For years, I used a wallet made from baseball leather. I loved that wallet, but I was often accused of having a "Costanza wallet". As I tried to reduce the amount of crap I carry, I decided to try a new wallet.

I discussed the idea of a slim, minimal wallet. Many had suggestions. I was a bit hesitant to try the rubber band and/or binder clip method. My co-worker Jason swore by using the Slim Clip. The Slim Clip is advertised on TV a bit, so you may have seen it. The Slim Clip website is here, but I warn you they have an auto-play video that starts up as the page loads and is loud.

I've been using the Slim Clip for about 6 months now and here's my review.

The Slim Clip is stamped steel bent carefully into shape to hold bills on one side and cards on the other. The card holding works well. I haven't ever had cards slip out unexpectedly or trouble getting cards out, unless I shove too many in.

The cash clip works OK, but it took me some time to get used to putting the dollar bills back in securely. I like to carry cash, so having this work well is important to me. I found the clip will easily hold 20 bills. After that, it starts to get too snug. I found that if I try to push the limit, the metal actually bends and doesn't hold as tight. I've used needle nose pliers a few times to bend the clip back tighter.

The biggest challenge I ran into was simply choosing what to carry. In the past I used to keep pretty much everything that would fit. With the Slim Clip, I really had to reduce down. As you can see, it holds 6 cards, with just a little extra space. I carry a Starbucks Card (mainly to protect the other cards but also helpful with a Starbucks in our building), my Driver's License, two debit cards from our different banks (you do have two banks right, just in case of identity theft, right?), my company credit card, my health insurance card, and the member cards to the gym and pool center.

At first, I thought I would never be able to get by with just 6 cards, but I haven't had a problem. When on vacation or business trips, I replace the Starbucks card with the hotel card key.

Overall, I'm happy I made the switch to a small wallet. It's not the ultimate minimalist, but it's good for me. At under $10 for a Slim Clip, it's cheap as well.

What do you use?

Posted by michael at October 14, 2010 12:39 PM