Keeping track of multiple credit cards is tough. We’ve already talked about how I keep track of each credit card to make sure that I am making payments on time and paying the card off in full each month. Keeping track of the physical credit cards can present a challenge too, though.
I have credit cards I always carry, credit cards I only carry in the U.S., credit cards that I need to make the occasional purchase on, and credit cards I effectively never carry. The first group is the only group that is always in my wallet with the second group being in my wallet for the approximately six months of the year I spend in the US. We won’t get into which credit cards fall into each category today, but rather what I do with those cards when they’re not in my wallet.
The term “sock drawer” is a term that’s thrown around to indicate when a card isn’t being used to put it somewhere. In some cases actually the sock drawer, or desk drawer, or shoebox or whatever random place that you’ll remember putting it.
I had a rubber band of credit cards that I didn’t use often for a while, but as these “sometimes used credit cards” categories developed, I realized I needed a new system so that I could find cards more easily and never have to worry that one was misplaced.
Enter the solution: a Rolodex! Rolodex makes a vinyl business card book with 96 slots that I think is perfect for organizing credit cards. And no, I don’t have that many! I also put my airline and hotel loyalty cards in the Rolodex as well as a few other random cards, like my Red Cross blood donor card and metro cards for various cities that I travel to regularly enough to have a card.
I have my credit cards split up by issuer in the Rolodex, so it is always easy to find the card I’m looking for when I need it. At this point, I don’t have so many cards from any one issuer that I need to organize them more than that, though I’m sure that for some that will be a consideration. When I get new card accounts, I make room for them. When I get new cards for already open accounts, I replace them. When I’m traveling, I have room for the cards that I don’t take outside of the U.S.
Overall, having my Rolodex to organize credit cards has simplified keeping track of the physical cards quite a bit. I used to misplace them on a semi-regular basis (and still do every so often), but the Rolodex saves a lot of hassle.
How do you “sock drawer” your credit cards?
[Image via Getty]