2024 Points and Travel Spring Cleaning
It’s now cliche article time – let’s talk about my 2024 Points and Travel spring cleaning. Perhaps no topic is more overdone in the points and miles space – whether it be blogs, podcasts, or anything else. The repetition isn’t just due to lack of creativity, though. Tightening things up is a genuinely rewarding practice, in our hobby and otherwise. In that vein, these are the areas I’m focused most on this spring.
Closing Bank Accounts
I say I’m going to do this more than I actually do. But this year, I’m actually making it happen. Along the way, I noticed that my procrastination has been a good thing, perhaps.
Over the years, I’d become accustomed to painful phone calls with clumsy bank reps. Closing credit cards has always been easier. But, once every so often, technological advancement actually improves a process. Out of the four bank accounts I’ve closed so far, I was able to close three via chat. Things are going so smoothly, I just may keep closing other stuff.
Regardless, it feels great to shed a few banks and their small but annoying requirements – monthly direct deposits, particularly.
Cutting Bait Instead of Fishing
Over the past few months, I’ve promptly closed many cards rather than accepting retention offers. In past years, I’ve accepted these when I’d come out ahead but didn’t take into account the nuisance those decisions can be long-term. Certain banks have made these decisions tremendously easy, as closing meant I could do more elsewhere. But this has carried over to other cards, as well. Closing cards instead of hunting for and justifying retention offers has been remarkably satisfying.
Taking Out the Mind Clutter
Over the years, I’ve become much more selective with what I choose to do. I firmly believe I can’t do everything in our hobby, and that’s a good thing. I’d rather have too many options than not enough. But recently, I’ve more actively let certain options go. I fully acknowledge my disinterest in certain plays earlier on than I have before.
Experimenting is still key in our hobby. But taking into account the most valuable resource of time, I’m doing that in moderation. There’s so much opportunity for us, but much of it comes with unnecessary distraction. And, of course, we all have different thresholds for what we do or do not take on. I’m enjoying a simpler approach this year.
Selectively Speculating
For many of us, the process of planning and booking travel can be just as fun as the travel itself. I’ve been there before, but I don’t enjoy the preliminary process as much now. In the early months of 2024, I’m booking fewer rooms and flights simply because I “found a deal.” Over the years, I’ve ended up cancelling the vast majority of those bookings. What a silly waste of time!
Granted, perhaps it wasn’t totally wasted, as I usually learn something along the way, and I probably ended up taking 10% of those trips. But, ugh, all that time I blew on the other 90%. I still book random stuff here and there, but nowhere as much as I previously did.
2024 Points and Travel Spring Cleaning – Conclusion
Looking back at the above, I should probably be doing this stuff year-round. Indeed, I already am, sometimes. Plus, procrastinating \and letting it pile up just makes things more onerous than they need to be. I encourage you to come up with your own list of tasks you’ve been avoiding and start tackling it. What’s on your 2024 points and travel spring cleaning list?
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