The little 30 year-old plastic wallet holding my credit card, licence, etc has almost fallen apart so I had to use a lot of duct tape to mend it. Should last another 30 years, much to my very fashionable sister's horror. She snatched it off me the last time we were out with friends and showed them all so they could have a good laugh. I didn't care, as I am the only one out of the group who has a paid-off house and doesn't need to work.
That's going overboard though. A new wallet costs just 10 dollar, which is a minuscle amount for 20-30 years and you don't run the risk of losing some paper that would take you days of hassle to replace. Not to mention more money than 10 dollar.
Still, it's a good feeling to be able to be able to feel smug when spendypants friends and family make fun of your frugal ways. Those snarks invite all sorts of comebacks that Lazycow is probably too polite to say aloud (Oh you poor, POOR consumerists! *Pat on cheek* I hope that your pretty wallets dazzle you enough to distract you from the lifetime of toil that you have ahead of you. I hardly even think of mine as I flit about my days of retirement freedom!)
IMO, there's frugal and there's cheap. One could also purchase a decent looking wallet at a thrift store or garage sale. Instead, OP is flaunting his cheapness, which is fine for him. It could also be a way of drawing attention to himself.
In my pre-FIRE years, I preferred the challenge of stealth frugality, which is the subtle art of being wise with resources without appearing or acting like a cheap-ass.
Many people on this forum have lost their way.
The purpose of a wallet is to hold money and cards. If the wallet lazycow is using fulfills that purpose, then it is as functional as a 'beautiful'/newer wallet. Mending things is far better for the environment than buying new (including new cheap) stuff . . . holding on to things for a long period of time and learning to be satisfied with what you have is a vital part of frugal mentality and makes you a better person.
Disclaimer - I am a person who has a 30 year old wallet I'm not only perfectly happy with, but have grown emotionally attached to as we've been through so much of life together. :P
For the record, most have advised buying one used, thus saving, not adding to, the landfill. Mustachian as hell, in my book.
Also, OP's original description in bold above, was changed to:
I cheerfully admit that in this instance I am being cheap. I wouldn't make anyone *else* do this, but I simply couldn't care less about the appearance of a credit card-sized wallet. It lives inside my good leather wallet so no one sees it anyway....
So was it actually a wallet or just a plastic sleeve that she carries inside her "good leather wallet"?
What we can all surely agree on is this is an excellent MPP, and it's nice that we all have time to discuss such minutiae. It is not evidence that the community have "lost their way". For proof of that, you'll have to look elsewhere. For those so inclined, there are plenty of stones to be cast on other threads.
Dicey, however, must shove off now. It's her turn to volunteer at her favorite thrift store today. Maybe she'll see some great wallets. If so, she'll leave them for others to discover, as hers is just fine. The zipper's getting a little balky, but that's perfect for a mustachian, right?