*Hurricane Ridge, Olympic National Park, 2025*

Every year, I like to look back at the cards we opened (and closed) and why we did it. Not because more cards is the goal, but because being intentional with points and miles has completely changed how our family travels.

This year was a steady, strategic one for us, and I wanted to share exactly what that looked like from a family who uses this points and miles management to travel more without wrecking our finances.

First, here’s a quick snapshot at our current status:

We are both currently sitting at 3/24 status, which means we are in good standing to open at least one or two more cards in the near future.
We stayed very intentional with timing and spend
Every card we opened had a clear purpose

*One of the tucked-away Cupecoy Caves in St. Maartin*

Cards I Opened in 2025:

✈️ Barclay’s Hawaiian Airlines® Personal Card (no longer available) - Opened Mid-January

Hawaiian and Alaska merged in October of 2025, creating Atmos Rewards, so the Hawaiian and Alaska Airlines cards are no longer available.

I opened this card before it was discontinued so I could strategically transfer these miles to Alaska, as they held more value for us there. This kicked off our year and gave us a strong airline-specific boost. We used these miles for our Forks and St. Martin adventures this year. We also knew we would be using them for a National Park family adventure in 2026, as our usual choice of Southwest doesn’t fly to the city we need to go to. Atmos pairs nicely with partner redemptions such as American Airlines. This is how my husband and I scored our first business class seat flights together!

🧳 Barclay’s Hawaiian Airlines® Business Card (no longer available) - Opened Mid-March

Yes, I opened both the personal and business versions in the same year…within two months but no regrets! Spoiler alert: I actually got denied the Hawaiian business card at first because I had just opened the personal two months before..however, I called the reconsideration line, and when the representative asked why I wanted another card, I was transparent and told him, “My family uses these points to travel.” He approved me after that! This card worked well for us because:

The bonuses stacked nicely
This Business card does not affect my 5/24 count
It aligned with upcoming travel plans

🏨 IHG Premier Personal - Opened Late April

We are constantly getting IHG points with both the personal and business cards. Between the welcome bonus and the annual free night, it fits perfectly with how we book hotels, especially for family-friendly stays. We always get the cards with the annual fee, because it is worth the Platinum Elite status.

🧳 Capital One Spark Miles for Business - Opened Late July

This gave us flexible miles that we can easily redeem in the future for concert or park tickets, hotel nights, or vacation rentals via Vacasa.

It also helped diversify our points across banks, which is something we prioritize long-term. Keep in mind: althought this card is technically a business card, it does count towards your 5/24 status, so make sure it’s worth opening for your particular strategy.

❌ Cards I closed in 2025: (Yes, That’s Part of the Strategy)

A Southwest Business card
An Ink Business card

Closing cards can be just as important as opening them. As I’ve said in other posts, be sure to wait at least one year before closing a card so there’s not a chance that the bank will take back your points (yes, that can happen!) Be sure to go through the list of benefits of the card and see if it’s worth it to keep, downgrade (recommended), or cancel.

For Chase cards, you can simply send a secure message through the app if you don’t want to call to cancel. It’s very simple, and you’ll get a response within a day or two.

Both had already served their purpose, and closing them simplified our lineup without hurting our overall strategy.

I closed my Southwest Premier Business card because I will apply for it again in 30 days so I can get a Companion Pass for 2026-2027. I closed my Ink because I wanted to gain some credit allowance back.

*Samuel at the Cave of the Winds at Niagara Falls, 2025*

Cards my Husband Opened in 2025:

I opened more cards this year than my husband, which was, again, strategic. He was close to 5/24 for most of the year, so we stuck to a business card in the summer until one of his cards dropped off. Sometimes this happens — we may alternate between one of us opening a bunch of cards in one year, then the other opening more cards the next year.

