So tonight with the addition of recently aquired credit cards I noticed that I am having a hard time picking out the card I want to use when at the counter. It takes forever to find the right card in my wallet (I have no idea why I insist on carrying some of these cards around because I know I am not going to put charges on them). Somehow my card count got away from me and I have 11 personal cards and 1 business card in a little over a year and a half. I will be closing some of these cards over the next 2-3 months, but it is kind of stressing me out in the meantime. Anyone else feeling uncomfortable with the number of cards they currently have open?
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I currently have 15 cards. 6 are in my wallet and the other 9 are kept in the house. Most of these 9 cards will be closed before their AFs hit and as they close I will have new cards with sign-up bonuses to replace them. 6 cards is a good number for my wallet given the cards I currently have.
I could probably get away with carrying 3 cards in my wallet since I rarely use the other 3 anyway. Most of my spend is on my CSP (~$2k a month on restaurant/travel), followed by Sallie Mae (~$500-700 on Amazon, $200 on gas, and $200 on groceries), and the rest on my Citi Double Cash (non category spend usually around 1k). I occasionally go to Costco so the Amex TE card is something I carry around, but I usually plan Costco trips in advance so I could probably swap it out. I also carry 1 sign-up bonus card with me, but I technically have none right now since I am gardening and my 5k+ monthly spend quickly handles those. I also carry my local CU card just in case because it is low interest 50k limit. I don't use the CU card but it is there just in case, Most of my other cards just stay at home.
Look at your expenses and the cards you need to optimize rewards and carry those cards. I could get away with 3 cards, but I carry more. Even if you value the CSP less than I do (I value UR points over 2 cents per dollar making it a 4%+ travel/rest card for me) and use alternate cards you can still pretty easily manage with 5 cards or less in your wallet. Just because you have 11 cards does not mean you have to carry them everywhere 
@Anonymous wrote:I currently have 15 cards. 6 are in my wallet and the other 9 are kept in the house. Most of these 9 cards will be closed before their AFs hit and as they close I will have new cards with sign-up bonuses to replace them. 6 cards is a good number for my wallet given the cards I currently have.
I could probably get away with carrying 3 cards in my wallet since I rarely use the other 3 anyway. Most of my spend is on my CSP (~$2k a month on restaurant/travel), followed by Sallie Mae (~$500-700 on Amazon, $200 on gas, and $200 on groceries), and the rest on my Citi Double Cash (non category spend usually around 1k). I occasionally go to Costco so the Amex TE card is something I carry around, but I usually plan Costco trips in advance so I could probably swap it out. I also carry 1 sign-up bonus card with me, but I technically have none right now since I am gardening and my 5k+ monthly spend quickly handles those. I also carry my local CU card just in case because it is low interest 50k limit. I don't use the CU card but it is there just in case, Most of my other cards just stay at home.
Look at your expenses and the cards you need to optimize rewards and carry those cards. I could get away with 3 cards, but I carry more. Even if you value the CSP less than I do (I value UR points over 2 cents per dollar making it a 4%+ travel/rest card for me) and use alternate cards you can still pretty easily manage with 5 cards or less in your wallet. Just because you have 11 cards does not mean you have to carry them everywhere
Yea, there are a couple that should just stay at home. I have to carry several at the moment because I am in the middle of meeting min spend and then there are my bonus category cards, but I just removed four from my wallet that I will not have a reason to use in the immediate future my PRG (I'm closing it as soon as I pay off the balance), My Citi AA exec (going to close it when AF is due in a month or two and its rewards are not worth spend), my Venture (the barclays arrival+ will replace this), and my BCP (soon to be downgraded then subsequently closed because the everyday replaces it).
I was going into the garden until April (90 days), but now I am thinking of waiting till the end of June instead.
