Every Credit Card I Keep (And Why) — $3,000 in Annual Fees Explained

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I pay almost $3,000 a year in credit card annual fees — and yes, that's more than our monthly mortgage. In this episode, I'm walking you through every single keeper card my husband and I hold year after year, showing you exactly how I value each benefit and how I personally decide whether a card earns its place in our wallet.

I also want to be really clear: what works for our family isn't necessarily right for yours, and I don't think it should be. That's exactly why my team has built card benefit calculators on the blog — so you can plug in your own life and see what actually makes sense for you. At the end, I've got three simple action steps so you can do your own credit card spring cleaning and make sure every dollar you're paying in fees is actually working for you.

ACTION STEPS:
Take stock of every card you have open. Use the Travel Freely app to stay organized, or track everything in a spreadsheet.
Review every card with an annual fee. Use the benefits calculators on Katie's website to assign your own values to each benefit and see if it's worth what you're paying.
Make a plan. Use the "Ultimate Guide to Closing a Card" (linked in show notes) to understand the full evaluation process before canceling, downgrading, or keeping any card.