It goes without saying, but I love my rewards. What I love ALMOST as much as enjoying the freebies and perks and benefits is looking back and seeing all that I was able to do on the big bank and airline dime. Another blockbuster year, 2025, at $13,378. Topping last year’s haul by a few hundred (inflation-adjusted, we’re flat with last year’s $13,112.)
The Breakdown
- Hotel Rewards 🏨🏨🏨: $1,085
- Airfare ✈️✈️✈️: $8,262
- Credit Card Rewards 💳💳💳: $4,031
- Combined 💰💰💰: $13,378 value back, or ~$37/day for 365 days!
What has this made possible?
- 2x Round Trip flights to Puerto Vallarta, Mexico (American)
- 2x Round Trip flights to Nice, France (American)
- Companion ticket to Sacramento (Delta)
- 2x Round Trip flights to Cancun (Jetblue/American)
- Companion ticket to Hawaii (Alaska, 2026 travel)
- 1x Round Trip flight to Nice, France (Alaska, 2026 travel)
- 2x Round Trip flight to Italy (Alaska, 2026 travel)
- 3 nights hotel over Xmas in Sacramento (Hilton)
- 3 award nights over various transit/travels (IHG, Hyatt, Marriott)
What has this been made up by?
- New Credit Card bonuses (Alaska Airlines card, Mesa Card-RIP, TD Card, US Bank Card, amongst others)
- New Bank Account bonuses ($325 from Wells Fargo in March, $300 from C1 in October, $10 monthly from Laurel Road throughout the year)
- Lots of general non-new-card spend on credit cards (my base rewards earn is 2.625% back)
- Highly deliberate optimization and hunting for the right travel deals and best value redemptions
What’s next?
Well the truth is, I’m sitting on a bunch of points and miles still (107k C1 miles, 80k AA miles, 59k AMEX MR, amongst others), but almost all of 2026 travel is already planned (thanks Kathy!) So while I’m sure there will be some great opportunities, it may be a bank-it type of year coming up. Regardless, I’m sure there will be some great opportunities, and I know there will be some disgusting offers on new cards to take advantage of.
How do I keep track?
Two tools I use primarily. One is Buxfer, where I generally closely manage my spend tracking and budgeting. Second is a rewards redemption spreadsheet I manage in google sheets. Teaser copy of what each of these looks like below. And yes, you are correctly reading that my categorization macro category for this is “schemey”.
Post-closing gif reflecting my feelings here
