Year-end credit card summaries

[disneysteve]

All four of our credit cards offer a year-end summary that shows our total charges and breaks them down by category. It's always interesting to page through that to see where all the money went.

Is it bad that the summary from just our one main card is 20 pages long?

Just on that card, total spending was about $46,600.

The most expensive month was December.

There was a tie for the most expensive categories, but not so much when I really look at the details. The two categories were "travel and entertainment" and "other". However, "other" includes a number of charges that actually belong in other categories including "travel and entertainment" so that would push that category solidly to the top. Also, there a number of things in "other" that are job-related and I got reimbursed for them so they don't really represent personal spending.

Have you reviewed your year-end summaries? Did you find anything that surprised you? Do you use the summary to help plan your spending going forward?

[creditcardfree]

The main card we use provided a year end summary. It was 28 pages long. We spent $36,001. July was our most expensive month followed by November (which was a large vehicle repair and Christmas spending). No planned changes, other than reducing grocery spending, but that will happen naturally as our youngest daughter heads to college in the fall.

[Jluke]

41175.95

July was highest.

Tax deductible and related was highest category driven by daycare costs

I still need to tally up the credit card rewards for 2017

[disneysteve]

No planned changes, other than reducing grocery spending, but that will happen naturally as our youngest daughter heads to college in the fall.

You'll probably notice some other things drop once she goes to school. Food for sure but also household stuff like tissues, toilet paper, etc. And you may see your utility bills dip down. One less person showering. Less laundry. Fewer dishes to wash.

The one thing I want to work on reducing is travel spending. I posted this in my blog but from December 2016 to this month, we spent about $20,000 on travel. That was unusually high for us. For 2018, I'm planning to focus on using some of our Marriott points and trying to combine at least one trip with a medical conference where most of my expenses will be reimbursed through work.

[scfr]

$14,700 total across all 4 cards.

The "big 3" are:
Merchandise (groceries, etc.)
Services (insurance, utilities, cell, etc.)
Entertainment (mostly golf)

No surprises.

As far as impact on 2018 budget, nothing major, but working to trim a little here & there is a part of our lifelong financial work.

[disneysteve]

$14,700 total across all 4 cards.

The total across 3 of our cards was $54,703. I can't see my wife's Discover as I don't have her password but it was another $500-1,000 so total of about $55,500. We use our cards a lot obviously as that represents a significant percentage of our take home income. I wish we could pay the mortgage and a couple of other bills (gas, electric, water, sewer, etc.) with the CC but they don't allow that.

[bjl584]

I didn't start using a credit card for all purchases until MAR of 2017, so I have 10 months of records.

Total charged in 2017 = $12,920.92
Total cash back earned in 2017 = $258.41

[bjl584]

The total across 3 of our cards was $54,703. I can't see my wife's Discover as I don't have her password but it was another $500-1,000 so total of about $55,500. We use our cards a lot obviously as that represents a significant percentage of our take home income. I wish we could pay the mortgage and a couple of other bills (gas, electric, water, sewer, etc.) with the CC but they don't allow that.

I can pay my electric with a CC, but there is a service fee for it, so no point in doing it, as it eats into the cahs back rewards. I am able to pay cable, internet, and cell phones with the CC however.

[Drake3287]

Our yearly report won't be ready until the end of this month but it'll be in the $60,000 or so range. Like I've written before, we charge EVERYTHING and pay it off each month. Most people don't realize that "everything" really means almost everything.

Our power (PG&E) bill and property taxes are the only thing we can't charge. Like many of you we do this for cash reward's which for 2017 was $2,000. Basically free money. All it costs me is the added time to look over and dissect our monthly bill.

[LivingAlmostLarge]

$10,123 Discover $275 Cashback earned
$27,026 Costco LAL $566 rewards
$4176 Costco DH $86

then I believe $30k on a airline card with 30k miles

[dizbetam]

Credit Card End of Year

IHG Credit Card: $6,050.99
Upromise Card: $36,650.03
USAA Card: $7,244.86

$49,945.88

Disclaimer: I travel a lot for work, I would say around 90+ Days of hotel living with per diem. So maybe $20,000 was travel expenses related to work. Mileage, Per diem, and airplane, rental car, and hotel expenses reimbursement.

I spend most of my expenses on eating out even when I am not traveling. One of my vices I need to fix for 2018.

I use Upromise website to get cash back whenever I travel. During 2017 I got $1,500 from the upromise website that goes to a savings account.

[msomnipotent]

All three cards came out to $46,212.48, which is a few grand lower than last year. They are all rewards cards but I didn't add up the points. I'm expecting this year to be higher since we are working on the house again.