Ditch The Wallet And Move It All To Your Phone In 5 Steps
Carrying around a wallet can be a nuisance, especially if you often carry around a lot of cards and other items inside of it. Since you’ll likely always carry your phone around, you can utilize some of the space on your phone to reduce the size of your wallet, or even ditch the wallet altogether.
This can be done by moving a lot of what you carry in your wallet onto your phone. In just a few steps, you’re able to do this; below are some of the easiest ways to eliminate the need for carrying a wallet.
Switch To Contactless Payment
Most point of sale systems now accept contactless payments from your phone. Contactless payment is also more user friendly than it might seem, as all you have to do is open your app of choice, select your card, and tap your phone onto the card reader.
Instead of carrying cash, you can also opt for apps like Paypal or Venmo. Some retailers even accept Paypal, but these apps can be handy should you need to send cash to somebody instead of having to carry around cash.
Store Receipts On Your Phone
There are a couple of ways to avoid having piles of receipts taking up space in your wallet. More places are now providing electronic receipts through email to reduce their paper usage. If a retailer doesn’t, you can save the receipt online so that, should you need to retrieve it, it’s on your phone.
There are even apps that allow you to upload your receipts to earn points towards rewards such as gift cards, while also storing your receipts for safekeeping. These apps will store your receipts so that you can pull them up should you need them for your records, for taxes, or to print off.
Switch To Membership And Rewards Apps
Being a rewards member for your most frequented stores or places to visit can help you earn some great incentives, but keeping all those plastic cards with you can be a challenge. Most of these places that offer rewards cards have apps where you can save a digital version of your rewards card.
You simply have to pull up the app and your card can be scanned. These apps exist for places like pharmacies, bulk stores like Costco, grocery stores, coffee shops, and even places like libraries. If you can earn rewards or gain access somewhere, chances are, there’s an app you can use instead of your physical card.
Securely Store Digital IDs
Not all forms of identification will be accepted when presented digitally, but changes are continuing to occur. Some states have even begun offering digital versions of driver’s licenses that can be saved on a phone. The same is true with some public transportation passes and student identification.
There are ways to protect the safety of your identification on your phone by using password-protected applications that ensure no one can simply access your identification by opening your phone. Other identification you should protect with a password includes insurance cards, AAA memberships, or health cards.
Move Your Gift Cards Onto Your Phone
Throwing away gift cards is like throwing away money, but lugging them all around in a wallet isn’t ideal either. However, knowing you have a gift card at home for something that isn’t physically with you at the time can be frustrating as well. Storing your gift cards on your phone takes care of all of these issues.
Some retailer apps will have a tab that lets you transfer the balance of your physical gift card onto the app. More retailers still need to get on board with this capability, but making gift cards flexible ensures that people are more likely to use them.
Final Thoughts
It has become easier than ever to use your phone for way more than phone calls and social media, and more and more, the capabilities of what our phones can do continues to grow.
Phones can be kept very secure with the right protocols in place, making it easy to slowly eliminate the need for your wallet. It’s important to always keep original versions of your cards and identification just in case you end up needing them.
