A Wallet Alternative
- April 19, 2006
- 10 comments
Earlier today I got an itch to find an alternative to your usual, bulky wallet. I have a nice bi-fold Dockers wallet I bought about 2 years ago, but it’s just so bulky. I don’t even carry that much in it. Just your usual credit card or two, driver’s license and a little bit of cash.
When I was doing all my travelling back in the ‘90s, I learned that you shouldn’t carry your wallet in your back pocket. Ever since then, I’ve always put my wallet in my front pocket. Not only does it make it harder for pickpockets, but it’s better for your posture. Sitting with half your butt on 3/4 inch thick wallet isn’t exactly great for your spine. However, a normal wallet still looks like a brick in your front pocket. I wanted something thinner, yet still functional.
I did some searching and surprisingly only found a couple alternatives. The first is called the Jimi. It’s definitely NOT your typical wallet. In fact, it’s billed as “The wallet for people who hate wallets.” It has the dimensions of a 4th generation iPod and is made out of translucent, 100% recycled plastic. It holds 5 cards, some cash and a few other items.
It looked alright and the $16 price tag was decent enough, but I didn’t know if I wanted to be seen carrying it around. It’s definitely NOT your typical wallet. Almost too kid-like.
So I did some more searching and found the View Slimmy. It looked like a normal wallet, but was much slimmer (hence the name). I was pretty sure I had found what I was looking for. The $30 price tag was a bit steep, but not enough to prevent me from getting it. I was just about to submit my order, but decided to look around the house first to see if we might by some miracle have something that could get the job done.
My Dockers wallet had a small folding insert that looks like it would’ve been perfect. For some reason though, they made it just a little too small to easily put your cards in there. You could eventually get them in there, but it was just about impossible to get them back out. Not very handy.
While I was looking, I casually mentioned to my mother what I was looking for. Lo and behold, it turns out someone came to the courthouse yesterday with the exact thing I was looking for. They gave one to the county judge and the sheriff, but the sheriff didn’t want it so the guy gave it to my mother instead.
It’s basically a thin, bi-fold, leather-bound money clip. It has a pocket on each side for holding credit cards and ID. It can even hold two keys in little slots on the inside. It’s nearly the same dimensions as the Slimmy, 4 x 2.75 x .4 inches. It’s less than half the thickness of my old wallet, and that’s after I’ve got everything in it. It’s black leather, which wouldn’t have been my first choice, but certainly won’t keep me from using it. And best of all, it was free!
You can see how it compares to my iPod and old wallet in size below.
I’m not sure why it’s hard for guys to give up the huge wallets. I was kind of forced into switching, but mainly so I wouldn’t get robbed. Once you switch though, I doubt you’d want to go back.
Plus, how much crap do you really need to be carrying in your wallet? It’s not a man-purse. All you need is a little cash, a couple credit cards at most and your driver’s license.
That wallet looks pretty cool. I found Fossil’s site last night after I posted this. I was looking at this, but what you found is better. I might actually buy that.
Russ
April 21, 2006
My brother carries a man purse, and he doesn’t seem to mind all the crap he catches for it either.
I’m slow to change some habits, so I’m guessing I’ll probably give up my old fashioned wallet when we finally live in a completely digital world, and I won’t need to carry things like cash, credit cards, license, etc.
Russ
April 21, 2006
Missy
April 21, 2006
Tim
I think front pocket wallets are just soo cute. I’ve been trying to get my husband to switch to one of these but he refuses to give up his bulky “Bad MotherF*cker” Pulp Fiction-esque wallet.