Cooking is almost a hobby to me, and as with any hobby, can get expensive. One thing I've done to limit my overall investment in my hobby besides budgeting is to set myself a rule that I have to use my American Express Credit Card points (or other rewards) to pay for at least half of my hobby.
Last night for example, I bought a 6 Quart Kitchen Aid Stand Mixer for $28 and 40,000 American Express points.
Another good example is a set of wonderful All Clad pans. The set was half paid for by cash and the other half by good 'ole Amex Points.
The other thing that you can do is to redeem the points ONLY for things that you were already going to buy. In my case, the mixer and pans were on a buy list prior to points redemption. This is counterintuitive for some people as they feel the points have no value so they aren't wasting anything when they spend them, so they splurge on things they wouldn't normally buy. Resist this temptation!!! If you subscribe to a magazine, think about using points instead to subscribe. American Airlines points as well as many others offer this option. It may not be the best points valuation redemption you can choose, but if it keeps money in your pocket, that adds a big value.
