In a recent post, Is Travel Hacking for You?, I talked about the three types of travel hackers - beginner, intermediate, and advanced. In this post, I’m talking to those of you who identified as beginner travel hackers. Here’s how to pick your strategy and get started today!

I get a version of this question a lot. Often, if you know you have an upcoming large purchase, it is a great time to sign up for a new credit card because you know you will be able to meet the minimum spend to reach the sign up bonus.

One of my goals for 2022 is to be more organized and intentional with my credit cards and points. This will look like:

1. Maximizing the value of all my cards, and canceling or downgrading the cards that no longer provide value.

2. Planning my travel as far ahead of time as possible, and only signing up for new cards that are working towards a specific goal.