A high-quality American leather wallet can be an essential accessory. However, caring for these wallets is often something that goes overlooked or neglected. For individuals that have rarely given wallet care much though, there are some basic care steps that can help you avoid problems and damages with your leather wallet.

Keep the Leather Clean and Moisturized

Cleaning and moisturizing the wallet's leather is something that can help to protect the leather against drying out. When the leather's oils dry, the leather can become brittle enough to develop deep cracks. Also, this can lead to the leather appearing faded. Regularly wiping off any dust or dirt from the wallet can help to slow the drying process of the natural oils in the lather as it will prevent the dust from being able to absorb these substances. After moisturizing the leather, you should wait several minutes before wiping off any excess. If your wallet contains materials other than leather, special care should be taken to avoid getting the leather moisturizer on the nonleather components.

Avoid Overloading the Wallet

It can be common for individuals to overload their wallet. Often, this can be the result of collecting receipts, old membership cards and other items that you may not need. In addition to making it more difficult to find anything in your wallet, this can also be very damaging to the wallet. Overloading your wallet will put tremendous strain on the spine of the wallet while also stretching out the leather. This can ruin the appearance of the wallet and compromise its ability to securely hold items in it. Making an effort to periodically go through your wallet and remove any items or papers that you no longer need can help to avoid this type of wear and tear. Another benefit of this can be that you will limit the number of documents in the wallet that could have personally identifying information, which can minimize the risk of identify theft if your wallet is lost or stolen.

Know When to Replace Your Wallet

Individuals will often keep their wallets for far longer than they should have. When a wallet becomes excessively worn, it can be much more likely to have important items fall out of it. This can result in you losing important documents, credit or debit cards, and cash. For most individuals, replacing their wallets every year or two will be sufficient for avoiding these problems. Although your wallet may need to be replaced sooner if it suffers a major rip or tear in it.