Consolidating your reward and membership cards can save space and save your sanity

by Jillian @ http://blueshelled.com . June 7, 2009 . 5:52PM

A couple of weeks ago, I wrote about detailing the contents of my bag. As you can tell, for me, less is more. Because I have to carry about 4 keys that are specifically for my office, alone, and then several for home, and about 3 that I have no idea where they belong, my key ring is growing larger by the day. The heaviness of my key chain could, eventually, affect my starter on my car.

Well, all those things, and I’m lazy. I don’t want to carry around a bunch of visually unappealing cards on my cute little keychain. Not to mention that I break those cute little keychains like crazy on a regular basis and don’t want someone using my perks, benefits or gym memberships for their own sordid means. So, how do I get around the hullaballoo of the plastic membership cards?

I recently discovered a couple of free services (one is free, the other is free for you NOW, but will cost soon, so get it while it’s hot). The one that is free for NOW, but usually costs $0.99 is called Cardstar. It’s for those of you with iphones or an ipod touch (neither of which I have, but might be nice). It allows you to download the Cardstar application to your device and then put your membership numbers into the application. When you get to a place that has a program for rewards or membership, you pull up your card on your iphone or your ipod touch and a bar code will show up on your device. Again, this is currently only available on IPHONE devices, but they are working on it for Blackberries, Androids and Palms. Hopefully it will stay free until they get the Blackberry app developed, because I’m intrigued! They are in the process of adding new reward/membership programs, but you can request any that are not currently available.

For those of you non-Appleites, there is another FREE program that sounds really promising! It’s called Just One Club Card and it will allow you to put up to 8 barcodes on a single card that you can carry in your wallet. You can create as many cards as you need and you print out your barcodes on a sheet of paper. There are some restrictions on cards, such as Blockbuster, due to barcode issues, but they are well-addressed in the FAQ and this can decrease the amount you carry in your wallet by a great amount.

One card you SHOULD carry, if you don’t already, is one more FREEBIE I found and it is the Wallet Medication Card offered by Mercy Hospital. I requested some about 3 months ago and received them within 2 weeks. Carrying mine has been invaluable because I always know my meds when I go to the doctor. I don’t have to carry pill bottles or question my dosage. It’s all there.

Here’s to lighter bags and wallets and happier shoulders!