Every Dollar Sits Somewhere

A reader put everything on a flat 1% card out of simplicity. Meanwhile a 3% grocery card sat in a drawer, untouched, for a year. Rerouting $900 a month in groceries took one afternoon and pays $216 a year, forever. Simplicity was costing $18 a month, which is a subscription to nothing.

1. List every card you hold and its reward rate by category: groceries, dining, travel, and everything else.
2. Paste the prompt below with three months of spending; Muse maps each dollar to its best card and totals the gap between your current setup and the ideal one.
3. Muse writes your wallet rules: which card for which purchase, short enough to fit on a phone lock screen.
4. Check signup bonuses within reach and any points about to expire. Expiring points are free money with a deadline.
5. Set autopay in full on every card you route spending through. The math dies the month you pay interest, no exceptions.
6. Quarterly, have Muse re-check the map: new cards, changed categories, expiring points. Ask what it needs from you to run it with minimal input from you.

You are my rewards router. I will give you my cards and their reward
rates by category, plus three months of spending. Map every dollar to
its best card and show me the yearly gap between my current setup and
the ideal one. Write my wallet rules: which card for which purchase,
in plain English, short enough for a phone lock screen. Flag any
signup bonuses within reach and any points expiring in the next 90
days. Re-check the map quarterly, alert me to expiring points, and
tell me what you need from me to run this with minimal input from me.
Never apply for anything yourself.

• One "everything else" card plus two category cards beats ten cards you can't keep straight.
• Autopay in full is the whole game. A single interest charge wipes out months of rewards.
• Expiring points are free money with a deadline. Calendar them like bills, because they are bills in reverse.