Do you (try to) use a wallet?

[Anonymous]

I try to use a wallet every several years. But it’s always the same story:

All excited by the new thing, I put everything in there all nice and neat. “I’m organized now!”

Then it happens… After proper initial use, I begin to whip the cards/cash back into my pocket separately, often using a pesky receipt as my mental excuse to deal with it in a second, because I understand (from hard lessons past) that putting receipts in there would be the quick death of my wallet.

Soon enough, I’m leaving the house without that needed card or cash because it never made it back into the wallet. Then I go right back to what I always do: Cards and cash directly into my pocket, and the recently failed wallet gets tossed aside (in a different place from all the others–each in separate places somewhere else.)

I’ve lost my DL twice and some minor cash. And my cards get crummy looking faster. But I think the damage is much less than my greatest fear of losing a whole wallet at once. And that is a HUGE possibility for me.

Do you use a wallet? If you do, is it slim & organized? (haha, sorry, that last question was just for fun)

REPORT ABUSE

[Ivriniel]

Yes, I use a wallet. For many years I resisted using a purse, because I would forget it places, but finally I started carrying one too. As long as I can find my purse, I tend to be good to go. Unless I bought something online with my credit card, in which case I will probably leave my wallet next to the computer, and not realize it until I try to buy something.

My fiance (who hasn’t been formally diagnosed, but scored really high on the test here) carries a wallet, but doesn’t tend to use it. He ends up with random bills in all of his pockets. Laundry day is like a windfall, and when he puts on a coat after not wearing it for a season, he inevidably finds $20 – $40 in the pockets.

*makes a mental note not to invite anyone from this board over, now that she has revealled this*

REPORT ABUSE

[Curlymoe115]

Funny this should come up today because I went and bought a new organizer purse in December and a new wallet. So everything is great until I loaded it up with Canadian Tire money and for the nth time I lost my debit card again. So if I don’t find it today I will have to lug myself to the bank and get my 22nd card.

My hubby is really bad also for money in the pockets. So when I am frantically searching for cash for the kids whatever I start with his coats and pants.

REPORT ABUSE

[Curlymoe115]

And have you ever really found how much you have to search in the “organizer purse” when you aren’t organized. I just found the debit card in the car where it had fallen out of my coat pocket. I spend huge blocks of time searching for this stupid card and that is why I never carry cash or credit. But as an added bonus at least today I had my other debit card and it had enough on it to pay for my lunch, yeah me.

REPORT ABUSE

[Nomad40]

I switched over to a magnetic money clip. It has two internal compartments. Besides cash, I carry my drivers licence, a debit card and a credit card, just the basics. It was great to rid myself of the thick wallet with alot of “stuff” crammed in. I got it for 14.95 US at http://www.daveramsey.com/store/cBUDGETING-p1.html

REPORT ABUSE

[Anonymous]

i have a wallet. its jammed so full of assorted crap that it doesn’t ever close. i have an accompanying lady-bag too- with the same issue. everything from camera battery chargers to fuzzy peach sweeties to a little family of safety pins and about 10 ikea pencils lives in it, cos its the one thing that i know where it is at all times (cos its always hanging off me- i daren’t let it go as my sanity would leave with it).

i consciously don’t wear clothes with decent pocketry- cos if i do, they’re rapidly full of a stack of neatly folded tissues, bent paperclips made into abstract masterpieces, over-twiddled with drinking straws, empty crisp packets folded into triangles, shiny drinkcan ringpulls, collected lids from jones soda bottles (they have a fortune in them!) bus ticket transfers, etc- and then its hard to sit down.

every few months when i really can’t close anything bagwise, and have long since upgraded to keeping my overflowing purse inside a reusable grocery bag, we have an official bag-content amnesty, at which point the bf gently but firmly coaxes me into liberating my plastic chipbag triangles and old bus tickets into the recycling bin, and putting whatever by way of cutlery, scrap paper covered in important notes, paint chips from the DIY store, etc has made its way into the abyss back where it came from- for the good of everyone. its hard.

the only stuff i really manage to weed out by myself is pennies- i frequently liberate them to the centre console drink holder in the car, and from there they magically disapear- with much accompanying grumbling from the longsuffering bf- who i beleive is responsible for their liberation.

