Why do credit cards encourage unintended spending?

It’s simple.

They separate the joy of getting something new from the pain of paying for it. It’s the same reason credit card companies entice you with “airline miles” that have nothing to do with the actual number of miles you’re traveling or “points” that don’t translate easily to a dollars.

At PerkStreet, you earn cash back at 1%, 2%, or 5% all year long, on all signature purchases. You rack up perks on your MyPerkStreet page, and each perk is worth exactly one dollar. Then we send you the gift card of your choice for exactly that amount. It’s simple stuff.

Still, the digitization of all of our financial lives has made budgeting more difficult in this century — we recognize that. It’s why, when we saw the Proverbial Wallets, created by our neighbors at MIT, we couldn’t help but tell you about them.

The Proverbial Wallets, developed by the Information Ecology team at the MIT Media Lab, use tactile indicators to relay how much is in your digital accounts. They’re just prototypes right now, but we think they’re awesome.

The Mother Bear becomes harder to open when your account balance is running low.

The Bumble Bee buzzes every time a transaction is processed, connecting card use to actual changes in account balances.

The Peacock swells when you have more money in your account and shrinks when you have less.

Check out this video, made by John Kestner, a member of the Information Ecology team that developed the prototypes:

Did you know PerkStreet’s own VP of Analytics, John Magee, is an MIT grad?

What do you think of the Proverbial Wallets? Do you know of other new technologies like this we should share with our readers? Please let us know in the comments!