I actually have been spending our alaska miles like a drunken sailor. I have 12k miles left after booking things for next year. But i was curious how much have I spent and how much have I saved? 2026 has been an insanely busy travel year.
Rome Mom $5805 for 400k miles
Cabo $8723 for 490k miles
Hawaii $3200 for 190k miles
Iceland $7096 for 245k miles
Japan $12160 for 500k miles
SFO $2000 for 75k miles
So what did i save for 2026? $38986 and i burned 1.9 million miles so about 2 cents per mile. I mean i think i got a lot of bang for my buck. That's not counting my companion fare coupons from having credit cards.
I redeemed 234344 capital one miles as travel eraser so I saved another $2343 in july this year. I also redeemed $300 travel credits from capital one. I also redeemed $600 in hotel credits and $200 airline incidents (seat purchase) from amex platinum. And $100 from chase for my sapphire preferred. I also redeemed $500 from the Edit Credit Chase Sapphire Reserve and $250 on IHG. Then add on the $300 Sapphire travel credit. And $75 a quarter lululemon and $100 resy from amex. Yes i like lululemon pants and i pick a resturant we eat at anyway on amex. So $300 and $225 savings this year. dining $25/month on brilliant or $300 a year. costco citi cards rewards $386.29 and costco executive membership i can't recall but $200 at least if not more.
But what do i spend on CC?
Chase sapphire reserve $795 - intro year dumping
Amex Brilliant $650 - keep
Alaska summit $395 x 2 = $790 keep
Alaska ascent $95 x 2 = $190 keep
Capital one X - $395 - keep
Sapphire preferred $95 - keep for now
Ink Preferred $95 - dumping next year
costco $130 - keep
amex platinums - free
So $5805 in free rewards credits or cash back and i know i'm missing some and i pay out $3140. I could list the doordash, uber, clear, i use too but i'm too lazy. I am also too lazy to go back and figure out the free hotel rooms i used with marriott points in cabo and pittsburgh and hyatt points i also used pittsburgh. And free room at the ritz. So I didn't even count using chase points. So definitely i had more incremental savings. Probably a couple of thousand on hotel rooms. i do two rooms now.
Anyway i was just looking at my numbers and a little shocked. I seriously saved the equivalent of someone's job. It seems crazy. I can see why people to try to chase rewards so hard. I am not a serious CC chaser, I look for deals but i still pay for hotels. I still buy airline tickets for DH and I.
Want to save some money? Get a 2% cash back CC at the minimum. Wellsfargo active or Fidelity 2% is free. Might as well monetize your spending.
October 8th, 2026 at 07:45 pm 1791485124
October 10th, 2026 at 01:52 am 1791593535
October 12th, 2026 at 04:16 pm 1791818173
October 13th, 2026 at 06:27 am 1791869275
I am pretty sure DK (rob) was here when i started and i"m not sure if she recalls being in my 20s and just trying to keep our heads above water, pay our student loans, and save for retirement. Every dollar had job.
Back then I used all my CC points to travel anywhere. I never imagined I'd travel anywhere i want just because. Full circle.