Rants from the road - too many rewards cards

Now that my children are grown up and periodically independent, I have a new set of problems. I can't seem to get control of my rewards cards. If three is the break point when it comes to offspring (three being the point when there are more of them than there are of us), then I can tell you for sure that I have too many rewards cards.

There is, of course, my Southwest Airlines Visa card. That isn't the problem. Southwest is never a problem for me. It's US Air that reduces me (when, every decade or so, I decide to try them again) to a banshee -- but that's another rant. I can handle my overworked, weary Visa card. It's the hotel and car rental cards that have me on the verge of obsessive-compulsive disorder.

There is the Choiceprivileges Rewards Program, good at Comfort Inns and Quality Inns and half a dozen other chains. This often entitles me to a free bottle of water. Then there is the Hilton Honors card, good of course at the Hiltons, but also at eight other chains, like Embassy Suites and Double Tree, and apparently even at the Waldorf Astoria Collection (whatever that is).