Despite not even signing up for any new cards or accounts, I scored a pretty solid New Year’s haul. This is broken across true rewards (ex. cash back on cards) with $1,183, offers (ex. promotional discounts for spend) making up $103, and perks (ex. freebies or discounts for card ownership) contributing $454. The single-month amount here even surprised me. I thought it could be a bit of fun to highlight a few.
Rewards ($1,183 in January)
I split my spend across so many credit cards to optimize the points I earn, it often means I have smaller pools of rewards sitting for awhile. I cleared those out in January, with a total of ten redemptions across Bank of America, Bread, Chase, Discover, US Bank, and USAA. This is quite literally cash money, redeemed as statement credits or deposits to my bank account. This includes some big redemptions, as I had $600 from a new card signup bonus from 2025 with US Bank. Cash really is king.
Offers ($103 in January)
I love a good deal. I see how folks reflect on major sales and shopping is exhilarating, as getting some silly discounts or offers really makes the purchase that much more fun. Remarkably, I wasn’t very active here in January as my spend was pretty limited in the month. I did, however, have offers from prior month successfully post. And I already see a few coming in February, too.
Perks($454 in January)
So many things reset in January, and I still have a lot left on the table to take advantage of the coming months. Uber credits, hotel credits, instacart credits, Resy credits. My favorite January fun here has been getting the Instacart+ discount sorted, and getting $30 of free delivery for those annoying “I don’t want to go to the store” items. Maybe it’s actually more than just the discount (but that certainly helps!)
I have some big scheming planned for the rest of Q1 ($1,200 bank-account signup, what?!) Hopefully this teaser is a good inspiration to get on top of the rewards game for yourself in 2026.
Inspiring post-end gif
