Virtual Wallet

And perhaps the horse will learn to sing. - The Mote in God's Eye

I have this dream where I live in the future and the only thing I have to carry on me is my pocket computer which takes the place of my phone, wallet, and keys. It's going to be the future soon. Carrying almost nothing is everyone's dream, right? Other people have this dream where they discard all of this other stuff and just carry this one thing around with them. To do it these days that thing would probably be the size of, oh, say a phone. Each passing year it should be getting smaller.
I dumped most of the cards out of my wallet a while ago by scanning them all (960x640 @ 290 dpi) and putting them into a photo album that syncs to my phone. I mostly haven't missed them, mostly. Sometimes doctor's offices get annoyed with making a photocopy of my insurance card off my phone (or I get annoyed with them taking my phone). Sometimes the barcode scanner has no problem reading off my phone and other times it works just fine. When it fails, people just need to type in the code. So that's basically worked.

Even ditching my rewards cards, health cards, ID cards, and other cards, there were still a few things I felt like I couldn't do without: (1) credit card, (2) driver's license, (3) emergency $20. I think that's all I need to make it through the majority of my days.
I really wanted to carry my ATM card - I mean really, but Mrs.Chaos has currently talked me out of it. "What do you need your ATM card for?" "To get money from the bank." "No you don't. You just walk in with your photo ID and they give you money. Also, what do you need money for?" Fair enough for now. I really wish I had a bank that would let me deposit a check by snapping a photo of it. Not yet.
So I'm going to try an experiment where I just carry my phone, my ID and a credit card. No more. To inspire me I bought a new iPhone case that can only hold those items. We shall see how it goes.