I’ve never really been one who was caught up in that whole minimalist, I have too many things lifestyle, however my trip to the Apple store this evening has left me pondering something along those lines that I probably wouldn’t have expected.
I was looking at cases for my iPhone because I’ve had the thing almost a year and still haven’t taken the time to better protect it from my reliable clumsiness, and I ended up settling on this one that also has the intriguing feature of two sleeves on the back to hold credit or ID cards in addition to the phone itself. I bought it initially, thinking that if nothing else it would make quick trips out to the store on weekends easier when I’m often times wearing shorts that simply don’t have back pockets to hold my wallet, but the more I’ve thought about it, I’m actually wondering if I might be able to get away from having to carry my wallet altogether after introducing this thing into my life…
I started going through my wallet in my head, and then later actually emptied its contents out onto my desk, and the truth of the matter is, I don’t really need most of the crap that I carry around with me on a daily basis. Membership cards to businesses that I visit maybe once a month, and some that technically don’t even exist anymore, business cards that look so ratty I’m not sure why I would want to hand them out if I did find myself presented with the opportunity, an old phone card from about ten years ago that probably has about a minute and a half left on it at this point! Why do I carry all of this junk around in my back pocket with me every single day?!
Or more importantly, could I do without to the point where I can boil my life down to only needing two of them so that I can just carry them around in the back of my phone???
I think it might be possible – right now those two cards would be my driver’s license and the main credit card that Sara and I use for all of our daily purchases. All of the membership and frequent buyer cards, I would think, could be kept at home or in my car for easy retrieval when I drive to HoneyBaked Ham for lunch or something – no real need to carry that kind of thing around in my back pocket. For insurance cards and whatnot, I think I want to try taking scans of them and keeping those on my phone, and then keep the actual cards in my backup wallet that I’d just leave in the car. Mind you, I wouldn’t leave actual credit or debit cards in there, but really, if somebody breaks into my car, I think I’ll be a little more worried about the car itself than the fact that they also managed to get away with my Subway Rewards Card that almost had enough for a free foot-long on it, too! 😉
Oh yeah, and as for cash … I rarely ever actually carry it around with me anymore anyways, so on the off-chance that I need it, I’ll have had to plan ahead for it anyways, so I’m not really too concerned about that…
Anyways, it’s an interesting experiment, and I can tell one that might take a little getting used to not only for not carrying around the big, honking wallet that seems to be a rite of passage for most men, but also the idea that my primary ID and credit card will be kinda out in the open to the world as I use my phone on a daily basis … that’s admittedly a little weird, too, but I’m willing to give it a try and see if it’s just a social awkwardness that I’ll get over after a while at this point.
Frankly, as much as I thought the idea of being able to pay for things via our phones was a stupid one years ago, now that I’ve got a much cooler phone that I don’t want to spend five minutes without, the thought of even leaving my credit card behind is a bit tantalizing in a world where all I need is this miniature computer in my pocket wherever I go! I believe that Starbucks and some other retailers are already offering apps that tie your rewards card into your phone, so once credit cards are on board, all we need then are electronic state IDs and I’d be all set to walk around completely clutter free … save the phone itself, that is!
In the meantime, though, I think I’m going to try a few weeks surviving on just the two cards and see how that goes – I’ll post a follow-up later to see if I end up going back to carrying a wallet or if my life then feels sufficiently liberated by no longer being bound to this small stack of trivial plastic and paper cards that I’ve seen fit to carry at my side without question for so long! 😀