It won't be hard to picture this situation because chances are it’s happened to you in the last month. You’re at a busy checkout, fumbling for your loyalty card and cash in an overstuffed wallet. While attempting to weasel the items you do need out of your wallet, mounds of old receipts, business cards, and long expired gift cards come tumbling out onto the floor, causing your cheeks to go bright red and incurring annoyed murmurs from the line behind you.
Your wallet, like your closet, trunk, or backpack, needs regular cleaning and organizing. And just like anything else that requires tidying, the more suited for organization it is to begin with, the harder it is to collect junk. Think about a closet with no coat rack or shelves - it’s going to turn into a dumping ground. Add some organizational drawers, a hanging shoe rack, and voila - a closet that takes twice as long to become messy.
The same goes for your wallet: if you’re still using an old bulky bifold covered with zippers and pockets just yearning to be filled with junk, you’re going to end up with a messy wallet and inherently more stress.
Here are our 7 tips to an effortlessly organized wallet
1. Take everything out of your wallet
Before you can start to organize, it’s time to purge. The first step for this is to take every single thing out of your wallet, down to the penny.
2. Separate contents
Go through everything in your wallet and separate into categories: credit cards, debit cards, travel cards, loyalty cards, identity cards/license, business cards, receipts, cash, coins, and miscellaneous.
3. Scale back to the essentials
Now that all your contents are separated, here are the only things you need to keep:
- One debit card and one credit card (having more than one can be dangerous if your wallet is lost or stolen)
- Any travel card that you use daily
- A small amount of cash (never more than $100 and never more than 3 bills)
Everything else should be put to the side.
4. Stop being loyal to loyalty cards
Loyalty cards and business cards don’t need to go everywhere you go. First, most loyalty cards can be made digital, or businesses can find you in their system via last name or phone number. Second, while business cards used to be super important for networking, we now have a little thing called LinkedIn… or Instagram…. or Facebook.
5. Get rid of receipts, paper, and trash
The days of carrying around receipts are long gone. Most businesses nowadays offer to send you receipts by mail and if that isn’t an option, have a dedicated folder at home where you can put any paper receipts. Any other pieces of paper, such as passwords, old notes, or just general trash also need to go. Not only is it dangerous to keep paper with personal information on it in your wallet, it also leads to bulk and mess.
6. Get rid of small change
Keeping all your change in your everyday wallet is a sure fire way to have heavy pockets and a bulky wallet. Furthermore, cash is no longer king, and the uses for small change are dwindling fast. Instead of weighing yourself down with lots of coins, put them where they belong - the piggy bank.
7. Upgrade to a slim organizational wallet
At this point you should have in front of you everything that should be in your wallet daily, and everything else that can stay home most of the time. Now, find a wallet that can hold your daily essentials and nothing more. Opting for a slim wallet that encourages organization will help you consistently keep your pocket bulk at a minimum and make your day-to-day less stressful.
Now imagine it, you arrive at the checkout, unbothered and at ease. You easily slip your slim wallet from your pocket, ejecting the cards for fast access, effortlessly swiping, and you’re off. Now that’s the pleasure of an organized wallet.
