Do you rely too heavily on your credit cards? Do you have a tendency to spend too much when you use them? How do you know when your credit card spending hits a dangerous level, putting you at risk for serious debt problems? How do you know when it’s time to put them away and take another look at your budget? That’s what we’ll talk about today — signs that your credit card spending might be getting out of control, and signs that you might need to leave your cards at home.

Here are several common warning signs that it’s time to stop relying so much on your credit cards (for fear of going into significant credit card debt):

1. Your cards are maxed out (or nearly maxed out).

If all you do is spend-spend-spend, and you never pay down your balance, you’re going to eventually max out your credit cards. Maxing out even one credit card is a bad idea — getting too close to the limit might mean you go over it with a fee or interest you didn’t account for, leading to over-the-limit fees on top of it.

Maxing out more than one is a sign that you’re in serious trouble. You’re accumulating debt faster than you can keep up. If this sounds like you, it might be a sign that you need to stop using your credit cards completely until you’re able to pay down (or completely pay off) your existing balances.

2. You regularly make unnecessary purchases just to earn more perks and rewards.

This is also dangerous spending behaviour. If you’re buying things you don’t need, or you’re justifying purchases you otherwise wouldn’t just because you’ll earn rewards, you’re not using your credit card responsibly. Remember that your credit cards are tools. They’re there for your convenience, and sometimes that means you can earn rewards for the purchases you would make anyway such as with the CUA Rewards credit card. That doesn’t mean you should make purchases you wouldn’t have made anyway just to earn some extra points. If you do, you put yourself at risk of going into credit card debt for rewards that likely aren’t worth more than what you’ve over-spent.

3. You’re constantly transferring balances or using one card to pay off another.

Balance transfer cards like the Citibank Gold card have their place. They’re a great way to save money on interest if you’re being charged too much on an existing balance. Just move the balance to a card with a lower rate. If you’re moving your balances around constantly because you’re not paying down that balance before the balance transfer offer expires, it’s a sign that you might not have your credit card debt and spending under control.

Even worse is if you’re using one card to pay off another, such as by taking out a cash advance in order to make your payment on another card. This is a cycle you might struggle to get out of, but the first step is to stop making any new charges.

4. You can only make your minimum payments.

Making only the minimum payment every statement period means you’ll stretch out your credit card debt repayment and pay much more interest than necessary. If that’s honestly all you can afford to pay each month, then it might be time to stop spending with your cards and stop adding to that debt. The interest you’ll pay over time isn’t worth it.

We can’t judge your individual circumstances, as everyone’s spending and repayment habits are different. However, you can use these warning signs as a guide to judge your own habits and determine if or when it’s time to make a change.