Last weekend I was at the liquor store buying some wine to bring with me to my brother and sister-in-law’s house. Annnnnnd I reached into my Big Bulky Purse, only to remember I’d already switched my credit card to my Small Cute purse. Very embarrassing. Fortunately I live relatively close, so I zoomed home, got my Small Cute purse, and zoomed back to pay for the wine.
Mid-week, I stopped at the bank. We were urgently in need of cash: the last time I’d stopped, the machine was out of cash; the time before, I was sixth in line and I waited more than five minutes and the line didn’t move at all, and we had frozens in the car so I had to give up. I was relieved to remember to stop again, and then I discovered I didn’t have my checkbook (which has my ATM card in it), so I had to just leave. When I got home, I found I’d absentmindedly put the checkbook away with my calculator after balancing, instead of putting it back in my purse.
This morning, I went to the grocery store, and discovered at checkout my wallet wasn’t in my purse. Which I felt pretty stupid telling the cashier, because I was holding a wallet as I said it—but it was my Assorted Stuff wallet (member cards, department store credit cards, coupons) rather than my Absolute Essentials wallet (driver’s license, CREDIT CARD). And my grocery store doesn’t take checks (I DID have my checkbook this time) without an application process, which I have never done because I never pay with a check. And I kept rummaging with increasing desperation through my uncooperative Giant Purse, because the wallet COULD NOT be gone, and yet it continued to be gone. So I pulled out my bank card, which has a Visa symbol on it, and I’ve never used it to pay for anything so I hope that hasn’t screwed up everything in the world. It said “debit” on it, but she said it wouldn’t go through except as a credit. OH WHAT HAVE I DONE?? (My wallet, luckily, was on the floor of the coat closet.)
I don’t know if I’m hoping you’ll tell me you do the same thing all the time, or if I’m hoping you’ll encourage me to check in to a nice quiet assisted-living facility.
It will be fine. You can use a bank card as credit or debit and either way it comes out of your account (and if you have never used it before, you might not have set up/don’t remember the PIN, which explains why you had to run it as credit).
This is why I only have one purse and one wallet at a time. If I take the check book out of said purse, it goes right back in after using. My car keys on the other hand I am always missing.
I’m forever rummaging…
I’m still in the under-30 crowd, but I find myself rummaging ALL.THE.TIME. I blame having children. I was never like this before.
The only rummaging story I have is that when I go to pull out my wallet I ALWAYS first pull out a tampon and then a stray diaper, in that order. Next comes the wallet. It always happens in front of a youngish boy cashier too so I know they are always thinking, “This is why I’ll never get married.”
More importantly, you live five minutes from a liquor store? So jealous. I’m 20 from the closest one around here. Stupid dry county.
For some reason, it is always in CVS that I get the checkout counter and then realize I don’t have a wallet. And I’m never willing to go home with my kids and then go back to CVS, so they must think I’m the biggest flake in the world.
Purse Switching Issues are responsible for some of the biggest and most enduring fights I ever have with my husband. He just doesn’t understand purses, or why a wallet might fit in one and not in another or why I might remove my credit card and license from my wallet and forget to put them back in the wallet and forget to put the wallet back in my purse. But I DO switch purses and wallets and forget to un-switch and I have had MANY moments of panic/embarrassment at the grocery store because of it. Not to mention countless crabby glares and incredulous head shakes and world-weary lectures from my husband.
So perhaps you will reserve a spot for me at that assisted living facility.
I could fill your blog for the next 2 weeks with my tales of rummaging. Also, the stories of getting paged while in the store because I either dropped my wallet or one of my kids threw it out of the cart. The fact that you seem to think this is not just normal life makes me think you are pretty organized in general :).
I also have the Assorted Stuff and Essential Stuff wallets and have done the exact same thing. One of the things I do is keep a backup credit card and my checkbook in the AS wallet and that has saved me a number of times. I live 15 minutes from anything so usually if I can’t pay because I forgot my wallet I decide I can live without it – sort of like divine intervention.