REPORT ABUSE

[Anonymous]

i have a wallet that isn’t really a wallet. it’s an old zip disk holder – square, canvas and zippered, got it in the univ of waterloo bookstore on a whim about 14? years ago. tough as nails ( i hope i don’t jinx it!!!!!) it carries my passport, stacks of credit/store/id cards, some spare change and a pencil from lee valley. oh, and stacks of receipts. i’d like to say i clean it out frequently, but i JUST did it last month only to discover that i shop at the same places every year on vacation….because i had 2 years of them in there. attached to this “wallet” is a lanyard that i can use to hang it around my neck (which i don’t unless i have to, ow) but it gives it a sort of leash that i can loop onto things – my wrist, shopping cart, shopping bag, doorknob of front door….it will fit into a coat pocket, so in winter it lives in the coat.

this is the ONLY wallet-like thing that has ever worked for me. i think it’s the combo of being relatively small (about 8cm/3.5in square) and not having any organization built into it.

and yes, my pockets accumulate “stuff” i use it to make those hidden things jars with the rice in them…..find the interesting stuff in the rice by looking thru the side…but not folded up straws (which i take from EVERY restaurant i eat in. no idea why.)

REPORT ABUSE

[Anonymous]

It took me several years to use a wallet with any sort of regularity. I didn’t have one for a while and got sick of calling VISA to have them issue a new card or put a hold on it while I located the wayward card. With my debit card I stopped looking after 5 minutes, spent 15 minutes getting to the bank and 5 more having a card reissued. I’d walk out of the bank with a new debit card. There was about 2 years where I was getting a new debit card every 3-6 months. I think I’ve now had my current one for over a year!

I still whip out the bus pass to leave in my coat pocket for rapid access while waiting for the bus. I cram it into some unknown spot after I swipe my pass. When I try to get home I have to spend a bit of time scrambling through the various bits in my purse, gear-bag, backpack or any combination thereof.

My wallet collects a terrible number of receipts (I try to not take them now since. All my banking is online and I use my debit card for 98% of purchases), when it can no longer close, they move to a random pocket in my bag and when that is heaping there is a drawer in my one dresser that will have to soon be cleaned out. I keep meaning to buy a paper shredder but you know how it goes.

REPORT ABUSE

[Anonymous]

“Confidentially” I feel naked if I don’t carry my wallet my problem is… keeping it thin, I hate bulky thingsI also I carry a coin purse which holds my keys;finally pockets to house those things that and my cell phone and I’m “good to go.” it really helps me to improve focus when I am out of the house. To me carrying a wallet and keys and loose change in my pocket was sort of a “rite of passage”; a status symbol if you will saying I am now in charge of my life because I’m a man… interesting never thought of it that way but it is true.

K

REPORT ABUSE

[dspicelady]

at my local grocery store, I’m kinda known for not having my bank card with me. I know the cashiers were irritated, but they just jokingly ask to see the card before they start scanning, and I laughingly oblige! It hasn’t happened in a while now, thankfully!

REPORT ABUSE

[Anonymous]

Dslicelady,

I had a similar issue with my keys. I’d leave them at work on my desk because we had a key for the washroom. After leaving my keys at the office several times I bought a cell phone so I could call my husband and get back in.

As far as leaving cards at home I’ve done more than my share. I’ve gotten pretty good at checking my wallet to make sure it has the required cards before I leave for the day. I finally got in the Habit when my boss had to loan ms money for lunch.

REPORT ABUSE

[Anonymous]

Be careful of magnetic money clips and the swipe cards. Magnets and those strips don’t go well together. I have had the same wallet for 15 years or more now. I’m lucky that I haven’t lost it. What I do is keep the wallet in my hand while I use a card. Then I put the card directly back then the wallet in the pocket.

REPORT ABUSE

[billd]

I’ve used a wallet since I was 14 (no, not the same one, I’ve worn them out and am on like my 6th or 7th)

It is one thing that keeps me organized, however, there’s no money in it – the money gets stuffed into a pocket and really is a tangled mess.

Photos, credit/debit cards, insurance cards, info I need to keep with me, and a 5 note tucked in a corner in case I get someplace and REALLY need money and my pocket is empty.

It’s rather fat, but is about all I have that’s fully organized other than some of my tools.

Maybe it works for me because I started quite early, feel naked without it and I rely on it to always have those thing I might need “in an emergency”.

The credit cards each have a specific slot in my wallet and must be returned in the same manner it was removed – facing a certain direction, etc.

REPORT ABUSE

[Anonymous]

I’ve had a wallet since the 60s. I treat it like gold. It basically carries everything I need to function in today’s society – driver’s license, debit card, various store discount cards, social security card, green card, pictures, etc, and most importantly, a couple of guitar picks for when i want to try something in a music store. But not money, that’s in my front pocket. It’s a bit bluky, but that’s how I like it – I never forget it’s there!

REPORT ABUSE

[billd]

yeah, what Bob L said.

REPORT ABUSE

[Author]

Posts