If you’re trying to think of ways to consolidate your finances and still cover all the bases, there are some simple ways you can get ahead while being smart. One way is to take a closer look at your credit cards and make sure that you aren’t falling into the multiple cards trap that credit card companies would love for you to participate in.

If you have good to great credit, you probably receive credit card offers every day. Even if you have mediocre to poor credit, you still probably have a few credit cards and receive offers at least once a week. This is how most of us wind up with more than one credit card, not to mention the fact that most of them offer specific rewards that are geared to cause overspending at specific retail outlets. In fact, many retailers have also begun to offer proprietary cards that encourage you to ‘earn’ rewards by spending more at their stores.

In order to avoid overspending and to simplify your finances, consider instead the possibility of cutting up all but one card and transferring the balances to the remaining card and paying off the balance. Your new card should have zero or low interest and good rewards and be able to transfer ALL of your existing cards to it for no extra fee. Once this is done, cancel all the old cards and concentrate on paying off the remaining card. Afterwards, keep the balance low, using it only for emergencies or to take advantage of the rewards program.