The best way to use credit cards is to maximize rewards while avoiding all fees.

Credit cards allow you to buy things before you have the money in your bank account. We all know that. If you don’t pay attention to what you are spending, you may not be able to pay off the credit card when the statement comes. That will cost you a lot of money in fees and interest. If you use credit cards wisely, you can avoid all fees and make some money in the process.

NOTE: I get nothing for any of these links. I am not a registered affiliate for any of these cards.

The number one most important thing when you use credit cards is to carry a zero balance. I use credit cards for convenience and for rewards. I consider it a game. If you carry a balance, the ridiculous interest payments immediately outweigh any reward you get. I usually use cashback cards. If you play the game, you can get 5% back on a lot of charges and at least 2% on everything. A single 10% interest payment on an outstanding balance negates it all.

Don’t pay fees. I don’t have any cards that carry an annual fee. If you have a fee of $100, you have to get 3% back on over $3000 in charges to get your money back. There may be a few exceptions where it is worth the annual fee, but I don’t believe in doing it. If you cannot pay your entire balance monthly, or you can’t pay on time, incurring a late fee, then you are better off without credit cards.

Here, I will describe how to pay most of your bills and get the best cashback. If you know a better way, please let me know so I can try it.

Amazon: If you are an Amazon Prime Member, use the Chase Amazon Card. You get 5% back on all charges at Amazon. It’s a no-brainer. I bought a $600 Weber grill, which got me $30 cash back.

Target: If you go to Target or use Target.com, get the Target Circle Card (formerly the Target Red Card). With it, you get 5% off everything you buy in the store or online.

Costco: If you belong to Costco, I strongly recommend the Citibank Costco Card. Sam’s has a similar card; I had it when I was a member of Sam’s, but I prefer Costco in every way, including the card. You get significant cash back. Until a few years ago, the money back had to be used at Costco. That was fine, but when you use the rebate check, you can’t get the 2% cashback for using the card. If your check is over $500, you can transfer the money to any bank. The following section applies if you use the Costco card, and it mostly applies for Sam’s.

Travel: Costco card gives you 3% back. That is generally better than any travel card. The airlines cards don’t deliver benefits better than 3%. Also, the fee is quite high if you get a high-end travel card, like the Delta Reserve. You, of course, only get the rewards when you use that airline. So, I used to use a Delta Amex card, but frequently, United or American had a much better deal or time than the Delta flight. Of course, I have a free membership with all airlines, but I don’t want to spend an extra $300 for a Delta flight to get the reward, especially if the times aren’t good. Use Costco for all travel: Hotels, flights, everything. The reward is cash. Note that Airbnb and VRBO don’t qualify for the 3%.

Restaurants: Sometimes cards with rotating categories give 5%, but the Costco card gives you 3% all year round. If you eat out a lot (I don’t), you may consider using the Custom Cash Card for restaurants. See below under groceries.

Verizon: The Verizon credit card allows you to get $10 off your monthly bill if you autopay with this card. It may only last a year, but that is $120.

Gas and electric charging: Again, use the Costco card. It gives you 4% back at any gas or EV charging station. You don’t have to go to Costco for gas, but it is usually cheaper.

Groceries: I use the Citibank Custom Cash Card. If you eat out more than you buy groceries, you could use the Custom Cash card for restaurants and something else for groceries. Custom cash is cool. Whichever category of purchase you do the most for the month, you get 5%. Everything else is 1%. I use it for groceries and only groceries. Then, I get 5% back on all groceries and 1% of nothing. Therefore, it gives me 5% back on groceries. Again, if you go out a lot, use it for restaurants.

Two Categories of your choosing: With the awesome U.S. Bank Cash+ card, you choose two categories every month to get 5% back. They make you choose a category for 2%, but that doesn’t beat the two cards in the next section. For the 5% I choose internet and streaming, and ground transportation. So my internet is with Mediacom, and I get 5% on that and Sling TV. I also get 5% on Uber.

Apple is easy. Get the Apple card. It gives you 3% on every Apple purchase, including apps and subscriptions.

