For a number of years we've violated Dave Ramsey's "cut up the credit card" rule, because we've enjoyed the rewards programs... free hotel nights, free tickets to Six Flags, etc. But we do pay them off every month. Maybe that makes Dave half-way happy.
Later we decided we might use them for something we'd never be able to do otherwise... some major trips. We got an American Airlines card and starting getting points. In 2005, to celebrate our 20th Anniversary, Liz and I went to Europe. With Andy graduating High School this year, we decided to use the next set of points to do a family trip to Hawaii. Andy is trying to get to all 50 states and still lacked three or four.
We booked the trip back in September after receiving an email from American Airlines that the miles required would increase October 1. We were further blessed because a month or two later Liz and I attended a travel club presentation in which one of the incentives for attending was a five day, four night Hawaii vacation (i.e., hotel). They offered us another night free by attending a presentation there, so we ended up with five free nights on top of the free travel! That was really awesome for a cheap-scape like me.
