Do you have goals for your credit cards? If you don’t, maybe it’s time that you actually built yourself a few goals to go with your credit cards. There’s no need to feel like you’re going to just have credit cards for the sake of having credit cards — having a goal makes it so much easier to know where you stand financially.

You see, when you set certain goals for your credit cards, you immediately know what you need to use your credit cars for and what you shouldn’t use your credit cards for. Far too often, the sight of a new credit card immediately makes us think about all of the things that we can spend our money on, but is this really the best attitude to have about our finances? Spending too much money can only hurt our financial futures more than it helps them — there’s only one way to really make sure that you will have no problem at all getting your finances taken care of, and that’s making sure that you set the proper goals.

So, what goals can you set when it comes to credit cards? Well, in a nutshell, there’s actually quite a few. For example, if you want to make sure that you are rebuilding your credit, you might decide that you will get a secured credit card where you will pay off the entire balance each and every month. A secured credit card is specifically designed for people that do not have good credit, as it lets them rebuild their credit in a very specific way. There’s no need to worry that you will not be able to get back to a better financial point, especially when you know how to use credit cards wisely.

It’s important to make sure that you’re remaining as disciplined as possible when you’re trying to pick up a secured credit card, because it’s still possible to get in trouble. Even though you will be putting up a secured amount, you will still need to make sure that you are truly getting things taken care of by paying off your balances every month. If you go late on your secured credit card, you will still face problems. The credit card company can seize your initial security, which means that you lose all of the money that you put up in order to get the credit card in the first place. In addition, the company can pursue collection efforts, which means that you will have someone calling you virtually around the clock. This can also lead to judgments and other negative credit reporting — all things that you neither want nor need.

You can also have a credit card designed only for emergency moments. Now, you might be thinking about what really consists an emergency — we mean emergencies that are life threatening or extremely stressful, such as car repairs. A half off sale on shoes is not an emergency that’s worth whipping out your credit card — don’t forget that, and you’ll be just fine!