When you first open up your Ridge wallet, probably the best part is the feeling of freedom. No longer do you have to be weighed down by a heavy piece of leather. No longer do you have to sit unevenly on chairs, or take up your entire pocket with things you barely use. The Ridge wallet is clean, durable, and streamlined.
But when you go about switching from a regular old wallet to a shiny new Ridge, you’re not just switching wallet brands: you are evolving your lifestyle, embracing the values of minimalism. While the Ridge can pack in more cards than you’ve ever imagine, and both the cash strap and money clip can hold a whole bunch of bills, if you simply shift all your dusty old cards into the new wallet, you won’t get to embrace the values of shedding extra baggage.
There a lot of things you’re probably keeping in your wallet right now, that—if you’re going to be honest with yourself—you don’t need to carry anymore. Here are a few examples.
Yes, we’ve all seen this trope in the movies a million times. And yes, it’s an old tradition to carry around a couple photos of your spouse, children, or what have you. But when it comes to streamlining your wallet, it’s all about the small steps. Those photos might only be a few strips of paper, but if your wallet is filled with other strips of paper as well, the photos are probably the first thing that should go.
Why’s that? Thanks to smartphones, you don’t need them anymore.
Let’s face the truth: if you really want to show someone a picture of your kids, in the 21st century, you’re not going to take a dusty, battered old school photo out of your wallet anymore. No, you’re going to take out your smartphone, and show them some new pics from last weekend. Nobody’s going to judge you for not having photos in your wallet, because nobody except you actually looks through your wallet, anyway. The sooner you accept this, the lighter your wallet will be.
Don’t get us wrong, punch cards are great. If you go to a coffee shop all the time, or pick up a sandwich from the same shop every few weeks, punch cards not only save money, but help support local business.
But if you have a punch card from a coffee shop that’s an hour’s drive away, and you only go there once a week, stop kidding yourself. The chances are that the card might get lost before the next time you use it, anyway, and in the meantime, it’s taking up valuable space in your wallet. Stick with the punch cards that you DO use, and not the ones you don’t. And while we’re on that train…
Small companies tend to have punch cards, but big corporations—say, Dick’s Sporting Goods—instead have plastic loyalty cards, much like a credit card, designed to fit in your wallet. Many of these cards also can be attached to your keychain, presumably so that you don’t need to keep the big credit-card sized version. As far as space goes, the keychain attachment is a little better—but honestly, you’re better off keeping neither of them.
Why? Because the cashier can always just look up your phone number, and give you the savings anyway. The physical card might speed up the transaction (by seconds, at most), but it also bogs down your pockets for the various weeks, months, or years that you’re not shopping at that exact store.
If you haven’t remembered your social security number, now is the time to do so. And if you have memorized it, why are you carrying this around? Having a physical copy of your social security card makes identity theft that much easier. You’ll only need it on occasions you can prefer for—a job interview, for instance—so there’s really no good reason to carry it everywhere.
Let’s say that your wallet gets stolen. Sure, we’d rather that’s not the case, but it happens. If this occurs, it means that the thief not only has your identification—with your address—but if you’re keeping a spare key in your pocket, they also have the means to enter your house and/or car. Besides that, the key is probably the heaviest item you could keep in there. Better off leaving it in a hidden place.
Realistically, there isn’t that much purpose in carrying a lot of paper receipts around, unless you need to prove that you made a purchase—if, say, it’s work-related—or if you’re potentially looking to return the item you bought. Either way, these long strips of paper shouldn’t be crowding up your wallet. If you DO want to keep them, put them together in a space that you can easily locate, should the time arise, such as in your glovebox, file cabinet, or so on.
