Sometimes tempted to cancel most of my cards, irrational?

[searchingfor67]

---

@Anonymous wrote:

Ive got 8 cards, the wife has 6.

This is AFTER closing 5 accounts.

Doesnt seem to be a problem.

We use one or two cards each in any given month, maybe move balances around to keep from paying much interest, but they dont cause any extra stress or anything.

Put the ones you dont use in a box and forget about them. Swap them out every few months with the ones your using after paying them off. Life will be easy again

I check once or twice a month to make sure our cards havent been used by anyone. Id do that if I had one card or 40. Its just part of being cautious. Takes all of about 10 minutes to check 14 cards.

---

+1

[Open123]

I don't think it's irrational at all.

I think there's much to be said to simplify things.  For me, I have interests and hobbies in phases that are quite cyclical.  The novelty of credit cards and their huge sign up bonuses is fun and worth the effort to maximize them.  

Once this phase of huge sign ups are over, there is very little reason to app for a new card.  At that point, I'll certainly purge most of these "sign up" perk cards reducing to using 2 or 3.  For me, there's little reason to app when the novelty ends, the sign up bonuses gone, and the rewards no longer compelling.

[Anonymous]

I just went from 3 credit cards (which I really only used around the holidays and birthdays) to 8 in the last month, so I can certainly see where it might get overwhelming.  None of the old cards had any rewards, so I had no reason to use them, but I carried them around just in case.

Since expanding my portfolio and picking up some nicer cards, like my beloved Southwest card, I've stuck all but 3 of mine into a little box, and on that box I wrote out a usage schedule for them lol... Each one one will come out a couple times a year and take a walk across the street to buy some candy and soda from the local gas station.  Just enough usage to keep them active, but not enough to cause me any extra hassle with tracking.

Maybe some sort of rotation like that would help you decrease the stress from your cards?  Granted, I don't know how well that will work for encouraging CLIs when the time comes, but with limits like yours - I doubt that's a huge concern 

[clocktick]

I say you're not being irrational at all.  Read the sticky regarding 'closing credit cards' and if you understand all, if any, the implications and you still want to close, then do so!  I certainly do not want a collection of unused/unwanted credit cards in my sock drawer or any other drawer.