What's in YOUR wallet, serious psych question

whenever I have money, I keep it organized.

This is kind of a rare occurrence though.

 

I thought I was alone in this!

I do the exact same thing. I keep em all facing forward, right-side-up, with the largest bills in the back.

I could tell you at any time exactly how much cash I have in my wallet. I also keep coins in there and could probably tell you how many of those I have as well.

I don't use cash much (everything goes on the CC unless I have to pay cash), but I always know how much I have.

When I first started dating my now-ex-gf, she had crumpled up bills in her purse. No checking account, no wallet, no credit card, nothing. Her parents had paid for everything up until that point and she didn't know any better. It drove me crazy.

Now she has a wallet, a checking account, a credit card with rewards, etc. I did my part.

 

a) I'm not picking you out per se, but just noting that it's interesting how the default defintion of "success" generally is financial and not social, spiritual or familial.

b) I totally disagree with your premise about folding bills. I think it's more neurotic or OCD behavior rather than a vestige of success!

 

What if someone doesn't carry a wallet? What's your sagely take on rubberband guy?

 

SteveN, Do you put the larger bills in the inside or the outside of your wad?

 

What would be great is a money clip and keep a few $1s on the outside at all times.

 

When I started getting crisp money from ATMs, I took to alternating them as I counted them. (Does anyone else count what the ATM gives you to make sure it's right?).

The new bills tend to stick together like new book pages. I alternate bills head up and head down: That way I don't accidently hand over over two at once in place of one.

As to how they're sorted: The ATMs I use only do 20s. Everything else goes in the "loose change" pouch in no particular order.

Spend some time working with the blind, and you might learn the trick of folding different denominations different ways so you can tell them apart by touch. I noticed that dutch money has denomination bumps on them for the sight impaired. In the US, we have Braille instructions on our drive-up ATMs, but the money comes out all stuck together with no non-visual indication of what denominations the bills are. Go figure.

 

$20's in the real wallet, carry nothing larger, and all lesser bills go into front pockets randomly.

...but...a thick stack of $1's are in my decoy wallet. Always want to be able to surrender a wallet if you aren't packing heat (or if someone gets the drop on you). Gotta be smart about crime. Happens fast. Give 'em a decoy and you've paid $20 to outsmart a thief or group of muggers. But lose your primary wallet and suddenly you've just become a victim. Very different result.

 

I would bet there is some correlation of financial success and organization. I have often thought that I would be better off if I were more organized. For example, at this moment I have cash in my front pocket, my wallet, my coat pocket, the glove box in the car, and probably my desk drawer at home. I have no idea how much it would amount to if I gathered it all up.

Of course, being highly organized, even if financially successful, may not always be a better way to live. People with true OCD are usually not happy with the way they are and have a hard time socially.

 

I just try and have the bills in the wallet horizontally!

 

I don't carry a wallet......

















Cash.... all bills facing the same direction.

 

I carry nothing in my wallet. Only my credit card and keycard. Drivers licence also. I use plastic. Never cash.

 

Are you related to Paris? She likes to dump her change onto the backseat area.

My sister is OCD. She has all her bills sorted, facing the same way, AND she has to have all the bill corners unfolded. She also knows exactly where things are in her purse. Too many other compulsions to list, but she has a very active social life.

Of course, for chuckles we occassionally will repay her with very wrinkled & folded cash. She doesn't get the humour!

 

My personal bodyguard carries my cash. I only carry a set of condomes in my wallet. Flavoured first, followed by non-flavoured.

 

No kidding! I'm a cashier at Kroger and the poor people (you can tell...) are always finding crumpled up bills that they didn't know they had, and pulling them out in wads and struggling to find the one they need ... the richer people usually have them neat and organized, some carry them folded up nicely in envelopes and such.

 

I once saw a TV show where this mega rich guy who owns a chain of sports shops in the UK was been profiled (he's worth something like £120 million). They were following him through his daily life. One day at his warehouse, one of his lowest paid workers was wearing shoes with one of the soles hanging off. The rich boss called him over and asks why he hasn't bought any new shoes. Guy replies that he can never save enough money to do so. Rich bloke pulls out a huge wad of cash (probably about £2K) from his poket with a rubberband around it. Everyone thinks he's going to give the guy money to buy shoes. Instead he gives him the rubberband and says 'here this will help you save up'.

 

I'll have to remember that story for my kids!

 

Maybe they only look richer BECAUSE they have their money in neat little stacks... I bet I would look homeless to you!

Besides, carrying a lot of cash just makes me a bigger target for theft from my children.

Truth is I just don't buy anything with cash anymore, so I don't really carry a lot around. Then when I want a cup of coffee from 7-11, it's all pennies and dimes and pocket lint. OK, I'll try harder... for appearances sake!

 

Not only are my denominations in descending order from front to back, but the wrinkled and torn bills are in the back of their line. I do this to be sure that the freshest of each denomination is kept while the more tattered is spent first. Cashiers and people stare as I buy a cup of coffee then spend 2 minutes reorganizing my cash file system. All $20-$30 of it.

 

I keep mine in sequential order, with the large bills in the back. Whenever I get change back (bills) I sort them and make sure that all of the bills are facing the same way before I put them back in my wallet.

 

I keep the wrinkled and torn bills at the front of each line, but that's the order I pull from when I spend the money.

 

Well, I disagreed with the premise but it is charging to an early lead.

 

I don't carry a wallet anymore.

I carry a money clip and a small business card holder. In the money clip, the bigger bills are in the inside, the smallest bill shows. In the business card holder, I have business cards in the one fold, and in the other I have my drivers license, my debit card, and an AMEX.