In points and miles, the "easier" way to make point earning sustainable is the ongoing opening of new credit cards to earn sign up bonuses. This strategy really is how you continue to earn enough points (without significant spending) to book travel and to keep replenishing your points inventory.
BUT....for some people, it's too much. It's too much to manage and too much to think about. When you're wondering:
What Card do You Use Everyday?
This post will cover cards which cards we use for every day costs based on type of spend. Keep in mind, 90% of the time, my household is working on a minimum spend on a new card to earn a sign up bonus, but there are times we aren't working on a new card spend.
Everyday Spend Categories
Which Cards I use and Why
1. Groceries
Likely like many of you, groceries are a frequent purchase and a large portion of our budget. My first choice card for groceries is Chase Sapphire Preferred (learn more here), which earns 3x's times points per dollar spent for online groceries.
This is great if you do online grocery orders for pick up (or Instacart), but if you shop in store, you won't automatically get 3x's points. This also excludes Target, Walmart and Wholesale Clubs.
One work around for in store shopping, is that if you shop at Kroger owned stores (in Colorado, that's King Soopers or City Market), you can add your CSP as your form of payment to in your Kroger Wallet. Then when you check out in store, open your King Soopers app, go to My Account > Wallet > and click "Kroger Pay" at the bottom. A screen will appear for you to select "Use at the register" and a QR code will appear for you to scan and pay. This method earns 3x's points on your grocery spend, even though you're shopping in person!
Now, Amex Gold Personal actually earns 4x's points on groceries (that's 1 point more than Sapphire Preferred); however, because I find Chase points harder to earn, I generally use my CSP for groceries when I can get the 3x's points.
But, there are some stores where the pay via app wallet hack doesn't work, and/or there are times when we have plenty of Chase points so I'll use the Amex Gold instead to work on building up our Amex point start.
Costco Tip: Costco doesn't accept Amex directly.... but you can order Costco through Instacart (even without a Costco membership! Although if you do have a Costco membership, enter it in Instacart for better pricing) and you can use an Amex card for Instacart!
I don't do this on the regular, but when I'm working on an Amex minimum spend to hit a signup bonus, I feel its worth both the spend and the 4x's points. Don't forget, Instacart is also on Rakuten, so you can earn even more points (or cash back!). Several credit cards offer Instacart membership, which gets your free delivery and reduced fees. Some cards (like Chase Ink Cash or Unlimited), even come with $20mo Instacart credit!
2. Dining
This is another common expense in our household. When dining out or ordering directly from a restaurant, similar to above, my first preference is to use Chase Sapphire Preferred (learn more here), which earns 3x's times per dollar spent on dining and maximizes our Chase point earn.
This is another common expense in our household. When dining out or ordering directly from a restaurant, similar to above, my first preference is to use Chase Sapphire Preferred (learn more here), which earns 3x's times per dollar spent on dining and maximizes our Chase point earn.
Amex Gold Personal actually earns 4x's points on dining (that's 1 point more than Sapphire Preferred per dollar spent); however, because I find Chase points harder to earn, I generally use my CSP for for dining when I can get the 3x's points.
The Caveat: 3rd Party Delivery Services
This would be orders from Uber Eats, Door Dash etc. These services also earn 3x's points for CSP or 4x's points for Amex Gold. We have several credit cards that offer monthly credits as a benefit as well as "membership" for free delivery and lower fees. This includes:
- Amex Gold Personal: $10/mo Uber credit
- Amex Platinum Personal: $15/mo Uber credit + UberOne membership (free delivery/lower fees)
- These 2 Amex Card benefits stack, so we get $25/mo Uber credits and free delivery. I pay the remaining UberEats amount owed with Amex Gold to earn 4X's points
- Chase Sapphire (Preferred, Reserve, and Reserve for Business) all come with annual DashPass, which is free delivery/reduced fees for DoorDash. The Reserve cards come with $5 restaurant monthly credit. Even though this is minimal, I generally pair this with a door dash giftcard to order once or twice a month and use this benefit. Note, the Reserve for Business does NOT earn extra points on restaurants/dining.
