Nik's New Minimalist Wallets

[moriond]

Hi All,

When Darcy told me about the New Freudian Slips, the item she included as an extra that I really went nuts over was Nik's Minimalist Wallets. And I started using the one that she sent (with no description or instructions) right away -- that's him in Island in the overview:



There are three varieties. One with two pockets both all fabric, one with two pockets -- one of which has a clear urethane window, and one with a third cloth pocket on the outside, which is what you see with number three.

Each pocket can hold up to 7, maybe 8, credit cards or bank cards, but the number is not entirely independent if you want to use the third pocket on the back. The Grass wallet at the bottom right shows what the back pocket looks like. The Island wallet with the 8 cards (driver's license, AAA card, credit cards, ATM cards, library cards) shows 8 cards in the back --spread out so that you can count them. Eight cards can be slightly tight in a new wallet.



The Urethane Clear Window side is great if you need to show a driver's license or ID card. What's fantastic about the wallets is that they are super light weight and compact compared to anything else you use:



This is an old leather card holder that I've been using in my Side Kick for comparison. The minimalist wallet shown in profile is holding 12 cards, and the 525d Ballistic Nylon or 400d Halcyon is both minimal and smooth. The leather thickness by itself takes up a lot more room.



And the wallets come in colors! For size perspective, here are the reverse sides of the Dawn, Coyote, Grass, and Island wallets (in dark lighting). The island wallet is holding 8 cards in one slot, 4 cards in another, and I still have room to put my current iPhone SE (had to transfer phones to take the picture) in the outside third pocket of the back of the wallet. For comparison I show a Field Notes Notebook beside it. This means, too, that everywhere you can put the Field Notes Notebook (in your Travel Cubelet, Medium Cafe Bag Pocket, or Side Kick or Freudian Slip pocket, you can also fit the iPhone and wallet in that configuration.



Anywhere inside the Travel Cubelet





This is taken inside the Black Travel Cubelet, with and without the flash.

Other points about the wallet:

• You can put your transit cards (Oyster card in top picture, put also any Metro cards with magnetic strip, or Charlie Card) in the outside pocket of the wallet for easy access. I can't test this here in Honolulu, but I asked Darcy, and the proximity cards will activate without having to remove them for the wallet pocket. I also use the outside pocket for library cards.

• I love using the minimalist wallet for cases where I don't need credit cards. For example, I always used to stick my Global Entry card in with my Passport in the Passport Pouch, and it would sometimes fall out because it was a different size. A minimalist wallet can hold this card along with all the other travel related loyalty cards you might need -- like the Mileage Plus Gold Card with Star Alliance claims you don't need (it's recorded on line), but in fact I needed the actual card to get into the Lufthansa lounges this summer, despite these claims. Or, you can include your Starbucks card if you want to get a coffee while you're waiting at the airport.

• These are also great for Health ID cards (separated for doctor's visits) or your AAA roadside services card.

• When I go through the airport, I can put both my iPhone and my wallet for travel cards together into a separate pocket in my carryon bag -- this works when I use my iPhone for the boarding pass.

Just a few ideas to get started.

moriond

[moriond]

I love these new designs! More soon, but I wanted to share a quick video of Nik's Minimalist Wallet! I love how they feel in my hand!

I'm hijacking @maverick's great video and pictures from the general November debut thread.

[moriond]

Continuing on, there is one limitation of the wallet that I ran into: it's sized to hold plastic credit cards, bank cards, driver's licenses, etc. but it is not designed to hold business cards. So, while I can fit in the cardboard HMSA insurance card, metro transit cards, and items like that, regular business cards with rectangular edges are slightly larger, and would interfere with how well the wallet holds onto the other items. That's one reason why the first photo shows a Pocket Pouch in Coyote/Island in the line-up. I'd still place items like business cards into a Pocket Pouch. or directly into one of my Side Kick pockets.

But, the fact that proximity transit cards can work without taking them out of the wallet is another fantastic feature.

moriond

ETA: The other thing I wanted to include in the first photo was all the presentation package illustrations that showed up in the pockets of Nik's wallets and under the elastic strap.

