The Minimalist Effect

I’ve been told by a handful of people over time that my wallet is too fat. And personally I think it is too. So whenever the wallet-nazi’s comment about the thickness that my wallet presents, I usually justify the cards I have in it.

And I think that it’s a ‘hoarding’ gene that I’ve inherited from my mum. A while back I was in a spring cleaning mood, so I decided to turn my wardrobe upside down and throw out some of the junk that had been accumulating. I made a lot of progress and was pleased with the end result. What I wasn’t pleased with was the next day when I discovered things that I had thrown into the bin beginning to pop-up over the place. What had happened was mum went to the bin after I had finished and fished-out the things that she didn’t deem worthy of disposal!

And my wallet has taken a similar course. There are just some cards that I feel I must keep in my wallet – ‘just in case’. I’ve adopted the Scout's’ motto of ‘Always be prepared’ and applied it to the sea of plastic in my back pocket.

So tonight I have decided to be a minimalist. I’ve decided to down-grade my wallet. I wish I could say that this movement was instigated by my turning from the emotional attachment I seem to have with the pieces of plastic and their magnetic strip. But sadly it was mainly brought-about by my sore leg from sitting on the stupid wallet!

So I’ve moved from 15 cards to just 6. And I consider these six cards the bare essentials:

• 2 x ATM cards (one is a Visa Debit)
• My driver’s licence
• My student ID card
• My Smart Rider
• My Fly Buys card

OK the Fly Buys card probably isn’t an essential per se but out of all of my cards, it’s one of the most frequently used.

So we’ll see how long I can last without my other cards. I have a feeling I will much prefer this new cardless approach … time will tell.

Rest.

When it rains…

The weather has been pretty miserable lately – it’s just under 9 degrees Celsius as I write this. It was so cold that today while I was at work it hailed. I haven’t seen hail for a while now – usually because it happens in the wee hours of the morning while I am fast asleep in my electrically-heated bed.

So while it was hailing I decided to open the door and take a look outside. Hail was depositing at the base of the door and there was a moment where I stopped to think – have I ever touched hail? And to my amazement, the answer was no! Not in any of my childhood had I picked up hail before. Is this yet another missed childhood moment? I seem to be racking-up a list of them.

I shall add a new item to my list of things to do: Be snowed upon. (And of course to accompany that is write my name in the snow).

Uni is starting to get busier – weekly lab reports on top of assignments! The pressure is building, but the light is getting oh so closer, which draws me to my next fork – what next?

Only God knows…