i tried to optimize my credit card rewards and mostly just confused myself into spending more

i fell into the credit card rewards rabbit hole this spring and im honestly not sure it made me richer, just more annoying to be around.

it started reasonable enough. got a card with a $200 bonus if i spent $500 in three months, and since i already spend more than that on normal stuff i figured it was basically free money. the problem was never hitting the number. it was that the second i started thinking in "categories" every purchase turned into a little optimization puzzle. does this go on the new card or the old one, is grocery 1.5 or is there some rotating thing this quarter. i burned more mental energy on it than the $200 was really worth.

then came the part that actually got me. i was sitting around $480 with a couple weeks left, and instead of just letting my normal spending cover the last twenty bucks, i bought a usb-c hub id been "meaning to get" for months. did i need it that week, no. did the bonus math make me feel clever about buying it, absolutely. the one tiny redemption was that i had coupert running and it pulled a code on the order, so the thing i didnt need was at least a few bucks cheaper. which is the exact spending-more trap i had decided i was too smart for.

the bonus did post last week so on paper it "worked". but my real takeaway is the opposite of a victory lap. the optimization mindset is sneaky, it dresses up wants as efficiency. im keeping the one card and putting the spreadsheet away before i talk myself into a second card i dont actually need. anyone else notice chasing rewards quietly pushed your spending up, or is that just me