The lowest point in the career of the wallet might have come at the hands of George Costanza. The Seinfeld star, famous for his idiosyncrasies and stubbornness, laid claim to a wallet the size of a small Manhattan apartment—a wallet that was obese to the point of actually causing George physical discomfort. No wonder, considering the random curio crammed inside of it.

"Irish money?" Jerry asked, thumbing through George's wallet. "I might go there," George said.

The wallet was literally bursting at the seams with credit cards, receipts, dollar bills, and even hard candy. It had essentially become a pocket-sized file cabinet…or a booster seat.

Costanza is not the only man with wallet woes. A good portion of the country is loaded up and lopsided when it comes to the universal money pouch. Pockets bulge, seams stretch, and rear ends jut out all in the name of bank cards, grocery cards, and family albums. To quote Costanza: "(My wallet) is an organizer, a secretary, and a friend."

The solution to the giant wallet is a rather simple exercise in discretion, but like most financial virtues, the implementation of the practice is far harder. Costanza's back pain would agree.
Slimming down a wallet is akin to slimming down a body: a good diet is a great place to start.

There are really on a few necessities that every wallet needs to have.

1. Cash. The wallet originated as a cache for cash, and that purpose remains an important use today. How much cash you should carry will probably depend on how much of a tycoon you are. For most people, a couple 20-dollar bills would be fine; for big spenders, a wad of C-notes might be necessary. Either way, cash is a must-have wallet ingredient.
2. Credit Card. Everyone has one, which may be more a condemnation of society than a tribute to fiscal flexibility and technological advance. Wallets are engineered to tote the plastics of American Express, Visa, and MasterCard, so take no shame in taking advantage. However, use temperance. The slippery slope of wallet stuffing begins with credit cards. Only put in the one you use most often.
3. Bank card. Most people have a bank card (debit card) in addition to their credit card, and chances are good that the bank card gets just as much use. When paying at convenience stores or restaurants, keying in a PIN number is often faster and more convenient than a credit payment. Plus, a bank card is necessary to pull cash from the ATM.
4. Driver's license. No matter how bad the picture is, a driver's license is a wallet necessity. Unless you are way too into lanyards, the wallet is the best (and virtually only) place to carry around the most common form of ID. Most wallets have a see-through pocket specifically designed to hold the license. Those with bad pictures might want to find a different style.
5. Medical insurance card. Cleaning out your wallet takes a backseat to personal health and safety. An insurance card might not get much use, but you will certainly be thankful you kept it in your wallet when the EMTs need to stitch up your chest cavity.

"But what about the following items?" a desperate packrat might ask. Leaving them out is the only way to cut back on bulbous billfolds.

1. Photos. The wallet is not the family photo Louvre. If someone wants to see a picture of your kids, you should invite them over to the house rather than open up the accordion file in your back pocket.
2. Pennies. Nothing adds to wallet girth faster than loose change. Pennies in particular are a nasty culprit because you have to carry around at least four of them to make it worth your time. At the most, you should only carry a single quarter and a single dime. You should not need any more than that.
3. Receipts. Save a tree and save a hip injury by cutting back on receipts. The beauty of online banking and credit card statements is that you have an automated way of accounting for purchases. Get with the future.
4. Business cards. Some people's wallets resemble mini-rolodexes with business cards rivaling an Office Depot aisle. Keep cards in an actual rolodex or in a file at your desk. Input the phone numbers into your cell phone. Take the burden off your back pocket.
5. Punch cards. Good intentions are the mortal enemy of wallet efficiency. People pack in punch cards certain of the fact that they will, sooner or later, eat a dozen foot-long subs to get half-price off a sub of their choice. Does it ever happen? Rarely. Take the punch cards out and stick them in your glove compartment. Intentions may be good, but follow-through seldom is.

The dos and don'ts of wallet contents can sometimes only go so far. Fortunately, there are a couple of other options that might help weed out the rest of the wallet burdens.

For starters, get a smaller wallet. Department stores have all sorts of different styles and designs. A money clip-wallet hybrid is one of the more popular alternatives. The design leaves virtually no choice but to cut back on extra cards and receipts.

If a smaller wallet is not an option, try consolidating your membership cards. One great solution is keeping one card with the ID numbers of several cards printed onto it. That way, when you are at any particular store, you can read off your account number rather than fumbling for the proper piece of plastic.

Following these tips should help diminish the burden of a hefty wallet. A little prudence here and some tough decisions there could make a big difference in back pockets and purses everywhere. Wallets come out of their packaging thin, and they have the potential to remain that way.
George Costanza was a martyr for progress. Don't let his back example die in vain.

The term Personal Finance is something of a misnomer because it implies isolation from your financial situation. For those who are married, or have kids, Family Finance would be a more appropriate concept.

The ideal situation for anyone concerned about personal finance is to have a spouse who is at least as frugal as you are. Frugality is a relative measure, but a more frugal spouse will make your efforts seem easier. Rather than fighting over every proposed improvement, such a partner would probably inspire even greater restraint.

