The best part about having this blog is that I get to take thoughts I’ve had that haven’t fit anywhere else and put them here for all of you. The second best part is I get to do it in a format that’s quick, so I’m forced to have a brevity I don’t usually have in life.
Today’s thought has been rattling around for a while, and I think some of you need to hear it.
Look. I’m not your mother. I’m not your sister. I’m not your wife. I’m not your girlfriend. I am just some random person on the internet who has a deep love of a flat cap and drinks too much caffeine. However, I spend more time than a normal person should ever spend thinking about credit cards, rewards and credits.
And because I spend that much time in this world, I see the way it can make people feel.
I see the spreadsheets that track every credit down to the penny. I see the Reddit threads at midnight where someone is genuinely stressed about whether they should have put groceries on Card A instead of Card B. I see the YouTube videos with thumbnails that say things like “DON’T MAKE THIS MISTAKE” about a $15 credit for a streaming service. I see people treating what should be a nice perk of a financial product like it’s a second job they’re failing at.
And I get it, because I’ve been there. I have absolutely been the person who spent an unreasonable amount of time trying to figure out the optimal way to use a credit that, in the grand scheme of my life, did not matter that much. I have been the person doing math at dinner instead of talking to the people I’m at dinner with. I know what that feels like.
So I want to tell you, if no one else has told you, it’s okay if you don’t use every single credit.
It’s okay.
If you get $300 more in value out of a card than you pay in the annual fee, but you don’t maximize every single credit on that card? It’s okay. You are still coming out ahead. The card is still working for you. You do not need to squeeze it dry.
If you let a dining credit expire because you forgot, or because you just didn’t feel like placing another Grubhub order you didn’t really want? It’s okay.
A $10 credit you didn’t use is not a $10 loss. It’s a $10 credit you didn’t use. Those are different things.
If you prioritize your own life and family and other hobbies instead of spending nine hours to save $50 on a flight? It’s OK. Your time has value too, even if there’s no spreadsheet column for it.
If you keep a card because the lounge access alone is worth it to you, even though some guy on YouTube would tell you you’re doing it wrong? It’s OK. You are not doing it wrong. You are doing it your way, which is the only way that matters for your wallet and your life.
If you don’t churn. If you don’t have a system. If you use one card for everything because it’s simple and it works and you don’t want to think about it that hard? It’s OK. Seriously. It’s OK.
If you enjoy the optimization, if the spreadsheet is the hobby, if finding the perfect redemption is genuinely fun for you, I am not here to tell you to stop. Keep going. I love that for you.
But if you have a peach pit the size of the Georgia Dome in your gut because you think you have to do all of it to make any of this worth it: you don’t.
The credit card rewards world has a way of making you feel like you’re always behind. There’s always another trick, another stacking strategy, another limited-time offer you should have jumped on. And the people making content about it, myself included, can accidentally make it worse. We talk about maximizing value like it’s a moral obligation instead of a personal choice. It’s not. None of this is a moral obligation. These are credit cards. They are financial tools offered by enormous banks who will be fine either way.
It’s okay to use the credits that serve you, skip the ones that don’t, and get value on your terms. Or as close to your terms as banks will allow.
You have my permission to be okay. Not that you needed it.
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