 How to make your Venmo transactions private

There are some reasons to carry cash. Some people like it for convenience, tipping and
anonymity. Some stores won't accept credit cards for small-change transactions. And
there's some risk that a major network problem or hack will bring down electronic
payment systems or that a bank will freeze your card. If those are your worries, go
ahead and bring some bills along.

The only time I've wished for cash in more than six months was when I had to use a
coin-op air pump at a gas station to inflate my car tires. Until I have a bigger problem,
I'm just going to skip the cash.

I might reattach the Ekster wallet's elastic strap for my company ID badge, though. That
badge is thick enough to displace two cards, and its RFID access technology won't work
when it's inside an aluminum enclosure.

Smartphone wallet apps help

Another reason I find a thin wallet practical is because smartphones can step in to
replace cards I leave behind. I could survive fine with just my phone on many days, with
no cash and cards. I now only use wallet apps -- available both on iPhones and Android
phones -- to store loyalty cards for places like supermarkets and gas stations.

And of course I can use wallet apps for purchases in many stores with contactless pay
stations. I find the transactions slower and more fiddly compared to sliding a credit card
into a slot, but it generally works. It might be a good way to go for a secondary credit
card you use only rarely.

For a lot of quick money transfers where I once would have used cash, like splitting bills
and reimbursing friends, I now use PayPal and Venmo (after disabling the
baffling default setting where Venmo makes my transactions public).

Read more: The best credit cards for 2020

I've used my phones in some pretty unsophisticated ways over the years, too, with files
to record frequent flyer account numbers and photos of my health and dental insurance
cards.

Another way smartphones help you pare down your wallet is dumping receipts. I often
use Microsoft OneDrive to create PDFs on the fly of documents I'm OK to keep in
electronic form only. For company expenses, apps like Expensify let you scan receipts
immediately so you don't need to stuff your wallet full of them on business trips.

Digital driver's licenses

Arguably the most important piece of plastic in my wallet is my driver's license.

It's been a while since a police officer pulled me over for speeding, and I'm old enough
that bartenders no longer check if I'm at least 21 years old, but I use my driver's license
all the time for other identification purposes. Maybe this pandemic will abate so I'll need
it for flying in planes and sleeping in hotels again.

An optional elastic strap and metal plate attach cash or other extras to the outside of the Ekster
Aluminum Cardholder wallet, but I leave it behind.
Stephen Shankland/CNET
I'll be honest. I didn't expect any digital replacement for my plastic driver's license
anytime this decade. But it turns out lots of organizations are working on mobile driving
licenses, or MDL, that live in a phone app, and several governments are evaluating the
technology. Somebody checking your ID would scan a QR code on your phone screen
and retrieve cryptographically signed data through a direct link.

I'm a bit leery of the concept, given the general risks that digital data can be stolen,
manipulated or otherwise abused. But it's possible digital driver's licenses could actually
improve privacy -- for example, by sharing your age but not your address when you're
trying to buy a beer.

"We think MDL is a big win for end users in terms of privacy," Google says. It's building
the technology into its Android phone software.

So who knows? Perhaps in a few years I'll be able to ditch my wallet altogether.

While we wait for that future, though, it's a good time to rethink what you need to carry
in your pockets. Whether it's an aluminum Ekster, a knife-equipped Dango, Tyvek Micro
Wallet, a less radical Stealth Wallet Razor or something else, the time has come for slim
wallets.