@NRB525 wrote:OP can you list out the cards you do have and their limits? Closing cards should include a review of whether the card has usefulness in the future.
Depending on the cards involved, some may have clear, well defined pathways to become "high limit" cards with good benefits. Others may have a clear purpose to keep a foot in the door with a bank where you may want to get a higher limit card later. Still others could be closed if there is no long term use, and no easy path to improving the card.
I know the challenges of keeping all those cards active. After my balances are getting paid down, it is lowering the amounts I have available to keep cards busy with BT amounts, and the more PIF cards, the more I need to think about which card gets which spend event.
+1 OP if you are having a hard time managing all the cards then you definetly should do a review of your cards and see what works for you and what does not. Every year when I come up on an anniversary of a card I review it to see if I want to keep the card another year. You should always reassess your cards. If you have store cards and you don't use them for that store then those are prime canidates to go. If you have low limit cards that will not grow in the future then those cards can be tossed as well, unless they fill a specific need. 19 cards sounds like way too many and I believe when you review your card list many of those cards will hold no real value in keeping them open. If you post what you have, the limits, and the dates the cards were opened we would likely be able to point out pros/cons for each card. Inevitably someone will post that you should keep all cards open for AAoAs or overall credit util. I would strongly disagree if you have 19 cards, are having difficulty keeping track of all of them, and they are not serving a real use.
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It just all depends on your profile and you personally. If it is causing you unnecessary stress then by all means close some of your newer cards. Look at all rewards structure of the cards and keep only the ones that are useful to you. I've got 18 cards and probably only heavily use 3 per month (based on spending bonus or bonus quarterly categories). I have been trying to consolidate. If I have multiple cards from one bank, I try to get the limits combined onto the card that best fits my needs. I like have the padded UTIL just in case I ever need it. Most of my cards remain SD'd and will have recurring bills (Netflix, termite, home alarm, etc...) that have autopay set for the total balance. I find that works best for me but YMMV. I actually enjoy keeping up monthly with all my cards but I'm weird like that. It's a hobby of mine which my DGF seems to enjoy witnessing. Just do what comes naturally for you. Credit should not be a stressful endeavor. Like Ron Popeil always says...."set it and forget it" 
@Anonymous wrote:Darn... As I started and have been improving my credit score by opening bunch of cards I realized I reached to 19 cards from 12 banks.
Of which, 2 are store cards with Synch (Amazon and SamAsh). 1 is PayPal online credit.
Rest are visa, master card, discover and amex bank and bank provided cards.
I cannot even keep all of them active monthly. I rotate my expenditure among cards, so that each one gets some activity at least 2-3 months of a year.
I know this kinda was bad decision. Way too many cards to handle and I do not even have the classic high limit cards like Chase Sapphire, Cap1 Venture or Wells Fargo cards. Too many recent INQ's + too many open accounts kind hurt my chances of new cards, obviously.
My all credit scores are in 700-730 range, total limits add up to 75K-ish
I am definitely not gonna make another application or CLI request, for a long while.
However, do you think I should close 4-5 (not the oldest) low limit cards to apply for Sapphire or Venture like cards later on?!
No I don't. It won't accomplish anything for your scores. Just keep rotating them as you have been.
