BellaOnline Forums Home and Garden Organization New solution to rid your keychain of club cards!

My keychain was full of those bar coded club and loyalty cards and I hated it. So, my husband made this crude credit card size holder for the cards that fit in my wallet. Every time I used it I would be asked about it and where could it be found. I told my husband he should develop and market it, and he did! If you hate your keychain cluttered with those club cards, check out this new product at Club Card King You'll love it!

Interesting product, and one could manufacture something similar in a few minutes at home without trimming the key ring sized cards with a photo pocket (from the set that comes with most wallets) and some strong thread, but I have a few other ideas.

Only carry the cards you actually use.
If that's still too many, carry only those you use at least once a month. The others can be kept at home and brought along on shopping trips when needed. (We have a few that we use often enough to keep, but not to carry -like pet supply and video store cards- so they live on the bulletin board over my desk, tucked in the bottom edge. We just grab them on our way out if we plan on using them.)

If you don't want to pare them down, pull them off the key ring and give them their own. Then you can chose to carry the cards (or at least the grocery store ones) inside your coupon holder. Or store the card ring in the car so the cards are always handy if you chose where to shop at the last minute. Or keep the card ring in a specific pocket of your handbag if you carry one.

A few years ago, I moved mine to a separate keyring to cut down on things I had to fumble with when I needed my keys. Last year, I pared my cards down when I discovered I had three cards I hadn't used in over a year. (Here's the part where all the women here will think I'm nuts.) Then I decided to stop carrying a purse unless absolutely necessary. I've always carried minimal baggage, and I spend most of my time in jeans, so I decided to make use of my pockets. I now carry lip balm, a hair tie, and my very few must-have keys on a simple ring in a front pocket, and a flat rectangular zippered change purse in a back pocket. The change purse is just barely big enough to hold my necessities: A few cards (ID, 1 debit/ATM, 1 credit), cash (bills folded in half separately for easy removal), a slip of paper with emergency numbers, and the key ring sized versions of my loyalty/club cards (there are only 4 I use often enough to carry). I have to be prompt about keeping my receipts and loose change cleaned out of the "mini-wallet" to keep it usable, but traveling light is worth it. No purse, no ugly bulky pockets, no frills. Simple, organized, and clutter-free.

One last note, and this is grocery store card specific: My fiance and I do a lot of our grocery shopping together, so with the exception of our favorite grocer, we don't carry duplicate supermarket cards. In other words, we both carry store A's card, but I have B and he has C. One less card for each of us to tow around. We don't visit B or C more than once or twice a month, so it's not a big deal to plan for the card carrier to go (or hand off the card) when we do.

Myra
I have one even better for you IF you carry a cell phone...A lot of cell phones now design a carrier that includes an additional zippered pouch for a driver's license and credit card or some money etc. all will still attach to a belt or waist line. I carry my debit card 1 check and my DL in my blackberry pouch and hook my keys around my wrist or on the shopping cart if I am not wearing something with pockets.

I have never felt the savings was worth carrying tons of additional little cards around and most of them open your account based on a phone number, so if you do not have your card and you give them the number it is the same as having the card with you.
So I give my phone number and if that does not work I don't bother with it.

The Costco and Sams cards I have in my car ashtray so I always have the if I stop by there unexpectedly.

I haven't carried a cell phone for a few years, but I might be getting one again soon of necessity (ugh...electronic leash). If I do, I'll look into a carrier like that!

My grocery cards have VERY outdated personal info, and I kind of like it that way. I get the "card member" discount without being "findable" for the junk mail, email spam, and phone surveys I got back when that info was current. So I carry the cards. (2 grocery)

As for the other (non-grocery) store cards, I've been the cashier who has to look up the phone numbers for one of them, and even with a newly updated computer system, it's still a hassle to look up the numbers... especially when a HUGE percentage of customers do not bother to complete their personal info for the files (partial information often means multiple searches). Even if the information is complete and accurate, it's a pain to do look ups and it slows down the checkout process. I don't want to inflict that annoyance on people after having it done to me literally hundreds of times. So I carry the cards. (2 non-grocery)

But hey, 4 cards isn't many. I could do worse.

I simply put them on a small key ring and just throw that in my purse. They are there when I need them, but not cluttering up my keyring.

Sarah, that is what I do but I have a bunch of them - grocery, although one grocery has a credit card sized card now because I can get discounts at the gas station and it needs to be inserted into the slot at the station, but there is Hallmark, shoes, sporting goods, cosmetics. I must have a dozen. It is almost ridiculous but the key ring is very helpful.