The influence of your spouse on your family finances will be substantial, whether positive or negative. The spouse more inclined to spend can do considerable damage to the family finances because while there is a limit to how many expenses one spouse can cut, there is no limit to how much the other can spend. I cannot imagine the frustration that would come from diligently working hard on your family finances only to have your progress undermined by a poor financial decision by your spouse. Discussing money matters openly will allow both sides to debate the issues. You won’t always agree, but talking before the money is spent may help to avoid making a big mistake.

At the same time, it would be burdensome to discuss every little purchase you encounter throughout your day. I’ve seen advice that any purchases under $250 are fine without a discussion. Obviously that number could be adjusted based on your lifestyle. Rather than using a specific number, my wife and I typically only discuss discretionary spending, regardless of the amount. So if I come home from the grocery store with a $300 bill, we won’t discuss it; but we will have a discussion before spending $50 on a new cell phone. This may seem somewhat askew, but required spending is already within our budget, while discretionary spending is not. So in a sense, we’ve already agreed what to spend on food for the year when we set our budget. If one of our spending categories starts to exceed the budget, then we may revisit that discussion.

Coming to a consensus on the financial mindset for your household will allow for compromise in both directions. You may spend more than a frugal spouse would like (or less than a spendthrift spouse would like), but if your overall spending can be curtailed, you have surely made progress.

Our nation is no stranger to financial difficulty. Let's look back a few centuries...

During the Revolutionary War, funding severely hampered our efforts to fight the British. The Continental Dollar created during the Second Continental Congress in 1775 faced competition not only from states' individual currencies, but from British counterfeiters as well.

Needless to say, our nation did not start out on the most solid of financial footing.

As the British invaded the South in 1780, the financial situation of the fledgling Revolution got even bleaker. Britain continued to counterfeit the Continental dollar; states kept printing more of their currency. Inflation was rampant. Congress increasingly began to rely on domestic and French loans. The confiscation of property was even authorized.

Even after the victory over the British, it wasn't until 1787 when Congress met to completely revise the Articles of Confederation (with the Constitution of course) that some stabilization was achieved. Viewed from an economic standpoint, the Constitution was finally able to solve many of our early financial problems. It allowed regulation of interstate commerce, and the ability of a national government to tax and protect its growing borders in the West. Our Constitution is a very powerful financial document indeed.

So, why the history lesson of our nations early financial woes?

Once again, as a nation we are facing circumstances where our finances might hamper our ability to flourish. Only this time, we have no British empire to blame.

Our founding fathers faced financial crises creating a new country. We often face financial difficulty because of rampant consumerism and a culture of entitlement: We bought that big house, and we just had to have that new car. I imagine if the founders could see what modern-day Americans go into debt for, they would be flabbergasted. Getting a loan to finance a new business venture or to pay off high-interest credit cards can be good debt choices. The truth though, is that most of our modern-day debt is not "good debt". It's an accumulation of eating out every day, and of buying that latest gadget we "must have". It's the mentality that we not only can have - but deserve - whatever we desire at the drop of hat.

Our entitlement mentality needs to be broken. It's a mentality that is flawed. So as you celebrate our Nation's Independence this Friday, make a commitment to declare your independence from bad debt. It may take some time to get your new financial footing set, but at least you don't have to convene a Congress to get it done!

Have a great and safe 4th of July!

What advertisements actually say is carefully crafted so that we hear something different. Keeping an eye (or ear) out for such tactics will allow us to make purchasing decisions based more on facts than on marketing.

To give you an idea of the types of advertisements that easily fool us, I’ve provided a few examples below:

Advertisements are cleverly constructed to make true statements that our minds twist into something better. Picking up on the subtleties of advertising can help to ensure that you never waste your money buying the ad versus buying the product.

Presidential candidates often try to show voters how much they are like regular Americans. By sharing common ground with voters, they hope to gain camaraderie, trust, and ultimately a vote. In at least one area, presidential candidate John McCain is very much like the average American: his household is carrying substantial credit card debt.

The New York Times reported the figures from the required Senate financial disclosure statements filed by McCain in mid-June. The exact amount of credit card debt was not disclosed, but the range was reported as between $235,000 and $565,000. A portion of that debt was on a card with a whopping 25.99% interest rate. Perhaps more surprising than the debt and interest rate is that the McCains had previously reported total household assets of $24.6 million to $39.5 million.

While the article was likely written with political motivations, the figures also remind us all that credit card debt is not limited to the poor. Even in cases where families do not have to run a credit card balance, they sometimes do. We could easily attribute such behavior to either ignorance or indifference. Why else would someone subject their finances to the constant drain of the high interest charged on credit card balances? Another likely explanation is that habits learned earlier in life could still be part of their thought pattern. Even for those living within their means, paying interest on credit cards may seem so normal that they forget to eliminate it once they are able to.

What we can take away from this lesson is that bad financial habits will not magically disappear if you were to suddenly have more money. Perhaps this is why so many lottery winners eventually find themselves back in the same financial situations they had before their windfall. Making positive financial changes will not only help to improve your situation now, but also allows you to remain well off when you finally do reach a better place.