Using Your Points to Have Your Cake and Eat It Too
For this post I wanted to try something different. Those of you that have been following since the beginning know that I’ve pretty much talked about different credit card strategies, planning for our upcoming Japan trip, ways to double dip on earning points, etc. Thank you for sticking with me this long as I figure out how I want to shape this blog going forward. If you’re new here, welcome, and feel free to check out the blog from the beginning HERE.
Back to what I was saying, for this post I wanted to do something a little different. I realized that many of my other posts come from the perspective that everyone is comfortable with credit cards or is in a place to use credit cards in a similar way that I do so that you can take epic trips at a fraction of the cost. But that’s not the reality for many these days. In July 2026 an article from Forbes stated that credit card debt in the US was up to $1.25 trillion dollars at the end of Q1 2026, and the average credit card debt per American at the end of December 2025 was $6,715. This was up $135 from the year prior.
Not Financial Advice
Before I go further, I just want to disclaimer that I’m not a financial advisor in any way and the contents of this post are not mean to be financial advice. I simply wanted to take a step back from my excitement over credit cards and acknowledge that not everyone is in the same position that my wife and I find ourselves in. Now, that figure from Forbes was the average spread across all Americans. Some could have tons more credit card debt and others not so much or maybe even none at all. If you’re debt free, that’s great! My wish is that those that are working towards that can reach that goal too. So, I wanted to take a pause to acknowledge those of you reading this may not be ready to jump into the points world just yet, and that’s ok.
Maybe you’re coming to the realization that you need to get rid of your credit card debt and want ideas of what you can do once you’ve taken care of it. Maybe you just finished paying off your debt (congratulations!) and are now ready to find a way to use credit cards to your advantage, rather than having the interest of credit card debt work against you.
Inspiration for This Post
In my personal journey with credit card points and miles, I’ve learned that, when used wisely, they can help me “have my cake and eat it too” as the saying goes. I feel like typically we’re told you can’t take nice trips and have it be inexpensive. But what I’ve learned in my journey is that there is a way that I can go on nice trips with my family and not pay an arm and a leg for it. And that’s where the inspiration for this blog originated!
I wanted to be able to share from my experiences with credit cards to show others that it is possible to earn points and miles on money that you need to spend; money for things like groceries, gas for your car, things for your home, etc. Once those points build up, you can then use them to offset the cost of travel that you’re wanting to take. Now depending on the type of trip you may need a smaller number of points or a huge number of points. And for the trips that require a bigger number of points, that can take more time if you want it to cover the entire trip. But even if it doesn’t cover the entire trip, points and miles can greatly reduce the amount of money you need to set aside to go on said trip. This means that less of your money needs to be allocated towards travel and can go towards necessities, building up savings, or a different area you wish to funnel it to.
Little Encouragement
I’ll leave you with this encouragement; there is a way to earn points for your travel without going into debt. It will take some work, but you just have to start. Put in the work to improve your finances and if points and miles is something you want to get into, take baby steps and start when you feel you’re ready. And if you’ve already started, keep going!
