Bankruptcy

A Second Life for Old Cards

By Katie Porter

Credit Slips has an internal policy of not posting about anything other than debt or credit. No movie reviews, no divulging secret recipes, no waning on fabulous vacation to Nebraska. But I am nothing if not resourceful in circumventing policies, especially when they are enforced by Credit Slips blog master Bob Lawless.

Like virtually everything else, credit cards have a lifespan. Some die a natural death at expiration, replaced by the next generation of shiny replacements. Others terminate prematurely, either through suicide when their owners get fed up with their issuer's tricks or traps or through murder when the card issuer prematurely cancels the card. Both of these practices may be more frequent in the current down economy as NPR and creditcards.com have reported. What to do with all these old cards?

I turned my old card into a teething toy for my baby, Paul, as shown below. He seemed to really enjoy getting some hands-on experience with the plastic economy. (And I really wanted to show him off to the Credit Slips world (see Bob, it's credit-related!) Of course, depending on your proclivities, there are lots of other uses for old cards such as guitar picks or a tiled mosaic. I thought the best idea was to make the little things to keep the collars pointed on men's shirts (I'm certain one of you knows the correct name for these gizmos). Perhaps that's the secret to bankers' crisp fashions.

Full post as published by Credit Slips on March 10, 2009 (boomark / email).