Ditch The Wallet

Ditch the wallet. If there is one thing I hate carrying around more than anything, it’s a giant wallet so full you can’t even sit on it. The Costanza, as it’s affectionately called, is easily the worst part of men’s fashion. I was exposed to the giganto-wallet at a young age. My own father carried around a Costanza, and still does to this day despite the incessant teasing that ensues whenever he yanks that giant wad of leather and receipts and sweet-n-low packets out of his back pocket. I followed in his footsteps for a very long time, carrying my own version of the Costanza throughout high school. Once I got to college, though, I realized I needed to slim things down, and since all I had to carry was a driver’s license and some cash, I switched to a money clip, and used that until a few years after graduating college.

Then, the unthinkable happened. I went back to a wallet. I remember thinking at the time that the reason for doing so was because I was constantly carrying so many things that a wallet would just make it easier. By then I was carrying a driver’s license, two or three debit/credit cards, business cards, insurance cards, and the usual assortment of club cards, library cards, store cards, etc. About two years ago, I tired of carrying the extra ten pounds in my back pocket, so I slimmed it down. I received as a gift a slim card wallet with a magnetic cash holder. The “wallet” only holds three or four cards plus a few in a pocket in the middle, and this made things incredibly easier. Add to that the advent of smartphones, in my case my iPhone 3GS which took all of those store cards out of my pocket and into an app on the phone (Cardstar).  I’ve also seen the app Keyring recommended by friends, though I have yet to use it.

For reference sake, here are some of the examples of the wallets I have carried through the years. The one of the left is a checkbook/wallet that I carried early in college. It’s not quite a Costanza, but it’s way too big to ever consider carrying now.  The Notre Dame wallet is one I bought at the bookstore several years ago when I decided to start carrying a wallet again.  It looks great, but was just too bulky for my liking.  The wallet on the right is what I’ve been carrying for the last couple of years.  I received it as a gift from my brother-in-law for being a part of his bridal party. I loved it- you can see in the picture the magnetic cash holder.  Even though it is quite literally half the size of other wallets I’ve used, it’s still too big for me to enjoy carrying it every day.

But here I am, a few years later and I’m still tired of carrying around my slim wallet. Even though it is a fraction of the size of my old monstro-wallet, it still is too big for my liking. I’d like to keep a sleek profile, and either I’m carrying it in my back pocket and adjusting it whenever I sit or I’m carrying it in my front pocket which looks strange whenever I’m standing around with this weird bulge sticking out of my front pocket.

What is a relatively style-conscious guy to do? Ditch the wallet entirely. How? That’s what I’m going to tell you.

To start, here is what is currently in my wallet:
Driver’s license
Personal Debit Card
Personal Credit Card
Flex Spend Card
Corporate Credit Card
Library Card
Car Insurance Card
Dental Insurance Card
Health Insurance Card
$20 Hidden Cash
Love note from my wife

I have several items in my wallet that MUST stay there. Driver’s license, personal debit and credit cards, corporate credit card, $20 stash and the love note from my wife. But I’m going to try out several different methods of keeping everything else handy without having to carry it around with me all the time.

Card case in my car- I already had a business card holder that I am going to use, but if you don’t, look on Amazon. The prices range from $5 to more than $100. Do a search for “business card holder” and you’ll come up with literally tens of thousands of options.

The card case in my car will hold the following:
Health Insurance Card
Dental Insurance Card
Car Insurance Card
Flexible Spending Card

The reasoning behind this is thus- I NEVER need my insurance cards when I have not been in my car. I drive myself to the doctor, dentist, pharmacy, etc. If I’m going to go into one of these places, I’ll just reach into my glove compartment and pull my cards out. If I forget, well, luckily the parking lot isn’t too far. But just in case, I went ahead and took pictures of each card and stored them in a special album on my phone. You know, just in case.

So that leaves me with my library card, which I can leave in my car in the card holder as well. I also entered the library card info into my Cardstar app so that if I get into the library and forgot my card in the car, I can pull it up there.

That leaves me with driver’s license, personal credit and debit cards, my corporate card, $20 in cash and the love note from my wife. Now, what do I do with these things? Well, you may have noticed I’m relatively reliant on my iPhone 5. I decided to try to pick up a wallet/phone case on Amazon. Usually I would pick brown leather, but I am kind of unsure about making this jump and so I wanted to go for the cheapest option available. I received it in the mail a few weeks ago and it looked great- clean lines, it appeared to be well built, my phone snapped right into it…the only problem was that the camera cutout in the back was too small and covered part of the camera causing a bad reflection when taking a picture.

 

Well that’s a no-go, so back to the drawing board.

After thinking about several different ways to try something new, I decided to try something else. The whole point of doing this was simplicity, to simplify what I am carrying every day.  I didn’t want to go out and buy something new if I could avoid it, and then I remembered I had another option. Instead of ditching the wallet entirely, I just shrunk it further.

What I’ve done here is taken the driver’s license insert out of my larger wallet and just stuck the necessary cards in there. The cash is sticking out, but I will fold it up and tuck it behind the driver’s license on the other side. I like this. It’s half the size of what I was carrying before, which was still pretty small. I’m not 100% thrilled with it, but I will try it out for a few weeks and see how I like it.

By the way, if anyone has any suggestions on better ways to ditch the wallet, I’m open to suggestions!