In reality, utilization rarely matters.
Utilization does not have memory. You can care about utilization when you are about to apply for credit; otherwise, it is easy to turn it around in a month. The only thing you need to keep your eyes on is always paying off the balance before the due date.
And in order to increase credit limits, you should focus your spending on one card for a while in the manner that Ghoshida described. It is very important to have decent credit limits, not necessarily for credit score purposes but for future credit applications.
@Themanwhocan wrote:I explain it here:
lol - Simple as that 
That is a good summary, though and a good link. It is a balancing act.
OP, my suggestion is that you now have a good sized foot in the door with a few good lenders, and you should build a relationship with them, and not worry too much about the FICO score directly right now. Three stories from my direct experience:
USBank card - Good sized credit line, I built up a balance and was paying enough to keep the balance fairly stable. Got a call from the bank, looking for me to pay it down to show I wasn't going to be a bad risk. So I paid it down with big lumps for a few months, kept it reasonable balance, eventually paid it off. Lesson: The lenders don't want you to just coast a balance, it makes them nervous.
AMEX Delta: Original limit $2,000. I've never paid interest, always paid it off, but it has been quite active some months. One month, very deliberately ran it up with multiple charges to within $50 of the limit, then paid the balance due from that statement by the due date. They bumped my limit to $3k without me asking. I continue to pay it off, but haven't run it up like that. Lesson: The bank likes you to use the card and pay it off, and they will then be more comfortable with balance increases. With $1k CL you can probably do this (I know I would and will with the other two eventually). Alternatively, run it near the limit, stop using it, pay it in three months. Pay a little interest, pay down to zero before using it again at a more reasonable spend rate. Or cycle it up and back down to zero. It shows you can pay it down to zero.
Third: on many occasions, I've taken balance transfers for low interest rates, paid those over time, and get balance transfer offers now regularly from the cards who have low balances and miss me, which means I'm often moving money from one expiring BT to a new one, putting the first card to zero. Lesson: The bank will be more likely to give you a balance transfer offer if you take balance transfer offers. They like the idea you pay the BT fee and then might mess up at the end of the reduced interest rate period and leave a balance to pay interest on. And in my opinion, there's nothing wrong with paying a little interest to the bank now and then. Others find it repulsive. I look at it from the lender's perspective: They give you a loan so they can make money. It's just part of the game.
Let me be clear: the above is just my opinion. Others have very good reasons for PIF each month, and for not paying interest, and I respect that, not least because they have much higher FICO than mine to prove it.
