What is in My Wallet

MSN Money has an article entitled, “What Your Wallet Says About You”. It basically says that if your wallet is a mess, your finances are probably a mess, too. It particularly notes the terrible, tragic problem of having change lying around on the floor of your car.

Under the heading “Chaotic Cash”:

“The bills in your wallet are crumpled and in no particular order. There's change in the bottom of your pocketbook or even the floor of your car.

Someone who treats money cavalierly often does not respect money or may not even care about finances, Thakor says. If you leave money around, you're basically saying it's not important enough to put it in a safe and protected place.”

Or. We treat cash cavalierly because we don’t use it so much as the credit cards that record each transaction down to the penny, sorted by date or category and posted in a secure account online.

Under the heading “Unruly Receipts”:

“Your wallet is stuffed with receipts, but there's no sense of order to them, and you never really do anything with them. This is a person who is trying, says Thakor.”


Or. My wallet is stuffed with receipts because people give them to me and I haven’t thrown them out yet. I clean out my bag when the messiness starts to make me mad. Maybe twice a month. I actually decline receipts at nearly every opportunity. I don’t take them at the gas station – which shocked my grandfather.

The idea that “a disorganized desk is the sign of a disorganized mind” is not true. And I can absolutely confirm that the state of my wallet, and my bag and the change on the floor of my car are absolutely no reflection of the state of my finances.