I may be the only one here old enough to remember Schneider, the hapless super of the apartment building featured in the 1970s sitcom "One Day At A Time," but one of the most memorable things about Schneider was that he carried a huge keyring around the building with him, ostensibly so he could enter any apartment or maintenance closet at any time to render repairs.
I feel like Schneider sometimes, thanks to the massive number of items that have accumulated on my keyring over the past few years. No, I haven't taken a job as an apartment super -- I simply wanted to take advantage of the savings offered by joining loyalty rewards programs at most of the stores in town.
But just like doing spring cleaning at your house now and then, it's important to weed through your stack of loyalty cards from time to time to ensure you aren't carrying a heavier load than you should be. Remember when you went to the local hardware store and signed up for the card to get a discount on that hammer you were buying, but then you moved 30 miles away from it and haven't been back since? It's probably time to toss that card.
I like to go through my loyalty cards about every six months so I know I'm not carrying anything I don't need. In addition, I have entered all of my cards onto the CardStar app, which allows your phone to save all of your loyalty numbers. This can lighten your keyring's load considerably. Because I'm paranoid, I still have my loyalty cards on a keyring, but now I keep them in my car rather than in my pocket. I take this bizarre "backup" step because I often forget to charge my phone and absolutely don't ever want to be stuck without my loyalty numbers.