3. Travel
It isn't as common for us to be spending cash on travel since we primarily book flights and hotels on points; but for the times we do elect to pay cash, I want to maximize our point earn.
It isn't as common for us to be spending cash on travel since we primarily book flights and hotels on points; but for the times we do elect to pay cash, I want to maximize our point earn.
Generally, my go-to card for this is the Ink Business Preferred (which currently has an elevated offer! details here). The Ink Preferred earns 3x's points on travel and does not have foreign transaction fees. IMO, this is a GREAT low-fee card to keep in your wallet, especially for international travel!
*An example of using these benefits: I opened this card for my P2 before we went to the Maldives; because we knew we would have a hefty bill for food and drinks at the hotel. Not only did we use the bill towards the minimum spend to earn a sign up bonus; but we also earn 3x's points on our bill because hotels code as travel!
Tip: When staying at hotels, I always try to charge any purchases at the hotel (coffee shop, bar, restaurant, poolside, etc) to our room. That way, when we check out of the hotel, all of our charges as charged by the hotel and we earn the points multiplier (3x with Ink Preferred or 4x points with Sapphire Reserve Business)
Travel Runner Up Card: Chase Sapphire Reserve for Business (learn more here)
This card earns 4x's points for direct purchase/booking on hotels and flights. This is a little bit better than Ink Preferred, but is also limited to hotels and flights; whereas Ink Preferred "Travel" costs can include airlines, hotels, rental cars, trains, third party travel services (like tours booked through Viator), etc.
4. Everything Else
This one is a no brainer for me; it's Capital One Venture Card (learn more here) or Venture X (learn more here). Both of these cards earn 2x's points on ALL purchases and have no foreign transaction fees.
Keep in mind, Capital One introduced "family rules" at the end of 2025, that they want you to open the cards "in order" to earn sign up bonuses on each card. That means, you'll want to open a Venture Card before the VentureX, so that in a 48-month time period, you're eligible to earn sign up bonuses on both.
(If you open VentureX before Venture Card, you will not earn a sign up bonus on the Venture Card until 48mo have passed from the VentureX sign up bonus)
At the time of publishing this post (Feb 2026); the Venture Card has an elevated offer! Learn more here.
Bonus Categories
Chase Travel Portal: When shopping for flights and hotels, it almost always costs less points to book travel by transferring points out of the bank to book directly with airline and hotel partners.
However, there are times that it IS cheap to book in Chase Travel Portal. For these bookings, I use Chase Sapphire Reserve for Business, which earns 8x's points on portal bookings.
Chase Freedom Quarterly Bonus: This post covers Chase Freedom cards and mentions that Freedom and Freedom Flex cards have quarterly bonus categories to earn 5x's points on purchases, up to a $1.500 purchase limit. I try to utilize the quarterly bonus as much as I can.
(Reminder: Chase Freedom is a no annual fee card that you can downgrade a Sapphire card to!)
Summary
So, while we generally are working on a minimum spend for a sign up bonus, the Chase Sapphire Preferred, American Express Gold Personal, Ink Business Preferred, Chase Sapphire Reserve for Business and Capital One Venture Card (or VentureX if you already have a Venture and want more Capital One points) are always in my wallet and my go-to "back-up" cards!
Because of their extra point earn, the majority of these cards are "keeper" cards for me - meaning that myself or my Player2 (husband) will always have one open! (Just not the Reserve Business due to the annual fee). This post talks about when and why to close or downgrade cards.
If you want to open one of these cards, I would SO appreciate if you utilized my referral links to open cards. This doesn't cost you anything, but provides me with some extra points and keeps all of my content free! Thank you in advance!
Reminder, if you're viewing this through a Meta app, please open an external browser to apply. This protects your data and gives me credit. If you're interested in business cards, but want more information, as well as directions how to apply for them; read here!
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Curious what cards I (and/or my husband) have, and why? Read here!
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