i downloaded cardstar for the iphone

A few days ago I was at Eddie Bauer making a purchase. I knew I had an Eddie Bauer reward card. I even knew approximately where it was in my wallet.

See that compartment on the right? That is where it was.   I pulled and I tugged and I might have swore a little trying to get any of the cards inside to budge.

Nope.

I turned it over and tried to pop them out.

Nope.

I banged it on the counter.

Nope.

I tried to peel back the faux leather.

Finally.

I found the card and handed it to the speechless cashier who had just witnessed my wallet tantrum.

I just HATE these cards. I save $3 every 24 months and I carry around 3 pounds of them everyday.

The cashier said, “I think there is an app that records the cards.”

Really?

I went home and did a little research.   Sure enough…there are several iPhone apps that record reward card information.

I chose CardStar because it got decent ratings and it is FREE.

I then entered the card numbers for all the reward cards I had in my wallet…

Most of the cards I had were already in CardStar and it was easy to just select them and then add my number.

I even entered my library card.   The cards are arranged in the CardStar app so that you can click on them and it will bring up the barcode for the store to scan:

I got rid of over 12 cards out of my wallet.

Feeling inspired, I went through all my gift cards and called for their balances.   Most of mine had been used to within the last few dollars (which have to be spent to the EXACT amount…don’t get me started on that) and had run out of money after the monthly fees.   I threw away 5 more cards that were worthless and labeled the ones that were still good with a Sharpie:

Overall, my wallet lost a few pounds and 2 1/2 inches (and received a makeover):

Which left room for a few things that I wouldn’t even CONSIDER throwing away: