To continue from the last entry, it's time again to give my wallet a dejunking inspection. Here's what I've found in my own wallet.
Most of these, as you'll see, are "frequent buy" sorts of cards that rack up "points" for purchases. I was already able to eliminate a LOT of them in the last round, thanks to the little UPC keyring cards that some of these places make. But there was still a lot in here:
- Credit/ATM cards. OK, these stay. I do indeed use them. And for the record, I don't own a whole lot of these and I have great credit.
- Health insurance card, and AAA card. These stay too, for obvious reasons.
- Organization Membership cards (Mensa, COS). They're thin. They're me. They stay.
- Warrant Recall Slip (laminated & shrunken photocopy). It's a long story. To sum it up: in 1992 I got a speeding ticket, but the cop copied my address incorrectly, so the summons kept being mailed to a non-existent address. I never knew there was a problem until SIX years later in 1998, when we finally figured out what happened and got the mess straightened out. I got this slip from the DA to "carry with me indefinitely". I've never had to present it to a cop, but better safe than sorry.
- My own professional business cards. Just a few of these, for one of my side professions. They DID indeed come in hand just a couple of weeks ago when I ran into new clients. Keepers!
- Frequent buyer card for Drug store. I shop there a lot. And this does give me those oh so extra special savings. This stays.
- Cash. Do I even have to explain this one?
- Drivers' License. Ditto.
- Two cards for my OLD dental plan. Ah-ha! Out you go!
- Pharmacy card from my OLD health insurance plan. Bye-bye!
- Receipts. As mentioned in another entry, I typically keep receipts for everything in my wallet, then periodically take them all out to put with my bank statements or credit card bills. It was about time to do this again. Ah, MUCH easier to close the wallet now.
- Las Vegas monorail card from my trip back in February. You buy these at the monorail stops from an electric dispensing machine. Slide your credit card through, and it dispenses a thick paper card with a magnetic strip, good for however many rides you purchased. How many were left on this? Impossible to tell. At first it seems like I should just throw it away, but instead I'll file it away in my "Vegas" folder, where I know I'll see it the next time I head out there. Better there than in my wallet every day.
- Phone number. A guitarist I know gave me his contact info. I've never called the guy, but we see each other at the same party twice a year. I must have had this damn piece of paper in my wallet now for years. So, I just copied the into to my cellphone and tossed the paper. Problem solved.
- Restaurant gift card. I called the number on the back to see what the balance was. Disconnected number. Then I went to the website and I checked there. Zero dollars. This is one of those cards that they can add credit to, but of course you can just get a whole new gift card there as well. And this one is cracked. Sayonara!
- Museum pass. I do go here somewhat frequently. I'll keep this.
- Hot Topic frequent buyers card. Jesus, this thing must be 10 years old. I can't even remember the last time I stepped inside a hot topic. I don't know if they'd even accept this. But I'd have to spend another $40 before I'd get a 15% off coupon. Would it even be worth it? I might as well ditch this. This DOES however remind me though of the time when I had a similar card for a video store. It was in my parents' town when I was growing up. Rent 15 videos or something like that, get one free. Each time you rent a video, they punch a hole. I had the damn thing for years, and had one more damn hole to punch. My brother was leaving the house to go to the store. "Wait, take this!" He took it. Came back. And somehow between then and this 10 minute trip, he lost the card. God fucking damn it!
- Local Coffeehouse Frequent Buyer Card. Another one of those "buy 10, get some discount". I just started visiting this place and I must admit, I liked the place. I may just keep this.
- Best Buy Rewards card, book store card. I do tend to go to these places a lot, so they stay.
- Restaurant cards, video arcade card, Foxwoods Casino card. Place I don't go all that often, but I'd hate to be out at these places only to realize that I stored the cards at home. I think I'll put these together in my car's glove compartment, since if I'm going to be at these places, there's a 99% chance I will have come via my car.
- Two library cards. One of these libraries, I go to a lot. The other, I haven't been to in years. Keep the first, throw the second in with the "glove compartment" stack. I know what they say about keeping cards in your glove compartment. I suppose I should be afraid that if somebody stole my car, they could also take out a bunch of library books without returning them, but somehow I doubt it. How hard would it be to forge a library card without stealing a car anyway? Are there really any bookworm criminals out there?
- Video store cards. These days there's only one I visit, and it's pretty rare when I do. And that one, I have keyring card for. The other two are used even more rarely. In fact my Blockbuster card still has the name of my girlfriend from college on it (basically, it was a joint account and I ended up taking it over, and everything has long since been in my name). Though now Blockbuster has an online rental store, kind of like Netflix. I may look into this.
- Calling card. I forgot I had this until I was shredding the old bills for it a couple of weeks back. I got this from my fraternity. You use it to place a call at for example a payphone, and at the end of the month you get a bill for what you were charged. A percentage of this went to the fraternity headquarters as a donation. I used to use it mostly back when I was still living with my parents, so that my dad would stop flipping out every time I called out of the area code. Of course, things have changed. I've moved out of my parents place some time ago (in fact, THEY have since moved out of that house some time ago too), have my own phone, and we live in the age of not only cell phones, but also cheap nation-wide calling plans. No longer do you get charged up the wazoo for calling outside of your area code (and Massachusetts, despite being a small state, has a lot of area codes). No idea if it's still good. I'll have to call customer service on Monday. But if it is, into the glove compartment you go.
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