Higher earners, are we spending/wasting too much? (trigger warning)

[Bs0u416d]

We've recently started putting all our joint expenses through a credit card in order to earn airline points, my DP's idea, not mine. We put groceries, fuel, pet expenses (daycare, food, vets), holidays, dining out, clothes, hobbies etc through the card. We pay for mortgage, bills etc separately but jointly. Cars, savings, pensions and various insurances etc are done individually. We're averaging nearly 5k a month on the credit card and this feels like quite a lot. I feel like the credit card encourages spending because it is unscrutinised, in a way that debit card spending isn't and I'm not sure we get the return in airline points. We're two professional adults and we can afford this, I just wonder if we're wasting money. We're a 300k+ household pre tax, to avoid the drip feed. Can't really ask friends as its awkward.

Me neither

I was half joking. These threads can elicit considerable backlash!

Morning all. Thanks for the replies, all super helpful and constructive. You've helped normalise the spending and made me feel like there is value in the points card. I will take the genius idea of downloading the app and using my DP's log in details so I can keep myself more abreast, I don't know why I didn't think of that 😂. Have lovely weekends. Over and out.

Just be aware that Amex travel companion voucher has limitations - it’s not a case of you buy a ticket and automatically get a free one with the voucher.

@Bs0u416d You may find the app can only be downloaded to one device - I had that issue when I was second card holder on a card DH had set up. It prompted us to look at spend and work out that I should get my own card, as I would independently spend enough to get the benefits (£10k a year, which gets free companion voucher).

I also downloaded a few budgeting apps to try them out - I ended up with Moneyhub as it links up ISAs, pensions etc as well as credit cards and current account, which is what I needed. I have a much better overview of spend now eg I know that it’s about £800 for groceries for four of us, and that I always spend significantly more at the start of each term as that’s when the bills for DC’s hobbies come in.

I have the John Lewis credit card. I'm not sure how your monthly spend would translate into points but I get Waitrose/John Lewis vouchers three times a year which I enjoy. Last year I saved them and put them towards a nice new bag.

What credit card do you use for this?

I just put all spending through on my debit card so this thread has been an eye opener!

Sorry, another question! What difference is there booking when flights are released?

That's exactly what I was thinking.

I'm in the camp of spend what you have if you can meet all expenses.

Life is for living.

Sounds affordable for you so go for it - and enjoy!

What’s YNAB?

Not high earners but we put all our monthly spending on credit cards for cashback. 1.25% with Amex and 0.5% on Aqua. They are repaid in full monthly and actually help cashflow as we have 1 payment come out of bank instead of many throughout the month. We should earn around £200 in cashback for the year, it comes off our Xmas spending too which is fab.

We don’t earn as much as you, but have a similar tactic of putting everything possible on credit cards (we have BA Amex plus and barclaycard Avios for places that don’t take Amex!) to be honest I reckon most months we spend close to £5k between them.

it earns us a significant amount of points, and we’ve had plenty of use out of them! Also, if you do any online shopping make sure you do it through the Avios app for extra Avios.

Every month, my DH and I sit down for half an hour and go through the statements and allocate out who’s spent what (and who owes who). It works really well for us.

Please make sure you have the discipline to pay it off in full every month, the credit card companies are hoping you won't. It is only worth it of you always pay it off and don't incur any interest charges

One of the things being high earners buys you is the luxury of not having to worry too much about this sort of thing (if you don't want to). If my kids need something I buy it, although the teenagers have a clothes budget because I want them to learn to budget and live within their means. I buy what we want in the supermarket without scrutinising it. DH and I don't spend a lot on ourselves but we don't really have to budget for family expenses, days out etc. We don't spend a lot on holidays at this stage in our lives but may do in the future. We give large sums to charity (5 figures most years). We paid off our mortgage a few years ago. Two of our children have SEN so my capacity is limited and it's really really nice not to have to worry about money.

Can't see the issue here. Spending seems relatively modest in view of your income. But really on good salaries why do you even need air miles.

Not sure really, has it gone up since you started using the card? We do this with our AMEX to collect Avios points (we’ve also got a Barclaycard Avios for places that don’t take AMEX). In order to ensure we don’t overspend, every time we spend on the credit card, we transfer the money from our joint account. It means we never pay any interest.

We have a similar income and our per month spending is probably similar - with and extra £3k per month for nursery on top. We spend too much on taxis and eating out and I want to cut back and save more so we don’t have to do our stressful jobs forever but we don’t have to and so we aren’t disciplined enough to do so. We will have no one else to blame when we’re still working at full speed into our 70s…

Agree with this.
Op I think people are answering whether 5K is OK with your income which wasn't the question.
The CC companies are not daft.
They know " rewards" will tempt you to chase them and I would be very uncomfortable not having access to the account.
I've recently stopped using my JL card for everyday purchases as it was stacking up and up.
Have instead put the food,petrol and everyday costs budget onto a cashback card .Big purchases on the CC for the protection
We would get £100 a quarter in vouchers,pretty sure we are saving masses more than that per month now and getting cashback and round ups which automatically go into a 5% savings account.

I use Apple Pay linked to my credit card to pay for everything. I like to look at my credit card statement to analyse my spending, eg how much I spend at Tesco, butchers etc

I feel this gives me accountability for my spending.

My DH prefers cash as he knows if he has £100 that is all he has did you see what I mean. I always argue that he probably wouldn't be able to account for all
Of that if he had to unlike my credit card spending.

I have a direct debit which clears the balance in full each month.

I’m actually thinking of going back to cash for a small treat money pot each month, same with DP. We spend way too much on small, frivolous purchases and have big costs on the house renovations so this would keep me in check. Amazon is also a weakness 😬 Thanks all for the advice on the rewards cards

We have a cash back credit card and we do our monthly spend on that and pay it off each month with DD for the whole balance. We put the cash back aside and use it for New Year’s Eve treats.

On your salaries you can afford that sort of spend so I don’t see any issues with it.

Yes that is the luxury of it - not having to think about budgeting.

If my daughter needs new shoes, or school trips away etc it is not even a discussion point. And I can afford to buy whatever we fancy eating for dinner.

Thought I do still like getting my cash back rewards from my credit cases each month 😀

We do the same. Have a British Airways American express; which generates a lot of avios. Plus we holiday 4 or 5 times per year, so get more avios from the ba flights and marriot/sheraton hotels.
We usually transfer about £750 worth of avios to nectar every Christmas, get companion vouchers for free flights and use avios for cabin upgrades.
So not unreasonable as you get so much free.

There are generally a very limited number of reward seats on any given flight so if you don’t book as soon as they become available, they may well be booked by someone else.

That’s why they ask if you are paying cash or points as this will change what flight options you have available- or it does on the airline I use the most.