What’s in My Wallet?

In the spirit of being open about my finances, I have decided to post what’s in my wallet. This post was inspired by one of those CapitalOne commercials which feature hordes of club-wielding, bloodthirsty, yet financially-informed Huns running amuck in modern-day American cities.

My wallet itself is a fairly unimpressive resin affair that I got from the cohort ahead of me in my graduate program at a “Welcome the New Cohort” party four years ago. It features the school mascot stamped into the resin, and has one-fold, both sides of which are held together with Velcro. In addition, it features a see-though plastic pocket on the front, a see-through plastic pocket inside the fold, an opaque pocket on the other side of the fold, and over this opaque pocket, a little zipper pocket for change. I am quite impressed that this little wallet, which probably did not cost more than $8 – and even that only because of the school logo that makes merchandise wickedly expensive, has survived without too much damage in four years of daily use. I used to use a much prettier and better-quality, but also much bulkier Nine West wallet that I replaced for two reasons: I wanted something smaller to carry in my bag, and unlike the current wallet, the old one did not have a see-through front opening that allowed me to flash my ID to the bus-drivers and I hated getting the card out every time I boarded a bus. So, here goes… this is what’s in my wallet:

See-through front pocket:
University ID (also acts as free bus-pass)
Driver’s License
Magnetic key for access to office
2 Coupons for: Swiffer, Febreeze

See-through inside pocket:
Public Library Card
Vehicle Insurance Card Duplicate
Medical Insurance Card
Spare Check (just in case I need a check)
Credit Union Membership Card
Borders Gift Card (approx. $15 balance)
Walgreens Gift Card (approx. $25 balance)
Target Gift Card (approx. $6 balance)
Walmart Shopping Card (approx $150 balance)
Advanta Mastercard
USBank Visa Debit Card
Bills that I have not entered in my keep-track .xls file
Post-it with Redbox Promo Code (see right sidebar)

Opaque inside front pocket:
On-going grocery list
3 coupons for Scotch Envelopes (handy for mailing Amazon sales)
1 Best-Buy coupon for 10% off in-store purchase
2 Hy-Vee pizza punch cards that I NEVER use
$2.00 in dollar notes

Zipper change-pocket:
$.70 in coins
1 button that had come off a top a few weeks ago

You know, it is a good thing that I looked. I had almost forgotten about the Borders and Target gift cards. I also reminded myself to give away the half-used pizza punch cards that I never use anymore, sewed the button back on again and marveled at the extremely tiny sum that I carry around in cash. I also found a few scraps of paper with phone numbers on them that I promptly entered into my cell phone, and discarded.

There you go, you bloodthirsty, club-wielding Huns – now you know what’s in my wallet – and it’s not a CapitalOne card!