[maverick]

Great pictures, @moriond!

I'm so sorry -- I think the video may lead to some confusion at 3:50 where I describe the placement of business cards inside Nik's Minimalist Wallet. My personal cards are sized like UK business cards (85mm wide), and those fit. US business cards, which are 89mm wide, will not fit. Again, I'm so sorry for the confusion! Thanks @moriond!

[moriond]

Great pictures, @moriond!

I'm so sorry -- I think the video may lead to some confusion at 3:50 where I describe the placement of business cards inside Nik's Minimalist Wallet. My personal cards are sized like UK business cards (85mm wide), and those fit. US business cards, which are 89mm wide, will not fit. Again, I'm so sorry for the confusion! Thanks @moriond!

@maverick, Thanks for the great illustrations! I'm going to have to revisit this issue again, by testing a range of my business cards. This was discussed in some detail in the Business cards and Tom Bihn luggage tags, because when the Luggage Tags were first designed, I went through some pains checking that the full range of international business cards I had access to would fit into the Luggage Tag before they finalized the design -- after all, many people do just insert their business cards there.

The specific reason for checking the limits on rectangular, US business cards is that I've taken to carrying around the Nock.co Dot-Dash Petite Note Cards in my Side Kick for taking short notes and passing information back to people. They are surprisingly handy, and fit everywhere, including in some of the Freudian Slip pockets. But they're too long to conveniently carry in Nik's Minimalist Wallet -- I checked that right away. So they will still get carried in my Side Kick, but separately in a pocket behind the Wallet.

And… I plan to get several Wallets -- including some with just the two pockets. I'm going to put some travel related cards into one of those to go with my Passport.

Have you tried to use transportation cards inside the wallet? I'm not anywhere I can test this now. I know that that transit cards fit in the wallet, but I can't, for example, check that the cards I used for the Shanghai metro a few months ago (that you slide over the sensor), would work through the wallet.

[maverick]

@maverick, Thanks for the great illustrations! I'm going to have to revisit this issue again, by testing a range of my business cards. This was discussed in some detail in the Business cards and Tom Bihn luggage tags, because when the Luggage Tags were first designed, I went through some pains checking that the full range of international business cards I had access to would fit into the Luggage Tag before they finalized the design -- after all, many people do just insert their business cards there.

The specific reason for checking the limits on rectangular, US business cards is that I've taken to carrying around the Nock.co Dot-Dash Petite Note Cards in my Side Kick for taking short notes and passing information back to people. They are surprisingly handy, and fit everywhere, including in some of the Freudian Slip pockets. But they're too long to conveniently carry in Nik's Minimalist Wallet -- I checked that right away. So they will still get carried in my Side Kick, but separately in a pocket behind the Wallet.

And… I plan to get several Wallets -- including some with just the two pockets. I'm going to put some travel related cards into one of those to go with my Passport.

Have you tried to use transportation cards inside the wallet? I'm not anywhere I can test this now. I know that that transit cards fit in the wallet, but I can't, for example, check that the cards I used for the Shanghai metro a few months ago (that you slide over the sensor), would work through the wallet.

@moriond, I have not taken the metro recently, but can pop by for a test trip and see how that works out. Historically, I have had to have the metro card as the outermost card in order to not have to take it out of my wallet.

The card reader for my office is able to read the card just fine from inside the wallet, but I've been in other places where the card readers are not sensitive. For those situations, I am hopeful that placing the card so that it is in the back, or in the outside pocket in the case of # 3 will work.

[Titus]

How well do American bills fit just folded in half? It looks like the bills in moriond’s picture are folded in fourths.

[maverick]

How well do American bills fit just folded in half? It looks like the bills in moriond’s picture are folded in fourths.

Hi @Titus!

I fold my currency into thirds, and that works well. Folded in half, the bill will stick out a bit.

[moriond]

Hi @Titus!

I fold my currency into thirds, and that works well. Folded in half, the bill will stick out a bit.

