I used to carry my driver’s license, a debit card and a folded bill in the back of a really cool iPhone case from CaseMate… when I carried an iPhone. It was extremely convenient. It was also scary, since I could “wave” my phone near a credit card machine and my then-bank’s debit card would pay without ever taking it from the case. (I discovered this by accident at a McDonalds.)

So, I eliminated that bank (since they only used “paywave” debit cards), later changed to an Android phone, and effectively quit going to McDonalds 😉

I miss the ease of having a simple wallet. When I HAD to limit my wallet contents, I did… but since then, the contents of my wallet seemed to grow and grow. I carried all sorts of things tucked away in my wallet until it became fat and sloppy and took up half my purse.

The boyfriend also carries a huge wallet. He’s in serious danger of throwing out a hip with that thing. It would be great if we were both rich and THAT is why we have thick wallets, but we are receipt hoarders and reward cards lie in stacks as high as the “princess and the pea” story’s mattresses inside the dark recesses of his wallet.

While looking for a debit/ID combo money clip to try to convert the boyfriend to a lighter weight option, I started thinking about getting one for myself. If I limited myself, I would carry less and would function just fine. I knew this because it worked with the iPhone case before.

I converted my reward cards to a digital version (using a phone app) ages ago and I ensure that they are all connected to the same phone number (in case they need to be fetched manually). So I no longer carried a stack of reward cards. I made a concerted effort to use up any gift cards/store credits that were on physical cards inside my purse and eliminate them.

I seldom carry cash – usually just a large bill or two that stays tucked away for emergencies. I always carry my driver’s license, my CCDW, my bank debit card (for emergencies), my PayPal debit card (to access my business income) and a single credit card (which is what I use for everything and pay off once a month to collect rewards points). I really wanted something that would protect my cards from RFID theft — yeah, call me paranoid.

I searched for something that would work. I started with the RFID protection wallets, then went to the money clips with card slots, then just poked around for ANY solution I could tolerate. After searching online for the perfect solution… for several hours… I was ready to give up.

For some reason (known only to Google) a wooden business card case popped up in one of my searches and I thought, “That’s cool. It’s really pretty… wouldn’t THAT make a cool mini wallet?” Then, I remembered that since I had gone to the skinny style of business cards, I’d quit carrying a lovely (beautiful really) sterling business card case I’d scored on eBay a few years back. In fact, that case was in my “things to eBay” box since I never plan to carry the large business cards again and it’s simply too beautiful to donate.

Fishing it out of my eBay box, I realized the intricate cutout designs on the front would form an effective “Faraday Cage” around my cards and the solid metal back would mean the case would hold up to daily use. I’d carried it with my big business cards for several years without incident, so I knew it was as sturdy as it is pretty.

I carry it as a wallet now and I no longer worry about RFID security. Score! 🙂

I never did find the perfect solution for the boyfriend, but that’s a task for another day. For now, I have “upcycled” a beautiful business card case into daily use as wallet that I can tuck into even the smallest pocket — when I want to go without a purse — and I no longer have to about my cards being read without my permission.

Before you invest in those expensive “RFID” blocking options, you may want to consider using a metal business card case. You may even have one you love but no longer use tucked away somewhere (like I did). If you have to purchase one, they cost less than many of the special RFID wallets, offer more design options, and help/force you to limit the number of cards you carry.

Cheers!