Is looking for early trades in material a bad habit?

I've been playing for about a month and I'm not good. That said, one thing I find myself doing is trying to get as many pieces off the board as possible as early as possible so that I have to manage fewer moves in my mind. Is this a bad habit or a good practice?

What I mean by this is, I'll in most cases look for even trades in material if the option arises.
IE, if it's the scotch game and they take a direction where I can trade queens and we are even in material I'll probably do it, regardless of whether or not it also takes away their right to castle.

Also, maybe I pin their night to their queen/king with a bishop, if they respond by trying to kick the bishop I'll usually just take the trade. (i may think harder about this if I'm playing caro-kann or something where most of my pawns are on a particular color square, I might favor the opposite color bishop a bit more).

This seems pretty logical to me. Forcing these even trades and then simplifying the board options as much as possible. Is this a good or a poor habit that will develop worse tendencies as time goes on?  If it is good, are there specific openings or strategies that can help me force the issue more often?

I once heard GM Maurice Ashley describe something he called “the three Fs” when someone asked how to decide whether to trade pieces or not.

F number 1: Forced. If you’ll stand worse otherwise, then obviously take the trade.

F number 2: Favorable to you. If trading wins you material or helps you develop or gain tempos, take the trade.

F number 3: Forget About It. If the first two Fs don’t apply, then Forget About It. Don’t take the trade.

I’m not always good at knowing when things are forced or favorable, but for some reason I always remember this.

Usually it's not a good idea to trade pieces in the opening because many times this squanders your advantage and could help your opponent develop. Also be particularly careful about trading your bishops for knights, since bishops are almost always slightly more powerful than knights. As you get stronger you will begin to notice how you can improve your decision making when trading pieces. You can try to judge favorable trades by comparing the relative value of a piece. Say you are in a position where you're trying to undermine your opponent's center, and you are asked if you want to trade your bishop for the knight that it is pinning. Sometimes this is a good trade for you since although you are giving up the bishop pair, you are helping in part to relinquish some of your opponent's control on the center. I'll give you an example:

You will only get better with more experience, and professionally judging/evaluating these trades is one of the most difficult things in chess. 

@1

"Is this a bad habit or a good practice?"
++ Even or favorable trades are good, unfavorable trades are bad.

"Also, maybe I pin their night to their queen/king with a bishop, if they respond by trying to kick the bishop I'll usually just take the trade." ++ A bishop is worth more than a knight.
Lasker warned against pinning a KN with your QB before opponent has castled O-O.

"if I'm playing caro-kann or something where most of my pawns are on a particular color square, I might favor the opposite color bishop a bit more" ++ That is right. If all your pawns are on light squares, then trade your light square bishop, but not your dark square bishop.

"Is this a good or a poor habit that will develop worse tendencies as time goes on?"
++ It is a good habit to aim for endgames. Botvinnik praised young Kramnik for playing as white 1 e4 c5 2 f4 d5 3 d3 dxe4 4 dxe4 Qxd1+ 5 Kxd1

"Are there specific openings or strategies that can help me force the issue more often?"
++ Exchange variations
1 e4 e5 2 Nf3 Nc6 3 Bb5 a6 4 Bxc6
1 e4 e6 2 d4 d5 3 exd5 exd5
1 e4 c6 2 d4 d5 3 exd5 cxd5 4 Bd3
1 e4 c5 2 f4 d5 3 d3
1 e4 e5 2 Nf3 Nf6 3 Nxe5 d6 4 Nf3 Nxe4 5 Qe2 Qe7 6 d3 Nf6 7 Bg5

This is extremely helpful and I think probably right on the head of what I was looking for the most explanation of.  Weird thing, those final exchange varations, the one from the caro cann and from the petrov all show overwhelming for black once i make the last white move.

This advice is good but needs one slight tweak to reason 2. Sometimes trading pieces near endgame can be very advantageous for you and puzzles in the 2000+ range will start showing you this. Because trading your piece for their piece, when it's the last piece remaining, can often engineer an unstoppable pawn march opportunity.

Be warned that this sometimes requires some serious calculation as there are many times when a king can make it back to defend the position to a draw if you calculate poorly.