Ummm… I don't think that I showed any currency in my wallet -- but @maverick is correct about this. There's actually a little room to push his bill folded in half down a little, but it will still push against the midpoint of the wallet.

I tend to carry bills in my Clear Organizer Wallet. And remember that most other currencies have very different sized bills. Here are some sample pictures:



If @maverick pushes his US bill folded in half down so it doesn't catch at the bottom edge of the Urethane window, he can get this bill to just barely clear the halfway point of the wallet -- it doesn't fit particularly well this way, but you can force it. Take a look at the $5 bill that I folded in half an placed in the clear portion of the wallet.

If you're asking what few bills of currency you can fit into Nik's wallet, you're best off folding US bills in thirds. Here are some examples of bills used during recent travel in August/September (China and continental Europe). There are some extra accessories there to keep the folded bills flat, since they were pulled out of other wallets (either Clear Organizer Wallets or Double Organizer Pouches).

The biggest of the bills is the 100 yuan (CNY) note from China. It is the same length as US Currency notes but taller. However, it does fit into Nik's wallet when folded in thirds. (There's one tucked into the upper pocket of the Coyote wallet. You can see the edge of the folded note just peeking next to the TB tag). The 10 Euro note is taller than a US bill, but folded in half is the same height as a US bill folded in half in the direction I've shown. The 5 Euro bill is smaller, so if you fold it in half, you can stick it into the wallet and not press up against the half-way point. The 5 yuan (CNY) note is about the same height as a US bill.

I'm not going to try to dig out all my different currency, but the basic answer is that this minimalist wallet will allow you to carry a few bills, but it's primarily designed for cards -- not for multiple types of international currency. It is pretty flexible for that purpose, however.

[moriond]

Here are a few more comments about (international) business cards and Nik's wallet. If you only try to fit one US business card into one of the wallet pockets, you can do it. But the wallet is not designed to carry several of them at that size; if it were designed primarily with that in mind, it would tend to drop credit cards, bank cards, driver's licenses, and ID cards unless you were carry a completely full wallet. As it is, it does pretty well holding those cards (and transit cards) regardless of how many you put into a pocket up to the maximum. If I'm carrying style #3, with two inside pockets (one clear urethane and one fabric), and one outside fabric pocket, I can't fill both pockets that are on the inside and the on the outside completely full with 7 or 8 cards each. (It also depends on whether you're including some cards that are not plastic, how many you can put in -- like my HMSA and Visioncare cards, or auto insurance cards, which are not as thick).

Here's a sequence with business cards (mainly from Stockholm, Sweden), shown against the style #3 wallet in Island:



The standard size business cards I have from Stockholm, are as wide as my US business cards. The card in the pocket is a vegetarian restaurant (might as well be useful to @maverick in case he goes to Stockholm!), with the next card being a lodging location, with the edge of the restaurant card that is hidden by the bottom fabric of the pocket showing below (see where it identifies Chutney as a vegetarian restaurant?), and the same length. The restaurant cards in Shanghai are US sized (Ye Shanghai is a very good restaurant -- not restricted to vegetarian food -- in Xintiandi). The other two restaurant cards I show for Stockholm are smaller than the standard business cards I found there in size. (@maverick, the one that I really recommend is Lao Wai, but make a reservation!).

The NYC metro card (and all my other transit cards that don't work in Honolulu), fit the wallet.

Now, about how to tether or carry the wallet. I think the easiest way would be to add a sliding attachment to the outer elastic strip. But in the interests of improvising, here's one way to do this:



I took one of the red cord pulls and just tied it around the elastic strap. Then I put a snaphook through the cord.



(sorry, messing around with the wallet moved the inserted bill inside the wallet).

In fact, if I were going to carry a wallet inside of a Truck, I'd probably just put the wallet into one of my Field Journal Notebook Pocket Inserts -- probably not the pen/pencil one this time.


If this picture doesn't make sense out of context, take a look at my post from a week ago about using a FJN pocket insert in place of a Small Cafe Bag Freudian Slip in the Truck. It can hold a notebook, lists, and (in the present case), a minimalist wallet. Just use the double carabiner clip to hook to an O-ring.

