This is an excellent article with suggestions on what to do if you ever lose your wallet or purse and how to be prepared for that eventuality. Think about it: if you discovered right now this minute yours was gone, how easy would it be to sort things out quickly for you?
This happened to me once and what a pain in the butt it was having to cancel all my cards and so on. What was worse was that I'd just returned that day from working offsite for my company hundreds of miles away and still had all my expense receipts inside my purse so bye bye to claiming those back. By evening it was lost. I'm convinced it must have fell on the floor of the taxi when I was getting out and called the company within half an hour of discovering it was gone. The driver said it wasn't there, so either he took it imho or another passenger did. I was dropped off at a friend's house in a cul-de-sac and had paid the fare out of it, so it's not as if it was lying on a busy street. She and I scoured the street when we realized it was gone.
Luckily I didn't have anything bad happen apart from losing the contents and cash. I was more upset about a family photo I had in it than the receipts. It was irreplaceable.
After that I signed up for a scheme at my bank that let me list all my credit card and bank card numbers in one place, even those that weren't with their bank. They also kept a note of other IDs like passport and driving license numbers, club membership cards and so on. If it happened again I'd just call one emergency number and they would handle putting stops on cards and notifying all the parties. When I got my new replacements I photocopied every single one of them and kept that at home too.
I was very naive in thinking it would get handed in too, ha! When I reported it to the police station even the policeman told me I had a virtually zero chance of an honest person finding it and getting it back intact. I wouldn't have cared about the cash either, it was the cards and ID I was more worried about. I was shocked he said that because I would do that immediately. I wouldn't have handed it to a driver either. I would have got them to take me to the station to hand it in so there was a record of it.
So much for karma. I'd handed in a wallet I found in the street years before. You'd think I'd have deserved a good guy to find mine eh. :)
That was a bummer, Kay. :(
I would have a fit. I am so guilty of leaving it lying around too in weird places in the house it's a wonder I haven't lost my purse for real anywhere. Those tips are very helpful. Thank you! :)
I have a list of bank card numbers in my address book and that's all. Now that you've made me think about it, I haven't updated that for a very long time. I'll need to dig that out and check what's what. No point in having an outdated list! I'll need to add more stuff to it as well. Thanks Kay. :)
When I'm out I check constantly that I have my purse with me. I worry about pickpockets in crowded places like malls. I don't have the contents written down or in a database for safekeeping. Thank you for the advice Kay.
Awww, shame Kay! What bad luck that was. I hadn't considered what I'd do and after reading this I can see I would be in a right mess because I have nothing written down anywhere. I'll remedy that fast.
I have a list of all my cards and account numbers on my computer, and I emailed a copy of that to my mom and my sister for safekeeping. At least if my house burns down, they have the information.
I think....
I have to make sure now they both kept those emails or printed them!






Maybe you're stockpiling that karma for something bigger. :) I read this and went and got all my cards out of my purse and made a list of the number there and then. I would freak if I lost mine! Sorry you never got that back.
The only reason a great many American families don't own an elephant is that they have never been offered an elephant for a dollar down and easy weekly payments. - Mad Magazine.