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We all have a wallet, it is the portable command center of our money. Every transaction we make, there is a good chance our wallet plays a prominent part, and more often than not, it involves money leaving you. So that got me thinking, if my wallet is such an essential part of my personal finance, is there any way I can turn it around and use the wallet to my advantage and help me save money? So over the last week, I came up with a few modifications.

Organise your Cash

First of all, only carry enough cash with you for emergency. For me, the amount is usually $20. It’s enough for a few phone calls, a short taxi ride, train/bus ticket to around the city and enough for a few simple meals.

But make sure you carry the spare cash in notes and not coins. the reason is, lose change is just so easy to spend. You see a guy selling hot dogs for $2 and you think to yourself, “Hey, I got a $2 coin, might as well lighten my wallet a little and I mean, it’s only $2 right?”. Another reason is that lose change just seem so insignificant, 20 cents here, 50 cents there, it’s like your almost doing yourself a favor by getting rid of them!

Now here is what I find to be very helpful personally, whatever cash amount I want to carry, I try to make it up in the least amount of notes possible, and if possible just one. So if I was to take $20, I’d just take a $20 note with me, if $50, then a $50 note. To me, if I only have 1 note in my wallet, I will just have this subconscious urge not to break it up…maybe I’m just weird, or perhaps you guys feel the same way too.

Inspirational Picture

What goals do you have? Are you saving up for a new car? A new Computer? A nice holiday with your girlfriend? Well put in a picture of what your aiming for in your wallet. So the next time you pull out your wallet to grab a burger on your way home, you might find yourself staring at a nice stretch of Hawaiian beach and you ask yourself, do I really need this burger, when I’m only 30 or so minutes away from home and nice home cooked and free food?

Credit Card Cleanup

For these of you who have multiple credit cards, go and make a decision. As hard as it may be, choose and carry only one credit card with you. Again, it’s kind of a mental trick, if you have 2-3 cards with it’s balances spread out, the effect of your debt will appear less significant. You can also start persuading yourself, this account doesn’t have anything owing, it’s okay if I just spend a few dollars there. But if you only have one credit card, with one debt amount, then every purchase you make, you know it will be adding up.

Make GOOD use of these coins.

I’ve already mentioned that lose change in your wallet is just asking to be spent/wasted. So what can you do to prevent from these coins from such inevitable fate and at the same time keep your wallet nice and light? Put them in a piggy bank. Yes you heard me right, a piggy bank, you know these little pink piggy containers with a coin slot on its backside that you got when you were 10 years old. Make it a routine that everyday when you get home, whatever spare coins you have in your wallet, toss it into the piggy, don’t even think about it, make it a habit. Overtime, these coins that would of otherwise be spent on useless junk WILL add up. It’s not far fetched to say you might get $1 worth of coins a day, now wouldn’t that be a pleasant suprise at the end of the year to find that you have an extra $365 laying around?

Thanks for reading my tips, do you have any wallet money saving tips of your own?

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