A New (To Me) Way To Keep Track Of Credit Card Rewards

by SharonKurheg

Joe and I started this blog on February of 2017. However, we had been churning credit cards and gathering points and miles for a good decade before then.

I’ll fully admit that the whole “points and miles” thing is Joe’s hobby; I’m just here for the (plane) ride (and the occasional REALLY cool hotel. This one’s my favorite – we paid cash for it during our most recent visit, in late 2019. But we used points the previous time we stayed there, in Fall 2016). Because I write some of the posts here, I’ve learned more about that whole world (i.e. airline alliances, which hotel brands own what hotel chains, etc.) than I ever thought I would. However, the one thing where I draw the line is using specific credit cards for certain spending.

It’s not that I’m stubborn (well, I AM, but that’s beside the point…) or even lazy (OK, I might be THAT sometimes too but…). It’s just that my memory sucks donkey b@lls and I simply can’t keep track of using THIS card for gas purchases and THAT card for supermarket spending and THE OTHER card for the entire month of July because it’s giving 5x points if we meet our minimum spending requirements (or something like that).

So for the past 15+/- years, the rule in the house has been that I’m willing to use ONE CARD. OK, maybe two cards, but only if it was something really, really special (Read: “Just for this month, use the Capital One for the supermarket, but the Visa Signature for everything else.” Except I’d still forget and wind up using the Visa Signature for the supermarket by mistake, and it was the week I bought a whole bunch of meat and OMG, I still haven’t heard the end of it). So Joe would flip through my cards here and there and put a different one on top because THAT’S the one that was the most important at the moment (I didn’t care which one I used, as long as it was only one).

But in his heart, I know he’d be happier if I used a handful of cards and used each card for a different type of spend.

Turns out, I may be able to now.

I don’t remember how I came across these, but OMG, how perfect are these decals?

a hand holding a credit card

PC: vsandgraphics.com

Think about it – with just one quick glance, I could know which card to use for each category of spending. I wouldn’t have to keep track, because it was right there, on the cards!

The stickers are made by a company called Vital Signs & Graphics – they’re out of Miami. They make custom vinyl signs and graphics, but also apparently sell a bunch of other things online, including cute decals for Apple Macbooks, huge vinyl wall decorations, and, yes, credit card stickers for people like me who can’t remember which card to use when.

They sell the decals as a set of all pre-printed, or a mixture of pre-printed and blanks so you can customize them. These are the 2 choices:

They’re all peel and stick…I just don’t know if they’re meant to be used just once, or if they’re re-usable. That’d be the “make it or break it” thing for me. See, we already tried Post It notes (they fall off) and taping notes (pain to remove the tape) to the credit cards. Stickers that could be removed and used on another card (since they tend to get rotated monthly) would be great.

Since I found this one company, I decided to see what else was out there. Turns out, holy crap, go to Etsy (they of the e-commerce company focused on handmade or vintage items and craft supplies) and search for CREDIT CARD STICKERS. There are over 4,000 hits! OK granted, some are sponsored ads and some are glittery skins for credit cards (sorry not sorry…making your credit card sparkly sounds about as necessary as getting one that’s metal. Why???). And yet others don’t even have to DO with credit cards…welcome to Etsy! But anyway, printed credit card stickers are definitely “out there,” in all different styles.

I searched Amazon as well – they don’t have credit card stickers, reusable or otherwise (they do have 500 PC disposable clear plastic gloves and Meta Quest 2 Advanced All-In_One Virtual Reality Headsets, though. Because Amazon search. I dunno…). Neither does eBay.

It’s possible y’all have known about these things for forever and a day. I didn’t. Neither did Joe. But seriously, if the stickers are reusable, that would be a game-changer in my being willing to have and use more than 1 card at a time in my wallet. As the good blog says, Your Mileage May Vary.

(From Joe: I’ll believe this when I see it.)

Feature Photo (cropped): Credit Cards by Nick Youngson CC BY-SA 3.0 Pix4free

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