Mistake No. 4: Not using cards tied to your favorite retailers
Spend a few minutes thinking about where you do much of your shopping — whether it’s at Home Depot(NYSE: HD), Kohl’s (NYSE: KSS), Staples (NYSE: SPLS), or at other stores. Know that many major retailers offer credit cards that give you discounts when you shop with them. If you spend a lot at Amazon.com (Nasdaq: AMZN), for example, you can get a card that pays you 5% cash back there — which can really add up. (It’s not hard to spend $250 per month at Amazon, which is $3,000 per year — enough to earn $150 back.)
Other stores with associated credit cards include Target (NYSE: TGT), Costco (Nasdaq: COST), Gap (NYSE: GPS), Lowe’s (NYSE: LOW), TJX(NYSE: TJX), Toys R Us, and Wal-Mart (NYSE: WMT). Many offer 3% to5% in cash back or discounted prices and many offer other perks, too, such as free shipping on items purchased at the sponsoring retailer, while others might let you return items without a receipt or will donate money to charity whenever you use the card.