Yes. While I maintain only one purse/wallet combo to avoid this most of the time, I have problems with the diaper bag. On the weekends, I throw my wallet and such in the diaper bag if I’m going somewhere with the kid. I usually think, Wallet? Check. Sunglasses? Check. Phone? Check. Then I will forget my keys.
I should probably just throw some stuff from the diaper bag into my purse, but it’s too small. And I raged for years about how NO ONE NEEDS HUGE PURSES, so I feel like I have to maintain my small purse size.
I have SO done this. I had 2 children with me and was buying food for a birthday party the next day. A lot of food. The cashier was almost done checking me out when I realized I didn’t have my wallet, cc, checkbook – NOTHING. I stopped her and to my surprise she finished ringing me up and said they would hold it for me at customer service until I could go home and get the cc. They even put the cold stuff in coolers.
I was embarrassed but Publix won a loyal customer!
I am constantly rummaging, if not in my purse, then everywhere else in my house/car/office/life. If I am alone, I will curse up a storm to vent my frustration. It helps.
I pretty much ONLY use my debit card, so I am an expert! Just kidding. @Hairline Fracture explained it perfectly, so it’ll be fine. Just remember to enter the purchase in your balance book as if you wrote a check. In fact, I believe you can request several debit cards (like credit cards, for shared accounts), & then you could keep one in each wallet/purse (one in the car?) and not have to worry about rummaging problems so much.
P.S. Assisted Living sounds like a vacation to me right now. I’m not even kidding.
ALL THE TIME. I work on a military base, so I have an ID card that I need to show to get onto base. The same card logs me into my computer, where it likes to stay, all nice and cozy, while I leave the base to go out for lunch. The subsequent rummaging is dreaded by my coworkers.
I have also had to leave my boyfriend at a restaurant for collateral while I went home and back to fetch a credit card, because I’d bought something online with one and left it at the computer, and bought gas with the other and left it in my pants pocket when I changed.
I have this mental picture of me at retirement age, wandering around in a forgetful daze and leaving a trail of belongings behind me everywhere I go…eep.
Which is why I don’t switch purses. I would forever be making as ass of myself all over town.
You still carry a checkbook regularly? I haven’t carried one for at least 5 years. Don’t miss it one bit.
Oh man, coming up to the register without payment handy is one of the most embarrassing things I encounter in my life on a semi-regular basis. Glad you got through it okay – and don’t fear the debit card!
Oh god, I HATE doing the purse rummage. I have a small purse that is basically a large wallet with a long strap. I keep all credit cards, member cards, some cash and other basics essentials in it for quick trips out. I keep a larger purse packed with other items for longer trips or when I know I’ll need more room. The wallet size purse fits into the bigger purse so I never have to switch wallets or use 2. Did that make any sense? I don’t know if it helps, but it works well for me!
i can’t explain why, but since i switched to an Essentials Wallet and Assorted Wallet situation, i actually have been BETTER at having All Necessary Things on me. I put my most-used credit card, my debit card, my ID, and my metro card in a tiny wee wallet, and then just check to make sure i have THAT every time i go out. and like Heather, i do keep an alternate, rarely-used credit card in my larger Assorted Wallet for the situations when i still leave home without my Essential Wallet.
I feel like I spend half my life rummaging all around my house and it drives me nuts. I never used to be this way before I had kids. Now? It’s all. the. time. After doing the weekly grocery shopping and forgetting my wallet in the diaper bag (which was not at the store with me) I decided never to move anything from the one purse I am carrying because it just leads to disaster. I will say N.ew Se.asons earned my undying loyalty by allowing me to check out and then go home and call them with my CC information, but Jeez was I embarrassed.
So for me, it’s one purse at a time for months at a time. I’m not able to handle more than one and remain a functioning member of society.