Everything Else: There are two excellent options. The Citibank Doublecash card. You get 1% when you charge it and 1% when you pay the bill. But you shouldn’t have a credit card if you don’t pay the entire balance every month. So, I get 2%. The other is the Wells Fargo Active Cash. I have them both, mainly so I have a backup in case something happens to one of them.

This is a lot of information. You may not qualify for some of these if you don’t have good credit. Also, I don’t know whether having so many credit cards can adversely affect your credit score. I have been told that if you pay off every card every month, your score improves, but you should check that out.

If you charge a lot, avoid all fees, and always pay on time, this is the best way to use credit cards. You can get hundreds or even thousands of dollars back. Don’t forget, if you pay fees or carry a balance, the best way to use credit cards is not to use them.

Can you trust online reviews? Only some of the time.

Anytime I buy something, I check the reviews. We know we can’t trust most things we read online, but can you trust online reviews? The answer is, as usual, sometimes. 

There are three types of reviews, with pros and cons for each. 

1)  Expert reviews

If one person is doing the reviews, you will see them on YouTube. They may review the best and worst products of a specific type, or they might review just one. Many of these are great, but some cannot be trusted. They may have deals with companies that supply them with free products to review and not let the reviewer post a negative review. If every reviewer did that, then all reviews everywhere would be positive. You know this happens when you buy a product that turns out to be awful, yet all the reviews are positive.

There are some great sites, in any case. My favorite reviewer for cameras is Ken Rockwell. I have followed the site for years and have not been led astray. He will tell you whether the features are worth it. He receives nothing from camera companies and says whatever he wants.

Other expert reviews are on websites devoted to the products. They can have similar problems with taking money from companies and may be unable to post negative reviews. Dpreview.com and Petapixel.com seem trustworthy. I have seen many negative reviews on their sites. 

Another problem is that some expert sites care more about one aspect of a product than you do. I care about whether the device or product works. Then I look at the price and see if it is worth it. I am thinking about changing my cell plan from Verizon. I want to know if my calls will go through if I switch to T-Mobile. I don’t need the reviewer to tell me T-Mobile is worth it. Tell me the price and whether T-Mobile is good, and I can figure it out. A high price for me might be a low one for you. It could save me 50%, but if it drops a third of my calls, forget it. Someone with less money than me might accept the call drops for the saved money.

Most camera websites will focus more on camera features that matter only to high-level photographers. 32 megapixels or 34. Eight stops of image stabilization or six. Fifteen shots in a second or 12. You may care about these details; I want a camera to take photos I can share and make 4×6 prints. My iPhone 14 is fine. The sites I mentioned above are good at knowing their audience for a given review, but some sites are not.

Another problem is that the reviewers only use the product briefly. I want to know if my iPhone case will still protect my phone in three months. Will it be completely worthless, then? This is a big problem with kitchen appliance reviews. My coffee maker may not list high on reviews, but it works after ten years.

2)  Amazon or independent store sites

Many reviews (good and bad) are fake on Amazon. As with expert reviews, the reviewer will have different priorities than I do. They may give a low review of a book because the print is small. I don’t care about that. A skillet review may be low because it is too heavy. Again, I don’t care. I may only care about the nonstick coating. Regardless of the problem with Amazon reviews, you can usually trust the consensus. I would not consider a two-star product if similar products are getting five-star reviews, and It is uncommon to get a piece of junk with a considerable percentage of five-star reviews.

Sites that sell their products directly cannot be trusted with their reviews. Some are likely on the level, but I have never seen a bad review on a travel company for any of their tours. Companies can too easily filter out bad reviews. If you can, find unpaid independent reviewers rather than trust the reviews on the store site that makes the product.

Another issue is when a reviewer on a site has an incentive to post a good review. I have had success on VRBO. I have yet to be wholly burned renting a house that had a five-star average. But the reviews may give only part of the picture. I want to be a five-star renter, so I am never refused a booking. I typically don’t review the homes that I don’t care for. I don’t want the owner of that place bad-mouthing me in their review of me. That said, if 200 renters rave about a rental house, you can bet it’s good.

