My beloved Timbuk2 money clip/cardholder has been slowly coming apart, so it needed replacing. Unfortunately, they don’t make them anymore. The new wallet, from Target’s house brand, lacks the Timbuk2′s modern looks and clear plastic ID window, but it does have a bottle opener built into the money clip, and a skull and crossbones. It is made out of leather, theoretically, and it is slightly longer than the old one to accommodate the clip’s snapping action. The clip is slimmer, closer to the body of the wallet.

I may miss the clear plastic ID window, since I do tend to use it often. Time will tell. Meanwhile, the new guy is still small and slim.

Problem is, at $80 (if Google is accurately translating $110 AUD), all that I could afford to put in such a thing would be the burnt remains of my credit card…well, okay, my driver’s license, too…

I love my Timbuk2, but they don’t make them anymore. Reminds me of the good old days at Penn, working across from an EMS. While some people can only be bifold folks, I prefer the money clip/cardholder, even if it means leaving the library card at home.  (Possible exception, edge: giant squid!) In most places a driver’s license would suffice, anyway. Except of course, my library. I must have paid for five library cards over the last eight years of living in Jenkintown. I consider it a donation. I had an old Fossil wallet with similar specs, but not the clear window for IDs. (Also, the clip would wear holes in my pants.)

A few years back, the Jimi wallet was all the rage on the geek sites. Sorry, I don’t buy it…or, rather, I wouldn’t buy it. Ramming some unflexible chunk of plastic in my hip pocket ain’t a good idea just because it is hip to pocket. Besides, as one would predict, the hinge tends to break.

This puppy might work, since it has my number 2 requirement, an ID window. Number 1 is a money clip, which this doesn’t have. What it does have is a pocket where I can wad up a few bills…which is, realistically, how I use my money clip anyway. Unfortunately, it isn’t as pretty as the Dosh, but it is made from old tires and the $65 I’d save is, frankly, prettier than any Dosh.

For $20 you can get some dazzlers at Poketo, but I’d be surprised if they held up to the kind of abuse I’ve inflicted upon my current wallet.  Anyway, I think this means I’ll have to troll through Etsy to see what I can dig up. (Maybe and quite possibly)