My situation is a little different because Mrs. Redtop and I live in different countries, but I keep it simple, I just have her use one card at a time (with no forex fee of course) and I don't worry too much if we are leaving a few points on the table. Every 6-12 months I tell her "give me back that card" and give her a new one. If there are minimum spends, I manage those. I have her cable/internet billed directly to my Ink Bold card for the 5x.

My husband is okay with it. He rolls his eyes now and again, but thats because 1. he doesn't get why I'm so gung ho about it, and thinks I should find a 'real' hobby lol, and 2. he's never had to worry about flying in premium cabins as he's been flying in first or business since he was born and it was always taken care of. But now that we're "grown up" :P, we have to take care of it ourselves.

He's happy to have the benefits, and is willing to go along with remembering which cards to use when. And he doesn't really care if I apply for cards in his name. I just give him the card and tell him what to do with it (but if he forgets and uses the wrong card for something, its not a big deal. I just let it go, which helps). He loves when I'm happy, and he knows I'm happy when we travel comfortably (and, dare I say, luxuriously). So he's fine with entertaining my schemes to get miles and points lol.

My fiance is exactly like the OP's spouse.

She gets defensive if she uses the wrong card at the wrong location and I call her out on it..it's funny.

But she knows, BCP=Groceries, Discover (right now)= restaurants/lunch, Chase Sapphire Pref=everything else (working on the min spend currently). She brags when she uses the "right" card at the "right" location.

I've been boring my gf with CC stories for about a month now, since I found this site and got addicted to this. Stories of what we'll get and the places we'll go, showing threads with pictures of Singapore airlines suites, describing how VRs work, etc.

Recently she had a car repair paid for by the other person's insurance. She applied online and was approved for a CSP, and met the $3K spend in one transaction after getting reimbursed with a check from the adjuster. Then this week she went on a business trip and stayed at a Hyatt. She called to tell me she signed up for the Hyatt Gold Passport program cause the girl at the front desk told her she might as well cause it was going to be 4 nights. I am so proud of her.

She's not on board with doing an AoR yet. Baby steps...

wow...maybe some of you should have married smarter spouses..lol. Is it really that hard to remember to use BCP for groceries, xxx for gas, ect.?

Lol, it can be confusing if you don't follow this stuff like we do..especially if you're throwing in gift cards, prepaid cards, and categories / multiple churns of 6 * per spouse every quarter

My spouse has done a good job on keeping up with which card to use. I try my best to make it as simple as possible.

Get her signed up for the current Hyatt promo and pick up an extra 3K points.

he always tries to distract me when I am reviewing MRs on FT. He has learned to roll his eyes and go with the flow, but it's not easy.

he just assumes that I know what I'm doing. apparently got him fooled :-)

Just tell her that You are the man - the Boss - a creature of superior intellect and worth. Then she will divorce you and you have all the lovely miles to yourself and your new young voluptous blond travel companion. Just a random thought

When I first glances at this I thought it said Don't churn cars but do spouses.

Anyway, Mr b1513 never gets it right. There have been more arguments over the years about this. Truly, it puts me over the edge sometimes. It quite simple, really, just use "this" card for now. I'm starting to think its passive-aggressive behavior .

Bobette

Already tried that. She opted to stay with me for my miles.

What a ridiculous statement. My spouse is incredibly smart. He's at a top 10 school in his field (with an academic scholarship), will graduate from said school with highest honors, son of 2 doctors (both of whom have MDs and PhDs, and one of whom is very well known in her specialty) etc. But obsessing about miles and points is not a priority for him. He is capable of using the correct card for the correct purchase, but he doesn't really care about it. He tries to be mindful of it because he knows that I care about it, but if he forgets or is exhausted from a 16 hour day, its truly not the end of the world and is definitely not a reflection of his intellectual capacity.

lighten up, Francis. don't take everything on the net so seriously.

it's about impossible for me to tell me fiance what new card to use without her getting an attitude about it. then, of course, she thinks it's awesome when we go somewhere nice for essentially free. when it's time for a new card, attitude comes back. it's all great when we're using the rewards but complete hell to get her to help.

You tell her to lighten up and then you bash your fiancee? Take your own advice.

My SO mocks me a bit for my "hobby", but he got on board pretty quickly when we got a last minute flight and car rental for a grand total of $25. Since then, we've stayed a free night in Manhattan in December and had a trip to Paris and Madrid that cost all of a couple hundred each. Now he double-checks with me to make sure he's using the right card, and he suggested a mattress run if Club Carlson brings back their big promo this summer. I'm so proud.

Grand Hyatt Kuaui 4-nights free with two times $1000 spend has drawn some positive attention to the game. We don't plan on going for a year so hopefully things don't change before we get the card.

Generally though, my wife likes Starpoints and I like UR points and if we just go about our everyday spending it works out pretty well for one vacation a year. I handle airfare and she handles the hotel. She'll use the card I prefer where AMEX is not accepted and I'll use the SPG at Costco and Sheratons.