Everybody has heard of Capital One's catchy slogan, “What's In Your Wallet?” so I decided to have a look for myself and hopefully do some comparison with all of you. Capital One was kind enough to sponsor this post.
I hate thick wallets because they are uncomfortable to sit on. If I could have a copy of my driver's license that has the ability to act as a debt card, credit card, insurance card and identification card for multiple establishments that would be ideal. Too bad we're still a long ways a way so I do what I can to simplify.
Here's what's in my wallet today:
* California driver's license for both car and motorcycle. Organ donor baby!
* Library card to check out all the latest and greatest personal finance books of course. The ladies love it when I flash my library card, so I keep it in one of the clear front pockets.
* Scuba Schools International diving certification card which I received this year as part of my bucket list. You need to go through one weekend of classes and pool certification, and one weekend of open water dives totaling five dives or more to get certified with SSI.
* New York City MetroCard left over from summer. It costs $1 to get a new MetroCard so I figure I might as well keep mine for next year when I return for the US Open.
* One corporate card. Got to put all business expenses on the business corporate card for book keeping.
* One personal credit card. Focusing all my personal expenses on one card for now for as much rewards points power as possible.
* Cigna health care insurance card. Not only do I never leave home without my insurance card, I also take a picture of it for safe keeping on my phone.
* Garage door access card for my tennis club. Provides free parking long after the club closes if I decide to go to dinner after a hit.
* Lake Tahoe resort owner's card. Get 10% discount on all food and drinks. Snow season is upon us!
* Lake Tahoe resort owner's spending card. Annual debit card allowance given to owners as agreed upon by the hotel management company.
* Squaw Valley and Alpine Meadows snowboard season pass. Can't wait for epic powder! I should have left these cards at home since I'm in Hawaii for four weeks.
* Guest passes for another swim & tennis club in SF. It costs $36 for guests, so it's nice to have these puppies handy in case I'm downtown and want to go for a workout and lounge in their outdoor hot tub after.
* Five Financial Samurai business cards. Never know when I'll bump into a lost financial soul!
* Car registration. I keep another copy in Moose's glove compartment.
* $27 in cash. I usually carry around $50 in cash. Feeling a little low right now.
* Four business receipts. Keep all receipts and dump them into a box at the end of each week.
Too Much Stuff!
After doing this quick little exercise, I realize that I can cut my wallet size in half. I'm always worried that I will lose my wallet because I've lost it twice before (returned once) and mugged once as well. It's the worst feeling to have to cancel all your cards, get your driver's license from the dreaded DMV, and re-input all your credit card accounts that are on auto deduct such as my insurance and tennis club bills.
Related: The Best Credit Cards Today
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Updated for 2017 and beyond.
Visa, Mastercard, drivers license, health card, student ID, debit card.
I transitioned from a full out wallet to a money clip with a few card slots three or four years back. It’s saved on wear and tear on the back pocket of my pants, and has helped me limit what I carry around unnecessarily.
I love the look of the money clip. I just feel I tend to lose things more with it. Do you?
Basically all the stuff you have except for all the club memberships, I’m not there yet financially. I have a costco card and a police PBA card just in case.
Check out Coin, it’s a single card that allows you to store several debit, credit, and loyalty cards at once. Also Google’s Wallet offers a similar flexibility but as a universal pre-paid card.
In my wallet, er money clip/card holder I have: license, insurance card, 1 debit card, 1 personal credit card, 1 corporate credit card, and a twenty dollar bill.
Ah yes, Coin! That is what it’s called. I thought it was called Card. Could be good, but since I only have 1-3 max credit cards, it’s not as useful for me. Very useful for binge spending credit card addicts though!
Oh, and my Clipper card for SF Bay Area public transportation!
Sam, I keep my Epic Local (Vail and Tahoe resorts) ski pass with my ski gear…the season IS upon us!
See part II of the post, “Too Much Stuff!”
Luckily I’ve got a relatively cheap wallet.
