles has. And when we travel, we love exploring new destinations through their dining culture.

We have so many cards that offer solid spending bonuses on dining, so our strategy is a little more nuanced.

Most of the time, we focus on Chase Ultimate Rewards, thanks to the versatility of the points, their transfer partners and valuable features like Points Boost when booking travel through the Chase Travel℠ portal.

I have the Chase Sapphire Reserve and my husband has the Chase Sapphire Preferred, and since we live in the same household, we can actually move points between our accounts.

For the most part, we put our dining expenses on his Chase Sapphire Preferred to earn 3 points per dollar spent and to track all our dining together in one place, as we do with our monthly expenses.

We also use my Chase Sapphire Reserve for dining to take advantage of its up to $300 in annual statement credits (up to $150 biannually) at participating Sapphire Reserve Exclusive Tables restaurants.

Every so often, if I want to switch to earning Citi ThankYou Rewards, we swap in the Citi Strata Premier since it also earns 3 points per dollar at restaurants.

When I’m on my own and looking to pad our Amex Membership Rewards account, you can be sure I charge meals to my American Express Gold Card since it earns 4 points per dollar on up to $50,000 in purchases at restaurants worldwide each calendar year (then 1 point per dollar).

Getting the most out of gas

Our go-to cards: Chase Sapphire Preferred and Citi Strata Premier

A man's hand holding a fuel hose, refueling an unleaded gasoline vehicle using a self-service pump and hose. — JOSE A. BERNAT BACETE/GETTY IMAGES

With gas prices as high as they are, each purchase at the pump can be a points bonanza.

Most purchases go on either the Chase Sapphire Preferred Card or Citi Strata Premier Card, both of which earn 3 points per dollar.

Occasionally, if we’re trying to top off our American Airlines balance or Marriott Bonvoy account, we’ll temporarily switch to one of those cobranded cards instead.

Calling plan: Mobile phone and internet

Our go-to card: Ink Business Preferred

Person sitting on the train using a smart phone — GETTY IMAGES

Another of our main expenses is our joint mobile and home internet bill, which comes to around $350 per month. For that, I actually turn to my main business credit card, the Ink Business Preferred.

First, the card earns 3 points per dollar on up to $150,000 per calendar year in combined purchases across several categories, including internet, cable and phone services, so I know I’m getting a solid rate of return on those.

The other factor I consider, though, is that the Ink Business Preferred provides some of the best cellphone protection of any credit card.

When you pay your monthly bill with the card, you and eligible employees (my husband counts as an authorized user) can get up to $1,000 per claim for damage or theft of our cellphones. We are limited to three claims per 12-month period and there’s a $100 deductible per instance, but that’s a small price to pay. And luckily, we’re not accident- or theft-prone enough to max this out.

Boosting our rewards on travel

Our go-to cards: Chase Sapphire Reserve and Capital One Venture X Rewards Credit Card

Believe it or not, we don’t spend much on travel since we frequently use points for flights and hotels. When we do pay cash, I usually reach for my Chase Sapphire Reserve because it earns 8 points per dollar spent on all purchases booked through Chase Travel and 4 points per dollar on flights and hotels booked direct.

Plus, the Chase Sapphire Reserve has up to $500 in annual statement credits (split into two up-to-$250 credits) for stays of at least two nights booked through The Edit and a one-time up to $250 credit for prepaid stays at select hotel brands (available through Dec. 31).

The card also offers tremendous travel protections, including primary rental car coverage in case anything goes wrong.

That said, I also make sure to use my Capital One Venture X Rewards Credit Card for at least one trip, thanks to its $300 annual travel credit for bookings made via the Capital One Travel portal. Whatever I spend over that, it earns 10 miles per dollar spent on hotels and rental cars booked through Capital One Travel and 5 miles per dollar spent on flights and vacation rentals booked through Capital One Travel.

Earning double on miscellaneous expenses

Our go-to cards: Capital One Venture X Rewards Credit Card and Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card

We have a lot of nonbonus categories each month that start to add up as well, including things like utilities, renters’ insurance, car insurance, dry-cleaning, food and toys for our dog and more.

For those, we use either my Capital One Venture X Rewards or my husband’s Capital One Venture Rewards. Both cards earn 2 miles per dollar spent on eligible purchases, making them our go-to cards for everyday charges where we wouldn’t earn bonuses otherwise.

Paying rent

This is the key missing element in our strategy. We’re renters in a family-owned building, so we just write a personal check every month to pay for our housing.

That said, we’re overdue to dive into the Bilt universe and start maximizing our earning on rent. Adding a Bilt card will likely be the next evolution of our strategy, but we’re waiting until we’re ready for another card application.

Bottom line

Although my husband and I carry more than 30 credit cards between us, the work of maximizing our everyday household expenses to earn the most points (and the points most valuable to us) is actually quite simple.

We identified our biggest spending categories, assigned one to two primary cards to each and revisit the plan every few months depending on which rewards currency we’re trying to build.

That’s the biggest lesson I’d pass along.

Your own everyday spending strategy can be as simple or as complex as you want. You don’t need dozens of cards or a mathematically perfect setup to maximize your household spending. You just need a strategy that’s simple enough that you’ll actually stick with it. And don’t be afraid to change things up when needed.

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