Optimizing Your Wallet
My coworker and erstwhile twin, Matt Hempey, turned me on to the superthin All-Ett wallet. I was in the market for a new wallet, as my current Tumi wallet was almost 10 years old and starting to show its age.
After seeing Matt's All-ett, I was sold. I ordered my own All-ett. As promised, the fully populated All-ett is thinner (much thinner!) than my old wallet is empty. Amazing! It's so much more comfortable to sit down with this in my back pocket. I no longer feel motivated to remove my wallet from my back pocket when I sit down. That's important, because I tend to forget where my wallet is when I remove it and leave it lying around.
I only have three minor criticisms:
- The ultra-thin spinnaker sailcloth they use is a tiny bit "crackly" in use. It's not a problem in practical use, you can't hear yourself sit down, but it is a little disconcerting at first.
- The orientation of the pockets means the contents tend to fall towards the middle when you open it. It's a little more fiddly than a "typical" wallet when opening it and fishing items out of it. But given that I tend to open my wallet maybe 3-4 times per day, at most, that's a tradeoff I'm perfectly willing to make.
- The color selection is absolutely hideous. Black works fine, of course, but you can tell this is sailcloth when you look at the color selection. Would you like your wallet in teal green, seafoam green, or kelly green? That's what I thought.
Minus those very, very minor criticisms, highly recommended.
I've always wished I could carry a pen on my keychain, but I've never found one small and convenient enough to add to my existing keychain. I already carry quite a bit of stuff on my keychain: a LED flashlight, a Leatherman Squirt, and of course my keys. I'm not sure if I want to add a pen to that list. But there's a better way: I can carry a pen in my wallet!
I found two wallet pens that worked:
The Derringer Wallet Pen is only $8. Unfortunately, it was slightly too large for my old wallet at 4" long. So I had to give it away.
The wallet pen is quite a bit more expensive at $40. But it's made of sterling silver, and most importantly, it's only 3" and even thinner. So it's even more portable.
The wallet pen, as small as it is, fits perfectly in the "crease" of a typical wallet. It does bulge up a tiny bit in the super thin All-ett, but it still works.
I'm very happy with my new wallet arrangement. It's more comfortable, it's way thinner, and now I always have something to write with, too!