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.