The only reason we do NOT have this problem right now is because I am staying at home with small kid (soon to be kids) which very much requires a diaper bag. When I was working and had alternate days home and at work, I was always forgetting stuff in either my work bag or the less-compartmentalized diaper bag, and needing to be let into my office by security, or borrow bus fare from someone.
I recently got a diaper bag that has a separate compartment for mom-stuff and that really helps. I leave the mom-stuff in there, and once a week when my kid goes to play at someone else’s house, I just empty wallet, phone and keys, which are all in one place in the huge bag, into the Cute Small Purse and leave the rest of the diaper bag. The reason I don’t forget to switch back is because my kid is obsessed with the Cute Small Purse and when I pick him up he takes charge of it which sure reminds me to take my valuables out of it first before I entrust a two year old with them.
It will get worse when we have two kids and more, and even worse when they are out of diapers, so then I will join you. Luckily, our grocery store takes check.
I use my debit card for everything (we don’t even have a credit card.) The money comes out of your checking account just like you’d written a check– even if they ran it as credit.
I’m pretty good about keeping my wallet in whichever purse I have, but I’ve always wondered if I got to checkout without it if they would let me manually enter the number. I have it memorized from paying bills online.
Oh, Girl,
Wait 20 years or so… I forget why I’ve gone into the bathroom!! Now, at least, you can blame it on the kids… hectic life. What’s my excuse?? The kids have been gone for 12 years!
I agree with Liz. You must be pretty darn organized in general to have been flummoxed by these incidents, because they happen to me, oh, at least once every few months I’d say. To the point where I’m hardly even embarrassed anymore.
Hey, my word verification is “prettini.” Sounds like an awesome girly drink. I challenge you to use some of that stuff you picked up at the liquor store and invent a prettini.
Definitely makes me feel better that I carry the same purse around for 8 months at a time (until it wears out!). Switching would definitely ruin me.
Related: I’m sure I’ve mentioned my great-aunt, in whose purse they found $80 worth of change after she died? Hee hee. EIGHTY! DOLLARS!
Clarabella- Do you ever daydream about a prison cell? Small but so easy to keep clean; noisy, but someone else is in charge of keeping it down; no cooking; plenty of time to read.
(Perhaps it’s unnecessary to add “Because _I_ do.”)
Hairline Fracture- WHEW. This makes me feel so much better. EVERYTHING WILL BE FINE AFTER ALL.
Sarah- Oooo, a Prettini! I immediately want one! Maybe a nice spring green, with maraschino cherries and an aqua umbrella and an orange slice on the sugared rim!
El-e-e- EIGHTY DOLLARS IN CHANGE? I love it.
The biggest proof I’ve SO WITH YOU: this morning E was pretending to be me, with a purse over her shoulder, and she started tossing things out of it, one at a time, muttering “It’s in here somewhere….”!
This is EXACTLY why I only use my one giant shoulder bag, which is stuffed full of everything I just might need because the day I leave it behind for a small cute purse is the day I’m going to need all that stuff.
OK I could have written this almost word for word. Somehow that doesn’t make me feel better, but maybe it will work for you. Also, I leave a bag of items at the checkout at least every third or fourth grocery store run. The embarrassing part is that the manager at the (non-WalMart store) I shop at knows my face because I’m always calling customer service to say, “Hi, I left a bag at the checkout.” She doesn’t even ask me to list the items that are inside it anymore.
The stress involved in switching purses and possibly ending up in your situation is what causes me to do a lot of thinking that I will switch purses without actually doing it. I hate not having what I need and I also I feel the need to clean the purse if I switch!
Maybe it’s time to keep everything in one wallet? I squashed everything into a single wallet, and when all the bloody membership cards to different stores didn’t fit, i just threw a lot of them away (never remembered to use them anyway, and the savings of many of them was negligible) and it’s been awesome ever since.
