Spring Cleaning Your Wallet

Discover card did a personal finance series in partnership with Real Simple magazine. So through the course of the year I will be highlighting some of the lessons shared in the series.

Today's topic: Spring Cleaning Your Wallet

The less you carry the easier it is to keep your wallet clean. It's also less to worry about getting lost or stolen. Empty the contents out on the table and try sticking to this wallet diet (that Discover suggests):
- Driver's License/Photo ID
- Primary Credit Card
- ATM Card
- Health Insurance Card
- Prescription Card
- Cash
One thing I would add to this list (because I live in NY), my Metro Card.

I actually have a wallet that I carry every day and I have a wallet that I keep at home. The wallet I keep at home has all my other credit cards, store charge cards, and membership/rewards cards. I also have a separate case for my business cards. They got dirty when I kept them in my every day wallet so it's worth it to carry something extra to maintain professionalism. I don't carry photos in my wallet. I guess if I had kids maybe I would. But then again I would just whip out my phone cause I'm sure I would have some photos stored in my phone.

Does your wallet need a diet? What would you add/remove from the list Discover suggested?

Manage Your Money, Manage Your Life - Part 1

Discover card did a personal finance series in partnership with Real Simple magazine. So through the course of the year I will be highlighting some of the lessons shared in the series.

Today's topic: Organizing Your Everyday

The first suggestion for managing your money is getting organized. They suggest saving and organizing your receipts for one area of your life and when you get a grip on that expanding to more categories. The categories they suggest as a breakdown are:
- ATM/Banking
- Business
- Education
- Entertainment
- Grocery
- Home Improvement
- Personal
- Tolls/Gas
- Other (category that you choose)

For me I would start with the Entertainment category, meaning dinners eaten out or ordered in. Because I honestly don't know how much I spend on that but I know it's my biggest expense. I think most people would probably need to start with the ATM category. I think people would probably be surprised at how many trips they make to the ATM machine in a month.

I also think my biggest problem is that I'm not sure how long to hold on to certain receipts. Discover came up with an excellent tipsheet that breaks down what receipts to keep and how long to keep them.

What works for you when it comes to organizing receipts?