🧳 Ink Business Cash - June

A fantastic no-annual-fee business card that earned strong cash-back-style rewards, which we can later convert strategically to points to use either through the Chase portal for rental cars, hotels, or entertainment tickets. We used the portal for our rental cars in Seattle, St. Martin, Arizona and Niagara Falls this year, plus Atlanta Pass tickets for all 6 of us.

🛫 Southwest Airlines Performance Business - Opened Early November

This one was timed very intentionally. Southwest points are incredibly useful for family travel, and the card fit nicely into our end-of-year plans as we are going for the Companion Passes again this year after getting them at the beginning of 2024.

❌ Cards My Husband Closed

Alaska Airlines card

Again, we love Alaska miles, and we definitely recommend opening the Atmos Rewards cards, but we want to be able to get these again, and there were no other benefits we needed, so we cancelled right after the annual fee was charged. The fee was taken off right away, so we didn’t have to pay that a second time.

We’re Still at 3/24 (And Why That Matters)

Even with multiple cards opened this year, we stayed mindful of Chase’s 5/24 rule. Business cards helped tremendously here, allowing us to earn points without burning valuable slots. We love the Ink Business Cards because they are $0 annual fee, and can be transferred to your Sapphire card to use in the poral or transfer to travel airlines and hotels.

Being at 3/24 means:

We still have flexibility for future Chase cards
We’re not rushed or locked out of options
Our strategy stays sustainable

*Walking the trail back from Cave of the Winds at Niagara Falls, 4th of July, 2025*

Looking Ahead: Our 2026 Strategy

We’re already laying the groundwork for next year, and 2026 is shaping up to be a fun one.

Here’s what we’re planning:

✈️ Southwest Companion Pass (3-Card Method)

We’ll be using the 3-card strategy to earn the Southwest Companion Pass, which means one of us will open a business card, then refer the other twice, while the other spouse will open one business card and one personal card each, thus both resulting in the necessary 135k points required to qualify for the pass. This also means that two of our kids will fly free for nearly two full years after that!

This is hands-down one of the best deals in points travel for our family of 6. Our ideas to use these points are to fly to our favorite beach spot in the next few months, as well as the Caribbean as a family These points will also carry into 2027, where we plan on using them for a family trip to Hawaii or Portugal.

🏨 IHG Business Cards

We both plan to open IHG Business cards after collecting our Southwest stash to build up:

IHG points
Free night certificates
Status perks
And redemption options for family-friendly hotels

💳 Sapphire Return

I’ll also be opening a Chase Sapphire card again. This card used to have a 48 month rule before you could earn the welcome offer again, however, that was dissolved this year, which means I wouldn’t have to wait until June 2026 to open this card again, since I originally opened it in May 2022.

Keep this in mind: Some banks have a rule where it won’t allow you to get the welcome bonus again unless it’s been 48 months between receiving the sign-up bonus (such as the Capital One Venture cards). A pop-up will usually appear that warns you about this if you apply to soon, and there won’t be a pull on your credit unless you go through with the application.

✈️ Atmos Rewards

What can we say? We love our Alaska miles that we can use to book trips to the Caribbean, Pacific Northwest, or other places that Southwest can’t go. These are invaluable to us, and we love gaining and stashing these miles as much as possible!

Whew! I think that will keep us quite busy this year, don’t you?!

*Picture from my husband’s brother trip in San Jose, CA, 2025*

Final Thoughts

This year wasn’t about opening as many cards as possible. It was about opening the right cards, at the right time, for the right reasons.

If you’ve ever felt overwhelmed trying to figure out what cards make sense for your family, just know this:
👉 You don’t need to copy someone else’s setup.
👉 You need a strategy that fits your goals, spend, and season of life. Open cards with welcome offers you know you will use to pay for trips you want to go on in the next 6 months or beyond.

And that’s exactly what we did this year. 💛

If you want help mapping out your version of this—whether it’s one card or a full plan—you know where to find me.

Happy Travels, Friends! ✌🏻✈️

Our 2025 Credit Card Recap: What We Opened, What We Closed, and Why