Travel influencers say you should use a different credit card for every type of purchase. They’re wrong.

• I’m a busy entrepreneur and dad to four teens. I changed my financial strategy to maximize my time.
• I used to switch credit cards for different expenses. Now I just use the Capital One Venture X card.
• For $395 a year, we get a $300 travel credit and my whole family gets airport lounge access.

Credit card experts often suggest using a combination of cards to earn maximum value on every dollar you spend. Some cards earn as much as 5% cash back on common expenses like Amazon or groceries, while others earn bonus rewards on restaurants and travel.

I love this strategy and have used it myself in the past. My six-person family has benefited greatly from the points, miles, and cash back we’ve earned through the years from various credit cards, enjoying countless vacations and getaways we wouldn’t have taken otherwise.

But our strategy recently changed, at least for the short term. Now, we use the Capital One Venture X Rewards Credit Card almost exclusively for anything we can pay for with a credit card.

The Capital One Venture X is my family’s card of choice

I’m a business owner, husband, and father to four teens — three of whom are attending college. My wife works full-time as an educator. Like many parents, we spend considerable time and energy trying to keep all of life’s plates spinning.

The Capital One Venture X Rewards card allows us to earn at least 2 miles per dollar across all of our purchases, and its travel benefits are a great fit for my family.

I’ve had this popular travel rewards credit card for several years now, and it has been an absolute workhorse for us. And for now, it will continue to be the only card we use.

Here’s why we’ve adopted a one-card strategy with the Capital One Venture X Rewards.

1. We know exactly how much we’ve earned

Using several credit cards can help you earn higher rates based on your spending category. However, you must remember which card to use each time you buy groceries, fill up at the gas station, add items to your Amazon cart, or order takeout.

Now that we exclusively use the Capital One Venture X Rewards card, I worry less about earning rates.

I don’t have bonus categories to track. I don’t need to consult a spreadsheet or credit card cheat sheet to ensure I’m maxing out earning opportunities with every purchase. That may seem extreme, but I’ve seen dozens of strategies for tracking credit card rewards, ranging from simple to incredibly complex.

With the Capital One Venture X Rewards card, we earn the same flat rate on most expenses. Some travel purchases earn more per dollar:

• 10 miles per dollar on hotels and rental cars booked through Capital One Travel
• 5 miles per dollar on flights and vacation rentals booked through Capital One Travel
• 2 miles per dollar on all other purchases, with no earning limit

2. We’re not limited in how we can use rewards

As much as we love earning rewards, redeeming rewards is even better.

The Capital One Venture X Rewards card offers many redemption options, including several travel offerings. You can redeem Capital One miles for travel booked through Capital One; transfers to more than 15 airline and hotel transfer partners; or for cash back, gift cards, Amazon purchases, and various experiences.

My family’s favorite way to redeem Capital One miles is by using them to “erase” travel expenses. There are several ways to book travel with Capital One, but the easiest one is to redeem miles for eligible travel purchases made within the past 90 days. As long as the purchase codes as a travel expense, it’s eligible for coverage with miles.

3. My whole family gets airport lounge access when we travel

Another valuable perk that comes with the Capital One Venture X Rewards credit card is airport lounge access. Venture X cardholders get complimentary access to Capital One Lounges, as well as more than 1,300 Priority Pass lounges worldwide.

My family frequently visits airport lounges when traveling, and this card provides lounge access for all six of us. Lounges offer a quiet place in the airport to relax and refresh ourselves with free food and beverages as well as other amenities.

Capital One limits Priority Pass lounge access to cardholders and up to two guests per visit. This rule would limit our access if we used a single credit card for the whole family.

But since we added our kids as authorized users on the Capital One Venture X Rewards, they get the same privileges we have to enter airport lounges on their own. The Venture X is one of the few premium credit cards that lets you add authorized users, at no additional cost, who also get complimentary Priority Pass lounge access.

You must enroll in Priority Pass before you can access airport lounges. You also need to be at least 18 years old to join, which restricts one of our kids — but he can enter lounges as our guest until he’s old enough to get his own membership.

4. We get an annual travel credit worth several hundred dollars

The Capital One Venture X Rewards card certainly falls under the premium rewards card category, with an expensive annual fee of $395.

However, my family justifies the bulk of this fee by taking full advantage of one of the card’s most valuable perks: a $300 annual travel credit.

As a cardholder, I receive a $300 credit each year for travel booked through Capital One Travel. We’ve had great luck booking rental vehicles through Capital One. And I have a flight booked through Capital One for an upcoming business trip.

Using a single credit card isn’t for everybody

Despite earning a decent flat rate on all of our spending, we no doubt leave valuable rewards on the table by only using the Capital One Venture X Rewards card. We realize that, but don’t apologize for it either.

We have other credit cards and could earn more by rotating them for different types of expenses, but we’d rather spend that energy elsewhere. Anyone who claims that tracking spending categories, bonus rates and offers, annual credits, and other card features isn’t that much work has superpowers I don’t possess.

At some point, we’ll transition back to using multiple credit cards to take advantage of high bonus rates across a wider range of spending categories.

Our family has several milestone events coming up in the next few years, and we’re gearing up for increased travel during that period, so it would make sense to consider spreading our spending across specific types of cards.

But as much as I enjoy earning as many rewards as possible, my time is better spent on other pursuits during this current season of life.