I just got a lot of cash over the weekend and am sitting at over $100 and it’s almost painful to sit on my wallet. I’ll have to offload some of it at the bank today…
Wow, realizing I need to clean out my wallet… I’m carrying at least twice as much as anyone else posted! Insurance, debit cards, ID, Library, Loyalty and gift cards, just to name a few. Of course, being a girl, I can stick my overly large wallet in my purse, so no big deal.
I’m also a dinosaur in that I always carry $2 in quarters in my wallet. Hey, you never know when you might need a pay phone! Of course, good luck finding one. But, I did misplace my cell once when I was flying, and my flight kept getting delayed, so I had to make multiple pay phone calls. Of course, without my cell, I knew very few people’s numbers. And I found that NO ONE answers calls from a pay phone.
Pay phone?! Haha, awesome. Found some in Cabo, Mexico a couple months ago and took a picture to show my grand kids.
Quarters for parking on the otherhand… that’s key.
All that and my firearms license…
I’m with you on hating fat wallets. I try to keep mine as slim as possible. I have my drivers license, my debit card, my student id, and my health insurance card. All my other cards I keep at home in the desk. Traveling light is the way to go!
Wow, that is super light! No credit card?
No credit card. I do have a card but I keep it at home and it is for credit building purposes only and I only use it to pay a bill or two each month. I already have enough debt to last me awhile so I am on a cash only basis until I am debt free.
Nice. Good for you for being so disciplined!
The other day I found a Blockbuster membership card in my wallet which probably hadn’t been used in the better part of a decade. I guess it’s a collector’s item now!
Definitely a collectors item! Put it in one of those plastic protector cases.
Ahhh, I went through this exercise a while ago and purged many of my extraneous cards. I now only carry around a card case with the following:
-Driver’s License
-Visa/Mastercard (Chase Sapphire Preferred)
-American Express (Starwood Amex)
-NYC Metrocard
-Map of Lower Manhattan (I get lost when there are no numbers are the street)
-$80
-3 business cards
Map of Lower Manhattan?! What about a Manhattan map on the iPhone? That takes up a lot of space!
The paper map is actually as thin as my Metrocard, so both together only take up one slot. After reading your article, I’m pretty sure I’m going to add my medical insurance card in there as well.
I have so much crap in my wallet. In addition to the essentials- ID, credit cards, insurance cards, and money I have my library card, my copy card (to make copies at the library), business cards, rewards cards for at least three different pharmacies, a sephora rewards card, and all my vacation receipts which I’ll be carrying around until I get home on the 13th.
Copy card! Nice one! Haven’t heard of that in a while.
My wallet is super slim so I’m restricted by size how much I can fit in it. On average I have 3 credit cards, debit card, license, bus pass, library card, point cards, insurance card, cash, and that’s all I can think of now. I empty receipts out daily and loose change every day or two b/c coins get heavy.
Feels so good to dump out all receipts. Thin wallets feel so good!
I have a pretty big wallet, since the IDs here are HUGE. I mean almost twice the size of a credit card. Would love having a small one (the size of my driver’s license, but it won’t happen too soon ….).
What’s in my wallet now:
– ID
– driver’s license
– around 10 bucks
What’s not there: personal debit card (I take it with me only when I need it), business debit card – I never have it with me, but I still own one. I don’t carry the swimming access card (am not working out currently) and many other things I used to cram into my wallet
There are SOOO many technological improvements we can have. Aside from just using phones …
“What’s not there: personal debit card (I take it with me only when I need it)” — direct access to your money should be dead. There are cards that allow generating a new number with a pre-set expiration date and limit to avoid putting even your credit line out there. Not only should we have auto-generated, exact-amount numbers per transaction, we should also have IDs that reveal only the information required (that bouncer only needs to know that you’re over 21, not your age or where you live).
There’s this new CARD device or something that acts as one credit card for all. Looks pretty cool. But given I only cary 1-3 at a time, maybe not so useful. Useful for binge spending credit card users though!