Paying Off the Plastic? Here’s a New Use for an Old Card

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Woman hesitating to buy something
Josep Suria / Shutterstock.com

If you’ve been paying down your credit cards and closing accounts, rather than cutting up your cards, save one to use as a stand for your smart phone. The website Instructables.com details the method in this article, but essentially all you have to do is create two bends in your card: one near the bottom to serve as a lip to rest your player on, and another about half-way up to create a stand. To keep the card from breaking, use a lighter to heat it up first.

Just to make sure it works, I tried it myself with a sample AARP card I got in the mail. (They apparently don’t understand that I’m 25, not 55.)

Step one: find an old credit card. (You did send a letter to the card company officially closing the account, right?) You could also use one of those plastic hotel keys, or just about any plastic card.

Step two: heat it with a lighter, then make a small bend near the bottom.

Step three: heat the middle of the card with a lighter, then make another bend.

Step four: watch your favorite movie or TV show and contemplate how nice it is not to have that credit card any more.

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