HTH

moriond

ETA: Forgot to mention that when I checked some business cards from France and other countries, they did fit into the wallet. But the ones from Scandinavia were larger, but not the largest in the world. (Just the largest size that I easily had access to).

[maverick]

Here are a few more comments about (international) business cards and Nik's wallet. If you only try to fit one US business card into one of the wallet pockets, you can do it. But the wallet is not designed to carry several of them at that size; if it were designed primarily with that in mind, it would tend to drop credit cards, bank cards, driver's licenses, and ID cards unless you were carry a completely full wallet. As it is, it does pretty well holding those cards (and transit cards) regardless of how many you put into a pocket up to the maximum. If I'm carrying style #3, with two inside pockets (one clear urethane and one fabric), and one outside fabric pocket, I can't fill both pockets that are on the inside and the on the outside completely full with 7 or 8 cards each. (It also depends on whether you're including some cards that are not plastic, how many you can put in -- like my HMSA and Visioncare cards, or auto insurance cards, which are not as thick).

Here's a sequence with business cards (mainly from Stockholm, Sweden), shown against the style #3 wallet in Island:



The standard size business cards I have from Stockholm, are as wide as my US business cards. The card in the pocket is a vegetarian restaurant (might as well be useful to @maverick in case he goes to Stockholm!), with the next card being a lodging location, with the edge of the restaurant card that is hidden by the bottom fabric of the pocket showing below (see where it identifies Chutney as a vegetarian restaurant?), and the same length. The restaurant cards in Shanghai are US sized (Ye Shanghai is a very good restaurant -- not only vegetarian -- in Xintiandi). The other two restaurant cards I show for Stockholm are smaller than the standard business cards I found there in size. (@maverick, the one that I really recommend is Lao Wai, but make a reservation!).

The NYC metro card (and all my other transit cards that don't work in Honolulu), fit the wallet.

Now, about how to tether or carry the wallet. I think the easiest way would be to add a sliding attachment to the outer elastic strip. But in the interests of improvising, here's one way to do this:



I took one of the red cord pulls and just tied it around the elastic strap. Then I put a snaphook through the cord.



(sorry, messing around with the wallet moved the inserted bill inside the wallet).

In fact, if I were going to carry a wallet inside of a Truck, I'd probably just put the wallet into one of my Field Journal Notebook Pocket Inserts -- probably not the pen/pencil one this time.


If this picture doesn't make sense out of context, take a look at my post from a week ago about using a FJN pocket insert in place of a Small Cafe Bag Freudian Slip in the Truck. It can hold a notebook, lists, and (in the present case), a minimalist wallet. Just use the double carabiner clip to hook to an O-ring.

HTH

moriond

You're making me hungry, @moriond! Thank you -- I'm making a note where to dine when I go to Stockholm! :)

[moriond]

You're making me hungry, @moriond! Thank you -- I'm making a note where to dine when I go to Stockholm! :)

There are actually other good places -- I've restricted myself to ones where I had cards. Lao Wai was the place I liked the most. Strangely, I had a lot of difficulty finding Thai restaurants in Stockholm that were actually vegetarian, or were willing to make vegetarian versions of their dishes. And there were a lot of Thai restaurants in Stockholm. Surprised me because that is one of the good vegetarian options in Hawaii.

[anna2222]

YESSS! They just listed a 4th wallet with a loop to use with a key strap.

[BWeaves]

Now that they have a wallet with a loop, I'm probably going to have to buy one.

[G42]

that's one reason why the first photo shows a Pocket Pouch in Coyote/Island in the line-up. I'd still place items like business cards into a Pocket Pouch.

ETA: The other thing I wanted to include in the first photo was all the presentation package illustrations that showed up in the pockets of Nik's wallets and under the elastic strap.

I use the Pocket Pouches for business cards too - works like a charm.

And those illustration cards are just darling - I hope they ship with all the new wallets!