Haha! Thank the purse goddess, I have not had this problem. I have more than one cc and am super anal about having my stuff. I’ve forgotten lunches and extra diapers but not my Vi*sa. I also have a AW and EW. Recently, I combined/reduced to form the TW or Travel Wallet.
BTW, I was check-free until I had kids – the school, PTA, Girl Scouts, etc prefer checks over cash and rarely can process credit cards.
I ONLY use my debit card as credit. It’s much, much more secure to protect against fraud and identity theft. In fact, when I just switched banks with the move the lady gave me this whole little walk-through of the bank card and specifically mentioned several times to use it as credit vs. debit whenever humanly possible.
I’m always switching the essentials (drivers license, credit card) from purse to diaper bag (so I don’t have to carry a purse). I’m not sure it’s worth it, because I always forget to switch it back and end up in situations like yours.
Oh yes, THIS is why I only have one purse and one wallet at a time. I do have a little separate card only wallet that has insurance cards and store membership cards, but that lives in my one (admittedly huge) purse, too. I live an hour away from my office, so if I ever forgot my wallet, I would be screwed.
For a long time, I carried one of those wallets that attaches to your key ring. So, if I drove myself somewhere, I MUST have my drivers license and credit card. Now that I no longer have it, I am afraid to ever change purses. I feel that your post justifies me in this decision.
Also, I’ve never fantasized about a prison cell, but I have fantasized about being sick enough to be hospitalized . . .
I never ever ever switch purses, except for when I buy a new one, and that becomes my purse for a year or so.
Before I went to CA for work, I had a $5 off a Merona purchase at Target coupon, and I bought the cutest little wallet. It holds my 4 most used cards, my license, and has a strap to hold cash. So ow, my big wallet is in my purse with stuff I don’t use as often, abd the essential wallet is in the pocket of my purse,easy to grab.
I haven’t lost any of my cards in months! (and it was previously, a daily experience)
Don’t ask me where my car keys are though, I can never find those.
I’m a bit of a “neat nick” or some may call me a “psycho organizer” but I keep all that crap in a jumbo purse. I just have line it up in an order and keep putting everything back in order about 52 times a month because I HATE to rummage. Thank you!
Dani
I think having the right handbag (trans. purse) is key. Big enough for ALL your stuff (but no bigger), and with the right number of pockets. I had one but it died, and the replacement has sadly brought me back to rummaging.
I haven’t used my chequebook since forever – I pay all my bills (even the school ones) via the internet and keep an eye on my balance that way too. My bank will text me if I go overdrawn so that’s nice too.
I do those sorts of things ALL THE TIME.
I don’t ever bother buying or switching purses because I cannot get a handle on the one bag I have. All my junk ends up on the passenger seat of my car because if I happen to go somewhere by myself and don’t need wipes and diapers and containers of Cheerios and pacifiers and Star Wars figures, I just fling it over there. The problem is that I never remember to put it back in and then have to traipse out to the car a zillion times when I do actually need this stuff.
My HUSBAND is the one, though, who has a complete aneurysm if he has to rummage through my bag. You’d think I was asking him to stick his hand in a vat of rattlesnakes.
I am feeling relieved (and sympathetic), having driven to the store this very evening without my wallet – without my entire purse, in fact.
I rummage too…and I don’t switch purses very often because then everything is just out of whack. I try to keep everything in the same place but you know, sometimes things just aren’t where they are SUPPOSED to be. Ugh!
Oh, man, not only have I done this, but I’ve driven all the way to Bigger Town (30 miles) and realized that not a single errand I was there for could be accomplished b/c I had no wallet. Once I scrounged a checkbook out of the car and was able to at least buy myself some FOOD (I had to use the pregnancy card though, b/c the place I stopped didn’t accept checks). I also once drove to Outlet Mall (again, 30 miles) with INFANT TWINS (which as you know took an incredible amount of effort and strategy) and realized I had no wallet when I arrived. GRAH!