A Second Life for Old Cards

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 about a 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.

Comments

[Jason Kilborn]

They're called collar stays--and Paul is adorable! :-)

[Patches]

Cute. Too cute. Guitar picks are my choice. They also come in really handy at the beach in many ways. Scrapping of all of the old cold water wax from my surfboards; Scoring the new warm water wax I put on after taking the old off; buying beer...usually though the other way around.

[Mike Dillon]

Nicely navigated, Professor :) Somewhere in there I believe is an ad campaign for VISA...OR Small Smiles... "What in YOUR... errr.. Mouth!" You and Paul should work up a pitch for it ;)~

I'm glad I'm not the only one who used them for board stripping, Patches...LOL... Really sucks when you forget to pack the "little things" like wax combs, zinc oxide, etc for the mid-winter trip to Tamarindo and Witches Rock and the last time you went out you were in 38* water...

[Patches]

ARRRRGGGG! Man Mike, I would love to surf Costa Rica! It's like my dream surf trip. It sux when you have all of that cold water wax come off on your chest and belly while you are surfing warm water. I hear Tamarindo is a great place to hang, it's way north though. Kind of away from the rest of Costa.

[Adam Levitin]

I've also heard them called "collar staves", with stave being the plural of staff (as in musical staves or boat staves)--something that provides structure. To my surprise, a 2 second google search didn't reveal an article on the stays vs. staves debate.

[Mike Dillon]

Umm....Patches? You surf the Gulf of Mexico... Define "cold"...;)~ I used to come out of the water with icicles hanging from my beard in February...;)

I'll shut up now... I've more than contributed successfully to thread drift and I think I hear Prof. Lawless yelling at me from Illinois... In the spirit of drifting back toward topic I offer this: http://keepstylesimple.blogspot.com/2008/01/how-to-buy-sharp-looking-dress-shirt.html

Prof. Levitin, you might try searching "shirt collar staves" instead... ;)

[Patches]

True true. 55 was the coldest I have ever surfed. I do admire the cold water surfers of the world. Santa Cruz regulars especially. East coasters are like mavericks to me. You really have to love to surf to go out when its snowing. You know, duckdiving a wave and coming up with a head freeze really sux. But have you ever surfed in "red tide"? Fish dying all around you and your eyes stinging to high heaven. All for a few head high "A" frames.

[Christine Hurt]

Priceless!

[Martha Sherwood]

There is also the traditional use - jimmying a door with no deadbolt, a potential source of income in hard times.

A credit card is too small to make stays for a corset, except maybe for a Barbie doll. The longer version of plastic tie-downs you get at the hardware store works well, and for a lighter weight you can cut up vinyl venetian blinds.

[David Fuller]

I keep an extra container of those collar thingies in my desk. According to the box, they're called "Collar Tabs."