3) Long-term reviews by ordinary people

This is the type of review I intend to write, and they are the best. The problem is that there aren’t that many. They are from individuals who have used a product for months or years. They will usually describe the good and bad of the product. I am using a mechanical keyboard that I bought almost a year ago. My review will have comments on its features, value, and durability. I will comment on the benefits and downsides for users like me and technology nuts. I don’t receive any money from the company, and no one can stop me from writing the truth. There are some reviews of this type, but they are harder to find. 

So, what should you do?

Read the reviews on more than one site. Don’t trust the reviews on the site of the company making the product. Don’t trust a reviewer whom the seller pays. Look at the average scores and read reviews to understand what the reviewer cares about. If the item is expensive, get some long-term reviews. If all else fails, find an expert you trust and ask them. In my case, if it’s computer-related, I ask my son and do what he says.

Is Pour Over Coffee Better Than a Keurig?

Pour over coffee is better than any fancy single-cup machine. I cannot think of anything a Keurig does better than pour over. Okay, they’re neat and shiny. Fine. I like neat and shiny things. I have an iPhone 14, and it is cool. It may not be worth $800, but it works great and is the best phone I have ever had. It does far more than the phone I grew up with and far more than a cheap phone. But the Keurig does nothing better than my inexpensive pour over. 

I remember the first time I used a Keurig. It was in Stowe, Vermont, almost twenty years ago. My wife and I discussed the convenience of it and how we thought the company would do well. Little did we know how well. I have owned a few of them since. Then why don’t I own one now? There are many reasons.

First and foremost is the cost. Whether something is worth the money depends on the user’s needs and likes. In my case, Keurig and similar machines are not worth the money. 

The least expensive Keurig machine costs about $60, and the expensive models can cost over $200. The coffee they make is okay but not superb. I am by no means a connoisseur of coffee, and maybe there are single-cup machines that make coffee that tastes better than my pour over, but I doubt it. Either way, the coffee they make costs much more.

The pods are at least $0.30 each, and most are over $0.50. Making a pour-over uses about $0.12 of coffee with average-priced beans. The filter is about two cents.

I use the Melitta pour over device I bought years ago. It has gone up in price but is $8 on Amazon as of this writing. They last a long time, maybe forever. There are fancier devices, but Melitta Bentz invented the pour over and the coffee filter, so I will stick with Melitta. I bought an electric kettle for $15; a stovetop one is less, and you can always use a kettle or pot you already have. 

You can choose any coffee you want in your pour over, with far more choices than Keurig. We have been drinking the excellent Velvet Moon Dark Roast from Cameron’s that we buy at Costco for $5.50 a pound, but you can use anything you want. Even Peet’s Major Dickason will come in cheaper than Folgers K cups.

And Keurig machines break down. That is why I have owned several. At the very least, you will feel they are obsolete in a few years (like an Apple watch). My electric kettle hasn’t broken down or become obsolete, and a stovetop kettle can last generations.

The next problem is cleaning. Try this if you use a Keurig (I occasionally use one in a hotel room if I don’t bring my Melitta). Run the machine with no pod and look at the water in the cup. It is almost always dirty. I ran the one in my office break room ten times, and it still had dreck in the cup. If there’s dreck, then you know there are germs. Drop the Melitta in the dishwasher top rack, and you’re good to go.

Some coffee experts claim a gooseneck water kettle and a Chemex for $50 plus expensive filters beat my Melitta. Maybe, but most reviews talk theoretically about flow rate and filtering quality and all that. If you judge on taste, then I only trust blind taste tests. Don’t trust someone about how a medicine supplement helps you unless you have blinded studies. And don’t trust a taste review without doing a blind taste test. 

Now for the most important reason that pour over coffee is better than Keurig, and I only discovered it recently. It takes a few minutes to make, and while watching the water and grounds mix, with the beautiful coffee filling the mug, you cannot help but relax. At my office, people tell me Keurig is faster and more convenient. But why rush? Most of the stress in my life comes when I feel rushed. With pour over, I can relax and make my coffee. Then, I relax and drink my coffee. I don’t need an expensive machine to rush my life.

So, drink better, cleaner, less expensive coffee. Buy some filters, a kettle if you need one, a single-use filter holder, and Bob’s your Uncle.