The One About The Wallet

Many of you will agree with me that losing your wallet is like losing half of your life. Well, it was like that was several years ago. After that, it was the filofax that made you feel you lost half of your life if you lost it. I remember that story in the Ateneo of Kris Aquino losing her filofax and (almost) everyone knowing her showbiz secrets. Today, you feel like you lost half of your life when you lose your cell phone. Or your laptop.

I remember back in high school, I lost a wallet with my school ID, some photos of friends, and some cards. I felt really bad, and paralyzed for several days. And I didn’t even want to buy a new wallet until I was absolutely sure that the old wallet was really lost. Keeping information might have evolved over the years, but losing your wallet is still something that makes you feel bad and miserable and inconvenienced for days.

So here are tips on what to do (1) before (to prepare you), and (2) after your wallet is lost. This post is inspired by The Simple Dollar’s post on The Danger of Losing Your Wallet. Tips 3-5 are from that post.

Tip #1: The first tip of course, is to try to find it. Remember when you last had your wallet. And retrace your steps in your mind. Doing so will help you eliminate places where you could not have lost it, and concentrate on places where you may have. What were you wearing? Where did you go? When did you take your wallet out of your pocket? Use the power of your imagination to remember.

Tip #2: Assume the wallet is stolen. If you can’t find the wallet within a few hours, someone else might, and you don’t know if that person will return it to you. When it comes to your identity, credit cards, and bank accounts, you’re better off safe than sorry. The maximum time you will want to wait is 24 hours as, for many companies, there are deadlines for reporting lost cards.

Tip #3: You can take preventive action right now to make the loss of a wallet easier. Just clean out your wallet down to the bare minimum, then photocopy or scan both sides of everything in your wallet. This will help you to easily remember everything that was misplaced and easily deal with the consequences of card cancellation and replacement. Weed out and update the contents of your wallet. Get rid of those expired cards, old receipts and out-of-date discount coupons.

Tip #4: Carry minimal identification in your wallet as a preventive measure. Try to avoid having your Social Security number in there if at all possible, as that will make identity theft much easier if you were to lose it. You’ll probably have a driver’s license in there, but make sure that it doesn’t include your SSN and has only minimal identifying information on it. Think about it, is there any reason for you to carry your Social Security card in your wallet?

Tip #5: Keep your wallet clean. The “Costanza wallet,” overstuffed with receipts and notes and junk, is a personal security concern. Get rid of all of the junk you don’t use regularly - your wallet is not your briefcase.

Tip #6: Write down the contact info for your health insurer, credit card companies, bank and other important institutions. That way, you’ll be able to get in touch with them right away and cancel cards and get replacements if necessary. I have saved the info in my email account as a draft document so I can just access the information via the internet when I need to and so I don’t have to keep a copy written somewhere (which I will probably lose also).

Tip #7: Don’t put all your eggs in one basket. Don’t keep all your cash in your wallet. Keep some at home in a safe place and only carry what you think you may need. This way, you reduce the amount of cash you may lose if you lose your wallet.

Tip #8: Periodically during the day, make sure you still have your wallet. It takes only a second to do, and it gives you a better chance of finding your wallet if you have just lost it. Get in the habit of checking regularly: every time you get up to go somewhere, while you’re walking, etc. A light touch of your back pocket or a quick look in your purse will give you this sense of security that your wallet is still there.

Tip # 9: Keep just one credit card in your wallet. So that if the wallet gets lost, you only need to report one card missing. Keeping one credit card also makes life generally easier for you — it keeps you from paying so many yearly fees, and forces you to keep within your credit limit.

Tip # 10: Check your ATM and Credit Card statements to check if there are fraudulent transactions. This is where having online access to your bills come in handy since transactions will be reflected almost instantaneously.